There is an alley called Baiyuan Street in the west of Taiyuan City, there is only one middle house in the alley, covering an area of about four or five acres, and next to it is a military camp, stationed with three hundred soldiers guarding the west city gate.

But this is the middle house but there are more than 100 soldiers stationed in this middle house, this middle house is actually a prison, in a small courtyard in the depths of the house is a person under house arrest, this person is the Goryeo Prime Minister Yuan Taizuo who was captured in the battle of Liaodong.

Nearly half a year has passed since he was captured in the spring, and in half a year, Yuan Taizuo was imprisoned in this courtyard, sitting in a well like a frog watching the sky, with only a mute old servant cooking for him every day.

The only thing that made Yuan Taizuo feel fortunate was that he got more than a dozen books, and it was these dozen books that accompanied him through the nearly half a year.

Yuan Taizuo didn't know when he would be released, but he knew one thing, he would not be imprisoned until he died of old age, and the reason why Yang Yuanqing put him under house arrest was because he had political value, and he would be released back to China when he needed to use his value.

It's just that when this time will come, he doesn't know, maybe it won't appear until the Sui Dynasty unifies the world, because only then will the Sui Dynasty free up its hands to deal with Goryeo.

As the days passed, Yuan Taizuo also felt that he was getting older day by day, and his heart became numb from expectation.

He no longer thought about when he would be able to go out, and was ready to die in a foreign country, because he suddenly realized that his son Gasuwen didn't really want him to go back.

This is often the case in many ways, when people are desperate and no longer have expectations, but opportunities will come quietly.

Early in the morning, Yuan Taizuo, who was reading a book under the tree, was alarmed by a slight commotion outside the courtyard, for half a year. There was a terrible silence outside the courtyard. There was never any sound, and sometimes he couldn't help but scold the defenders outside, in order to get the other party to scold back. But the guards outside never paid attention to him.

The long silence made Yuan Taizuo particularly sensitive to sound, and the slightest movement outside the courtyard would make him feel stunned, and he stood up suddenly. I don't know what's going on outside.

Then there was the sound of the lock opening, 'Squeak! With a bang, the almost rusty iron courtyard door was opened, and a large group of soldiers poured in, all armed with guns and knives, murderous.

Behind the soldiers walked an officer, tall and burly, with piercing eyes and a golden crown on his head. Yuan Taizuo recognized this person, it was the supreme king of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Yuanqing, the king of Chu. He was stunned for a moment.

Yang Yuanqing was stunned when he saw him. couldn't help but smile slightly, "Yuan Xiangguo doesn't know me?" ”

Yuan Taizuo took a step back. More than half a year of imprisonment has worn out more than half of the arrogance in his bones, and he bowed slightly, "It turned out to be His Royal Highness the King of Chu!" ”

Yang Yuanqing looked into the courtyard, "The courtyard is also clean, let's talk in the courtyard!" ”

The soldier immediately lifted a couch in the courtyard, and placed a small table on the couch, Yang Yuanqing waved his hand, "Yuan Xiangguo, please!" ”

Yuan Taizuo's mind was blank, he almost instinctively sat down with Yang Yuanqing, a personal soldier served two cups of tea, Yang Yuanqing saw that his eyes were still confused, so he smiled and said: "Yuan Xiangguo didn't expect me to come?" ”

Yuan Taizuo came back to his senses a little at this time, after all, he was the power minister of Goryeo, and he had enough depth, but half a year of imprisonment made him a little sluggish, but as long as he reacted, he would soon regain the bearing that Xiangguo should have.

Yuan Taizuo picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, the blankness in his eyes disappeared, and it became profound, he put down the teacup and said lightly: "His Royal Highness the King of Chu has every opportunity, how can he have time to meet me, the general of the defeated army?" ”

He threw out a tentative word, why did Yang Yuanqing come to see him, did he have some kind of value?

Yang Yuanqing seemed to know that he was going to ask like this, and said quietly: "I'm really busy, if it weren't for something that happened, I wouldn't have remembered you at all, and I won't hide it from Yuan Xiangguo, I met with the secret envoy sent by the king of Silla yesterday, and he wants to make a deal with me, do you know what it is?" ”

Yuan Taizuo's face changed greatly, Silla is Goryeo's sworn enemy, for decades, I don't know how many Silla people have died in his hands, they came to Yang Yuanqing to make a deal, it must be related to themselves.

He became a little nervous and asked uneasily, "Could it be that the Silla people want my head?" ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded, "That's true, they are ready to buy your head at a high price, and the price is very attractive." ”

Yuan Taizuo lowered his head, the Silla people wanted to kill him, in his expectation, was it just that Yang Yuanqing just handed himself over to the other party? He even said that the price was very attractive.

At this time, Yang Yuanqing continued: "If the king of Silla came to me to make this deal a few months ago, I might not agree, but now I ......."

Yang Yuanqing shook his head with some regret and didn't say any more, but Yuan Taizuo understood the meaning of Yang Yuanqing's later words, because now that his son Gai Suwen was in power, he had no use value.

"The dignified King of Chu of Sui, a powerful figure in the world, do you still have to bend your waist for five buckets of rice?" Yuan Taizuo said in a deep voice.

