Chapter 473 Jinling Literary Gathering!

The current Zhou Dynasty is no longer named Wu.

This is something that is almost known to everyone in the capital.

Although the three Jiedushi seldom issued orders in their own name, they would read many documents and decrees in the capital and actively participate in giving opinions.

If you disagree with them, even if these decrees are passed, they will not be able to leave the capital.

What’s more important is that it has been more than half a year since the court returned to the capital, and all the important positions in the court have been occupied by the three military governors.

It is worth mentioning that when the three of them entered the capital, there were no civil servants with them, and at most they brought some clerks with them.

And at this moment, they suddenly had so many subordinates who were capable of becoming officials. It was naturally because in the past six months, countless civil servants in the court had turned to these three military leaders and became their disciples.

This is the wisdom of the civil servants. Although it is undeniable that some of these scholars are indeed men of character, most of them are not strong-willed.

Even quite soft.

Nowadays, most of the officials who lectured to the emperor in the imperial palace were retainers of the three military governors.

It can be said that the imperial court has been controlled by them. Although it is not particularly obvious, now, if they want the imperial court to issue any decree, the imperial court will issue it.

However, if there are some political views in the court that make them dissatisfied, the decrees cannot leave the court.

Having controlled the inner court, the three military governors now turned their attention to areas outside the capital.

There are a total of ten Jiedushi in the Great Zhou Dynasty. In addition to these three, there are seven other Jiedushi outside. Among these seven Jiedushi, except for the relatively weak Jiannan Jiedushi who can be excluded, the other Jiedushi have considerable power.

Ideally, these three would of course want to use their status with the imperial court to reap enough benefits, and even take over the territories of other military governors.

But the reality is that it is not easy for them to take action against those powerful Jiedushi now, such as the Jiedushi of Beiting, the Jiedushi of Hexi, etc.

You can only pick the soft ones first.

The first target of these three people was Jiangnan, or to be more precise, Jiangnan, including the Pinglu vassal state.

Therefore, the three of them had been following this Jiangbei battle from beginning to end, and they all knew that if the two forces fought to the end, even if one of them won, the other would inevitably cripple it.

At that time, if Zhou Xu won, the court could send people to take over Li Yun’s territory and drive Zhou Xu back to Qingzhou.

At that time, the crippled Pinglu Army was unable to resist.

vice versa.

If Li Yun won, the Fanyang army would probably go directly south and advance from the north again to the Huai River, or even the Yangtze River, and kill them all in one go.

But now, when neither side was seriously injured, the Pinglu Army actually retreated on its own initiative and gave up half of Jiangbei to Li Yun!

This was simply unbelievable, and it also gave the three military governors a headache.

Especially Fanyang Jiedushi Xiao Xian, who was so angry that he cursed: “This Zhou Yaozi! What a shame, he is a disgrace to us Jiedushi and his father!”

In his early years, General Zhou spent a lot of time sleeping with prostitutes and was away from home for most of the year. His peers gave him the nickname Zhou Yaozi. However, later, when he took over as the governor of Pinglu, no one dared to call him by this nickname anymore.

Only General Xiao Xian could give a shout.

General Li Tong put his hands behind his back, looked at the map of the entire Huainan Road in front of him, and said slowly: “In one breath, two more troubles have arisen.”

Wei Quanzhong was also looking at the Huainan Road map. He stroked his chin, flipped through the battle report on the intelligence, and suddenly said, “This little guy named Li Yun.”

“It’s not easy.”

General Wei said with a sigh, “It only took a few years to achieve success. I’m afraid only Wang Junping can match his speed.”

Li Tong narrowed his eyes and said in a somewhat old voice: “Of course he has the ability, but he just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

“If it wasn’t for the time when the court was in danger, and if he hadn’t happened to be born in Jiangnan, he would never have succeeded.”

Wei Quanzhong’s eyes were fixed on Jiangnan. He stared at Jiangnan for a long time and whispered, “Although Jiangnan doesn’t produce much grain, it has a thriving business. It’s a good place. While this little guy is just starting out, we should suppress him as soon as possible.”

“Lest it become a serious problem in the future.”

He looked at the other two military governors and said, “Send someone to contact General Zhou.”

The other two governors did not object or say anything.

Hedong Jiedushi Li Tong just stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the map in front of him, and suddenly said something inexplicable.

