With the arrival of November, Chang'an is also winter, this year's winter is full of cold, the temperature plummets overnight, the cold style is cold, the few pedestrians on the street have put on thick clothes and leather jackets, the last few yellow leaves on the big tree are finally torn off by the cold wind, fluttering in the wind, making the streets of Chang'an look bleak and cold.

Although it has been revealed from many channels that the Tang King will officially accept the mantle of the Great Sui at the beginning of next year, there is no joy on the streets of Chang'an, but there is a little more solemnity.

The business of Zhongnan liquor store in Chang'an East City is not very good, the second floor is only sparsely sparsely seated a few drinkers, but the first floor sits a dozen old customers, talking loudly about the current situation, although the second floor drinkers do not want to listen, but their noisy sound is still clearly spread throughout every corner of the liquor store.

"What can't be!"

An old man shouted at a scholar with an angry face: "You yourself are lonely and unheard, and you think that others are like you, Li Shuliang is obviously dead, and the corpses have been transported back in an ice coffin, but can this kind of thing be hidden?" Chang'an has long been spread all over the country, Youzhou Luo Yi was destroyed, Li Shuliang's 30,000 troops were annihilated, and even the famous general Qu Tutong was defeated at Tumen Pass, which was a great shame for the Tang army! ”

"Wang Huaigong can't say that, victory and defeat are a common thing in soldiers! Hebei was originally Zhang Xuan's territory, and if the Tang army wanted to seize Hebei, of course it would win less and lose more, if you let Zhang Xuan lead the army to fight and merge the state, the result will definitely be the same, so I'm not surprised. ”

"It's not strange that you have a fart, you see that the whole Chang'an has been cold in the past few days, and the officialdom is uneasy, how many officials in the imperial court have taken sick leave in the past two days, is it a coincidence?"

"It's a cold wind that has come suddenly! Of course, there are many sick people. ”

"! If you have to think like this, we don't have to talk, forget it, Lao Tzu continues to drink! ”

Quarrels on the first floor went on and on. The second floor was always quiet, and in the corner by the window sat a middle-aged man, who asked for a pot of wine and a few plates of side dishes, and poured himself a drink, but his ears were very high. He could hear the conversation on the first floor clearly, and finally he couldn't help but sigh softly.

This middle-aged man was about forty-seven or eighteen years old, with phoenix eyes and a high nose and fair skin, and it could be seen that he must have been a rare beautiful man when he was young, and this person was Xiao Yu, who had served as the waiter of the Great Sui Dynasty.

Since the end of the Turkic siege of Yang Guang in Yanmen County, Yang Guang began to purge the high-ranking officials of the imperial court, including Su Wei, Fan Zigai, Wei Xuan, Xiao Yu and a group of high-ranking officials were dismissed or demoted, and Xiao Yu was demoted to the Taishou of Hechi County.

Xiao Yu and Li Yuan have an excellent personal relationship. Just a few months ago, Xiao Yu received a letter from Li Yuan, inviting him to come to the post of secretary of the Ministry of Rites, although Li Yuan was full of sincerity in the letter, but Xiao Yu was still a little hesitant, after all, the Son of Heaven was still in Jiangdu, although Li Yuan established Wang Yang Yu as the emperor, but everyone knew the essence of Li Yuan's usurpation of power.

So Xiao Yu didn't agree to Li Yuan immediately, just under the pretext of being unwell. It was necessary to recuperate for a few months until some time ago when the new Sui was established. The world was shaken, and Xiao Yu also received a handwritten letter from his sister, Empress Xiao of the Great Sui, earnestly hoping that he would come to the new Sui as an official, so that the Xiao family would not be absent from the new court.

Of course, Xiao Yu understood that this was actually Zhang Xuan inviting him in the name of Empress Xiao, and on the one hand, he was controlling Guan Long and Li Yuan. On the other hand, Zhang Xuan, who occupies Hebei and Shandong, where should he go? made it really difficult for Xiao Yu to choose.

