People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 628 You come and go, spy on each other

"Bang bang bang...fufufu..."

Thirty-six burly sergeants in red and gold armor stood in the middle hall, holding shields in their left hands and knives in their right hands, jumping back and forth non-stop.

Under the firelight, the blade shone with a compelling cold light.

The long knife kept hitting the round shield, making dull but rhythmic noises.

The sergeant danced and jumped, shouting loudly, which was shocking.

The long knives come and go quickly, and the appearance of stabbing is dense and orderly, which is even more dangerous.

The army formation is constantly changing, the left circle is right and the right, the first is biased and the second is the five.

The sound played by dozens of musicians around has gradually fallen to a low level, and everyone's hearts are focused on performing and dancing.

The King of Qin breaks the formation and dances.

In the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, all the officials in Yangzhou couldn't help clapping their hands to the music, and the excitement in their hearts was beyond words.

Li Xuan's eyes fell on the body of Silla Pleading Envoy Qin blunt horn who was a little behind.

Who would have thought that Silla sent an envoy to plead guilty for the second time, and the person sent was still him.

It's just that at this moment, although his face is calm, there is still a trace of worry and uneasiness in the depths of his eyes.

Silla lost all three battles in the East Island. After the defeat, he was even sent to the Tang Dynasty as an envoy to ask for guilt. Embarrassment and apprehension did not exist for a person like him, but more worry and worry.

Datang's withdrawal of troops is indeed a good thing for Silla, so next, can the peace talks really ensure that there will be no more wars between Datang and Silla?

……

Shi Douxuande, the head of Yangzhou Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, sits at the top. On the lower left is Li Xuan, King of Nanchang Wangjun, Sima Changyu of the Governor's Mansion, Sima Lu Yuanfang of the Governor's Mansion, and other officials. Sitting on the right is Xinlin Mansion Yang Shan, the new captain of Guoyi.

Yang Shan, who was born in Hongnong Yang's family, was in charge of training [-] newly recruited soldiers in Yangzhou.

After Yang Shan, Deng Liang, the son of Deng Jiuguang, the governor of Dengzhou, Tan Lun, the lieutenant of the Yangzhou Navy School, and other children in the army.

Later on, Daozhen, the envoy of the Wa Kingdom, and Qin, the envoy of Silla's pleading guilty, did it with obtuse angles.

These two are not strangers to each other, when Li Xuan first arrived in Yangzhou, they had been in contact with each other.

It was only later that one went west to Chang'an and the other went south to Hangzhou, and that's when they parted.

Now the two are reunited, but they look like they don't know each other.

The eyes of the two fell on Li Xuan from time to time, and there was always a hint of anxiety in their expressions. They wanted to step forward, but in the end, they were helpless.

The two sat at the back of the banquet, both of them were exquisite, so they naturally knew that it was Tang who didn't want to talk too much about the arrangement.

Li Xuan couldn't care about these two now, because at this moment, someone was pestering him.

"My lord, you have to give an explanation to the lower official about this Eastern Expedition, otherwise the lower official will really have no face to go back." The one who said this was Cao Shenjun from Yangzhou, and he grabbed Li with one hand. With gorgeous sleeves, there was a trace of dissatisfaction on his face, but he was helpless.

This time the army came east to aid Anton, and the Shen family sent a caravan to go east.

Originally expecting the army to enter the hinterland of Silla, the Shen family took the opportunity to reap benefits. However, they never thought that the army would only stick to Maixiao City. Although they won three battles and three victories, they finally withdrew from Anton, and the Shen family caravan had to do a little search. I hurried back west.

"Shen Canjun, you were the one who came to look for me that day. I also said that there is never a certain victory in military battles. It was you who insisted on forcibly sending a caravan to follow the army eastward." Li Xuan He gave Shen Zhuang a cold look. He didn't say anything positive that day.

"But, but..." Shen Zhuang didn't know what to say for a while, how could the Shen family be satisfied with paying such a high price and finally gaining very little.

Li Xuan squinted at Shen Zhuang, and then said softly: "Besides, who said that the Shen family lost money this time?"

"Huh?" Shen Zhuang raised his head and looked at Li Xuan with a face full of surprise.

"Brother Shen doesn't think that after Silla pleads guilty, the two countries will be able to repair each other and not attack each other?" Li Xuan stunned Shen Zhuang with a single sentence.

