Sui Dynasty: I, Yang Guang, am both scrupulous and stable

Chapter 351 Borrowing Money
Yuan Xian suddenly asked to borrow money, and the loan was not just a penny, but 50 taels of gold. What did this mean?
Xiao Cong couldn't understand, and Xiao Jue couldn't understand what the purpose of the sudden loan was.

The two brothers looked at each other, and Xiao Cong said: "Mr. Yuan, are you borrowing this sudden money for the royal family or are you borrowing it yourself?"

"Such an amount is naturally not something I personally borrow from you."

With such a large amount of money, even Xiao Jue would not have the authority to lend it if Xiao Cong didn't ask for it. Moreover, it was a critical period for the peace talks between Nanchen and Sui Dynasty. To suddenly say that he wanted to borrow so much money at this time, no matter how you think about it, it makes people feel uncomfortable. Somewhat unusual flavor.

Xiao Cong said softly: "Xiang Yuan, I wonder why Da Chen borrowed this money? As far as I know, Da Chen's royal family is not that short of money. Suddenly they asked for such a large sum of money. For a while, we didn't know what to do. It’s good.”

"His Majesty Liang Huang, we, Da Chen and Da Sui, are in peace talks. If the peace talks are successful, Da Sui will be the common ruler of the world. I believe that Da Sui will make many rude demands on us. After all, we are the ones who proposed surrender and peace talks. .”

"but……"

"If the Sui Dynasty wanted to become the common master of the world without fighting, it had to pay a certain price."

When Xiao Cong saw Yuan Xian talking about the peace talks with him, he interrupted him: "Prime Minister Yuan, the peace talks are a matter between you and the Sui Dynasty. As a neutral country, we in Xiliang only provide the venue and will not participate in your peace talks. You don't have to Talk to me about these things.”

"No, His Majesty Emperor Liang, the foreign minister is just talking about a major premise. This loan was borrowed by our emperor and all the Nanchen nobles including me. These loans will bring great benefits to Xiliang Bank. A lot of interest, no one would refuse such benefits."

Xiao Jue thought faster than Xiao Cong: "Yuan Xiang said so, I understand a little bit."

"Prime Minister Yuan wants to give you, the noble families of Da Chen, a guarantee. You are afraid that after the Sui Dynasty annexes Da Chen, the Emperor of the Sui Dynasty will go back on his word and deprive you, the former ministers, of their power, or even suppress them, causing your family to weaken. ."

"So you have thought about lending a lot of money from Xiliang. As the saying goes, if you borrow 100 taels, the banker will be your uncle, and you have to provide it. But if you lend him 10 taels, you will be the banker's uncle. The bank has to provide for you, that's the truth, right, Prime Minister Yuan."

After being exposed by Xiao Jue, Yuan Xiangdao did not shy away from it: "Yes, it is true."

Xiao Jue snorted softly: "Xiang Yuan, you don't take us seriously. Do you want to blackmail us?"

"King Xin'an, you have misunderstood. I dare to admit that I have made up my mind to tell you directly. I am not trying to deceive you. We will pay high interest for borrowing money from Xiliang Bank for such a large amount. There is still high interest to be earned, I believe even Xiliang Bank has no reason to refuse."

Xiao Cong said: "Although there are high profits, which seem to be very considerable, but Yuan Xiang, we Da Liang do not want to participate in the affairs of Da Chen and Da Sui, and Yuan Xiang may have miscalculated. You and Da Sui Things will not change just because you borrowed a lot of money from us. You want to use us to suppress Sui Dynasty, but you are thinking too much."

"Your Majesty Emperor Liang, you still misunderstood. We do not want to use the Western Liang to suppress the Sui Dynasty. This is our attitude."

Xiao Jue said: "I'm sorry, Prime Minister Yuan, such a large amount is too risky, so we can't accept it."

Yuan Xian seemed to have expected it and said: "It doesn't matter, His Majesty the Emperor Liang, I'm afraid we won't disturb Jiangling City for a day or two. I just hope that you can secretly convey this news to His Highness the Prince of the Sui Dynasty and let him know. No matter how His Royal Highness the Prince of Sui decides, there will be no loss for you."

Xiao Cong didn't know what Yuan Xian meant for a while, so he looked at Xiao Jue. Xiao Jue thought about it and said, "Yuan Xiangxin, we will convey this matter to His Highness the Crown Prince of the Sui Dynasty."

"Thank you both, please keep this secret and don't let anyone else know."

Yuan Xian left immediately. Xiao Jue sent Yuan Xian away and came back to discuss with Xiao Cong.

"Lao Liu, do you understand what Yuan Xian means?"

