Guangling County is Yangzhou, more than 1,700 miles away from Chang'an, since the two Jin Dynasty Jiangnan has been further developed, Yangzhou located in the hinterland of the Jianghuai has gradually become the economic center of the country, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty made the Jianghuai materials to the north, and then began to build the Grand Canal, to the Tang Dynasty, the importance of Cao Yun became increasingly prominent, after a hundred years of hard work in the Tang Dynasty, political clarity and economic prosperity have been organically combined, and finally achieved the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. \\\\

That is, from the fifth year of Kaiyuan, the Chu family began to slowly embark on the political stage, after the Anshi Rebellion, the rise of the family, the Chu family tiger in the southeast, with Guangling County as the main sect, the power penetrated into Huainan and dozens of counties in western Zhejiang, there were tens of thousands of armoured troops, thousands of warships, and finally became the fourth of the seven great families in the world, from the Qingzhi five years Chu Xingshui into the dynasty as the Taifu Siqing, more than 20 years have passed, the mountains and rivers are still the same, the family is old, with the local warlords separating more and more fiercely, with the rise of Zhang Huan in Longyou, the Tang dynasty finally came to an endWhether it is the Cui family, the Pei family, the Wei family, the Zhang family, the Yang family or the Wang family, the six major families have left the stage in the midst of internal strife and war, only the Chu family is in a safe corner without any damage, just like there must always be the most gorgeous scene before the sunset, and the Chu family is destined to become the last family to take a curtain call.

Guangling is also the commercial center of the Tang Dynasty, the city gathers thousands of people, businessmen gather, the terrain here is flat, shipping is convenient, there is the benefit of the Yangtze River in the west, the thousand stone ships can reach Bashu, Xiangyang, there is the vastness of the sea in the east, the north is connected to Silla, Japan, south to Fujian and Guangdong, and even across the ocean, the big food, Persia all have sea ships can reach here, and Guangling is the birthplace of Cao Yun, for more than 100 years, a steady stream of Jianghuai materials were transported to the Central Plains and Guanzhong by a huge fleet, plus the salt monopoly system began in the Suzong period. ^^^^ salt tax has gradually become the main financial revenue of the Tang Dynasty, and the sea salt is abundant near Guangling, which makes Guangling play a pivotal role in the Tang Dynasty, and for a long time, the salt and iron supervision of the Tang Dynasty (equivalent to the current State Administration of Taxation) was located in Guangling.

In April, it was the twilight spring season when green, fat, red, thin, and falling flowers were colorful, and on a private pier in Jiangdu County, a small Wupeng boat was slowly approaching, and a man in his forties was sitting in the bow, wearing a gauze hat and a green robe. Three long wisps of beard fluttered on his chest, his eyes were shrewd, and behind him stood two strong men, both dressed in black and short shirts, without the slightest expression on their faces, they were obviously the middle-aged man's entourage.

The boat docked. The boatman ran up and set up the plank of the boat diligently, "Guest officer, this is the wharf of Song Kum Kee, and your destination has arrived." ”

The middle-aged man smiled slightly, glanced at the entourage behind, and one of the entourage put down the five guan money, "This is your boat money, and the five guan money has been negotiated." No less. ”

"Quite a few! Many! The boatman thanked him for taking the money. He said unsatisfactorily: "I heard that the guest official's accent is from Chang'an, but you must be careful, I recently heard that the Chu family is strictly investigating people from Chang'an." ”

"Thank you!" The middle-aged man arched his hand, turned around and went ashore, on the bank of the river is a small street in the south of Jiangdu County, and it is also a place where shops are dense, most of the shops here operate all kinds of brocade, and the goods are mainly transported by water. So this small river has become a transportation channel for the shops, the small street is the back of the shop, the road is sparsely populated, only some men are carrying goods, Song Kum Kee is a medium-sized silk shop among these shops, mainly dealing in Shu brocade, although the scale is medium. \\\\\\\\\\But there are thousands of funds coming in and out every day. If it is in a small county, it is also one of the largest stores. It's a pity that it is in Yangzhou, where commerce is prosperous, and big stores in and out of 10,000 guan abound, and the Chu family's Chu Motang daily inflow and output funds are as high as 60,000 yuan, involving grain, cloth, tea and other bulk materials, as well as Li Chenghong's splendid workshop, specializing in high-grade silk and high-grade porcelain, with a daily inflow and outflow of 40,000 yuan; Wu Yuetang, the Li Shen brothers, engaged in the big food trade, with 35,000 yuan in and out of capital a day, and the big shops in and out of the government monopolized the main business in Guangling, and the majority of small and medium-sized businessmen could only survive in the cracks.

However, Soong Kum Kee also has another special identity, which is the branch of the Longyou Internal Affairs Department in Guanglingdi, which is in charge of intelligence collection in the entire Huainan region, and has more than 100 members.

