Shi Donglai took out a bamboo letter from his bosom and handed it to Guo Song, "This is a letter of complaint written by the great chief of the Po tribe to His Royal Highness on the eve of being strangled by the Broken Leaf Army and the Khazar Army, he sent a messenger to Chang'an, but the messenger was taken into slavery by the Broken Leaf Army halfway, and he didn't escape until more than two months ago.

But he was in poor health, and soon after he escaped, he fell ill, and before he died, he met a Sogdian caravan, so he asked the leader of the caravan to bring him back to Chang'an, and the caravan arrived in Chang'an the day before yesterday and entrusted me with the matter. ”

Guo Song's expression was solemn, he took out a roll of sheepskin from the bamboo tube, spread it on the table, it was written in Sogdian, the content seemed to be very long, Guo Song found Lu Lun, handed him the sheepskin, "Translate the contents of this sheepskin immediately!" ”

There were more than a dozen specialized translators in his staff, who were proficient in all languages, and Lu Lun had made a parchment and bowed and retired.

Guo Song said: "Ma Weijiang is an old subordinate who has followed me for many years, he is low-key and cautious, and it is precisely because he trusts him that he has not adjusted his governor and let him guard the frontier for a long time. ”

Shi Donglai said lightly: "But the merchant who came from Broken Leaf is not like this to describe Ma Dudu, I have no intention of provoking the relationship between His Highness and his subordinates, but I only tell His Highness the truth, just three months ago, he led 20,000 troops to destroy the country of Bakhana, and cut off the heads of the king and the three princes in public, the queen was rewarded by him to his own soldiers for adultery, and the other concubines and princesses were occupied by him, and all the wealth of the treasury of Bakhana was transported back to the palace of Broken Leaves, of course, his reason was that the king of Bakhana colluded with the Great Cannibals, but the Great Cannibals had long controlled the Sogdian countries, let's not talk about collusion! ”

Guo Song's eyes showed a look of shock, he didn't know about this matter at all, sending troops to destroy the country must be done with his own consent, and when will Broken Leaf have 20,000 troops? When is there a royal palace? When did Ma Weijiang become so brutal?

"Lord Ston, where is the merchant from Broken Leaves? I'd like to talk to him. ”

"Back to His Highness, they have gone to Yongxian, and they will come back the day after tomorrow, and as soon as he comes back, I will bring their leader over immediately."

Shi Donglai said goodbye and left, Guo Song sent him out of the official compound, and then walked back quickly.

At this time, Lu Lun handed the translated parchment scroll to Guo Song, Guo Song read it carefully, and immediately his face was full of anger, he slapped the table heavily, and scolded: "Bastard! ”

He immediately ordered: "Quickly invite Pan Liao and Zhang Qiu'an!" ”

Not long after, Pan Liao and Zhang Qiu'an hurried over, both of them have long official positions, Pan Liao is the chief of the Jin Dynasty, the history of the chief of government, Zhang Qiu An is the chief of Tiance Building, the history of the military chief, but Pan Liao is the chief of the counselor's hall, Zhang Qiu An is just an ordinary counselor, in general, Pan Liao's status is higher.

"See Your Highness!" The two bowed.

Guo Song Tie blushed and said: "Look at this letter, the complaint letter written by the chief of the Po tribe Eju last year, he has been killed, this letter was only transferred to me today, it is a translation, the original is written on sheepskin, and the content inside is simply outrageous." ”

Zhang Qiu'an took the letter and read it carefully, and Guo Song said to Pan Liao: "When I left Broken Leaves, it was stipulated that the tax on the Po Bu was one percent, which was already relatively high, higher than that of the Wusun people, but Ma Weijiang levied a forty percent tax on the Po Bu Ministry, and there was also a tribute every year.

Ma Weijiang told me that the Pozar tribe secretly colluded with the Khazar country and introduced the power of the Khazar country into Yibohai, so he led the army to destroy the Pozar tribe, but the big chief of the Pozar tribe complained that it was Ma Weijiang who colluded with the Khazar country, and the cavalry of the Khazar country forcibly occupied the pastures of the Khazar tribe and robbed their women, they fought back, but they were strangled by the Khazar army and the Broken Leaf army, and tens of thousands of young men were killed, and now they can no longer survive, beg me to let them go. ”

After reading the letter, Zhang Qiu'an's face was also very shocked, he handed the letter to Pan Liao, and said to Guo Song: "I think the credibility of the Great Chief of the Po Lu tribe is a little higher, if the Po Lu tribe and the Khazar tribe joined forces and were defeated by the Broken Leaf Army, this is what happened last year, then we should know this battle report, besides, no one will attract outsiders to invade their pastures."

