At night, a gorgeous carriage was escorted by dozens of burly knights with knives, slowly stopped in front of the gate of Dugu Mansion, and Dugu Cheng, the head of the Dugu family who was standing on the steps and waiting, hurriedly ran down, opened the door very actively, and welcomed the carriage out.

"Dou Gong is careful of his step." Dugu Cheng reminded on the side

Dou Liang smiled heartily and said, "I take the liberty to visit, and I hope Dugu Gong will bear with me." ”

"Dou Gong's visit is a blessing for Dugu Mansion, please ......" Dugu Cheng smiled and welcomed Dou Liang into the mansion and received him with the unique gift of Guan Long's magnates.

"Please!"

The two entered the house side by side, and under the leadership of Dugu Cheng, they sat down in the study, and the maid poured good tea and soup, bowed, and retreated silently.

Dou Liang took a sip of fragrant tea, tasted the fresh and timeless taste, then put down the teacup, glanced at Dugu Cheng, and said lightly: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is looking for me in the evening." ”

They are all familiar people, and Dou Liang is too lazy to go around in circles.

"What did Your Highness say?" Dugu Cheng added tea soup to Dou Liang and asked softly.

After the incident of moving the capital to Bashu, the relationship between the Guanlong magnates and Li Yuan was very tense, and they kidnapped the public opinion and took the opportunity to put forward three demands to Li Yuan.

Dou Liang said: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince told me that the Holy Lord agreed to our three requests, and we will never move the capital unless Xiangyang is lost; At the same time, 100,000 troops were added to ensure the safety of Jingzhou. ”

"What did Sangkook say?"

Dugu Cheng is more concerned about the requirements of Xiangguo, at the beginning Dugu saw that the situation was not good, and resigned from Xiangguo on the grounds of entering the country, since then, the faction of Guanlong magnates led by the Dugu family in the political hall of the Li Tang Dynasty, there is no longer a representative of interests, it seems very passive, some families see that the Dou family is gaining power, they have turned to the Dou faction, Dugu Cheng realized how ignorant he was at the beginning, and when he cooperated with the Dou faction to oppose the relocation of the capital, he took the opportunity to put forward the conditions for the Guanlong magnates to re-enter the prime minister.

Dugu Cheng is now very concerned about this candidate, he hopes that Lonely Huaien, who is the secretary of the Ministry of Works, can be selected, and hurriedly asked: "Who does the Holy Lord decide to be in the phase?" ”

"The initial candidate is Dou Lukuan, he is now the secretary of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and he will be sealed after the year." Dou Liang said.

When Dugu Cheng heard this, his face became ugly.

Although Dou Lukuan is also the backbone of the Dugu faction, he is not his own family after all, if he is one of the 'six nobles' in the political affairs hall, he may not take away the land of the leader of the Dugu faction in the future.

But after all, Dugu Cheng is the head of the family brought out by Dugu Quan, who disturbed the world of the Great Sui, and he is also a scheming old fox, knowing that Li Yuan's letting Dou Lu Kuan enter the prime minister is definitely not the result of a decision for a while, there must be a reason that he doesn't know, maybe it is Dou Liang who is behind the control.

The two have been fighting in the dark for decades, and the rift caused by the years can not be repaired overnight. Now both families have the intention to merge the two factions of Guanlong into one, twist them into a political force like an iron bucket, and then play with Li Yuan like they did with Yuwen and Yang Jian. But no one wants to give up the right to dominate all the Guanlong magnates, so how can Dou Rail allow the Dugu family to have another appearance?

Dou Lu Kuan out of his own rights, may have thrown himself into the Dou family, once the Dou family occupies the second phase on Li Tang's side, plus Dou Cong is such a general, the power will be in full swing, and there will be more Dugu faction gate valves to change the court, on the other hand, Dugu Huaien, only Dugu Huaien is such a Ministry of Works, the decline is a foregone conclusion, who will follow Dugu's orders in the future?

So far.

