Li Yuan gasped and coughed continuously after speaking, as if he was a few years older in an instant. This time, a total of about 2.5 million stones of grain were exchanged, and 600,000 stones have been lost along the way in Nanyang, which is not a big loss! No wonder Li Yuan was angry.

In the next ten days, the constant bad news has made Li Yuanqi sick. The Li family was also in a panic, Pei Lin and other ministers and generals had nothing to do, and Jinyang from Li Yuan to the ministers and generals to the people of Li Min, as the weather became cooler day by day, they were all panicked. In order to make a fortune, many non-governmental grain merchants poured their money into buying Turkic furs through various channels, and many of the official caravans in Jinyang that went south to buy grain from the interior did not want to fold them all.

"Husband, is the situation really so serious now?" The county lord of Xiuning asked Chai Shao, who was drinking alone, and there was little Li Shimin sitting at the table, looking at his brother-in-law with blinking eyes.

"County Lord, the current situation is far more serious than imagined, and the grain stored in my Jinyang Mansion Treasury is only 5 or 600,000 stones, which is not enough to support the needs of my officials and soldiers in Jinyang Prefectures and counties for two months. What's even more serious is that the private grain merchants in Jinyang City have almost no grain in their hands, and millions of people have no grain to buy even if they have money. If the food shortage in Jinyang cannot be solved immediately, official families like you and me will run out of food this winter. Alas! After Chai Shao finished speaking, he drank a sip of wine, with a sad face, a haggard face, and a depressed face, and his original steady state was completely gone.

"Huh? Aren't the princes of Luoyang Wang Shichong and Jinan Tangbi good friends with my father? Why can't I get a grain back? ”

"Alas! Why didn't I change it. They were all happy, but the food could not be brought back. ”

"Brother-in-law, why can't you bring back the grain? Isn't the trade route impassable? Is it that the cousin of the King of Jin made it bad and didn't let my food team pass? Li Shimin also asked puzzled, in his small heart, he still thought that the King of Jin in Luzhou was extremely sinister, and always retained his vigilance and distrust of the King of Jin.

"O people! If it is the Taiping New Year's Festival, who dares to touch my Jinyang Li family's grain? Helplessly, Luoyang, Jinan and even the world were in chaos because of the opening of the canal by King Jin. It is rumored that after the Yongji canal is opened, it will be followed by the canal from Liyang to Luoyang, which shocked the families to rebel and coerce the kings of Zhulu to rebel. O people! If you think about how important food is to them at this time, how can you easily put grain out of the country? Most of the Tang troops who guarded the grain trucks were killed by the grain robbers, but judging from the clothes and armor worn by the robbers who were killed, they were all fake officials and soldiers. I, Jinyang, did a little bit less, and even sent a cart full of furs to the land of right and wrong, just for the purpose of expanding the armament war. Hehe! Chai Shao smiled bitterly after speaking. The county lord of Xiuning on the side was also very sad when he heard it.

"It's all to blame on the cousin of King Jin, if he doesn't open the canal at this time, he won't have this trouble at all!" Li Shimin couldn't help but scold Yang Guang, the king of Jin, at this time, blaming him for being troublesome.

"Huh! O people! This canal is an edict issued by the Sui Emperor himself, and it has already been announced to the world, no wonder your cousin of the King of Jin, only blame the bad luck, only blame me for the shortcoming, only blame me for being greedy! Chai Shao smiled bitterly again and slowly drank a glass of wine.

"Husband, the matter has come to this, my father has fallen ill, is there a solution? It's so that the people can spend this winter! The county lord of Xiuning already understood the seriousness of the situation and asked worriedly.

"There is only one way to make a plan, pour my wealth from Jinyang and go to Luzhou, Hedong to buy grain. But now his grain is closely related to the use of Jizhou to open a canal, and he may not be able to sell it to me in Jinyang. Chai Shao put down the wine cup and sighed.

"No matter what, Fujun's trip to Luzhou is indispensable, even if the Luzhou government does not sell the grain, you can also buy some winter grain from its private grain merchants!" Lord Xiuning said anxiously.

"Brother-in-law, Shimin will accompany you to Luzhou tomorrow! Master Sima Pei of Luzhou seems to be a good person. Besides, Brother Jiancheng has a new book of "Three Character Classic" in his hand, which is very well printed, and it is said that it was bought by the trustee in Luzhou Bookstore, and the people of the world have not been able to borrow it several times, so this time they went over to buy a few copies and came back. Li Shimin grabbed Chai Shao's arm holding the wine glass and said.

"It's okay, it's better to go this way than to sit in Jinyang."

