Yang Shidao had been in Chang'an for nearly half a month, and his mission to Chang'an was to pacify the Tang Dynasty and explain to the Li Tang court that the Sui Dynasty's issuance of silver coins would not affect the Tang Dynasty.

Out of respect between countries, Li Yuan ordered the crown prince Li Jiancheng and Yang Gongren, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, to be the plenipotentiary responders of the Sui envoys.

But so far, the crown prince Li Jiancheng only met with Yang Shidao the next day, and the two sides simply talked for half an hour before it ended, and almost half a month has passed, and this envoy has not ended, and the Tang Dynasty seems to have forgotten the envoy of the Sui Dynasty.

In fact, this is not forgetting, but a stalemate, and it is not that the Tang Dynasty did not attach importance to the silver of the Sui Dynasty, on the contrary, the Tang court was extremely nervous about the imminent introduction of silver coins by the Sui Dynasty, and if a large amount of silver poured into the Tang Dynasty, it would bring disastrous consequences to the Tang Dynasty.

At the beginning of the year, the Sui Dynasty used the copper coins of the Great Cause to buy a large number of materials in Chang'an, which caused the prices of Chang'an to skyrocket, so that the Tang Dynasty suffered enough, and their memories were still fresh, so the Sui Dynasty will introduce silver coins again, so that the Chang'an government and the opposition are in an extremely uneasy state.

The key to Yang Shidao's cold encounter in Chang'an is that the Sui Dynasty's explanation is meaningless, just like slapping the Tang Dynasty hard and asking it if it hurts, from Li Yuan to Li Jiancheng all think that the Sui Dynasty's explanation is not sincere, and Li Jiancheng naturally does not want to see Yang Shidao.

However, Yang Shidao's treatment in Chang'an is very good, he lives in the Honglu Temple's guest house, he lives alone in a building covering an area of more than ten acres, like a royal garden.

The pavilions, the precious flowers and trees, the clear and transparent pond water, the twelve charming and dancing maids, and the wine and food sent by the palace chef every day almost made him forget his feelings and not think about Sui.

Half a month passed in a flash, and what Yang Shidao did every day was to meet the deceased, wander around the Chang'an neighborhood, and reminisce about his youth. Deputy envoy Zhang Liang had already led his entourage back first. Only Yang Shidao stayed in Chang'an.

Although there are all kinds of delicacies in the guest house where he lives, he will dine at noon every day in a wine shop outside Chang'an West City, the wine shop is called Shu Xiang Restaurant, which was first opened by a Shu person, and has repeatedly changed owners, and has a history of 40 years in Chang'an, this wine shop was once owned by Yang Shidao's grandfather, and now belongs to a wealthy merchant in the Western Regions.

Yang Shidao explained to the officials who accompanied him why he came here every day at noon, "This wine shop can bring back memories of his childhood. ”

It was noon that day. Yang Shidao, as usual, arrived at the Shuxiangguan wine shop by carriage at noon, and the Tang Dynasty official who came with him was Zheng Songting, the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple.

Zheng Songting was born in the Zheng family of Xingyang, is the brother of the crown princess, and is naturally the confidant of the prince Li Jiancheng, he is responsible for accompanying Yang Shidao, and half a month has passed.

"Yang Xiangguo, always come to this wine shop to eat. Isn't it greasy? Why don't I take you to a workshop in Pingkangfang? Guaranteed to make you not want to leave. ”

In fact, Zheng Songting was a little tired of eating, and he couldn't help frowning when he saw Yang Shidao coming to this restaurant again.

Yang Shidao smiled, "I won't stay in Chang'an for too long, and it will be a day to stay here one more day, in fact, I am not here to eat." ”

Zheng Songting laughed dryly, "It turns out that Yang Xiangguo is an amorous person. All right! The workshop is not important. ”

The two approached the wine shop, and a guy greeted him with a smile on his face, "It turns out that Yang Xiangguo and Zheng Shaoqing are here, the shop is honored, please go up to the second floor, the seat is ready." ”

The two went up to the second floor. They have a special seat, located in the corner by the window, relatively low-key and quiet, the two sat down, at this time, Yang Shidao saw a guy look at him, so he stood up and smiled: "I'll go to make it convenient, Zheng Shaoqing sit down!" ”

"Yang Xiangguo, please!"

Yang Shidao went downstairs and walked to the backyard, and as soon as he walked down the stairs, a guy quickly stuffed a paper roll into his palm, and Yang Shidao walked to the backyard quietly.

Finding a no-man's land, he opened the scroll of paper, which was an order from Yang Yuanqing from the Chang'an Information Hall: "Stop the issuance of silver coins, close the silver mines, and show the greatest sincerity of the Sui Dynasty." There is Yang Yuanqing's autograph below.

Although this wine shop has nothing to do with the Sui Dynasty, the shopkeeper of the wine shop is a member of the Sui Dynasty Intelligence Hall, Yang Shidao comes here to eat every day, and it is through the channel of this wine shop to exchange information with Yang Yuanqing......

In the afternoon, Yang Shidao followed Zheng Songting to the East Palace, he asked to see the prince Li Jiancheng, and the two sides renegotiated the issue of silver coins, and after a while, a guard hurriedly ran out of the palace gate, and saluted Yang Shidao who was waiting outside the palace gate: "His Royal Highness the prince summoned, please Yang Xiangguo come with me!" ”

Li Jiancheng, the crown prince of the early Tang Dynasty, was the prince of the Tang Dynasty with real power, although Li Shimin was named Shangshu Ling, but in fact, the government affairs of the Tang Dynasty were in his hands, except for some important military affairs that needed to be reported to his father Li Yuan, Li Jiancheng generally made the final decision.

