Guzang Xicheng, the residence of the military department Shangshu Xie Tongshi.

Xie Mansion is really not big, the three-entry house, the building is also quite weird, the outside is similar to the ordinary people in Liangzhou, the square house, gray and abrupt, looks both solid and ordinary.

The main house is a small two-story building with a big round head.

Every time Master Xie returned home and saw this, his mood would be darkened, but there was no way, this was a house left by Hu Shang, and the merchants valued profit over separation, and they would not arrange this kind of place to settle down during the journey at all.

Speaking of Guzang as one of the important nodes of the Western Regions of Commerce, or the northwest of the important town, the place of the garrison and the herding of horses, the importance is self-evident, the Qin and Han dynasties were valued, began to flourish and brilliant, nearly a thousand years have passed, there have been ups and downs, to the great cause of the year to the peak.

The prosperity did not last long, but at that time, the caravans came and went, endlessly, all kinds of goods, piled up like a mountain, and the population of Guzang once exceeded 200,000 people, which was not much inferior to the big city of the Central Plains.

But today, lost the support of the Central Plains, and suffered from the war, Guzang will be extremely quickly lonely, in fact, the geographical environment has determined that it is impossible to support the political, economic and cultural center of the northwest alone, otherwise, the starting point of the Silk Road will not be Chang'an, but should be replaced by Guzang.

Like this city, the gap between the defenders who once controlled it, the former Liangzhou Thorn Shi Xie Commander, is also huge.

Master Xie has always felt that his status is noble, and his official position has also been in the northwest, and he has made great contributions to defending Liangzhou during the Bai Yusao Rebellion.

But in the end, you have to commit yourself to the thief, what is this called? This is called the time without heroes, so the shaft became famous...... Okay, it's a bit inappropriate, if Li Liang is a shaft, wouldn't others be even inferior to a shaft, but that's probably what it means, Master Xie felt uncomfortable.

So all along, Master Xie has regarded himself as orthodox, and is always ready to return to "Zhengshuo", which sounds very awkward, because where is there any Zhengshuo today?

But in the northwest, there are really a lot of like-minded people with Xie Tongshi, most of them are people from the Kansai world who were stationed in the northwest back then, and among them, the Ministry of Rites Shangshu Wei Shizheng is the mainstay.

Actually, to put it simply, what is returning to Zhengshuo, it is all a self-consoling excuse, that is, I can't put it down, I don't want to mix with a group of northwest natives, and I want to live under a businessman like Li Liang.

This is a very common problem encountered by princes today, and it is not surprising that the Kansai Shiwang, as the proudest group among the nobles of the late Sui Dynasty, did not want to be used by Li Liang.

On this day, Master Xie returned very late, and the moon was already hanging in the sky.

Master Xie turned over and dismounted, stomped his feet, looked up and saw the big head above his house, and snorted twice involuntarily, feeling uncomfortable all over his body.

Xie Tongshi's ancestral home is Shuzhong, and he is not tall, but after a few generations, that is, he is still similar to the Shu people, because he has been an official in the northwest for many years, so his skin has already become dark and rough, and his body is a little fat, but he is still vigorous.

Well, Xie Tongshi is a black fat man, and some people in the outside world jokingly call him long teeth, which is the Northwest people's nickname for wild boars, which falls on Xie Tongshi's head, except for his aggressiveness and strength, there is no compliment in it.

This annoying nickname is said to be Liang Shuo's original, and it was introduced into the ears of Master Xie, which made him ashamed for a long time, so he returned to the black-faced god, but it was a shortcoming of technical content and failed to spread.

And in the past few years, Master Xie has moved several times, the house is getting smaller and smaller, the food is getting worse and worse, and there is still a lot of resentment to vent, well, in general, his life is getting worse and worse.

What's even worse is that Liangzhou is about to be in chaos, he doesn't have many soldiers and horses in his hands, and the military department Shangshu, who is nominal and very emotional, is so pitiful.

When Master Xie entered the door, he was thinking, what did he do so hard? Fortunately, almost none of his family members are around, he only has two concubines and two concubines here, otherwise, he can't take care of the chaos.

Will be sent from the people to rest, back to the inner house, Xie Tongshi just washed up and changed into civilian clothes, not even a sip of hot tea before the entrance, the next person came to report, and the left and right Wei general An Xinggui came to visit.

Master Xie doesn't need to mention this crookedness, but he has to see it.

It can be said that there is no one in the big people in Guzang City who doesn't want to take a breath and rest, but no one dares to relax, it is purely a joke with their own lives.

After putting on the wine and food, the two talked for a long time in the Xie Mansion hall before An Xinggui said goodbye and left.

Master Xie rubbed his forehead, sighed tiredly, his face darkened a little, and he drank a few more sips of wine and ate a few mouthfuls of food, but he found that there was no taste more and more.

An Xinggui visited frequently, and the gifts became heavier and heavier, but the things that could be said became more and more uninspiring, except for repeatedly talking about Chang'an scenery and Li Yuan's wisdom, it seemed that there was only one left to say bad things about Li Liang and others.

