The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 968

In the southwest of Chengdu, there is a village called Taohua Village. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers and has beautiful scenery. In the east of the village, there is a deep house compound with an area of ​​several tens of acres and a wall two feet high. In the courtyard, apart from dozens of ferocious dogs, there are also There are hundreds of guardians. Although the natives of Taohua Village have never seen the owner of this house, everyone knows that this is a huge warehouse with a large amount of grain stored in it. It is said that there are more than 200 shi.Due to the recent food shortage in Shu County, the owner here seems to be worried that the warehouse will be attacked by refugees, and has added more than [-] capable guards to patrol day and night every day.

The villagers in the village not only did not dislike the owner of this house, but were full of gratitude, because when the food shortage began, the owner gave each villager a stone of grain, helping more than a hundred families in the village to overcome this difficulty, and also made people feel happy. Taohua Village has become a rare paradise on earth in Shu County. It will not become a refugee who has left their hometown. The villagers also know that the current environment is not good, so they help to hide it and tell their children not to talk nonsense.

But in the end, it still complied with the saying that "people are afraid of being famous and pigs are afraid of being strong". After all, this huge house attracted people who coveted it.

At noon that day, more than a thousand cavalrymen rushed straight to Taohua, and quickly surrounded the large warehouse. Dozens of vicious dogs rushed out roaring, and were shot dead by a shower of arrows in an instant. Opening the door, the surge rushed in.

A guard patrolling outside saw that the situation was critical, so he got on his horse and rushed towards Chengdu City.

About half an hour later, a carriage stopped in front of Yin Ashu's house. Yao Qian, the owner of Defu Rice Shop, almost rolled off the carriage. Crying and shouting: "There is an accident in the warehouse of Taohua Village, I want to see the owner!"

Yin Ashu was sitting in the back garden at this time enjoying the cool air. Since the Xuanwumen coup, Yin Ashu knew that his emperor's son-in-law was unreliable, so he also tucked his tail and would not go out unless necessary.

At this time, there was a rush of footsteps outside the door, and the butler said loudly outside the door: "Patriarch, Yao Qian urgently asks for an interview, it seems that something serious has happened."

Yin Ashu was stunned for a moment, then said: "Let him in!"

After a while, Yao Qian rushed in hurriedly under the leadership of the butler, and said in panic: "Patriarch, something serious happened!"

"Don't be so anxious, the sky hasn't fallen yet." Yin Ashu's ancestral home in Bingzhou is from a poor family, but people's way of thinking and behavior habits are often closely related to the people they hand over to. If Yin Ashu doesn't have a moral Concubine daughter, then he will not be much different from his ancestors, but his daughter is Li Yuan's favorite concubine. Ah Shu has been influenced by many outstanding people subtly, and in order not to lose face of his daughter, he has been studying silently, so his current personal knowledge, self-cultivation, and energy-raising skills have all undergone earth-shaking changes.

Under the influence of Yin Ashu's composure, Yao Qian quickly adjusted his mentality and said: "Patriarch, we have 12 grains in the grain depot in Taohua Village, but now it has been occupied by the Red Armored Army. It is said that the leader is Xiangguo. Xiao Yu."

"Why do you want to occupy my granary?" Yin Ashu said with a serious face, "My Yin family didn't steal, rob, and cooperate with the enemy. Why should Xiao Yu occupy my granary?"

"Patriarch, in order to respond to the Holy Majesty's policy of 'officials are not allowed to engage in business', some properties were listed in the names of other people. The granary in Taohua Village is called the granary of Defu Rice Bank!" Yao Qian said in a low voice: "I am here A few days ago, I also swore to Xiao Yu that the Defu rice line only has four thousand stone grain, and if we deceive the government, we are willing to accept any heavy punishment."

Yin Ashu frowned and said: "This is a bit difficult. If I come forward, it will be tantamount to admitting that Defu Mihang is the Yin family's property. There are some things that everyone knows, but they just can't tell the truth. Once the matter is revealed, It’s not good to continue pretending to be confused.”

"Nowadays there is a food shortage everywhere, and the imperial court doesn't have much food to stabilize food prices. Governments everywhere are looking for food like flies. If you don't care about it, Xiao Yu can unscrupulously clean up the Defu rice." Yao Qian whispered in fear. Said that if Yin Ashu stayed out of the matter, Xiao Yu would definitely pour all kinds of sewage on him, and then treat him as a profiteer, using his head to quell public grievances.

"Patriarch, Xiao Xiangguo asks to see you." Just as Yin Ashu was deep in thought, the housekeeper's nervous voice came from outside the door.