The middle-aged man went to the street, and walked into Song Kum Kee from the back door without hurrying behind his back, in the backyard, more than a dozen guys were busy sorting out the goods, and everyone saw him rashly breaking in, and immediately one person came forward to ask, "If the guest officer is buying goods, please go to the front door, outsiders are not accepted here." ”

"I don't buy or sell goods, I'll look for your shopkeeper." The middle-aged man's accent in Beijing immediately made all the guys vigilant, and at this time, a guy about thirty years old stepped forward and led them to a guest room, and when he saw that there was no one left and right, he asked in a low voice: "May I ask the guest officer's surname?" What's the matter with our shopkeeper? ”

The middle-aged man smiled without saying a word, and an attendant behind him took out a silver medal and shook it, and said coldly: "Please tell the shopkeeper Hou that my master's surname is Du." \\\\\”

The guy was surprised to see that the person who came to show him was a silver medal, and he was surprised, you must know that the internal affairs department has jurisdiction over thousands of people, and the token is divided into four kinds of gold, silver, bronze and iron, and the gold medal can only be held by the governor and the internal affairs department, and the silver medal is only a dozen people, and the rest of the leaders in various places only hold the bronze medal, and the person who came is holding the silver medal, there is no doubt that this must be a high-ranking official from Chang'an, the man was in awe, and immediately performed a standard military salute and said: "Please Mr. Du later, I will inform the shopkeeper." ”

The guy hurriedly went, the middle-aged man looked at the calligraphy and paintings on the wall with his hands behind his back, and there was always an indifferent smile on the corner of his mouth, his surname was Du, in fact, he was Zhang Huan's confidant Du Mei, who was currently temporarily serving as the deputy director of the Department of Internal Affairs, this time he came to Guangling to carry out a special mission on the order of Zhang Huan, and Wang Siyu's army from the south of Hebei Province has arrived in Peng County, and the 60,000 Lin Jiuhan army deployed in eastern Zhejiang also began to advance from Xuancheng to the direction of Dangtu, and the clouds of war shrouded in the sky over Huainan.

In a moment, a tall, thin, thin, bearded man walked in quickly, he recognized Du Mei at a glance, and immediately half-knelt down and saluted: "Humble Hou Ming, see Judge Du!" ”

Du Mei looked back at him in surprise and said, "Shopkeeper Hou knows me?" ”

"The lowly post was originally the governor's personal guard, and I have seen Judge Du more than once."

Hearing that the other party was Zhang Huan's personal guard, Du Mei's face immediately became gentle, and he waved his hand and smiled: "Shopkeeper Hou, please take a seat!" ”

"I don't dare. Hou Ming immediately ordered someone to close the door, and personally poured a bowl of tea for Du Mei. Only then did he stand with his hands down, ready to answer his boss's questions at any time.

Du Mei picked up the tea bowl and took a sip of herbal tea, sighed for a while and asked, "What changes have been made in the officialdom of Guangling recently?" ”

"No, everything is the same, it's just that the county magistrate of Jiangdu County asked for leave to go back to Danyang the day before yesterday to mourn his father, and now the county is in charge of government affairs."

"Is the assassin still Zhao Yan?" Du Mei asked again unhurriedly.

"Yes! Zhao Tingshi has a high prestige among the people, is a good official, and has never heard of any bad deeds in him. ”

Du Mei nodded, gently rested the tea bowl on the table and said, "Is there any progress in the task that Li Sizheng has given you?" ”

Hou Ming immediately took out a thick stack of materials and put it in front of Du Mei, "This is the information collected by his subordinates in three months from more than 1,000 hectares of land in Huainan, eastern Zhejiang, and western Zhejiang. As well as the detailed information of the major officials and businessmen, please judge Du to look at it. ”

Du Mei took it and flipped it slightly, and immediately handed it to an entourage and said, "Send it to the governor as quickly as possible, there must be no mistake!" ”

"Yes!" The entourage took the information and put it away, saluted and was about to leave, but Hou Ming stopped him and said urgently: "In the past few days, the Chu family has been checking passers-by at various intersections. It's too dangerous to go out like this, so it's better to go out with our cargo ship and leave tonight. ”

Du Mei thought for a moment and said, "Okay! This information is of great importance, and we should not be careless, so we will leave Guangling with the cargo ship this evening. ****”

At this moment, all parts of Guangling County are already facing a great enemy, the 100,000 troops of the Chu family have been fully deployed, and the south is blockading the Yangtze River with 30,000 naval troops. The army defending against Lin Jiuhan went north. In the north, 60,000 troops were deployed in Yancheng, Huaiyin and Linhuai, and the most elite 10,000 veterans of the Chu family were stationed in Guangling City Defense.

