Chai Shao had inquired in advance before he came, and the head of the Xiao family was a woman named Xiao Yinyin, but unexpectedly it was a middle-aged man, which made him slightly stunned.

He immediately reacted, the head of the family was a woman, and he didn't want to see outsiders easily, so he also bowed his hand and said: "In Xia Chang'an Chai Shao, take the liberty to disturb the door, I don't know if the head of the house is there?" ”

"My sister is not in good health, she is sick in bed, and it is inconvenient to see guests, so under Xiao Yanqin, I welcome General Chai to come to Xiao's house."

In a few very simple words, he told him his identity and status in the Xiao family, Chai Shao didn't ask much, the two of them sat down according to the guest host, Chai Shao bowed and smiled: "This time, I was ordered by King Jing to aid Jiangling, and I was temporarily in charge of Jiangling's military administration, I should have come to visit your mansion yesterday, I am really busy, I'm sorry!" ”

"The general is too polite, the general only arrived in Jiangling yesterday, and it is the honor of the Xiao family to come to the Xiao family today, and the Xiao family is willing to share the worries of the general."

Xiao Yanqin said polite words, and quickly thought about Chai Shao's intention in his heart, generally speaking, the visit was to stabilize the situation in Jiangling City, but if he wanted to stabilize the situation, he should not be so forcibly recruited people, and there was also a possibility that it would make the major families bleed.

Sure enough, Chai Shao greeted him twice, and as soon as the topic changed, he got down to business, he sighed and said: "Now the Sui army is menacing, trying to occupy the entire territory of Jingxiang, the battle of Jingxiang is related to the entire Tang Dynasty, and the imperial court also attaches great importance to it, sending 150,000 troops to defend Jingxiang, forming two fronts of Jiangling and Xiangyang, I was ordered to lead an army of 70,000 to protect Jingxiang, and I am also protecting everyone's net worth of the army of 70,000 troops, we have prepared, we don't need to bother the local wealthy families, just 50,000 people to participate in the defense of the city, It also costs a lot of money and food, and the army is already stretched out, so it can only come to the door to ask for help from all the big families, and the army and the people work together to ensure the safety of Gangneung. ”

Chai Shao's words have been made very clear. It is to ask everyone to contribute money and food, after speaking, Chai Shao looked at Xiao Yanqin with a smile, there are some things he doesn't need to say. What happens if you don't pay for food? Arresting the people spared the Xiao family.

Xiao Yanqin pondered for a while, and then said: "As a citizen of the Tang Dynasty, it is an obligation to support the imperial army, and the Xiao family is duty-bound. ”

Xiao Yanqin said very beautifully, and first expressed his willingness to support the Tang army with money and grain, but after a while, he said: "The Xiao family is mainly based on inland trade. The money is all outside, and we go to collect it as soon as possible these days, but the food can be given first. ”

Chai Shao squinted and smiled, he didn't need to ask how much food he wanted, this Xiao family should know in his heart, if there is a little, but he will have to suffer, this is tacitly understood by everyone.

"Thank you, Mr. Shaw. Then I will take my leave, and please say hello to the head of the house on my behalf. ”

Chai Shao got up and said goodbye, and Xiao Yanqin returned to the secret room of the inner house with a heavy heart. Several people were still waiting for him, and as soon as he entered the door, Xiao Yanqin said: "It's a little troublesome, Chai Shao came to ask for money and food." ”

Xiao Yinyin frowned, "How much grain does he want?" ”

Xiao Yanqin sat down and shook his head, "He didn't say it, probably waiting for us to take the initiative to express his position." ”

Xiao Yinyin pondered for a long time, then turned around and asked Xiao Mao, the nephew who was in charge of the accounts next to her, "How much grain does our Xiao family have in Jiangling City?" ”

"Back to the head of the family, there are 10,000 taels of gold and 50,000 taels of silver. The money is 500,000 hanging, and the grain is more than 20,000 stones. ”

"So many?"

Xiao Yinyin was a little worried in her heart, she was afraid that Chai Shao would raid the Xiao family and steal money, so she knew that she should have transferred the gold and silver in advance.

Xiao Yanqin suggested: "Family master, while the Sui army has not yet crossed the river to attack, the defense of the city is not so tight. We can buy the guards and go out of the city by water at night, and we have five ships in our house that can carry the gold and silver. ”

Xiao Yinyin nodded, "You can give 20,000 stone of grain to Chai Shao, if you don't give the money, you will stay in the treasury to save your life, and all the children under the age of twelve in the Xiao family will follow the boat out of the city tonight, no matter what high price you pay, you must go out of the city tonight." ”……

At two o'clock in the evening of the same day, the south water gate of Jiangling City, here is the water gate of Jingshui flowing out of Nancheng, Jingshui crosses Jiangling City from north to south, and finally flows into the Yangtze River.

The night was deep, and on the stone steps next to the water gate, more than 100 patrol soldiers held torches in their hands, watching the Xiao family's five hundred-stone cargo ships sail past them.

In the hunting firelight, Yu Shouren, the guard on duty at the city gate tonight, stood on the steps, his eyes were heavy and he watched the five hundred stone boats coming from afar, Yu Shouren is also a native of Jiangling, after all, the Xiao family is the first family in Jiangling, he can't refuse this favor, and more importantly, he accepted two thousand taels of silver from the Xiao family, so he agreed to help with this.

Fortunately, the Sui army has not yet begun to attack on a large scale, Jiangling City has not yet entered a state of combat readiness, and the defense is still relatively lax, so there is an opportunity to take advantage of it, if it is two days late, he will not dare to let the Xiao family out of the city privately.

