Because the Sui army tightly sealed the news of Jianghuai, it was difficult for the Tang Dynasty to get the news of Du Fuwei's rebellion from within Jianghuai, on the contrary, the Sui army would spread some false news to Chang'an through merchants, such as the second letter written by the brocade merchant Jin Shirang to his eldest son, which mentioned the news of the tragic battle between the Northern Sui naval army and Du Fuwei's army in the south of Hefei. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Of course, Hefei City had long been closed and blocked, and Jin Shirang could not see it with his own eyes, he only heard the news of the war from the government and believed it.

However, after all, strategic deception is only to create an illusion, and as long as it is an illusion, more or less flaws will be exposed, and even if it does not come from Jianghuai, it will leak out from other places.

At noon that day, a liquor store near the East Market was full of people, full of guests, and two middle-aged scribes sat in front of the window on the second floor, one sighing for a long time, and the other was saying kind words and comforting.

The person who seems to be worried is Chu Liang, a bachelor of arts in Li Shimin's house, he is sulking for his son's marriage, Xiao Yu, who was far away in Zhongdu before, wrote to him that he wanted to marry his niece Xiao Yuexian to Chu Liang's son Chu Suiliang, and the two families married this family business, the Xiao family is a famous family in the south of the Yangtze River, and the Chu family is the Yuhang family, and the marriage between the two families is also considered a good match.

Chu Liang's daughter-in-law was originally Yu Shinan's youngest daughter, but because her health was too weak, she died less than a year after getting married, and there were no heirs left, so Chu Liang, who was looking forward to his grandson, agreed after receiving Xiao Yu's letter.

But soon Chu Liang got another news, Xiao Yu's niece and granddaughter turned out to be Xiao Miao's daughter, which surprised Chu Liang, Xiao Yuexian's young widowhood is not a big problem, the key is that she is Xiao Miao's daughter, how can his son marry the princess of the dead country as his wife, Chu Liang wrote to his son Chu Suiliang, asking him to refuse this marriage, but his son fell in love with Xiao Yuexian at first sight, the two fell in love, Chu Suiliang ignored his father's opposition, and married Xiao Yuexian as his wife.

Chu Liang was so angry that he wanted to cut off the father-son relationship with his son, but his son wrote back to him that he would never divorce his wife no matter what, which made Chu Liang's mood extremely depressed, so he had to borrow wine to drown his sorrows.

The person who sat opposite him and comforted him was his friend and colleague Yao Silian, Yao Silian was about fifty years old, his ancestral home was also from Jiangnan, and he was very close to the ancestral land of the Chu family, and both of them were moved to Chang'an because of the fall of the Chen Dynasty, and the two became close friends.

Yao Silian poured Chu Liang a full glass of wine and persuaded: "Since Ling Lang's marriage is personally brokered by His Royal Highness King Qi as a matchmaker, then I don't think there will be too much risk, whether Xiao Milling is the king of the dead country, the key is how the superior thinks about this matter, maybe the Tang Dynasty thinks that he is the king of the dead country, but the Northern Sui may not think so, otherwise Zhang Xuan would not have exchanged Lou Fu County for Xiao Mill, it is said that the two of them have a good personal relationship, I personally think that Xiao Mill is likely to be an official in the Northern Sui, so that he is the minister of the Northern Sui, and the son of the Xiao family, This marriage is still a marriage between the Chu family and the Xiao family, so don't pay too much attention to Xiao Miao's background. ”

Chu Liang drank the wine in the cup and sighed: "If Xiao Mian is really an official in the Northern Sui, I will also admit this marriage, but if he is under house arrest for life like Chen Shubao, my son will marry his daughter, and his future and reputation will be completely ruined." ”

"Brother Xian is too worried, Xiao Mo was not destroyed by Zhang Xuan, how can he not reach the point of Chen Shubao, besides, Xiao Yu is Xiangguo of the Northern Sui Dynasty, he recognizes Yuexian as his granddaughter, Sui Liang married Xiao Xiangguo's granddaughter, and more importantly, Sui Liang has married her as his wife, the two are in love, and the virtuous brother is waiting to hold his grandson! Stop worrying about yourself. ”

Although Chu Liang will not be persuaded in a few words, it is better for someone to comfort him than for him to suppress the depression in his heart, he felt a little more comfortable in his heart, and said: "Breaking off the relationship between father and son is just angry words, I just hope he will not regret it in the future." ”

The two chatted a few more words, and at this time, they only heard the sound of an urn next to them and said angrily: "Who said that Jianghuai is empty and has no soldiers, I saw with my own eyes tens of thousands of cavalry going south, at that time Du Fuwei's shadow was not there, how could Jianghuai be without soldiers." ”

Yao Silian and Chu Liang looked at each other, their eyes showed doubts, and the two hurriedly got up and came to a table next to the banquet, where there were three businessman-like men, and the person who spoke just now was a black-faced businessman in his thirties.