In the handling of government affairs, Li Yuan trusted him very much, this trust was established as early as when Li Yuan was a Sui minister, for many years, Li Jiancheng has not been an official, has been as his father's right-hand man, to help him deal with various official affairs, after becoming the crown prince, he and his father this cooperative relationship has been retained.

Despite this, Li Jiancheng still feels that his status as the crown prince is shaking day by day, rather than consolidating day by day, the queen mother's preference for the second brother, and the father's trust in the second brother have made him more and more uneasy, especially the two major events that have happened recently, which directly shook his prince foundation.

The first is to set up Jin Wuwei, responsible for patrolling Chang'an City, and appoint Li Daoxuan, the king of Yong, as the general of Jin Wuwei, and the young Li Daoxuan is Li Shimin's henchman.

Jin Wuwei transferred 12,000 elite soldiers from various armies in Guanzhong, all of which were drawn from the army controlled by Li Shimin, which is equivalent to Li Shimin taking control of Chang'an City.

The second is Tang Feng's expansion of power, which was originally responsible for collecting intelligence from the outside world, and now his father has added another power to Tang Feng, the power of internal audit, that is, the right of internal surveillance, and does not limit the scope of surveillance, in other words, Tang Feng can monitor civil and military officials.

Although this internal review power was not implemented on a large scale because of the strong opposition of the important ministers of the DPRK and China, Li Jiancheng received the news that Tang Feng was already monitoring some ministers, and these two major events made Li Jiancheng extremely worried, as long as the conditions were ripe, Li Shimin could launch a palace coup.

But Li Jiancheng didn't dare to remind his father, as long as he opened his mouth, his father would definitely scold him for being dark and despicable in his heart, so he could only find an opportunity to let other ministers remind his father.

In the study of the prince of Xiande Palace, Li Jiancheng is the same as usual, reviewing a piece of music, his government affairs are extremely heavy, he has to review more than 100 notes every day, and most of the notes are the final decision-maker, if he makes a mistake, he needs to take responsibility, so Li Jiancheng is extremely cautious, and he has to be busy until late every day to rest.

At this time, a guard walked to the door of the study and reported, "Your Highness, Sui envoy Yang Xiangguo asked to see him, saying that there is something important to discuss with His Highness." ”

Li Jiancheng is also ready to take time to talk with Yang Shidao again in the past two days, they cannot be in a stalemate indefinitely, and the Tang Dynasty's demand is that the Sui Dynasty close the silver mines, otherwise all trade with the Sui Dynasty will be completely cut off.

This was the last countermeasure of the Tang Dynasty, cutting off all contacts with the Sui Dynasty, including personnel and materials, so that even if someone smuggled, the amount of materials from the Tang Dynasty would not be too large if they used Sui Dynasty silver to buy Tang Dynasty materials.

But Yang Shidao has not replied, making Li Jiancheng a little impatient to wait, at this time Yang Shidao's arrival, Li Jiancheng did not refuse, and immediately nodded and said: "Please invite him to meet in Wuben Hall." ”

Wubentang is the hall where Li Jiancheng and the ministers discuss government affairs, just on the other side of the side hall, not long after, two guards led Yang Shidao into the Wuben Hall in a hurry, Li Jiancheng had already arrived one step ahead and waited for him.

Yang Shidao immediately stepped forward and bowed, "Sui Chen Yang Shidao see His Royal Highness the Prince of the Tang Dynasty!" ”

Li Jiancheng smiled slightly, "Yang Xiangguo, please take a seat!" ”

"Your Highness."

Yang Shidao sat down, and Li Jiancheng also sat down, he asked with a smile: "In the past half a month, Yang Xiangguo has lived well?" Is there anything to be afraid of. ”

Yang Shidao hurriedly bowed and said: "Thank you Your Highness for your concern, Shidao lives very well, takes care of all aspects very well, and does not interfere with freedom, Shidao is deeply grateful!" ”

Li Jiancheng smiled, "You are the prime minister of the Sui Dynasty!" Honorable status, of course, is our Datang distinguished guest, this is as it should be. ”

After a pause, Li Jiancheng asked again: "I don't know if Yang Xiangguo has a new answer after thinking about it for half a month?" I hope that we can conclude our talks happily. ”

Yang Shidao smiled faintly, "In fact, I have received the latest order from His Royal Highness the King of Chu two days ago, and I have been looking for an opportunity to have a good talk with His Highness, but I didn't come until today, so I'm really sorry to keep His Highness waiting!" ”

Li Jiancheng perked up and hurriedly asked, "I don't know what His Royal Highness the King of Chu has attitude?" ”

"His Royal Highness the King of Chu said that in order to show the greatest sincerity of our Great Sui, we can accept the request put forward by the Tang Dynasty."

Li Jiancheng was overjoyed, "In other words, you promised to close the Huining County Silver Mine, is that so?" ”

Yang Shidao nodded solemnly, "Not only is it the closure of the silver mine in Huining County, but we have officially decided to stop the issuance of silver coins, I can frankly say that this is not for your court, but the king of Chu can't bear to deprive the ordinary people of Guanzhong and Bashu of their wealth, and can't bear to let them bear the high price of grain, in our opinion, the people of Guanzhong and Bashu will also be the people of the Great Sui sooner or later." ”

Li Jiancheng snorted coldly, "Are you the people of the Great Sui?" ”

Yang Shidao squinted his eyes and laughed, "Doesn't Your Highness think that the people of Hedong and Hebei are also the people of the Tang Dynasty?" ”

Li Jiancheng was stunned for a while, and after a while, he nodded slowly, "Well said, in the future, whether it is the death of Sui or Tang, the people of the world will be the people of the other party." ”