Thief Emperor

Chapter 97 The weak government troops!
In Xuanzhou, the closest county to Yuezhou is Ningguo County. Logically speaking, if money and grain are transferred from one state to support Yuezhou, they should be transferred to Ningguo County and then sent to Yuezhou from Ningguo County.

But now, the governor Cui asked to send the money and grain to Xuanzhou City first, and then dispatch them to Yuezhou. This would waste a lot of manpower and material resources.

And this governor Cui even explained in official documents why he did this. Firstly, it was to facilitate unified dispatch and communication with the royal army of Yuezhou. Secondly, the troops in various counties were insufficient. In order to ensure the safety of money and grain, the officials and soldiers of the state had to escort them.

In fact, both of these reasons are untenable.

In the final analysis, it was just because the governor Cui wanted to write the words "the grain and fodder raised by me will be sent to Yuezhou" in the memorial to the court.

And it was precisely because of this selfish thought that not only did Xuanzhou's money and grain be wasted by at least 20% to 30% out of thin air, but the grain transportation process became much more lengthy, which made Li Dutou... no, it should be said that Li Zhaizhu saw an opportunity.

After confirming that all counties were transporting grain to Xuanzhou City, Li Yun sent a letter to Shiwangzhai, asking Liu Bo to send more people to the vicinity of Xuanzhou City to determine the specific time for Xuanzhou City to transport grain to Yuezhou, preferably...

Can determine the specific path.

Li Yun himself was also preparing to go to Xuanzhou City to see what the city, which he had never seen before, looked like.

After all, if his power expands in the future, Xuanzhou City may become his base camp.

Before leaving Qingyang, Li Yun went to see County Magistrate Xue again.

It's just the beginning of spring and the weather is still a little cold, but the sun is out and the weather is warming up a little.

As soon as Li Yun walked into the back court, he saw that the open space in front of Magistrate Xue's study was filled with books. Magistrate Xue, who already had a lot of white hair on his head, was walking out of the study with a pile of books in his arms, and then he carefully spread out the books one by one and placed them in the yard.

Li Yun stepped forward and said with a smile, "Is the county magistrate drying books?"

The old man looked up at Li Yun and said calmly, "It's tidying up."

"By the way, let's dry it out in the sun. Maybe we'll move in a few days."

Li Yun stepped forward, helped him spread out a few books, and then said, "Don't worry, County Master. I will leave Qingyang in a while and go to Xuanzhou to see if there will be any turnaround."

Magistrate Xue slowed down his movements, then continued to arrange the books. After a while, he said to himself, "You were away from Qingyang for more than half a month after the New Year. I asked a few runners from the anti-theft team about this."

Magistrate Xue said slowly, "They said that during the past six months of suppressing bandits, the anti-theft team had helpers. They said that you found them from the people and they voluntarily followed the government to suppress bandits."

Li Yun finished placing the books in his hand and said with a smile: "The anti-theft team of seven or eight dozen people alone could not suppress any bandits at the beginning. It was all thanks to the county magistrate's good education and the support of the people of Qingyang for the government that the local militia helped to suppress the bandits."

Master Xue did not raise his head and continued, "I checked the records. In half a year, you led the team to wipe out seven villages. All these militiamen participated in the attack. And once they finished attacking the villages, they disappeared without a trace."

"The people in the anti-bandit team said that in the past seven anti-bandit operations, most of the militiamen were the same group of people, and they already knew a few of them."

"Once these militiamen had wiped out the bandits, they disappeared without a trace. They never came to Qingyang once, and never accepted any rewards from the government."

Magistrate Xue looked up at Li Yun and asked, "Where did they go?"

Li Dutou smiled and said, "Since they are all local militiamen, they should go back to their own homes."

"Which home did you go back to?"

Magistrate Xue said suddenly, "Tell me their names. I will check their household registration."

Li Yun put the book in his hand back on the ground and sighed, "County Master, why do you have to be so fussy about some things?"

"I never want to argue with you."

Magistrate Xue continued to fiddle with the book with his head down, then said, "Otherwise, I would have exposed your excuse during the second bandit suppression campaign."

"Those so-called militiamen are actually bandits from Cangshan Village, right?"

Li Yun neither admitted nor denied it.

Master Xue stood up, turned his head and looked at Li Yun, and continued: "So, the seven times you suppressed bandits last year were not to eliminate harm for Qingyang, but actually to lead the Cangshan stronghold to annex seven mountain strongholds."

"In the previous seven times, these 'village soldiers' followed you to suppress bandits. But at the end of the year, during the Shiwangzhai raid, all the members of the anti-bandit team came back and said that they didn't see any village soldiers."

"You shut them up."

"As for the Cangshan Stronghold, according to the news you reported, it has been completely damaged in the conflict with the Ten Kings Stronghold and is no longer a threat."

"It seemed that in the midst of laughter and conversation, the Cangshan stronghold where my daughter was kidnapped was reduced to ashes overnight."

Magistrate Xue looked at Li Yun and said slowly, "They are the ones who have occupied the Ten Kings Village now, right?"

