The night was deep, but Emperor Li Yuan did not fall asleep, he was still waiting for Han Zhi's news, he just finalized a general direction, and the specific affairs were decided by Han Zhi himself, but Li Yuan knew that there was news coming no matter what, so he waited patiently in the imperial study.

At this time, a eunuch reported at the door: "Holy Lord, Shi Hanzhi, the head of the Qi Palace, and Shi Hanzhi, the head of Wuchuan, ask to see you." ”

Li Yuan's spirits perked up: "Xuan! ”

After a while, Han Zhi walked in quickly, and showed a sincere and frightened expression just right, and gave a deep salute: "Weichen Han Zhi greets the saint." ”

Han Zhi's respectful and apprehensive demeanor made Li Yuan feel very comfortable, and greatly satisfied his Ninth Five-Year Supreme's prestige, and said in a harmonious voice: "Han Qing is exempt from courtesy, how is the situation?" ”

Han Zhigong said respectfully: "Qiqi Shengshang, Weichen chose to attack at dinnertime, when Wuchuan Wei entered the mansion, they were defenseless, and no one in the mansion escaped the net. Now the families of all the provinces are under house arrest in Dugu Mansion, and Dugu Mansion is now very lively, and the children of all families are crying and crying. This is done with two intentions: one is to centralize in one place to facilitate control; Second, after a long time, the heads of the family will inevitably be moved by family affection, and for the sake of their families, they will definitely agree to the conditions of the saint, and the mounts and carriages that can be used for them to leave will also be confiscated. As for the family and the coachman, they were all imprisoned in the prison of the Wuchuan Division. ”

"Han Qing is doing a good job, no wonder King Qi values it so much." Li Yuan nodded and praised, and then asked, "What is Han Qing going to do next?" ”

"The lowly officials plan to put them under house arrest for a few days first, until they have internal strife, and then divide them into separate custody, and then force them to surrender the army."

"Han Qing's method is a very good strategy, and I appreciate it very much."

"It is His Royal Highness the King of Qi who teaches well, and Weichen just acts according to the teachings of the King of Qi, and he does not dare to take credit."

"Haha, Han Qing is also meritorious, once this matter is over, I will reward him heavily." Seeing that Han Zhi attributed the credit to his son, Li Yuan was even more satisfied with Han Zhi, who knew how to advance and retreat.

"Thank you, Holy Lord." Han Zhi made a gesture of gratitude.

"Anything else?" Li Yuan asked with a smile.

Among his three sons-in-law, the eldest son Li Jiancheng and the second son Li Shimin are both wise and brave, which can be described as a temporary dragon and phoenix, and he never has to worry about it, but Li Yuanji used to be idle and frolicking everywhere, which broke his heart as a father. Seeing that Li Yuanji also knew that he cared about the Tang Dynasty and controlled his subordinates obediently, this made him feel relieved.

Han Zhi saluted and said, "Holy Lord, Weichen has a suggestion. ”

"You say!" Li Yuan was very satisfied with Han Zhi and wanted to hear his advice.

"Saint, the nobles of Guanlong regard the private army as their life, and they will not agree to it in normal times. And the heads of the family are imprisoned in the Dugu Mansion, they know that life and death are all by the thought of the court, and the only thing that makes the saints worry is their private army, worried that after handing it over, they will become a group of lambs to be slaughtered, I am afraid that they will not agree for a while. ”

"What Han Ai said is good, what is your suggestion?"

"Holy Lord, the battle between the Sui and Tang Dynasties is about to break out, and we don't have so much time to waste on your family masters. Weichen suggested that the imperial court should take two preparations, on the one hand, to continue to persecute the heads of the family, and on the other hand, to directly send capable people to confiscate their granges, which were used to motivate the soldiers and enhance the combat power and will of our army. ”

Li Yuan also knew that he didn't have much time to consume with the heads of the family, and Han Zhi's method was not wrong in the general direction, but the details needed to be improved.

