The banquet of the princess of Chu caused a sensation in the Manchu Dynasty, and the civil and military officials praised it one after another, praising the princess for her self-denial and frugality, which is the blessing of the subjects of the world, and the princess's example made the ladies in the backyard of officialdom have reined in the habit of competing for luxury, and began to practice the style of frugality when they went out on the street.

Not only did the women restrain themselves, but even the officials themselves were embarrassed to show off again, trying to dress as simple as possible, saddle horses were ordinary, and the upward and downward effects were effected, and a small thing made the atmosphere of the whole Taiyuan have been greatly changed, and the style of flashy luxury has been washed away.

Just when the people of Taiyuan praised the princess, Yang Yuanqing was not in Taiyuan, and could not realize the love of the officials and the people for the princess, the New Year was approaching, as the supreme commander of the army, it was impossible for him to enjoy the joy of family at home, he came to Hedong County under the escort of two thousand cavalry, and the five thousand soldiers stationed in Hedong County drank Tusu wine, and then transferred to Hanoi County, and then spent the New Year with the soldiers of Hanoi County, he also had to rush to Hengshan County and Shanggu County, where the soldiers were also waiting for him.

On the twenty-fourth day of the lunar month, Yang Yuanqing arrived in Hedong City.

At this time, due to the reconciliation agreement reached between the Sui and Tang dynasties, the border garrison between the two dynasties had been greatly reduced, and the Tang Dynasty transferred a large number of troops to deal with Liang Shidu, while the Sui Dynasty transferred troops to Hebei, so that Hedong County, which was originally heavily garrisoned, was suddenly deserted.

The chief of Hedong County is the general Cui Pojun, and when he heard that the governor was coming, he went out of the city thirty miles to meet him.

'Woo-' The horn sounded in the distance, Cui Pojun led three hundred soldiers to gallop over, he turned over and dismounted, stepped forward and knelt down on one knee in front of Yang Yuanqing's horse, "The last general, Cui Pojun, is here to welcome the chief to come to Hedong County to inspect!" ”

Yang Yuanqing dismounted and helped him up, and said with a smile: "General Cui, please get up!" Yang Yuanqing waved his hand to the three hundred sergeants who knelt down to him, "Brothers have worked hard, please get up!" ”

"Mr. Xie!"

Yang Yuanqing looked behind Cui Pojun again. smiled and asked, "Is Xiao Lvshuai here?" ”

A young brigade commander about sixteen or seventeen years old rode up on horseback and bowed his hand on the horse, "Xiao Yannian see the chief manager!" ”

Xiao Yannian is the son of Yuwen Chengdu, and he came to Taiyuan with his mother two months ago to seek refuge with Yang Yuanqing. Yang Yuanqing placed their mother and son in his own mansion, and arranged for Xiao Yannian to go to Jinyang Palace as a guard, but Xiao Yannian was unwilling to stay in the capital, willing to go to the army to fight, after thinking about it for a long time, Yang Yuanqing agreed to him to join the army, and appointed him as the commander of the army. Garrisoned in Hedong County.

Yang Yuanqing because of the relationship between Yuwen Chengdu, Xiao Yannian is very fond of Xiao Yannian, Xiao Yannian looks like his father, tall and burly, infinite strength, and also makes a phoenix tail gilt boring, his martial arts have been passed on by his father, and he is transcendent. It's just that it's still relatively young and lacks combat experience.

Yang Yuanqing stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Do you want to go back to accompany your mother for the New Year?" ”

Yang Yuanqing was just joking, but Xiao Yannian said solemnly: "You are not allowed to ask for leave when you join the army." Military discipline is like a mountain, and the last general dares to return to Taiyuan! ”

Yang Yuanqing laughed, "Okay! It's a good military discipline. ”

He turned over on his horse, took his bow from his own soldier, drew an iron arrow, and smiled at Xiao Yannian: "I used to compare arrows with your father back then, and I heard that your archery skills are no less than my father's, let me see it." ”

Xiao Yannian is young and vigorous, he has heard his father say more than once that Yang Yuanqing's archery skills are unparalleled in the world. He wanted to see it in his heart, and he also believed that he was skilled in archery, so he did not hesitate to take off his two-stone hard bow, draw out an arrow, and said to Yang Yuanqing: "Please take charge of the question!" ”

