The room was very silent, Yang Yuanqing did not speak, but picked up the tea bowl and drank the tea slowly, as if enjoying the delicious taste of Mengding tea before the tea cooled, Liang Zhong's heart was in his throat, I don't know what kind of result he will face, for Liang Shidu, the support of the Northern Sui is too important, without the support of the Northern Sui, they will not survive for half a year.

After a while, Yang Yuanqing said lightly: "Why didn't Liang Shidu want to surrender to the Northern Sui and become the governor of Longyou who was sealed by the imperial court?" ”

"This ...... Liang Zhong didn't know how to answer, he understood what Yang Yuanqing meant, it turned out that he hoped that Liang Shi would surrender, which was very difficult, Liang Zhong knew very well in his heart that Liang Shi wanted to establish himself as the emperor in his dreams, let him surrender to the Northern Sui and become the Northern Sui, how could he agree, if he really wanted to surrender, it was better to surrender to the Northern Sui than to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, although Liang Zhong understood this very well, but he couldn't tell the truth to Yang Yuanqing.

"I don't know about this humble position, it's hard to answer, please forgive me, Your Highness."

Yang Yuanqing knew that Liang Shidu didn't have this idea at all, so he smiled and said, "Okay! I won't embarrass you, how do you want me to support him? ”

Liang Zhong was overjoyed and hurriedly said: "Your Highness, my general has two requests, one is to hope that the Northern Sui can send an envoy to attend the general's Western Qin Chan ceremonies to help stabilize the situation in the five counties of Western Qin, and the other request is to hope that the Northern Sui can provide food support, in return, General Liang is ready to launch the Hexi offensive after the situation is stabilized, and the general has detailed it in the letter. ”

Yang Yuanqing opened the letter and read it carefully, he was a little tempted in his heart, if Liang Shidu can really occupy Hexi and cut off the source of horses in the Tang Dynasty, this is not bad, but Yang Yuanqing also knows that Liang Shi is from Lingwu County, once he stands on his own, then his long-term goal must be to develop in Lingwu County. The so-called seizure of Hexi is only his first step, once he is allowed to sit on the throne, he will eventually be a tiger in trouble.

Thinking of this, Yang Yuanqing smiled faintly and said, "Although I have the heart to help you with food. But in fact, they have been surrounded by the Tang Dynasty, and the grain cannot be transported over, so be it! Once you take Zhangye County, I will transport grain from the direction of Juyanhai to the south, and as for the envoys, I will first send Xie Sili to congratulate General Liang on his accession to the throne...... Liang Zhong said goodbye with a heavy heart, but Yang Yuanqing did not leave, he stood in front of the hall with his hands behind his back and stared at the sky in the distance, he was very worried in his heart, the historical Liang Shi did not hesitate to betray the country and join the Turks in order to stand on his own, he did not have any national righteousness in his bones, only interests, such a person replaced Xue Ju and occupied the Longyou region, he is likely to make Tuyuhun strong again, and even make Tubo go down the plateau, he will make Xihai County and Heyuan County that the Sui Dynasty worked so hard to fight disappear again, he would rather not support such a person, He would rather let the Tang Dynasty destroy the Liang Shidu and let the Tang Dynasty spend people and effort to maintain the counties of Hehuang.

However, he did not agree with the national autonomy strategy of the Tang Dynasty in history, and the Tang Dynasty was different from the Sui Dynasty. The Sui Dynasty directly occupied all parts of the Western Regions and set up officials to rule, while the Tang Dynasty allowed the locals to govern themselves and submit to the central court.

After thinking about it, the best thing to do is for him to also drive a wedge in the Western Regions. Maintain the influence of the Northern Sui in the Western Regions, whether it is the rule of the Liang division or the rule of the Tang Dynasty. The Western Regions will not be easily lost...... Shen Bai has been patiently waiting for Yang Yuanqing's reception these days, and today the imperial examination officially began, and several children of the Shen family participated in the examination, and Shen Bai was idle.