His face was full of puzzlement, and he said: "Isn't that the case? I have shifted my focus to the Western Regions, and I am unable to go east. Silla sincerely apologizes. After that, there will be normal business exchanges between the two countries..."

"Brother Shen may have misread Silla." Li Xuan raised the wine glass on the table, took a sip, and then continued: "Now that it is winter, there will be no more caravans from the Tang Dynasty going to Silla. , When next year, we will go to war with Tubo, and Silla will be restless at that time, and his people will go north to attack Pyongyang, and at that time, the trade route between Datang and Silla will be completely cut off."

Shen Zhuang suddenly realized.

Li Xuan nodded slightly, and said: "I am afraid that in the next year, the trade route between Silla and Datang will not be opened again, and before that, the Shen family who went to Silla for the last time, just need to transfer the goods If the selling price increases, then the previous payment can be fully recovered.

What's more, the Shen family still has their own secret channels in Silla, and all they need to do is..."

"Understood." Shen Zhuang directly interrupted Li Xuan's words, some things need not be said too clearly.

"Brother Shen, please!" Li Xuan raised the wine glass on the table and lightly clinked a glass with Shen Zhuang.

After drinking, Shen Zhuang turned to Li Xuan and asked in a low voice: "My lord, I heard that there is a caravan going to the Western Regions all year round in Prince Peng's residence?"

"En!" Li Xuan didn't deny it, and just nodded.

As he appeared more and more in the eyes of the Southeast family, the details of the Nanchang Palace were quickly revealed.

Of course, these are only superficial things, those hidden deep in people's invisible places, outsiders don't know at all.

"I wonder if the Shen family can cooperate with the prince?" Shen Zhuang whispered the real purpose of this trip.

Li Xuan looked at Shen Zhuang with some puzzlement: "Brother Shen, the Shen family should have their own caravan in the Western Regions, why did they come to find me?"

"My lord was joking. The Shen family is considered a prominent figure in Yangzhou City, but it is nothing in the whole world." Shen Zhuang's face was full of bitterness.
Not to mention the Yangzhou Shen family, the entire Wuzhong Shen family is just one of the sixteen Wuyue families.

Even the Wang Xie family, as well as the Wu, Lu, Zhu and Zhang families who came up later, are not conspicuous at all in Chang'an.

This point, from the queens of the past dynasties, as well as the princes and princes, few married women from the Wuyue family as their concubines.

Li Zhi's original partner was the Wang family of Taiyuan. Although Empress Wu was a talented person, his father was also an old minister of Taiyuan who started from the ancestors.

Later, even Li Hong and Li Xian married women from a family from the Central Plains, so it was their turn to be from a family from the South of the Yangtze River.

Among the aristocratic families in the south of the Yangtze River, even if Yu Shinan and Chu Suiliang occasionally reached the peak of the court, the prestige of the family fell rapidly after falling from the court.

Li Xuan had already figured this out in a blink of an eye, and then he said softly: "Brother Shen, the caravan of Prince Peng's Mansion is not from my family, and there are many other families involved in it, it is far from being able to decide by Xuan alone. , the complexity of this is far beyond your imagination, even so, and..."

When Li Xuan said this, he stopped completely, and Shen Zhuang was astonished by his cautious attitude.

This caravan of theirs has already fallen into the eyes of the palace. If it weren't for the fact that the profit of the entire caravan is higher, they are still within the scope of joint efforts. Lost.

As far as Li Xuan knew, many people had already asked Yuchi Xunyu about the caravan in the womb of the Crown Prince.

Yuchi Xunyu, that idiot, in the womb of the crown prince, he has already said everything he knows and can say.

Now the Taigong, I don't know how many elites from aristocratic families have invested in it, once Yuchi Xunyu's words came out, almost the whole Taiwo knew the news.

After clearing his mind, Li Xuan continued: "Next year, the Tang Dynasty and Tubo will go to war. After all, it will affect the trade routes in the Western Regions. The king has already ordered the caravans to shrink in size. Tomorrow's income will definitely not be as good as expected. It's even better to take an extra trip to Silla. .”

Li Xuan suddenly looked at Shen Zhuang with piercing eyes, and said softly, "Brother Shen, if you and I cooperate, how about taking the trade route between Silla and Japan?"

Shen Zhuang was stunned. Originally, he was coveting Li Xuan's business routes in the Western Regions, but he was targeted by his family's business routes in Silla.

