Xue Shui said slowly: "King Qin asked me to bring two boxes of gifts, and I asked people to send them in." ”

Kou Jiuhui walked in from outside the tent, and Kou Jiuhui smiled faintly: "Lord Xue, no need. Your entourage searched for hidden weapons, and the two boxes of jewelry were coated with colorless and odorless poison, no wonder Yang Chong has always attached so much importance to you and Li Shimin, and they are really not ordinary people. ”

After hearing this, Yang Chong clapped his hands and said: "Then let's do it, Xue Shui, you sent someone to send a message back, you were detained for assassinating Yang, and I believe that Li Shimin is the mastermind." The conditions and time for Jinyang's retreat are still valid, but in order to show punishment, I will not release you and Li Xiaoji and the others. ”

Kou Jiuhui said hello, four guards came in, tied Xue Shu out, and asked Xue Shu to pick two entourages to go back to report the news, and the remaining ten or so entourages were all beheaded at the gate of the camp, and their heads were hung up to show the public. Li Shimin quickly asked Yang Shanjing to come forward and spread the word, and was willing to leave the city according to Yang Chong's request, but he still asked Yang Chong to release Li Xiaoji and others; Yang Shanjing said with emotion: "Li Shimin, this kid is just like you, his mind is turning too fast, and he even asked us if we were willing to accept Jinyang, but I refused." ”

Regarding Yang Shanjing's overtures, Yang Chong could only not answer, this is because Yang Shanjing's troops are not enough, if Yang Shanjing has an army of thirty or forty thousand people, he can enter Jinyang City tonight. Yang Chong thought about it and said: "I'll give you this face, release Li Xiaoji, Tang Jian, Yu Yun, Liu Zhenghui, and Xue Shui, and let Li Shimin go to Chang'an to pick up people." ”

Yang Shanjing said with a smile: "Li Shimin will not return to Chang'an, so I hope to get five people in Jinyang, and the other is that there is too much preparation work, and it will be delayed for two days." ”

Yang Chong was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly realized that he said: "Li Shimin is going to Liaodong and Beiping, he should have reached an agreement with you to form an alliance in Youzhou." Then the army that can't go to Liaodong has been taken over by you, congratulations, when I settle down in Jinyang, I will send you a thousand sets of armor; For the sake of your face, tell Li Shimin that since he agreed to surrender the city within three days, I can postpone the handover time by five days, and it will take time for Li Xiaoji and them to escort them over. ”

Yang Shanjing said with a smile: "Thank you for giving me face, I made a lot of money this time, don't worry, the Turkic side has already said hello and retreated at the same time as Li Shimin." ”

Both of them knew that the reason for Li Shimin's delay was that Bu Lishe, the head of the Turks, was making a last effort and sent 15,000 cavalry to attack Jingle County and Zuoguo City respectively. When the Turks were repulsed by Yang Yanwu's infantry and Tuoba Chici's Yiqiang battalion and lost 3,000 people, the Tang army decisively withdrew from Jinyang, and Li Shimin received five Liu Zhenghui men outside the city, leading 7,000 cavalry to quickly disappear into the mountains to the north.

Zhang Changxun took office as the general of the right Xiaowei under Yang Zhengdao, and retreated to Dingxiang County with 5,000 military horses with Yang Shanjing; When Yang Chong entered Taiyuan City, there were only less than 2,000 troops surrendered. However, Yang Chong doesn't care, as the third largest city in the Central Plains, the influence of occupying Taiyuan is huge, and the city of Jinyang is four zhang high, a city wall is six miles long, and the south gate is full of villages.

Yang Chong came to the ancient city of Jinyang, wanted to buy some cheap cultural relics, but did not expect the ruins to be searched clean, not even an ancient copper coin bamboo stick, the last time I came to the trip in a hurry, I didn't look at it, now I look carefully, only to know that the history books are true, the city is very prosperous. Although after a long period of war, most of the tea shops in the city are still open, and the scale of shops and workshops is no less than that of Chang'an.

