The emperor would rather have a

Chapter 78 Brothers of Yishe (3)

Zhengyangfang.

The front hall of Li Yi's house was brightly lit.

Delicious dishes were served to the table.

Li Yi sat in the main seat and glanced around. The other six people present were Ma Renyu, Zhao Yanwu, Xia Renhui, Xu Kuangrong, Zhang Jiangong and Li Hanchao.

Ma Renyu and the other three came from his hometown of Xiajin with him. They can be considered as his absolute die-hard friends, having grown up together.

Zhang Jiangong was his superior when he first joined the Inner Palace Guard, and the two had a close relationship. He was now the captain of his personal guard.

As for Li Hanchao... this person is a figure who will be recorded in history. The abilities he has demonstrated since following me have also proved this.

At present, this group of people is Li Yi’s most core team.

Now that Li Yi has obtained the power to reorganize the imperial guards, he is naturally prepared to let these people play their due role.

Thinking of this, Li Yi was about to speak, but saw Ma Renyu stand up directly, raised the wine bowl and said:

"Brother Yi has now been assigned the task of inspecting all the troops. Among the imperial guards, apart from Prince Consort Zhang and Li Chongjin, Brother Yi holds the greatest power. Who would dare to offend us brothers?"

"Come, let's toast to Brother Yi!"

Upon hearing this, everyone naturally agreed and stood up to toast Li Yi.

Li Yi coughed lightly and said, "I treat everyone who comes to me tonight as a brother. Now that I have the trust of His Majesty, I am sure you will benefit from it."

"I won't say more, everyone, drink this bowl to the brim!"

After saying that, Li Yi raised his head and drank it in one gulp, and the others present followed suit.

Li Hanchao put down his wine bowl and said, "In terms of seniority, I've just joined the Imperial Guard and can't compare to you all. In terms of closeness, some of you are Li Dushi's childhood playmates, and some are Li Dushi's old friends in the army."

"And I, Li Hanchao, am nothing. If it weren't for Li Dushi's appreciation of me, he would have promoted me to the Imperial Guard and even secured the rank of Tenth General for me."

"I, Li Hanchao, am still a traveling merchant, hustling and haggling with people just to make a few bucks."

Perhaps it was influenced by the atmosphere at the banquet.

Or maybe it was because he was invited to the mansion to drink with Li Yi's good brothers.

Li Hanchao felt that he was valued and trusted by Li Yi.

At this moment, Li Hanchao was less reserved, his words were full of sincerity, and he seemed very excited.

"I won't say any flattery. Action speaks louder than words. Everyone, just wait and see whether I, Li Hanchao, am a coward or not!"

Ma Renyu cheered, "Well said, this is what a man should be like! Come, I'll toast you a bowl!"

Even Zhang Jiangong, who is usually steady and composed, couldn't help but interrupt and said, "I'll also toast to Brother Han Chao with a bowl."

"And me!" "I'm coming too!" "How can I be missing..."

Zhao Yanwu and the other two also joined in the fun.

In this way, the maids and servants served the dishes while everyone drank happily.

By the time all the dishes were served, several jars of wine had already been empty.

When the wine was at its peak, Ma Renyu suddenly got excited and suggested that everyone become sworn brothers on the spot. Once this guy had a few drinks, he would dare to say anything.

Li Hanchao waved his hands repeatedly and said, "Marquis Ma Du is joking. How dare someone of my status become sworn brothers with Envoy Li Du?"

Zhang Jiangong also shook his head.

In fact, both of them were very tempted by Ma Renyu's proposal. After all, Li Yi was now in the limelight in the imperial guards, not only because of his contributions in the two battles of Gaoping and Xinkou.

He was also highly valued by the emperor and assisted in supervising the rectification of the imperial guards.

If the relationship with Li Yi could be further developed, it would definitely be a great thing.

But they both knew their own limitations and felt they were not yet qualified for this level.