At the beginning of these words, Master Xie was very willing to listen, as if every sentence could speak to his heart, because he not only despised the background of Li Liang and others, but also wanted to return to Chang'an.

But that's the way it is, I get used to it when I hear it a lot, and the most important point is that An Xinggui's intentions are obvious, but he can't get any tangible benefits, even if you take out the position of Liangzhou governor, it can make people feel at ease, right? But whenever he talks about this, An Xinggui always talks about him left and right, how can this satisfy Master Xie?

Ah, it turns out that you just came with your mouth open, and there was nothing else, so you wanted to fool Lao Tzu to go with you to vote for Li Yuan, how could there be such a cheap thing?

Of course, this is just that the conditions are difficult to negotiate, and nothing else, An Xiuren doesn't look at him as a Hu person, but he is really a powerful person, and there should be no harm in standing with him.

Besides, Li Yuan has a very good reputation, and he is a serious member of the Kansai Gate......

In fact, when he came to this point, Master Xie had no choice, after all, he was different from Li Yun and others, and he didn't have such a strong sense of rejection for An Xiuren and others.

As soon as An Xinggui left, Wei Shizheng, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, came again, and Master Xie was very restless at this meal.

After changing the wine and food, it was another round of secret talks.

These two people are talking together, but they are different from when An Xinggui came, one of them is the history of Liangzhou Thorn back then, and the other is Liangzhou Juncheng, they are old friends who have been through hardships, and now they are grasshoppers on a rope, and there is nothing they can't say.

But what makes people helpless is that the two of them talked about serious business first, and recently they were going to mourn for Liang Shuo, and the Ministry of Rites was the top priority, and so many powerful people in the northwest had to accompany them, and the Ministry of War had to send people to escort them.

This is all okay, but some things can't go beyond An Xiuren, and the transfer of troops has to be discussed with An Xiuren, but you have to be wary of An Xiuren, and you can't let him use this to lead the Qiang soldiers into chaos, after all, the timing is not right, so it is necessary to inform Cao Zhen and others......

This is just a matter of transferring troops, and the funeral with the royal rites, no matter how much it costs, it has to be spent in the household department, but now An Xiuren is tightening the treasury, but he refuses to let go, and wants to force Wei Shizheng and others to go to the emperor's hospital bed to complain and persuade the emperor to change his mind.

At this time, how dare Wei Shizheng enter the palace to tell the emperor about this? Li Liang was confused, maybe he would open his mouth and cut it out, if he lost his head like this, Wei Shizheng felt that it would be too wrong.

It can be said that these two tangled messes, but there is nothing to be done, in fact, it is not surprising at all, like them, a slightly neutral wall-riding faction, is so embarrassing at a critical time, neither the strength to win the initiative, nor the determination to put life and death aside, seemingly worry-free, but in fact it is dangerous.

In fact, this is very similar to the rebellion of Liu Wuzhou in Mayi, when the officials and generals of Mayi chose to watch coldly when Wang Rengong needed support the most, but they were the first to be hurt by the riots.

It's the turn of Master Xie and Wei Shizheng here, An Xiuren is indeed not Liu Wuzhou, but the reason is no different, and the hesitation of Xie Wei and the two is no different from the officials who know Ma Yi, they want to sit and watch to protect themselves, and they want to benefit from the chaos, how dangerous you say this kind of thinking is.

In fact, this obviously means that both of them are lacking in talent.

In the middle of the moon, Master Xie sent Wei Shizheng away, and the discussion between the two had no result, so they could only rely on their abilities to talk to An Xiuren, Cao Zhen and others tomorrow.

Master Xie is different from Fan Wenjin, when he returned to the hall, he didn't feel sleepy at all, just drank one by one, wanting to get drunk and relieve his sorrows.

Obviously, the sense of urgency of the coming chaos was not well reflected in him.

While drinking, his son led Chen Ling, a staff member in the house, to the hall quietly, first to greet him, and then the son came to his father's side, while pouring wine for his father, he whispered: "Someone submitted a letter to the house during the day, but the son did not dare to make a noise, just waiting for the grandfather to turn around...... Grandpa want to take a look? ”

Don't blame him for being cautious, when Master Xie heard this, he immediately widened his eyes, slapped his son on the face, and said angrily: "When is it, dare to make your own opinions, see if Lao Tzu doesn't kill you as a little beast." ”

While scolding, he got up and punched and kicked his son, this scene is very common, and most of the Kansai nobles grew up under the stick of their irascible fathers, especially the concubines, who are simply their father's natural punching bag.

Seeing this, the staff member Chen Ling trembled together in his heart and body, and secretly sighed unlucky, but he had to hug Xie Tongshi's waist and said in a suppressed voice: "Shangshu is not in a hurry, this matter is no wonder Liulang, the person who came to say it is Shangshu who handed over a letter of repair, at this time, in order to avoid suspicion, he did not dare to come to see it, so he made this decision......"

Master Xie stopped his hand angrily, and kicked his son with a blue nose and swollen face to the side, "Hmph, the person who hides his head and tail, how can he talk about old friends...... Where's the letter, I'll show it. ”