I didn't get out of the tent, Tu Wanxu stopped me, and I could see that he was obviously hesitating for a moment. I saw him wave his hand to clear all the people in the tent, and then beckoned to me to turn back.

I have no official or personal relationships, and I don't know what he left me alone for.

Seeing my puzzled look, he smiled reluctantly and said: "The squire and I can be regarded as old friends in the East Palace in the past, although there is no contact, but we have worked together for many years, I still admire the squire very much." ”

These words made me even more inexplicable, and I also smiled and said: "If the general has something to say, you might as well speak up." ”

Tu Wanxu touched his beard awkwardly, and the embarrassed and unnatural smile on his face suddenly disappeared, and he was replaced with a sad face. He looked at me seriously and said, "Do you know how many people we have to recruit to go to Kanto this time?" ”

I said, "In terms of months, from March to August, 2.5 million people need to be recruited every month. Among them, 2 million were used for the construction of the Tongji Canal and the Jiangnan Canal, and 500,000 people were used for the construction of Luoyang Xiyuan. However, the construction of Luoyang West Garden will take less than five months, and it can be completed in three months at most. ”

Tu Wanxu said: "2.5 million people a month, 15 million people in six months, not counting the people who are already building the canal, and the new capital of Luoyang is only preliminarily completed, and there are still millions of people doing further repairs." So many people add up, I don't know how many. By the way, as a civil servant, you should know how many people there are in the entire Great Sui. ”

I nodded, "Yes." In the second year of Sui Daye, there were a total of ...... About 45 million people. ”

Tu Wanxu said: "Yes, take one of the three." ”

His meaning is clear, and I certainly know what he is referring to - since Yang Guang ascended the throne, the construction of the project has not stopped.

I thought he would be told something big next, but he hesitated for a moment, just shook his head and said, "Don't be surprised, it's me who lost my word." ”

Obviously, he has a very strong negative attitude towards Yang Guang's approach, but he does not dare and has no ability to persuade Yang Guang to change his mind, and he is also afraid that I, the favored minister of the Son of Heaven, may join him in front of Yang Guang.

Luoyang City is unrecognizable compared to the last time I left, and I don't recognize this as the Luoyang I used to be. The gate has been heightened and reinforced, and the mottled and peeling places that used to be visible have been completely renovated. The feeling of entering the city was even more abrupt - Yang Guang forced some officials to move their families here after the new capital was built, so there were many people on the street, but the main street was so wide that it still looked a little deserted.

Originally, we didn't need to enter Luoyang, but I remembered Yan Cong, who now lives in Shanglin Yuan translating Buddhist scriptures, and my genius brother Li Xuanba, so I asked Tu Wanxu for instructions, and he didn't stop me at all, only reminded me not to delay too long.

Shanglin Yuan is not something that anyone can enter casually, and it took a long time for the messenger to go before a little monk came out and led me to Yancong's residence. At a glance, I saw Li Xuanba copying scriptures with a pen, but I didn't see Yancong. The little monk who brought me here told me that Yancong happened to have something going out.

Li Xuanba heard a noise outside the window, and when he looked up and saw that it was me, he was stunned for a long time before putting down the pen.

Compared with in Daxing City, he seems to have grown a little taller, and the whole person looks a lot more energetic, unlike in the Tang State Mansion, where he always looks sick.

"How did Big Brother come here?" He said.

I said: "The emperor asked the eldest brother to accompany General Tuwan to recruit the people, passing by Luoyang, so I came to see you." ”

He listened to my words, his eyes seemed to dim a little, and he said to me: "Big brother, do you think the emperor is acting now? ”

"Labor and money are not enough...... The eldest brother doesn't know if it's right or not. I said, I almost didn't have to think about this question to know that it was definitely wrong, but I had carefully read Yang Guang's plan before, and I felt that there was no big problem with his layout plan, and the only problem seemed to be just in a hurry.

Li Xuanba said again: "Xuanba thinks it's wrong. Big brother, how about I take you out for a walk? He asked me again like a little adult.

I waited for a while, but Yan Cong hadn't come back yet, so he went out of Shanglin Yuan with Li Xuanba.

Li Xuanba took me outside Luoyang City very purposefully, and when I got out of the car, I was dumbfounded by the sight in front of me-

Although it is not so formal, I am also a person who has experienced war, almost two years ago I also saw the scene of corpses all over the field outside the city of Bingzhou, but it was a war, and casualties in the war are often inevitable, but Luoyang did not fight, where did the corpses come from?

I almost threw up, but Li Xuanba on the side seemed very calm, as if he had long been accustomed to this.

He pointed to the corpses and said, "These are all just transported from Xiyuan, and I heard from Master that hundreds of people die every day due to injuries, illnesses and fatigue. ”

Even though it wasn't too hot, I still felt dizzy.