Dugu Cheng took a sip of the teacup slowly, tried to keep a calm smile and asked, "Has Gong Dou been to another house?" ”

"Of course it's not Dugufu, no matter how wise I am, I won't be unclear." Dou Liang shook his head and asked, "The Holy Lord has accepted the three conditions of Guanlong's magnates, so does Dugu Gong think that we should transport materials to Xiangyang to stabilize prices and relieve the difficulty of lack of food and clothing in the capital?" ”

Dugu Cheng smiled indifferently and shook his head: "The Dugu family has disappeared from everyone, and now it is meaningless to express his position, Dou Gong should discuss it with the actual gate valve!" I think that the Doulu clan has always dared to be the first in the world, and will definitely be enthusiastic to promote the unification of everyone's opinions. ”

Dou Rail's face was a little unbearable, how could he not hear the other party's accusations? He explained with a wry smile: "Don't hide it from Dugu Gong, I really didn't know in advance that the Holy Lord decided to use Doulu Kuan as a phase, and I only knew about it when the prince came to the door." My Guan Long lineage is now weak and unprecedented, if we fight infighting at this time, it will only benefit the Southern Shi Clan, whether it is for my own interests or for the sake of the overall situation, I will not do such a dirty thing, please Dugu Gong must believe it. ”

"Of course I believe in Dou Gong!" When Dugu Cheng said this, he didn't say anything.

Dou Liang may not be secretly manipulating, or maybe Li Yuan deliberately sow discord, but it is a fact that no one from the Dugu clan is in the picture, which makes Dugu Cheng extremely angry, even if it is a generation of Tianjiao Yang Jian and a generation of heroes Yang Guang, they dare not cut off the rights of their Dugu family, what is Li Yuan who is trapped on one side? Do you really think that Dugu is the only one who has such a choice?

For a moment, there was silence in the study.

Dou Liang knew that Dugu Cheng didn't believe it, and his heart was very bitter, and then he said: "In addition, the prince transferred me a holy edict, and I think it is necessary to discuss it with Dugu Gong." ”

"Dou, please speak."

"Dugu Gong, please take a look!" Dou Liang handed over Li Yuan's edict to Dugu Cheng.

"Two million stone grain, one million yuan?" Dugu Cheng watched silently, and then looked up at Dou Rail.

In the past, the Guanlong magnates took over the task of providing 800,000 stone grain and 300,000 yuan of money annually in an overall way, and then distributed it evenly to each family and paid it in two installments; And Li Yuan asked for a huge amount this time, and also asked for a lump sum payment. Dugu Cheng didn't worry about anything, just because it was not a secret that Li Yuan was short of money, food and materials, and his eagerness to ask for money and food to expand the army was understandable.

"Exactly!" Dou Liang pondered for a while, and sighed: "The Sui Dynasty has strong soldiers and horses, and it will expand its army by 500,000, if it starts a war in the coming year, the Li Tang Dynasty will not last long at all, with Yang Dong's means, if the Tang Dynasty is destroyed, everyone's manor will definitely be divided equally among the slave people." On the contrary, the Tang Dynasty, now there is a shortage of money, food and materials, the food in the official warehouse of the imperial court and the people's righteous warehouse has been exhausted, and the army is unsustainable, let alone expanding the army, it is now a cold winter, and all the taxes for the coming year cannot be counted on at all, so the saint intends to exchange all the businesses of Li Tang for two million stone grain and one million yuan. ”

"To be honest, I don't like Datang's business, but with the right to do business, all caravans can travel unhindered under Datang's rule, without being questioned or exploited by anyone, so that they can sell materials, which is the key." Dou Liang is also a beneficiary of commercial rights, and he knows that Dugu is the same, so he is not worried that Dugu Cheng will refuse

"How did Gong Dou decide to divide it?"

Dugu Cheng was really tempted.

In the past, he could only sell Jingzhou materials to his heart's content, and Bashu's could only be used by the Li Tang court, which has made the Dugu clan make a lot of money, and Li Yuan has now lifted the ban on Bashu, which is rich in products, that is to say, the materials that Dugu has hoarded in Bashu can be exchanged for more wealth, which is not tempting him.

"That's what I thought!" Seeing that Dugu Cheng's resistance was not as strong as just now, Dou Liang struck while the iron was hot and said: "I want to divide this money and grain into 100 parts, each of which is 20,000 stone grain and 10,000 yuan, and the copper coin is not enough, so you can replace it with equivalent gold." The business of Bashu will also be divided into 100 shares. The more shares subscribed, the greater the right to operate the business. I, Dou, decided to subscribe for 20 shares, that is, to take out 400,000 stone sugar points and 200,000 guan money, and donate 100,000 stone of grain and 50,000 guan of money to help the imperial court tide over the difficulties. ”

Dugu Cheng was surprised when he heard this, the capital of the Dou family this time was really big enough.

Although the amount of donations used to be large, but never so generous, in addition to the huge temptation of the Bashu business power, there must be a reason that I don't know.

