Chapter 210: The Family

Since the beginning of the first month, there has not been a drop of water for two consecutive months in February and March. It is foreseeable that the spring drought will lead to a reduction in grain production this year.

In this era, the initial development of Jiangnan can only supply the land of Jiangnan and Jiangbei, Huguang has not yet been developed, and the world's grain depends on Guanzhong. Therefore, the spring drought in Guanzhong made Li Shimin very anxious, especially on the eve of his upcoming war.

"Yunwen, although your policy of opening up the wells has alleviated the drought to a certain extent, the reduction of grain production this year is a foregone conclusion, so I decided to adopt your original suggestion, so that the families of the world will lose the grain and grass of the border army, and I will pay them with cattle and sheep. As for the selection of those families, I have not yet decided, so I specially asked Yunwen to come over and discuss! ”

When he said this, Li Shimin and several ministers he relied on the most stood in the main hall of the Taiji Palace, and Zhang Yunwen stood opposite them. Li Shimin has now moved out of the East Palace and came to Hongyi Palace, which was renamed Da'an Palace. The ordinary court meeting began to be held in the Taiji Hall.

Zhang Yunwen pondered for a moment and said slowly: "Your Majesty, if you use the family to support my army's food and grass, first, you must choose a big family close to the royal family, and second, you must choose a family that is closer to the border. This will ensure the supply of food and grass, and if something happens to them, our army can be dispatched immediately! ”

Li Shimin nodded. Fang Xuanling also said: "I have already thought about what Yunwen said!" Among the seven clans and five surnames in the world, there are three families in Longxi Li, Fanyang Lu, and Taiyuan Wang, which are closer to the border, so I decided to choose these three! ”

The seven clans and five surnames in the early Tang Dynasty refer to the seven families of Longxi Li, Zhaojun Li, Fanyang Lu, Taiyuan Wang, Qinghe Cui, Boling Cui and Xingyang Zheng. Which of these seven families is not a big family that has been inherited for hundreds of years, compared with the Li family of Li Shimin and these seven families, whether it is from the county or from the inheritance, it is not a little bit worse. It is said that Li Shimin's Li also had a relationship with Li in Longxi.

In the entire Tang Dynasty in history, there were 23 prime ministers in the Cui family of Qinghe, 17 prime ministers in the Li family of Zhaojun, and eight prime ministers in the Lu family of Fanyang, which is the so-called "Eight Phases of Zuo Tang". As for the other civil and military generals, there are countless of them. In addition to the ministers of the court, there are also literati and scholars, such as Wang Bo, Wang Wei, Wang Zhilian, Wang Changling and others, all of whom belong to the Taiyuan royal family. Even later, Tang Gaozong issued many orders that the seven families were not allowed to intermarry with each other. The great energy of these seven families can be seen.

Although these seven clans are called together, the Taiyuan Wang clan and the Longxi Li clan belong to the ranks of the Guanlong group, while the rest are the ranks of the Shandong clan. There are also contradictions between these seven tribes.

Since the establishment of Li Tang, the entire Tang Empire was controlled by the emerging Guanlong aristocracy, and the influence of the Gaomen and Jiangnan clans in Shandong gradually declined. Compared with the latter two, the Guanlong aristocracy, represented by Li Shimin's Li family, belonged to a political and military group, and they were more expansive.

Although these Shandong Gaomen, Jiangnan clans, and Guanlong nobles will cultivate a large number of talents for the country or their families every year, the existence of these families occupies a large amount of land, making the land annexation serious, and it is not reflected in the prosperous times. It is intolerable for anyone to occupy a large amount of land and pay a meager tax because of a strong background. Therefore, starting from Li Shimin and continuing to the Middle Tang Dynasty, the emperors of all dynasties spared no effort to suppress the scholars, among which Wu Zetian was the most.

Now, of the three families proposed by Fang Xuanling, two are Guanlong nobles and one is Shandong Gaomen, and the meaning of their differentiation could not be more obvious.

"Yunwen, talk to you!" Seeing Zhang Yunwen with his head down, looking distracted, Fang Xuanling couldn't help but say.

Zhang Yunwen suddenly smiled apologetically: "I'm sorry, Master Fang, I was distracted just now!" However, Weichen also thinks that the three selected by Fang Da are very suitable! ”

Li Shimin nodded: "I have already decided to choose these three. But I haven't decided on the candidates to go to these three families yet! Now I am looking for Yunwen to discuss the candidates sent to the three families to lobby and supervise! ”

As soon as he heard this, Zhang Yunwen subconsciously took two steps back, and when he saw the smiling appearance of the ministers, he sneered and said, "I don't know who Your Majesty wants to send?" “

Li Shimin pondered for a moment: "Longxi Li Clan, I sent the King of Huai'an over!" Fan Yang Lu, I have decided to send the King of Hejian over! And on the side of the Taiyuan Wang family, I decided to let Dao Xuan go with you! ”

When Zhang Yunwen heard this, he secretly said in his heart: "That's right!" You want me to run errands again! I only heard Li Shimin smile and said: "I think when I was in Luoyang, Wang Qu of the Wang family showed favor to you and gave you a huge house." Later, when I was in Chang'an, I sold the current natural residence to you. Although he Wang Qu is not the number one person in the Wang family, he is also ranked number one in the entire Wang family. Since he thinks so highly of you, go talk to him, and maybe you can succeed all at once! ”

Hearing Li Shimin's reason, Zhang Yunwen thought about it and said with a smile: "Isn't Your Majesty afraid that Weichen will make concessions because of Wang Qu's heavy gift back then?" ”

Li Shimin glanced at Zhang Yunwen: "Yunwen is not a person who is private at public expense!" ”

Zhang Yunwen was silent for a while.

