At the gate of the city, a large number of people gathered, almost blocking the gate of Nuoda. From time to time the cries of women and children were heard, and a train of wheelbarrows with no end in sight, each full of people's belongings, and many more sat old men and children on one side of the carts, and they snuggled up to the chariots, carried by a sturdy coachman all the way to the south, while the young women followed the chariots, and behind them were all young men standing by the city gates waving goodbye with tears of farewell, and the scene was not without sorrow.

These are the last people to take refuge in the south. During this period of time, Hedong County sent a large number of wheelbarrows and dry food, and Zheng Fengchi even mobilized nearly 20,000 strong cart men in Luzhou to help women and children move south. Yang Er's instruction to him was not to let anyone die on the road due to cold and starvation, so Zheng Fengchi was under a lot of pressure. He even made a special trip to ensure that the people did not die, and specially borrowed nearly 20,000 duvets from the quilt factory to provide shelter from the wind and snow for the elderly, weak and children on the car. Hundreds of medical personnel were also mobilized from the Luzhou military camp to accompany them, but fortunately, the official road on this road was still easy to walk, and the wind and snow became smaller the further south you went, and the food was guaranteed all the way, so that the task of moving the northern people to the south was barely completed.

Among those who saw him off stood an elegant young man, followed by a 6-year-old urchin. Judging from the dress of the two, they are quite extraordinary, and they are the sons of the official eunuchs.

"Brother-in-law, can they still be reunited?" A child's voice came into the ears of the elegant man, and he woke up from his thoughts, looked down at the child who spoke, and said softly:

"Of course, they will definitely be able to get together again, maybe just next spring! Shimin, go home with your brother-in-law! The elegant man led the child, known as "Shimin", and turned around and walked into the city gate, and the child was still looking back at the tragedy of this parting in the world.

This elegant man is Chai Shao Chai Sichang, the son-in-law of Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang Guo, and the child he is holding is Li Shimin, the second son of Li Yuan, who has just turned 6 years old. Li Shimin gradually grew up, but he didn't like to play with his brother Li Jiancheng, he only ran to his eldest sister's house every day, and liked to pester his knowledgeable brother-in-law to ask this and that. Chai Shao also likes this smart and clever brother-in-law very much, don't look at Li Shimin's young age, but his wisdom and maturity far exceed other children of the same age, often from his mouth will say something that makes Chai Shao surprised, and he also has his own opinions on the various things that happen in the city in front of him.

The way back to the house was long gone, and it seemed empty, and the snow began to fall again and again. The shops on either side were seldom open, except for the whirring sound of snow whirring on the ground mixed with dead leaves, blown by the cold wind, as if this was never the once bustling city, but a remote and lonely town in the countryside.

"It's supposed to be the last hungry people to be sent away today, right? After walking all the way, I didn't see any refugees holding broken bowls to the porridge shed. Chai Shao thought in his heart as he cursed the unusually cold weather.

"Brother-in-law, if my sister also went to the warm south, would you still stay here? Even if you stay, can your heart still be here? Li Shimin opened his eyes wide, tilted his head and looked at Chai Shao who was leading him forward. When Chai Shao heard this, he suddenly stopped and looked down at Li Shimin's bright eyes. At this time, he only felt that what little Li Shimin said woke him up like a hammer, and in an instant, he finally figured out one thing that had been bothering him in his heart.

"Oops! Your cousin is so ruthless, I have all fallen for his trick! Come with me to see my father-in-law. After Chai Shao finished speaking, he picked up Li Shimin and trotted all the way back to Jinyang Palace.

At this time, there was a peaceful state in the meeting hall of Jinyang Palace, Li Yuan sat on the right seat, two pots of charcoal fire were burned in the middle, the whole hall was baked very warm, the ministers were arranged on both sides of the charcoal fire and sat on the warm mats, each person had a table in front of the table, there was food and wine on the case, today was the winter festival, Tang Gong Li Yuan invited all the civil and military ministers to the main hall, and was spending this festival with everyone.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is an honor for me to gather here today to spend the winter solstice festival. Jinyang is stable, and the people live in peace in Quannai Zhugong, come, this prince toasts the princes with this five-grain spring wine. Li Yuan said, raised his glass and invited everyone to drink together. When everyone saw this, they all raised their glasses and drank all the wine in their glasses.

"Tang Gong is wise, the prophet has the insight to disperse the hungry people in the city, and now the city is in order, there is no longer a change of hungry people's fierce fighting, we can sleep peacefully every day, so that we can have this festival and taste this wine, which is the work of Tang Gong!" Jinyang Shaoqing Tang Jian got up and looked around at everyone and said loudly. Everyone nodded yes. Li Yuan also smiled silently.