Yao Silian bowed his hand and said, "A few brothers, I'm disturbed." ”

Seeing that they were both elderly and well-educated, the three businessmen hurriedly got up and saluted, "Don't dare!" What do you two gentlemen command? ”

Yao Silian smiled at the black-faced businessman just now: "There is something I want to ask this brother, I wonder if I can see it?" ”

The black-faced merchant hesitated, nodded and said, "Please sit down and talk!" ”

Yao Silian and Chu Liang sat down beside them, Yao Silian smiled and said: "The next surname is Yao, a local, may I ask what the three brothers do for a living?" ”

"We are all fur merchants, from Liang County, we received some goods last winter, and I heard that the price here in Chang'an is good, so we came to sell the goods."

"I see!"

Yao Silian is a person with a city government, he will not ask in a hurry as soon as he comes up, but chatting a few words first, and then slowly turning to the topic.

Yao Silian smiled and said to the black-faced businessman, "I heard this brother say just now....."

"Don't be surnamed Wang."

"I heard this brother Wang say just now that I saw tens of thousands of cavalry heading south to Jianghuai, what's going on?"

The black-faced merchant hesitated and said, "I just said it casually, the two gentlemen forgot about it!" ”

"Could it be that my brother just said nonsense?"

"It's not nonsense, it's just ......." The black-faced businessman has been away for many years, and he knows that there are many things that cannot be said nonsense, which will bring unwarranted disasters to himself.

"If it's not nonsense, it's very valuable, maybe it can bring great benefits to my brother, please rest assured, I promise there will be no danger."

The black-faced merchant was helpless, so he had to smile bitterly: "Then I'll talk about it casually!" Just what I saw with my own eyes. ”

"Please!"

"I bought fur in the Dabie Mountain area last winter, because the heavy snow closed the mountain, I lived in Huoshan County for more than a month, the news here is blocked, the traffic is very inconvenient, but I can often get good goods, I bought more than a dozen good fox skins there, probably from the end of November, the Northern Sui cavalry has arrived in Huoshan County one after another, in my memory there are four or five batches of cavalry, they just said to come here to train, so that the county people do not be afraid, but I have never seen them train, fortunately they never disturb the people, Even don't even have contact with the people of the county at all. ”

"How many cavalry?" Chu Liang asked.

"There are about twenty or thirty thousand people, anyway, there are many more people than Huoshan County, and the camp built is also larger than Huoshan County."

"And when did they leave?"

The black-faced businessman shook his head, "I left Huoshan County in early February, and they were still there when I left, as for when they left, or whether they are still in Huoshan County now, I don't know." ”

Yao Silian and Chu Liang both realized the seriousness of the problem, they asked the addresses of the three people, and hurried back to the Qin Palace.

........

In the study, Li Shimin listened to Yao Silian and Chu Liang's reports with a stern expression, he had always opposed the Eastern Crusade, he had long suspected that there was something wrong with Du Fuwei's rebellion, with Zhang Xuan's impermeable character, how could he not be guarded against the Jiangxia Tang Army at all, and there were no garrisons in Qichun County and Lujiang County?

It's just that Li Shimin has no evidence, and other ministers have come up with a handful of evidence to prove that Du Fuwei's achievements are brilliant, but behind Du Fuwei's brilliant results is the weakness of the Northern Sui's control over Jianghuai, this is the biggest doubt, Zhang Xuan can get to today is not a fluke, but a strong military control, but now he is not as good as Wang Shichong, so how can Li Shimin not doubt.

So far, they haven't gotten any letters from Du Fuwei, everything is all kinds of rumors, and today Yao Silian and Chu Liang unexpectedly got a piece of information, which made Li Shimin's back chill.

Li Shimin took two steps with his hands in his hands and said: "Huoshan County belongs to the Dabie Mountains, what are tens of thousands of cavalry going to the mountains to train?" It's clear that they're hiding in the mountains, where do you think these tens of thousands of cavalry will be now? ”

Yao Silian said: "Your Highness, Huoshan County belongs to Lujiang County, less than three hundred miles away from Hefei, Du Fuwei entered Lujiang County from Qichun County when it was only four or five thousand people, it will take at least ten days to increase the army from four or five thousand to one or two hundred thousand, I think tens of thousands of Sui cavalry will never tolerate Du Fuwei raging in Lujiang County, they can be completely annihilated in a battle, where will they calmly go to Siding Mountain to establish a foundation, it is simply impossible." ”

Chu Liang also said on the side: "There is another important question, what are tens of thousands of Northern Sui cavalry doing hiding in Huoshan County?" Has His Highness thought about it? ”

Li Shimin nodded slowly, "I suspect that our Eastern Crusade is a big trap dug by Zhang Xuan, and I even suspect that Du Fuwei has already been wiped out." ”

Yao Silian suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly said: "Then Qu Tutong was transferred away at this critical moment, isn't it a bit strange?" ”

This sentence was like a thunderbolt that struck Li Shimin, and Li Shimin was immediately stunned.

(To be continued.) )