A fire made the wind in Xiangyang loud, and an uneasy atmosphere replaced it, with a strong New Year's flavor, and the people hid at home and did not dare to go out. In Xiangyang, which is like a dead city, there are only dogs loyal to the guardian of the house, and they are screaming at the soldiers who search for them, and their barks are mixed with the footsteps and shouting and scolding of the soldiers, which makes this big city somewhat lively.

As soon as the soldiers left, the people began to pack up the pitiful money they could get, preparing to escape from Xiangyang in time to go to relatives in the countryside when the crisis came.

Opposite the north gate of Dongcheng, there is a restaurant called Lingyun Wine, its scale can only be regarded as medium in Xiangyang, but the location is good, and business is prosperous every day. The background of this restaurant is Li Yuanji, the king of Qi, so it has never been investigated and harassed by Wu Chuan's pawns, and over time, it has become a gathering place for officials, at least eat and drink here, and there is no need to worry about Wu Chuan's arrest. In fact, the Lingyun Commercial Firm, including Lingyun Distillery, was an intelligence agency of the Sui Dynasty's Ministry of Commerce under Li Tang.

When Li Yuanji was still in Taiyuan, Lingyun Commercial Bank had become a subordinate of King Qi, first obtained Li Yuanji's support by giving a large number of dividends, and slowly developed into Li Yuanji's direct commercial house, and did not do less than sell stolen goods for him. Li Yuan's methods can't hide the family door valve, but Li Yuan did not publicly support the paper book, the second did not popularize the county and county learning, the third did not open a branch to take scholars, and has been using the Jiupin Zhengzhong system to protect the political privileges of the family door valve, they thought that it was difficult for Han Shi to become a talent, and there was no opportunity to become a leader, plus not every family was the kind of Dugu whole, so bold as to support others to seek the usurpation of the throne, everyone did not embarrass Li Yuan. This tacit understanding also made the family gate valve mistakenly think that Lingyun Commercial House is the emperor's money-making tool, and it has developed smoothly under Li Tang's rule over the years.

Noon was the peak time for dining, and thanks to the support of officials, the business of Lingyun Distillery was not affected by the fire, and it was prosperous as usual.

The private rooms on the third floor are full of guests, and each room whispers about the fire, and until now, the origin of the murderer has been derived from more than ten kinds of theories, some say that it was done by the Great Sui, and some say that it was done by the family valve who secretly took refuge in the Great Sui...... Every statement is like the truth, but the most acceptable thing is the family gate valve, the truth is like listening to a story, if it is done by Da Sui, then there is no fun to make people 'self-hilarious', in short, all kinds of gossip is derived in Lingyun Wine Workshop, and spread out.

At this time, a young scribe walked into the winery, and the shopkeeper who was sitting on the account collector saw the scribe, and hurriedly greeted him and said with a smile: "It turned out to be Yang Gongzi, I haven't seen you for a long time, is it still the old seat?" ”

"Hmm!" The young scribe nodded reservedly, and went upstairs by himself.

This young man named Yang Jing has an extraordinary background. It is the great-grandson of Yang Shuang, the king of Weizhao, and his grandfather Yang Ji and Yang Lun, the king of Teng, were framed by Yang Su, who had the ambition to rebel, in order to cut off the backbone of the royal family one by one. Yang Guang couldn't keep the second king, and he was turned against by his brother Yang Liang, and under the echo of everyone, the suspicious Yang Guang sighed and said, "...... Although the law of the king is selfless, and the grace is righteous, the Fayin clan has relatives and relatives. To the extreme, unbearable. So Yang Ji and Yang Lun were removed from the clan and deposed as the people, Yang Ji migrated to Dingxiang, and was sheltered by Jiang Fengyi (Princess Yicheng), under the pseudonym Yang Falcon, acting as a link between Jiang Fengyi and the imperial court, and after recognizing Yang Tong, Yang Ji's family infiltrated Li Tang's rule and continued to engage in spy business.

However, Lingyun Commercial Bank is Yang Tong's sharpest and most powerful knife, and it will never be used unless it is absolutely necessary, so many shopkeepers hired nearby do not know that the proprietor Han Zhi is the zero zero one of the Great Sui, and since Xiangyang is the most important intelligence collection point, the shopkeeper of this Lingyun Wine Workshop is a member of the Black Ice Terrace.

