After a while, Dugu Cheng walked into the main hall, and he stepped forward to salute and said, "The humble Dugu Cheng sees the saint." ”

"Xiangguo doesn't have to be polite, please take a seat! Serve tea! Li Yuan said.

Dugu is the current right servant of Shangshu, according to the Sui system, the left and right servants of Shangshu Province, the Provincial Nayan of Menxia Province and the Provincial Order of Internal History can all be called Xiangguo.

"I've come to the Holy One because I have a question I want to ask."

Although Dugu Quan is Li Yuan's uncle, the head of the Dugu family, and the leader of the Guanlong magnates, he also knows that Li Yuan is powerful, and he is not able to ascend to the throne by relying on their support, and if he oppresses Li Yuan too much, it will be unfavorable to the Dugu clan in the future, and he must keep room for it, so he is very careful when he speaks.

"Xiangguo is not only the pillar of the country, but also my predecessor, the two families depend on each other, what is the problem of Xiangguo, just say it."

Li Yuan was equally cautious about Dugu Quan, and at this critical juncture, he needed the full support of Guan Long's magnates, rather than letting him die for himself, and then support others. And if he wants to recruit troops again, he can't do without the support of the Guanlong nobles. Because the Guanlong magnates directly or indirectly controlled a large number of people, ninety percent of the commerce and land in Guanzhong were also under their control. In the case that Bashu has not yet arrived, whether it is food, taxes or soldiers, Li Yuan has to rely on the support of Guanlong's magnates. To some extent, he is the second Yang Jian, but the situation is more difficult than Yang Jian.

"Within 20 days, the Sui army conquered the eight counties of Wuyuan, Yulin, Lingwu, Yanchuan, Shuofang, Diaoyin, Yan'an, and Shangjun! and almost effortlessly helped Xue Ju easily recover the five counties of Jincheng, Longxi, Huining, Tianshui, and Anding...... didn't encounter stubborn resistance all the way, and entered Northland County! If the Sui army wants to defeat Guanzhong, it must be easy. What does the prime minister think we can do to defend Guanzhong? According to the combat strength of our army, can we hold the pass? ”

Dugu has tried his best to be tactful, but it is still very sharp.

This is actually what Li Yuan is very embarrassed about, because the Sui army killed all the way to Shangjun and Beidi County, and never encountered the stubborn resistance of the Tang army, and the 'elite' led by Dou Kang not only did not cause major trauma to the Sui army, but allowed Li Jing to easily eat more than half, and the 100,000 'elites' led by Li Shimin also ended up in this way. If this is the result, it is enough to show that Li Yuan's army is weak and cannot fight! At the same time, it also shows that Li Yuan's troops are seriously insufficient, otherwise, he would not have watched the Sui army easily take the eight counties of Wuyuan, Yulin, Lingwu, Yanchuan, Shuofang, Diaoyin, Yan'an, and Shangjun, and let the other party kill at the doorstep.

Although Dugu's question was very sharp and embarrassing, Li Yuan couldn't avoid it, couldn't avoid it. Li Yuan sighed and said: "It is an ironclad fact that the troops are insufficient and the combat strength is not good, and it is also the fundamental problem that I urgently solve!" ”

Dugu breathed a sigh of relief, as long as Li Yuan did not evade, everything would be easy, the Dugu family was a comrade-in-arms firmly tied to Li Yuan's chariot, everyone knew it, and it was not possible to get off now, and according to Yang Dong's policy and as a person, even if they Dugu family descended to Sui, there would be no good result, so they could only follow Li Yuan all the way to the end.

"Actually, I also know your difficulties, because the Sui army has a wide range of soldiers, and it is also an ironclad fact, if the war continues, we will recruit soldiers on our side, and if we don't train, the north will be exhausted! Even if we beat the children in the gate, we are not his opponents. We now need a lot of time to put the army in order. What does the Holy One think? Dugu said a fair word.

