Siheyuan: I have a multi-dimensional chat group!

Faced with this situation, Wang Shenzhi was completely dumbfounded!

However, Wang Shenzhi still wanted to bite the bullet and fight the imperial army before returning to quell the internal strife.

Unfortunately, he overestimated his control over the army!

The omnipresent spies from the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard carried stacks of blank official documents with their names on them, and roamed freely among Wang Shenzhi's army.

These official appointment certificates were all at least at the fourth rank, and they were all formal appointment certificates approved by Li Ye and stamped with the official seal of the Ministry of Personnel. Even the official seals were made.

Li Ye felt he had gone to great lengths, losing at least a million strings of cash.

However, sacrificing these interests is acceptable for the sake of the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, it was not uncommon for Wang Shenzhi to be bound by his subordinates and sent to the imperial army's camp to plead guilty at a military conference.

In fact, if the emperor hadn't specifically requested Wang Shenzhi's men, the generals would have preferred to chop off his head and claim credit for it.

Wang Shenzhi, who led his troops a thousand miles to their deaths, was clearly very resentful.

But there's nothing that can be done; the emperor who holds the legitimacy of the throne simply has that power.

Even in its decline, the Tang Dynasty had still ruled this land for over two hundred years.

The authority of the royal family could not be replaced by a self-made military leader like Wang Shenzhi, whose future was uncertain.

With a massive army pressing in, coupled with gold and official hats, no ordinary soldier could withstand it.

Their regional military commanders have killed more than one or two military governors.

Over the years, Li Ye held imperial examinations every year, and a large number of capable civil officials and scholars were recruited by him.

Now that the new territories have been liberated, Li Ye naturally sent them to serve as officials in the newly liberated areas as soon as possible.

As for whether these people would cause trouble in the newly liberated areas, Li Ye was not worried.

If trouble arises, just quell it.

Anyway, Li Ye now controls the government's military power.

After pacifying Min, Li Ye did not stop, but continued to send reinforcements to Jiangnan.

He's going to speed things up!

Apart from Ma Yin, who is currently wreaking havoc on the Xiang River, there are few capable fighters in Jiangnan right now.

Li Ye dispatched the newly trained 150,000 Imperial Guards, divided into three routes, still heading from south to north.

One group conquered western Hunan, another conquered Jiangxi, and yet another was responsible for conquering the various tribes of Zangke who occupied the border region of Hunan, Guizhou, Guangxi, and Yunnan.

After the troops that had conquered Fujian were reorganized, they moved north into Jiangsu and Zhejiang to take over the Wu-Yue territory of the Qian family.

The carrot and stick approach, along with the crucial element of the imperial legitimacy, quickly won over the military leaders of Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Jiangxi provinces south of the Yangtze River with the allure of the imperial court.

Only Ma Yin, who came from a rebel background, fought a few real battles with the imperial court, and after his defeat, he was beheaded by his subordinates.

The future Kingdom of Ma Chu was stillborn before it could even be born.

The tribes of Zangke did not originally raise the banner of rebellion; they were merely forming strongholds to protect themselves in this chaotic era of war.

Despite being called a barbarian, their Han Chinese clothing and customs were actually preserved more completely than those of the Tang Dynasty under the Li family, who had Hu (non-Han) ancestry.

It is said that their ancestors were a prominent clan in the Central Plains during the late Han Dynasty, but they fled to the mountains due to war.

Their leader's surname was Xie, and it was unknown whether he had any connection with the powerful Xie family of the Jin Dynasty.

Li Ye didn't care. In any case, once the imperial army arrived, the Xie family wisely accepted the imperial court's official positions and handed over their troops, becoming obedient subjects of the court.

Yang Xingmi, the chosen one, was still somewhat reluctant to withdraw from Jiangnan and wanted to rely on his navy to bully the imperial army.

Unfortunately, they were completely crushed by Li Ye's already well-established navy.

Yang Xingmi's inland river fleet, which he relied on to dominate the Jianghuai region, was no match for Li Ye's navy and was directly defeated and incorporated into their forces.

Yang Xingmi could only slink back to Jiangbei and plead guilty to the imperial court.

As a result, his nemesis Zhu Quanzhong seized the opportunity and gave him another beating.

Strangely enough, Yang Xingmi seemed to be a natural counter to Zhu Quanzhong.

Zhu Quanzhong sent troops to attack Yang Xingmi's Huai region. Just as the battle was in full swing, Zhu Quanzhong was caught off guard and Yang Xingmi seized the opportunity to launch a counterattack using the terrain of the Huai region, resulting in the loss of many troops.

