The emperor would rather have a

Chapter 34 The Emperor’s Brother-in-Law?
After the queen gave the rewards, she encouraged everyone.

After thanking him, everyone left.

After walking a few steps out of the central military tent, Li Yi heard someone calling him from behind.

Looking back, it was Zhao Kuangyin who was catching up quickly.

"Brother Yi——"

Hearing how Zhao Kuangyin addressed him, Li Yi couldn't help but be stunned. Before the incident with the Zhao family, Zhao Da did call him that in private.

But after that, he saw Zhao Kuangyin several times on the way to the expedition, but the other party never called him that again.

What's going on now?
Li Yi was still confused, but Zhao Kuangyin got straight to the point: "On my way back to the army, I learned that my wife gave birth to a daughter earlier this month. I plan to hold a full-moon banquet in a few days, and I hope Brother Yi will come and have a drink at the wedding."

Zhao Kuangyin did not forget Ma Renyu who was standing beside him, and also invited him: "Please ask Ma Du Yuhou to come along as well."

Ma Renyu opened his mouth and subconsciously wanted to refuse when he heard this, but Li Yi quickly signaled him with his eyes not to speak.

Li Yi then congratulated him, "Congratulations, Brother Zhao, on the birth of your daughter. I'll have to go get a glass of wedding wine. I hope you don't mind me being a bother."

Regardless of whether Zhao Da was sincere or had ulterior motives, as the saying goes, one should not hit a smiling person, so Li Yi naturally would not give him a cold look.

If you act solely based on personal preference and don't know how to adapt to the situation, then you're just a complete idiot.

"Brother Yi, you are too kind." Zhao Kuangyin was very happy to see Li Yi agreed. He said repeatedly, "I have invited only brothers from the army. There are no outsiders. Why would I bother you?"

"Brother Yi and Marquis Ma Duyu must show us their favor!"

"sure……"

"Then it's settled. I have military duties to attend to, so I'll be leaving for now."

"Brother Zhao, take care."

Watching Zhao Kuangyin leave, Li Yi suddenly grinned.

You see, when a person has status and position, many troubles will be solved.

The future Emperor Taizu of Song would have to have the nerve to invite him to his wedding.

Does this feel good?

cool!

But one still has to be careful and wary of Zhao Da... Li Yi never thought that the other party was a simple person.

The most terrifying people are those who can bend and stretch!
"Brother Yi, do you think Zhao Kuangyin has some plans when he suddenly invites us to drink?"

Li Yi glanced at Ma Renyu, but saw that he was frowning, as if he was guessing Zhao Kuangyin's motives.

"How are they plotting against us?" Li Yi quipped. "Are they going to ambush a hundred swordsmen at the banquet, and use the smashing of cups as a signal to rush out and hack us to death?"

"Probably not..."

Ma Renyu still likes to use the logic of warriors to look at things.

He always likes to resort to force.

Li Yi said with a smile: "The Jianghu is not about fighting and killing, but about human relationships and worldly wisdom."

"Look at Zhao Kuangyin's behavior. Can someone who doesn't know me tell that he and I have a blood feud?"

"Don't worry, Brother Ma. Zhao Kuangyin is not a stupid person. He won't do anything stupid."

"Besides, given our current status and position, if Zhao Kuangyin really wants to attack us, he must first ask His Majesty for permission."

"Unless he wants to bring his entire family to be buried with us!"

"That's right!" Ma Renyu nodded.

Then, he snorted coldly, "Even if he arranges for someone to plot against us, with Brother Yi and I's abilities, we can still kill him seven times in and seven times out!"

Okay... this guy still can't stop talking about force.

Li Yi simply stopped talking.

He didn't think Zhao Kuangyin would do anything stupid on impulse.

In comparison, his younger brother Zhao Er is a born sinister person and is actually more threatening in secret.

However, Zhao Er is only in his teens now and still at the age where he needs the protection of his father and brothers. He will not be able to make much waves in a short period of time.

"Let's go visit Guo Zhao's family when we get back to Kaifeng."

Li Yi suddenly spoke.

Zhao Kuangyin's invitation to the full moon banquet reminded him of Guo Zhao, one of his ten generals.

