Chang'an Taiji Palace, during this period of time, Cui Xiaofu felt that the constraints of the palace guards on her seemed to be slowly relaxed, not only did some little eunuchs go out of the palace to purchase items more frequently, but the procedures also became simpler, and there was no longer a need for Zhonglang to be sealed, as long as he said to the captain on duty, he could be released out of the palace, for this change, Cui Xiaofu was puzzled, if Zhang Huan wanted to take the position, then the supervision of himself should be stricter, why did he relax instead? Out of a temptation, Cui Xiaofu ordered the personal eunuch Feng Endao to also go out of the palace, but unexpectedly, Feng Endao also went out of the palace smoothly, which really surprised Cui Xiaofu, this incident was like a cluster of flames, rekindling Cui Xiaofu's almost dead heart. \\\\

At noon, Cui Xiaofu just woke up from a nap, and was closing her eyes to enjoy the head combing that the palace maid did for her, although the Taiji Palace was older than the Daming Palace, Cui Xiaofu also had to admit that the living conditions of the Taiji Palace were much better than the Daming Palace, not only the food and clothing were top luxury, but the variety of fresh fruits supplied was also greatly increased than before, which was her favorite point, but what she Cui Xiaofu really cared about was not this.

"Is Feng Endau back?" Cui Xiaofu asked again, Feng Endao went out early in the morning and has not returned, Cui Xiaofu has asked three times for this.

"If you go back to the Queen Mother, my husband has not come back yet."

"When he returns, let him come to me immediately." As soon as Cui Xiaofu's voice fell, she heard a little eunuch outside the door reporting, "My husband is back." ”

The door was slowly pushed open, Feng Endao walked in worriedly, Cui Xiaofu turned around suddenly and asked impatiently, "How." Did you see him? ”

Feng Endao's eyelids drooped, as if he was avoiding Cui Xiaofu's eager gaze, and after hesitating for a moment, he said slowly: "The old slave has seen him." ”

"Stand down, all of you." Cui Xiaofu scolded several palace maids and cautiously closed the door. Only then did he stare at him gloomily and asked, "What did Li Mian say?" Thou shalt not hide anything from thy mourner. ”

Li Shang said that the reason why the guards' restrictions on the eunuchs entering and leaving the palace became relaxed. It was because he spent a lot of money to fix Li Dingfang's geography, and it was only for a month. So he hoped that the Queen Mother would hurry up. ”

Cui Xiaofu's eyes lit up, Li Mian really didn't disappoint her, and seized the opportunity of Zhang Huan to go to Jianghuai to start acting, she restrained her excitement to laugh out loud, and asked, "Did he give you any letters?" ”

"Yes!" Feng Endau took off his hat. took a pair of scissors and cut it along the edge of the hat, took out a piece of white silk from the middle layer of the hat, and handed it to Cui Xiaofu, "This is his letter to the Queen Mother." ”

Cui Xiaofu couldn't wait to put Bai Aya on the table and unfold it, and read it carefully, Li Miandi's plan was very simple, whether Zhang Huan was crowned King Yong or appointed as the supervisor of the country, he was sealed with the edict of the Queen Mother, but in fact, the Queen Mother did not issue such an edict, but Zhang Huan used the national seal without authorization. Therefore, he hoped that the Queen Mother would come forward to explain the matter to the ministers and the clan. Once the crime of compiling the throne is confirmed, Zhang Huan will definitely be ashamed of the people of the world. He may not be able to ascend to the throne of the Tang Dynasty, and at the end, Cui Xiaofu suddenly saw Li Mian using blood to inscribe his name, the dark red word Li Mian, showing his loyalty to himself, Cui Xiaofu's eyes moistened all of a sudden, adversity saw the truth, only at this time could she see the truly loyal courtier.

For a whole afternoon, Cui Xiaofu was repeatedly scrutinizing Li Miandi's plan, although this plan is not the best, but it is already the extreme they can do, she finally made up her mind, if she doesn't succeed, she will become benevolent, she would rather take a risk, than enjoy the brocade clothes and jade food given to her by Zhang Huan, she would rather die brilliantly than die in the cold palace, Cui Xiaofu immediately wrote a reply letter in white silk, and sewed it into Feng Endao's hat with her own hands, and solemnly handed it to him: "You go to Li Mian again and give him the letter, Tell him that I will fully cooperate with him. ”

Feng Endao looked at Cui Xiaofu with excitement in his eyes, and after a long time, he sighed helplessly, put his hat on, and went out of the palace again. On April 23, the 40,000 Lin Jiuhan army attacking from the south crossed the Yangtze River in Dangtu County, and marched along the north bank of the Yangtze River, two days later, the army arrived in Jiangning County, and the 20,000 Chujia naval troops stationed in Jiangning County surrendered to the imperial court under the leadership of Shan Yue, the deputy governor of the naval army, and more than 1,300 warships anchored in the Yangtze River were all pocketed by Zhang Huan, and the Longyou Army also established the first naval army, Zhang Huan immediately named Shan Yue as the general of the naval army, stationed in Jiangning, and at the same time, The thousands of Cao transport ships that were detained by the Chu family in Jiangning County were also able to get out, carrying three million yuan of tax money and sailing in the direction of Xiangyang.