In the second year of Guanghua (899), the Jiangnan region was initially pacified, and the Yangtze River waterway was already under the control of Li Ye's navy.

The imperial army no longer needed to detour through Lingnan; they could easily travel down the river.

However, Li Ye still thought it was too far, so he directly mobilized his hundreds of thousands of troops to sweep away Guo Yu, who occupied the strategic transportation hub of nine provinces and the important town of Jingxiang, which blocked the passage between Guanzhong and Jiangnan.

From this point on, no matter how much the warlords of Guandong stirred things up, they could never be a match for the imperial court.

However, by this point in the war, Li Ye's accumulated resources had been almost exhausted.

The military expenditures, coupled with strategies such as bribing soldiers and generals, offering them official positions, and dismissing the old, weak, sick, and disabled from the hands of warlords, consumed a large amount of Li Ye's real money.

Although he gained a huge amount of territory, from an economic perspective, Li Ye lost money in this round.

Fortunately, after two or three years, the wealth from Jiangnan will be used to support the imperial court.

Under these circumstances, Li Ye decisively chose to recuperate and continue to observe the infighting among the warlords of Guandong.

The warlords of Guandong seemed to feel no threat from the imperial court at all.

Or perhaps they felt threatened but had no choice; the war still had to be fought.

While Li Ye was wholeheartedly focused on construction and development, his only pastime was chatting with the people in the chat group.

Li Ye: "Now that the Jiangnan region has basically been taken over, we can finally take a break!"

You Ruo: "Congratulations! But now that you've reached Jiangnan, why not take the opportunity to deal with Yang Xingmi in Huaibei?"

Li Ye: "No rush, haste makes waste! Besides, I want to keep Yang Xingmi as a buffer zone between the court and Zhu Quanzhong!"

Li Ye: "Besides, Yang Xingmi seems to be a natural nemesis of Zhu Quanzhong! I still need to keep him around until Zhu Quanzhong dies! If Zhu Quanzhong goes crazy and attacks the court one day, wouldn't Yang Xingmi come in handy?"

Zhang Chulan: "That makes sense! But if we restore the Tang Dynasty like this, how long would it take?"

Li Ye: "It won't take long, maybe another ten years or so. Once Zhu Quanzhong and Li Keyong are both dead, I can easily revive the Tang Dynasty!"

Zhang Chulan: "While this is a safe approach, it feels like it lacks some excitement!"

Liu Bei: "Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish. I think Li's approach is quite good!"

Li Ye: "Hehe, I simply think that if I can easily revive the Tang Dynasty, why would I make things harder for myself?"

Chapter 548, Uncle Nine, who eats at his own banquet! (Please subscribe!)

Zhang Chulan: "Speechless gif! By the way, Uncle Liu, how are things going on your end?"

Liu Bei: "Liu Zhang has already handed over the entire Yi Province to me. I am currently sending military advisors to pacify the southern barbarians!"

Zhou Bingkun: "Pacify the Southern Barbarians? Isn't that just like capturing and releasing Meng Huo seven times?"

Liu Bei: "With the current strength of our army, I reckon Meng Huo should surrender before we even have to capture and release him seven times!"

Huang Rong: "Wouldn't that mean we'd miss out on a legendary tale?"

Liu Bei: "I can't let the strategist capture and release me seven times just because of a historical anecdote! That would be playing with the lives of my soldiers! I can't do such a thing!"

Huang Rong: "Then we can only hope that Meng Huo can hold out for the time being, and survive until he is captured and released seven times!"

Ren Weiyong: "Uncle Jiu is going to pass away in a few days. Do you want to see how he passes away?"

Zhang Chulan: "Uncle Jiu is already seventy years old? Time really flies!"

Group owner Xiao Shan: "Look, look! Of course I want to see! I also want to see how Uncle Nine just hangs up like that!"

Ren Weiyong: "Okay, I'll do a live stream for you guys then!"

In the world of Mr. Zombie, in Kowloon, Hong Kong, there is a Taoist temple.

Ren Weiyong was sitting and chatting with Uncle Jiu's family.

At this point, Uncle Nine's hair and beard had turned completely white!

Auntie Zhe has grown old, but the only thing that hasn't changed is the deep affection in her eyes when she looks at Uncle Jiu.

My daughter, Lin Long, is already a mother, and my son, Lin Zheng, has completed his medical studies while carrying his uncle's back.

"Sigh, I'm going to die in a few days, so you don't need to be too sad. I'm just..." Uncle Nine originally wanted to comfort Aunt Zhe and the others, but he found that none of them seemed to be sad.

But you can't really blame them.

