Thief Emperor

Chapter 998 Return to the Old Capital

After living in Qingyang Prefecture for more than ten days, His Majesty the Emperor and his entourage finally moved to his former base, Jinling Prefecture.

Li Yun has been looking forward to this trip to Jinling Prefecture for a long time.

After all, he had lived in Jinling Prefecture for quite a long time, and even planned to make it his capital in the future. However, in the end, due to a series of considerations, he gave up on this place and made Luoyang his capital.

Even so, Jinling Prefecture remained the secondary capital of Li Tang and its status was unshakable.

What Li Yun was more concerned about was whether any changes had taken place in Jinling Prefecture after he had been away from Jinling for such a long time, or in other words, how much changes had taken place.

Did the local government fulfill the promises he and his son Li Yuan made to the people of Jinling?

As the dragon chariot was moving, General Yang Xi of the Imperial Guards rode his horse to the left of the chariot. When the chariot stopped to rest, he reported, "Your Majesty, Zhuo Hong, the salt administrator of Jiangdong, has joined the team and wants to see Your Majesty."

His Majesty the Emperor frowned upon hearing this, and then said, "Tell him to go to Jinling to wait for an audience."

Yang Xi nodded and went downstairs to look for the Jiangdong Salt Administrator.

Just as Yang Xi was leaving, Tan Heng, the deputy director of the Jingzhao Division of the Nine Departments, also stepped forward cautiously and handed a document from Liaodong to Li Yun. The emperor, who was sitting in the sedan chair, frowned after reading it.

After reading it, he looked at Tan Heng who was waiting beside the dragon chariot, and said silently: "Tell the camp in Liaodong that I know about it. Since he wants to be a scout in the army, let him perform the duties of a scout."

"Do what he has to do."

At this point, Li Yun looked at his eldest daughter in the sedan chair, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Also, tell Su Zhan at the front that since his family members are injured, he should not go to the front line anymore and should rest well. If necessary, let him retreat to the interior."

It was indeed Li Yun's idea to let Su Zhan go to the front line for training. After all, the fourth son of the Su family might very likely become his eldest son-in-law and also his first son-in-law.

In Li Yun's mind, there was no such weird rule that the son-in-law of the emperor could not serve. In his mind, as long as Su Zhan was capable, he could be used in the future.

That's why Li Yun wanted him to go to the front line for training.

But one must go through experience, but one cannot die from it. Otherwise, let alone other things, it would be difficult to explain to Princess Lujiang alone.

It will be difficult to talk to Senior Brother Su in the future.

Tan Heng responded and went downstairs to do his work. Princess Lujiang, who was naturally intelligent, had already heard some clues from the conversation between the two. However, she did not dare to speak when her father was handling official business. After Tan Heng left, she turned her head and looked at her father straight.

"Dad..."

The eldest princess spoke in a bad tone.

His Majesty the Emperor turned his head and looked at Concubine Shu. Concubine Lu cooperated and glared at her daughter, lecturing her, "How do you talk to your father?"

Princess Lujiang pulled Li Yun's sleeve, her eyes reddened: "Mother, didn't you hear what father said just now? Someone in Uncle Wu's family was injured, and Uncle Wu is on the front line, where can he have any family?"

"Isn't it just Su Zhan? Father, he wants to hide it from me!"

Li Yun shook his head slightly and said, "If I really want to hide it from you, I won't talk to Tan Heng in front of you."

His Majesty the Emperor touched his daughter's head and said, "Su Silang was indeed injured, but your brother was also injured. As a sister, you don't care about your own brother."

Princess Lujiang then exclaimed.

"Ah? Jiro is also on the front line?"

Among Li Yun's children, Crown Prince Li Yuan is the eldest son, and the next in line are Princess Lujiang and King of Yue Li Zheng. Crown Prince Li Yuan is two years older than Princess Lujiang. Although the brother and sister have a good relationship, they cannot be said to have grown up together.

Li Zheng and Princess Lujiang were only a few months apart in age. They grew up together and had a very good relationship.

Hearing what Li Yun said, not only Princess Lujiang exclaimed, but even Concubine Lu couldn't help but change her expression. She looked at Li Yun and said, "Your Majesty, Erlang is a rich man, how can he personally go to the battlefield? The generals on the front line..."

Li Yun shook his head slightly and interrupted her: "If he didn't want to go to the battlefield, who would dare to take him to the front line? Since he wants to go, no one can blame him."

"and."

His Majesty the Emperor was silent for a while, then continued, "Besides, for a man, getting hurt isn't necessarily a bad thing."

For a long time, Li Yun's family had only a few wives and concubines, especially Empress Xue and the two imperial concubines Liu and Lu, who got along like sisters. The second prince was also raised by Imperial Concubine Lu. After hearing what Li Yun said, Imperial Concubine Lu sighed, "Erlang, this child."

