After Being Abducted by the General

chapter 123

"Chu Hechao," Yuan Li said softly, "You're quite cunning..."

Chu Hechao suspected he misheard, "What did you say?"

Yuan Li gazed at him silently, as if seeing through all the foul language Chu Hechao had in his mind.

Chu Hechao blushed from being seen through, and changed the topic, "Your Liangliao Institution is indeed impressive. It has only been half a year since you sent them out, and they've already shown such effectiveness."

Yuan Li glanced at him, "Yes, I have already sent people to try to contact Zhou Gongdan. Zhou Gongdan is alone in Jizhou, and I am always afraid that something unexpected might happen to him. With people from the Liangliao Institution by his side, he will at least have some assistance."

In Jizhou, the people from the Liangliao Institution were trying to make contact with Zhou Gongdan.

Half a month later, they sent back a secret letter.

The letter bore Zhou Gongdan's handwriting. He stated that he had met up with the people from the Liangliao Institution and that he was fine, reassuring Yuan Li.

Zhou Gongdan hadn't expected Yuan Li to send someone to assist him, and he was pleasantly surprised by this.

Each member of the Liangliao Institution was an elite. Even if they couldn't help Zhou Gongdan directly, they would still find a way to ensure his safety.

Since making contact with the people from the Liangliao Institution, Zhou Gongdan felt much more at ease. He could finally sleep soundly and focus on the affairs in Jizhou. In his letter, he briefly explained all the recent events in Jizhou to Yuan Li.

Li Li's men, led by Luo Yue, were not doing anything significant in Jizhou. Their carefree and leisurely behavior made people like Wu Shanshi drop their guard. However, after a while, Luo Yue used some means to make Wu Shanshi's mother and concubines accept numerous gold, silver, and jewels as generous gifts from Li Li.

Rumors of "Jizhou Governor Wu Shanshi accepting Li Li's generous gifts" began to spread rapidly in Jizhou.

Wei Ji, the military commander, was furious and ordered the execution of several commoners spreading these rumors, but the rumors persisted. Wu Shanshi was also infuriated by this situation. He killed several of his concubines, but he couldn't do anything to his legitimate wife and mother.

In the Northern Zhou dynasty, filial piety was highly valued. How could Wu Shanshi dare to harm his own mother?

His legitimate son pleaded tearfully for his mother's life. How could he not give face to his own son?

Wu Shanshi was full of anger and embarrassment from being played with, and he wished to capture Luo Yue and kill him, but his counselors stopped him.

Wei Ji didn't want Wu Shanshi to have any connection with Li Li. He asked Wu Shanshi to return all the silver given by Li Li to his mother and wife and let Luo Yue take these things back to Luoyang.

However, Wu Shanshi felt that since Luo Yue had framed him, he had already been slandered, so returning the money would be even more humiliating. He thought it would be better to use the money as military funds, recruit more soldiers, buy more provisions, and use them to kill Li Li.

Wei Ji was so angry that he fell ill.

While Wei Ji was ill, Wang Yun thought it through and believed that since the situation had become clear, they might as well use their own plan. So he proposed a strategy to Wu Shanshi: he should pretend to conspire with Li Li, and then take the opportunity to kill Li Li first.