On the official road leading to Beizhou, Zhang Guigui, Xue Rengui and others were escorting several carriages on the way.

In a carriage, Li You was talking to Cheng Yanjin.

Cheng Yanjin said dissatisfiedly: "Your Highness, the minister still doesn't understand, why do you have to take the Cui family?" ”

Li You asked, "Uncle Cheng, let me ask you a few questions. First, your wife is from the Cui clan, if you are not Su Guogong, but the poor boy who sold rakes in the countryside before, what kind of status will you have in the Cui clan? ”

Cheng Yanjin's ancestors were wealthy families, and later his family fell into the middle of the road, and then followed Li Shimin to become the founding prince of the Tang Dynasty, and the Cui family married him. Cheng Yanjin understood the meaning of Li You's words, if he didn't have today's status, even if his ancestor was the Jade Emperor, he would not look at it in the eyes of the Cui family.

The Cui family did not marry Li Shimin because of the social atmosphere, and they did not want to be said by other clans that they were patting the royal family, which would affect their reputation in the society, not because they were pretentious.

Li You asked: "Which of the income that your wife's family should give you in a year is more than that of a sugar factory, a cement factory, a highway and other businesses?" ”

Speaking of this, Cheng Yanjin smiled, and he said: "The little income that Mrs. Chen's family relies on land, as well as the dividends in traditional business, are not even a fraction of the business that the minister follows His Royal Highness. ”

Li You asked: "The main wealth of the Qinghe Cui clan is land, so they desperately annexed the land, produced many landless peasants, and caused great instability to the society.

In order to annex the land, the Qinghe Cui clan did not hesitate to kill people and set fires. The other gate valve clans and large and small landlords are on the same path as the Qinghe Cui clan. If they are allowed to continue, the land will gradually be concentrated in the hands of these powerful people, and the large number of landless peasants will become piles of dry firewood, and when there is a big disaster, the situation will get out of control, and these dry firewood will ignite a raging fire, and then the court will be destroyed.

The Gatelord clan has land in their hands and a large number of people attached to them, and even if there is a change of dynasty, they can still stand. But what will happen to us, the magnates of the Tang Dynasty? I'm afraid there is no place to bury you. ”

Cheng Yanjin understood, and he said: "Your Highness is right, if you want to keep our good life, you have to suppress the Gate Valve Clan. ”

Li You said: "This is a whisper we say behind closed doors. To Dali, in order to ensure the healthy development of the Tang Dynasty and let the people live and work in peace and contentment, tumors like the Gate Valve Clan must be eradicated. ”

Cheng Yanjin asked, "How do the people in my wife's clan deal with it?" ”

Li You said: "Lord Xiao is my wife's grandfather, and I also have people from the Cui family in my family, and I don't want to see them unlucky."

Uncle Cheng, we are our own people, and I won't hide it from you, the reason why I let you and Lord Xiao participate in this matter is to leave a way out for you. When you went to Qinghe County, you persuaded your people to actively cooperate with the investigation and report and expose others, and their meritorious performance coupled with your contribution in dealing with the Qinghe Cui clan matter, I can open the net, and no one can say anything. ”

Cheng Yanjin said: "Chen understands. ”

Li You said: "Old Man Xiao has a lot of opinions about me, in this matter, you are in the same situation, if you can help me do his work, it is better to say." ”

Cheng Yanjin said: "Your Highness, don't worry, the minister will go to Lord Xiao." After saying that, he got out of the carriage and got into Xiao Qian's carriage.

Qinghe County.

As soon as the sky was bright, a captain guarding the city yawned and pushed open the door of the city tower, and suddenly, a black and oppressive thing appeared in front of him, he rubbed his eyes in disbelief, looked outside, and suddenly frightened him into a cold sweat.

A large area of black pressure outside the city is clearly a huge army. At this time, the sky was not yet bright, the visibility was not high, and it was not clear who was coming.

At this time, he heard the sound of the city gate opening in the gate hole under the castle tower, and hurriedly shouted, "Do not open the city gate." ”

"The head of the house, it's not good, something is wrong." Cui Yan had just gotten up, and before he could put on his clothes, he heard the panicked voice of the housekeeper.

Cui Yan got dressed and came to the living room, and saw that the heads of the clan were all disheveled and were already waiting there. He asked, "What's wrong?" ”

Cui Jun, the elder of the third room, said: "The head of the family, the Tang army has surrounded Qinghe County. His voice trembled a little, and the reason why this situation occurred, he had already guessed that it was because of the incident in the homestead not long ago, and this time the court was serious.

Cui Yan was also a little flustered for a while, and he didn't know what to do. He was also aware of the danger, there were people in the Choi clan in the court, and they would be informed in advance of anything related to the Choi clan in the past.

This time, the imperial court dispatched tens of thousands of horses, and they didn't even get any news about such a big matter in advance. It can be seen that the imperial court is very well prepared, and it also shows the determination of the imperial court against the Cui family.

Don't look at the people who usually show off their might, when they really encountered a big crisis in the family, they all had no idea. Everyone could only stare at Cui Yan, waiting for him to make a decision.

Although Cui Yan pondered for a long time, he said: "The top priority is to see what the imperial court is going to do. Now someone needs to go out and meet with the people from the court to find out what they are coming for. Which of you would like to go? ”

Everyone looked at each other, and no one dared to come forward.

Cui Yan said by name: "Cui Jun, this incident was caused by your son, or you should go for it." “

"I, I, I'm afraid it's not appropriate." Cui Jun was a little scared and shirked.

Cui's still has talents. Cui Yan's eldest grandson, Cui Gang, said: "Grandfather, I'll go." ”

Cui Yan said approvingly: "Okay, you still have backbone." When you bring some gifts, be sure to find out what they are trying to do. ”

Hou Junji's army surrounded Qinghe County, and he was not allowed to enter or leave. All those who were about to enter Qinghe County were also detained, and Qinghe Cui, who was detained by the case-handling personnel, was examined. All the Qinghe Cui people were all withheld, and the other ordinary people let them go.

The city gate of Qinghe County opened, and Cui Gang drove the carriage to the army, and after he explained his intention, he was brought to Hou Junji.

Hou Junji asked, "Who are you?" ”

"My lord, my name is Cui Gang, and I am the grandson of the patriarch of the Cui clan in Qinghe." Cui Gang said.

"What about your grandfather? Why didn't he come? Hou Junji said.

"My grandfather was not feeling well enough to come to meet the general in person, and when he learned that the army was coming, he specially ordered me to come to the army. As he spoke, he handed over a gift slip and asked, "May I ask General Hou, what is the matter with the large army besieging Qinghe County?" ”

Hou Junji didn't even look at the gift list, and handed it over to his relatives. He didn't answer Cui Gang's words, and said, "You go back and tell your grandfather to ask all the residents of the city to hand over their weapons, whether they are from the government or private." You must be sent out of the city by five o'clock this afternoon. If there is disobedience, the army enters the city and searches for those who have hidden weapons, and they will be killed.

Drop-off. ”

Cui Gang didn't ask Hou Junji's intention, but when he saw his attitude, he understood that they were here for Qinghe Cui's family.

He returned to the city, came to the Cui ancestral hall, and reported the incident to Cui Yan and others. When the crowd heard this, they immediately went into a mess.

Cui Yunhe, who was causing trouble, knew that his life might not be saved this time, so he hurriedly said: "Father, you can't hand over your weapons, can we Qinghe Cui clan be slaughtered?" ”