Li Jiancheng had long suggested that he should follow the example of the Sui Dynasty and reward soldiers with land, but they did not implement it when they did not have land, and if the grange of the Guanlong nobles of the Dugu faction was quickly confiscated, the imperial court would have a large amount of land and property, and the program of rewarding military merits could be quickly and smoothly implemented.

After pondering for a long time, Li Yuan said to Han Zhi again: "Your suggestion is very good, but each army is equal to the dead soldiers of each family, if it cannot be nationalized, these armies will definitely be strongly resisted when the imperial court collects each family's land." ”

Han Zhi felt Li Yuan's trust in him, and knew that the opportunity had come, so he plucked up his courage and said: "Holy Lord, each family is flourishing, and it is inevitable that there will be their people in the city. If the imperial court had sent troops to suppress it before the news left the city, it would have been able to break through these leaderless rabble one by one, and even surrender without a fight. At that time, the attitude of these family heads is no longer important, isn't this how Li Mi dealt with the Jiangnan Shi clan? ”

Li Yuan was slightly stunned for a moment, nodded and said, "Rong Zhen thinks about it, you go back and preside over the overall situation first." ”

"Wechen retired." Han Zhi bowed and bowed out.

Li Yuan immediately summoned Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin and Dou Liang to discuss, and after hearing this, the three of them all felt that Han Zhi's method was good, and strongly supported it, hoping that Li Yuan would send troops to suppress it as soon as possible and suppress the civil strife before it germinated.

Li Yuan no longer hesitated, and Li Yuanji of each Bashu issued an order to send troops to each manor, and at the same time let Li Shimin be responsible for exterminating and subduing the private army of the manor in Jingxiang County.

It's just that what Li Yuan didn't know was that when Han Zhi led Wuchuan Wei to surround Dugu Mansion, Dugu Wu, the head of the Dugu clan, was ordered to go out to inquire about the news.

When he saw the army surrounding the mansion, he immediately realized that the situation was not good, and fled to a place in Dugu Mansion, and informed Dugu Cheng's younger brother that Dugu Cheng was the eldest son of Dugu Shanyan, and he had a younger brother Dugu Lan.

As soon as he heard that Wuchuan Wei had surrounded the main house, he immediately realized that the Son of Heaven was going to do something to the Dugu clan, and hurriedly wrote a few text messages, asking Dugu Wu to quickly try to leave Xiangyang City, and let credible people send letters to Dugu Wudu, the son of Dugu Luo, who was in charge of Bashu property in Chengdu County, and Dugu Qingyun and Dugu Yanyun, who were in charge of the private army, and at the same time, they also wrote letters to the heads of the private armies, telling them the situation in Xiangyang, and asking them to obey Dugu Qingyun and Dugu Yanyun according to the agreement. Raise troops to rescue the heads of the families.

Just when the two were discussing urgently, an arrow shot in from the window and swept over Dugu Lan's head, Dugu Wu was taken aback, protected Dugu Lan behind him, and pulled out the horizontal knife at his waist.

There was no movement outside the window, he carefully opened the window with a knife, and the shadows of the trees outside the window were swaying, but there was no one in the window.

When he turned around, he saw that Dugu Ran had already pulled out the arrow on the wall, and there was a stop on the shaft of the arrow, and there was only one sentence in the letter, 'The officers and soldiers are coming, flee quickly!' ’

Dugu Lan was shocked, and quickly took out a bag of treasures to Dugu Wu, and ordered: "Ah Wu, you hurry up, you must leave Xiangyang City alive." ”

"Second master, I will escort you away." Dugu Wu said in a deep voice.

"Confused."

Dugu Lan said angrily: "The old man is old, and he can't escape at all." If the old man guessed correctly, Li Yuan must have closed the city gate, you are strong in martial arts, and it is easy to leave. ”

"Second Master ......"

"Li Yuan needs everyone to be hostages, as long as the army is not lost, I and the heads of the families will be fine, the lives of all the families are on you, go quickly." Dugu Lan said calmly: "You walk from the side door of the backyard, no one knows about the house opposite for the time being, you leave from the secret passage, quickly." ”

"Obedience."