Before he died, Guo Zhao was still thinking about his wife and children, and said that he would come back to invite everyone to his son's full moon banquet.

It’s a pity that they can never come back... Not long after the two returned to the Inner Palace Guard’s camp, someone delivered the Queen’s reward.

Ma Renyu was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. He waved his hand and said that he would go back and treat everyone in the personal guard to a drink and fun.

The soldiers who went on the expedition all received rewards, but the differences were quite large.

If one has not made any great achievements, a low-ranking lieutenant will only receive a few dozen strings of cash and some grain and cloth.

The lower-level soldiers received even less, ranging from a few strings of cash to more than ten strings of cash, plus some miscellaneous daily necessities.

Therefore, everyone envied Ma Renyu's reward.

Seeing that this guy was getting a little too proud of himself, Li Yi wanted to remind him, are the rewards you gave enough to invite one or two hundred people to squander?
But after thinking about it, I decided to just forget it. I'll just let him spend money to have fun. As long as he's happy, that's all.

If Ma Renyu really doesn't have enough money, Li Yi still has a lot of rewards, which can be used to fill the hole for him.

It can't be that the reward of thousands of strings of cash for the two of them combined isn't enough, right?

Of course, the premise is that you don’t spend the money on women.

It's really unbearable for one person to deal with it.

The soldiers didn't see anyone delivering Li Yi's things, so they couldn't help asking, "Didn't the Queen give Li Dushi any reward?"

Before Li Yi could answer, Ma Renyu said nonchalantly, "Of course not. The Queen directly rewarded Li Dushi with a house, which is much more valuable than these things we have."

"Let me tell you, the Queen not only gave me a house, but she also wants to marry her sister to our Li Dushi!"

The soldiers immediately started to jeer, "Envoy Li is going to be the Queen's brother-in-law? Oh, wouldn't that make him your Majesty's brother-in-law?"

"Damn it, Ma Renyu, can you control your stinky mouth? You think my life is too long, right?"

Li Yi couldn't help but swear.

If the jokes and rumors spoken casually by the emperor and the empress were spread everywhere, wouldn't it make people think that Li Yi was ungrateful?
"Uh..." Ma Renyu also realized that he had said the wrong thing and looked at Li Yi awkwardly.

"Just treat these as a joke. Don't tell anyone else. Do you understand?"

Li Yi explained to everyone with a cold face.

"promise!"

Everyone quickly put away their playful smiles.

Li Yi shook his head, lifted the door curtain and walked out.

Looking at the central army tent in the distance, he began to ponder secretly.

The reward the Queen gave her was indeed higher than that given to others. As for the Emperor's joke about marrying Prince Wei's daughter...

Li Yi thought about it carefully and realized that his contribution was indeed not small.

But considering his age and qualifications, becoming the commander-in-chief of the inner palace was considered an extraordinary promotion.

Even if the emperor wanted to promote young generals, it would be impossible to do it all at once.

Everything has a process.

The two generals with the highest status in the imperial guards are naturally Li Chongjin and Zhang Yongde.

There is no need to say much about Li Chongjin.

Just take the Palace Guard Commander-in-Chief Zhang Yongde as an example. He is only 27 years old now, but he is already the chief general of the Palace Guard. He is indeed very young.

But he was the son-in-law of Guo Wei, the founding emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty, and my father and Guo Wei were good friends when they were junior college students.

Then what basis does Li Yi have?

Insufficient foundation!

Therefore, the emperor could not give too high a military position, so he naturally had to make up for it in other aspects.

Winning people's hearts is a technical job.

Money is one aspect, and marriage may also be another.

However, Li Yi is not important enough to require a marriage alliance now.

For now, it should be mainly monetary rewards... However, Li Yi did have some thoughts about the marriage with King Wei.

He has come to this point now. Some things are not a question of whether he wants to do them or not, but he must prepare for them in advance.

Many times, children's personal affairs are also a bargaining chip... Once people have a certain status and position, they may not be able to do whatever they want, but there are more things they need to consider.

Many things in the future are uncertain, so having as many cards as possible can make you feel more at ease.

(End of this chapter)