On the same day that Lin Jiuhan arrived in Jiangning, Chu Jinglei, who was deploying a defense in Yangzi County, suddenly learned that the enemy army had crossed the river in Dangtu, and in a hurry, he led 10,000 sailors to abandon the ship from the north bank to save Jiangning, but encountered Lin Jiuhan's 3,000 forward army in Baisha Town, Yangzi County, the two armies had a fierce battle, and the Longyou Army was not strong and was forced to retreat to ** County, and the Chu army lost more than 3,000 people, Chu Tianlei was also wounded by arrows, he knew that Jiangning was gone, so he had to lead more than 6,000 remnants of the army to retreat to Jiangyang County with hatred and guard the south gate of Guangling.

Gaoyou County, here is only more than 100 miles away from Jiangdu County, the Grand Canal runs through the whole territory, here is also the north gate of Jiangdu County, when night fell on April 27, 80,000 Longyou Army crossed the border from Gaoyou.

On both sides of the canal, a group of soldiers rode horses and marched in procession, the lit torches converged into two bright red rivers, until they stretched for more than ten miles, and the Milky Way in the sky reflected each other, in the canal, the boats carrying grain and grass were also one after another, the lanterns were hung on the bow, like a string of stars, swaying in the night wind, and from time to time there was a long horn sound sounding on the river surface, prompting the civilian boats in front to avoid.

Zhang Huan has been feeling a little sick these days, and the military doctor said that he suffered from the wind cold and needed to rest in bed for a few days, but he refused to stay in Linhuai to recuperate, and he must go south with the army. His subordinates had no choice but to place him on a large ship, and although he was sitting on the boat, he was not easy, and he either received local officials from morning to night. Either they are thinking about the direction of Datang.

At this time. Zhang Huan had just sent away the county magistrate and county Cheng of Gaoyou County, who had come to report on his work, and he only found out during his conversation with them. There are still thousands of families in Gaoyou County who fled from the county during the Central Plains Rebellion last year, and most of them rent land from large farmers in Gaoyou County to make a living. Gaoyou's rich land of fish and rice and the quiet life of the Central Plains were in stark contrast to the war-torn Central Plains, and the thousands of refugees were reluctant to return to the Central Plains, which brought trouble to the local government, and the imperial court never had a clear statement on the resettlement of these refugees, whether it was to send them back to their hometowns. It is really difficult for the local government committee to decide whether the jurisdiction is based on the principle of territoriality or the principle of household registration, but if they are excluded from the jurisdiction, they live locally, and there are a large number of them, and if they do not have a good relationship with the locals, it is very likely to cause the source of turmoil.

One sent away the magistrate of Gaoyou County. Zhang Huan immediately wrote a letter to Pei You, the central land of the DPRK. Considering his national policy of preparing to develop Jiangnan, he tended to keep the people of the Central Plains in Jianghuai. Not only can the advanced agricultural technology of the north be retained in the south, but more importantly, the land annexation in the south is much lighter than that in the north, which is conducive to the re-granting of land to achieve population transfer.

Therefore, Zhang Huan clearly put forward his opinion in the letter to Pei You, allowing refugees to naturalize nearby as immigrants to the south and include them in the jurisdiction of the local government.

After writing the letter, he felt that his physical strength began to be a little exhausted, so he put down the pen, briefly sorted out the text on the table, and prepared to go to bed, suddenly, he faintly heard someone on the shore shouting, as if calling him, Zhang Huan was surprised, so he walked quickly to the window, pushed open the window, a slightly fishy river wind blew in his face, his drowsy mind suddenly cleared up, five hundred steps away on the shore is a river of red flames composed of countless torches, mighty and flowing south.

But just a few dozen paces away along the coast, more than a dozen cavalrymen were following his boat and shouting: "Governor, Chang'an is urgent!" ”

In order to facilitate the transmission of information from the flying pigeons, the Department of Internal Affairs specially set up intelligence points in some relatively large towns, and this Chang'an emergency was set up at the information point in Pengjun County, and then sent by the messenger.