Dugu Wu knocked his head a few times, hesitated slightly, and immediately ran to the backyard with a knife, at this time, he had already heard the sound of dense footsteps outside the side wall, and he was in a hurry, and rushed straight to the backyard.

rushed out of the back door all the way, in the night he had faintly heard the sound of running footsteps from the corner in the distance, and the torches dozens of steps away were clearly visible, Duguwu crossed the street without hesitation and rushed into the mansion across the street.

There is a secret passage in the house, which leads directly to the inner square next door, which is used by Dugu Lan for emergency escape, but this secret is only known to a few people, and Dugu Wu is one of them.

There was no one living in this house, the small door was not closed tightly, only a wooden bar was used as a door bolt, Dugu Wu broke into the door, he quickly closed the small door, and his heart was pounding with nervousness.

I saw someone outside shouting: "General Qiyu, the back door is not closed!" ”

A vicious voice said, "Rush straight in!" ”

Dugu Wu looked out from the crack in the door, and saw that the back door he had just left was bright, and more than 100 Wu Chuanwei were gathered, headed by Dou Cong's eldest son Dou Ping.

Soon after Dou Ping led the soldiers into the backyard mansion, there was a scream, obviously Dou Ping had poisoned the guards in the mansion.

Dugu Wu hated it in his heart, but thinking of his mission, he tried to stop his desperate thoughts, gritted his teeth and tied the door, turned around and ran towards the secret passage in the backyard, but his heart was also full of doubts, who notified Dugu Ran.

。。。。。。。。。。

At noon the next day, Han Zhi took a few henchmen into the Lingyun Wine Shop for dinner, saw the arrival of the proprietor, the shopkeeper personally greeted him, and according to Han Zhi's instructions, entertained this group of senior generals of the Wuchuan Division with good food, on the way Han Zhi took the excuse to go to the balcony, and saw a young man waiting.

This young man was Yang Jing, who had a one-way contact with him, and quickly stepped forward and asked, "What's the urgency?" ”

Yang Jing saluted: "We heard that many Guanlong nobles had an accident last night, and we want to know what happened. ”

Han Zhi said in a deep voice: "Li Yuan has already controlled the evidence of the Dugu clan's rebellion, and the heads of the Dugu faction of the Guanlong nobles have all participated in it, they were wiped out by the Wuchuan Division last night, and all the family heads and their families are under house arrest in Dugu Mansion. The current reason is that the Sui army has infiltrated a large number of people, and Li Yuan has concentrated on 'protection' in order to ensure the safety of these founding heroes, and there are very few people who know the truth, but the paper is not wrapped in fire, and I believe that it will not be long before the real news will leak out, and Xiangyang will definitely set off an uproar. ”

Yang Jing asked puzzledly: "Since he has already controlled the evidence of the rebellion, why didn't Li Yuan directly kill people, is there another mystery?" ”

Han Zhi said: "Li Yuan can't bear the price of the rebellion of the private armies, he wants to use peaceful means to force the various Guanlong nobles to compromise, take the initiative to hand over the private army, and let these private armies become Li Tang's army, if they all add up, there are as many as forty or fifty thousand people." The Guanlong nobles are not monolithic, and it is very likely that they will be tempted by Li Yuan's threats with their lives and high-ranking officials, so that they will be broken one by one, and when they hand over their private army, they are actually not far from death. ”

Yang Jing also knows the existence of these private armies, although they are scattered in the various estates of each family, the strength of the assembled is quite huge, it is said that these private armies are not only well-equipped, but also well-trained, and they are a very powerful elite army, but the Guanlong nobles are now swaying between the Sui and Tang dynasties, so the threat of this private army to the Li Tang Dynasty can be imagined, and it is no wonder that Li Yuan wants to put various heads under house arrest.