And the establishment of Broken Leaf is 10,000 troops, but I always feel that something is wrong from every military report, for several years, the number of troops has not increased or decreased, this is impossible! ”

At this time, Pan Liao also said: "Broken leaves have mined a total of five million taels of silver over the years, but in fact only 500,000 taels were shipped back to Chang'an, or five years ago, Ma Weijiang said that the road was too far away, and the transportation was difficult, so I later asked him to transport it to the Beiting warehouse, but the report of the Beiting warehouse for two consecutive years has not been recorded in the silver of broken leaves, I wrote to him last year to question, but until now he has not replied." ”

Guo Song was silent for a long time and said: "It seems that the broken leaves have changed a lot. ”

..........

Back at home, Guo Song sat down in his study, and his mind was still recovering the scene when Ma Weijiang took over his Dudu sword and vowed to defend the broken leaves.

When he followed himself to Anxi as an envoy, Ma Weijiang was still a young brigade commander, but he was calm and sophisticated, reliable in his work, and he has always won his trust, he has followed him for nearly ten years, and has always been the best general under him.

Guo Song really can't understand that if people's personalities change, but Zhang Lei has been down the mountain for 20 years, and his personality on the mountain has not changed at all.

At this time, his wife Xue Tao came in with a bowl of iced sour plum soup and said with a smile: "It's too hot, my husband drinks some sour plum soup to relieve the heat!" ”

"Let's leave it alone! I'll drink it later. ”

Xue Tao was slightly stunned, she glanced at her husband, and saw that his face was very bad, so she asked in a low voice, "Husband, is something wrong?" ”

Guo Song smiled bitterly and said, "Do you remember Ma Weijiang?" ”

Xue Tao nodded, "I remember him, a very silent and steady general, as if he served as the governor of Broken Leaves, did something happen to him?" ”

Guo Song shook his head, "He didn't have an accident, but he completely changed as a person, became a brutal, greedy for money, lustful, ambitious, and full of lies, he has been deceiving me and concealing me, I don't know how my most optimistic general back then became like this?" ”

"Maybe it's just one side, husband, don't jump to conclusions."

"I know some things can be one-sided, and I'll try to get to the bottom of the matter, but his personality has really changed, at least he has become ruthless, he has become greedy for wealth, and I wonder why he has changed?"

Xue Tao lowered his head and thought for a while: "My father told me that if a person's temperament changes greatly, he will either suffer great misfortune or get too much power, if Ma Weijiang really changes, the reason should be the latter!" ”

"Power!"

Guo Song said in a low voice and nodded, "Your father is right, power is indeed the biggest poison, but it is so sweet that people can't stop it!" ”

"Will the husband lead the army to break the leaves?"

Guo Song shook his head, "It's too far away, I may not go, but I have to make things clear, if he dares to rebel openly, I will send Guo Jinwen, the governor of Anxi, to lead an army to Broken Leaf to exterminate him." ”

Xue Tao was slightly relieved when she heard that her husband was not going to Anxi, if she went to Anxi, it would take at least half a year.

She turned around and left the study, walked to the door and looked back and smiled: "Husband, don't forget to go and see Jinxiu at night, Youlan has been waiting for a day." ”

Guo Song nodded, "I'll go." ”

Xue Tao went in a hurry.

..........

Early in the morning of the third day, Shi Donglai brought people to the meeting as promised, this time no longer facing Guo Song alone, but narrating in the counselor's hall, and the seven counselors and Guo Song, the king of Jin, all participated in this hearing about Broken Leaf City.

The witness was a Sogdian merchant of about fifty years of age, tall and thin, wearing a black Sogdian robe, and his face was covered with vicissitudes, and he looked a little nervous, but after all, he had seen some of the world, and he quickly calmed down.

He bowed, took out a copy of the Book of Genesis scriptures from his arms, put his hand on it and said slowly: "Xiaomin Kang Daqing, a native of Samarkand in Kangguo, is the head of a caravan, going back and forth between Samarkand and Chang'an, and the villain swears in the name of the great god Ahuramaz, and what he says is true, there is no exaggeration, and there is no concealment. ”

Everyone nodded, they all knew that the Sogdians would not lie as long as they swore by their doctrine, Pan Liao asked, "How well do you know about Broken Leaf?" ”

"The villain is a businessman, more than 20 years back and forth between Sogdia and the Tang Dynasty, back and forth have to go through broken leaves, last year in broken leaves to sell a batch of goods, in broken leaves for six months, the villain should have a say in broken leaves."

"How many troops are there in Broken Leaves?" Zhang Qiu took the lead in asking.

Kang Daqing thought for a while and said: "The army of Broken Leaves is about 30,000 people, half of them are Zahu people, it is very complicated, everyone has it, the military discipline is not very good, I heard that when the year before last when the city of Tocharian was captured, the Zahu army burned and killed adultery in the city, looted property, they also plundered the population everywhere in Tocharo, men plundered as mining slaves, young women were sold as camp prostitutes, or were sold, and a few months ago they captured the city of Bakhana, the tragedy repeated, but this time it was the Han army that slaughtered the city. ”

"First of all, I want to know, what's going on in the palace of Broken Leaves?" This time it was Guo Song's question.