"Tang Gong, now my Jinyang treasury is making smooth progress in exchanging iron ingots for grain from Hedong, and the total amount of grain stored in the treasury is about 2 million stones, which is enough to ensure that the people of Jinyang spend the winter." Liu Hongjiye of Jinyang Shaofu went on to say that Liu Hongye single-mindedly focused on the affairs of the Jinyang Mansion, from the previous income to make ends meet, and now he has become a rich man with surplus food, and he is naturally in a good mood.

"Hehehehehe! That being the case, the exchange of iron ingots for grain can be suspended. It's just a pity that the Hedong military horses had to be released back to him. Anyway, when the treasury is abundant in the coming year, I, Jinyang, will also make every effort to make friends with the Turks to obtain grassland horses. Come, lords, drink this cup again. "Li Yuan is also in a particularly good mood today, now it is not like the autumn time, when the Turks frequently harassed the border areas. It snowed, and the grassland was covered with snow and could not move troops at all, and the three northern counties naturally had no Turkic raids. How can I not be happy when my biggest pressure is gone.

Suddenly, the door was pushed open, and before anyone could enter, a gust of wind and snow rushed into the hall, bringing a chill to everyone in the hall. Seeing this, Li Yuan's face immediately showed indignation.

I saw Chai Shao stepping into the hall with Li Shimin in his arms, and the guards behind him hurriedly closed the door. After Chai Shao put down Li Shimin, he walked quickly to the middle of the hall, knelt down on one leg facing Li Yuan, and said in a sad voice:

"Uncle Yue, my Jinyang Mansion is all in the east of the river Yang Guang plan! Alas! He was silent.

Li Yuan was shocked, put down the wine glass, and hurriedly asked, "Sichang, why do you say this?" Tell me about it. The ministers of civil and military affairs were also panicked, and they talked about it one after another, I don't know why Chai Shao said this.

"Uncle Yue, my lords. I Jinyang fell into Yang Guang's plan to draw salary from the bottom of the kettle! In this exchange, where does he value my Jinyang iron ingot? What is his righteousness? It's to seek my people in Jinyang! Today, I Jinyang has lost more than 350,000 people, and the losses are far more than the Turks! After Chai Shao finished speaking, he cried loudly, and Li Shimin took out a handkerchief and squatted aside to wipe his tears for his brother-in-law.

As soon as Chai Shao's words came out, he was shocked. Li Yuanpu stood up suddenly, and asked sharply, "Sichang, how can you say this?" How can I, Jinyang, lose hundreds of thousands of people? ”

The civil and military ministers present were also shocked by Chai Shao's words, and whispered to each other, among which there were many resourceful people, such as Pei Lin and others, who also seemed to have understood, and couldn't help shaking their heads and sighing.

"Uncle Yue, it will be difficult for the people who have been sent south to Hedong County to return in the spring next year, but it is the men who stay in my Jinyang all over the country will inevitably go south to reunite with their families. How can I return to Jinyang? The son-in-law thought that Yang Guang, the king of Jin, had said before that it would be a trick to return the people to the people when they were sown in the spring next year, but it was really a plan for the people of Jinyang! Chai Shao cried with tears. Now he understands completely that his wife's cousin began to set up a game for himself in Chang'an, the capital, and let himself fall into the trap step by step.

After listening to Chai Shao's words, Li Yuan suddenly sat down like a ball that had been drained, his eyes glazed. His right hand raised and pointed at Chai Shao and asked softly: "My father takes the man of each head of the family as a hostage, and his wife dares to return as scheduled?" I don't believe it! ”

"Tell Tang Gong, this matter is my Jinyang mistake!" Uncle Dou Kang glanced at Pei Lin on the side, got up and said first. As Li Yuan's first strategist, Pei Lin didn't see the flaws of Yang Guang, the king of Jin, and he must pay a lot of responsibility in it, rather than embarrassing his friend, it is better to let his uncle, the country, block it for a while and explain it.

Dou Kang continued: "We were all blinded by the temporary predicament caused by the Turkic raids on the border areas and the influx of refugees into the city, and the government treasury was overstretched. Then Yang Guang also took a fancy to Tang Gong's generosity and kindness, and loved the people like a son, so he made this plan, and calculated that Tang Gong would inevitably live for the people's livelihood, and he couldn't bear to let the people freeze and starve to death. Coupled with the superficial goodwill and the initiative to help me Jinyang grain, Tang Gong will inevitably not be guarded, so he has a plan! ”

"Could it be that if I don't let the men of each family go out of Jinyang, the women and children in the family will not return? If her husband is not dead, she dares to marry another person? After hearing this, Nei Shi Ling Dou Wei got up and retorted. Li Yuan on the seat also nodded after hearing this, obviously he still agreed with this statement.

