Thief Emperor

Chapter 908: Evil intentions
Du Qian was born into the Jingzhao Du family, so he naturally grew up in the capital city of Guanzhong. Cui Shao followed his family to the capital city since he was a child, so he can basically be said to have grown up in the capital city.

Cui Shao's uncle was the prime minister, and Du Qian's father was the minister of six ministries, so naturally the two families knew each other.

In a sense, they can be said to be childhood friends.

At the beginning, when Du Qian took office as the governor of Yuezhou, Cui Shao was about to resign from the position of governor of Xuanzhou and return to the capital to serve as an official in one of the six ministries, with a bright future ahead of him.

At that time, Li Yun was getting married in Qingyang. Du Qian, Cui Shao, and Pei Huang had met these three young masters from the capital and they were sitting together drinking and chatting happily.

Now, nearly ten years have passed in the blink of an eye, and the situations of the two people have become very different.

Cui Shao, who looked embarrassed, looked up at Du Qian, who was full of high spirits, with mixed feelings in his heart.

At this moment, he couldn't help but think of the days when he was the governor of Xuanzhou. At that time, Li Yun was still the head of Qingyang County. Under the appointment of the governor, he formed an anti-theft team to suppress bandits in Xuanzhou.

In a sense, the anti-theft team was able to be established because of the note Cui Shao wrote back then.

It was with that note that the core team of the Jiangdong Army was formed.

If... If I had gritted my teeth and stayed in Southeast, and was determined to hang out with Li Yun, now...

Would he become the prime minister of the new dynasty and restore the glory of the Qinghe Cui family?
Will I also be respectfully addressed as Mr. Cui?

I think probably.

While Cui Shao was lost in thought, Du Qian had already sat down and said with a smile, "This is not a public place. Today's meeting is just a private meeting between you and me. There is no need to mention whether we are husband or wife."

"Brother Ji Zong, sit down and talk. Sit down and talk."

Cui Shao finally came back to his senses. After silently looking at Du Qian, he sat down and sighed, "Looking back, it really seems like a dream these ten years have passed. Up to now, among the group of people of the same age that we grew up with in Jingzhao, only you, Shiyilang, have achieved the most."

“No mention of achievements.”

Du Qian shook his head and said sadly, "No one could have predicted that the Great Zhou would end like this. Our Du family's ancestral home in Anrenfang was burned to the ground. Only a small part of the Du family is left."

“Who could have imagined it would be so tragic a dozen years ago?”

Cui Shao looked at him and whispered, "Shiyilang, didn't you think of it?"

"Otherwise, why would you surrender to the emperor at that time?"

Du Qian shook his head: "I don't think so."

"When I was in the capital, I saw the corruption of the Zhou Dynasty and concluded that the country would not last long. So I wanted to leave Guanzhong and go to a place farther away to see if I could benefit the people there."

“At that time, I couldn’t have imagined today.”

Du Qian said seriously: "Most of the time, people take one step at a time."

Cui Shao shook his head. Although he looked haggard, he still had some grace. He looked at Du Qian and said with a smile, "People in Guanzhong say that you have become a god through studying. You are good at fortune-telling and you predicted that the dragon will come out of the southeast. Therefore, you left Guanzhong and headed straight to the southeast."

"I'm going to assist the new master."

Du Qian also found it a little funny when he heard it. After a silent smile, he started talking about business: "Brother Ji Zong, what is the situation in Guanzhong now?"

Cui Shao did not answer, but silently stretched out his arm from under his sleeve. There was a long knife wound on his fair arm, which had now formed a scab.

"Shiyilang saw it?"

"After the incident in the capital, Wei Quanzhong went completely crazy. He sent people to block the capital and started killing people. My uncle..."

"My uncle refused to obey him and died at the hands of the Shuofang army. I took advantage of the chaos and escaped."

"I took the knife too."

At this point, Cui Shao looked sad: "My wives and concubines are all lost in the capital, and my children are also lost in the capital."

Du Qian looked at him and said silently: "Brother Ji Zong, someone from your Qinghe Cui family also serves as an official in Luoyang. You have two sons who have been fostered in Qinghe for a long time."

"Yes."

Cui Shao took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "It is precisely because I still have my second son that I would not have had to flee Guanzhong. I would have simply died at the hands of the Shuofang army."

He looked up at Du Qian and said seriously, "Shiyilang, Guanzhong is in turmoil right now, and this is a great opportunity for the Tang Dynasty to mobilize troops. I have a map of the Shuofang Army stationed in Guanzhong, and I want to present it to the emperor..."