It's no wonder that Li Yuan fell ill in a hurry, and Chai Shao borrowed wine to drown his sorrows! The Central Plains gate lords and towns also went too far, and at the beginning they also colluded with the green forest bandits in the territory, whether it was the righteous way or the evil way, in short, after robbing the Jinyang grain truck, they sat on the ground and shared the spoils. Later, he didn't look for the green forest robbers to do anything, and directly sent the officers and soldiers to put on the clothes of the Xiangma Mountain bandits or directly took off their armor, and then directly began to rob the Jinyang grain team on the uncovered official road. The caravan guards were few, and they were often rushed away by the "ringing horses" who robbed the grain, and watched as little as 100,000 stones, and as many as hundreds of thousands of stones. The green forest righteous road also ignored Shan Xiong's letter and arrows, and they all played a black hand on the grain team on the way, or pretended to be a family member of the family, or pretended to be a soldier of the county government to grab grain, or attacked the post station where they settled at night, in short, robbing Jinyang grain trucks has become a fashion, and everyone can rob it. At this time, there are very few grain teams that can safely return to Jinyang. However, the strange thing is that as long as you enter Hedong County, no one will do anything to loot, which is safer than entering your own Jinyang, which reveals an indescribable mysterious feeling.

The scene of the canal opening is a hot scene, and the people who open the canal are divided into two shifts, digging the river day and night. Even at night, hundreds of thousands of torches and bonfires illuminate the opening site as if it were daytime. In front of it is a skilled blasting team blasting in front, followed by the people who are transporting soil and moving stones, in an orderly manner. It was followed by Li Chun's brigade to build bridges and wharves, because there was no water, the bridges at this time were the best to build, all of them were ready-made stones, built into solid and simple stone bridges. Everyone involved in the canal opening was full of energy, and although the weather was getting cooler day by day, it could not stop the enthusiasm of the canal openers.

But at the same time, a huge danger is slowly accumulating, and the moment of outbreak is about to arrive.

At this time, the most leisurely person was Yang Er, accompanied by his fiancée Wang Dai, and led a group of guards to Wagang Xiongshan nearby. In addition to a glance at the most famous cottage in the Sui Dynasty, this mountaineering is also guarded by his most loyal general Liang Shitai on this Wagang Mountain, and he has not seen his confidant for a long time, which is also the reason why Yang Er decided to make a special trip to climb the mountain.

"This Wagang Mountain is in a good location, in the center of Liyang, Luokou and Zezhou. If there is no special reason, it is also very convenient to dispatch people from all over the place in a unified manner. It is also a good choice to spend this winter in this Wagang Mountain. Yang Er thought in his heart. This time, Yang Erden was accompanied by Luo Cheng's 10,000 Baima Yicong New Army, this army can be described as bursting with combat power, in addition to the original equipment of the officers and soldiers of the Baima Yicong Battalion, they are all equipped with new fire crossbow arrows and sky-bombing grenades, this 10,000 elite is enough to resist 100,000 troops. There are also 20,000 officers and soldiers of the Baima Yi Battalion who are equipped with standard equipment, not equipped with new firearms, and are directly led by General Wu Yunzhao and stationed in Liyang City.

This Liang Shitai was the first confidant general to follow Yang Er, and he was also the confidant who knew Yang Er's ambitions best. Hearing that Yang Er was coming, he swept the mountain road and counted the walled wall early, and Zhou Zheng, who was wearing a general's uniform all over his body, was waiting at the head of the city.

Seeing Yang Er's banner from a distance, he took his relatives to wait outside the city gate.

"Shitai, I haven't seen you for a long time, but you're getting fatter." Yang Er saw that Liang Shitai stepped forward to take the reins of his horse, so he raised his feet and got off the horse.

Liang Shitai took the reins of Yang Erzao's red horse with one hand, and said with a smile: "Lord! Not only will the end be blessed, but all of my 4,000 garrison soldiers are doing well, and everyone is fat. Who has left me without war here? Then Liyang City wants to defend against Tang Wall, Luokou City needs to defend against Wang Shichong, and I still need to patrol the city every day to check the sentry, so I can sit back and relax here. ”

"Huh! That's why I'm coming to you for the winter. ”

"Good! There is a lord here to spend the winter with me, and I can't ask for it! Liang Shitai shouted happily when he heard this, while beckoning Zhong Jian and Izuchen behind him.

Walking up the mountain steps, admiring the scenery of Wagang Xiongzhai all the way, Yang Er was in a very happy mood. The entourage also couldn't stop praising the majesty of Wagang Mountain. Luo Cheng is no stranger to this place, this is the second time he has visited Wagang Mountain, and he only feels strange in his heart. After arriving on the mountain, I saw the hidden passages of the organs everywhere, and only then did I know why the heroes of the green forest road where I was a few months ago had been attacking this tile gang for a long time, and they were also secretly surprised by the defense of this tile gang village.

Seeing that Luo Cheng was following beside him had a strange expression, Yang Er also reacted, and couldn't help but smile and ask: "Brother Xian, seeing this defensive method, if you command tens of thousands of horses to attack the forward green forest, can you be sure that you can attack it?" ”

When Luo Cheng heard this, he immediately replied: "Hehe! The elder brother laughed, tens of thousands of people were helpless here, and the younger brother once led the army to attack this dangerous pass, and he couldn't lift his head when he was shot by the bows and arrows on both sides, and he was defeated. Only a reckless man like Cheng Heizi who doesn't know death will be brutal. ”

"Last time, the virtuous brother was attacking the mountain, and this time he may be the general of the mountain." Yang Er put away his smile and said.