"County Honor, you..."

Li Yun frowned and was speechless.

This old man is so smart. With just a little known information, he has already guessed the whole picture of the matter.

"You have never lost contact with Cangshan Dazhai from the beginning to the end."

Master Xue put his hands behind his back and walked towards the study. "To be honest, if it weren't for your northern accent and the fact that you don't look like a bandit at all, I would have suspected that you were the bandit leader of the Cangshan Village."

Li Yun followed him and smiled: "County Master, no matter what the result is, I have finally done something good for Qingyang, right?"

"Of course it is."

Master Xue took down another pile of books from the bookshelf, dusted them off, and said, "If it weren't for this, would I be here to talk to you calmly?"

Li Yun helped him move the books and asked, "Why did the county magistrate suddenly bring this up today?"

"I want to tell you."

Master Xue looked at Li Yun who was moving books and said calmly: "Not everyone in this world is stupid. Your little tricks may fool people temporarily, but not forever."

"You are going to Xuanzhou now, just to use those people in the mountains, but is this the right way?"

"Sooner or later, someone will find a way to catch you and beat you to pieces."

"A mountain stronghold is nothing." Master Xue shook his head and said, "My position as a county magistrate is nothing either."

"Don't mess around anymore. If I step down as the magistrate of Qingyang, you should leave with me and stay away from that den of thieves."

"From now on, be an upright and honest person."

Li Yun put the book on the ground, looked up at Magistrate Xue, and said with a smile: "County Magistrate, you should be an upright person. Why can't you fight back when you are being bullied?"

Xue Song was speechless.

Li Yun continued, "If it were a prosperous and peaceful era, what the county lord said would naturally be the truth, but the world is different now."

He stood up and walked out: "I still have to do what I should do."

"If this is accomplished, the county lord won't have to leave Qingyang. If it can't be done."

Li Yun stopped and shook his head slightly, saying, "I have done my best for the county lord."

After saying that, he strode out.

Mr. Xue looked at his back, frowned at first, and then became a little absent-minded.

He didn't know how long he had been in a daze, but finally a clear voice woke him up: "Dad, are we really leaving Qingyang?"

Magistrate Xue turned around and looked at Xue Yun'er who had come over at some point. After thinking for a moment, he reached out and touched Xue Yun'er's head: "In theory, you should leave, but..."

He looked into the distance and said, "It seems that there is something unreasonable in Qingyang."

"So... this matter will have to wait a little longer."

"This Li Zhao."

Mr. Xue smacked his lips and gave his own evaluation.

"Very strange."

…………

Outside Xuanzhou City, Li Yun, dressed in plain clothes, was sitting at a roadside tea stall drinking tea.

Liu Bo and Li Zheng both sat on his side. Liu Bo whispered, "Second brother, more than 30 carts of grain passed by here today. The grain from Xuanzhou should also be shipped out from here."

Li Yun said "hmm", then asked: "Did you see how many soldiers were accompanying us?"

"Twenty or thirty."

Liu Bo smiled and said, "They should be soldiers from Xuanzhou, originally under the command of Sima Cao."

It is naturally impossible to deliver all the supplies for a state in one batch. In fact, these twenty or thirty vehicles are just one of the batches.

Mr. Li finished the tea in his bowl and asked, "How many of our brothers are there nearby?"

"About twenty."

Liu Bo replied: "If there are more people, we will have to summon them from Lingyang Mountain."

"almost."

Village leader Li clenched his fists, his tone revealing an excitement that was hard to conceal.

"It will definitely be too late to send more people over."

"Let's do the fucking first!"

Liu Bo smiled gently: "Second brother has finally returned to our original business."

Li Yun clenched his fists, his eyes full of excitement.

"Yeah, it's been a while."

……

The next afternoon.
The grain-encouraging vehicle finally passed a long and narrow slope. Just when the Xuanzhou soldiers escorting the grain breathed a sigh of relief, loud shouts suddenly came from the side of the road.

"Robbery!"

About twenty people shouted almost at the same time.

Among these people, the one in the front was wearing a black mask with only his two eyes exposed. He held a mace in his hand, shouted loudly, and charged forward.

"boom!"

After a loud collision, Li Yun held the mace in both hands and hit a horse with it, causing its brain to burst. The horse howled and fell to the ground.

Li Dutou took advantage of the situation and swept across, his mace whistling, and "swept" another man out.

He shouted loudly, stepped forward and knocked over several people in succession. Such a heroic performance made the Xuanzhou soldiers terrified, and many of them had already begun to retreat in a panic.

Li Yun jumped onto the roof of a carriage, the mask on his face was extremely black, and he shouted: "We only want money, we don't want to kill people, if you don't want to die, get out of here!"

As a result, the more than 30 Xuanzhou soldiers, as expected, scattered like birds and beasts and turned around and ran away.

Village leader Li stood on a high place and laughed out loud at their fleeing backs.

"Xuanzhou soldiers, these are Xuanzhou soldiers..."

(End of this chapter)