Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 262 Taizhou Li Huafu

With Chen Puwen's suggestion, Xu Shouhui felt much more relieved. He had done everything he could. If Lu Jin still didn't know what was good for him, then he would not accept him. He would definitely catch him and question him in the future.

Afterwards, Xu Shouhui went to find Peng Yingyu and personally told her what Chen Puwen had just relayed. Of course, he mainly talked about Zhao Pusheng and tried to reconcile Lu Jin and Peng Yingyu.

Peng Yingyu frowned after hearing this and said, "Even if Zhao Pusheng died at the hands of the Yuan army, he killed Kang Maocai to avenge Zhao Pusheng, so I can't blame him for Zhao Pusheng's death, but where did Li Pusheng go? Last time when Puxiong was on a diplomatic mission, he said that Li Pusheng had led troops south, but why is he nowhere to be found now, alive or dead, and there is no news of him anywhere?
"Could it be that in order to seize the throne in the Chaohu Navy, Lu Jin not only watched Zhao Pusheng being killed by the Yuan army, but also murdered Li Pusheng?"

Xu Shouhui was overwhelmed when he heard this and hurriedly tried to persuade him.

"How can the military advisor make random suspicions and guesses about something that has no basis at all? As for Zhao Pusheng, he was indeed killed by the Yuan army. Even though the people sent by Lu Jin were not able to rescue him in time, they were punished afterwards. I think they did not sit idly by and watch.

"And the whereabouts of Li Pusheng. Even if we can't find him now, it doesn't prove that Li Pusheng was killed by Lu Jin. Since someone saw him leading the army south, there are many possibilities. Maybe he died on the way and was killed by the Yuan army, or he didn't want to join us in the uprising and hid himself under a different name, or he was injured and is recovering somewhere. All of these are possible."

Peng Yingyu immediately said coldly, "But this is all your majesty's speculation. Lu Jin suddenly appeared out of nowhere and seized the Chaohu navy created by my two disciples. Now that he has become powerful, he wants to disobey our orders and even bargain with us. How can this be justified in the world? Does he think he is a robber who steals people's property?"

Xu Shouhui got angry when he heard this, and immediately said angrily, "You said I was just guessing, but the military advisor was also guessing. And there's also the question of who the Chaohu Navy belongs to. The Chaohu Navy was originally in the hands of your two disciples, but why did they always hide in the lake and be suppressed by the Yuan army? They themselves have no ability and can't beat the Yuan army, so they hide far away. Now Lu Jin is leading the Chaohu Navy to conquer so many territories. You want to use your two disciples to seize power at this time. What have you been doing before?!"

Peng Yingyu's little thoughts were directly exposed, and he was speechless on the spot. In fact, he just saw that Lu Jin was doing well now, so he wanted to seize power directly and control Lu Jin's 100,000 troops into his own hands.

Xu Shouhui stopped there and didn't say the most unpleasant words, and then he continued.

"Military advisor, military advisor, you are the military advisor of a country. You should put the overall situation first when doing things. We have gone through hardships to start our rebellion and establish our country. Now in this difficult time, you should put the overall situation first. How can you only care about your own selfish interests?
"Now Lu Jin has an army of 100,000 soldiers under his command. He clearly intends to surrender, but he is afraid of being retaliated against by you later, so he is reluctant to bring his troops to surrender and is unwilling to send troops. Are we going to wrongly accuse loyal and good people and watch the country fall just because of the military advisor's groundless speculation and suspicion?

"The military advisor moved from Jiangxi to Jianghuai in his early years, and now he is here again. He has revolted three times, but was he successful once? Could it be that he will sit back and watch failure again because of this little thing?"

Peng Yingyu was speechless, but he still spoke stubbornly, not convinced.

"Okay, then I will promise Your Majesty that I will make peace with him and will not ask about this matter again, let alone bring up the past with him. But even so, does Your Majesty think that Lu Jin will agree to surrender?

"I, Monk Peng, have seen countless people in my life. I have seen all kinds of people. Lu Jin is ambitious, as can be seen from his attempt to seize the throne in Chaohu. This guy is definitely not someone you can easily get along with.

"If you don't believe me, Your Majesty, just wait and see. I will no longer interfere in the matter of pacifying Lu Jin. Your Majesty may send people to do it, but I will make it clear now that Lu Jin will never surrender honestly, and your Majesty's efforts will be in vain.

"Now Luzhou is strong and we are weak. No matter who is in his position, it is impossible for them to submit easily. For things like uprising and founding a country, we cannot rely on others. In the end, we have to rely on ourselves. When we recover Jiangzhou and march to the gates of Susong, I don't believe that Lu Jin will dare to propose those conditions now, hum."

After Peng Yingyu finished speaking, she turned away.