Yang Ji is another department that stands on his own, and he doesn't know that Lingyun Commercial Bank is the spy organization of the Great Sui, so to speak, the two don't know each other, which is also what Yang Tong did in order to protect the other Lingyun Commercial Bank. The most important thing is that Han Zhi is not only Li Yuanji's first confidant, but also the chief of the Qi Wangfu who led Li Tang Chenglu, the official residence from the four grades, he has full authority to deal with military and political affairs instead of Li Yuanji, and always allows Yang Tong to get Li Tang's military and political trends in the first time, he and Zhao Deyan beside Jieli Khan, play a role no less than 100,000 heroes, and are important people who must not be sacrificed, but unfortunately, Han Zhi and Lingyun Commercial Bank can't get rid of the relationship, otherwise, Yang Tong will make him a separate existence.

Yang Jing is very low-key in Xiangyang, generally studying and practicing martial arts at home, learning military books and war strategies, rarely going out, mainly in one-line contact with a high-ranking official Li Tang, whenever a major event occurs in the city, he will go to Lingyun Liquor to meet.

He walked to the third floor, which was all private rooms and was currently full, but his purpose was not here, but a wide balcony looking south. At this time, the guests are all eating in the private room, and there are only occasional waiters in the aisle; On the balcony, a guest watched the view, a middle-aged man with slender ten-fingers and fair skin, who wore a gauze hat and a dark scarlet official robe of the Tang Dynasty, standing in front of the railing with his hands in his hands.

Since ancient times, the color of uniforms between officials of different ranks has been strictly distinguished

However, during the period from Wuhu Chaohua to Sui, various rules were hit like never before; After the founding of the Great Sui Dynasty, the Han system was strictly adhered to, and in terms of clothing, officials above the fifth rank could wear purple robes, and officials below the sixth rank were divided

Don't use red and green, use cyan for the officials, white for the commoners, and butchers, merchants, and domestic slaves

Only black is allowed, soldiers may wear yellow robes, and no other rank is allowed

Grade of clothing colors.

After the Jiangdu Rebellion, Yang Tong had in terms of clothing

The innovation, the provision of the prince and the three grades above the purple, gold and jade belt; The fourth grade is deep crimson, the fifth grade is shallow crimson, with gold belt; Six-grade dark green, seven-grade light green, with silver belt; Eight pins deep

Green, nine grades of light green, with copper belt; Shu people (ordinary people with Great Sui nationality, including ordinary people, butchers, merchants...... Dressed in yellow and white, with iron belts; Slaves are dressed in black with black belts. This regulation makes the official uniforms of the nine grades different colors, and all societies have become

The hierarchical status of the members and the order of the officials' character are clearly displayed, and the colors composed of purple, red (vermilion), green, blue, yellow, white, and black are formally formed

Sequence.

Tang Chengsui system, plagiarizing all official etiquette systems, judging from the dress of this high-ranking official, Yang Jing already knew that the other party was a fourth-grade official, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute: "Students see the envoy!" ”

"I have four pieces of news for you: first, the saint knows that the person who set the fire is a spy of the Sui Dynasty, but he does not want to admit it, and his intention is unknown; Second, the fire was extinguished in time, and there were about 500,000 stones of grain left; 3. With this grain as the base, the Holy One decided to expand the army by 100,000; Fourth, the Holy Lord has already taken over the Wuchuan Division in the hands of King Qi, but his attitude is ambiguous. ”

As soon as the middle-aged man's voice fell, he turned around and left the balcony, the footsteps quickly walked away, and after a while, Yang Jing heard the sound of the door opening and closing, and he didn't know which private room the person had gone to, but he was not a curious person, otherwise, he would only harm others and himself.

He lingered on the balcony for a moment or so, and then left the Lingyun Wine Workshop, he made a few circles, got into an alley, made sure that no one was tracking, and then went around the East Market not far away.

Xiangyang East Market is a distribution center for bulk goods, with a large amount of grain, Shu brocade, cloth, oil and salt, and livestock coming in and out here every day, and there are many shops selling luxury goods. Most of these shops have a certain background, knowing that the fire was an accident, all of them are assured to open their doors boldly, and other small shops have always used this kind of shops as a political weather vane, so they see what they do, and at noon, the whole East Market is open, and gradually, there are also some dignitaries and dignitaries.

There is a large goods store in the southeast corner of the East City, a total of more than 30 shops, this is the goods store that specializes in the four treasures of the study and luxury goods, because Xiangyang is the capital of the Li Tang Dynasty, the demand for stationery and luxury goods is large, so that the flow of people in this goods line is large, the people who come and go are high-ranking officials and nobles, everyone is beautiful, or they are the slaves of the rich and noble, and the most consumed commodity is undoubtedly the cheap paper from the Great Sui.

A stationery store called Baoding Pavilion is Yang Ji's intelligence station, and no one would have thought that this bookish shop is actually a window for Yang Tong to understand Li Tang's movements.

