The emperor would rather have a

Chapter 38 Creating God
In the afternoon, Li Yi took Ma Renyu to the Privy Council.

Although both of them were promoted, they did not yet have official appointment letters, so they had to go to the Privy Council to complete the formalities.

The Privy Council's office was located within the imperial city, not far from the prime ministers' offices, and was just a few steps away from the Zuoye Gate.

The soldiers of the Imperial Guards were able to rest for a while after returning from the expedition, but the Privy Council was not idle.

The follow-up arrangements for the injured soldiers, the pensions and subsidies for those killed in action, various rewards and punishments, and the statistics of the troops' losses, etc., all these matters piled up together.

When Li Yi and Ma Renyu arrived at the Privy Council, they saw a busy scene with clerks coming and going, everyone in a hurry.

After stopping a clerk and asking a few questions, he learned that Privy Councilor Zheng Renhui was not there, and the one on duty was Deputy Privy Councilor Wei Renpu.

The two of them went straight to find Wei Renpu. The other party was quite polite and encouraged them a few words, then asked someone to help with the formalities.

"The registration has been completed. Take this letter of appointment and seal. We will go to the Palace Army's office to collect them later."

Wei Renpu was in his early forties, wearing a scarlet silk robe and an embroidered goldfish bag hanging around his waist, giving him a rather elegant air.

He handed the two silk bags to Li Yi and the other man, and kindly gave them a few instructions.

Although the Privy Councilor is in charge of the army, the current Privy Councilors, one chief and one deputy, are not considered to be military generals.

Wei Renpu started out as a minor clerk in the Privy Council and gradually rose to his current position.

It is said that he had known Guo Wei for a long time and made great contributions in Guo Wei's enthronement. Before his death, Guo Wei specifically instructed Chai Rong to make use of him.

Now that Privy Councilor Zheng Renhui is old and frail, he may not be able to serve for a few more years. Wei Renpu will naturally be able to take over when the time comes.

"Thank you, Envoy Wei Shu." Li Yi hurriedly expressed his gratitude.

"Oh, right, the offices of the Palace Guards and the Imperial Guards are also here. The one in the west courtyard is the Palace Guards, and the one in the east courtyard is the Imperial Guards."

Wei Renpu reminded again.

Afterwards, Li Yi and Ma Renyu bid farewell to Wei Renpu and turned to enter the courtyard of the Palace Army's office.

What was unexpected was that Zhang Yongde actually stayed in the office in the afternoon. As the commander-in-chief of the Palace Army, he personally took Li Yi and the other two to collect the things.

Ma Renyu was fine, as he received military generals' stuff, such as uniforms, armor, and weapons.

Li Yi had to take charge of a lot more things, simply because he also held the additional title of governor. Although he had no actual jurisdiction, he was equipped with a complete set of ceremonial equipment.

There was a mess of items such as shoes, hats, clothes, paper, ink, brushes, inkstones, canes, umbrellas, sedan chairs, plaques, gongs, etc.

In addition, Li Yi received more than 200 strings of cash, and Ma Renyu received more than 100 strings of cash.

Zhang Yongde said that this was the salary of the two after they were promoted in Luzhou, which was almost two months. Since they were not formally appointed at the time, it was only half salary during this period, and now it is compensated to them.

It was obvious that two people could not carry so many things, so Zhang Yongde simply helped out and transferred more than a dozen soldiers to help deliver the things.

"This is the key to the mansion the Queen gave you. It was just delivered this afternoon. I was going to send someone to give it to you, but now that you've come by yourself, I can give it to you directly."

Zhang Yongde handed Li Yi a bunch of keys.

"The house is in Zhengyangfang. It's the second one on the left after entering the gate. The Fan family's plaque on the door hasn't been replaced yet. It's called "Ruichang Tongtai" and you can see it at a glance."

Zhang Yongde then ordered the soldiers, "Send all these things directly to the house, so that Li Dushi won't have to make another trip."

Li Yi naturally thanked him repeatedly.

"Brother Yi, don't you find it strange?"

On the way to Zhengyangfang, Ma Renyu approached Li Yi and whispered.

"I heard that Envoy Zhang Du and Zhao Kuangyin have a very good personal relationship. Why is he suddenly being so attentive to us today?"

"He's the late emperor's son-in-law and the commander of the Imperial Guard. Does he really need to be courteous to us?"

Li Yi said casually, "Besides, Zhao Kuangyin has taken the initiative to show us goodwill, why would he insist on offending us, right?"

"It's also..."

Li Yi shook his head and said no more.

What he said to Ma Renyu was actually just nonsense.

Li Yi himself was also confused about Zhang Yongde's attitude. The last time Jinyang supported Prince Wei, it was Zhang Yongde who recommended him to the emperor.

But the problem is that the two of them have never been familiar with each other, so Zhang Yongde's behavior seems very strange.

In fact, before the incident with the Zhao family, the reason why he did not take the initiative to curry favor with Zhang Yongde was because of...

Firstly, he has no connections, unlike Zhao Da who has a good father.

Secondly, he wanted to cling to the power of the future Emperor Taizu of Song, so Zhang Yongde's role was not that important.

As for now... Li Yi still doesn't want to get too close to Zhang Yongde.

If history had not changed significantly, Zhang Yongde would have been destined to become a victim, and Chai Rong would have taken away his military power before his death.