After Yang Chong entered the city, Pei Zhen, Wang Shuju, and Wen Junyou all sent their families to contact and give gifts, not to mention other powerful families. The first thing Yang Chong did was to invite Pei Zhen, Wang Shuju, and Wen Junyou to Dingguo Temple in the city to offer incense and pray for Taiyuan; Yang Chong personally lit the eighteen lamp-burning stone towers built in the north and south of the temple, and in the swaying of the lights and shadows of the stone towers, the monks of Dingguo Temple sat on the ground in rows and chanted scriptures and prayed for blessings, surpassing the soldiers and civilians who had died since Li Yuan raised the army.

In Dingguo Temple, Yang Chong recruited Wang Shuju to serve as a servant of the Yellow Gate, announcing the restoration of Taiyuan County and the exemption of Taiyuan County's agricultural tax for two years; In front of a series of orders, Wang Shuju, who was unprepared, could only agree, if he refused, he would be misunderstood as unwilling to restore Taiyuan County or exempt Taiyuan County from agricultural taxes for two years, and the reputation of the Wang family would be disgraced. Pei Zhen and Wen Junyou could only secretly scream, Wang Shuyu refused the Sui and Tang Dynasties' conscription no less than twenty times, but still failed to escape Yang Chong's poisonous hands.

Yang Chong called Dong Heng and Miao Kuangyi again, and introduced to the three that Dong Heng was responsible for building a branch of Hedong Commercial Bank in Taiyuan, and Miao Kuangyi was the deputy supervisor of Fenyang Jiao City, and he started a war with the Turks and Yang Zhengdao to squeeze the market; But Yang Chong said that he and the Pei family, the Wang family, the Wen family, Yu Juluo, and Han Shige opened a money bank together. Jinyang is not only a big city, but also on the border of the Turks, where merchants come and go, and there must be a business of exchanging and purchasing cattle, sheep, rice and noodles to request loans.

Yang Chong also revealed that the business of joint exchange between Taiyuan, Shangxian, Zhangye, Tianshui and Hedong will be promoted later. Pei Zhen and the others were secretly frightened, even if they were not in charge of business in the family, they knew that once it was done, the profits would be huge, and if Yang Chong won Chang'an and other places, this kind of joint exchange business would snowball.

The gentleman loves money in a good way, Pei Zhen, Wang Shuyu, and Wen Junyou can imagine the reaction of the descendants who refused, so they had to agree to cooperate. Yu Juluo and the others have no opinions, they all understand in their hearts that Miao Kuangyi is equivalent to another Kou Jiuxing, and he is Yang Chong's spokesperson in terms of interests, except for the Pei family, the Wang family, and Yang Chong are real money, and Yu Juluo and Han Shige are purely involved in the transaction and get a convenient money for dividends.

Out of the temple, Yang Chong sent Miao Kuangyi to give gifts to other families, but now the situation is unknown, and it is not good to say anything; Yang Chong had to wait for Wei Zheng and Yang Hao to find out before making a decision. There are many gold, silver and jewelry in the palace of Jinyang City, Yang Chong didn't ask for it at all, and took out thirty percent of the rewards to compensate the soldiers who went on this expedition, and the remaining seventy percent of the household department and the state festival division each shared half, Yang Chong saved a part of the cost of the state government, and also gave the household department some money.

Yang Chong nominally recovered the lost territory of the Great Sui, and asked Dong Heng to collect eight carts of royal items in the palace, plus a cart of daily necessities, and send them to Dingxiang County to report the victory; At the same time, Wei Zheng was appointed as the county guard of Taiyuan, Poliu Han Bakui was appointed as the county guard of Shangdang, Liu Shishan was appointed as the county guard of Liaozhou, and Yang Shiluo was appointed as the county guard of Xihe. As for the Turks, Yang Chong determined that Langmeng Town was the trading location, and directly bought 6,000 cattle and sheep with the jewelry prepared for the household.

(End of chapter)