As a result, the candidate who discussed the exchange of military rations for livestock with the three families was decided. Li Shentong, the king of Huai'an, went to Li's house in Longxi, Li Xiaogong, the king of Hejian, went to Lu's house in Fanyang, and Li Daozong, the king of Jiangxia, and Zhang Yunwen, went to the king's house in Taiyuan.

"Really, Xianggong has only stayed in Chang'an for more than two months, and most of them are working outside. Now I'm going out again! Zhirou complained in a low voice.

And Li Yu sat on the edge of the bed, watching Mei Xiang and Rui'er pack their luggage for Zhang Yunwen, and said to Zhi Ju: "Sister Rou, Xianggong is doing business, we as wives should try our best to support him!" ”

Zhi Rou looked at Li Yu's supple appearance, and immediately went up and touched the latter's slippery face: "Sister Yu, you are too dependent on Xianggong!" If he says he is going out to work, but in fact he goes to look for flowers and willows, do you still want to send him out? ”

When Li Yu heard this, his eyebrows immediately raised: "He dares!" Seeing Zhi Rou's surprised look, he lowered his head slightly, and said softly: "Xianggong won't!" ”

Zhi Rou grinned and said slyly: "Sister Yu really understands Xianggong very well!" ”

As he was talking, Zhang Yunwen slowly entered the room, and when he saw the packed luggage, he suddenly said, "How did you put all the summer clothes in it!" Hey, what's that? Fans? Do I need this? "I can return to Chang'an in a month and a half at most, do you need these?" ”

After staying in the house with his two wives for a long time and talking about his parting, Zhang Yunwen reluctantly went on the road.

Several of his personal soldiers were about to come over, but Zhang Yunwen refused: "There is nothing dangerous this time, you don't need to go!" I'll take you there next time there's a war! As soon as these words came out, several of the soldiers suddenly felt very resentful: Is there nothing we can do except fight?

In fact, Zhang Yunwen took into account that the three of them had only been back from Mobei for two months, and if they went out again this time, I am afraid that it would be a little unkind. So he didn't bring the three personal soldiers, but brought Zheng Fanglian and other three apprentices.

So far, the performance of these three apprentices has made Zhang Yunwen quite satisfied. A set of Bajiquan has been learned, and the rest is to hone it. And some of the techniques commonly used by the reconnaissance battalion have also been learned a lot in the course of several missions with Zhang Yunwen. And the last time I went to Mobei, because they were born in Henan, they didn't take the three of them there, so this time they went to Taiyuan, and Zhang Yunwen took them with them.

Go to Li Daozong's mansion in Chang'an first. As soon as I got outside, I saw the carriages and horses sparkling, all kinds of horses and three carriages were blocking the door in a disorderly manner, and some servants were carrying a large lipstick lacquered box into the carriage.

"Well, Brother Daozong, what are you ......" Zhang Yunwen asked as soon as Li Daozong came out, pointing to those luxurious carriages and wooden boxes.

Li Daozong smiled slightly: "I will wait for the north to merge with the state and meet with the Wang family, so I must be well prepared, and I can't lose my courtesy." We are the Tang Clan, and we can't be crushed by them! ”

It turns out that he just wants to compete with the Wang family for face! Zhang Yunwen listened to Li Daozong's words and thought to himself.

"Hey, sister-in-law, why did you bring three personal soldiers here! You must know that you are my clan's concubine, and you can't lose when facing the Wang family! Do you want me to lend you a few more personal soldiers? ”

As soon as these words came out, Zheng Fanglian and the three of them all looked uneasy.

Zhang Yunwen hurriedly refused, and at the same time smiled secretly in his heart, this Li Yuan also raised troops in Jinyang, it can be said that Taiyuan is the nest of the Li family. And the people of the world only know the Wang family, but they don't know the Taiyuan Li family, which really makes these Li clan relatives feel deeply angry! When I return to Taiyuan this time, I'm afraid there will be a good show to see!

At Zhang Yunwen's insistence, Li Daozong did not talk about lending his own soldiers to him again.

So, this team of nearly thirty horsemen and three carriages left Chang'an and slowly walked north.

Looking at this speed, Zhang Yunwen couldn't help but smile bitterly, at this speed, it will take at least seven or eight days to reach Taiyuan.

On his fingers, Zhang Yunwen walked the road from Chang'an to Taiyuan nearly ten times. So I'm still very familiar with this road.

On the flat road, Li Daozong and Zhang Yunwen rode in front, and behind them were a group of knights wearing shining bright armor, whose clothes and armor were bright and bright, and they could be used as mirrors. Behind the knights, there were three lavishly decorated carriages. Tassels and jades, along the way, the breeze blows lightly, and the ringing is tinkling.

Such a team walked on the official road leading to Taiyuan, and the business travelers who came and went looked at their bright bright armor and richly decorated carriages, just walking around the road.

Along the way, I traveled during the day and stayed at the post station at night, and after walking for seven days, I finally arrived at the boundary of Bingzhou.