Chai Shao, who had never spoken out, couldn't help shaking his head after hearing Dou Wei's remarks, slowly got up, and said to Dou Wei in a low voice: "That Jin King Yang Guang is precisely grasping this blind spot of our thinking, and even Chai Mou and I are blinded by this point of view. I thought about at least one thing, and was awakened by the words of the people today, but it was too late. When everyone heard Chai Shao say this, they all fell silent. Li Yuan also looked at his son-in-law with wide eyes, wanting to hear him continue, but he still couldn't figure it out. In his eyes, the man is the head of the family, and the place where the man is is the home, and how can a woman not return when she is away.

"Ladies and gentlemen, have never been to the current Hedong, this year there is a drought in all parts of the Great Sui, the autumn grain harvest is not good, only Hedong County has a bumper grain harvest this autumn, the government stocks tens of millions of stones, and the vast collection of displaced people to distribute land and farm tools, each household has enough rations, and the spring sowing will also distribute grain to guide planting. In addition, Hedong has developed commerce, and the industries of grain, salt, wine, and coal have earned enough money from the whole people, and the people have almost no taxes! The wealth of the people in Hedong is rare in the world. On the other hand, in Jinyang, not to mention the fields, just the border troubles continue every year, causing instability among the people. The people who moved south to Hedong did not suffer from the attack of the Turkic Tatars, and they had no worries about their livelihood, how could he return to the bitter land of my Jinyang? On the contrary, it will also shake the hearts of the people of Jinyang, and the man who is left behind will inevitably flee to Hedong, how can he let his family live in danger? Think about it, if it were you, how would you choose? Chai Shao continued.

After Chai Shao finished explaining, Li Yuan bowed his head with a bitter face and was silent. All the civil and military forces were also dumbfounded, not knowing how to refute.

"The matter has come to this, for the sake of the present, how should it be reversed? You can teach me. After Li Yuan cheered up a little, he said sharply, looking at everyone present, especially on Pei Lian.

"Lord, this is the old minister's lack of thought, for the sake of today's plan, you can strictly order the officials of the relocated people to bring back the people under their respective management before the spring sowing next year, and no one is allowed to stop in Hedong. The lord also needs to go to Yang Guang, the king of Jin, to explain the powerful relationship between the people of Jinyang, so that he does not dare to detain the people of Jinyang privately. It is also necessary to go to the emperor to explain the matter of the people avoiding trouble, and let the emperor strictly order Yang Guang, the king of Jin, not to detain the people of Jinyang. These three measures should enable our people to return on time. Seeing Li Yuan looking at him, Pei Lin had to get up and admonish aloud. In fact, he knew in his heart that these were useless, so Yang Guang, the king of Jin, had no intention of calculating or not, and he would be willing to give up millions of stone grains to spread out such a big situation, how could he easily comply. It's just that offering three strategies at this time is better than nothing, it's nothing more than a dead horse being a live horse doctor.

"Si Chang thinks the three strategies Pei Shangshu said are feasible?" Li Yuan turned to ask Chai Shao, in Li Yuan's eyes, his son-in-law Chai Shao was also one of the parties to the decision, and he also had a lot of responsibility in this incident, so he also needed to express his position at this time.

"Uncle Yue, Pei Shangshu's plan is feasible, there is an edict from the emperor, and the king of Jin will not dare to make excessive moves. After the snow stopped in the younger son-in-law, he went to Luzhou, Hedong to see the king of Jin, so that he could dispel the hearts of the people. Chai Shao arched his hand and said, thinking that his trip to Luzhou seemed to be impossible to run, and the burden on his body was extremely heavy, how difficult it was to make a person who ate half of the meat vomit out!

"That's it! When Sichang went to Hedong, he brought a letter from his father to the king of Jin. My father didn't believe that kid dared to detain my Jinyang people. After listening to Chai Shao's statement, Li Yuan felt a little calmer in his heart, what Chai Shao said was exactly what he thought, and the bell must be tied to the bell.

"That's all for today's winter feast, you can go back by yourself, and your own husband is also lacking." Li Yuan was in no mood for the festival at this time, and after saying goodbye to everyone, he waved his hand and got up and walked to the harem alone.

Pei Lin and Dou Kang looked at each other and smiled bitterly, Dou Kang said: "I don't want to wait for me to be good at calculating all my life, but I was all plotted by the kid." This son is extraordinary! ”

Pei Lin smiled wryly, shook his head, and had nothing to say for a while.

Chai Shao saw that Li Yuan returned to the harem alone, and everyone gradually dispersed, so he led the ignorant Li Shimin to the harem together, and his daughter-in-law is still in the harem with his mother-in-law!

It's just that everything that happened in the Jin Palace's Mansion was completely recorded by a low-level official who attended the banquet that night, and handed it over to a hundred households in Jinyang's hands of the Military Intelligence Department of the Jin Palace.

On the second day, as soon as the city gate opened, two fast horses galloped towards Luzhou, east of the river, braving the snowy trail.