Shen Bai lived in the Yuelai Inn in the west of the city, which is also a very famous inn in Taiyuan, he chartered a single courtyard, and lived with six children of the Shen family, with the official start of the imperial examination, the inn became very quiet.

The warm sunlight shone into the room through the window paper, and Shen Bai was sitting in front of the window reading leisurely. After waiting for a few days to no avail, now Shen Bai is not in a hurry, as long as Yang Yuanqing really attaches importance to the Shen family, then whether he is in Taiyuan or not, Yang Yuanqing will find him, on the contrary. If Yang Yuanqing didn't pay attention to the Shen family, even if he was in front of Yang Yuanqing, he would turn a blind eye.

Just when Shen Bai calmed down, the opportunity came to the door, and the anxious voice of the innkeeper came from the courtyard, "Mr. Shen is not there?" ”

Shen Bai walked out of the door, only to see that in addition to the shopkeeper, there were several soldiers standing in the courtyard, his heart moved slightly, and he hurriedly said, "Is there something wrong with the shopkeeper looking for me?" ”

A sergeant stepped forward and bowed, "Sir, but Wu Xing Shen Bai?" ”

"It's exactly under it!"

Shen Bai arched his hand and replied very cautiously, although the other party was just an ordinary soldier, he was very thoughtful in his manners, and there was no arrogance.

The sergeant felt Shen Bai's self-humility, and a smile appeared on his face, "We are the personal soldiers of Jinzhou Governor Yang, and the chief officer ordered us to invite Mr. to come and meet." ”

Shen Bai's heart was pounding, and sure enough, he was so nervous that his voice trembled a little, "Please wait, I'll change my clothes and leave." ”

Shen Bai changed his clothes, and followed the soldiers to Yang Yuanqing's mansion, after all, Shen Bai is the head of a famous family, with a deep sense of sophistication, Yang Yuanqing actually met him in his own mansion, which revealed a hint to him, Yang Yuanqing is likely to regard the Shen family as a relative, Shen Bai's heart began to get excited, if this is the case, then the Shen family will one day become a major political force in the Northern Sui.

The soldiers led him all the way to Yang Yuanqing's outer study, and someone reported: "Chief Qiyu, Mr. Shen brought it." ”

"Please come in!" Yang Yuanqing's voice came from the room.

Shen Bai pushed the door and walked into the room, he couldn't help but be slightly stunned, there were two people in the room, one of whom he knew, it was Shen Chun who he had seen in Shen Jundao's house two days ago, he was a disciple of the Shen family in Dunhuang, Shen Bai knew that he was Yang Yuanqing's secretary to join the army, and he belonged to the confidant. And the other person is twenty-seven or eighteen years old, tall and sharp-eyed, this should be the world-famous Yang Yuanqing.

Shen Bai hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "Xiaomin Shen Bai sees His Royal Highness the King of Chu!" ”

Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly: "I have heard the name of the Shen family master for a long time, and I have wanted to see it for a long time, but I just returned from Hedong a few days ago, and I am busy with affairs, so I have no time to see each other, so I have been waiting for the Shen family master for a long time." ”

"There! There! I, the small people, disturb His Highness's official business. ”

Shen Bai was polite, and at the same time secretly looked at Shen Chun, thinking about the meaning of Shen Chun's appearance here, and an intuition told him that Yang Yuanqing probably wanted to merge the two Shen.

"Master Shen, please take a seat!"

Shen Bai sat down, a little uneasy in his heart, he realized that the Shen family's path to becoming a major force in the Northern Sui was not so simple.

Yang Yuanqing glanced at him, with a soft smile on his face, and said to Shen Bai: "In fact, Wuxing Shen is also my clumsy mother's family, my nurse Shen raised me since I was a child, I have always regarded her as a mother, and sent people to pick her up several times to Taiyuan, how can the nurse say that she can't leave the orphan she adopted, and refuses to come, does she still live in Wuxing Shen's house?" ”

Shen Bai hurriedly said: "Qiu Niang will come to Wuxing Shen Mansion in winter, she is now in Danyang County most of the time. ”

"Then I wonder if the farmhouse left by her father is still there?" Yang Yuanqing asked unhurriedly.