Seeing this, Xu Shouhui hurriedly called him and asked, "Where are you going, military advisor?"

"I can't rely on others, so of course I have to fight on my own. I will leave for Huizhou now and lead my troops to attack Hangzhou. I will definitely restore the former Song Dynasty's Lin'an. Then I will ask Your Majesty to move."

"."

Xu Shouhui felt dejected when he heard this. It was not easy to be an emperor. He wanted to subdue Lu Jin for the sake of the country. Why did it seem as if he was wrong now? Moreover, what Peng Yingyu said also made him hesitate. Would Lu Jin really submit to him?
After thinking for a while, Xu Shouhui made up his mind. Man proposes, God disposes, so he decided to do everything he could first. So he sent someone to ask his relatives in the same clan if they had daughters of the right age to get married, so as to send another envoy to ask Lu Jin for marriage.

"Please submit a petition to Tuotuo to let him cultivate land in Dadu. Is this feasible?"

"Man proposes, God disposes. Let's do everything we can first."

In a remote courtyard in Chuzhou City, Bao Yu was giving instructions to Min Zishun, a scholar from Anqing who had failed the exam for the second time.

Min Zishun hesitated for a while, then asked, "After this is done, can I really start as a prefect of the fourth rank?"

"Of course, the commander-in-chief has clear rewards and punishments. Those who have made contributions will be rewarded, and those who have made mistakes will be punished. If you make great contributions, you will naturally be promoted directly to the prefect." Bao Yu explained again.

But Min Zishun still felt a little unconfident and said, "But I failed the exam."

Bao Yu could only encourage him, "Failing the exam doesn't mean you don't have talent. I've investigated you. You come from a business family. You usually help your family with chores. You're good at dealing with people, treating others, and making friends with merchants. Failing the exam only proves that you're not as good at studying as they are, but it doesn't mean you can't do things. On the contrary, your past experiences may be more helpful for what you want to do. Those who are on the list may not necessarily be better than you.

"Generals have always been flexible in employing people. Everyone has his own strengths. A wise monarch only needs to put the right people in the right positions. Spears used in battles cannot cut exquisite dishes, and fishing nets cannot catch birds in the sky. Those nerds who are on the list may not necessarily be able to be spies."

When Min Zishun heard Bao Yu's metaphor, he immediately laughed.

"Well, since the Marshal is willing to trust me, I will definitely do my best. What should I do?"

Bao Yu then took out a document of appointment and said.

"Min Zishun, from today on, you are the station chief of the Huaidong Station of the Intelligence Bureau of the Military Command Department of the Shengwu Army. Your intelligence jurisdiction covers the entire Huaidong Road Xuanwei Division, including the entire Yangzhou Road, Gaoyou Prefecture, and Huai'an Road. Your code name is the last star of the Southern Dipper, Qi Sha. Only the Marshal and I know your identity. Report directly to me in the future. I will arrange a dedicated communication channel and the entire intelligence network for you."

"Yes! I will definitely live up to your trust."

Three days later, in Hailing County, Taizhou, on Yangzhou Road, Li Huafu, the Taizhou magistrate who had just resigned from the government office, passed by a restaurant called Yipinlou. This was the most famous restaurant in the whole of Taizhou, and the consumption was naturally higher. He never dared to enter such a place before.

However, Wang Kerou, who was once generous and charitable, had invited him to dinner and helped him here, which made Li Huafu very grateful. It was a pity that the benefactor was planning to rebel, but the news was leaked before he could make any move and he was captured by Li Qi, the prefect of Gaoyou.

He originally wanted to lead people to break into the prison, but later he was recruited and became the current judge of Taizhou. Since then, every time he passed by this restaurant, Li Huafu couldn't help sighing when he saw the things and thought of the people, but today was different from usual.

The sharp-eyed waiter saw Li Huafu passing by the door and greeted him immediately.

"Li Dapan, it's been a while since you've visited our store. We just opened a few jars of our fine wine, Yipinxiang. Would you like to come and try it?"

When Li Huafu heard the name of Yipinxiang, he couldn't help drooling. He loved drinking, and Yipinlou was famous for Yipinxiang, but it was expensive. Even with his status as a state judge, he could only try it occasionally and couldn't drink it every meal.

Hearing this, he immediately cursed, "You little waiter, you know that your master has no money in his sleeve pocket, so you deliberately come to make fun of me, right?"

The waiter quickly smiled and said, "How could I have the guts to do that? But if the state judge comes to have a drink, do I have to pay for it myself? Someone must be the one to pay for it."

"Oh? Who wants to treat me? Could it be your boss?" Upon hearing this, Li Huafu followed the waiter into the restaurant and asked at the counter.