“If Su Jing were here, Jiangnan would never have come to this.”

The other two Jiedushi looked at each other and ignored him, each going to do their own thing. In their opinion, this General Li was too old, even a little confused, and often said some irrelevant things.

While the three Jiedushi were busy, in Chongde Hall, Pei Sanlang looked at the emperor and whispered, “Your Majesty, according to my servant, Li Yun fought against the Pinglu Army in Jiangbei and won victory after victory.”

“Moreover, they directly occupied several states in Jiangbei.”

Pei Huang continued, “It is precisely because of this that Zhou Xu lowered his face to become sworn brothers with Li Yun. If he had not suffered a loss on the battlefield, Zhou Xu would have been more than qualified to be Li Yun’s father. How could he have suffered such a loss?”

His Majesty the Emperor was silent for a moment, and whispered: “I’m afraid people like Li Yun will appear in various places one after another, right?”

Pei Huang shook his head and said, “Your Majesty can rest assured. There are many people in the world who harbor ulterior motives, but there are not many people like Li Yun. It is really too difficult to rise from humble beginnings.”

His Majesty the Emperor did not speak for a long time. After a long while, he asked, “Is there anything I can do for you?”

Pei Huang’s expression darkened when he heard this.

The influence of those three military governors in the capital is growing, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for him and the Emperor to do anything that can affect the local areas.

“Your Majesty… maybe you can give Li Yun some more promotions.”

Pei Huang said silently: “Even if it is useless, if the speed of those three people sweeping the world is slowed down by one day, Your Majesty will be safer for one day.”

The Emperor lost interest after hearing this and said slowly, “Sanlang, please take care of this matter. I am a little tired.”

After saying this, His Majesty the Emperor turned and left.

Pei Huang sat there, dazed for a while, and suddenly thought of someone.

“Du Shiyi, Du Shiyi…”

Pei Huang murmured a few words and frowned slightly.

“You went to Jiangnan voluntarily, didn’t you?”

…………

Late November.

After simply arranging some things in Jiangbei, or arranging some frameworks, Li Yun set off to return to Jinling.

This time he went back, it wasn’t because he missed home, but because he had an important thing to do and he had to start preparing for it immediately.

Because the issues in Jiangbei were basically resolved, Li Yun felt very light all the way. He didn’t even ride his horse very hard. He took a car all the way to Liuhe Ferry, then crossed the river from Liuhe Ferry and headed south, just in time to return to Jinling.

This time, because he had been informed in advance, Du Qian, along with Zhuo Guangrui and other officials, greeted him outside the city before he arrived at the gate of Jinling. After seeing Li Yun, Du Qian stepped forward with a broad smile on his face, bowed respectfully and said, “I am Du Qian, your humble servant, and I pay my respects to you, Your Excellency!”

Because Du Qian and Li Yun had previously been more of a cooperative relationship, he seldom showed great courtesy to Li Yun, and the two addressed each other as equals when communicating privately.

But now, he sincerely showed his respect to Li Yun.

Li Yun stepped forward, helped him up, and said with a smile: “Brother Du, what are you doing? Get up quickly, get up quickly.”

Du Qian stood up, still smiling: “Congratulations, envoy. This trip to Jiangbei can be said to be a complete success.”

Even Du Qian, who was calm and composed, couldn’t help but get a little excited. He looked at Li Yun and said, “Southeast China is now in the hands of the envoy!”

Li Yun shook his head slightly and smiled, “There was a lot of luck involved. I’ll tell Brother Du about it in detail after we enter the city.”

The two of them quickly entered the city together. After arriving at the city gate, Li Yuan’s family came out to greet Li Yun. Li Yun simply took Du Qian back to Li Yuan and went into Li Yuan’s study together.

After sitting down, Li Yun briefly talked about Jiangbei’s affairs, then he looked at Du Qian, coughed, and said, “I came back this time to handle an important matter.”

He said solemnly: “Next spring, I plan to gather knowledgeable people in Jiangdong and hold a Jinling Literary Conference in Jinling.”

“Literary meeting?”

“It means selecting talents.”

Li Yun explained.

Du Qian was stunned, then he looked at Li Yun fiercely and murmured, “Your Excellency wants to… hold an imperial examination!?”

Li Yun coughed and corrected with a smile.

“It’s a literary gathering.”

(End of this chapter)