The emperor would rather have a

Chapter 21 Beastly behavior!

"I order Li Yi, the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Palace, to serve as the inspector general for the safety of the people in the front camps. He is to supervise the officers and soldiers of the various divisions near Hedong. Anyone who invades the people and disturbs the local area will be dealt with according to military law..."

Chai Rong gave Li Yi a new task, which was a temporary assignment. He was mainly responsible for supervising the various units of the Later Zhou army and not disturbing the local people.

During the Five Dynasties period, it was very common for the army to rob civilians. They robbed whether they won or lost. They were even more brutal than bandits and bullies.

Although the military discipline of the Later Zhou imperial guards was slightly better, looting still occurred.

Not to mention the conscripted soldiers from the local vassal states, who were used to bullying the locals and committing murder and arson were commonplace.

So Chai Rong probably had this consideration in mind when he gave Li Yi this assignment.

After receiving the order, Li Yi immediately led two hundred personal soldiers to patrol along the way towards Jinyang City.

As the commander-in-chief of an army, Li Yi has his own personal guard.

Among these people, there were the left second squad under him and the remnants of the right first squad under Ma Renyu.

He also selected some soldiers with whom he was familiar from the inner palace guards.

Together they made up more than two hundred people.

"Envoy Li, why did His Majesty assign us such a lousy mission? It would have been better for us to attack the city of Jinyang."

When Ma Renyu was in the presence of others, he was still very well-mannered and addressed Li Yi by his military rank, unlike calling him "Brother Yi" as he did in private.

After hearing his words, Li Yi said casually, "Your arm injury hasn't healed yet, and you're already thinking of going to die? If you get doused with boiling gold juice, you'll be despised even after you die."

"This little injury has healed."

Ma Renyu held the reins with one hand, raised his left arm and swung it around. Perhaps the swing was too large and pulled the wound, so he subconsciously took a breath.

But he still insisted, "I don't need to charge into the city myself. The troops on the front line are now unstoppable and have captured several states of the pseudo-Han. This great credit has been taken away by others."

Ma Renyu was indeed envious of the troops on the front line. It had only been more than ten days since the attack on Northern Han, but the various troops had already reported victory news frequently.

Wang Yanchao, the governor of Hezhong, and Han Tong, the governor of Baoyi, on the left, captured Fen and Shi prefectures of the Northern Han in just a few days.

Tian Qiong, the defense commander of Mizhou, also captured Mizhou.

Kang Yanzhao, the defender of Laizhou on the right, also captured Liaozhou.

Prince Wei Fu Yanqing was still in his prime and made a long-distance raid to conquer the two states of Lan and Xian in the Northern Han Dynasty.

It is said that the two states of Dai and Xin to the north of Jinyang are about to be taken.

Most of the prefectures and counties of the Northern Han Dynasty surrendered.

Only Longzhou, the gateway to Taiyuan, was still resisting stubbornly. Once Longzhou was broken, the troops of the Later Zhou Dynasty would head straight for Jinyang City.

Perhaps in Ma Renyu's view, attacking Northern Han was just to gain credit, so he was naturally very anxious.

However, Li Yi is not so optimistic...but that may not be the case.

Although in history Chai Rongyao conquered Jinyang and attempted to take advantage of the victory to destroy the Northern Han, he ultimately failed.

But maybe the flapping of my wings as a small butterfly could change the original course of history?
Li Yi's idea did not come out of thin air.

After all, the rewards given to Ma Renyu, Ma Quanyi... and even Zhao Kuangyin were very different from those in history because of my appearance.

It's impossible that everything recorded in historical materials is false, right?
Li Yi is not sure whether he has influenced the course of history, or how much influence he can have on the course of history?

But who knows if the Later Zhou Dynasty could really destroy the Northern Han Dynasty in one fell swoop...

……

Half a day later, Li Yi led his troops into the territory of Mizhou of the Northern Han Dynasty.

At this time, Bizhou had been captured by the Later Zhou army.

Along the highway, a constant stream of teams transporting food and fodder were heading north to various troops fighting on the front lines. Li Yi followed one of the teams that was transporting food to Fenzhou.

On the way, he met You Pushe Li Gu who was inspecting and supervising the transportation of grain and grass. Thinking that the other party was one of the prime ministers appointed by Guo Wei, Li Yi took the initiative to talk to him.

Li Gu didn't put on airs and even praised Li Yi's contributions.

It's funny to say that Li Gu was originally following the emperor during the Battle of Gaoping.

Unexpectedly, he was dispersed by the chaotic army and was forced to hide in a valley. He hid for two days and two nights before being found by people sent by Chai Rong.

Fortunately, Li Gu was lucky. Unlike Wang Yansi, the deputy envoy of the Northern Han Privy Council, he was killed by an unknown person.

Afterwards, Li Yi bid farewell to Li Gu and continued to follow the grain transport team north.

When they arrived near Yindi Pass, they heard that soldiers from the vassal states around Shizhou were harassing the people.

Thinking of the task assigned to him by the emperor, Li Yi immediately left the grain transport team and rushed to Shizhou with his men.

That afternoon, they were still more than ten miles away from Shizhou City. Everyone was exhausted from the long journey.

Li Yi simply decided to stop temporarily, rest for a while, and eat some dry food to fill his stomach.

However, for safety reasons, he sent a dozen of his personal soldiers out to be on guard to prevent the Northern Han troops from appearing nearby.

Although the Later Zhou army has basically controlled the entire Shizhou.

But it is inevitable that there will be a small number of stragglers running around.

There's nothing wrong with being cautious.

"Damn it, all I eat all day is wheat cakes and wheat rice. My mouth is so bland!"

Ma Renyu smashed the wheat cake with a knife, handed half to Li Yi, and couldn't help complaining.

"When I get back to Tokyo, I'm going to eat and drink for three days and three nights to make up for all the losses I've suffered these past few days!"

Li Yi didn't respond. He took the wheat cake and took a bite... Ugh! This thing really doesn't taste good.

The wheat cakes were dry and hard, and were roughly processed. Not only did they hurt my teeth, they were also difficult to swallow.

When chewing, a large amount of saliva will be secreted. If you eat it without cold water, you will choke to death.

It is best to eat it with hot soup, the taste will be much better.

Unfortunately, while we were on the road, we didn't have the time or the conditions to make a fire and boil the soup.

Just make do with filling your stomach.

Li Yi drank a pot of cold water before he could barely finish half a wheat cake. Seeing Ma Renyu handing him another piece, he waved his hand to refuse.

Ma Renyu said the food tasted bad, but when it came to eating, he gobbled it up faster than anyone else.

In a short while, he had eaten almost a whole wheat cake.

However, at this moment, several scattered guards came back on horseback.

When they got close to Li Yi, they dismounted and reported, "Envoy Li, in the village not far ahead, a group of unruly soldiers are looting the villagers. They don't look like Han troops."

Grass!
If they don’t look like the Northern Han troops, then aren’t they our own?
Li Yi had just been choked by a dry and hard wheat cake, and now someone happened to bump into the muzzle of a gun.

He immediately ordered, "Come on, follow me and take a look!"

Then, the group quickly mounted their horses and galloped towards the village.

As the village was not far from the main road, everyone arrived there quickly on horseback and could see thick smoke rising from the village from afar.

It seems that the rebel soldiers not only looted property, but also burned houses and villages. I am afraid that many villagers have been killed.

Damn it—these beasts!
(End of this chapter)