The Neiwei Mansion is set up next to the Jiuyuan County Ya, covering an area of ten acres, with high walls and deep courtyards, and there is a secret prison inside.

Li Shouzhong walked into the gate of the Inner Guard Mansion with the internal guard soldiers nervously, and walked into a small room, where an officer was sitting, and next to him stood four large men with strong physiques, staring at him fiercely.

"Get on your knees!" A big man drank the order.

Li Shouzhong was helpless, so he had to kneel down, and the officer glanced at him, "What's your name?" Where did it come from? What do you do? ”

"The villain Li Shouzhong, a merchant from Shijun in Hedong, came to Wuyuan County to sell goods."

"What are you selling? Where is the tax bill? ”

"It's all daily necessities, tea, sugar, pen and paper, stationery."

Li Shouzhong took out a tax slip from his arms, which was the voucher he obtained by paying taxes when he first entered Wuyuan County, a big man took it, handed it to the officer, the officer glanced at it, and said: "The soldiers guarding the city said that you have not paid enough taxes and are suspected of tax evasion, so I have come to examine you." ”

Li Shouzhong's heart was relieved, it turned out that it was for this matter, he thought that his identity was leaked, and it was estimated that there was no benefit to the officers who defended the city when he entered the city, so they took revenge on themselves, he hurriedly said: "Master Jun, when we pay taxes, we put all the goods down, and the tax officials check and approve them before paying taxes and letting them go, I definitely did not deliberately evade taxes." ”

"It's hard to say, some merchants still have jewels hidden on them, and when we verify it, if there is no problem, we will naturally let you go."

The officer gave the big man next to him a look, and the big man stepped forward, "Come with me!" ”

He took Li Shouzhong to the next room and imprisoned him, and the officer immediately got up and walked towards the inner courtyard, where in the lobby of the inner courtyard, more than a dozen officials of the Internal Guard Mansion gathered around a table, and there were three horizontal knives on the table, these three knives were the horizontal knives that Li Shouzhong and they were confiscated when they entered the city, and there would be no problem with the swords. However, Li Shouzhong and his party of eight people carried three military horizontal knives, and they were numbered consecutively, which aroused the vigilance of the officers and soldiers defending the city.

All three horizontal knives were numbered, and a civilian officer was checking the source of the numbering, and he had in his hand a thick book of ordnance numbers, a copy that they had bought from the ordnance superintendent at great expense.

The Interior Guard Mansion was also the general intelligence agency of the Toyosu Army, and the overseer was called Wei Ben. He is one of Yang Yuanqing's iron guards. Changshi's name is Xie Sili, who was a soldier who served in Dunhuang that year, and was born in the famous Xie family in Jiangnan. The 18 young civilian officials who served in the army in Dunhuang have gradually become important civilian officials in the army, and they have taken the lead.

The officer who interrogated Li Shouzhong walked in and saluted the overseer Wei Ben. The report: "The merchant has brought in and stabilized him for the time being. ”

Wei Ben nodded, "Continue to stabilize him, don't let him be suspicious, and then send someone to check his goods, to be a little more like." ”

"Yes!" The officer turned and went down.

At this time, Xie Sili, who was looking up the number, laughed, "I found it!" ”

He folded the corners of the numbered score, closed them and said, "These three horizontal knives are all from Taiyuan County soldiers. It was one of the 2,000 horizontal knives issued to Li Yuan in January this year. ”

Wei Ben groaned, "This matter must be reported to the chief immediately!" ”

………………

A quarter of an hour later, Wei Ben and Xie Sili appeared in the office of Yang Yuanqing of the Governor's Mansion. ”

"The other weapons are very ordinary, although they are well made. But not an item belonging to the Armament Supervisor. ”

Wei Ben hesitated for a moment, and then said: "I am also worried about whether these three horizontal knives will flow out of the barracks, and it is very common for soldiers in the mainland to steal and sell weapons. ”

Yang Yuanqing shook his head: "Taiyuan Mansion won't." Li Yuan has always been cautious and cautious, and he is very strict with this kind of thing. What's more, this is a serial number knife, and the 2,000 knives led by Li Yuan are in the top ten, indicating that this is likely to be used by his personal guards. ”

Yang Yuanqing pondered again, "There is still a way to judge, there are many differences between soldiers and ordinary businessmen, such as riding posture, walking posture and his speech and demeanor, etc., all of which are different, you can observe them." ”

Xie Sili asked, "Chief, if you can be sure, do you want to take the opportunity to uproot them?" ”

Yang Yuanqing shook his head and said with a smile: "Unplug the old one, the new one will come, in fact, I have a very clear feeling about that grocery store, if it is really Li Yuan's intelligence point in Fengzhou, then why can't it be used by us?" ”

Wei Ben and Xie Sili glanced at each other, they understood what Yang Yuanqing meant, and they hurriedly saluted, "Then we'll arrange it now!" ”

"Slim stays for a moment!"

Wei Ben went first, while Xie Sili stood aside, waiting for Yang Yuanqing's orders, Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly: "Your clan brother has done a good job in Shangluo County, and has been promoted to Guoyi Lieutenant." ”

Xie Sili's brother is Xie Yingdeng, both of them are famous in the south of the Yangtze River after the Xie family, the father of the two is a brother, after Nan Chen was destroyed, Xie Sili's father was exiled to Dunhuang, and Xie Yingdeng's father was escorted to Chang'an, the two families often have contacts, Xie Yingdeng lived in Dunhuang County Xie Jia for three years when he was a teenager, two years ago, it was Xie Sili who introduced Xie Yingdeng to Yang Yuanqing, Yang Yuanqing asked Xie Yingdeng to follow Yang Wei to Hongnong County, and saved Yang Xuangan at the most critical time, and now Xie Yingdeng has become Yang Xuangan's confidant.