He asked again: "The Guanlong nobles have penetrated deeply in the Li Tang Dynasty, and almost all the temples and local governments have their children and protégés, and there are many in the army, so Li Yuan is not afraid of causing turmoil in the government and the opposition and the army?" ”

"This army is a hundred times more serious than the turmoil of the government and the opposition, and Li Yuan is worried that they will cooperate with the Sui army, so he wants to eradicate this army, and taking it for himself is the result he wants most. Moreover, Li Yuan sent troops from all over the country to storm the manors of each family last night, hoping to annihilate the threat before it broke out. ”

"No wonder there wasn't a riot last night." Yang Jing said suddenly.

"The descendants of the Dugu faction fell into the hands of Li Yuan, how dare they make trouble? What kind of capital troubles? Han Zhi sneered, and then said: "Li Yuan has been preparing for this day for more than half a year, and the disciples and protégés of various families in various places and in the army are all well known to Li Yuan, and he will be ruthless to these people before the news leaks. If these people learned the news of the head of the family being placed under house arrest before Li Yuan attacked them, they would definitely make trouble, which would do no harm to the Great Sui Baili. ”

"I see." Yang Jing nodded: "I will try to report to the imperial capital!" ”

"It couldn't be better." Han Zhi said.

Yang Jing couldn't help the curiosity in his heart and asked, "Who is the envoy?" ”

Han Zhi smiled: "I am the first person to get a lot of secrets, it is related to the Shengshang's layout of Li Tang, even if our army is meticulous and killed, I can't have an accident, my identity will not be revealed, you just need to know that I am the person of the Holy Martial Emperor." ”

Yang Jing nodded, changed the subject, and said: "We found that Li Yuanji is very skilled now, could it be that he pretended to be idle before?" ”

Han Zhi sneered: "You think highly of Li Yuanji, this ugly ghost is still as arrogant and arrogant as ever, ruthless and vicious, and he has not made much progress, but he has the heart to win the heir, so he followed the advice of his advisers and became low-key, in fact, he is still the original Li Yuanji." ”

Yang Jing suddenly realized that Li Yuanji had the heart to win the heir, no wonder he had been doing things differently recently, and asked again: "What happened to the Guanlong nobles last night, how should we deal with it?" ”

Han Zhi said solemnly: "The stakes are very high, Li Yuan has also been staring at this matter, and there is no benefit in rashly doing anything except exposing himself." All we have to do is report the latest information to the Holy One, or carry out the order. ”

"I see." Yang Jing nodded silently.

"Alright, it's time for me to go." Han Zhi walked a few steps, then turned back and reminded in a low voice: "Li Yuan is very likely to make a big deal and try to lure out the Sui army, if my brother is really discovered, I can only kill people ruthlessly." You must be careful, and be careful, I don't want my hands to be stained with the blood of my brothers. ”

"Thanks for the reminder." Yang Jing's heart was awe-inspiring.

He also knew that the other party was an extremely important big man in the puppet Tang Dynasty, and it must have been very difficult to get to this point today. As far as the imperial court is concerned, its value is far greater than the sum of all the fine works, and as long as he is alive, even if all the fine works are dead, the court can still obtain important information. On the other hand, even if there are more civilian-style fine works in Xiangyang, it will not be of much use.

Not long after Han Zhi left, Yang Jing also returned to the intelligence point and reported the information he had obtained to his grandfather Yang Ji. Yang Ji followed Han Zhi's suggestion and promoted a capable man who did not know the situation to the head of the shop, in charge of the business of the shop, while the family and other intelligence officers moved to another stronghold.

About an hour later, three eagles flew into the sky and headed northeast. At dusk, the three letter eagles landed in the Wanqiu military camp in Huaiyang County.

When Du Ruhui received the news, he hurriedly ran to the big tent of the Chinese army and asked a Shura guard: "Is the Holy One here?" ”

The Shura Wei saluted and said, "Back to Du Shangshu, the Holy One is still there, but I will go to dinner later." ”

"Report to the Holy Lord, and say that I have urgent military affairs to see."