Although the weather was not yet very hot, the atmosphere in the interior of Jiangdu City had suddenly become tense, and groups of heavily armed patrol soldiers could be seen everywhere walking through the streets and alleys, checking for any suspicious people and carriages. But their existence is meaningless, and the entire city of Jiangdu has been controlled by the army.

At noon, Chu Xingshui wore a purple gold helmet and thin armor, and appeared on the largest official wharf in Jiangdu under the escort of five hundred guards, which is also the general distribution center of materials for the entire Jianghuai, a huge warehouse group that cannot be seen at a glance, covering an area of thousands of hectares. The warehouse was full of grain, copper coins, salt, silk, cloth and other transportation materials. It was guarded by the Huainan army of the two thousand Chu families. Originally, the soldiers guarding this warehouse were not the Chu family's army, but the thousand guards of the Salt and Iron Prison. The Chu family, the local government, and the salt and iron prison have always been the three major forces in Guangling, and they usually do not interfere with each other and do their own thing, but now it is different, Chu Xingshui has ordered the army to block the Cao Yun fleet moored on the Yangtze River, and take over all the warehouses in the Cao Yun Division, especially the largest warehouse in the Jiangdu City, Cao Yun will become the last move of the Chu family, and it is a bargaining chip for negotiations with the imperial court, to be precise, with Zhang Huan.

A few months ago, the Chu family and the Longyou army were still the closest allies, encircling and suppressing Cui Qinggong's rebellion together, but only a few months later, the contradictions between the Chu family and Zhang Huan began to emerge, the earliest was after Cui Qinggong's demise, Zhang Huan refused Chu Xingshui's request to expand his power to Huaibei, but ordered Li Shuangyu's army to occupy the vast area north of the Huai River, and also sealed all the money and grain wealth in Luoyang, so that the Chu family did not receive the slightest compensation after paying the price of participating in the counterinsurgency, and returned to Huainan in a daze, Immediately, Chu Xingshui asked Lin Jiuhan to leave western Zhejiang, but it also failed, Lin Jiuhan not only did not go, but also accepted Han Er's territory and troops, and deployed the army in the vast area south of the Yangtze River, especially Yuhang County stationed 10,000 elite soldiers, which was like a sharp dagger that forced the Chu family to the lower abdomen, making the Chu family uncomfortable, and in the subsequent deployment of imperial court power, the news came that the Pei family and the Cui family would be reused again, and he Chu Xingshui was only transferred to the household Shangshu, in fact, their Chu family did not get any benefits.

Under Zhang Huan's deliberate suppression by various means, the Chu family finally tore up the alliance agreement with Zhang Huan, resolutely rejected Zhang Huan's request for the Chu family to abandon the army, and did not hesitate to use force to protect the vital interests of the Chu family.

Chu Xingshui is an active advocate of using force to fight force, in his opinion, it is meaningless for other major families to abandon the army, the family internal strife has exhausted the capital, and the final abandonment of the army actually has no loss, but greater benefits.

But the Chu family is different, the Chu family has never hurt any vitality, if they abandon the army, it means that decades of hard work are wasted, and Zhang Huan did not give them any compensation, which makes Chu Xingshui how willing.

Early this morning, Chu Xingshui got the news that Zhang Huan's army was pressing, and the sudden news suddenly extinguished Chu Xingshui's resentment, he thought that the imperial court would not dare to destroy the prosperity of Jianghuai, after a period of stalemate, Zhang Huan would send important ministers to Guangling to negotiate, their Chu family took a step back, they could cut half or even seventy percent of the troops and fully support him Zhang Huan took the throne, Zhang Huan naturally had to take a step back, to ensure the vested interests of the Chu family and enhance the status of the new dynasty, so that both sides were happy and reached a win-win situation.

But things didn't develop as he thought, Zhang Huan's toughness caught him unexpectedly, first the eldest son Chu Wei was arrested in Chang'an, and then the army went south, there were signs of war, Chu Xingshui had to calm down and think about the consequences of this matter, if the war finally started, whether his Chu family could withstand Zhang Huan's most elite Anxi army, whether it could deal with the north-south attack, and the sharpest secret weapon in the hands of the Anxi army: Shaking the sky and thunder! Chu Xingshui felt that he was a little difficult to ride a tiger.

Chu Xingshui came to the warehouse, and the guards stationed in the warehouse came forward to report: "Back to the marshal, the situation in the Jiangdu warehouse is calm, and there is nothing abnormal. ”

Chu Xingshui nodded silently, he stared at the grain depots that were piled up like hills, and finally sighed and said: "Go and tell Yang the transfer envoy, just say that I will allow him to transport two million stone grain and one million yuan to the north first, and also, be sure to ask him to leave before noon tomorrow!" ”

In the face of Zhang Huan's aggressive strength, Chu Xingshui had no choice but to put on a somewhat conciliatory posture first.

(The situation of the monthly pass is precarious, only three ahead of the Ao Dashen, and I am crying for the monthly pass)