The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 689 Soldiers are approaching the city, Xiangyang is under martial law

Due to the outbreak of the rebellion and Wu Chuansi's strict control of speech, Xiangyang City became very quiet, the streets were deserted, and shops closed one after another.A sense of pre-storm floods the city.

In Lingyun Winery, there were two old men sitting opposite each other for a drink. One was named Dugu Kaiming, the concubine of Dugu Xin's eldest son Dugu Luo. After the important figures of the Dugu family were placed under house arrest, many children of the Dugu family were also closely monitored in Xiangyang City, making it impossible for them to withdraw from Xiangyang.

Although Dugu Kaiming is the son of Duguluo, he is a bastard and has no power in the Dugu clan. He made a big mistake for more than 30 years and was expelled from the Dugu clan by the angry Duguzhen. , In fact, life is quite poor. Since the time of Yang Guang, he has been a transparent person, and no one cares about his existence.Of course, the so-called expulsion from the clan was just a deliberate arrangement made by Duguzheng to confuse the Sui and Tang dynasties, and the purpose was to make it easier for the Dugu clan to act better.

Dugu Kaiming is actually one of the most important figures of the Dugu Clan among the people of the Dugu Clan. He is "leisure" and has been controlling the dead soldiers of the Dugu Clan. He is an indispensable and powerful helper for Dugu Zheng and Dugu Cheng. One case was arranged by him.It's just that he hid it well, for so many years, he never showed his flaws, and his descendants don't know that he is still the core figure of the Dugu Clan.So after Dugu Cheng and other children of the Dugu clan were all imprisoned, his little life was quite leisurely.

The drinking buddy sitting opposite him is named Yu Qian, who is the bastard son of Yu Zhongwen. His situation in the Yu family is very similar to that of Dugu Kaiming. When faced with a crisis, Duguzheng set the train of thought for his son-in-law Yu Yun.So Dugu Kaiming knew the identity of the other party, but Yu Qian didn't know that Dugu Kaiming was doing the same thing as himself.

"Brother Yu, guess how much we spent on this meal." Dugu asked with an open smile.

Yu Qian stroked his beard and said with a smile: "The wine is fruit wine, and there are four dishes, one is stewed mutton, the other is stir-fried slices, a carp with pickled vegetables, and a bone soup. In the past, it would cost three hundred yuan at most. Right or left. Now, I think it’s worth the money if you don’t talk about it!”

Dugu smiled openly, and said very firmly: "Now, if you don't talk about it, you have to do it three times, and you only accept Yanhuang Tongbao or Kaiyuan Tongbao."

"Sanguan?" Yu Qian was taken aback, "This is worse than stealing money."

He didn't quite believe it, so he called the bartender and asked, "How much did we pay?"

The bartender replied respectfully: "Grandpa, you spent 120 taels for three pennies for this meal."

"It's really so expensive?" Yu Qian looked at the smiling Dugu Kaiming in surprise.

"The old man must seldom go out, so I don't know what's going on recently." The bartender thought Yu Qian was talking to him, and said with a wry smile: "Not only are prices rising now, but also because the Holy Majesty collected gold, silver and copper coins and went to Nanjun in the Sui Dynasty to buy a large amount of high-priced rice as military rations." , a lot of money went to the Sui Dynasty, and now Xiangyang is not short of food, but money, and one Kaiyuan coin is now worth more than two before."

Yu Qian was puzzled and said, "Since money is so valuable, shouldn't we only need to have more meals this time?"

"That's not how it is calculated." The bartender shook his head and explained: "With the summer grain entering the warehouse and a large amount of Sui Dynasty rice entering Xiangyang, there is no shortage of grain now, but there is a shortage of everything except grain. So grain prices appeared. Vegetables are expensive."

A few years ago, Yang Tong promoted Yanhuang Tongbao under his rule, and recovered the previous five baht coins from the people at a price much higher than five baht coins. Sooner or later his treasury will be exhausted.However, he bought a large amount of materials from various places with the eliminated five baht money. The influx of a large amount of Sui five baht led to a situation of more money and less goods, which caused prices to skyrocket and people's resentment boiled.Li Yuan, who bears the brunt, will have to transport all the materials from Bashu and Jingxiang to Daxing to barely stabilize the prices.In order to avoid the recurrence of the past, Li Yuan imitated the Sui Dynasty and issued Kaiyuan Tongbao to recover the disadvantages in coins, but it could not recover the huge losses before.