Yang Yuanqing looked up at the sky, and the migratory birds were heading south in winter. The sky is quiet, but there is a willow tree by the small river a hundred steps away, the willow branches are slender and dense, Yang Yuanqing pointed with an iron arrow, "There is a willow tree over there, you can shoot a hundred steps through the willow technique." ”

After saying that, Yang Yuanqing urged the war horse to gallop, running one hundred and fifty steps, he opened his bow and set up an arrow, and shot an arrow at high speed, the iron arrow passed through the dense wicker like black lightning, and did not move a branch of wicker, winning a cheer from the soldiers, Yang Yuanqing put down his bow and looked at him with a smile.

Xiao Yannian bit his lip, he had no problem piercing Yang in a hundred steps, but he had never shot in one hundred and fifty steps, he suddenly bit his lip fiercely, urged the war horse to gallop wildly, and also ran to one hundred and fifty steps away, and suddenly turned around and shot an arrow, the arrow flew fast, passing through the dense wicker, but the last wicker moved slightly, causing the soldiers to sigh regretfully.

Xiao Yannian's face suddenly swelled red, and he lowered his head in shame, Yang Yuanqing patted him on the shoulder with a smile, "I hope that next time I see you, you can pass through Yang one hundred and fifty steps away from the bow." ”

Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly, and under the escort of everyone, he galloped towards Hedong City, leaving Xiao Yannian looking at the willow tree in a daze.

Yang Yuanqing did not rush into the city, but went to Pujindu, according to the settlement agreement between the Sui and Tang dynasties, the two sides restored the original iron cable pontoon bridge in Pujindu, at this time a long iron cable pontoon bridge has appeared on the frozen Yellow River for thousands of miles, in order not to affect shipping, this pontoon bridge also adopted Li Chun's method, using the winter dry season, cofferdam drainage, laying one hundred and twenty wooden piles at the bottom of the river, building a real bridge in the middle of the river, the boat can pass under the huge bridge hole, looking from afar, the pontoon bridge forms an arc in the middle of the river, The momentum is magnificent, it is the eve of the New Year, the iron pontoon bridge is full of people coming and going, especially lively, many merchants drive mules and horses, full of goods from the other side.

Yang Yuanqing immediately stood on a high hill, looking at Guanzhong in the distance, the weather was clear, and he could clearly see the forests and mountains on the opposite bank.

After staring for a moment, Yang Yuanqing turned back and asked Cui Pojun, "Has there been any change in the Tang Army on the other side recently?" ”

Cui Pojun shook his head, "Back to the general manager, there is no change, we often send scouts to pretend to be businessmen to check the situation on the other side, there are about 5,000 garrisons on the other side, the main general is called Sheng Yanshi, a few days ago, we also sent people to send hundreds of baskets of mountain fruits, and we also sent some mutton." ”

After a pause, Cui Pojun said again: "It seems that Pei Changshi has something important to report to the imperial court, and he talked about it yesterday." ”

As soon as the words fell, a soldier shouted: "Pei Changshi is here!" ”

I saw more than a dozen people on horseback galloping from a distance, the first official was about fifty years old, with a medium stature, and his appearance was very similar to Pei Ju, he was Pei Ju's eldest son Pei Wenjing, who had been an official in the local government for many years, and Yang Yuanqing had married Pei Minqiu for so many years, and he had only seen him twice.

Pei Wenjing was originally the Taishou of Nanyang County. Because the bandit Zhu Wei led an army of 100,000 to capture Nanyang County, Pei Wenjing fled north in panic, and after the establishment of the new Sui Dynasty, Pei Wenjing was appointed as the governor of Hedong County.

Although Pei Wenjing has a shrewd and brilliant father. But his own ability is relatively mediocre, he was promoted to Taishou after 20 years in the office, and he belongs to the tiger father and dog type, but his eldest son Pei Jin is good, young and promising, as early as Luoyang, he is the leader of the younger generation of officials, Pei Ju is very disappointed in his son. He pinned all his hopes on his grandson.

