In the following 100 years, although Shuzhong nominally belonged to Daguang, the weight of the Zhen people here was far greater than that of Daguang Chaotang. Especially in the past 100 years, the power of the Zhen people has expanded greatly, and there is even a tendency to infiltrate the Chengzhou capital, until the arrival of the Chengzhou Thorn Shi Taohe. ”

Su Zhongzhai glanced at Yang Yi and continued: "Twenty years ago, Tao He was appointed by the Guo Dynasty as the assassin of Chengzhou, but he did not give him a single soldier, and let him go south to Shu with a box of books on one horse and one horse.

But it was precisely this scholar who only took ten years to force the strong Di people to Lin'an County, a corner of the southwest, and almost never took a step again, and he also vigorously advocated the agricultural and mulberry trade in Shuzhong, opened up the silk trade in Shuzhong, and built the Jianghui Water Conservancy. ”

Yang Yi touched his chin and listened to Su Zhongzhai's speech, but his heart was extremely shocked, one was surprised that Tao He, who seemed to be a pedantic old man, had such ability, and secondly, he thought that he was not taking Tao He's old path now? Single-handedly entered Shu, it took Tao He ten years to really control Shuzhong, but how could he wait so long?

Su Zhongzhai seemed to see Yang Yi's worries, and said with a smile: "You are not too worried, Shuzhong today is much better than when Tao He entered Shu, at least no one dares to come to Shu openly, besides, there are more than 10,000 elite northern troops behind you, as long as you have a way to open the gate and get the support of the majority of people, you can naturally quickly control Shuzhong." ”

Yang Yi nodded, and condensed: "No wonder Gao Zuozhen and Dou Xu are so powerful, I didn't see that they had the intention of pulling Tao He off the horse, at first I thought that these two were worried about checking and balancing each other, but now it seems that the biggest reason is still on Tao He, Tao He's reputation in Shu makes those two people daunted." ”

"Well, what you said is good, but the old man thinks that the effect of checks and balances is still there, and the old man doesn't know much about the matter of power schemes, but judging from what often happened in the past, Tao He did intend to let Gao Zuozhen and Dou Xu restrain each other, so that a balance was formed, and Tao He sat firmly in the middle to control the overall situation."

Checks and balances of power are actually practical everywhere, and the advantage of this is that all parties dare not act rashly, and it is best to produce healthy competition, maximize the operational efficiency of the team, and at the same time allow the balance to control the overall situation.

However, everything will have drawbacks, just like the former emperor Yang Lu checked and balanced the forces of the eldest prince and the third prince, once one end of the balance collapsed, and if the balance of power was not re-found in time, the result would be that the whole situation would be out of control, coupled with the sudden attack of the seventh prince Yang Jie, which eventually led to the instant collapse of the big balance of Daguang.

However, Yang Yi still has a question: "Grandpa, Tao He is already so old, he has to think about the future, right?" Isn't there any indication of who he wants to succeed him? Or is he waiting for the court to send someone to hand over? ”

Yang Yi's father was worried about the future of Daguang, so he did not establish a successor for a long time, could it be that this Tao He was also worried about the country and the people?

"Of course not." Su Zhongzhai said with a smile: "Although Tao He is very talented, he is an out-and-out hero, and he wants his son to inherit the position of assassin. ”

"His son?"

"Tao He has only one son named Tao Qiu, but his son has not inherited Tao He's advantages at all, but is a very talented literati, who does not like political affairs, and only likes to sing poems and paint every day, and swim in the landscape."

"It's... This Tao He's heart is very big. Yang Yi shook his head helplessly, how could such a literati be able to sit firmly in the top position in Shu like a tiger's den, even if there was no Gao Zuozhen and Dou Xu, it was estimated that Tao Qiu would be difficult to stand.

Su Zhongzhai said: "So, unless Tao He is dead, no matter what you want to do now, you must pass Tao He's level." ”

Yang Yi shook his head and said: "Tao He can't die, as long as he dies in Shuzhong, it will be all messed up, what I want is a complete Shuzhong, not a dilapidated Shuzhong." ”

Su Zhongzhai looked at Yang Yi, nodded with satisfaction, and said, "That's all my grandfather knows, it's up to you how to go." ”

Yang Yi accepted Su Zhongzhai's suggestion, and the next afternoon he took his family to Dou Xu's mansion first. not only put on filial piety clothes to cry for Dou Xu, but also helped the Dou family to run around, as if he had regarded himself as a good student who loved his teacher.

Dou Xu's family heard strange at first, why didn't they hear that Dou Xu had such a sensible student, and later there were generals who followed into the mountain to introduce everyone, and everyone suddenly realized that it was Dou Xu's former students in Dijing (in fact, Yang Yi and Dou Xu had not been able to fight at all, and they hadn't even met each other), so that both Dou Xu's family and his old subordinates were not so alien to Yang Yi.

Especially Yang Yi's "wife", she loves Yang Yi even more. Dou Xu has no queen, no concubine, only an old wife, at first glance it looks like a clean official, but the courtyard of Dou Mansion is not small at all, what is expensive in the house, even the chairs are all made of gold wool.

