The emperor would rather have a

Chapter 57: Intercepting Li Hanchao

Li Yi nodded slightly, then continued, "I forgot to ask your name, sir."

The horse-faced man chuckled and said, "Excuse me, my surname is Li, and my full name is Li Hanchao."

"Li Hanchao..." Li Yi was stunned when he heard that.

He always felt that the name seemed familiar, but for a moment he couldn't remember where he had heard it.

Before he could think about it, he heard Li Hanchao say, "What's your name, brother?"

"Under..."

Li Yi hesitated for a moment and wanted to make up a random name to fool the other party. Otherwise, with the other party's travel experience, he might be able to guess his true identity at once.

But then I thought, the other party is telling me everything he knows and treating me with sincerity, so there is really no point in doing this.

As for worrying about whether the other party would spread his identity everywhere... from this brief contact, it seems that the other party is not a person who does not know the limits.

Thinking of this, Li Yi simply said: "I do have the same surname as Brother Li, but my given name is Yi."

"What a coincidence! It's Brother Li... huh?"

Li Hanchao grinned, but he froze halfway through his polite words.

"Li, Li Yi... He's over six feet tall, with a majestic appearance... This, this..."

Li Hanchao stared at Li Yi blankly, muttering subconsciously.

As expected, it seemed that he had guessed Li Yi's identity, but he was still a little bit unbelievable for a while.

"I'm here to take care of some private matters, and I don't want to make it too public. I hope Brother Li will forgive me."

Li Yi chuckled, agreeing with Li Hanchao's guess, and at the same time indirectly reminding the other party not to publicize his identity.

"I wouldn't dare..." Li Hanchao reacted and immediately became respectful. "Li Du, please excuse me. Just call me Hanchao."

Li Hanchao was quite clever. He lowered his voice deliberately and even referred to himself as "villain". He also asked Li Yi to call him Hanchao directly, which made him seem more intimate.

Li Yi nodded and said, "Han Chao, I wonder if you are willing to join the army again in the future?"

Li Hanchao was stunned when he heard this, but he quickly reacted and bowed down.

Fortunately, Li Yi pulled him back, otherwise if he really continued to bow like this, the diners around him would not be blind, so how could he be low-key?

Li Hanchao realized that he had lost his composure and said uneasily: "Little man..."

Li Yi shook his head and motioned him to sit down first.

After returning to his seat, Li Hanchao sighed softly, "To be honest with you, Li Dushi, although I resigned from the army due to anger, I have been in the army for nearly ten years and have long been accustomed to that kind of life."

"I've been doing some small business for the past two years, and I've been able to make a decent living, but it's always been boring. Otherwise, I wouldn't work two days and rest three days."

"But I don't have many connections, and I'm also stubborn, so I don't dare to join the army again easily, for fear of encountering a difficult boss and getting into trouble."

At this point, Li Hanchao slapped his thigh and immediately expressed his loyalty: "Now that Li Dushi has not abandoned me and has condescended to accept me as his subordinate, how dare I not know what is good for me?"

"From now on, I am willing to be a small pawn by Li Dushi's side, and I will not hesitate to sacrifice my life for him!"

Li Yi laughed and said, "Isn't Han Chao afraid that I might be that difficult boss?"

Li Hanchao immediately said solemnly, "Who in the world doesn't know the name of Li Dushi? He killed the most powerful general of the pseudo-Han army in battle and repelled 100,000 Liao troops coming to support the pseudo-Han. How can such heroism be compared to those petty and despicable people?"

"It is my great honor to serve under Li Dushi!"

Li Hanchao's words came from the heart. Nowadays, warriors only respect those who are stronger than themselves. They will recognize whoever can lead them to victory and give them honor and rewards.

If you encounter a cowardly commander, you will suffer defeat. Not only will you not get any rewards, you may even lose your life. What's the point of dying on the battlefield?

Nowadays, I’m afraid no one would dare to say that Li Yi’s achievements were due to luck!

Li Hanchao naturally admired Li Yi.

One hundred thousand Liao troops... Li Yi couldn't help but be shocked.

The rumors about his own battle record became more and more outrageous. The Liao army, which only had 30,000 to 40,000 soldiers, had now more than doubled in number.