"Governor, at this time, the first-level urgent mail received this morning, and my subordinates dare not delay." The messenger took out the letter from his bosom and poured out a tube of red pigeon letters, which were divided into three grades: red, yellow, and green, according to the importance and urgency of the matter, of which red was the highest.

Zhang Huan obviously knew what would happen in Chang'an now, he unhurriedly unfolded the pigeon letter, the letter was written by Li Chuanyun, the secretary of the Department of Internal Affairs, saying that on the third day he left Chang'an, Li Mian began secret activities, he visited a total of eighteen princes or county kings, and also visited some of the backbone of the former Empress Dowager Party, such as Shang Zuo's servant Wei Ge, Jin Ziguanglu doctor Wang Ang, etc., these are all things that Zhang Huan expected, he smiled indifferently, and continued to look down, just below, He finally saw what he wanted to know: Li Mian sent money to bribe Li Dingfang with thousands of dollars, so that the quasi-palace people could enter and exit the Taiji Palace freely.

Seeing this, Zhang Huan finally smiled coldly, I don't know if he was laughing at Li Mian and Cui Xiaofu's stupidity, or laughing at their ignorance of current affairs, things have come to this point, can it be that if you find a few princes who have no power and no position, just with Duan Xiushi's thousand shrimp soldiers and crab generals, can the sky of Datang be changed back?

He unfolded a piece of paper, took a pen and wrote down a few orders, handed it to his soldiers, and said: "Send it to the Department of Internal Affairs of Chang'an immediately with the highest rank, and there must be no mistakes." ”

At dawn, the 80,000-strong army arrived at the town of Shaobo, thirty miles away from Jiangdu, and set up a large camp there, and hundreds of cavalry rushed to the city of Jiangdu like a gallop, and shot hundreds of notices into the city with arrows

At this time, the atmosphere in Jiangdu City was unprecedentedly tense, but the people here had not experienced a military disaster for a hundred years, and compared with the people of the Central Plains who took fleeing for their lives as the first principle, the level of Jiangdu people to avoid disasters obviously lacked technical content, which was nothing more than hiding the money of the uncle's family in the uncle's house, or digging a hole under the bed, burying the urn full of gold, silver and jewelry, and then the whole family unanimously confessed: My family is very poor, and I haven't eaten for three days and so on, but I don't care where the fat comes from.

However, tension is tension, but there is no major riot in Jiangdu City, especially the shops. None of them were smashed and looted, and there were very few people fleeing out of the city, basically maintaining a stable state, in fact, this was inseparable from the efforts of Zhao Yan, the assassin, long before the outbreak of the Battle of Yancheng. Zhao Yan then convened a meeting of the magistrates of Guangling. A series of specific measures to maintain stability have been deployed, such as the implementation of the responsibility system for local security. Mobilize all the local authorities and local security guards in the Guangling area to appease the local people in their respective jurisdictions and organize joint defense to maintain law and order. After various measures, the situation in the Guangling area was finally stabilized.

Early in the morning, horse-drawn carriages quietly drove out of the major shops, as if they had made an appointment, and they drove towards the Yamen of the Assassin Shi together, which was indeed an appointment. Yesterday afternoon, Zhao Yan sent more than 100 invitations, inviting the proprietors or big shopkeepers of major shops in Jiangdu to gather in the state government to discuss how to deal with the Jianghuai crisis.

The status of the merchants of the Tang Dynasty has always been very low, and it can be seen from the boss marrying a merchant wife that an old and decrepit prostitute marries a merchant and feels aggrieved, although the status of the merchant has improved after the Tang Dynasty, Li Longji has met with the big merchants of Chang'an several times, especially after the Qingzhi Dynasty, the imperial court promulgated many measures to improve the status of the merchant, such as abolishing the merchant status. Merchants were allowed to ride horses and carriages. Merchants were allowed to wear Confucian robes, etc., but the tradition of contempt for merchants among the people was never completely changed. Even more than 1,000 years later, the crime of speculation is still one of the local crimes in criminal law.

However, the region is different, the degree of contempt for businessmen is also different, Guangling County is the commercial center of the Tang Dynasty, especially in the county of Jiangdu County, 30,000 shops, according to the average household employs ten people, almost half of the people in Jiangdu City are engaged in business, plus Jiangdu is far away from the political center of the Tang Dynasty, can not feel the official spirit of the killing, so the people of Jiangdu City are the first in the Tang Dynasty.