Yang Jing came to Baoding Pavilion, only to see that there were dozens of guests in the front hall were selecting the four treasures of the study, dozens of baskets were piled up with empty scrolls, and various colored papers were piled up two stories high, five guys were greeting guests, seeing Yang Jing enter the hall, a guy hurriedly greeted him.

"Is Grandfather there?"

"Yes, it's inside."

This is Yang Ji's intelligence headquarters, but as the leader, Yang Ji is afraid of meeting people who know him, so he rarely goes out, and stays in the store every day to analyze intelligence, as for patrolling various small intelligence points, his son Yang Hong is in charge, Yang Hong gets the information, and then takes it back to his father to deal with, and finally the young Yang Jing goes out to release the eagle. Xiangyang is a city where the children of the family are concentrated, and there are many young people who set up eagles and lackeys and go out hunting.

Yang Jing walked into the backyard and went up to the second floor, his grandfather Yang Ji was writing a book, he saw his grandson coming, put down the pen in his hand, and said with concern: "Jing'er, have you seen anyone?" ”

Yang Jing bowed and said softly: "Grandfather, grandson has seen someone." He told me a few very important pieces of information, and there was one thing that was of our greatest concern. ”

Yang Ji asked in a low voice, "Expand the army?" ”

"Exactly!" Yang Jing said: "The man said that Li Yuan already knew that the fire was the work of our army, but he didn't want to admit it, the reason is unknown, this time everyone was extinguished in time, and more than 500,000 stone grain was not burned, thanks to this, he decided to expand the army by 100,000." The other is that Tsukasa Takekawa has changed hands. ”

"500,000 stone grain not only to feed the existing army, but also to distribute Lu rice to officials, and now he dares to expand the army by 100,000, and he will run out of food in less than three months, Li Yuan is simply a trapped beast!" Yang Ji smiled coldly, pondered for a while, and then said: "However, he exchanged business for two million stone of grain, and there are still about 800,000 stone that have not yet arrived, so in this way, he can hold on until the harvest." ”

"Grandfather, do you want to send this message to the imperial capital?"

"In any case, this is an extremely important piece of information, and it needs to be sent to the imperial capital immediately, so that the Holy Lord can be prepared."

。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。

In the evening.

Dou Liang, who was ordered to pacify the people of Xiangyang, handed over the order to Li Yuan, and without staying long, he came out of the palace and went straight to his mansion.

The Dou clan was one of the leaders of the Guanlong aristocracy, alongside the Dugu clan, and the ancestors were Xianbei nobles, who were extremely important imperial relatives in the Sui and Tang dynasties.

Li Tang's late Empress Dou is the daughter of the Dou family, and Dou Kang's mother is Princess Wan'an, the eldest sister of Emperor Yang Jian of Sui Wen, so the Dou family has a very important position in the Sui Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty, but since it completely fell to Li Yuan, it has torn its face with the Sui Dynasty, compared with the relatively low-key Dugu clan, the children of the Dou family mainly develop in the army, Dou Kang who died in Guanzhong, Dou Dan who died in the fire and Dou Cong, the general of the Right Tun Guard, were the backbone of the Tang army. As a result, the relationship between the Dou clan and the Sui Dynasty was completely shattered, and although Dou Liang sent an envoy to Luoyang to inquire about the news, it was only to investigate.

The difficult state affairs made Dou Liang a little depressed, as the head of the Dou family, he couldn't help but consider the future of the Dou family, he had seen the current situation in front of him very clearly, Yang Tong drove Li Yuan into Bashu is the general trend, and it is not human to change, where will the Dou family go at that time? What about the many Guanlong nobles who are attached to the Dou family?

He is a person who knows the soldiers, understands the gap between the veteran and the new pawn, not to mention the expansion of the army by 100,000, even if the army is withdrawn by 350,000, Li Yuan is not Yang Dong's opponent, and at the same time, he knows very well that the reason for Li Tang's repeated defeats is Li Yuan, the emperor.

At the beginning, Li Yuan gave people the impression that he had a long-term vision, a strong view of the overall situation, a strong strategic vision, and the full support of the nobles of Long, which made him rich and strong, and he looked very powerful, and had the momentum of unifying the world. But from the founding of the dynasty to the present, what Li Yuan has done is not the same thing at all, he is nepotistic, self-serving, suspicious, and has no talents with both talent and virtue, and Pei Lin and Feng Lun, who boast of patting horses, have been promoted repeatedly, and it is precisely because of this that the Li Tang Dynasty will be defeated again and again, destroying the great empire. If it was only a military defeat, the Li Tang Dynasty still had room to straighten out, but now, it has become a rout in all aspects of politics, military, economy, people's heart, military morale, morale, etc., and the various family lords sent to Luoyang to worship indicate that the Li Tang Dynasty has come to the step of rebellion and separation.

