At the end of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 384
Empress Xiao seemed to be still interested, and asked again: "General Gao Lang, what other interesting things did the father and son say later?"

This question hit Gao Bufan's heart, he coughed lightly and said: "They found that I was listening behind me, but they didn't say anything interesting, so I went up to ask them how the harvest was. He poured out bitter water, saying that this year's severe drought and flood, the harvest was extremely poor, and there was not enough to eat after paying the tax. Their family was not bad, and there were still two men's labor. Many families in the county lost their fields due to lack of labor. It has been abandoned for a long time, women and children can only abandon their homes and wander around begging, some have to join bandits and bandits, robbing houses, and some... ran to Liyang warehouse to collect food, and never came back."

Empress Xiao fell silent immediately, and Yang Guang's complexion gradually darkened, revealing a look of thought.

In fact, Yang Guang is well aware of the current domestic situation, but he just refuses to face it. To put it bluntly, it is an ostrich mentality of escaping reality. Those who didn't listen to it would even get angry, but Gao Bufan said it in such a funny and euphemistic way, he listened to it.

Why are there so few males?Why is there a shortage of labor?
This is all caused by Yang Guang's two expeditions to Goguryeo regardless of the life and death of the people. The first expedition failed and he lost more than 100 million troops. Although the second defeat was not a big loss, all the men were conscripted into the army , and have to use several times the number of civilian husbands to guarantee the logistics. All the men in the country have gone to war. How can I ask where there is still labor to farm?
What if there is no food?
You can only beg, you can only be a bandit!
At this time, Yang Xuangan opened the warehouse to release grain, how could the hungry people not go to get the grain?Therefore, the common people have a wish to participate in Yang Xuangan's rebellion in order to fill their stomachs. Anyway, they are all dead, so it is better to fight!
Of course, Gao Bufan will not say these words directly, Yang Guang can only reflect on himself. Judging from Yang Guang's reaction now, he obviously listened to it. As for the effect, it depends on his subsequent performance. If Yang Guang still insisted on killing all the people who had received Yang Xuangan's food after returning to Luoyang, it meant that Gao Bufan's words today had no effect.

All the gentlemen present are old veterans in the officialdom, how can they not understand Gao Bufan's real intention at this time?So those who looked at Gao Bufan had complicated eyes!
Nayan Suwei's eyes were brilliant, he was both happy and ashamed, and he also admired Gao Bufan's wit and courage. In fact, he had long wanted to persuade Yang Guang to take back his life, so as not to destroy the Great Wall himself, but during this time, Yang Guang's temperament It's too scary, it's like having some blood every day to enjoy it, so Su Wei didn't dare to say anything, lest he touch Yang Guang's bad luck, but no one dared to touch Ni Lin, Gao Bufan touched it, and touched it Very skillful and beautiful, at least the emperor didn't get angry immediately.

Li Yuan looked at Gao Bufan and fell into deep thought. Yu Shiji's eyes rolled wildly, and he only paid attention to the emperor's reaction. If the emperor was angry, he would step on Gao Bufan. secret.

Huangmen servant Pei Ju didn't know why, but his expression was a little surprised, Li Hun and Li Min's uncle and nephew were expressionless, as for Fan Zigai, the old fox, he was staring at his left little finger, as if he was admiring a peerless article.

Yang Qingruo's mood was undoubtedly complicated, he was worried but also a little relieved, and also a little proud.

Worried, naturally worried that the emperor would get angry, and then bad luck for that nosy guy!
I am gratified, but Gao Bufan tactfully advised the emperor to be benevolent, which is an expression of "consideration" for the great Sui Dynasty. If Yang Qing is a firm royalist, he is very relieved.

Pride, of course, is being proud of someone's courage and wit. Someone has done something that no one else dared to do, and it has been done beautifully.

After a long time, Yang Guang said expressionlessly, "Gao Lang will step down."

Gao Bufan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, in fact he was also very nervous, fortunately, Yang Guang did not lose his temper on the spot, anyway, he did what he had to do, as to whether he could change Yang Guang's mind and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, It can only be resigned to fate.

Gao Bufan bowed and retreated. Yu Wenhuaji and Li Hun and his uncle and nephew Li Min were disappointed, but Yu Shiji didn't care. He had no conflict of interest with Gao Bufan. He was just Yang Guang's most loyal dog. Since Yang Guang didn't get angry, he himself He won't bark his teeth at Gao Bufan.

Yang Guang glanced coldly at Cui Wu, the county magistrate of Linqing who was still limp on the ground, waved his hands and said, "Forget it, I am not a bloodthirsty tyrant, let him go, and dismiss the post of magistrate of Linqing." , get off the boat!"

Cui Wu recovered his life, so he didn't dare to say anything, he quickly kowtowed to thank him, and when he left, he gave Gao Bufan a grateful look, and the latter nodded imperceptibly, for Cui Hu's sake, how could he Seeing nothing but dying, that's why he risked laughing just now to attract Yang Guang's attention, maybe this is the so-called quick-wittedness.

Yang Qingruo was very pleasantly surprised that the emperor spared Cui Wu, which means that he has listened to it, which means that the hundreds of thousands of people who received Yang Xuangan's food were saved, as the Buddhists said, the merit is immeasurable!