A carriage came to the yamen on time, a moment of effort, the original empty yamen was parked in front of all kinds of carriages, the businessmen went against the usual habit of meeting and greeting, one by one gloomy faces, without saying a word from the side door into the state ya, it is no wonder that the rich and powerless businessmen are like a fat sheep, will always be the first victim of the war, the war cloud shrouds the Jiangdu, how can they laugh.

The venue was set up in a large room with miscellaneous items, which had been cleaned slightly, and more than 100 seats were laid out according to the number of invitations, and the merchants entered the room and sat at will, at first everyone remained silent, but soon some careful people found that none of the shops with official and commercial backgrounds had not arrived, and the merchants were first surprised, and then they speculated, and everyone turned their heads and ears, and the venue gradually began to be lively, talking about the annunciation notices that shot into the city in the early morning; talk about the impact of the reopening of the Silk Road on maritime trade; denounced all kinds of unfair competition between officials and businessmen using their power, and so on.

"Lord Thorn Shi has arrived!" A servant shouted, and the venue suddenly fell silent.

I saw Zhao Yan with a smile on his face walking into the venue quickly, several businessmen sitting at the door hurriedly stood up and saluted, Zhao Yan waved his hand and motioned for everyone to sit down.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am entrusted by His Royal Highness the Prison State to specially convene everyone for a short meeting." As soon as Zhao Yan's words came out, it immediately caused a big wave among the businessmen, and the buzzing sound resounded, no one thought that this meeting turned out to be the entrustment of the Lord of the Prison State, and some people were even so excited that they burst into tears, the first thing that the supreme ruler of the Tang Dynasty thought of would be their businessmen, but Zhao Yan's next sentence made the venue suddenly become dead.

"In this rebellion in the Central Plains, millions of people were displaced, and Hebei also suffered from a military disaster, a large number of refugees flowed to Hedong, mourning the people everywhere, and the imperial court's finances were very tight, and they were really unable to relieve them, so His Royal Highness would like to ask you to help the imperial court tide over this difficulty."

There was silence in the venue, everyone felt the pain of the fat sheep, it was simply painful to the bone marrow, Zhang Huan went to Yangzhou, the first thing that came to mind should be them, of course, they should not feel strange at all, no wonder those officials and businessmen did not come.

Zhao Yan seemed to understand everyone's mood very well, he smiled, and then said to everyone: "You don't have to worry, this donation will be made according to the financial resources of each store, more large stores, and fewer small stores, which is definitely within the range that everyone can afford." ”

"What about their officials and businessmen? They can't get out! A slightly bold businessman finally shouted out everyone's heart, and the silent venue suddenly exploded as if it were a pot, and the noise and curses were chaotic.

"Everyone, be quiet! Be quiet! Zhou Gui, the eldest proprietor of the Qiantaixiang Silk Village Shop, the oldest among the merchants, shouted to everyone, and the venue was quiet again, he stepped forward and saluted Zhao Yanshen, "Lord Thorn Shi, you are honest and honest, do practical things for the people, and have always won the respect of our businessmen, you let us have a meeting, none of us dare not come, but Lord Thorn Shi opened his mouth to ask for money, which really makes us unacceptable, I want to ask, if we don't give money, is it difficult to ensure that the army is not disciplined after entering the city?" ”

"I can assure you that there will be no undisciplined military discipline!"

Zhao Yan solemnly said to everyone: "And I can tell you clearly, His Royal Highness the Prison State has told me in advance that at most, only 5,000 people will enter the city to maintain order, and the army will not commit any crimes." ”

Zhou Gui nodded and said: "We have always been convinced of Lord Jianguo's reputation for loving the people, but I still want to dare to ask, has His Royal Highness the Jianguo considered letting officials and businessmen pay money?" They do business on a scale that is more than ten times larger than ours, and they don't pay a penny of taxes at all, and it is the duty of the people to share the worries of the country, and we dare not refuse, but if we want to pay for it convincingly, we hope that the officials and businessmen will also bear the donation. ”

"That's right! As long as the officials and businessmen also pay the money, we will do our best to help the imperial court. The merchants below all agreed.

Zhao Yan glanced at Zhou Gui deeply, and then said to everyone unhurriedly: "I just said that this donation is based on the financial resources of each store, and naturally includes all officials and businessmen, I can tell you clearly that the money shared by the officials and merchants this time is probably much more than yours, and His Royal Highness will not let you give this money in vain." ”

(Ao Dashen has been updated, Lao Gao was kicked out of the top six, but I still want to thank you deeply, thousands of monthly passes, it is the second time since the famous family, Lao Gao bowed to everyone, sincerely thank you for your support.) ）