"Thank you for your understanding." When Li Yuan heard this, he immediately relieved his heart, as long as the Dugu family did not abandon him, everything was promising.

Dugu shook his head slowly and said: "Although I have the empty title of a Guanlong leader, and I can talk about small things, but when it comes to the life and death of the family, no one will listen to me. So it's useless to only understand me, Dugu! ”

"The difficulty of Dugu's being caught in the middle, I have always known!" Li Yuan nodded.

"Dou Wei and I, the head of the Dou family, have decided to each send 50,000 house slaves, 4 million stones of food, and 10 million hanging money to help the saint get through this difficulty."

If someone else enters the pass, the Dugu clan and the Dou clan can also compromise and overthrow Li Yuan together, but the other party is Yang Dong, with Yang Dong's hatred for the family gate valve, and with the betrayal of the Dugu clan and the Dou clan against the Great Sui, the two families will definitely not end well, so these two gate valves have no way out, and can only continue to spend a lot of money to support Li Yuan.

Li Yuan was overjoyed: "Thank you for your strong support!" ”

Dugu nodded, took out a booklet from his arms, handed it to Li Yuan, and said, "This is the name book of the heads of each family, there are more than one hundred and twenty in total, and they unanimously ask the Holy Lord to settle down first!" Discuss it again. It's no wonder that everyone, they can't see hope, they're scared... Some of the heads of the family even went to Yecheng secretly... Li Tang's situation is now very dangerous. ”

Dugu was gone, but it left Li Yuan with a pressure as heavy as Mount Tai, he felt the pressure of the Guanlong aristocracy collective for the first time, although Dugu did not say it thoroughly, but he understood that if he did not break the deadlock for a long time, then the Guanlong magnates would no longer support him, but instead support others, or Wang Shichong, or Li Mi, who was also a disciple of Guan Zi, and even someone would directly support Yang Tong.

The huge political pressure extinguished the excitement brought by the support of the Dugu clan and the Dou clan, looking at the names of the powerful family heads of Guanlong, Li Yuan couldn't bear it, he suddenly felt extremely tired, he just wanted to find a place to sleep, he didn't want to do anything, but even if he wanted to sleep, there were things he still needed to face, and he couldn't escape the real predicament.

At this time, Li Jiancheng and Liu Wenjing walked in, and Li Jiancheng asked, "Father, has the negotiation been completed?" ”

Li Yuan nodded slowly, handed the booklet in his hand to Li Jiancheng, and said, "Guanlong and powerful people jointly put pressure on us to do whatever it takes, and take stabilizing Guanzhong as the first priority." ”

"Expected!" Liu Wenjing said in a deep voice: "But I don't know what the Holy Lord is going to do?" ”

"Let the people of the world send capable people to guard the Great Earthquake Pass, and the rest of the troops will fight for the Northland County."

Li Jiancheng frowned and said: "Guanlong's repeated tug-of-war has caused great harm to the people, and Erchen is worried that we will unify Guanlong is also full of holes, and the grain and grass taxes are difficult to support. ”

Li Yuan smiled bitterly: "All the powerful people in Guanlong are pressuring, what can I do?" ”

Li Jiancheng also knew that his father was now in a passive decline and urgently needed to get rid of the unfavorable situation, so he groaned for a while and said: "Father, since we have understood that the other party is pretending, we should talk to the Northern Sui as soon as possible to eliminate the hostility between us." ”

When Li Yuan and Dugu were discussing, Li Jiancheng and Liu Wenjing were also discussing urgently, feeling that there was no way out except for peace, even if the wealth of the country was poured out, they had to win a year or two of peace.

Li Yuan's expression was very solemn, and making peace with the Northern Sui was undoubtedly the only way out, although Yang Tong wanted to use his own hand to lure out the Guanlong magnates, but this was not the reason for his foothold in Guanzhong, if he did not act for a long time, the Guanlong magnates would definitely introduce another person to replace him, and when the time came, he would have no other way but to be defeated.