Li Yuan poured all his power into the country last year and launched the Eastern Expedition. All kinds of material resources were continuously transported to the front line. However, with the failure of the Eastern Expedition, all the money, food and military equipment fell into the hands of the Sui Dynasty and became the other party's spoils of war.The Tang Dynasty was impoverished. Although the relevant Long nobles donated, there was still a food shortage among the people.At the end of last year, Fang Xuanling went to Xiangyang and reached a commercial agreement with the Tang Dynasty, allowing the Tang Dynasty to use gold, silver, jewelry and Kaiyuan Tongbao to buy grain in Nanjun.Li Tang's government and the people rejoiced. Li Yuan was afraid that the Sui Dynasty would turn his back on his word. In just one month, he bought grain at a price of one million shi from Nanjun, and then came back one after another.However, as a large amount of money flowed to the Sui Dynasty, Xiangyang inevitably experienced a money shortage.

"I see, thank you brother for clarifying the confusion." Yu Qian said.

"Don't dare to take it." The bartender bowed and retreated.

Yu Qian looked at Dugu Kaiming, and said depressedly: "Brother Dugu, why do I feel that the Sui and Tang dynasties are full of Yang Tong-style conspiracy."

"good."

Dugu nodded enlightenedly, and said in a low voice: "In the past, the influx of five baht in the Sui Dynasty caused a food shortage; now a large influx of high-priced grain has caused a money shortage in Xiangyang. The two are completely opposite. Conspiracy. To tell you the truth, I have long heard that there is a phenomenon of barter among the people, but because the prices of the exchanged items are different, the conflicts and disputes arising from the barter continue to increase, and there have been bloodshed in many places Conflicts. If the court cannot solve the money shortage problem, sooner or later there will be large-scale riots."

Yu Qian sighed: "Actually, the way to solve the money shortage is very simple, that is, to mint money, mint a lot of money, and then buy out all the materials of the Sui and Tang Dynasties, so that Yang Yu lost everything. In this way, he will be short of food and materials." , there is no way to start the battle of Sui and Tang Dynasties."

"Speak lightly." Dugu said in an open-minded manner: "The thirteen prefectures in the world, except Yizhou in my dynasty, Jingzhou in the small half, Jiaozhou in Feng An, and some of them belonged to Lin Shihong and Meng Haigong, all belong to Yang Tong. With so many materials produced in so many places, how can only Yizhou and a small half of Jingzhou be able to buy them up? Besides, I haven’t discovered copper mines for a long time, so how can I have so much money to buy them?”

"Brother Dugu is not an outsider, so I dare to tell the truth. My family is hoarding a lot of food now, but there is a shortage of everything except food. Now I am not afraid of starving to death, but we can't just eat dry rice." Yu Qian was silent for a while , wryly smiled and said: "I find it strange, even if the imperial court buys a large amount of grain and there is a situation where there is no money to use, how can the wealth of the people be consumed so quickly?"

Dugu said openly, "When the Sui Dynasty traded with the imperial court, it was true that our dynasty was allowed to use Kaiyuan Tongbao to buy grain, but the people of the Sui Dynasty did not accept Kaiyuan Tongbao, and only recognized Yanhuang Tongbao. The merchants in my dynasty did not have Yanhuang Tongbao, so they could only use special products. It was sold in the Sui Dynasty, but they did not bring the goods back. They directly exchanged them to the Sui Dynasty for gold to make a difference. As a result, there were fewer and fewer supplies other than food. It is much easier for the people to exchange gold than before. That’s it. The reason is that Xiangyang is short of everything except food."

Yu Qian was surprised and said: "I understand. Since this kind of thing happened, why didn't the Holy One take care of it? If this continues, then it's okay?"

Dugu shook his head enlightenedly: "The only way is to interrupt the trade, but once it is interrupted, where will the court's food come from? Without food, how can we support so many troops?"

Yu Qian suddenly said: "In the final analysis, it is still a huge army that has drained our dynasty's wealth."

Dugu nodded enlightenedly and said: "Yes. I have such a big territory with such a small population, but I have to maintain hundreds of thousands of troops. This is far beyond the capacity of the people. The people have endured to the extreme. If Increase taxes, and the people will rebel."

"I understand, most of our army is maintained by food from the Sui Dynasty. If the Sui Dynasty cut off trade..." Yu Qian looked at Dugu Kaiming in surprise.

"If the Sui Dynasty interrupts trade, our dynasty will lose the food to support the army. At that time, the Holy Majesty has only two options, one is to reduce the army in large numbers, and the other is to increase taxes. However, I think the Holy Majesty will choose to increase taxes. Just because the Sui army has millions of troops, if you don't maintain a huge army, you are no match at all." Dugu said enlightenedly.

Yu Qian nodded understandingly and said: "I understand that the expansion of the Sui Dynasty's army is also a trick. The purpose is to let our dynasty follow suit, and then let our army eat up the money and food of the dynasty. Once the trade is interrupted, internal conflicts will immediately erupt. Our army will not fight. Self-disorder. This is an unresolvable conspiracy, unless..."

"Unless His Majesty surrenders." Dugu added enlightenedly.