Although Uncle Nine is going to die in a few days, Aunt Zhe can visit him through spirit communication at any time, and Ren Weiyong can also go directly to the underworld to find him.

Moreover, as a bank manager, he can return to the mortal realm to visit Aunt Zhe and the others on his days off.

This is why, even though everyone knows Uncle Nine is going to die, some people are still too sad to come out.

Seeing that Aunt Zhe and the others were even looking at him with great interest, Uncle Jiu sighed helplessly and then looked to the north.

He has already sent the message to his fellow disciples and apprentices that he will be going to the underworld on November 11th. By now, everyone should have received it and be on their way to Hong Kong!

Uncle Nine's guess was absolutely right. At this moment, Master Four Eyes, Mama, Qiu Sheng, and Wen Cai were on their way to Hong Kong.

The first to arrive in Hong Kong were Master Si Mu and Jia Le, as they had come by private jet.

Even in the new era, Master Simu remains the most business-minded and the most successful among his many fellow disciples.

That's why he can come to Hong Kong for tourism and visit Uncle Nine whenever he has free time.

With Jiale at his fingertips, they arrived at the entrance of Uncle Jiu's Taoist temple. Master Simu simply pushed the door open and went inside.

Upon entering the Taoist temple, Master Simu and Jiale saw Uncle Jiu chasing after Lin Zheng with great vigor.

Clearly, Uncle Nine was planning to give Lin Zheng some pointers before he went to the underworld.

Upon seeing Master Si Mu and Jia Le enter, Uncle Jiu stopped chasing Lin Zheng: "Junior brother, Jia Le, you've arrived!"

"Uncle-Master, Brother Jiale, you've arrived!" Seeing Uncle Nine stop, Lin Zheng finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Uncle-Master, please persuade my father. He doesn't have many days left in the mortal realm, so he should spend some time with my mother and stop beating me all the time!"

"Senior Brother!" After greeting Uncle Nine, Master Four Eyes looked at Lin Zheng with a smile and said, "Zheng, you should ask your mother to persuade you. What's the use of asking me?"

Lin Zheng said helplessly, "My mother and sister are busy preparing the clothes and things my father will need after he goes to the underworld. They don't have time to persuade him!"

Master Simu glanced at Ren Weiyong, who was sitting lazily drinking tea in the courtyard, and said to Lin Zheng, "Then you can ask Mr. Ren to help persuade him!"

"They're enjoying a happy time together, so I won't bother them!" Ren Weiyong said with a smile to Master Simu.

After inviting Master Four Eyes and Jiale to sit down in the living room, Uncle Nine tossed Master Four Eyes a wooden plaque: "This is the plaque of the underworld officials. With this, you can enter and leave the underworld normally!"

Master Simu took the sign and looked at it. He saw that the two sides of the sign read "Netherworld" and "Underworld Messenger" respectively.

After putting away the plaque, Master Four Eyes took out a jade pendant and handed it to Uncle Nine: "Senior Brother, this is a warm jade that I specially obtained for you to nourish your soul. You can use it when you go to the underworld!"

"Junior brother, thank you for your thoughtfulness!" Uncle Nine was quite satisfied with the gift from Master Four Eyes.

After Master Simu and Jiale, Qiusheng and Wencai arrived at Uncle Jiu's Martial Arts Academy.

Qiu Sheng's temples were already gray, but Wen Cai looked no different from how he looked back then.

After meeting Uncle Nine, these two clowns immediately presented him with a jade burial suit and a large luminous pearl.

Uncle Nine's face darkened when he saw the gifts these two clowns had given him!

I haven't turned into a zombie, so I don't need a jade burial suit and a luminous pearl to suppress my corpse!

Following Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai, Fei Bao, Xiao Hai, A Xing, Xiao Yue, and other apprentices also arrived one after another.

For Uncle Nine's funeral, his fellow disciples and fellow apprentices were very concerned.

Even Uncle Nine himself was very concerned.

After all, this signifies the end of his human identity.

So not only does Uncle Nine want to hold his own funeral, but he also wants to eat at his own funeral with others!

On the morning of November 8th, Uncle Nine had breakfast with his family, fellow disciples, and students.

Ren Weiyong also started a live stream in the chat group while eating breakfast.

Soon, everyone in the chat group flooded into the live stream.

Zhang Chulan: "Wow, is Uncle Nine going to die?"

Ren Weiyong: "Yes! After breakfast, Uncle Jiu will pass away around 9:30 in the morning!"

Group owner Xiao Shan: "Uncle Jiu, Daoist Simu, Mama Di, Wencai, Qiusheng, Feibao, Xiaohai... quite a few familiar faces!"