Luo Cheng and the surrounding generals were stunned when they heard this, and Liang Shitai was even more shocked when he heard it, and hurriedly asked: "Lord, are you saying that I will not be able to fight here this winter?" ”

"Yes! Haven't you heard that Wang Shichong in the west has expanded his army to 150,000, and Tangbi in the east has also expanded his army to 200,000? As for why these two men and horses are expanding their armaments, it is not that this king has touched the interests of his vassal kings. Where did he get the money and food for the expansion of the army? It was not provided by the noble family who left their homeland and fled to other places after the king opened the canal. If you take other people's money and food, how can you not do things for these people? Besides, when you have soldiers and generals in your hands, your heart will be bigger, and you will have to occupy a larger territory to expand your strength. Yang Er explained to everyone.

"Big brother, doesn't the court care about them? My father's Zhuo County didn't dare to expand the army privately. ”

"Located in the Central Plains, who doesn't want to be king? Besides, my father can't reach it! But it's okay, let this king sweep away these ants who don't know the height of the sky for his father, and return the sky to the Great Sui, which is also a great blessing! Yang Er said heroically, turning to look down the mountain and into the distance.

Besides, there is a cottage in the green forest road, called Changye Ling. This is the territory of the green forest heroes You Junda and Cheng Biting Golden Tiger, located more than 80 miles east of Licheng, Shandong. Usually, because of the face of Qin Qiong, the leader of the Licheng fast hunting team, he rarely robbed the past merchants, and only did some jewelry business. On this day, I received two secret letters from Erxianzhuang in Luzhou, one is that the latest issue of the Green Forest Arrow sent by Shan Xiongxin said that Li Yuan's caravan should not be plundered. The iron-masked judge You Junda shook his head after seeing it, and said in his heart, he could still give Qin Qiong face and not commit crimes in his jurisdiction, but now Qin Qiong has already been transferred to Langya as an official, why don't you allow this or that. When I opened the second letter, it turned out to be a secret letter from Wang Bodang, a friend of Shenjian Yongzaburo, but it was a secret letter from Li Yuan's past grain team to take the opportunity to rob the grain.

You Junda fell into deep thought for a while, and he didn't know what the two letters that fell into his hand one after another meant?

"Come on! Go and call Second Master Cheng to come over," You Junda said to a servant. The servant turned around and went to the backyard to find Cheng Yanjin.

"Brother! Lao Cheng is playing a good axe, but he came to call me. Cheng Yanjin shouted as soon as he entered the door.

"Brother, you have also heard that Li Yuan, the Tang Duke of Jinyang, recently wants to transport grain from my mountain, and you and my brother are waiting for him to transport winter grain for me! But the second brother Shan wrote again today saying that my brother should let go of this grain truck and not rob it. When my brother was annoyed by this, I got another letter written by Nayong Saburo Wang Bodang to us, but the book said that I should not let go of the Li family food team. My brother is hesitating for this, so I asked my brother to come over and sum it up, is this grain truck robbed or not? ”

"Oops! Brother. This is still up for discussion! Have you forgotten what we're doing? How can you let go of the fat that reaches your mouth? Cheng Biting Jin jumped to his feet and shouted.

"However, this catastrophe has hurt Second Brother Shan's face." You Junda said with a look of embarrassment.

"Brother! For the sake of this second brother's face, how much windfall has you and my brother made less! I've heard that this batch of grain is hundreds of thousands of stones! You and my brother have not been worried about eating for several years. It's still good that Brother Bodang said, the grain cart must be left. ”

"Hmmm! My brother has coveted this batch of food for a long time, and it is said that none of the brothers on it are willing to let it go, but I haven't heard of a cottage to rob it. I don't do it openly, I only do it in secret. ”

"What the eldest brother said is exact, everyone in the rivers and lakes says that the eldest brother is an iron-masked judge who pays attention to his work, and now the secret business will be handed over to the brother and I will handle it."

"Hmmm! What my brother wants is your words. 30 miles west from my cottage, there is an official post, the Li family grain car is found to be under my ridge tomorrow afternoon, I don't go to rob him, he will go to this post station for the night, then the brother will take 800 minions to rob the post station late at night, rob the grain and return to the mountain, don't reveal your identity. ”

"Big brother is a good plan! This errand of beating a stuffy stick while it is dark at night, I Lao Cheng likes it the most, after the incident, he burns a fine light in a fire, how can he leave a trace? Cheng Yanjin said happily.

"Good! The brothers went to prepare themselves, and remember to put on their night clothes. ”

"I know, just cover your face, hehe!" Cheng Yanjin jumped and ran out.

"Thorn la--- stabbing la---" Looking at the back of biting Jin and going out, You Junda tore Shan Xiongxin's letter to shreds and sneered.