Yang Yuanqing laughed, "This is not a matter of five buckets of rice, but a deal, but I came to Yuan Xiangguo to give Xiangguo a chance." ”

Yuan Taizuo suddenly understood what Yang Yuanqing meant, it was precisely because he lost his political value that Yang Yuanqing wanted to exchange himself for a sum of money, for Silla and for Goryeo, he wanted to bargain on both sides to get the greatest benefits.

Yuan Taizuo suddenly couldn't suppress the excitement in his heart, and said in a trembling voice: "I can give His Royal Highness the King of Chu a ransom in exchange for my freedom." ”

Yang Yuanqing pondered for a while, and said slowly: "There is something I want to say earlier, I handed over the Xiangguo to Silla, in fact, not for any money, but for an alliance with Silla, so if you want to be free, you must pay a greater price than the alliance with Silla, you are the minister of power in Goryeo, you should understand this political interest." ”

Yuan Taizuo nodded silently, "I understand, Your Highness will make a bid!" ”

Yang Yuanqing took out a document, put it on the table and pushed it to him, "I want 300,000 stone grain, if Yuan Xiang agrees, please sign the paperwork, I will send someone to send the document to Ling Lang, once the grain is sent across the Liao River, I will put Xiangguo back, this is our deal." ”

The Sui Dynasty fought Goryeo three times, leaving millions of stone grain and countless ordnance materials, which became the trophies of the Goryeo people, Goryeo had grain, and 300,000 stone grain could be completely obtained, even if it was in Yuanzi Taizuo's own treasury, there was enough food.

Yuan Taizuo stretched out his hand and pressed the paperwork, "Your Highness is a person who is full of words, since you say it, you should not regret it, just like that, we will make a decision." ”……

Goryeo is just an abbreviation, it is actually called Goguryeo, and it is a minority country founded by the prince of Buyeo, whose ancestors are the ancient people of ancient times.

Regardless of blood and race, Goguryeo is not a country on the Korean Peninsula in the traditional sense, and in terms of language and customs, Goguryeo is very different from Silla and Baekje.

Goguryeo had its own language, but it did not have its own script, and borrowed Chinese characters to record history, in fact, whether it was Goguryeo, Silla, or Baekje, their aristocracy and upper class were all proud to speak Chinese.

The capital of Goryeo is Pyongyang, a large city near the west coast, located in the lower reaches of the Beishui River, Pyongyang is also the largest city on the entire peninsula, with a circumference of 30 miles, a population of more than 200,000, and a garrison of about 30,000 people.

Goryeo was originally a relatively powerful country in the northeast, but after the Sui Dynasty's three eastward expeditions and the Liaodong Campaign half a year ago, Goryeo's military strength has been greatly weakened, and the number of troops is only more than 100,000 people, mainly distributed in the south of the Han River border to defend Silla, followed by the east of the Liao River in the north to defend against the Sui Dynasty.

At this time, there was no peace in the Goryeo Kingdom, and the king of the Goryeo Plain, Gao Yuan, died of illness last year, and then his son Gao Jianwu ascended the throne and was called King Yeeliu, but the military and political power of Goryeo was in the hands of Mo Lizhi Yuan Taizuo.

Yuan Taizuo was captured by the Sui army in the Battle of Liaodong in the spring, and his son Yuan Gai Suwen quickly took over his father's power and took control of the Goryeo army.

Gai Suwen's lair is not in Pyongyang, but in the north of the domestic city on the bank of the Aplu River, 70,000 heavy troops are deployed in the vicinity of the domestic city, and 50,000 heavy troops are also deployed in the north of the Han River, and these 120,000 troops are in the hands of Gai Suwen.

King Gao Jianwu lived in the capital Pyongyang, and he also had a little army in his hands, which was nearly 30,000 troops guarding the capital.

It is precisely because Pyongyang is controlled by the King of Goryeo that Gai Suwen hardly stays in Pyongyang, only comes for one or two days a month to deal with some official business, and then leaves quickly to prevent himself from being assassinated by Gao Jianwu.

Even the children of Pyongyang know that there is a deep contradiction between the monarchs and ministers of Goryeo.

On this morning, a caravan from the north entered Pyongyang City, consisting of about 200 horses carrying a large amount of fur on their backs.

There were dozens of merchants, more mixed, among them were Turks, Khitans, Han and Goryeo, the leader of the merchant was a Han man, about thirty years old, bronzed skin, burly, very strong.

They led their horses into the city, and the streets were bustling with people coming and going, and it was particularly lively, and it could be seen that Pyongyang was a relatively developed city with commerce.

After entering the city, they walked about two miles and came to a hostel, which was called a hostel by the Koreans, and the restaurant and lodging were connected together, covering a large area of ten acres of land.

The leading merchant glanced at the plaque hanging above the inn, which contained the Chinese character 'Ya', he nodded, and said to the crowd in Chinese: "Everyone, this is it, rest today, and sell goods tomorrow." ”

A guy rushed out, he was well-informed, could speak a few words of Chinese, and warmly greeted everyone: "The food in the small shop is cheap, the taste is good, and the accommodation is also very clean, a few merchants from afar will live in our small shop!" ”

The leader nodded, and led the group into the elegant inn