Xie Sili was extremely smart, and he immediately guessed what Yang Yuanqing meant, "Does the chief manager want me to go to Shangluo County too?" ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded appreciatively, this Xie Sili was really smart, and he guessed his mind at once, he muttered and said: "I received information from the capital, Yang Guang ordered Yun Dingxing to build a new ship within two months, I estimate that he is going to Jiangdu to arrange his own retreat, if Yang Guang goes to Jiangdu, then my father's chance to make a comeback will come, but most of the people in the Yang family are stupid people, and they can't make a big deal, so you go to Xie Yingdeng as the Xie family in Dunhuang, and let Xie Yingdeng introduce you to my father, I will let Yang Wei speak for you, and strive for you to become my father's confidential person after the incident, and entrust you with important responsibilities. ”

Xie Sili nodded silently, and he gave a deep salute, "Humble duties will not disappoint the manager!" ”

Yang Yuanqing smiled again: "You can bring more than a dozen internal guard soldiers with strong martial arts to pretend to be the generals of the Xie family, and they can become your left and right helpers in the future." ”

"Thank you, Steward, get up immediately!"

Xie Sili left, Yang Yuanqing slowly walked to the window with his hands behind his back, more than a dozen chrysanthemums in the yard were blooming brightly, plain and elegant, and the research was gorgeous, there were still a few buds to be released, and it would take another severe frost to show the charm, and there were still a few months, and the eleventh year of the great cause was about to end.

The situation in the Central Plains is becoming clearer and clearer, and Li Yuan is accumulating thick and thin in Taiyuan and is ready to move; Li Mi conquered Liyang Cang and shocked the world; Dou Jiande's power was huge, sweeping Hebei; Du Fuwei crisscrossed the Jianghuai River, domineering for the first time; Xiao Milling Dragon is swimming to the bottom and is about to roar into the sky, and Yang Guang fled to Jiangdu, which means the beginning of the struggle for hegemony in the world, and this day is getting closer and closer.

Yang Yuanqing only felt that a hot current was surging in his chest, and he had been waiting for this moment for many years.

…………

On the grassland south of the Turkic tent on the bank of the Egen River, a team of more than 100 Sui soldiers escorted several civil officials in the north slowly, headed by a civil official of more than 30 years old, thick eyebrows and deep eyes, and his eyes were clear, it was the Fengzhou military household Cao Shen military Wei Zheng, he was ordered by Yang Yuanqing to envoy the Turks, after more than ten days of long journey, he was about to arrive at the Turkic tent land.

At this time, a group of more than 1,000 Turkic cavalry in the distance rushed over, instantly surrounded the Sui army and his party, raised his bow at them, and the Turkic commander rushed out on horseback, shouting: "Sui Dynasty thieves, why invade the Turkic realm!" ”

After the battle of Yanmen, the two Sui and Turk families have completely torn their faces and become enemy countries, and the trade between the Turks and the Sui Dynasty was cut off, and the Turkic soldiers were also extremely hateful when they saw the Sui army, and their attitude was no longer as respectful as before.

Wei Zheng said unhurriedly: "The envoy in Xiafengzhou, on the order of General Yang to send an envoy to the Turks, wants to see your Khan!" ”

Wei Zheng spoke Chinese, and a person next to him was engaged in translating into Turkic, and the Turkic soldiers were greatly frightened when they heard that it was the Sui army in Fengzhou, and they retreated one after another, the Turks believed in strength and strength, and Yang Yuanqing's reputation in the Turks at this time was far greater than that of the Sui Dynasty emperor.

When the commander heard that it was a messenger sent by Yang Yuanqing, he didn't dare to mess around, so he said: "There is a forbidden area in front of the tooth tent, please follow us, you will be killed if you trespass at will!" ”

Engaged in translation, Wei Zheng smiled slightly, "Then please!" ”

With a wave of his hand, the Turkic soldiers divided into two teams, watching the Sui army from left to right towards the Turkic tent.

…………

In the first battle of Yanmen, although the Turkic army lost nearly 200,000 horses before and after, it did not hurt the vitality of the Turks, and most of the nearly 200,000 troops killed and wounded were Tiele servants, and the death of the Turkic army was only more than 40,000 people, which were killed by Yang Yuanqing in Guanxi.

The biggest loss of the Turks was the prestige of Shibi Khan, on the way back, the Turkic Mongyu were extremely dissatisfied with the command of Shibi Khan, and the great chief Wanda and several other tribal chieftains prepared to attack Shibi Khan at night to welcome Utu as Khan, but the matter was leaked, and Shibi Khan preempted it, killed Wanda, and annexed the 20,000 troops of the Mughal tribe.

Although this is only a small episode, it indicates that the position of Shibi Khan began to waver, and his prestige was greatly damaged, the Turks themselves were a large group composed of countless tribes, and the Turkic Khan did not rely on benevolence to maintain the rule of the system, but relied on military merit, interests, and the prestige of the strong to make the major tribes submit, and once the Turkic Khan lost these three things, his position was in danger.

In the past ten days, Shibi Khan Duji's heart was extremely troubled, the defeat of Yanmen made him unable to explain to the Turks, and his generals were also dissatisfied, this time he lost a lot of cattle and sheep in the south, but did not reap the benefits.

Inside the king's tent, he paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, and he had to do one more great thing in order to restore his damaged reputation and maintain his khan throne.

Attacking the Western Turks, attacking the Utu Division, then fighting the Sui Dynasty, or attacking the Khitan in the east were nothing more than these four choices, and he couldn't make up his mind for a while.

At this time, there was a guard outside the tent to report: "Yang Yuanqing of Fengzhou has sent a messenger to arrive!" ”

Du Ji was stunned, and he hurriedly said, "Please come in." ”