Chapter 470: Two Hundred Years of Peace
If the last time Li Yun took Yangzhou in Jiangbei could only be considered a trick, then this time, he almost had a head-on confrontation with the Pinglu Army.

It’s like two masters fighting each other.

During this process, Li Yun was completely in the upper hand, and even made the “master” of the Pinglu Army spit blood and lose nearly 5,000 troops.

even more.

Such an amazing thing must be widely publicized, otherwise the effect will be greatly reduced.

However, although this event was impressive, it was after all a battle with the Pinglu Army, which could not be considered a victory, and it was even more impossible to notify the court in the name of reporting the achievement. So how to make it known became a problem.

Fortunately, Li Yun had a ready-made channel to communicate with the court, that was Pei Zhuang. Pei Zhuang could communicate with Pei Huang, and communicating with Pei Huang was equivalent to communicating with the court.

The most important purpose of Li Yun wanting to inform the court of this matter was to let the court see the strength of the Jiangnan soldiers, so that those military governors and the Wu Zhou court, if they planned to take action against Jiangnan and Li Yun, would have to think carefully before taking action.

Of course, the imperial court might even confer an official title on Li because of this incident, such as confirming his status as the governor of Jiangdong.

Although it doesn’t help in any practical sense, it at least makes you look better.

Pei Zhuang looked at the document handed over by Li Yun, then looked up at the smiling Li Yun. He took the document and after hesitating for a moment, he said, “Sir, can I read what’s written on it?”

Li Yun frowned: “Brother Pei, what are you talking about? I asked someone to write this for you. Of course you can read it.”

Pei Zhuang thought for a moment and continued, “Envoy, I am a member of the Pei family. I grew up in the Pei family. This is the grace of raising me. I cannot let the Pei family down, nor can I let the young master down.”

Li Yun frowned and said, “Brother Pei, you can check and ask as much as you want about the contents of this document when you are in Jiangbei these days. If even one word is false, I, Li, will kowtow to you and apologize!”

Pei Zhuang stuffed the document into his sleeve, clasped his fists towards Li Yun and said, “Envoy, I may really need to ask about what is written in this document. If it is all true, I will present it to you, young master.”

At this point, he bowed his head deeply and said, “If I have offended you, I hope you will forgive me.”

After saying that, he turned and left.

Li Yun stood up and walked him to the door. After watching him walk away, Li narrowed his eyes and sighed in his heart.

The influence of this aristocratic family is really great. Even a hero like Pei Zhuang, who has unique skills and can go anywhere in the world, is tied to the Pei family by invisible threads and cannot be freed.

Those who were controlled were not only house slaves like Pei Zhuang, but probably also military officers and civil officials who were bound by interests, teachers and students, in-laws, relatives, and so on.

If this is the case with the Pei family, then the same logic may be true for other aristocratic families. Overtly or covertly, all kinds of threads are intertwined and tangled.

For example, the Cui family may be even larger and more powerful.

Li Yun put his hands behind his back and pondered for a long time. Then he reached out and touched his chin. He suddenly thought of the middle-aged man named Huang whom he had met in Jinling.

“Maybe, we really need such a person.”

Mr. Li whispered softly and talked to himself.

“We are here to break down these classes that have not changed for thousands of years.”

………………

In early November, the Pinglu Army almost withdrew from the entire eastern part of Huainan Road and really gave up the six states mentioned by Li Yun.

Although Li Yun had known this for a long time, the feeling was different when it really came true.

At this time, Li Yun ordered the garrisons in various places to continue to guard the cities, while he himself brought Su Sheng to Yangzhou City to meet with a group of “seniors” from Jiangbei.

A more accurate term would be… a meeting.

Participants in the meeting this time included almost all the core figures of the Jiangdong Group in Jiangbei, including Li Yun, Su Sheng, Zhao Cheng, Zhou Liang, Meng Qing and the famous cold-faced Xu Ang who has been in charge of Yangzhou for some time.

Everyone met at the Governor’s Mansion in Yangzhou City, and Li Yun naturally sat in the main seat.

The other people sat on both sides of him, each with a small table at hand.