Although Pei Wenjing's ability is mediocre, he is very modest and low-key, and he is relatively honest, which is his greatest advantage, he urged him to immediately step forward and bow to Yang Yuanqing, "Shi Pei Wenjing, the lowly magistrate of Hedong County, see Chief Yang!" ”

Yang Yuanqing smiled and asked back, "During the New Year, does Pei Changshi want to go back to Taiyuan?" ”

Pei Wenjing shook his head. "This year's lowly affairs are busy, so I won't go back for the time being, and I plan to return to Wenxi next year to worship my ancestors."

Yang Yuanqing nodded. "It's hard work Pei Changshi, just now General Cui said that you have something important to report to the court, I don't know what it is?"

Pei Wenjing thought for a while and said: "A few days ago, I cracked a private money bank and got information that some businessmen took advantage of the loopholes of new and old coins to make huge profits. ”

Before the establishment of the New Sui Dynasty, the Hedong region, like other counties and counties of the Great Sui, used relatively poor Daye money, due to the flood of private money, the currency was extremely chaotic, after the establishment of the New Sui Dynasty. Immediately issued new money with a very high copper content, Daye money was forbidden to circulate, and all county towns designated special shops as exchange points, allowing people to exchange old money for new money, and strictly prohibiting private exchange, and a loophole was found in Taiyuan. Some people mint fake new money to exchange it for old money, coax those who have not seen new money, and then use the old money to exchange it for real new money.

Yang Yuanqing's face immediately sank, "What kind of loophole?" ”

When this kind of thing happened in Hedong County, his first reaction was to think of the Tang Dynasty minting fake money to circulate in Hedong and destroying the currency system of the Sui Dynasty.

Pei Wenjing saw that Yang Yuanqing's face sank and understood his mood, so he hurriedly smiled: "This loophole is not a fake coin, but a currency value loophole between the Sui and Tang dynasties. ”

Yang Yuanqing was slightly stunned, the currency value loophole between the Sui and Tang dynasties, this was something he didn't expect, he was a little interested in his heart, and asked: "Tell me specifically, what kind of loophole?" ”

"I heard that Chang'an has a store that specializes in buying our new money, and two new money can be exchanged for five Wen Daye money, but on our side, two new money can only be exchanged for four Wen Daye money, so some people take advantage of the difference in the price of this Wen to change hands back and forth, and make huge profits from it."

Yang Yuanqing pondered for a long time, and suddenly asked, "Can new money be circulated in Guanzhong?" ”

"Of course, the copper content of our new money is very high, and it is very popular in the Guanzhong area, if the circulation is large enough, I estimate that the Guanzhong store will no longer collect big business money."

Yang Yuanqing flashed a thought in his mind, if this is the case, he can use the new money to go to Guanzhong to buy a large number of important materials such as grain, oil, cloth and so on, in recent years, when they were mining iron ore in Yanchuan County, they also mined associated copper ore at the same time, and got a large number of high-grade copper ingots, and have been minting money on a large scale, and now the money they minted has fully met the circulation in the Hedong region, if the amount of money minted is increased, and copper coins are exchanged for materials from the Tang Dynasty, this is a very good way to weaken the Tang Dynasty.

Even in the warehouse of Jinyang Gongcang City, there was a large amount of exchanged Daye money, which was originally intended to be melted, since Daye money could be circulated in the Tang Dynasty, so why not use this money to buy grain, cloth and other materials from the Tang Dynasty?

This thought made Yang Yuanqing a little unbearable in his heart, in their reconciliation there is a clause, the two sides keep trade unimpeded, which makes it possible for him to purchase a large number of materials in Guanzhong, especially in winter, the ice surface of the Yellow River can pass at will, as long as it takes a month, he can hit the national strength of the Tang Dynasty hard, so that Guanzhong materials face a serious shortage.

Thinking of this, Yang Yuanqing immediately said to Pei Wenjing: "I plan to meet with the big businessmen of Hedong County, you can arrange it for me, and the time will be set for tomorrow morning." ”

Yang Yuanqing then said to Pei Qingsong, who accompanied him on the visit: "I want to send an eagle letter to Taiyuan immediately, you can record it!" ”