"Ah?" Yin Ashu was taken aback. He never thought that Xiao Yu would skip the Defu rice line and come directly to have an interview with himself.

"Ask him to go to the living room!" Yin Ashu glanced at Yao Qian who was full of panic, got up and said, "You don't have to worry, I will take care of the sky falling. You go back first, if anything happens, I will take care of you." Have someone notify you."

"Here! That humble job has gone back." Yao Qian saluted, turned around and left in a hurry.

Yin Ashu changed into a loose coat, walked towards the living room, saw Xiao Yu sitting at the guest table drinking tea, and said with a smile: "Xiao Xiangguo is full of opportunities every day, why is he free to visit the humble house?"

"Master, Xiao Yu is being polite." Xiao Yu got up and saluted.

"Xiao Xiangguo is polite, please sit down!" Yin Ashu asked Xiao Yu to sit down, and went straight to the point: "Did Xiao Xiangguo come here for Defumi's business?"

Yin Ashu also admitted that Yin's family was related to Defu Rice Company. He knew that Xiao Yu had come to the door. Instead of not admitting it and letting him take the food away forcibly, it would be better to admit it directly, maybe there is still room for buffering.

On the contrary, Xiao Yu caught him off guard. After pondering for a while, he also said frankly: "The head of the country also knows that disaster victims are everywhere, and most of the people have become refugees because they have money and can't buy food. Now I have to shoulder the responsibility. The matter of stabilizing food prices and helping the victims of disasters is a matter of great importance, I hope the father-in-law will not misjudge the situation and be severely punished by the court."

"Is Xiao Xiangguo threatening me?" Yin Ashu asked coldly.

Xiao Yu said sincerely: "Headmaster, I am not threatening you, but this matter is related to the life and death of Tang Dynasty, so the King of Huai'an who hoarded countless grains chose to remain silent. I don't believe the father-in-law would think otherwise."

The meaning behind Xiao Yu's words is very clear. It is not your son-in-law Li Yuan who is in charge of the Li Tang Dynasty now, but Li Shimin who is in power by force.And Li Shentong, the king of Huai'an, is not only a man who loves money like his life, but also a confidant of Emperor Li Yuan, but now he is willing to hand over his own food to the court, which shows that Li Shentong dare not confront Li Shimin on this matter. Even if Li's supernatural powers of the Li clan are like this, you, Yin Ashu, as an outdated relative, if you are an enemy of Li Shimin, you are not courting death, what is it?
Yin Ashu also understood Xiao Yu's meaning, was silent for a moment, and finally let out a long sigh, admitting that Xiao Yu was not alarmist.

Xiao Yu said again: "Guo Zhang, I came here with sincerity. If I want to convict the Yin family, it can be said to be as easy as pie. Does the Guo Zhang believe it?"

Yin Ashu was taken aback, he didn't understand Xiao Yu's meaning this time, and asked, "Can Xiao Xiangguo make it clearer?"

Xiao Yu put a map of Shu County in front of Yin Ashu, on which there were four circles circled with red pens, and he continued: "The red circles are from the four rice shops of Defu, Jinyuan, Yunzhong and Luliang respectively. The four major granaries have hoarded 30 shi of grain at least. Today’s grain price has reached more than 500 yuan per bucket of rice. It stands to reason that this is the moment when businessmen make a lot of money, but the reality is that There is no rice to sell in the capital. Now the people in the capital are full of dissatisfaction, and there are even more exiles outside, and the imperial court has no rice to relieve the victims who have gathered in the capital, so that these hungry and crazy disaster soldiers are on the verge of riots. The family grain merchant's plot is wrong, he wants to support the actions of the Sui army and provoke the people of the Tang Dynasty to riot, may I ask the father, what will be the result in the end?"

"Xiao Xiangguo isn't going to do this, is he?" Yin Ahshu saw sweat on his forehead. He understood what Xiao Yu meant. He had a great disturbance with the refugees, and then pushed the charge of "instigating the people to riot in response to the Sui army" to Sijia Mihang.The Yin family, who are behind the scenes of these four rice shops, cannot afford such a serious crime.Even if Li Yuan is the main one now, I'm afraid Li Yuan will be ruthless, let alone Li Shimin who has conflicts with the Yin family.

"That's why I said before that I came here with sincerity." Xiao Yu said to Yin Ashu: "I have one more word of advice to the father-in-law!"

"Xiao Xiangguo, please tell me." Yin Ashu's back was already wet with sweat, and he said in a chaotic voice.

