Thief Emperor

Chapter 875: Night Meeting in the Southwest

Li Yun stood up, put his hands behind his back, and looked at the third son of the Zhang family who was kneeling on the ground in front of him.

He didn't speak for a long time. After a long while, he slowly said, "How do you plan to surrender?"

"Since we have surrendered, we will of course follow the king's wishes."

Zhang Lian knelt on the ground, touched his forehead to the ground, and said sincerely: "Your Majesty, you can send someone to go with me to Jiannan Road now to take over the Jiannan Army. The Jiannan Army will never resist."

"From now on, the arrangement of the Jiannan Army will all depend on the king's ideas."

Li Yun put his hands behind his back, narrowed his eyes, and said slowly: "What I mean is that you don't have any conditions?"

"If there are conditions, then of course there are."

Zhang Lian looked up at Li Yun, then lowered his head and gritted his teeth and said, "We, the Jiannan Army, surrender wholeheartedly to the king. Please issue a surrender document and announce it to Jiannan Road."

"Once the document is issued, everyone in Jiannan Dao will immediately take off their armor and surrender. No second thoughts."

Li Yun put his hands behind his back and looked carefully at Zhang Lian who was kneeling on the ground. He said expressionlessly, "Is my reputation worth so much?"

Zhang Lian fell to the ground and said, "Your Majesty started out as a commoner. For more than ten years, you have never broken your promise. The people of the world have seen it. We brothers have also seen it. We only ask Your Majesty to keep our promise."

"If the king insists on killing us brothers."

Zhang Lian took a deep breath, lowered his head and said, "The lives of my brothers can be exchanged for the king's loss of trust."

“It’s not a loss.”

Li Yun narrowed his eyes and looked at the third son of the Zhang family in front of him. After a long time, he said "Hey", and said: "I have heard a little about General Zhang of Xichuan. Now it seems that General Zhang's sons are really capable."

"only…"

Li Yun narrowed his eyes and said, "I just received a report from Jiannan Dao that your Jiannan Army injured my general Gongsun Hao. Gongsun Hao is now almost dead."

Zhang Lian did not hesitate, touching his forehead to the ground and said, "As long as the king is willing to surrender, I am willing to exchange my life for yours."

He bowed his head and said, "When the king has subdued the Jiannan Army, my eldest brother will bring the heads of these common people to Luoyang to see the king."

Li Yun looked at him seriously, thought for a long time, and then said slowly: "You are really brave."

"The battle between the two armies is not a personal vendetta, so I won't kill you."

"Do you have any other requests?"

Zhang Lian whispered, "Your Majesty, my last request is that the envoy sent by Your Majesty to surrender the Jiannan Army must be able to suppress General Zhao."

"My brother sent a written document to General Zhao, but he ignored it."

Li Yun heard this, with no expression on his face, he just said lightly: "I understand."

"Go down and rest first. I'll give you an answer within two days."

"Yes."

Zhang Lian bowed his head deeply, touching the ground with his forehead, and said respectfully: "If there are any casualties among the generals under the king's command, it is definitely not my elder brother's deliberate act. All the actions of the Jiannan Army in Xichuan are just to delay time..."

"My eldest brother wants to delay until I can reach Luoyang and see the king, and delay until the king's envoy can reach Jiannan Road..."

He let out a long breath: "Besides that, my eldest brother has no other thoughts. Everyone in Jiannan Road knows that it is only a matter of time before the king sweeps across Jiannan Road."

"My brothers and I are just afraid of dying inexplicably at the hands of General Zhao."

Li Yun looked at him seriously, waved his hand and said, "Back off."

"Yes."

Zhang Lian stood up, bowed respectfully, and walked out with his head lowered.

Li Yun watched him leave. After a long while, he came to his senses and looked up at the sky outside.

It was completely dark.

He walked to his clothes rack, took down a robe, put it on, and strode outside.

Walking straight to the gate of the mansion, the guards guarding the gate hurriedly stepped forward to salute. Li Yun looked at the guards and said calmly: "I'll go out for a walk."

Several bodyguards hurriedly nodded their heads in response. The leader waved his hand, and immediately more than a dozen people followed and followed behind Li Yun.

Mr. Li shook his head and said, "Three or four people will be enough. I won't go far."

The captain of the personal guard hesitated for a moment, looked up at Li Yun, and then lowered his head and responded with a yes. He personally selected four people, including himself, and followed Li Yun.

Li Yun walked around his home for a few times, then naturally came to the residence of Lord Du and walked towards the gate.

The guards immediately stepped forward and knocked on the door.

Not long after, the door of the Du Mansion opened, and Du Qian, who had obviously just put on his coat, came out with his family to greet Li Yun, and saluted Li Yun respectfully.

Li Yun raised his hand, looked at Du Qian, and forced a smile on his face: "There is no outsider here, no need to be polite."