When he returned to the house, he learned that his younger brother Dou Cong had been waiting in the study for a long time, in fact, Dou Cong's military power had been completely deprived, as the general of the Right Tun Guard, Dou Cong was only in charge of the army, but soon after he took office, Li Yuan restructured the twelve guards, and divided the general's military power to the two subordinate generals, and Chang Shi was responsible for daily military affairs. The two generals of Zuo Tunwei are Li Xiaoyi, the second son of Li Shentong, and Duan Lun, the second son of Pei Lian, and the second son of Pei Xianzong, and Dou Cong has become an idler, except for going to the barracks every day, there is nothing else to do. Not long ago, on the pretext of recuperation, he went to Shu to inspect Dou's manor, deal with the disaster, and just rushed back to Xiangyang from Chengdu.

"The little brother has seen the elder brother!" Seeing his brother enter, Dou Cong hurriedly greeted him.

"When did the second brother come back?"

"As soon as I arrived in the afternoon, I waited here for my brother, and I haven't returned home yet."

Seeing him, Dou Liang had a serious expression, and he understood a little in his heart, he closed the door and motioned for his younger brother to go to the inner study to talk. At this critical moment, Li Yuan's methods of supervising the important officials of the imperial court may be stricter, especially after the incident in which he indulged the Wuchuan Division to cause trouble to Xiangyang and slaughtered the officials of the military department, everyone became more careful.

"The second brother knows about the big things in Xiangyang!"

"I've heard about it, have you found out the real murderer?"

"The King of Jin said that it was done by people inside, Liu Xiangguo and Chen Xiangguo overturned the theory of the King of Jin and thought that it was the strategy of the Sui army to draw salaries from the bottom of the kettle!" Although Dou Liang did not participate in the analysis, he also had people in the court, and he already knew about the controversy in the court, so he told Dou Cong in detail.

"Liu Xiangguo and Chen Xiangguo are right! Why didn't the Holy One distribute the real culprit? Dou Cong was very puzzled.

Dou Liang smiled bitterly: "I think the saint is so scared that he doesn't even have the courage to admit that the arsonist is the work of the Sui army, the situation is worrying!" ”

Dou Cong gasped, he had been away from Xiangyang for less than two months, was the situation so grim that it was so severe? He pondered for a long time, and then asked, "How much time does my brother think is left?" The younger brother refers to the time when the Sui Dynasty attacked the Tang Dynasty in an all-round way. ”

Dou Liang said: "I think Xiao Milling to Sui, it means that Yang Tong has turned his strategic attention to Jingxiang, although many people in the court say that the first enemy of the Sui Dynasty in the coming year is Lin Shihong, but I think Lin Shihong is not worth mentioning, which can be seen from Zhang Zhenzhou and Qin Qiong respectively Donglai Jiangxia to build docks, build warships, and train sailors, and the main general who swept Lin Shihong was selected among the two. Now that the Sui army is expanding and resting, the next step will be a stormy offensive, which is also Yang Tong's usual style in the domestic war. It is said that the source of the expansion of the army is all from the veterans who were laid off before, the combat power of these soldiers is not worse than the elite of our dynasty, and the morale and will to fight are not comparable to our army, and they can fight without training, and they will be rebuilt and rectified for a month or two at most, so as soon as February next year and March at the latest, Yang Tong will attack Jingxiang, force our Tang court into Bashu, complete the division and isolation strategy of Tang, Wei, Chu, and Meng Haigong, and then gather heavy troops to annihilate one by one. We only have three or four months to prepare at most. In just a few months of recruits, who is the opponent of the Tiger and Wolf Division? ”

After a pause, Dou Liang let out a long sigh, "Speaking of which, the old fox of the Dugu family is cunning and cunning, the Dugu family is the Dugu family, the emperor is the emperor, the support that should be supported, and the support that should not be supported is definitely not supported, which leaves the Dugu family with leeway, and chooses to advance and retreat with ease; And my Dou clan bet on the saint, and immediately invested all the family's manpower and material resources, thus obtaining a lot of high positions, but in fact, if the saint unifies the world, my Dou clan will inevitably end up with a cunning rabbit and a lackey, because as an emperor, the saint will not allow any family to threaten his imperial power; If the saint fails, it will be Yang Tong and Li Mi who will finally unify the world, and they will not let go of the Dou clan who firmly supports Li Tang. In order to compete with the Dugu clan for the leadership of the Guanlong aristocracy, our Dou clan has used too much force, causing us to fall into the dilemma of neither advancing nor retreating......"