Xiao Jun thought hard and then shook his head and said, "I always feel that he is planning something, but I don't understand."

After pacing back and forth, Xiao Jue said: "But the risk is too high to lend them such a large amount of money at this time. If the peace talks fail, Da Sui and Da Chen will still fight, and then all the money will be lost." It’s all gone, and even we can’t afford such a huge amount of money, the risk is just too high.”

Xiao Cong frowned: "Yuan Xian is still a very smart person. He came to us to talk about this matter so upright. He is not worried that we will understand his purpose. He must have other arrangements."

"Tell me, is it possible that what he just said to express an attitude meant that these peace envoys surrendered to the Sui Dynasty?"

Xiao Jue suddenly came back to his senses: "I asked him just now who wanted to borrow money, whether it was the Nanchen royal family. He did not give a clear answer. Perhaps it can be understood that the Nanchen royal family does not know these things, and Chen Shubao does not know. It’s them, the people in the mission, who make the right decisions.”

"Yuan Xian and others don't care who becomes the emperor. As the aristocratic class of the Southern Dynasty, they only care about whether they and their family can continue after the Sui Dynasty and Nanchen Dynasty are unified, and whether they can continue to enjoy the same things as before. rights and interests."

Xiao Cong asked: "But they don't seem to have enough chips to blackmail the Sui Dynasty. Just because of this, does the Sui Dynasty give in?"

Xiao Jue said firmly: "No, they have. Brother Huang is now at the stage of peace talks between the two sides. Neither side knows the other side's bottom line. If Yuan Xian and others defect at this time, they secretly inform Sui Dynasty and others of the negotiations negotiated by Nan Chen. Bottom line, then the Sui Dynasty can seize the bottom line and quickly suppress Nanchen to complete the negotiations, use the minimum cost to complete the peace talks, and peacefully annex Nanchen, and then Yuan Xian and others will help the Sui Dynasty govern and pacify the original Nanchen land. "

Xiao Jue said with a slightly sarcastic smile: "That's why Yuan Xiancai said that this is their attitude, and it is also the attitude of the Sui Dynasty."

"All scholars and officials in Nanchen are like this. It is reasonable that Nanchen is not as good as Sui Dynasty."

Listening to Xiao Jue's ridicule, Xiao Cong had a different opinion: "If the situation between Nanchen and the Great Sui Dynasty is reversed, I believe that such people are indispensable among the scholar-bureaucrats in the Great Sui Dynasty. The Central Plains has been in turmoil for hundreds of years, and there are still a few people who have it." The concept of family and country, etiquette, justice and integrity?!"

"Brother Emperor, what should we do?"

"The secret message has been passed. We will not get involved. As for how to decide, your brother-in-law will make his own judgment. If he needs us to do anything, he will inform us."

The peace talks in Xiliang began. Yang Guang, who was in Daxing City, received news from Xiliang. After opening the letter, he saw the letter from Xiao Cong about Yuan Xian's borrowing money, as well as their own understanding.

Yang Guang understood that Yuan Xian didn't explain clearly because he didn't know whether the matter would work out. If he couldn't do it himself, he would have missed the mark and he would be at the mercy of others.

Yang Guang then took the letter to the palace and informed the emperor of the news in detail.

Yang Jian laughed loudly: "Sure enough, since I am destined, the chief assistant of Nan Chen is actually such a person. They sold Chen Shubao in disguise. It is really ridiculous."

"Father, do you think we should accept their surrender?"

Yang Jian's expression remained unchanged but there was some disdain in his tone: "People like Yuan Xian are quite famous among the literati and have a great reputation, but even such people have secretly betrayed their own country. I really I look down on such people, but in the current situation, Yuan Xian is very useful."

"Using this as a breakthrough point can bring the cooperation to an end more quickly. This is a good thing, but what about the future? Prince, do you think I can use him?" Yang Guang thought about it and said: "Everyone has its use, Yuan The Emperor despises a man like Xian, but despite the despicableness behind his back, he is still the helmsman of Nanchen's super nobles in front of others and an indispensable backbone in Nanchen's court. Even if Nanchen and we complete Through the joint talks, we took over Nanchen peacefully, and we also need people like him to stabilize Nanchen."

"But people like Yuan Xian can betray Chen Shubao for profit and turn around and betray me. I don't like this kind of person."

"Father, use it for a while but not for a lifetime. Use it but not much. Once we take over Nanchen and cultivate the power and control the situation in Nanchen, he will be useless. Before that, he is still useful."

Yang Jian smiled slightly: "It seems that you have already planned to use him. You can use him as a temporary solution, but as you said yourself, it is impossible for me to make great use of him."