Dou Xu's wife may be because she has no children, and she has just left her wife, so she kind of regards Yang Yi as a son.

This made Yang Yi a little embarrassed, after all, he was here to act, but it didn't matter, no matter how evil Dou Xu was, he was already dead, and it would not hurt his family.

With the care of "master's wife", Dou Xu's old subordinates have a little more affection and even respect for Yang Yi, which makes it much easier for him to act in the future.

From the mouths of these old subordinates of Dou Xu, Yang Yi also had a general understanding of Dou Xu's previous forces, and found that Dou Xu mainly controlled the military defense and some rights in the management yamen in Shuzhong, while Gao Zuozhen controlled the politics and commerce of Shuzhong, especially silk commerce, which was the lifeblood of Shuzhong. Both of them have a good hand of cards in their hands, but it is worth mentioning that whether it is military or political affairs, each key link is not the two of them who have the final say, but Tao He.

For example, militarily, although Dou Xu is nominally the highest military commander of the Shu army, the most elite Chengzhou army in Shu, the military forces at important passes such as Jianchong Pass are only under Tao He's orders, and the most important thing is that the most terrifying force in Shu --- the Di people.

Today's Di people have been strong decades ago, and there are only more than 30,000 people in the entire clan, but even if there are only more than 20,000 people, no one in the entire Shu dares to underestimate them, and their combat power is still strong. And although the Di people are not as tough as before, the arrogant temperament of the whole clan is still famous in Shuzhong, it can be said that in the entire Shuzhong, they only listen to Tao He's words, even Dou Xu and Gao Zuozhen can't do it, they can't even enter the territory of the Di people.

Therefore, Yang Yi's grandfather's guess is not wrong at all, although Gao Zuozhen and Dou Xu both touched a good hand of cards in their hands, but a pair of Wang Bang were forever dragged in Tao He's hands, Tao He didn't speak, who dared to call the landlord?

Now that Yang Yi wants to join this game, the first thing to do is naturally to take the cards in Dou Xu's hand, and with the hole cards, he is qualified to sit at the table. What he is most afraid of now is Dou Xu's death, Tao He let Gao Zuozhen's family dominate, so that Dou Xu's death not only did not bring him bargaining chips, but had another murderous opponent.

After working in the Dou family for two days, Yang Yi finally received a summons from Tao He, although Yang Yi didn't know what medicine this old guy put in his gourd, why the army returned to Chengzhou for so long before he remembered himself, Yang Yi still didn't dare to delay, and ordered Monkey Jian'er to take 10,000 taels of silver squeezed out of the Su family's treasury and a lot of gifts, and go straight to the Thorn Shi Mansion non-stop.

When he arrived at the Thorn Mansion, Yang Yi was greeted by an old housekeeper, who didn't say much, and saw that Yang Yi brought a lot of salutes, so he asked Monkey Jian'er to hand over all the salutes to the family, and then led Yang Yi to the living room alone, made him a cup of tea, and asked Yang Yi to wait for Tao He to come out.

I never thought that Yang Yi was waiting for an afternoon, the maid had already come to change two pots of tea for him, and Yang Yi's mouth began to drool when he drank it, but he still didn't see Tao He.

Yang Yi began to be anxious in his heart, and secretly said that this old guy would not be giving himself a horse.

Yang Yi paced back and forth in the living room, constantly thinking about what Tao He meant and how he should treat himself, a student of Dou Xu who appeared suddenly.

In fact, according to Yang Yi's original character, he doesn't like to expose himself in such a hurry at all, it's too dangerous, once he can't get Tao He's protection, Gao Zuozhen will definitely poison himself, and then he can only be busy parrying.

However, time waits for no one, and one or two hundred thousand people in Hongzhi are looking forward to him, and there may be problems in every minute. At this time, Yang Yi could only gamble, betting that Tao He didn't want Gao Zuozhen's family to sit big, so he would support Gao Zuozhen again.

"Old housekeeper, why haven't you seen your uncle yet, is he asleep in the backyard again?" Yang Yi was melancholy, and suddenly heard a woman's voice in the courtyard outside the house.

"Miss, the sun has been shining well lately, and the master will always lie in the yard for an afternoon, and have told no one to disturb him." The butler's voice said.

"I see people bringing tea to the living room, are there any guests?" The woman asked.

The old housekeeper replied: "It was a student of Master Dou who came to see the master, and he had been waiting in the guest hall for an afternoon, but the master had not woken up, and I didn't dare to call him." ”

Yang Yi frowned when he heard this, and scolded secretly: "This Tao Lao'er is actually sleeping!" Let Lao Tzu drink dry tea here all afternoon! ”

Seeing that it was about to get dark, Yang Yi was impatient, turned around and walked outside, wanting to let the old housekeeper of the Thorn Shi Mansion report again.

Yang Yi hurriedly walked to the door, and bumped into a figure who wanted to enter the house.

"Oops....!" A delicate voice exclaimed.

Yang Yi only felt that the arms were soft, and a strong smell of rouge came to his face, and when he looked down, it was actually a woman in pink!