800,000 stone of grain, 500,000 taels of silver.

Hearing the conditions given by Yang Gao, Liu Wenjing couldn't help but gasp. In recent years, the Tang Dynasty has continued to use troops abroad, and the losses have been huge. The stock in the treasury is only one million stones, and it is already stretched to support Li Shimin's campaign against Zhao Kuangyin in Bingzhou, and it is already stretched to take out 300,000 stone of military rations. If you take out 800,000 stones, then Li Shimin's 150,000 army will be ready to drink the northwest wind.

500,000 taels of silver also exceeded Liu Wenjing's bottom line, Datang's tax situation in the past two years was not optimistic, and after Li Yuan ascended the throne, he was greedy for pleasure, lived a luxurious life, and spent a lot of money. According to the current tax situation of the Tang Dynasty, it is impossible to come up with 500,000 taels of silver.

Liu Wenjing cautiously tested Yang Gao and said, "Will Your Majesty want too much, can you do it a little... ”

"No way!"

Yang Gao flatly refused, with a resolute expression, showing a completely non-negotiable posture.

Liu Wenjing shook his head helplessly, and arched his hand and said, "Your Majesty's request is too high, can you ask the foreign minister to consult my Majesty first?" ”

"Absolutely!"

Yang Gao smiled coldly: "But I will soon go to the Central Plains to inspect, I hope Mr. Liu can reply to me before this." ”

Liu Wenjing was shocked when she heard this, and hurriedly asked, "I wonder when Your Majesty will leave for the Central Plains?" ”

"Five days later!"

"What?"

Liu Wenjing's face changed greatly, and he said in a lost voice: "Your Majesty, the road from Jiangdu to Chang'an is long, even if you use Eagle Letter, it will take ten days to go back and forth. How could the lower officials be able to go before His Majesty left for the Central Plains... ”

"That's your business, it's none of me!" Yang Gao interrupted Liu Wenjing impatiently.

Liu Wenjing was annoyed in her heart, and she bit her lip and asked, "Then I wonder how long it will take Your Majesty to return to Jiangdu from the Central Plains?" ”

Yang Gao roughly pinched his fingers and said, "Mr. Liu should also know that after years of war in the Central Plains, there are victims everywhere. My inspection of the Central Plains this time is also to check the situation of the relief of the victims in various counties, so I will travel all over the Central Plains. In addition, Princess Yicheng has returned to the south, she is my elder, and she has made many sacrifices for my Great Sui border, so I should go to meet it in person. The trip can be as short as three to five months or as long as a year. ”

"One year!"

Liu Wenjing immediately exclaimed, how could he stay in Jiangdu for a year? Then his power in the court may have been divided and collapsed by Pei Lian's sworn enemy, and Li Yuan could not wait that long!

In desperation, Liu Wenjing could only turn his heart sideways, nodded and said, "Okay, the foreign minister will agree to His Majesty's conditions on behalf of His Majesty." ”

Yang Gao smiled slightly, and said with his head bowed: "Then we will make up our minds!" ”

"It's a deal!"

。。。。。。。。。。

Looking at Liu Wenjing and Yu Wenshi and the distant backs, the corners of Yang Gao's mouth hooked slightly, and a sneer inadvertently rose. He was naturally clear about the financial taxes of the Tang Dynasty, but Li Yuan's treasury did not have it, which did not mean that he could not take it out.

The Guanlong aristocracy was once the largest force in the Great Sui Dynasty and the largest force in the Tang Dynasty today. The background is profound, and the wealth he has is not much more than Li Yuan's treasury. The reason why Yang Gao asked for a sky-high price was to provoke the contradiction between Li Yuan and the Guanlong nobles. In order to scrape together enough money and food for ransom, Li Yuan could only think about the Guanlong nobles.

The relationship between the Guanlong nobles and Li Yuan is by no means monolithic, what Yang Gao has to do is to do everything possible to intensify the contradictions between them and use Li Yuan's knife to suppress the Guanlong nobles. lest when he marches into Guanzhong in the future, these cunning foxes hide behind the scenes and stumble themselves.

。。。。。。。。。。

It was early spring, the Yellow River had thawed, the willow trees had grown small yellow buds, and the green grass was quietly emerging from the soil. Fang Xuanling, Zhanzhao and others, who had already received Princess Yicheng and his entourage, quickly crossed the Yellow River and entered the boundary of Qingzhou.

Qingzhou now belongs to the most chaotic territory in the entire Great Sui. Although Song Jiang completely occupied the entire Qingzhou in name, Song Jiang was only a small official, Wu Yong was only a broken talent, and the other Chao Gai, Li Kui, Wang Ying, and Dong Ping were all reckless men who could only fight on the battlefield and did not know how to govern the place at all. Moreover, there were many generals in the Song Jiang army who were born as bandits, and not only did they not assist the local government to stabilize public order, but they repeatedly broke into people's houses, looted money and plundered women and children, which made Qingzhou even more chaotic.

Fang Xuanling, Zhanzhao, Ouyang Chun and others led a group of brocade guards to escort Princess Yicheng and the Ashina sisters day and night, non-stop. On this day, I came to the vicinity of Zhangqiu County, Qi County, and saw that it was getting late, so I decided to rush to the county seat to find an inn to stay overnight, and then go tomorrow.

The group drove a few carriages to the county seat quickly, and was stopped by several soldiers guarding the city at the city gate, and a captain in the lead looked the group up and down carefully, and asked in a deep voice: "What are you doing?" ”

Fang Xuanling, who was dressed as a merchant, hurriedly stepped forward and said with a smile on his face: "Master Jun, the villain is a merchant from Hebei, because it is late, he wants to stay in the city for the night and set off tomorrow." As he spoke, he shoved a few taels of silver into the captain's hand.

The lieutenant carefully weighed the silver taels in his hand, and couldn't help but be overjoyed, and immediately waved his hand and said, "Let them enter the city!" ”

"Wait!"

Fang Xuanling and the others were about to enter the city with a carriage, when a team of soldiers and horses suddenly rushed out of the city tower and surrounded the group. The man at the head was short, no more than five feet. The appearance is even more flattering, with a collapsed nose, fat lips, and a face full of meat, and his appearance is very vicious. It is the bantam tiger Wang Ying who was born with Song Jiang.

Wang Ying was lustful, just now he watched from the city tower for a long time, secretly pacing in the carriage must be the family members of these merchants, suddenly lustful again, led the troops to surround Fang Xuanling and the others, and shouted with a big grin: "Who are the people in the carriage?" Get out of the car and check it out! ”

Fang Xuanling hurriedly stepped forward to stop Wang Yingdao: "General, the carriage is the villain's inner family, and the body is weak and can't stand the cold, so the villain rented a few carriages... ”

Sure enough, it's a family member!

Wang Ying was overjoyed when she heard this, and impatiently pushed Fang Xuanling away: "What nonsense, wait for me to check it myself!" So saying, he strode to the first carriage, drew the curtain and looked in.

In the first carriage was Xiao Yanyan, the sister of the captured Yelu Abaoji, who was wearing a long white dress at the moment, which further set off her jade-like skin.

Wang Ying's eyes straightened when he saw Dengshi, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously flowed, and he muttered: "What a stunning beauty!" ”

The adjutant general on the side hurriedly bumped Wang Ying twice with his elbow, and shouted in a low voice: "General Wang, Brother Wang!" ”

Wang Ying woke up suddenly, hurriedly wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth, and stared at Xiao Yanyan a few times. Suddenly, he waved his hand and shouted: "These people are spies pretending to be merchants, take them all for me!" ”