Those people were lying on the ground naked, and some were still pressed against others, most of them were unclothed, their faces were yellow and thin, and the eyes that could embody their lives had long since lost their sparkle.

I looked at it for a while, looked at Li Xuan in confusion and said, "Why did you bring your eldest brother here?" ”

Li Xuanba shook his little head and said: "God has the virtue of a good life, so many innocent people died in vain, big brother, is the emperor really inconsiderate of the people's feelings?" His words were full of sorrow.

I don't think he would be considerate, otherwise why would he have killed all the people who had recruited unfavorable people?

I looked around, the last time I visited, Luoyang had only begun to build a large number of buildings, and it was just a field that had long been abandoned, but now it was an open-air morgue.

I said, "How do you know this ......?"

Li Xuan said domineeringly: "Master brought me here to spend time for the souls of the dead, but Master also said that there are too many dead. Big brother, do you still not know if what the emperor did was wrong? ”

I nodded blankly and said, "Xuanba, you don't understand. ”

Li Xuanba broke free of the hand he was holding me and said as if he was a little angry: "Isn't there a person who has made a proposal to the emperor and asked the emperor to suspend these projects?" The contrast between his childish voice and the words he uttered was a ridiculous one.

I looked at Li Xuanba a little sadly and shook my head helplessly. Not long ago, Yang Guang openly announced in the court that he naturally did not like the advice of others, so he dismissed all officials such as the counselor, he said so, who would dare to openly refute him?

Li Xuanba saw that I didn't speak, and he didn't say anything, so he walked back.

I followed and said, "Xuanba." ”

Li Xuanba pouted, looking unhappy, and said to himself: "Big brother is also such a person. ”

I grabbed him and said, "What kind of person is my eldest brother?" ”

Li Xuan said domineeringly: "Master said that now the ministers of the DPRK and China are all greedy for life and afraid of death, they never care about the people's livelihood and suffering, they only know how to fight for power and profit, I think the eldest brother will be different." But just now...... Seeing so many people dying in vain because of the emperor's selfishness, the eldest brother was still indifferent......"

I interrupted, "Xuanba! Big brother promises you, do your best. ”

Li Xuanba's words stung me more or less, he was right, I was indeed greedy for life and afraid of death. I didn't think I cared too much about what people thought of me, but I didn't want my brother to see him as a villain who would only fight for power.

I thought about it, if I relied on myself to fight with Yang Guang, it wouldn't take a round to be cut off by him, and it was unrealistic to go head-to-head, I thought of Qingyu Pavilion, Xun Yi said that the pavilions of Qingyu Pavilion are all over the world.

Just as I was racking my brains to think of a solution, Yancong returned.

He didn't show great surprise when he saw me, but just waved at me and asked me to do it on a futon across from him, which felt no different from at Daheungzenji Temple. This may be the wisdom of the monks, no matter where they are, their hearts are fixed.

To be honest, I am very grateful to Yancong in my heart, under his care, Li Xuanba's health is much better than before. I was supposed to catch up with him, but this time I didn't have a long talk with Yan Cong, and all I was thinking about was how to try my best to dissuade Yang Guang from recruiting more people, even if not completely stopping it, at least it could slow down the construction period and let the people who were struggling in the dire situation take a breather.

That's how I thought of a person.

On the night when the palace people of the Liangyi Hall were brutally killed, there was a helpless look in his eyes that gave me a little comfort when he finally left.

Empress Xiao.

Yes, her last look tells me that she is well aware of her husband's cruelty and arbitrariness, and that all she can do as a wife is to persuade her, and she hopes that someone can do more than her.

However, her hope is unrealistic, Yang Guang hates other people's advice very much, the reason why he can tolerate Empress Xiao is only because of his love for her, I believe very much that their husband and wife are indeed very affectionate. Although her hopes are unrealistic, they can at least be exploited.

Now the question is, how can we get close to Empress Xiao and tell her these feelings?

Luoyang's largest teahouse, one of the semicolons of Zui Hongji, opened in a unique location as early as two months ago. Cao Fu once said that as long as he took out the Qingyu Pavilion Order, he could mobilize all the resources.

I couldn't go back by myself, so I had to find someone to walk for me.

Luoyang's drunken Honghong is gradually the same as Daxing City, and all the layouts inside are exactly the same. The difference is that the owner of the teahouse is a woman, and she is a very young woman.

I don't know if it's because I went too early, or because business is sluggish, but when I came out of Shanglin Yuan early in the morning and walked into the teahouse, there were only two people in the whole teahouse - the boss, and one of her buddies.

They looked me from top to bottom several times before the landlady stepped forward and said with a smile: "Come for tea so early? Is it a person? ”

She spoke in a strange voice for some reason, which reminded me of those women who were not careful, in the words of that time, this woman was definitely a dusty woman.