Du Qian bowed his head and said yes. Li Yun looked at the two young men behind him, shook his head and sighed: "Young people grow up so fast. In a blink of an eye, they are almost as tall as Brother Shouyi."

Du Qian smiled and said, "Yes, but he has grown taller, but not more thoughtful. He still has a long way to go."

Li Yun looked at the two sons of the Du family, recalled the past, and said with a smile: "Back then, when you two entered Jinling, I was the one who carried you into the city."

"Do you remember?"

The two young men bowed and saluted, then bowed their heads to Li Yun and said, "Remember, remember."

Du Qian knew that Li Yun must have something to do when he came to his house so late. He coughed and said to his family, "Everyone go away, everyone go away, prepare tea for the king."

Soon, the Du family dispersed, and only Du Qian stayed with Li Yun. He looked at Li Yun and asked, "It's so late. If there is anything, Your Majesty can ask someone to call me. Why did you come here in person?"

Li Yun put his hands behind his back and shook his head, saying, "If there is no one else, don't keep calling him king. It doesn't sound comfortable."

Du Qian and Li Yun had been "partners" for too long. When Li Yun said this, he almost immediately understood what Li Yun meant and immediately changed his words: "Then I will...still call you Erlang."

Li Yun nodded, looked around the Du residence, followed Du Qian all the way to the study.

After sitting down in the study, Du Qian poured tea for Li Yun. Li Yun looked around in his study and saw the oil lamp on his desk. He smiled and said, "It seems that Brother Shouyi is still unable to sleep."

"It's too early."

Du Qian also smiled helplessly and said, "There are too many things to do, and they are too complicated. Every day I have to work until late at night."

"I'm fine. I'm still young."

He handed the tea to Li Yun and sighed, "Yao Juzhong was so tired that he fainted in the library last time."

Li Yun nodded silently.

"I heard about it."

He lowered his head and drank a sip of tea, then roughly recounted the matter. Finally, he looked at Du Qian and said in a muffled voice: "We don't know whether Gongsun Hao is alive or dead. In the past two months, we have also suffered heavy losses in Jiannan Road. At this time..."

Du Qian poured tea for Li Yun and said seriously, "Erlang, this is not the time to act on impulse. As long as the Jiannan Army is truly willing to surrender, then of course we should accept their surrender."

"And treat them well."

Du Qian looked at Li Yun and said seriously, "Erlang, throughout history, no founding ruler has truly conquered the world. Most of them just accepted surrender."

"This is not the time to act on impulse."

Li Yun lowered his head and drank tea.

"I know, so I came to talk to Brother Du and relieve the anger in my heart."

Du Qian poured tea for Li Yun again and said slowly: "I don't understand military affairs, but I think General Zhao's handling of the Jiannan Road incident has some problems. Now General Zhao's troops..."

"The situation is not very good. If the Jiannan Army really surrenders at this time, the dilemma of the entire Jiannan Road will be solved immediately."

Li Yun looked up at Du Qian and said slowly, "That Zhang Lian doesn't seem to be lying. They have no reason to deceive me at this time. The problem is that he asked me to send someone who can suppress Zhao Cheng to Jiannan Road to deal with the aftermath."

Du Qian sat next to Li Yun and said silently: "Originally, General Manager Liu is the most suitable, but General Manager Liu is not in Luoyang now."

He looked at Li Yun and said, "How about asking Lord Li to go there?"

Li Yun frowned: "I'm afraid the Zhang brothers will go back on their word."

"I don't think so."

Du Qian looked at Li Yun and said, "Erlang, the situation is now determined. It is obvious to everyone in the world that the Zhang brothers want to live instead of die. At this time, we dare not offend Erlang like this."

He paused and continued, "Of course, you can send someone else. It depends on your thoughts, Erlang."

Li Yun lowered his head to drink tea and said silently: "Apart from Li Zheng, I'm afraid the only two people who can go to Jiannan Road to control the situation are you, Brother Shouyi, and Yao Juzhong."

"If Meng Qing goes, there might be some risks."

At this point, Li Yun stood up, put his hands behind his back and said, "I'm not sleepy tonight. I'll go to Li Zheng's house and take a look around. I won't disturb Brother Shouyi anymore."

"Brother Shouyi, go to bed early."

After saying that, Li Yun strode away.

Du Qian accompanied him all the way and at the gate of the mansion, he bowed deeply to Li Yun's back.

……

The next day, Luoyang Yin Li Zheng was ordered to go to Jiannan Road to handle the affairs of Jiannan Road.

Accompanying him were Li Yun's personal guard commander Yang Xi and five hundred personal soldiers from his guard camp.

Almost half of the King of Wu’s security force.

The group marched in a mighty procession, heading straight to the southwest.

(End of this chapter)