The icy river wind swept through Xiangyang, the sky and the earth were cold, the whole night was pitch black, and there was not even a star in the dark and dreary sky, and a carriage slowly drove towards Dou Rail's mansion under the escort of dozens of guards with knives.

The horse curtain opened, Yu Yun, the head of the Guanlong Yu family, walked down from the carriage, and Dou Fengjie, the son of Dou Rail, who was already waiting at the door, hurriedly greeted him, bowed and saluted: "Little nephew to meet Uncle Shi." ”

"Good nephew is very polite! Is Dou Xiang there? Yu Yun looked at the heroic Dou Fengjie, and felt a little emotional, the Dou clan will gather stars, and in comparison, his own Yu clan is far behind. He used to be a famous brave general, he once accompanied his uncle Yu Zhongwen to fight in the south and the north, and made great achievements, Yu Zhongwen saw that he was quite witty, so he asked him to abandon Wu Congwen and train him as the next head of the family. A few days ago, because of the Dugu case, he was dismissed from his position as Jing Zhaoyin and reappointed as the imperial servant, in charge of the Tang Dynasty's chariot and stable orders. Tonight, I received an invitation from Dou Liang and came to Dou Mansion to discuss important matters.

"Father is waiting in the study, Uncle Shi, please!"

"Good!"

Yu Yun nodded, walked into the mansion with Dou Fengjie, and went straight to the study.

Under the lantern, Dou Liang and Dou Cong stood side by side, as if they had been waiting for a long time, Yu Yun hurriedly stepped forward and saluted: "See Dou Xiang and the general." ”

"Brother Xian doesn't have to be polite, please come in!" Dou Liang smiled and welcomed Yun into the study, Dou Cong followed closely and closed the door with his hand.

The guest and the host took their seats, Dou Liang poured a cup of fragrant tea for Yu Yun, and then muttered: "Today's court meeting is over, the saint and I have talked about a lot of things, I think it is necessary to discuss with the merchants, but if you discuss together, it is easy to prevaricate and dispute, so please let everyone come separately; I'm sorry to disturb my brother's rest. ”

"Little brother is fine!" Yu Yun said with a smile: "Dou Xiang has important matters to discuss, how can the little brother not come?" ”

"The virtuous brother also knows that the saint destroyed the Buddha in Bashu and Jingxiang, so that the imperial court has more than 300,000 hectares of fertile land, and Louguandao also agreed to donate sixty percent of the fertile land to the imperial court, and there are more than 200,000 hectares here, and the saint urgently sent someone to take over, and strive to count and distribute it to the displaced people and meritorious soldiers before the spring ploughing, so that the tax revenue will increase by at least more than 500,000 hectares this year."

Seeing Yu Yun and the others listening carefully, Dou Liang continued: "Brother Xian also knows that more than 1.2 million grains have burned seventy percent of a fire, and the only remaining thirty percent of the grain is not enough for the army to eat. ”

Yu Yun didn't rush to make a statement, and silently drank tea and thought.

After Dugu died, there was only one Dugu Huaien in the court, and the decline was a foregone conclusion, and many Dugu sect lords worshiped under the Dou family, and within a few days, the Dou family became the leader of the Guanlong aristocracy. But the emperor asked Dou Liang to convey the verbal message of borrowing grain, which made Yu Yun a little uneasy, because in the past few years, at this time, the emperor offered a number, which was borne by the lonely faction and the Dou faction, and then shared by each family, so that everyone could donate money and grain instead of taxes, which was also a tacit agreement reached between the emperor and the Guanlong nobles, and there was never a saying of borrowing money and grain, and there was no shadow of interest. The emperor was so easy to speak, but it made Yu Yun feel that things were not so simple.

After pondering for a while, Yu Yun said in a deep voice: "Dou Xiang, please say it directly." ”

"This time, the amount proposed by the Holy Lord is one million stones of grain and 500,000 yuan of money." Dou Liang said slowly.

"At the end of last year, we supported a large amount of money and grain in the imperial court in the form of commercial taxes, a huge amount, in such a short period of time, I am afraid that everyone will not be able to get together a million stone of grain and 500,000 yuan, this amount is too big for our current situation, and half of it is already the sky."