"It really looks like Your Majesty."

Li Yun nodded slightly at first, then looked down at the document handed over by Jiusi and muttered to himself.

"He is still not as good as his father, me. Not to mention back then, even now, there are more than 20 Khitans."

His Majesty the Emperor looked outside the carriage and clenched his fists.

"It wouldn't make me so embarrassed."

…………A few days later, Jinling Prefecture.

Zhang Sui, the prefect of Jinling, led a group of officials from Jinling Prefecture to respectfully welcome the arrival of His Majesty the Emperor on the official road. When the emperor's chariot approached, Zhang Sui and a group of officials knelt respectfully and said, "Your Majesty, I am Zhang Sui. I pay my respects to you."

His Majesty the Emperor lifted the curtain and looked outside.

At this time, Consort Lu and Princess Lujiang were no longer in the dragon chariot. Only His Majesty the Emperor was in the chariot. The Emperor waved to Zhang Sui and said, "Come, come, come closer."

Zhang Sui hurried forward and bowed his head to the emperor, "Your Majesty."

The emperor looked at this familiar man and said with a smile: "I almost forgot that you were transferred to Nanjing. How are you doing in Nanjing?"

Zhang Sui bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty has placed great trust in me. I have never been lazy in Nanjing. I have been trembling with fear every day, guarding the secondary capital for Your Majesty."

"If you are trembling with fear, it means you are not confident enough."

The Emperor waved at him and said with a smile, "Let's not waste time here. Get in the car and ride together. I have a lot of questions to ask you."

Zhang Sui bowed his head deeply, replied "yes", and then carefully got on the emperor's sedan chair. As the guard of honor moved again, the Jinling Yin carefully bowed his head and said, "Your Majesty, if you have any questions, I will tell you everything I know."

His Majesty the Emperor patted the familiar man on the shoulder and said with a smile: "You are also from Jiangdong. How do you feel about returning to Jiangdong and becoming the prefect of the secondary capital?"

"Have you gathered a group of fellow villagers under your command?"

Zhang Sui was sweating profusely at this question. He quickly said, "Your Majesty, you are joking. I always handle official business impartially..."

The Emperor reached out his hand, tapped Zhang Sui on the head, and said with a smile: "You have done this kind of thing a lot. If you work in Jinling Prefecture for a few more years, I'm afraid that all the stray dogs in your hometown village will have to guard the Jinling Prefecture government office."

Zhang Sui was from Jiangdong, or to be more precise, from Jinling.

But he is not from Jinling City.

This time when he returned to Jinling, Zhang Sui did promote many people from his hometown to work in Jinling City.

But apart from this, Zhang Sui didn't have any major problems. As long as this matter didn't affect the operation of the government office, the administration of the court, and didn't cause too many bad consequences, Emperor Li wouldn't bother with him.

Saying it now is just a warning to him.

Moreover, His Majesty the Emperor really reached out and "hit" Zhang Sui, which shows that he still regarded Zhang Sui as his own and was just giving him a reminder.

Zhang Sui was hit on the forehead, his face flushed, and he lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, please understand."

"After I returned to Jinling, I immediately dismissed my fellow townsmen..."

The emperor smiled and said, "It's not a big deal. I just want to remind you not to get deeper and deeper into trouble."

"Sometimes being too nostalgic is not necessarily a good thing."

Zhang Sui quickly nodded his head in response.

Afterwards, His Majesty the Emperor asked many questions about Jinling Prefecture, ranging from the current situation of Jinling City to the economy and people's livelihood of the entire Jinling Prefecture.

After asking questions along the way, by the time they had finished asking most of the questions, the ceremonial procession was only twenty or thirty miles away from Jinling City.

The team slowed down again.

The Emperor looked outside, and Yang Xi hurried forward and bowed to the Emperor outside the chariot and said, "Your Majesty, the elders of Jinling are waiting outside the city to welcome Your Majesty."

Li Yun glanced outside and saw that many people had gathered on both sides of the official road. When these people saw the emperor's procession, they all knelt respectfully on both sides of the road. At a glance, they knelt for dozens of miles.

Li Yun frowned and looked at Zhang Sui who was in the same car. Zhang Sui shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty, I don't know. I don't know."

Li Yun looked outside and was about to speak when he heard Yang Xi say, "Your Majesty, the Zhuo family is here too. They are waiting in front of the procession to welcome you..."

"Zhuo family."

His Majesty the Emperor raised his eyebrows and asked, "How many people?"

Yang Xi took a look and replied, "It looks like there should be dozens of people. I didn't count the exact number."

His Majesty the Emperor nodded silently and said, "Let's go into the city first, the people along the way..."

He paused and continued.

"Give everyone some money and other things."

(End of this chapter)