Chapter 292: The Traitor Li Zhao
The Su family’s hometown is about four or five hundred miles away from Shuzhou. In other words, after leaving the capital, he almost rushed back home non-stop, brought his entire family out, and moved his entire family out in accordance with his old father’s “will”.

The reason why Su Jing chose Li Yun was not only because Li Yun had sent someone to see him, but also probably because when General Su was still in Jiangnan, he had already seen a little bit of the rebellious nature behind Li Yun’s mind.

He knew that Li Yun would never get involved with the imperial court.

Moreover, Li Yun is a very loyal person.

That’s enough.

Su Jing saw clearly that troubled times had arrived, so considering the peace of his family, Li Yun became almost the only choice for General Su.

This is of course a great thing for Li Yun.

Putting aside General Su’s affection for Li Yun, from the perspective of interests alone, Su Sheng alone is a great help to Li Yun. Now Li Yun is in urgent need of expanding the army. He has two states to recruit soldiers, and the income from the Wujun Salt Road will not be a problem for at least two years. He has people and money, so what he lacks is naturally generals.

Zhao Cheng was born into a family of generals, and Su Sheng was also born into a family of generals. Moreover, if we compare the names of their fathers, General Su Sheng is much more famous than General Zhao.

In addition to Su Sheng himself, there are also some invisible benefits.

General Su is a famous general of the time, and there are still many of his old subordinates in various places. If these people knew that Li Yun had taken in the Su family, it would be of great benefit to Li Yun’s personal reputation.

Of course, Li Yun doesn’t consider these things now.

If he really thought so much, he wouldn’t have even attacked Luzhou City some time ago.

A true leader cannot consider issues entirely from the perspective of interests. If he does, he is not a leader but a mercenary businessman.

After resting in Tongyang County for two days, Li Yun led the 200 riders to escort the Su family back to Wuzhou. Along the way, Li Yun and Su Sheng rode side by side.

Because they were traveling with their family, they were not walking fast, so the two of them could still talk. Li Yun told Su Sheng about what happened in Luzhou, and then said in a deep voice: “This matter is simply unbelievable. If what Hou Liang said is true, leaving aside the Shuofang Army, the court at least had the ability to help the general break out.”

Su Sheng rode on the horse with his eyes closed and did not speak for a long time.

Li Yun finally reacted at this time and quickly explained: “What I said may be considered provocative. Hou Liang was captured by me at that time, and he may have said these words to save his life. Brother Su, just listen to it.”

Su Sheng opened his eyes again, and his hands holding the reins were shaking so much that he couldn’t even ride the horse and almost fell off.

Seeing that something was not right, Li Yun quickly dismounted, stopped the team, and ordered them to rest on the spot. Then he helped Su Sheng dismount from the horse and helped Su Sheng sit down under a tree.

“My Father, My Father…”

Su Sheng leaned against a big tree, unable to speak for a long time, his voice trembling. After a long while, he couldn’t help but burst into tears.

“My father had 30,000 soldiers and horses at the beginning, and he completely…”

Su Sheng held Li Yun’s hand tightly, looked up at Li Yun, and gritted his teeth: “He can completely ignore the court, like… like Wei Quanzhong of the Shuofang Army, and occupy a few states by then, and he will be a Jiedushi… or a Jiedushi!”

His eyes were red, and he slapped himself hard: “I shouldn’t have listened to him in the first place. Go to the capital city! Go to the capital city!”

Li Yun grabbed his arm and sighed, “The general has been loyal all his life.”

“Brother Su, please don’t be like this.”

Li Yun sat next to him and said with a wry smile: “I shouldn’t have mentioned that.”

“Yes, yes!”

Su Sheng’s eyes widened, and he gritted his teeth and said, “I will get to the bottom of this sooner or later! If my father was really killed by the imperial court, as a son, how can I not avenge him!”

Seeing his expression, Li Yun sighed, took out the seal of the governor of Ruzhou from his arms, handed it to Su Sheng, and said, “This is the certificate that Hou Liang took out. I’m giving it to Brother Su to prove that I didn’t mean to stir up trouble.”

He patted Su Sheng’s shoulder gently and said silently: “The situation has come to this point, and the world has begun to be in chaos. Brother Su, there is something I must make clear to you in advance. In the future, I may go against the court.”

Su Sheng took the seal, looked up at Li Yun, and wiped the tears from his eyes with his sleeve: “Brother, since you can say this, I will follow you from now on. What a bullshit court!”

“Even if there was no Hou Liang, my father would still be a burden to the court!”

Li Yun sat next to him and comforted him for a moment. Only then did Su Sheng calm down his excitement and set off again with Li Yun.

On the other hand, the news from Luzhou was quickly sent to the capital via an express route of six hundred miles.

In the government hall, several prime ministers looked at the report, puzzled, and all looked at the Minister of War Chen Kan who was discussing matters in the government hall. Prime Minister Cui Yuan frowned and said: “Wuzhou is a thousand miles away from Luzhou. How did the soldiers of Wuzhou appear in Luzhou and kill thousands of rebels?”