"Father, for this person, just do your best on the surface."

"Okay, you go ahead and make arrangements. I'm really worried about lending such a large amount of money."

"Father, these noble families in Nanchen have more than this kind of money. Even if the worst happens, I know what to do."

Yang Jian nodded, picked up a written imperial edict from the table and handed it to Yang Guang: "That's it for the joint discussion. You will leave for Qufu soon. This is my imperial edict. Wait. We’ll open it again when we get to Qufu.”

"Yes, Father, please bear this in mind."

Yang Guang returned home and opened the imperial edict that night.

A man in his twenties is the time to disobey his father.

Li Yuan and Li Jing stood by the candlelight and looked at Yang Guang, who looked solemn, and asked: "Your Highness, what's wrong?"

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty is just asking you to ennoble the descendants of the Kong family to serve as kings. Why are you so worried?"

In the eyes of the two of them, this imperial edict was very simple, because when the prince of the dynasty went to canonize him, one was to eliminate the previous estrangement caused by Kong's victory over Kong Bo, and the other was to establish orthodoxy to reassure a group of great Confucians.

Yes, it seems to be a very reasonable thing. Asking Yang Guang to canonize can also show Yang Guang's attitude. He only punished the person who assassinated him, not against Confucianism.

Yang Guang, however, looked at the imperial edict in front of him with complete reluctance.

"What's the difference between this and asking me to apologize?"

"Your Highness, you can't think like this. Confucianism is orthodox after all. Many people are talking about Kong Bo and Kong Sheng. Some students in the school radically smashed the statue of Confucius. I believe there should be many old scholars. Let’s go report this matter to His Majesty. If the matter continues, it will be detrimental to the stability of Sui Dynasty.”

What seemed to the two of them was a simple matter, but Yang Guang punched the table: "But I don't want to."

Both of them had rarely seen Yang Guang so angry.

Yang Guang has encountered many things, big and small, but he has never seen him so angry. This seemed to offend his instinct.

"It seems simple, but my father is actually asking me to bow my head."

Yang Jian asked Yang Guang to issue this decree, and the direction was very obvious. He wanted to follow the example of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty who deposed hundreds of schools of thought and only respected Confucianism. This was what Wang Long and others advised him back then. He himself has also seen over the years that Confucianism is the most important. The method that helps him rule is the most stable.

If he hadn't made up his mind before, it was Nan Chen's surrender that made him make up his mind.

A unified empire requires the most stable way to maintain the emperor's rule.

And only in this way can Yang Jian's dream of becoming an emperor through the ages be truly realized.

Judging from the results, Yang Jian thought and did the right thing. He unified the country first and then implemented Confucian education. In conjunction with the current school system and imperial examination system, an orderly and stable empire has begun to take shape.

But Yang Guang knew its shortcomings. It was stable but repressed, and the class would be more solidified. The imperial examination system seemed to have taken shape, but the people who came out of the imperial examination were not enough to fight against the now extremely powerful clan. Even he himself could only be While using it, think of ways to weaken it.

In this case, it will eventually lead to the same path of all ancient dynasties.

There should be a golden mean in this world, but it should also accommodate people who take risks and people who have wild and fantastic ideas. No matter what kind of thinking they are, it is wrong to only keep one and exclude the others.

Yang Guang couldn't tell his anger to the two of them, and he couldn't tell anyone about this matter.

Now that the imperial edict is in front of him, Yang Guang has to go whether he wants to or not, and he has to pretend that he has not read the imperial edict.

The emperor told Yang Guang that he would not open it until he got Qufu, just to prevent Yang Guang from being unwilling to go after seeing the imperial edict, so he thought of some twisted ways and refused to go.

Now if Yang Guangruo is unwilling to go, it is not obvious that he has peeked at the imperial edict and violated the emperor's order.

The candle light flickered on and off. Yang Guang waved his hand and asked Li Jing and Li Yuan to go out first. He originally asked them to come up with a solution, but found that he couldn't even explain the reason, so he had to let them go first.

……

Early the next morning, Yang Guang was ready to set off. He took Li Yuan, Li Jing and others. Just as he was about to leave the city gate, he saw a group of cavalry rushing from Zhuque Street.

The leader rolled his saddle and dismounted: "His Royal Highness, Your Majesty has an urgent order."

"What's the matter?"

"Last night, His Majesty received information about the danger of floods in Shanxi and the peasant rebellion, so he decided to let Li Yuan, Duke of Tang Dynasty, serve as the ambassador of comfort to Hedong, Shanxi, and stay in Taiyuan to go to the flood station to pacify the victims."

(End of this chapter)