Li Xuan raised his wine glass and said softly: "Brother Shen, you might as well think about it, this king is in charge of the covenant agreement between Tang and Silla..."

Li Xuan's words can be said to the end, with Shen Zhuang's intelligence, how can he not see through Li Xuan's true meaning.

This kind of leading ally, leading standard matters, as long as the slightest bit of finger is revealed, it will immediately become Jinshan Yinhai.

Unknowingly, the dinner was coming to an end, and by the time the Silla Pleading Envoy and the Japanese Envoy finally stood up, there was no sign of Li Xuan in place.

At this time, a Qianniuwei came over and handed a short note to Monk Daozhen, the envoy of the Wa Kingdom.

Monk Daozhen looked down, and his face was filled with joy.

Raising his head, Daozhen glanced at the obtuse angle of Qin who was visiting this side, snorted coldly, turned and returned to his other courtyard.

Qin bluntly looked behind Daozhen, his eyes were full of murderous intent.

……

Under the darkness of night, Li Xuan walked peacefully on the stone path, but she was thinking about the Shen family in her heart.

Li Xuan didn't mind if the Shen family wanted to get involved in the caravan of Prince Peng's Mansion, after all, Li Xuan had already taken away the foundation of that caravan, so it didn't matter if the Shen family joined in.

However, after knowing that there are not many benefits in it, Shen Zhuang is no longer interested, but he is interested in the matter of the Silla Wa country that Li Xuan proposed.

However, instead of intervening in the Shen family's southeast trade route, Li Xuan hopes to attract more Yangzhou families to join in the future.

There are four families in Yangzhou, the Shen family, the Lu family, the Meng family and the Xu family.

The Xu family is of the same clan as Xu Jingzong, and has a close relationship with Empress Wu.

The sub-sage descendants of the Meng family, heirs of poems and books, did not agree with Empress Wu's claim to be emperor, but it may not be too big to make him rise up to resist, and even if the Meng family did it, how powerful would it be.

The key lies in the Lu family and the Shen family.

One of the top families in the south of the Yangtze River of the Lu family, Empress Wu's coming to court will not cause too much hindrance to the Lu family.

Even if they succeed in plotting rebellion, it is difficult for them to gain much, so there are only two who will really help Li Jingye in the future.

Yangzhou Li family and Yangzhou Shen family.

The Shen family of Yangzhou, the Shen family of Wuzhong, and the Shen family of Wuzhou.

Li Xuan did not forget that the surname of the empress of Southern Chen was Shen, and there were many operable points in this.

Li Xuan shook his head, he was a bit biased, the Shen family is also a family from the south of the Yangtze River, the way of the family makes it easy to raise troops, so it is very likely that it is the Shen family from Yangzhou.

The wealthy Shen family in Yangzhou will either seek refuge with Li Jingye in the future, or be ransacked by Li Jingye and seize all the family property.

Thinking of this, Li Xuan had a clear idea, no matter what, he couldn't let go of the thread of the Shen family.

……

In the evening, outside the city of Yangzhou, an official ship came slowly.

Standing at the bow of the ship, Gao Ping was slightly relieved as he watched the big ship sail into the Yangzhou Wharf.

Along the way, there were always strange sounds on both sides of the canal from time to time, which made the two of them uneasy.

In the end, the two of them could only take turns guarding each other, one inside and one outside, and now they arrived in Yangzhou safely.

The curtains were raised, Gao Ping entered the cabin, Leng Lin held his knife, and sat on the chair, with more than a dozen criminal officers behind him, staring at each other with piercing eyes.

In the two deepest cabins, there was a faint rustling sound.

There are people in both cabins.

Gao Ping went to the deepest place and glanced through the curtain. In one of them, the person who was chained to the shackles was Wei Wenxu from Xiaoshan County; .

Xue Zhongzhang had already been left in Hangzhou, but just after Gao Ping and his wife set off, the Criminal Ministry suddenly sent an order to bring Xue Zhongzhang back east.

The two had no choice but to take orders, but what made them relax a little was that the King of Nanchang had already left Hangzhou first, so they didn't have to worry about being known by the King of Nanchang.

In the corner of the pier outside the ship, a group of eyes stared at the cabin.

At this time, there was a sudden noise in the distance, and it seemed that the sound from the wind could be heard faintly.

"The decree has arrived!"

(End of this chapter)