Prime Minister Min Fang also frowned and said, “It’s strange. Even a local governor can only mobilize state troops within his jurisdiction. Luzhou is already in Huainan Road, and it’s even separated from Jiangnan East Road by Jiangnan West Road.”

“Besides…if I remember correctly, I saw a document a few days ago that the governor of Jiangdong has been arrested by His Royal Highness the King of Chu and is on his way to the capital…”

Min Fang frowned and asked, “How can these Wuzhou soldiers go to Luzhou?”

Chen Shangshu of the Ministry of War sighed and said with a wry smile: “My dear lords, I think that now we should not consider how the Wuzhou soldiers can get to Luzhou or whether they can get to Luzhou, but we should consider…”

“How did the Wuzhou soldiers, who should have at most a thousand men, defeat thousands of rebels and win a great victory? Or in other words…” “How many soldiers are there in Wuzhou?”

Minister Chen lowered his brows and said, “If Wuzhou’s military strength is far more than a thousand men, then what exactly does Li Zhao, the governor of Wuzhou, want to do?”

Upon hearing this, several prime ministers frowned, as if thinking about something.

A prime minister asked, “Who recommended this Li Zhao?”

“Su Jing recommended it.”

Prime Minister Cui said calmly, “Su Jing recommended him as the Sima of Yuezhou. Some time ago, Zheng Yu wrote to him to ask for credit for suppressing the Wuzhou rebellion. Since this is a time of trouble, after discussion in the Political Affairs Hall, we made an exception and promoted him to fill the vacancy in Wuzhou.”

Several prime ministers were about to say something else when a shrill and long voice came from outside the door.

“His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has arrived——”

Soon, Crown Prince Wu Yuancheng walked into the Council Hall with his hands behind his back.

Behind him was Pei Huang, who had just returned to the capital and was following the prince closely.

Several prime ministers stood up and bowed to the prince.

The prince raised his hand to indicate that there was no need for formalities, then he sat directly on the main seat in the government hall and motioned for the prime ministers to sit down.

After the prime ministers sat down, the prince said in a muffled voice: “I have also heard about what happened in Luzhou.”

“I have received intelligence that Li Zhao, the governor of Wuzhou, led his troops all the way to Luzhou in order to gather up the deserters of Su Jing’s army and bring them back to Jiangnan.”

“That makes sense.”

Cui Xianggong nodded slightly and said, “Li Zhao was recommended by Su Jing, so he will naturally remember the old favor.”

He paused and continued, “But feelings are feelings. Deserting on the battlefield is a capital crime. Li Zhao led his troops out of Wuzhou without permission and accepted deserters without permission. These are two serious crimes.”

These are indeed two major sins.

In times of peace, every sin is enough to punish the person with death, and more than one death.

Perhaps the entire family, young and old, will be beheaded.

But now, the world is different.

Even if the imperial court really wanted to kill Li Yun, it would be difficult to decide who to send and how to kill him.

So, Prime Minister Cui stopped talking here and did not continue. Instead, he looked at the Crown Prince and kicked the ball to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

The prince frowned and looked back at Pei Huang. Pei Huang coughed, cleared his throat and said, “My dear lords, the crime committed by Li Zhao was originally unforgivable, but now the court is in need of people, and he did defeat the rebels in Luzhou and recaptured Luzhou City, which is a real contribution.”

“The merits and demerits can offset some of his sins.”

Hearing Pei Huang’s words, several prime ministers looked at him at the same time.

There was nothing wrong with Pei Huang’s remarks. With the current state of the court, it would be difficult to keep Tongguan. Don’t even think about what happened in the south of the Yangtze River. Even if they impose punishment, Li Zhao will not recognize it, and in the end it will be just a piece of empty words.

The imperial court no longer had the means to send soldiers to Jiangnan to fight the bandits.

At least not before the Central Plains is pacified.

Therefore, the two crimes that Li Yun committed, which could be considered as treason at the most serious level, were easily offset by “merits and demerits” here.

Pei Huang’s speech was very smooth and there was nothing wrong with it, but several prime ministers still frowned slightly.

Because this should have been a speech by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

You, Pei Huang, are a junior, and a convicted official who has just been recalled to the capital. What qualifications do you have to speak in the government hall? And to say such a qualitative statement?
Even if it was said on behalf of the crown prince, it was enough to make these prime ministers feel uncomfortable.

Pei Huang seemed to see the dissatisfaction of these prime ministers, but he did not care and continued: “However, it is still a taboo to mobilize troops without authorization, and it must be punished. These Wuzhou soldiers should still be in Luzhou. Your Highness wants to order them to go north from Luzhou and enter Henan Road.”

“Help the imperial court to wipe out the rebels in the Central Plains.”

“To atone for one’s sins with merit.”

Minister Chen looked up, looked at Pei Huang with a half-smile, and then said, “Master Pei, what if the soldiers of Wuzhou… disobey orders? Should we also label this Li Zhao a traitor?”

Pei Huang had no expression on his face.

“If he disobeys orders, even if he is not a traitor now, he will definitely be a traitor in the future!”

(End of this chapter)