However, Dou Liang was still waiting for his reply, so he immediately retracted his mind, pondered for a moment, and said, "That's it!" The number of subscriptions and donations is the same as that of Dou's. ”

"There are still sixty to be distributed, so I won't keep more." Dou Rail knew that Dugu Cheng had a gap with him, and was anxious to discuss with Dugu Quan, the old man who lived behind the scenes, so he got up and said goodbye and left.

Sure enough, as Dou Liang expected.

Dugu Cheng, who sent Dou Rail out of the door, quickly returned home and discussed with Dugu Cheng, to a certain extent, the power to decide the fate of the Dugu clan is still in the hands of Dugu Cheng, not that Dugu Cheng is afraid of his uncle, but that his uncle has been camping all his life, and his experience is really beyond his reach.

After listening to Dugu Cheng's statement, Dugu thought for a long time, and said coldly: "This should be Li Yuan's strategy to discord, it is nothing more than the fear that the Guanlong nobles will twist into one and shake his imperial power." As for Dou Clan's enthusiasm, there are no more than three reasons, first of all, Dou Liang wants to be the leader of Guan Long, but with his power alone, he can't suppress our Dugu faction, so he takes advantage of Li Yuan's momentum; Secondly, the Dou family and Yang Tong have no relatives and no reason, even if Yang Tong accepts the Dou family in the future, he will not get much rights, so he simply bets on Li Yuan in a desperate way, Li Yuan wins, the Dou family is the biggest hero, the future is immeasurable, if Li Yuan loses, the status of the Dou family in the Sui Dynasty has not changed in the slightest; ”

"The third and most important point, the Zhou and Sui dynasties have been betrayed by the Guanlong nobles, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is notorious, once Yang Tong unifies the world, he can make the Guanlong nobles disappear in the blink of an eye, he has absolute control over the world, there is no need to compromise with any family, any powerful Guanlong gatekeeper, he is not allowed to exist, whoever is strong will die. Dou saw this, so he let go of his hands and feet, the more miserable Dou was, the more relieved Yang Tong was. ”

"Uncle, the Dou clan has found a way, what about us? Is it the same as Dou's, self-weakening? ”

"This way, the Dou clan, which has nothing to do with the Sui Dynasty, can go, even if he follows Li Yuan to death, he will win the name of a loyal minister. We can't do it......" Dugu let out a long sigh and muttered to himself: "We are facing the same problem as Xiao Yu, the two families are Yang Guang's most trusted families, but both families have betrayed. If we follow Li Yuan all the way to the end, we will only completely anger Yang Tong and end up exterminating the clan..."

Dugu Cheng nodded silently, his uncle's foresight made him ashamed, Dugu saw the deep worry in his eyes, and said with a smile: "It's not as serious as you think, since Yang Tong has opened his mouth, it can be seen that the family gate valve is still useful to him." ”

Dugu Cheng thought for a moment and asked, "What can we do?" ”

"The civil and military officials of the Sui Dynasty are mainly the royal family and the powerful people of Kwantung, he needs the third, fourth, and fifth forces to balance, otherwise Yang Dong's court will not be stable, as long as we are not as strong as before and are under his absolute control, he will be able to accept us. Another way is to make Yang Tong no longer so strong, and use Li Yuan and Li Mi to weaken his strength to the extreme, once he is weak, everything is easy to talk about. ”

"Yang Tong is too strong, Er Li is afraid it will be difficult to do this!"

"I have planted a chess piece in the Bohai Sea and grown to several thousand county soldiers. It's a pity that people are not as good as heaven. Dugu shook his head and said with a wry smile: "In order to suppress the bandits, Yang Tong drew all the soldiers of Jizhou County to the south and was responsible for exterminating various cottages. But fortunately, Yang Tong didn't find this chess piece, it can develop and grow again, and when the war reaches a critical moment, it will become a poisonous dagger, and maybe it can change the tide of the war. ”

Dugu Cheng was so shocked that he couldn't keep his mouth shut for a long time, his uncle was so crazy, didn't he know that if the matter leaked out, it would completely anger Yang Tong?

"Don't worry!" Dugu understood what his nephew was worried about, and said with a smug smile: "This chess piece doesn't even know about its owner, and it won't affect the family." ”

"Nephew understood." Dugu Cheng smiled bitterly.

"You do two things now."

"Uncle, please."