If a family has more than 10,000 stone of grain and more than 10,000 yuan of money, more than 40 families can afford it, and if it is doubled, the Yu family will definitely not be able to afford it, but Yu Yun is not only the head of the Yu family, but also a high-ranking official of the imperial court, he did not directly object, but said the current difficulties. "The Sui Dynasty has opened a ban on grain to our dynasty, and the saint will form a fleet in the near future and go to Nanjun to buy grain urgently in an official form, but the Sui army around us is ready to move, if a war breaks out, Yang Tong may not follow the contract to sell grain, and now it can only be said that he will buy a batch back first. In order to prevent food interruptions from happening, the Holy Lord has the consideration of borrowing money and food, and he also knows that everyone is in difficulty, everyone can claim it according to their own affordability, and it doesn't matter if the total amount is not reached. Dou Liang said Li Yuan's proposition.

"What's the attitude of the others?" If everyone is against it, then he Yu Yun can also oppose it, if everyone agrees, then he can only follow the public, if he really can't get together 20,000 yuan of food, he can only make a turn with other families.

"The Dugu family claims two percent, our Dou family and the Dou Lu family have Xiangguo, so our two families also claim two percent, so there are 400,000 stone grain and 200,000 guan money, in addition to our three families, we Guanlong nobles also have thirty-two families, if it is evenly shared, one family will also have 10,000 stone grain and 5,000 guan money, and the rest will be made up by my Dou family."

When Yu Yun heard this, he was surprised, although Dugu was once the richest man in the world, but Dugu's status in Datang is not what it used to be, but Dugu's still donated 20% because of the murder of Dugu? Or are you planning to push Dugu Huaien into the phase? However, this is not the time to think about these questions, just because Dou Liang is still waiting for his reply, he hurriedly retracted his heart and said: "For these amounts, my Yu family can accept them, and in order to show the loyalty of the Yu family to the imperial court, it should be donated to the imperial court." ”

Dou Liang said happily: "Brother Xian's loyalty to the imperial court, I will definitely tell the saint truthfully." ”

Yu Yun always felt a little uneasy in his heart, thought about it, and couldn't help asking: "Dou Xiang, has the saint made a decision on the assassination of the old master of Dugu?" ”

Dou Liang sighed and said: "The Holy Lord agreed with Li Mi's assassination, and he felt that Li Mi was afraid that we would make a truce with the Sui Dynasty, which would lead the Sui Dynasty to attack the Wei State with all his might, so he deliberately blamed the Sui Dynasty and provoked us. The Holy Lord has already issued an edict to close the case. ”

"I don't think that's reasonable." Yu Yun frowned and said: "Because even if Li Mi wants to blame the Sui Dynasty, the target of the assassination should be the emperor's relatives and important ministers in the court, Uncle Dugu Shishu is already an eighty-year-old man, what is the point of assassinating him?" ”

Dou Liang sighed, "Uncle Dugu Shi is a hero who supports the Holy Anti-Sui, and the power of the Dugu clan is actually still in his hands, although he has been behind the scenes for a long time, but his influence is still extraordinary, who can ignore the existence of his old man?" ”

"Dugu's claim for these two percent is ......"

"Like Brother Xian, it is donated to the imperial court!" Dou Liang said with a smile: "The Holy Lord intends to expand the six phases of the political affairs hall to seven phases, so that when encountering difficult government affairs, he will vote on a result in the way of winning more with less. ”

"I see."

When it comes to this, there is no need to talk about it anymore, Yu Yun is a member of the Dugu faction, and his friendship with Dou Rail has not yet reached the point of heart-to-heart, so he immediately said goodbye and left.

When he returned home, he combed through Dou Liang's words, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt that this assassination case was full of suspicions, and the criminal department only concluded that Li Mixing had stabbed Dugu Cheng based on the arrow shaft, the Jiangnan accents of several merchants, and a few sets of clothes made in Jiangnan, which was too child's play.

If it were him, he would never use an obvious murder weapon, nor would he leave obvious clothes, and the place where Dugu Mansion was located could be known by just asking a passerby, and it would be more confidential. It doesn't make sense that the Assassin would ask at a liquor shop where his whereabouts are most likely to be revealed. The so-called hasty departure and leaving luggage behind is more like deliberate.

Everything, it is obvious that someone is blaming Li Mi.

The Criminal Department just identified Li Mi, and this conclusion is not only absurd, but also prevaricating and fooling the court.

What made Yu Yun even more incredible was that the saint actually recognized this statement, and Dou Liang's performance tonight was also quite weird, he seemed to be deliberately avoiding something, and he seemed to be calculating something. And the emperor's decision to borrow money and grain to repay five cents of interest also reveals a strange atmosphere, which is completely different from his previous style.