Could this be the reason why some of the bizarre casualty ratios in historical records came about?
"By the way, this is my childhood friend, Ma Renyu, the Imperial Guard's Inner Palace Guard."

Li Yi then introduced Ma Renyu to Li Hanchao.

The other party immediately gave him another round of compliments, and Ma Renyu accepted the compliments without any modesty.

"Ma Du Yuhou and I are going to take care of some personal matters first. We may have to leave in two days. You can get ready first and wait for me in the tavern."

Before leaving the posthouse, Li Yi gave Li Hanchao a few instructions.

Li Hanchao repeatedly said yes.

According to him, his parents have passed away, his wife and children are no longer alive, and he has never remarried. He is now alone.

Just say hello to him when Li Yi and the other two leave.

……

"Li Hanchao..."

After Li Yi left the inn, he suddenly remembered why he felt the name Li Hanchao sounded familiar.

Just because the other party is also a well-known figure in history.

After Zhao Kuangyin established the Song Dynasty, this person was still trusted by Zhao Da.

But now he didn't expect that he would be the one to intercept him.

In this way, even if the set goal was not achieved this time, it was an unexpected surprise that Li Hanchao was won over.

At least I didn't return empty-handed...

"Brother Yi, I don't see that Li Hanchao has any special abilities. There are many people in the Imperial Guards who are stronger than him. Why bother bringing him back to Tokyo?"

Ma Renyu was riding on his horse. He turned to look at Li Yi and asked about the confusion in his heart.

"Just do whatever I say. Why all the nonsense?"

Li Yi replied subconsciously, but as soon as he said it, he was suddenly stunned... He didn't know when it started, but his tone and attitude towards Ma Renyu had changed a lot.

In the past, he always called him Brother Ma, based on the age difference, but now, unconsciously, he always likes to call him Brother Yu.

It seems that he subconsciously starts to treat the other party as a younger brother...

Although Li Yi was indeed the leader of Xia Jin's gang when he was a child, that was because his mental age was older than those young people at that time.

When everyone grew up, Li Yi still gave this group of people enough respect.

Could it be the subtle influence brought about by the improvement of status?

Li Yi glanced at Ma Renyu, but saw that the other party did not show any dissatisfaction. Perhaps it was because he had been accustomed to listening to Li Yi since he was a child, and he was somewhat in awe of him in his bones.

Thinking this way, Li Yi slowed down his tone and said, "Those who want to achieve great things in this world cannot do everything themselves. Everyone has their use, and we cannot judge things based solely on personal likes and dislikes."

"Li Hanchao isn't well-known now, and perhaps we can't see what his extraordinary qualities are, but what about the future?"

"Perhaps at some point, some people will prove to be of unexpected use. Even if they ultimately prove useless, making one more friend is definitely more beneficial than making one more enemy."

Li Yi explained earnestly. If Ma Renyu was not his childhood playmate and had not been as close as a brother over the years, he would not have bothered to explain so much.

Of course, Li Yi naturally couldn't say that Li Hanchao in history was a great figure.

Moreover, when he tried to win over Li Hanchao, he did not remember the other party's historical identity, but simply thought that the other party was a useful person.

"I understand……"

I don’t know whether Ma Renyu really understood or was just pretending to understand, but he didn’t say anything more anyway.

Next, Li Yi and the other man rode into Weizhou City, intending to take a walk around the Prince of Wei's mansion first to see what the situation was.

However, when they arrived at the gate of the Prince of Wei's residence, they were suddenly surprised...

　Writing the side story gave me a headache. No matter how I changed it, I was never satisfied. But if I didn't write it, it would be incoherent, so I simply shortened it a lot. Then I returned to the main storyline.

　　If you don't like it, just skip it...

　　I'm going to Sanjiang tomorrow... It's so strange. When the editor told me this, I thought it was an April Fool's joke.

　　Is the history category so unpopular? I can get into Sanjiang with my poor grades?
　　The post has ended early. I will try to update more from tomorrow. I won't let the editor down.

　　I guess I will be the last one in Sanjiang this time, to support the other big guys, hahaha.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)