Shen Bai said goodbye and left, only Yang Yuanqing and Shen Chun were left in the study, Shen Chun is about thirty years old this year, medium in stature, calm personality, he is also one of the eighteen sons of the family who served in the army in Dunhuang for four years, is the son of the Shen family in Dunhuang, in the army for eight years, he has served as the county lieutenant of Dali County, the Fengzhou Governor's Mansion Kai Cao Shen Military and other positions, and the current Jinzhou Governor's Office Counselor Military, for Yang Yuanqing to deal with confidential documents, is Yang Yuanqing's confidant.

In the process of Yang Yuanqing meeting Shen Bai, he kept silent, Shen Bai left, Shen Chun finally spoke, he was a little worried: "Chief, I am worried that the Shen family will not give up Dunhuang County, after all, after working hard there for twenty years, many young generations are unwilling to return to their hometown in Jiangnan."

"I know this, I didn't ask the Shen family to move out of Dunhuang County, in fact, I only plan to let a part of the Dunhuang Shen family go back."

Yang Yuanqing smiled and patted him on the shoulder, "Actually, you didn't understand what I meant, I called you here because I wanted you to go to Dunhuang County to be a taishou." ”

Shen Chun was stunned for a moment, and asked him to be the Taishou of Dunhuang, he was not mentally prepared at all, and after a while, he hesitated and said: "Hasn't Dunhuang returned to the Tang Dynasty yet?" ”

"Not yet!"

Yang Yuanqing's eyes flashed with a kind of hopeful brilliance, and he once thought that Dunhuang County was occupied by the Tang Dynasty, but he had just received a letter from Dunhuang a few days ago, which made him feel hope again.

"Now Dunhuang Taishou Li Zhaojin is the younger brother of Li Rail, he still controls Dunhuang County and Yiwu County, with nearly 15,000 troops, I thought he surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, but I just knew, not yet, he is still bargaining with the Tang Dynasty, wanting the Tang Dynasty to make him the king of Dunhuang, but the Tang Dynasty did not agree, the Tang Dynasty is now concentrating on dealing with Western Qin, once Western Qin takes it, the Tang Dynasty will turn around and go to conquer Li Zhaojin, we must seize Dunhuang County and Yiwu County before the Tang Dynasty."

Yang Yuanqing walked to the left wall, brushed the ground and opened the curtain on the wall, revealing a map, and Shen Chun noticed that it was actually a map of the Western Regions.

Yang Yuanqing walked to the map, sighed softly and said: "In the fourth year of the Great Cause, I was ordered to conquer Yiwu, which opened the prelude to the westward expansion of the Great Sui, and the Great Sui then established Xihai County, Heyuan County, Jimo County, Shanshan County and Yiwu County in the Western Regions, and now the five counties of the Western Regions are not in the hands of the Great Sui. ”

Speaking of this, Yang Yuanqing picked up the wooden pole and pointed to the end of the county and Shanshan county: "These two counties are now occupied by a person named Wei Gui, do you know who this Wei Gui is?" ”

Shen Chun shook his head: "My subordinates don't know!" ”

"I also recently learned that it's really unbelievable to say, this 'Wei Gui' turned out to be Yuan Honghei, who fled to Xihai County and disappeared."

Yang Yuanqing couldn't help but sigh, "Everyone thought that Yuan Hongsi was dead, but who would have thought that he would escape the vast Gobi Plateau, occupy the last city, and last year occupied Shanshan City, he has six thousand troops under his command Obviously, his next target is either Dunhuang County, or the situation in the Western Regions of Yiwu County is not calm!" ”

Shen Chun felt a lot of pressure on his shoulders, Yang Yuanqing appointed him as the Taishou of Dunhuang County, but why did he seize Dunhuang, just those few families? They are also the grass on the wall, Li Liang supported Li Liang when he was in power, and now let them turn to support the Northern Sui, unless the Northern Sui can show strong strength in Dunhuang County, otherwise, those families will still shrink their heads.

Yang Yuanqing understood his worries, so he smiled and solved the doubts in his heart, "I won't let you be alone, I will let Su Dingfang lead three thousand cavalry to go with you, in addition, there are people I installed in Dunhuang County and Yiwu County, they are all high-ranking and powerful figures in the two counties, they will help you and Su Dingfang take Dunhuang County and Yiwu County." ”

Shen Chun nodded silently, he probably had a little confidence in his heart, and after pondering for a while, he asked again: "When will the subordinate leave?" ”

"Leave early tomorrow morning!"

The first day of the imperial examination was finally over, and the scholars returned to the city in twos and threes, injecting fresh vitality into Taiyuan City, and Taiyuan City was lively again.

Scholar Chu Suiliang trotted all the way to Bifeng Street, here is a larger street in Taiyuan City, shops on both sides of the street gathered, business is prosperous, there are more than a dozen inns and wine shops, he ran to Jinzhong Inn in one breath, although the name is atmospheric, but it is a small inn, Chu Suiliang rushed into the inn in one breath.

"Father!"

The door opened, and a middle-aged man in his fifties opened the door, he was Chu Suiliang's father, Chu Liang, and when he saw his son coming back, he smiled lovingly, "Stinky boy, come back so soon?" Did you fail the test and hand in a blank paper? ”

Chu Suiliang scratched his head and smiled: "The child has done well in the test, and the scriptures can guarantee a full score. ”

"Since we don't have faith again, we don't need to review on an impromptu basis, let's go out for a drink."