The more he thought about it, the more Yu Yun felt that there was another hidden story in Dugu's case. He was so depressed that he pushed the door out of the study, stood in the cold courtyard for a while, and exhaled the depressed breath that had accumulated in his chest.

This kind of thing, he should not have been involved, but the Dugu family is kind to the family, at the beginning his father Yu Yi was the Tai Lieutenant of Emperor Wen period, a high and powerful position, because of the resale of military rations, was sentenced to the felony of the three clans by the angry Emperor Wen, and later through Dugu to catch up with Queen Dugu, the Yu family was fortunate. So he has been following closely behind Dugu and has become one of the core figures of the Dugu faction. Dugu Cheng is his benefactor, and his wife is the daughter of Dugu Xin's eldest son, Dugu Luo, so Dugu Cheng is still his uncle-in-law, and now this benefactor and relatives are dying unclear, and the suspicions are heavy.

"Husband, aren't you sleeping yet?" In the side corridor, a shadow was reflected in the hazy lantern.

"Yes, ma'am." Yu Yun and his wife have a very strong relationship, and they have been together for many years, but they have always remained the same, "The night is cold, why doesn't Mrs. rest?" ”

"The concubine has just come back from the worship of Dugu Mansion, and she really can't sleep!" Mrs. Yu sighed and said: "The concubine heard that the uncle's case is full of suspicions, and it is not Li Mi's doing, everyone says that the rhetoric of the criminal department is too restrained, and it is not reasonable at all, did the husband hear any news?" ”

"No, I don't. But don't worry, Madame, I believe that the Holy Lord will give my uncle justice. Yu Yun said against his will.

"I hope so." Mrs. Yu didn't seem to have much hope in her tone, she was silent for a while, and then asked, "The Sui army is coming again?" ”

"It's okay, don't think about it, madam, this is the emperors of the Sui and Tang dynasties, and it has nothing to do with me, a horse breeder." Yu Yun laughed at himself, from Jing Zhaoyin to Tai Servant, it seems that he has risen, but the Tang Dynasty has no horse politics at all, so he is actually a royal groom now.

It's just that Yu Yun knows what his wife is worried about, the Li Tang Dynasty is now in danger, and the various family lords have left a way back for the family, and they have sent people to Luoyang to look for opportunities, even the Dugu family is no exception, but his Yu family has never moved, once the Li Tang Dynasty is defeated, then the situation of the Yu family, as a diehard member of Li Tang, is dangerous, and a choice must be made.

Mrs. Yu said again: "My cousin said that Datang's situation is very dangerous......"

"I know that." Yu Yun nodded and asked, "Has my brother seen Emperor Shengwu?" ”

"No, Emperor Shengwu has every opportunity to receive envoys from various countries every day, and he can't spare time at all, and my brother finally waited for the news of the meeting on the sixteenth day of the first month, but the uncle was assassinated and had to return to Xiangyang. By the way......" Mrs. Yu took out a letter, handed it to her husband, and said softly: "This is what my brother asked me to bring back, so you must do what you believe." ”

"I'll see!" Yu Yun didn't go back to the room, let alone shy away from it, but watched by the lantern and candlelight in his wife's hand.

After reading the letter, the faces of the husband and wife became extremely strange.

Dugu Cheng asked Yu Yun to go to the Qinglou to meet with Dugu Huaien, and Dugu Huaien is Dugu's eldest son.

"My brother must have had a last resort in arranging this." Yu Yun thought for a while and said, "I'll go and meet with Huai'en, you go back to sleep first." Perhaps, Wynne can solve my confusion. ”

"Husband, wear this!" Mrs. Yu pulled her husband into the study, and then pushed a small burden in her hand to him.

When I opened it, it was a crumpled bicar, as if it was a hundred-year-old thing, and it seemed inconspicuous, but Yu Yun knew that this was the defensive treasure of Dugu Mansion, and the arrows from the three-stone strong bow could not be pierced, no one knew its origin, and no one knew what material it was made of.

Yu Yun knew that this was not for him, but worried that he would be killed when he went out at night, just like this, he also felt Dugu's attention and love for him, and at the same time, he also realized that Dugu's was in great trouble. Otherwise, Dugu Huaien, who is the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, will not enter and leave the Qinglou during the period of filial piety, and the reason why he risks the world is actually a surprise to the person who is watching.