After being upgraded to the county system, officials at all levels were automatically promoted to one level, and their official salaries were also raised. Pei Shiju is also like a second spring, running between the newly developed land and the people every day, understanding the needs of the people, solving the suffering of the people, and never getting tired of it. It's just that the iron, coal and other matters arranged by Yang Er when Pei Yun left couldn't be pushed forward for a long time. The envoy sent to the Jinyang Mansion to ask for support for the technicians who explored the iron ore and coal mines did not even meet the face of Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang Guo, and was sent back by his first mastermind, Shang Shu Ling Pei Lian. The reason is that Jinyang Mansion is also very short of such capable people, and there is no surplus to send to support Hedong County. Pei Yun is helpless about this!

In fact, as early as half a month ago, Emperor Wen's holy decree was sent to Li Yuan of Jinyang. After Li Yuan received the order to send the angel away, his face was very heavy and ugly, and he was even very annoyed. He handed over the holy decree to his uncle Dou Kang, Neishi Ling Dou Wei, and Shangshu's right servant Pei Lin to circulate.

"Humph! Why is Your Majesty so unfair to me Li Yuan. Just because of suspicion of me, they drove me away from Chang'an. Now he wants to take away my land in Hedong County. What do you think? Li Yuan sat down with an angry face on his face, looking at his three cronies.

"Tang Gong, that Hedong County is the only place for me to pass from Jinyang to Jingshi Chang'an, and it is also the throat road for me to enter Tongguan and enter the hinterland of the Central Plains! If this place is handed over to the king of Jin in accordance with the emperor's will, if there are changes in the world in the future, won't it just block the way of my Tang army to the south? Uncle Dou Kang took the lead in saying.

"Now that the holy decree has been issued, if Tang Gong doesn't want to raise troops against Sui now, he can only act according to the decree and recall the Hedong garrison, just to let me wait for grievances." Nei Shi made Dou Wei shake his head and added.

"It's not time to turn his face yet, the weather is getting colder, and the Turks in the north are eager to try to invade our Loufan County and other places, and this king still needs to retreat the Turkic troops with all his might. It seems that I have to give up the east of the river, but I really don't do it. Hum! Li Yuan said fiercely. He knew that now was not the time to quarrel with the Sui Dynasty at all, and he had to rely on the Great Sui to resist the nearby Northern Turks, and he had to rely on the Great Sui to calm down and run the land of Shanxi for a few years to wait for the opportunity.

"Duke Tang, since the cession of Hedong has become a foregone conclusion, why not seek more benefits from the imperial court or directly from His Royal Highness the King of Jin? It's better than giving the Hedong hands in plain water. Shang Shu's right servant shot Pei Lin lightly said his thoughts after careful consideration. I saw that Li Yuan and the two of them nodded silently.

"Then according to Pei Shangshu, what benefits does this king want to exchange for Sui Ting?" After thinking for a moment, Li Yuan decided that he had to ask Pei Lin for advice.

Pei Lin stroked his short beard at this time, thought for a while, and said: "According to the lower officials, the current direct interest is to first use Hedong County as my Jinyang tax center as the reason, and now I don't have it, since His Majesty the Emperor Comb Wen has reduced or exempted my Jinyang from the annual tax money and grain." Seeing Li Yuan nodding, Pei Lin continued: "Then the Turks are about to pass the pass, and I Jinyang need to build weapons and city defense equipment, and comb the imperial court together to exempt the imperial court from the iron ingot quota for my Jinyang this year; After hearing this, Li Yuan and the other three nodded frequently and said yes.

"Third, this account will be directly calculated on the head of Yang Guang, the king of Jin." Thinking of this, Pei Lin showed a wicked smile on his face.

Li Yuan hurriedly asked: "Please also ask Mr. Pei to make it clear, His Royal Highness the King of Jin is not stable in Hedong, and it is a great luck that he does not ask me for help, what can he give to this king?" ”

"Salt!" Pei Lin replied simply and crisply.

When Li Yuan and the three of them heard this, they suddenly realized.