"It's not my brother's fault!" Dou Cong said softly.

Whose fault is it?

The brother's uncle, the previous head of the family, Dou Wei!

In fact, their brothers have always been opposed, but Dou Wei was overpressed by Dugu, and the leader of the Guanlong nobles lost his mind, and he did not listen to the good advice of the audience. He died, a hundred, but he threw a dilemma mess to Dou Rail.

But their brothers didn't know that Dou Wei's desperate move made Dugu feel that he had lost, and finally made a promise to Yang Tong to give up eighty percent of the land in order to gain a foothold in the Great Sui Dynasty again.

"Don't talk about this!"

Dou Liang waved his hand, no matter what, the uncle is also for the good of the Dou family, now that there are no people, it is not only meaningless to pursue right and wrong, but also disrespectful to the elders!

Dou Liang looked at Dou Cong and said slowly: "It is said that Dugu Cheng went to Luoyang in the name of worshipping Dugu Sheng, who died in Jiangdu. ”

Dou Cong said without hesitation: "I guess the Dugu clan is also thinking about the way back, and the other Guanlong nobles should also have their own plans." ”

"That's for sure. No one wants to hang themselves from a tree. ”

Dou Cong got up and said, "It's not too late to make amends!" Why don't I go to Luoyang and talk to Yang Tong in detail? ”

"No hurry!"

"Why?"

Dou Liang said: "Yang Dong will either abandon those who surrender to Xiancheng, or kill them to make the people angry. At the same time, in Nanjun, Jiangxia and other counties, the military department of the Sui Dynasty also set off a bloody storm, and the people who supported the army and respected themselves, the local heroes, and the southern scholars were all butcher's knives, even if they caused local turmoil, they had to kill to the end, forcing many scholars to flee to Xiangyang and Jiangnan for refuge. There are also those messengers of the family gate valve who went to Luoyang, but they have not received a substantive commitment, these people think that their sincerity is not enough, but I think Yang Dong does not accept the family gate valve in his bones. ”

"Yang Tong said that the family's heirloom trick is 'disloyalty'. Without our help, he would still be able to take Jingxiang and Bashu, and he would not need to compromise with anyone and give up some benefits that should have been at his fingertips. If we forsake the Lord for glory, how will He look up to us? Now that the family is rushing to Luoyang for loyalty, do you think he really accepts these two-faced people? ”

Dou Cong was shocked in his heart, and after thinking about it carefully, he really found that Yang Tong had never compromised with anyone, even if the other party surrendered, as a result, he would connive with the people to complain, and then get rid of it justifiably. At this time, the family gate lords who ran to Luoyang to be loyal to him may have been included in Yang Tong's must-kill list. At this thought, Dou Cong was shocked.

Dou Liang glanced at his thoughtful younger brother, and then said: "Let's wait and see what happens, if the Sui army attacks, we see that there is a chance to take advantage of the situation, maybe there is still a glimmer of life, what does the second brother think?" ”

"I agree."

"You had a confrontation with Yang Tong in Daxing, what do you think of him?" Dou Liang looked at Dou Cong with burning eyes.

Dou Cong's face changed, and he said in a deep voice: "Domineering, confident!" It's the same as Yang Guang. ”

In the past, Li Yuan was unwilling to fall in Guanzhong, which responded to the request of the Guanlong nobles to "fight back to Guanzhong", gathered all the dark forces of the Guanlong nobles, and launched the Daxing Palace Change, and the main generals who implemented the plan were Dou Kang and Dou Cong.

Outcome! Dou Kang was beheaded by Xue Wanbei in Fufeng Taibai Mountain, Dou Cong was captured alive by Yang Tongsheng in Daxing Palace, and many Dou children, protégés, and former officials were all lost in Guanzhong. If it weren't for the fact that he was looking down on the mastermind behind the betrayal of their Dou faction, Dou Cong would have killed himself at that time, but unfortunately after so many years, the black hand has never been found, which makes Dou Cong very regretful and angry.

Dou Rail asked, "Domineering and confident?" ”

Dou Cong nodded: "That's right, Yang Tong is very domineering and confident. He told him a lot of things he shouldn't have told his enemies. ”

"Yang Tong is confident, it's a good thing for my Dou family! As long as we are humble and do not do the task requirements, there may not be no way out. Speaking of this, a trace of danger flashed in Dou Liang's eyes, and then he continued: "Since Yang Tong wants to kill all the family lords in the world, we can collect some people's incriminating evidence to make it more convenient for him to act." ”