At this time, Xiao Yanqin led a carriage from the shore, and Yu Shouren stepped forward and said with a smile: "What, Mr. Xiao is still not worried about me doing things?" ”

"Where! Where! ”

Xiao Yanqin ordered the coachman to remove two large wooden boxes from the carriage, he pointed to the wooden boxes and smiled at Yu Shouren: "This is 5,000 hanging money, and it is a little bit of the Xiao family's heart to drink tea for the brothers." ”

Yu Shouren secretly praised the Xiao family for being good people and thoughtful, so they couldn't pay their own money to appease the soldiers! In fact, this is the science of gift-giving, to give a leader a heavy gift, but also to the specific clerk to prepare a little benefit, so that things will be done successfully.

Yu Shouren smiled and said to the lieutenant next to him: "Take the money and divide it among the brothers at night, don't be too embarrassed by the villagers in your hometown." ”

The captain was overjoyed, and hurriedly led a few soldiers to carry the big money box over, and estimated in his heart that he had to leave the largest share for General Yu.

At this time, five ships came slowly, and the boats were full of children, from two or three years old to eleven or twelve years old, both men and women, all of whom were children of the Xiao family, about fifty or sixty people, led by Xiao Mao, the steward of the inner government, and followed by five or six women to take care of the children.

Yu Shouren nodded secretly, the Xiao family is indeed very discerning, and actually thought of sending the young children away, no matter how tragic the war in Jiangling was, as long as the children were safe, then the Xiao family had hope for revitalization.

He waved his hand, "Open the gates!" ”

The Shuicheng Iron Gate was slowly pulled upward, and the five ships sailed out of the city gate, leaving Jiangling City and heading towards the sparkling Yangtze River.

Xiao Yanqin watched the five ships go out of the city, and he waved his hand to say goodbye to the children of the Xiao family......

Yang Yuanqing planned the battle situation for the night, and did not fall asleep until the third watch, but he did not fall asleep for long, and at about the fifth watch, a personal soldier woke him up outside the tent.

"Your Highness! Your Highness! ”

Yang Yuanqing woke up from his sleep suddenly, he saw that it was still dark outside the tent, and he guessed that there was something urgent, so he asked, "What's the matter?" ”

"The patrol found five ships on the south bank, which were the ships of the Xiao family, and said that the head of the Xiao family had a letter to give to His Royal Highness, as well as a large group of children."

Yang Yuanqing was stunned, 'Child? He reacted immediately, smiled, and walked briskly out of the tent.

The big tent of the Sui army was stationed close to the river, the big tent of nearly 60,000 people was more than ten miles, the scale was huge, and the tents could not see the edge, and the Sui army did not carry out enough defensive camping, there were no board walls, and there were no spears and guns gathered, but thousands of patrolmen were sent to patrol around.

Basically, it is certain that there will be no Tang army to attack, the Tang army has not been able to cross the Yangtze River, and even if the Tang army kills from the east, the public security county will light a beacon fire to report the news.

Yang Yuanqing walked quickly to several large tents with the soldiers, and a man in his thirties was anxiously pacing back and forth outside the tents, and a soldier reminded him, "His Royal Highness the King of Chu has arrived." ”

As soon as he turned around, he saw a large group of soldiers surrounding a general wearing a golden helmet and stepped forward, he hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down, "Xiaomin Xiao Mao knocks on His Royal Highness the King of Chu!" ”

When Yang Yuanqing heard this name, he knew that he was the same generation as Xiao Miao, so he nodded with a smile, "Please get up!" ”

A personal soldier helped Xiao Mao up, and Xiao Mao took out a letter and presented it to Yang Yuanqing, "This is a handwritten letter from the head of the family to His Royal Highness, please take a look at it." ”

Yang Yuanqing opened the letter and read it, it turned out that it was the Xiao family who was willing to help the Sui army capture Jiangling City, he couldn't help but secretly rejoice in his heart, so he asked: "How is your family master now, I have seen her once in the four years of the great cause, and I haven't seen her for more than ten years." ”

"Thank you Your Highness for your concern, everything is fine with the head of the family, she is very grateful to His Royal Highness for his support to the Xiao family back then, so that the Xiao family produced a great Sui minister like Xiao Jin."

"Huh! This is the result of their own efforts. ”

Yang Yuanqing turned around and saw that the big tent was full of children, there were forty or fifty people, and there were four or five women taking care of them, so he smiled and said, "Are these the children of the Xiao family?" ”

"Back to Your Highness, these are the children of the Xiao family, I am really afraid of the tragic war, Chai Shao is red-eyed, and the civilians will be harmed, so I will transfer the children out first, and there are some family properties, and I implore Your Highness to protect them."

Yang Yuanqing knew that this was actually the Xiao family's fear that the matter of helping the Sui army would be leaked and slaughtered by Chai Shao, so he transferred the child, he nodded, "I will arrange them properly, but the military camp is inconvenient, you can temporarily live on the logistics ship, where life is more convenient, as for the family property, you can take it to the big ship together." ”

Yang Yuanqing immediately ordered the soldiers to send them to live on the logistics ship, and he looked at Dongfang Tian again, and there was already a slight hint of Qingming.

"What time is it now?"

"Back to Your Highness, I just arrived at the fifth watch."

As soon as the soldier's voice fell, the Sui army camp immediately sounded the rumbling war drums, this is the war drum of the expedition, a group of soldiers rushed out of the big tent, the soldiers are sleeping with the armor, can quickly assemble, today, the Sui army will officially cross the river to attack Jiangling City......

At dawn, hundreds of warships loaded with Sui soldiers began to sail towards the north bank of the Yangtze River, and the prelude to the attack on Jiangling City officially kicked off ......)

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