Pei Lin continued: "If you want Yang Guang, the king of Jin, to supply me with 10,000 catties of refined salt at a flat price every month, if he doesn't agree, Tang Gong can make it clear to him that I have few soldiers in Jinyang, and it will be difficult for the Turks to resist all when they come, so if Yang Guang is smart, he will naturally know the meaning." ”

"Wonderful! Mr. Pei's three strategies are really like seeing the sun through the clouds. With these three strategies, what does it matter if Hedong is with him? Okay, this king will go to the court and the king of Jin. If you don't peel off the skin, you have to take Hedong, don't even think about it! ”

"Tang Gong, even so, the lower officials thought that they could also communicate with Hedong and open up trade on the premise. couldn't let it go, but it was stuck in the throat, so that the materials in the Central Plains Guanzhong could not enter Jinyang. Nes Dou Wei hurriedly added.

"Well, what Mr. Dou said is very true. The king of Jin is now in Chang'an, and I should write a letter to discuss this matter with him. I think that the king of Jin is also a very smart person, and when he sees the letter, he will know the meaning of this king, so he can't help but obey this king. As soon as Li Yuan's voice fell, Pei Lin and the other three all laughed easily.

A few days later, Li Yuan's comb to Emperor Wen and his handwritten letter to King Jin were delivered to Chang'an. Emperor Wen felt a little unreasonable to force other people's things for his son, so he sent a holy edict to Li Yuan, and he did not mention anything he asked.

Yang Er was holding Li Yuan's handwritten letter in his hand at this time, and after reading it, he couldn't help but laugh. I thought, Li Yuan! Li Yuan, when he is old, he still plays these children's games, doesn't he just want to make a mistake? To put it bluntly, they even threatened the Turks to go south! Hum! You still don't know that once Hedong County is returned to me, it will be equivalent to closing the door for your Li family to enter the Central Plains, and your Li family will not be plotting for the idea of winning the world, and they will all be blind!

Immediately, Yang Er replied to Li Yuan's letter in the name of his junior, and the letter was full of beautiful words, fully agreeing to the conditions proposed in Li Yuan's letter and adding things that Li Yuan would definitely agree, such as opening up the border of Jinyang and Loufu, allowing the caravans of the Jin Wangfu to travel back and forth to the Turkic steppe to sell goods, exempting each other from transit fees and ensuring the safety of the caravans of all parties, and supplying iron ingot raw materials to Hedong County at a reasonable price. After writing it, give it to the person who sent the letter to bring it back. At the same time, he sent a letter to Pei Shiju and others in Luzhou, Hedong, explaining all this situation and asking him to act in accordance with the agreement with Tang Duke Li Yuan.

But Li Yuan ignored an extremely important condition in his letter, Li Yuan didn't mention it, and Yang Er couldn't remind him. Yang Er thought to himself, after this king has gained a firm foothold in Hedong, if you Li Yuan think of mentioning this matter to this king again, then it will be another matter. Fortunately, Li Er was still young at this time, and if Li Er was there, he would definitely not be able to hide his long-term vision.

This was indeed a big loophole for Li Yuan and his advisers, whose eyes and minds were imprisoned by the imminent threat of the Turks. For a while, he didn't think that his Tang soldiers would enter the hinterland of the Central Plains and would definitely pass through Hedong, and the two sides did not mention it at all. When the Turkic troops retreated, Li Yuan would suddenly wake up. At that time, the Jin army of Hedong County was already strong and strong, so where would I talk to you about borrowing the road.

"Yang Xing." Yang Er shouted outside the door. "What do you tell the villain to be called?" Yang Xing, a house slave who was on standby at the door, immediately entered the house and asked.

"Pack up and take this king to the largest restaurant in Chang'an."

"Okay!" Yang Xing promised to go out immediately to prepare the car and other things, and waited outside the mansion gate.

"Zhong Jian, Sister Chuchen, are you willing to go with your brother?" Yang Er tidied up his clothes, hung up the saber handed over by the maid, and prepared to go out with a folding fan in his hand.

Behind him, only Zhong Jian and Chuchen followed closely, which was the order of their grandfather. Protecting Yang Er's safety has become the most important duty of their senior siblings. Of course, there is another job in the dust, that is, the head of the military doctor and the female nurses, sometimes when Yang Er is not going out, she will go to the Rejuvenation Hall to help, saying that she is helping, but she is also following her uncle to learn the surgical skills. What she thought was that if the prince was injured when he went out, he could also take care of it, which was better than letting His Highness return to Beijing in pain!