Chu Liang's ancestral home is Yangzhai, after traveling to Yuhang County, his reputation rose to fame, he was appreciated by Chen Houzhu and was named an official, after the fall of the Chen Dynasty, he entered the Sui Dynasty and went out of the Sui Dynasty, successively served as a bachelor of the East Palace, Dr. Taichang, because he was implicated in Yang Xuangan's rebellion and was demoted to the Xihai County Division, Xue raised the army and named him the Huangmen Shilang of the West Qin State, he was not optimistic about the West Qin State, so he abandoned the official and left, and took his son Chu Suiliang to Chang'an, it happened that the Tongguan case broke out in Chang'an at this time, which made Chu Liang a little disappointed, and turned to Taiyuan, his son Chu Suiliang signed up for the imperial examination, and did not need household registration status, Even if he is a fugitive slave, he can sign up for reference, which made Chu Liang very surprised, so he stayed in Taiyuan to watch the current situation in the Northern Sui.

The father and son walked out of the inn and came to the Bifeng wine shop not far away, which was the largest wine shop on Bifeng Street, at this time the scholars had returned, and the wine shop business was particularly prosperous, the father and son went up to the second floor, just when a wine customer left, so that they got a good seat by the window.

The two sat down, and a guy stepped forward and smiled, "What are you going to do?" ”

"What's the specialty, the food and the wine?" Chu Liang asked with a smile.

"Braised Fenshui carp, our first signature dish, Dali five-year peach wine, Chang'an can't drink it, and it's not expensive, the two of you eat well, and three hangs of money is enough."

Chu Liang smiled and said: "Okay, you can go with the dishes according to the three hanging money!" Let's eat and eat well" Father, this is too extravagant! You have to eat three dollars for a meal. Chu Suiliang was a little puzzled as to why his father, who had always been diligent and thrifty, was so generous.

Chu Liang stroked his beard and smiled: "It's rare to eat once, it's okay!" ”

"Father, I'm telling you a piece of news, something was announced before today's exam,

Chu Suiliang told his father in detail about the fact that he could read Guozixue, Chu Liang squinted and listened, and couldn't help sighing: "I actually gave five buckets of rice and eight hangs of money a month, and Bei Sui was willing to pay for it!" ”

"Father, the child thinks that the Northern Sui is good, at least it has done a good job in attaching importance to scholars, and Li Tang may not have done it well, with these five buckets of rice and eight hanging money, he can completely support his family, and many scholars can concentrate on learning without having to work hard for life, just by virtue of this, he has won the hearts of scholars."

Chu Suiliang was very emotional, he felt that this was not whether a court was rich, but whether the court attached importance to the heart of scholars, and there was no financial resources to give a little less, such as a bucket of rice, or two hanging money, this is a kind of mind, and only the Northern Sui court has done this.

"I think in this way, no matter whether they can be admitted to Guozi School or not, more than 20,000 people are willing to work for the Northern Sui, and that sheepskin, although the thing is small, it is indeed a great help to the poor scholars, why does my father refuse to stay in the Northern Sui to serve?"

"I didn't say that I wouldn't stay in the Northern Sui to serve, but I was observing, and I wanted to see if it was the Tang Dynasty or the Northern Sui that could attract me to stay."

"But my father ......"

Chu Suiliang lowered his voice and said: "The child has decided to stay in the Northern Sui, if his father goes to the Tang Dynasty, won't our father and son become enemies?" ”

"You kid, you're really determined to stay in Beisui, okay! Let the Father think.

At this time, the two guys took the wine and food, and soon set a table, there were more than a dozen dishes, and a pot of good peach wine, Chu Suiliang was stunned, in Chang'an, so many dishes cost at least ten yuan, not counting the wine money, if the wine money is counted, this pot of peach wine is worth ten yuan, for a while, he asked the guy: "This wine and food really only costs three hanging money?" ”

The guy heard that his accent was a foreigner, so he explained with a smile: "Of course, it's three hanging money, but it's new money, like Luoyang's cloth money that is thinner than paper, we don't accept it." ”

Although Chu Liang has been in Taiyuan for five or six days, he has been staying in the inn for food and lodging, using silver, and he has never heard of any new money, so he asked curiously: "What is new money?" ”

"That's the kind of money!"

The guy took out a yellow and clear copper coin from his waist and put it on the table, "See, the new Kaihuang Wuzhu coin, the back has the words Fengzhou official casting, or Northern Sui official casting, this kind of money contains more than ninety percent of the copper, and now all shops in Taiyuan basically only accept this kind of money, I have heard that Shangdang, Changping and Jiangjun have also begun to only accept this kind of money, and the old money is not recognized." ”

Chu Liang frowned and asked, "What about the old money before?" ”

"You can go to the Di shop to exchange it, it's next to the county office, but if the guest has money in his hand, I'm afraid he will have to lose his own money."

Chu Liang picked up this coin, squinted and looked at it for a long time, he found that this five-plant coin was a little bigger than the Kaihuang five-plant coin, the meat was also thick and full, the handwriting was clear, and there was a heavy feeling in the palm of the hand, it was really a good coin, Chang'an's currency system was still relatively chaotic, all kinds of money were available, and he asked the guy puzzled, "What if someone makes a fake?" For example, with money with only 70% copper content, it is not easy to distinguish the appearance. ”

"Fake?"

The young man grinned, pointed in the direction of the guide city, and sneered: "There are more than fifty heads hanging on the gate of the southern city, that is the fate of the counterfeiters, the whole family, men, women and children are all beheaded, and the children and grandchildren are cut off!" ”