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "We are not the boss, so we dare not use the boss's things to treat the judge to a drink. However, there is a young man upstairs who wants to treat the judge to a meal."

"Oh?" Li Huafu was stunned when he heard that. He immediately came to the counter and asked in a low voice, "What is Shopkeeper Sun doing?"

Shopkeeper Sun spread his hands helplessly, "I can't do anything about it. That young man just said he was an old friend of the Grand Judge, so that's why I asked the Grand Judge to come and reminisce about the past."

"Reminiscing about the past? Old friends? If you are an old friend, why don't you come to me directly?" Li Huafu sneered.

Shopkeeper Sun was even more helpless. "We are just doing business here, so we dare not ask about the officials' affairs. If the judge wants to know, please go upstairs and ask in person."

Li Huafu thought about it, then nodded and said, "Okay, where is he?"

"It's in the private room upstairs that Prince Wang used to frequent."

Li Huafu was stunned when he heard this and became even more suspicious. It seemed that this person came prepared and specially chose such a private room. He should know about his past with Wang Kerou. Could he really be an old acquaintance? He wondered about the other person's identity in his mind and then went up to the third floor.

He came to the private room by the window where Wang Kerou had invited him to dinner before, pushed the door open, and saw a young scholar in a gray Taoist robe and a Confucian cap standing by the window, waiting for him with a smile on his face.

"I have long heard of your great name, the prefectural magistrate. Today I am honored to have a chat with you." Min Zishun immediately bowed and said.

Li Huafu looked around and saw that he was the only one in the room. He immediately pulled a stool over and sat down before speaking.

"This brother said he is my old friend, but I don't know you at all. As the saying goes, no merit, no reward. You took the trouble to come to me, so just tell me what you want. If I can't help, you don't have to drink this wine."

"Hahahaha." Min Zishun laughed immediately after hearing this, "I've heard that Li Huafu values ​​friendship and loyalty, and that he dared to lead an army to break into the prison in order to repay a favor in the past. Today I see that he is indeed a man of character."

Li Huafu narrowed his eyes upon hearing this, and stared at Min Zishun, but did not speak. Min Zishun also pulled a stool over and sat opposite him, "Since Li Dapan is a straightforward person, I will get straight to the point.

"My name is Min Zishun, I am the man with a red scarf on my head. I want to ask the judge for help with something. I wonder if the judge dares to help?"

Li Huafu was a little surprised when he heard this. He looked at the scholar in front of him in surprise and was silent for a long while before speaking.

"You are a Red Turban? How dare you come to me? Aren't you afraid that I, an official appointed by the imperial court, will come and arrest you?"

Min Zishun quickly unfolded his folding fan, fanned his chest, leaned forward and whispered, "I don't believe it. If the judge wanted to arrest the Red Scarf, why did he raise an army to break into the prison and rescue Wang Kerou, who also rebelled? Now that my brother has failed to achieve his ambition and is in prison, the judge has arrested his accomplices. Could it be that he wants to send me to accompany my brother?"

Li Huafu clenched his fists, then loosened them after a while. His whole body relaxed, and he asked, "May I ask, which family's Red Scarf Brother Min belongs to?"

"Luzhou."

Li Huafu was stunned. The closest to him should be the Li tribe of Xuzhou. Why did the Red Turbans from Luzhou send someone to find him?
He asked directly, "What do you want to do with me? As far as I know, Luzhou Hongjin is still far away from Taizhou. You don't want me to help you cheat the city, right?"

Min Zishun shook his head confidently, "Even a scholar like me can sit here and talk to the judge, so it won't be difficult to send a few more spies into the city. Why bother Brother Li with such a trivial matter as defrauding the city?"

Li Huafu wanted to refute, but after thinking carefully, he realized that what the man said did make sense, so he asked, "Then what do you want from me?"

"I heard that Brother Li has an old relationship with Li Qi, the prefect of Gaoyou, so I would like to use Brother Li's hand to submit a memorial to the Prime Minister Tuotuo of the Yuan court through Li Qi." Min Zishun said at this.

Li Huafu was so shocked that his jaw dropped when he heard this. He couldn't help but complain, "Are you crazy? You, a bunch of rebels, are submitting a petition to the prime minister of the imperial court. What are you submitting? Asking the imperial court to recruit you?"

"Of course not. Brother Li, wait and see."

Min Zishun immediately took out a draft of a memorial and handed it to Li Huafu. He quickly glanced at it and found that it actually suggested that Tuotuo establish military farming in Dadu. He was immediately extremely surprised and puzzled.

"Brother Min, regardless of whether I will help you or not, I really don't understand the purpose of this move. You are a bunch of rebels. Instead of thinking about how to capture cities and territories, you are giving advice to the court?"

(End of this chapter)