Not long after this Shura Wei entered, he quickly came back and said, "Du Shangshu, the Holy Lord, please go in!" ”

Du Ruhui hurriedly entered, only to see Yang Tong waiting for him, and hurriedly saluted: "Weichen see the saint." ”

Yang Tong smiled and asked, "Is it Shubao or Pei Shangshu's military intelligence?" ”

Du Ruhui replied: "It's news from Xiangyang." ”

"What happened to Xiangyang?"

"Holy Lord, please." Du Ruhui respectfully handed the eagle letter to Yang Tong.

Yang Tong took a look, and the letter not only mentioned that Li Yuan imprisoned the head of the Dugu faction, but also mentioned that Li Yuan wanted to get the private armies of various families, and couldn't help laughing: "If I were Li Yuan, I would have taken action to remove the hidden danger of the Guanlong nobles after moving to Xiangyang, instead of waiting until there was a crisis now." ”

Du Ruhui said: "Weichen also thinks that Li Yuan should have started a long time ago, and now it seems that there is no benefit except for adding turmoil, which is a very unwise choice." ”

Yang Tong shook his head and said: "Li Yuan, this is a dead pig who is not afraid of boiling water, compared to his Jiangshan Sheji, the turmoil for a while is not a big deal." What he is most afraid of now is that during the Sui and Tang Dynasty wars, the Guanlong nobles with heavy troops gathered troops to cooperate with us inside and outside. ”

"Holy Lord, should we show solidarity with the Dugu faction? We sent a large army to put pressure on Li Yuan to release the family masters in order to show favor to these Guanlong nobles, so that they could do more to our Great Sui. Du Ruhui suggested.

"The emperor's grandfather once said to me......" Yang Tong said: "Since the Yongjia Rebellion, the Southern and Northern Dynasties have changed their regimes, and none of them lasted, and the Northern Wei Dynasty, which unified the north, had the opportunity to dominate the world, but after more than 100 years, it was divided into two by Zhou Qi. The Sinicization reform measures implemented by Emperor Xiaowen eased class contradictions and played a positive role in economic recovery and development. However, the Xianbei people did not have a high level of cultural literacy, and there was no reform idea suitable for the actual situation of the Northern Wei Dynasty, which led to the overall sinicization of the system implemented by Emperor Xiaowen without abandonment, especially the Dading family name and the transplantation of the gate lord clan system, which made the Xianbei Tuoba nobles who had no cultural accumulation quickly corrupted, which seriously eroded the vigor and vitality of the Northern Wei Dynasty, intensified the contradictions and conflicts, and caused the Northern Wei Dynasty to rapidly turn from prosperity to decline. In short, Emperor Xiaowen's Sinicization reform, not only is not suitable for the national conditions of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Xianbei ethnic situation, it is the beginning of the crisis of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the martial wind is completely replaced by the southern corruption, so that the wind of the gate valve is booming, Yuwentai established the Guanlong gate valve, and finally established the country, but his dynasty was still destroyed in the hands of the gate valve. Therefore, the cancer of the world is none other than the old gate valve, and the poison of the gate valve is headed by Guan Long. No matter how hard Emperor Wen tried, he couldn't help them, and even almost destroyed them at the hands of the Guanlong nobles, so the Guanlong Gate Valve was the first trouble for my Great Sui. If Li Yuan can eliminate this long-standing hidden danger for me, why wouldn't I do it? ”

Speaking of this, Yang Tong smiled at Du Ruhan and said: "The seeds of suspicion between the monarchs and ministers you sowed in Xiangyang at the beginning of the year have successfully taken root and sprouted, and the time for them to blossom and bear fruit is not far away. ”

Thinking of the scene where the heads of the Guanlong nobles visited one after another, Du Ruhui smiled knowingly, "So, the battle of the Sui and Tang dynasties is going to be delayed again?" ”

"I can give Li Yuan time." When Yang Tong said this, he couldn't help laughing: "I'm afraid others are not willing to give Li Yuan time." Remember to send an eagle letter to Shen Guang, he is in the heart of the pseudo-Tang Dynasty, Bashu, far more convenient than us, I feel that he will definitely take advantage of this opportunity to cause trouble for Li Yuan. ”

"Whoa."

Du Ruhui also smiled.