They are already very content to be able to mix in Li Yi's circle now. There is still plenty of time to get closer to Li Yi in the future, so there is no need to make people think that they are ungrateful.

As for the other three, Zhao Yanwu and Li Yi, they didn't react much to Ma Renyu's proposal. They had been friends with Li Yi since childhood and had been close friends in private for a long time, so whether they became sworn brothers or not didn't really make much difference.

"I was praising you just now." Ma Renyu said unhappily, "Now you start saying these unpleasant things again."

"Brother Yi, don't you think so?"

Seeing everyone looking at him, Li Yi smiled and said, "I think Yu'er's suggestion is very good. As the saying goes, a hero doesn't care about his background. Brothers don't matter their status. As long as we have similar aspirations, why not become sworn brothers?"

Ma Renyu's proposal suddenly reminded him of the Ten Brothers of Yishe in history.

Li Yi immediately thought this was a good suggestion.

Regardless of whether there really were the Ten Brothers of Yishe, since there is such a saying, can't I make it come true?
Anyway, Li Yi has now stepped onto the path that should have belonged to Zhao Da.

Why not leave a story about the righteous brothers in the history books of future generations?

Ma Renyu clapped his hands and laughed, "Brother Yi has said so, why are you still talking nonsense?"

"Come, come, let's swear an oath of blood and swear our loyalty now!"

He did it right away. He picked up the small knife for cutting mutton, raised his hand and cut a cut between his fingers, then filled a bowl with wine and dripped the blood into it.

Seeing that the atmosphere was like this, Zhang Jiangong and Li Hanchao no longer hesitated and followed Ma Renyu's process.

Then came Zhao Yanwu and the other two.

When it was Li Yi's turn, he dripped blood from his fingertips into the bowl, divided the wine into seven parts, and filled each one with wine.

Since we are going to become sworn brothers, there must be a hierarchy of rank.

Although Li Yi is the youngest, he has the highest status and is the actual leader of the group.

Naturally, they all recommended Li Yi to be the big brother.

Li Yi also took the responsibility, as refusing at this time would seem artificial.

And Ma Renyu naturally became the second in command.

The remaining five people are arranged in order of age: Zhang Jiangong is the third, Li Hanchao is the fourth, Zhao Yanwu is the fifth, Xia Renhui is the sixth, and Xu Kuangrong is the seventh.

Originally, Li Hanchao wanted to decline and just be the seventh one, but after being rebuked by Ma Renyu, he had to give up.

Li Yi raised his bowl and said, "Sharing with the people is called righteousness, and honoring the heavens and offering sacrifices to the gods is called community. Today, with heaven as my witness, I swear to the gods that we will become the seven brothers of the community."

"Come, let's drink this wine. From now on, we are brothers with different surnames!"

At this moment, Li Yi seemed to be full of passion. He picked up the bowl and drank it first, followed by Ma Renyu and others.

"Big brother!"

Several people put down their wine bowls and shouted in unison.

"Everyone, sit down!"

Li Yi nodded, and after everyone was seated, he said, "From now on, we are all brothers. There's no need to be so reserved in private."

At this point, he looked at Li Hanchao, "Especially your fourth brother."

"Big brother taught me a lesson!"

"Look, again?"

The few of them burst into laughter again, and Li Hanchao himself laughed too.

Then, Li Yi said solemnly, "I can't help to reorganize the Imperial Guards alone. We need to first form a team of nearly a hundred officers to be responsible for the specific matters of dismissing the old and weak and selecting the best ones."

"You brothers are naturally one of them, but we also need to select some more people from the army."

"Fifth brother, how are things going with the people I asked you to contact in Feiyingdu?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yanwu quickly stood up, took out a piece of paper, and handed it over: "I, Hui'er, Rong'er, and I have discussed with everyone from Feiying City who is currently in the Imperial Guard and have written them all down here."

(End of this chapter)