"I heard that Li Mi was unpopular in Jiangnan, and he suffered from lack of food, but he didn't dare to offend the Jiangnan Shi clan, for fear that everyone would rebel. You asked people to go to Li Mi and tell him that there were five large manors in Ninghai County, Jiangdu, and each manor had 50,000 or 60,000 stones of grain and a lot of copper coins, so that he could carry them with confidence. ”

Dugu took out a map and handed it to Dugu Cheng, "This is a map of five manors, you must let a credible person send it, and you must not reveal that it is our family." ”

"Whoa!" Dugu Cheng took the map and waited for the second command.

"The second thing is that you go to Luoyang in person, try to meet Yang Tong, and then you show him your attitude, just say that the Dugu clan is willing to hand over Bashu eighty percent of the land, and when his army arrives in Xiangyang, we can respond internally, and when the time is ripe, open the gate of Xiangyang for him and lead the Sui army into the city. In addition, it can help him appease the nobles of Guanlong. ”

Dugu Cheng was stunned by his uncle's generosity, eighty percent of the land, that is two or three hundred thousand hectares of fertile land.

"What are we fighting for? It's an overnight benefit! And how did the Kwantung clan pass down for thousands of years? It is the softest way to follow the trend, they will fully support a certain person, but they will also keep a certain distance from this person, even if this person is finished, they can also find another backer, and will not be wiped out with this person, this is the right choice to inherit the thousand-year-old family. In contrast, the Guanlong nobles acted too flamboyantly, took the initiative to participate in the battle of the world, disrupted the situation of the world, and won the game, although they would get a temporary profit, but it also caused the fear of those who got the world, so Yang Jian and his son wanted to deal with us, if it was the Li family who got the world in the future, they would also try their best to weaken us, just because no emperor was willing to have a strong force that threatened his throne. In the future, our Dugu clan will also learn from the Kanto clan, not to fight for the benefits of one generation, and to follow the general trend to add fuel to the fire, and we must not go beyond the generations. ”

…………

However, it was said that after Dou Liang left Dugu Mansion, the door of the family was opened, and the subscription would soon be fully implemented. Then he entered the palace at night to hand over the decree to Li Yuan and report the results of raising money and food. At this time, Li Yuan had just fallen asleep, and when he heard that Dou Rail urgently asked to see him, he immediately met Dou Rail in the inner hall. Listening carefully to Dou Liang's detailed account of the process of raising money and grain, he praised from time to time, and expressed his appreciation for the feats required by the various Guanlongmen and the imperial court.

Dou Liang, who spoke more energetically, didn't know that the corners of the emperor's mouth standing in front of the window showed an imperceptible sneer from time to time, if he was a little careful, he would have noticed the irrepressible murderous intent in the emperor's eyes.

Li Yuan pretended to listen and pretended to praise at the same time, but he already had no illusions about the Guanlong magnates in his heart.

These Guanlong magnates are not without money and food, and the reason why they are pushing back is that they are unwilling to use it to support the imperial court, and now they give them a little sweetness and they have generously donated money, and in less than two hours, they have solved the problem of money and food that has plagued them for a long time.

This attitude before and after is simply like two people, which is enough to show that the Guanlong magnates have not changed at all, or the same as before, all of them take the lead, no one and no family take care of the overall situation, if Yang Tong promises them a little benefit, they will definitely turn around and sell him to the Sui Dynasty.

Li Yuan felt that these people were too unreliable, except for the children of the clan, it was difficult for him to find reliable people, even his relatives were unreliable, Dugu Quan and Xiao Yu were the biggest relatives in the Sui Dynasty, and when they sold Yang Guang, it was called a simple. Especially Dugu Quan, as early as the Kaihuang period, he had already plotted against him.

When looking at this issue from Yang Guang's point of view, Li Yuan suddenly felt very frightened, thinking of today's difficult situation, he already suspected that Dugu had sold him with his whole hand.

In the midst of his heartbeat, Dou Liang finally shut up. Li Yuan hurriedly said with a pleasant face: "Please go back and tell everyone that I will never break my promise, and I hope that everyone will continue to help Tang Jun, as long as you help, you will get something." ”

"Wechen will definitely convey the meaning of the saint to everyone."

"Dou Xiang has worked hard all day, I am very sorry not to go, it's getting late now, go back and rest early!"

"Wechen retired." Dou Liang bowed and left the main hall.

Li Yuan was no longer sleepy at this time, he looked at Dou Liang's back that disappeared into the night, and silently thought about how to deal with Guan Long's magnates. He felt that there was not much time left for him to scrape his bones and heal his wounds, and he had to solve the security risks before the arrival of the Sui army, otherwise the first to defect would be the Guanlong magnates.