The last person to arrive was Xu Ang, Xu Ziwang, the chief officer of Yangzhou. After he came in, he bowed respectfully to Li Yun and said, “Greetings, Your Excellency.”

Li Yun pointed to the second seat on the left and said with a smile: “Brother Xu is never late. What happened to hold Brother Xu back?”

Xu Ang whispered, “When I received the news, I was outside Yangzhou City, leading people to bury the bodies.”

He paused and continued, “There are too many bodies, and the weather is cold now. We can’t handle them all in a short time, so it’s a little late.”

Li Yun then noticed that Xu Ang’s shoes were covered in mud. After sighing, Li Yun first motioned Xu Ang to sit down, and then asked, “How many bodies are there?”

“The number of bodies that my subordinates have seen alone is several hundred.”

Xu Ang looked at Li Yun and whispered, “War has always been like this wherever there is disaster. Not everyone can control the soldiers like we do in Jiangdong.”

The soldiers of this era are completely different from the soldiers of another era.

Soldiers have swords and armor, so killing an ordinary citizen is not much different from killing a chicken.

Even killing a chicken might be more difficult.

Because chickens run very fast, it is not easy to catch them, and if you are wearing armor and carrying a sword, sometimes you only need to shout loudly and the people will kneel down and beg for mercy.

The Pinglu Army had just experienced a surge in troop strength. They were composed of new recruits with lax military discipline. In addition, the attacks on Chuzhou and Yangzhou were not going well. Under such circumstances, they were more indulgent towards their subordinates, and even intentionally allowed them to vent their emotions.

But Yangzhou is a relatively affluent place…

As a result, the people outside the city suffered.

After all, not everyone lives in the city.

Xu Ang was in charge of Yangzhou under the orders of Li Yun. After the Pinglu Army retreated, he took his men to the outside of the city to deal with the aftermath. Until today, not even all the bodies have been buried.

Other follow-up work is even more uncertain.

I’m afraid it will take a long time before there is hope of recovery.

Li Yun took a deep breath and was silent for a long time before he spoke: “From now on, we don’t have to just defend the city. We can already defend the inner city, and in the future, we should try to fight outside the city.”

He looked at Xu Ang and said directly: “There will be no more major wars in Yangzhou from now on.”

After Chuzhou and Haozhou are taken, Yangzhou will become “inland” instead of border. As Li Yun’s sphere of influence expands, Yangzhou will become his core area and his hinterland in the future.

The most important thing for this core area is of course safety and stability.

In other words, with Li Yun’s words, there will be no more wars in Yangzhou for at least fifty years. And once Li Yun leaves Jiangdong and succeeds in the future, there may be no more wars in Yangzhou for two hundred years.

This is a two hundred year promise!

Xu Ang stood up and bowed his head respectfully: “On behalf of the people of Yangzhou, I would like to thank you, Your Excellency!”

“Get up, let’s discuss this matter.”

Li Yun said slowly: “Each of the six states in Jiangbei is important, especially Chuzhou, Haozhou, and Luzhou. Each state needs an army to garrison.”

“We are now discussing the selection of personnel to station troops in these three states.”

As he spoke, he looked at Zhao Cheng and said with a smile: “General Zhao, the defense of Jiangbei will be in your charge for a period of time. Do you want to go north and garrison Chuzhou, or…”

“Sir, I have thought about this in the past few days.”

Zhao Cheng said calmly: “It would be better for me to lead the troops to garrison Fengyang in Haozhou, so that I can also take care of the other two states.”

Li Yun thought about it, nodded and agreed, then smiled and said: “Then in a few days, General Zhao, you will accompany me to Fengyang to meet with the Zhou family father and son, and take a look at Fengyang and the terrain of Haozhou.”

Zhao Cheng nodded quickly.

“I obey my orders!”

“it is good.”

Li Yun knocked on the table and continued.

“Continue the discussion.”

In Yangzhou city, everyone was talking to each other.

The fate of countless people in the six states of Jiangbei was thus determined.

At the same time, the small Jiangdong court was officially formed!
(End of this chapter)