At this time, the autumn rain outside unexpectedly fell harder and harder, hitting the top of the boat cracklingly, and falling on the river like a thousand arrows, causing thousands of ripples.

The emperor glanced at Gao Bufan, and said indifferently: "Recently, the autumn rain has been continuous, which is very annoying. Gao Lang is very good at poetry. In this situation, how about writing a poem to relieve boredom?"

Gao Bufan was very speechless, he suspected that Yang Guang had already suffered a schizophrenia, just now he was so murderous that he wanted to kill someone, and in a blink of an eye he made himself chant poems against him, he was really moody, but Yang Guang's eyes flashed a little undetectable The coldness made Gao Bufan vigilant, his mind was running fast, thinking about the intention of Yang Guang's move.

Yang Qingruo unavoidably became worried again, her beautiful eyes turned and she said: "Your Majesty, Qingruo has won a song, if Qingruo came first, it's right to throw bricks to attract jade."

Empress Xiao said with a smile: "I forgot about Qing'er...Miss Qingruo is also a talented woman, Your Majesty, let Qingruo come first."

Yang Guang had no choice but to nod his head and said: "Alright, if you really do a good job, I will reward you!"

In fact, the reason why Yang Guang ordered Gao Bufan to compose poems was not on a whim, let alone giving Gao Bufan a chance to perform, but actually just wanted to find a reason to beat Gao Bufan.

Again, Yang Guang doesn't like courtiers who are too smart. Gao Bufan told a joke and turned a big corner to persuade him in a very clever way. Although Yang Guang listened to it and spared Cui Wu, but this It also made Yang Guang a little upset. He is the Ninth Five-Year Supreme, and he doesn't like his words and deeds to be influenced by his courtiers, so he wants to beat Gao Bufan, so that this kid can know him well, and he will stop being smart in front of himself in the future.

It can be seen from this that Yang Guang's personality is indeed a bit paranoid, and his self-willed evaluation cannot be escaped, otherwise he would not have done the three campaigns of Goguryeo. The current situation is already so bad, Yang Guang is really unable to launch the fourth Eastern Expedition, so he has to give up!
At this time, Yang Qingruo could only hear Yang Qingruo chanting slowly: "The howling autumn rain urges the early cold, and the lonely goose's wings are wet and it is difficult to fly high. The daylight is seen where the dragon boat passes, and the soil is dry after the mud."

Gao Bufan couldn't help but his eyes lit up, Qing Ruo, this little jealous person, has a lot of talent, that's right, if he doesn't have some skills, how can he play the role of the talented and beautiful Gongsun master.

Yang Guang couldn't help but stroked his beard and praised: "Good poems, you should be rewarded!"

Yang Guang is good at diction, and he also writes poems very well, but he doesn't like others overshadowing his limelight, but if Yang Qing is a woman and his niece, she is naturally an exception, so I don't hesitate to praise her!
Yang Qingruo glanced at someone Gao who had an "astonishing" look on his face, amused and a little proud, cupped his hands and said, "I've made a fool of myself, General Gao Lang, please enlighten me!"

"Don't dare, I don't have much talent, I'm not as good as Miss Qing, so it's better not to make a fool of myself." Gao Bufan said hastily.

Yang Guangdan said: "Gao Lang will be able to write such an excellent work as "Ask the Wine to the Moon", so how could it be that he lacks talent and learning? Do it quickly, otherwise it will be a crime of deceiving the emperor and should be punished!"

Gao Bufan asked weakly: "Can the minister accept the punishment?"

Everyone present almost fell head over heels, Yang Guang was stunned for a moment, this kid didn't play cards according to the routine, his face sank and he said: "No!"

Gao Bufan had no choice but to search his brains, and recited bravely: "Looking at the autumn rain from the pavilion, the coolness is clear in the summer. There are no birds in the extreme eyes, and the clouds are light again for a while. The marsh weeds bloom more tightly, and the leaves of the mountains are still singing. Go. On the Keqiu River, Xiao Xiao's hometown love."

This Wen Bacha's "Drizzle" is very meaningful, quite satisfactory, not bad, but not too brilliant, Gao Bufan changed a few words and recited it just right, without being in the limelight or embarrassing.

Sure enough, Yang Guang thought about it for a while, but he couldn't find any inappropriate place to beat Gao Bufan. In addition, if Yang Qingruo suddenly intervened, he clearly intended to protect him, so Yang Guang also talked about Gao Bufan's thoughts, so he should give it to Gao Bufan. Qingruo is a little bit of face, so she nodded her head and said indifferently: "It's okay, but it's almost meaningless to get my reward!"

"I'm ashamed of my lack of talent and learning!" Gao Bufan hurriedly bowed, he only wanted to get away with it, he didn't care about Yang Guang's reward, if he really wanted to "compose" a stunning song, I'm afraid your old man would be unhappy again.

Yang Qingruo glanced at Gao Bufan thoughtfully. In fact, Wen Bacha's song "Drizzle" is still very interesting. Right now, I guess I just don’t want to be too prominent in front of the emperor, so I’m hiding my clumsiness. Hmph, at least this guy has learned a lot. If he writes another amazing masterpiece like "Ask the Moon with Wine", the emperor will be even more upset after hearing it. comfortable.

Passed another level without any risk, but at this time Gao Bufan finally understood what it means to be with a king like a tiger.

(End of this chapter)