Instead of wasting time trying to curry favor with Zhang Yongde, Li Yi should try his best to gain Chai Rong's trust before that. Maybe he can take off directly like Zhao Da.

But if history had undergone tremendous changes due to Li Yi's existence, Zhang Yongde would have seemed even more useless.

why?
Because if Chai Rong had not died early, then everyone would have no chance and would have just climbed up the ranks of the Imperial Guards and finally achieved wealth and glory.

Either Chai Rong had died earlier, then there would have been no need to waste time trying to curry favor with Zhang Yongde.

Who knows what chaos the world will be in by then, and everyone will have to rely on their own abilities to see who will have the last laugh. However, Zhang Yongde doesn't have to go out of his way to curry favor with him, but he also tries not to offend him. Everyone just needs to get along normally.

Soon, everyone arrived at the house.

"Thank you for your hard work, brothers. Let's buy some tea."

Li Yi took out a string of coins from his cloth bag and stuffed it into the pocket of the soldier who came to help deliver the things.

"Thank you for the reward, Li Dushi!"

After the soldiers carried the things into the house, they took the money and left with profuse thanks.

Afterwards, Li Yi and the other person took a walk around the mansion.

Ma Renyu couldn't help but sigh: "It's so fucking big!"

What he said was indeed correct. The house was quite large, with three entrances and three exits. When one pushed open the heavy vermilion lacquered door, one was greeted by a spacious courtyard.

The floor is paved with bluestone slabs and runs through the entire house.

There were more than ten corridors in the front yard where servants lived, as well as a kitchen, woodshed, stables and other facilities.

The courtyard is surrounded by tall walls covered with vines and lush green leaves, occasionally dotted with a few small flowers, revealing a hint of vitality.

After passing through the front yard and a hall, you will reach the inner courtyard of the middle courtyard, where the owner lives.

There are seven or eight independent rooms here, with a study, a living room and even a separate bathroom on the side. The bathtub with a tiled bottom is so attractive at first sight.

The main hall of the inner house is spacious and bright, with several carved windows closed. The sunlight shines through the exquisite window lattices, casting mottled light and shadows.

After walking through the main hall, you will enter the backyard, which is a garden with a small pond in the middle and several graceful lotus flowers.

The scale of this house, the interior layout and decoration, and even the furniture on display, all appear to be very tasteful. The original owner must have had a deep cultural heritage.

"I heard that this house was a reward given to Fan Aineng by the late emperor when he promoted him? And it's even bigger than the one Fan Aineng bought himself?"

Li Yi looked at Ma Renyu beside him.

The other party seemed to have just recovered from his shock and nodded, saying, "It seems that Envoy Zhang Du said so before."

"Compared to the entire city of Tokyo, this mansion isn't considered overly luxurious," Li Yi muttered to himself. "The mansion the late emperor bestowed upon Prince Wei was much larger and more magnificent than this."

"But His Majesty gave a Jiedushi's house to me, the Inner Palace Zhidu Commander..."

At this point, Li Yi frowned and asked, "Brother Ma, why do you think that is?"

Ma Renyu shook his head.

Li Yi pondered for a moment, then suddenly chuckled and said, "I may not have understood it before, but now I may understand it."

"Your Majesty probably wants to use me as an example to tell all the heroes in the world that as long as they are loyal and serve His Majesty, he will never be stingy with his rewards!"

"Similarly, this is also a sign of respect for me..."

"But..." Li Yi shook his head again and said, "As the saying goes, the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment. If I ever disappoint Your Majesty, I will probably die a more miserable death than Fan Aineng!"

At this moment, he suddenly thought of a word: creating a god...

Li Yi now understood why Zhang Yongde recommended him to support Prince Wei.

He killed Zhang Yuanhui in the Battle of Gaoping. It seemed that he just killed one person, but he became known as the most powerful general of the Northern Han Dynasty.

Moreover, Zhang Yuanhui did indeed destroy the right formation of the Later Zhou army at that time.

Such a character was killed in battle by Li Yi. In later generations, this would be called a hot topic and an event that would dominate the top of the hot search list.

And Zhang Yongde recommended himself to rescue King Wei... perhaps he wanted to add fuel to this hot search?

But as the emperor's brother-in-law, he was deeply trusted by the emperor, so it is hard to say that there was no instruction from Chai Rong.

is it possible?
Chai Rong agreed to Zhang Yongde's proposal so readily that it seemed really hasty.

But if we combine it with Li Yi's current conjecture, it seems reasonable.

But... does he really trust himself to be able to defeat the Liao army?

Oh, by the way, Prince Wei Fu Yanqing!

Perhaps it was because Prince Wei was in charge of Xinzhou that the emperor had such confidence.

After all, there is a bottom line here. If you can make a contribution, that would be great, but if you can't get any credit, it's not a loss either.

But no one expected it.

Because of Shi Yanchao's momentary recklessness, Li Yi really seized the opportunity to make a great contribution!

But... these are just Li Yi's guesses.

Moreover, he always felt that his contribution in the Battle of Xinkou was not enough.

Fortunately, a few days later, Li Yi finally knew where the difference in this battle lay.

Because a message came from Shangjing of Liao Kingdom:
Yelu Dilu, the Liao State official who came to rescue the Northern Han Dynasty—

died!

(End of this chapter)