Coming out, the group went to the largest restaurant in Chang'an City under the guidance of Yang Xing. This restaurant is called "Wufeng Building", which is the most famous in Chang'an City, and the annual Lantern Festival lantern viewing place must be the place where the emperor and the emperor and queen come to enjoy the lanterns. In the past, literati and elegant guests also gathered in this building to discuss and prosecute poems, and there are many poems and ink treasures left by literati on the walls of each elegant room. Yang Er and his entourage went to the Wufeng Tower, and they also reconciled their identities. Soon a group came to the five phoenix floors, the Loulan carved pavilion, the lanterns were hanging, the hall was bright, the crowds were crowded, the sound of staggering was not in the ears, and the upstairs private room also came from time to time the improvised poems of the scholars. Sure enough, it's a lively place. Yang Er sat down in a relatively secluded private room upstairs, and Xiao Er came to greet everyone with tea and water. Yang Xing took the lead and asked Xiao Er to serve all the best food in the restaurant, and the little second brother was about to turn around and go, Yang Er got up and grabbed his arm, took out a handful of copper coins and handed them to Xiao Er, and said: "Please call the shopkeeper of the restaurant here to see it, Xiao Sheng has something to discuss." Xiao Er was also very happy to see that there was a reward of literary money, and saw that this scholar was not very old and indeed had a noble atmosphere, and secretly expected that it must not be an ordinary family, so he said: "The son will sit down for a while, and the villain will call my shopkeeper to come over for the son." ”

There are many officials and nobles in Chang'an, and there are often people who find the shopkeeper to accompany the narrator, so the big shopkeeper of Wufenglou is not like other little-known restaurants, and this shopkeeper can be on call. Hearing that Xiao Er said that there was a distinguished guest upstairs who wanted to meet, he hurriedly dressed up and came to Yang Er's room. Seeing that it was a few young people who were drinking here, they were not as nervous as before, and they relaxed a lot.

"Ladies and gentlemen, my surname is Zhang is the shopkeeper here, I don't know what advice I have for calling the villain?" Shopkeeper Zhang asked very politely with everyone.

"Oh, Boss Zhang, please sit down here, have a drink together, my son has something to ask." Yang Er shook the paper fan slightly and said kindly.

This kind of scene is not uncommon, and it is mostly some matters in the business field. It was not surprising that he stepped forward and sat down on Yang Er's side. Yang Xing hurriedly stepped forward to pour a glass of wine for him, so Yang Er and Shopkeeper Zhang raised their glasses and drank together.

Putting down the wine glass, Yang Er began to go straight to the point and said: "Boss Zhang's restaurant here is quite large, and there are a lot of wines sold every day, and this wine is also considered to be a good quality." I don't know if it's home-brewed or someone to supply it? Yang Er asked politely, as if it was a homely affair.

"Huh! Childe said that the name of this wine is "Wufengcui Bottle Fragrance", which is exclusively brewed in this restaurant, and there is no other branch. Shopkeeper Zhang said with a soft laugh.

"Then this wine will not be sold separately except for the supply of Wufeng Tower?" Yang Er asked again.

"Gongzi doesn't know, this winemaking, especially good wine, is very expensive to eat, and there are only two wineries in Chang'an City that can be recognized by the government, and these two are taxed every month according to the government's customized wine, and there are strict regulations on the monthly food consumption, and they cannot be used excessively. My Wufenglou Wine Workshop is one of the wineries recognized by the government, and it is also the one that produces the most wine. In addition to supplying my Wufeng Restaurant, other wine shops also buy wine from our winery and sell wine. Of course, I can also buy the wine of the Wang family's winery here, but the wine of his Wang family is slightly inferior to my Wufengcui bottle incense. ”

"Oh! In this way, the food for the sake brewery is rationed by the government every month, and it cannot be purchased by itself? Yang Er thought for a moment and then asked.

"This is natural, every month my winery uses nearly 20,000 stones to store the old grain, all of which are purchased at the market price of Xingu, how dare I buy the market Xingu by myself?" Shopkeeper Zhang also had a wry smile on his face when he said this.

"Then there will be a large amount of lees after the winery is made, and how to deal with it?" The key point that Yang Er desperately wants to know is here, this trip is fake, and the wine lees scum is real.