The farm house that Yang Yuanqing refers to is an old mansion and dozens of hectares of land in Shen Xuanhui's house, and the mother and daughter who came out of the dust were because this farm house was occupied by Shen Bai's brother, and had a bad relationship with the Shen family.

In fact, half of this matter was wronged Shen Bai, the house was occupied, but the land was not, when Shen Xuanhui raised troops against Sui, in order to raise military funds, he sold dozens of hectares of land under his name, and later the Shen family redeemed these dozens of hectares of land, and then gave it to Shen Bai's brother Shen Song when it was redistributed, and no longer considered the interests of Shen Xuanhui's descendants, but this land has been re-divided half to Shen Qiuniang's mother and daughter ten years ago, about 20 hectares or so.

Since Yang Yuanqing specifically asked about this matter, Shen Bai had to admit that the ownership of the Tian Mansion still belonged to Shen Qiuniang's mother and daughter.

"Back to His Royal Highness the King of Chu, the field house is still there, the house has been renovated, the land has been redistributed within the family, and I am willing to share it with the princess."

Yang Yuanqing nodded, and said with a smile: "The reason why I asked about this matter is that I have an idea, I am ready to let the Dunhuang Shen family return to the old house in Wuxing, and my wife also agrees to transfer the field house under her name to the Dunhuang Shen family, as long as the Dunhuang Shen family returns to their hometown, I believe that the Wuxing Shen family will be revitalized, this is also something I have been looking forward to for a long time, I invited the Shen family master today, just to discuss this matter, is there any difficulty on the Shen family's side?" ”

Shen Bai sighed in his heart, and sure enough, he guessed correctly, Yang Yuanqing's purpose was to merge the two Shen, after all, the Dunhuang Shen family was the real maiden family of the side princess, and he also knew that once the Dunhuang Shen family returned, it would inevitably involve the redistribution of clan power, and the entire Shen family would inevitably be greatly adjusted, and he Shen Bai would inevitably give up a lot of interests.

However, Shen Bai also understood that without the return of the Shen clan in Dunhuang, there would be no political interests in the future of the Wuxing Shen clan.

Thinking of this, Shen Bai shook his head and said: "There is no difficulty, the merger of the two Shen is a great thing, I will fully support it!" ”

"Good!"

Yang Yuanqing appreciates Shen Bai's knowledge of current affairs, this kind of generosity is the demeanor of a famous family in Jiangnan, of course, since Shen Baiken cooperates with him so well, then he also needs to express something.

Yang Yuanqing smiled again: "I heard that the Shen family also has children participating in the Taiyuan imperial examination this time, but there are children and nephews of the head of the Shen family?" ”

Shen Bai's eldest son Shen Lian is now serving under the warlord Shen Faxing in Jiangnan, although Shen Faxing is also surnamed Shen, but he is not the authentic Wu Xing Shen family, just a partial branch, although the Shen family is protected by Shen Faxing, but Shen Bai does not intend to support Shen Faxing, he thinks that Shen Faxing is difficult to last long, this time he came to Taiyuan, he just wanted to find another way out.

Shen Bai hurriedly bowed and said, "I brought six nephews of the Shen family this time, and my second son Shen Zhan is also among them. ”

Yang Yuanqing pondered for a moment and smiled slightly: "In this imperial examination, I have a few places in my hands that are not admitted, if the head of the Shen family is willing, Ling Lang can stay in Northern Sui as an official." ”

Shen Bai was overjoyed, this was the purpose of his coming to Taiyuan to participate in the imperial examination, he stood up and gave a deep salute, "The Shen family is willing to serve His Royal Highness the King of Chu......