"Hush." ​​Yu Qian waved his hand quickly.

When Dugu Kaiming turned his head, he saw more than a dozen Wuchuan soldiers walking towards this side, he was shocked and dared not speak any more.

"May I ask who is Mr. Yu?" the leader of the brigade commander asked far away.

"It's the old man." Yu Qian stood up, cupped his hands and said, "May I ask the general what's the matter?"

"We are on a business trip under the order of our superiors. Please come with us." Wu Chuansi followed Li Yuanji into Sichuan and was fully taken over by Han Zhi. Although he arrested people, he no longer arrested ordinary people like before. Under his management, Wu Chuanzu was much more low-key and polite than under Li Yuanji.

"Why?"

It is the consensus of Xiangyang people that there is no return to the Wuchuan Sijun Yamen. If you go with them, you will only have a dead end.Hearing what the other party said, Yu Qian's face changed drastically, and his thighs trembled.

Dugu Kaiming also got up and said: "Did the general find the wrong person? Yu was not from the Yu family long ago."

"Of course we know that Yu Lao was expelled from the clan a long time ago." The brigade commander said coldly: "But Yu Lao, are you really not related to the Yu family?"

Yu Qian only felt chills all over his body, knowing that he was exposed, he pretended to be calm and smiled bitterly: "I am no longer a member of the Yu family as early as 12 years ago."

"This is not something that a humble official can know." Lu Shuai said with a smile: "But please cooperate with Mr. Yu, otherwise..."

"What else?" Dugu Kaiming already knew that Yu Qian had been exposed, and was extremely shocked.

"Anyone who dares to resist will be killed without mercy." Said the brigade commander.

Dugu Kaiming's expression changed drastically.

"Brother Dugu, take care." Yu Qian knew that he could not escape this catastrophe, so he saluted and left with Wu Chuanwei.

Dugu Kaiming looked at Yu Qian's leaving back, and a feeling of sadness emerged spontaneously.

At this time, the bartender came over and said anxiously: "Why don't you pay the bill first, old man!"

"What a fart bill!" The fear in Dugu Kaiming's heart seemed to find an outlet when the bartender spoke. He slapped the table heavily, and furiously said, "We were arrested when we had a meal at your place. What kind of bird shop are you guys? It’s fine if I don’t bother you, but you still have the nerve to ask the old man to pay? There’s no door…”

"Don't misunderstand, old man, this matter has absolutely nothing to do with us." The bartender repeatedly argued, "Lingyun Distillery is the property of Han Changshi, Secretary of Wu Chuan, and Wu Chuan Wei would never randomly arrest people here if there is no reason. You are safe and sound now, which means that Wu Chuanwei is only looking for your old friend."

Dugu asked openly: "You mean that the whole wine shop only arrests the old man's friends?"

"That's right." The bartender nodded and said, "I heard from people outside that, except for a few residences such as the Dou Mansion and the Doulu Mansion, all the mansions related to the nobles in Guanlong were surrounded by the army."

After Dugu Kaiming heard this, he immediately knew that the affairs of the nobles in Guanlong had escalated, and this realization also shocked him.

Yu Qian, as the dark son of the Yu family, has been hiding for more than ten years, but he was still caught out, what about himself?

Dugu Kaiming felt confused for a while.

'Da da da da...'

At this time, there was a sound of rushing horseshoes on the street. Dugu Kaiming looked out and saw groups of soldiers appearing on the street. Martial law has begun, and no one is allowed to stay on the streets. Please return home as soon as possible, so as not to be mistaken for the Sui army's secret work and be injured."

"There is an order from the Holy Spirit, the whole city is under martial law for an hour! Please return home as soon as possible, so as not to be mistaken for the Sui army's secret operations and be injured." The soldiers roared loudly.

"There is an order from the Holy Spirit, the whole city is under martial law for an hour! Please return home as soon as possible, so as not to be mistaken for the Sui army's secret work and be injured."

"..."

Following the shouts of the soldiers, the diners in the winery paid their bills one after another, and hurried towards home.Dugu Kaiming also paid the bill, left the winery, boarded the car and left in a hurry.

When all the drinkers left, the gate of Lingyun Winery was closed immediately.Not only Lingyun Winery, but all the shops, brothels, and inns in Xiangyang City were also closed according to the order.In an instant, the number of pedestrians on Xiangyang Street suddenly increased, and one or two rushed home in a hurry.All the gates of the city were immediately closed, and no one was allowed to enter or exit.

This is after Qu Tugai took over the military defense of Xiangyang and began martial law, preparing to meet the invading rebels.

According to the information sent from the front, the [-] rebels led by Dugu Yanyun have arrived in Yongqing County, Fangling County, and will enter Xiangyang tomorrow, and there is not much time for Qu Tugai to prepare.

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(End of this chapter)