Xiao Yu said: "The crown prince has long wanted to move the hearts of the Yin family. The reason why he did not let go of the butcher's knife is that the Sui Dynasty did not give him time to rectify the internal situation, so as to avoid the embarrassment of internal and external troubles in the Tang Dynasty. Uncle and other relatives who are related to the Holy Majesty will be promoted to rank; secondly, there is no excuse to deal with the Yin family, so they will acquiesce in the country's father to control the grain, and wait for the country's father to put the rope around his neck and then lower the butcher's knife. It's hard to say For one thing, the king is actually digging his own grave."

Yin Ashu stood up, saluted Xiao Yu to the ground, and said very gratefully: "Thanks to Xiangguo Xiao's words of gold and jade, the Yin family was able to escape the catastrophe, and there will be rich rewards in the future."

Xiao Yu suddenly had a feeling in his heart that he had fought life and death with his political opponents for a long time, but it was actually not bad to turn a fight into a treasure once in a while.

Of course, the friendship between Xiao Yu and Yin Ashu was not for the Yin family, but for the Xiao family.

He knew that when the country was about to perish, there would be monsters and evildoers. Some people thought about rebellion, some people were crazily amassing money, and some people took advantage of the chaos to kill. The precarious situation, internal factions, and endless attacks on each other have also reached this level of chaos.

The Xiao family has inextricably linked with Sui and Yang, and is now in a very embarrassing limelight. From Li Shimin's forcing him to stabilize food prices and help the victims, it can be seen that Li Shimin no longer trusts him.At this time, Xiao Yu only wanted to seek stability, not to make enemies on all sides. In order to avoid being hated by Li Yuan and Li Shimin at the same time, he indirectly befriended Li Yuan through Yin Ashu, which was beneficial to the Xiao family.

……

After Xiao Yu left, Yin Ashu immediately ordered: "Order the two young masters, Yao Qian and other shopkeepers to come to see me quickly!"

Soon, Yin Ashu's eldest son Yin Chengcai, his second son Yin Chengqi and the shopkeepers of the four major rice shops all came.

Yin Ashu said: "From now on, the four major rice shops will bring all the grain to the capital, sell it for [-] yuan per bucket of rice, and limit the purchase of five buckets per person. When the food crisis subsides, they will all switch to wood and Shu brocade business."

Yin Ashu's decision stunned everyone, and his eldest son Yin Chengcai stammered and asked, "Father, what's going on?"

"It's nothing, this is my decision as the head of the family and the head of the country, and no one should violate it." After speaking, Yin Ashu ordered: "Immediately carry out."

"Here." The four shopkeepers saluted and left in a hurry.

When there was no one else in the room, Yin Ashu took a deep look at the wicked eldest son, and warned: "You must not provoke anyone in the future, especially the children of the Xiao family. You must be friendly, not hostile, otherwise, I will Severe punishment with family rules!"

"Father, why do you value Xiao's children so much?" Yin Chengcai asked in confusion.

"Because..." Yin Ashu originally wanted to say that the Tang Dynasty was about to end, and that the Yin family, which shared the honor and disgrace of the Li family and shared weal and woe, would not be able to protect themselves. But he was worried that the eldest son would not keep his mouth shut, so he changed his words: "Because Xiao Yu is the prince's father-in-law, the future head of state, and Yang Tong's uncle! If you offend the Xiao family, you will offend both the Sui and Tang dynasties at the same time."

"My son will never provoke Xiao's children!" Hearing his father's words, Yin Chengcai was also frightened by Xiao's background.

"The current situation in Chengdu is very chaotic, so don't go out and hang around in the future." Yin Ashuyou was worried, and threatened with a serious expression: "You are the uncles of the Tang Dynasty, and your heads are valuable in the Sui Dynasty. Military spies are staring at the necks and heads of the two of you."

"My son understands. I'm really too busy, so I'll just play with women at home." Yin Chengcai and Yin Chengqi, who felt their necks whizzing down, said repeatedly.

"It's good to play with women. It's best to let all your maids conceive. More children will bring more blessings." Yin Ashu nodded in praise: "If your daughters-in-law give birth to several beautiful and smart daughters, maybe you will be able to be daughters in the future." Go to the head of the country."

"Do your best, baby." Yin Chengqi, who was more intelligent, said with a wry smile.

"What do you do best? It is necessary." Yin Ashu said dissatisfied: "Look at me, it is because of a beautiful and smart daughter that I have a life like a master today. If I rely on your useless things, I am afraid I will starve to death long ago. .So my daughter is reliable, and I will treat my granddaughter better in the future."

"Yes, yes, yes! Children must have more daughters." After his father said this, Yin Chengqi also found that daughters seemed to be more reliable than sons.

(End of this chapter)