He stood up and bowed deeply to Du Qian: "Please, sir, tell the emperor that I want to see him and present this painting to him."

Du Qian looked at him, thought seriously, then shook his head slightly and said, "Your Majesty, I already know that Brother Ji Zong has come to Luoyang, but His Majesty did not ask to see you, and only asked me to meet him on his behalf. If Brother Ji Zong trusts me, I will pass on this map on his behalf." "If you don't trust me, wait for news in Luoyang City, and I will arrange accommodation for Brother Ji Zong."

Cui Shao looked up at Du Qian, who had a calm expression.

Cui Shao gritted his teeth, took out a small box from his arms, held it in both hands, and handed it to Du Qian, bowing his head and saying, "I trust Shiyilang, so let Shiyilang pass it to the emperor on my behalf."

At this point, he hesitated, lowered his head and said: "No matter what the result is, I thank Shiyilang."

Du Qian stood up, understood the meaning of his words, and shook his head slightly, saying, "Who do you think I am, Brother Ji Zong? I don't need to take credit for anyone's work now."

"I'll have someone take Brother Ji Zong to his residence to rest, and I'll notify Brother Ji Zong when I have any news."

Cui Shao stood up and bowed his head deeply: "Yes."

"Thank you very much."

Du Qian looked at him silently, then walked out and gave a few instructions. Not long after, someone came up and took Cui Shao out of the Secretariat, and then all the way out of the imperial city, arranging for him to rest in the Ministry of Rites Guild Hall.

Du Qian went all the way into the palace and saw Li Yun playing with a sword in the emperor's study.

This is a thick-backed, one-handed horizontal sword. It looks extremely heavy, but in Li Yun's hand, it is as light as a feather. He wields it with great force, and there are bursts of sounds of breaking through the air.

It was not until Du Qian spoke that Li Yun stopped the sword in his hand and placed it on the weapon rack beside him.

Du Qian glanced at the weapon rack in the emperor's study, and his eyes twitched slightly.

Throughout history, he is probably the only emperor who places a weapon rack in his study.

Li Yun stepped forward, pulled Du Qian's sleeve, and said with a smile: "Brother Shouyi, you came at the right time. Look, this is the sword that the Military Equipment Bureau just sent over. It's very good. I have tried it. It is better than the original swords in our army."

"This type of sword can be forged on a large scale, and by the end of this year or next year, it can be equipped to the army little by little."

Du Qian heard this and walked to the weapons rack, took a look, and asked, "Your Majesty, can I pick it up and take a look?"

"Look, look."

Li Yun smiled and said, "Isn't it just for you to see? But this knife is not light, Brother Shouyi may not be able to lift it."

Du Qian picked up the knife with one hand and looked at it carefully.

Although he was a scholar, he was not weak. He was a ruthless man who rode all the way from Guanzhong to Yuezhou in more than 20 days.

After playing with it for a while, he put it back and said with a smile, "This knife is very beautiful. The forger put a lot of effort into it."

The king and his minister talked about the knife, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Works, and the Military Equipment Bureau. After chatting for a long time, Du Qian remembered the main business and told Li Yun about Cui Shao. He took out Cui Shao's wooden box from his sleeve and held it in front of Li Yun with both hands.

"I have already checked it. This is indeed the atlas. Your Majesty, please rest assured."

Mr. Li's identity is different now. Even Du Qian is worried that there may be some murder mechanism in this box, so he confirmed it himself first.

Li Yun himself didn't take it seriously. After taking it and unfolding it for a look, he put it aside and said with a smile, "Let's not talk about whether it's true or not. Even if it's true, once my army moves, the deployment of troops in Guanzhong will inevitably change accordingly."

“This picture is useful, but not particularly useful.”

Du Qian bowed his head and said yes, then looked at Li Yun and asked, "Your Majesty, this Cui Jizong..."

Li Yun narrowed his eyes, thinking back to what happened in Xuanzhou. After thinking about it carefully, he shook his head slightly and said, "This man has a bad heart and serves new masters repeatedly. His character is not as good as Pei Huang."

"I don't really want to use him."

Du Qian nodded and said, "Then persuade him to leave Luoyang."

"Forget it, for the sake of his traveling thousands of miles to present the map."

"Go and talk to him."

Li Yun looked out the window and said lightly.

"I can give him a position as a county magistrate."

"If he doesn't want to, let him go wherever he wants."

(End of this chapter)