At this time, a middle-aged drinker walked up to Xiao Yu, clasped his fists and said with a smile: "Shi Wenshun, a cloth merchant in Xia Pengcheng County, has been watching Mr. Shi drink alone for the past two days. Can you talk about it? ”

Xiao Yu smiled slightly, "I know Shi Lin, the number one businessman in Pengcheng County, what is the relationship with Brother Tai?" ”

The middle-aged drinker was shocked, and hurriedly said: "It's my father, and Mr. is"

"I only have a one-sided relationship with your father, my surname is Xiao, a native of Danyang County, please take a seat!"

Xiao Yu invited this famous wealthy businessman in Pengcheng County to sit down, and said: "I heard that Yu Culture is in Pengcheng County, I don't know what the situation is?" ”

Shi Wenshun sighed, "Yu Wenhua and the troops in Pengcheng County and Xiapi County looted the grain, but the Wagang Army did not move, watching Yu Wenhua and use the means of plundering to solve the food desperate situation, it is really incomprehensible, even I, a businessman, know that I must not let the opponent breathe, I really don't know what Zhai Rang thinks." ”

Xiao Yu said with a smile: "Maybe the Wagang army also has a hard time, they just failed in the attack on Luokoucang and have not yet recovered, or maybe they are afraid of Yu Wenhua and the Xiaoguo cavalry, or the Wagang army wants to use the method of drag to make Yu Wenhua and the army collapse without a fight, all in all, the Wagang army will not understand the minimum tactics." ”

"Perhaps, too, we are outsiders, and it's hard to guess the real reason."

Speaking of this, Shi Wenshun lowered his voice and said, "What does Mr. Xiao think about this Hebei war?" ”

Xiao Yu smiled faintly, "There are a lot of rumors outside, and there are all kinds of theories, I don't know the facts, so I really can't comment." ”

"Don't hide it from Mr. Xiao, I just came from Wei County, Hebei, in fact, I know very well what happened in Hebei, to be honest, it's really frustrating."

"Who frustrates whom?"

"Chang'an is frustrating!"

"Oh—what's going on?" Xiao Yu was a little curious in her heart.

"The Youzhou army has been destroyed, Li Shuliang has to go deep alone, and finally the whole army is destroyed, Li Shuliang also died in Huangquan, I really don't understand, why didn't the Tang King attack Luoyang, but went to provoke a strong enemy."

Shi Wenshun is a businessman after all, and he looks at the problem relatively simply and is not thorough enough, but Xiao Yu knows very well that Li Yuan actually took a good move, taking advantage of Zhang Xuan's south Huai River to intercept and kill Yu Wenhua, and the rest of the army strictly guarded Qingzhou to prevent the Wagang army from taking advantage of the void to enter Qingzhou.

"Maybe the establishment of the new Sui has put too much pressure on King Tang!"

Xiao Yu smiled, his heart moved, and he asked again, "Is Brother Shi going to Hebei recently?" ”

"Mr. Dissatisfied said that my caravan is going to Qingzhou tomorrow, and this time I am coming to Chang'an to purchase some goods from the Western Regions, and I think there may be a market in Qingzhou."

Xiao Yu hurriedly said: "Can I go on the road with Brother Shi's caravan, I also plan to go to Qingzhou." ”

"No problem, it's a trivial matter."

Shi Wenshun smiled enthusiastically: "I live in the Ping'an Inn in the East City, I will set off at dawn tomorrow morning, walk up to the east gate and go out of the city, Mr. Xiao will either wait for me outside the upper east gate, or come to the inn to walk together, see Mr. himself." ”

Xiao Yu thought about it, then smiled: "Then I'll wait for Brother Shi outside the Upper East Gate." ”

At this moment, there was a fierce scolding in the lobby downstairs, "You are not allowed to talk about the court, and those who dare to talk about the court will be arrested!" ”

The drinkers in the lobby on the first floor were suddenly silent, and at this time, a bartender ran to Xiao Yu and whispered: "It's the internal guards who are coming, be careful of the trouble coming out of your mouth." ”

Xiao Yu felt a pang of disgust in his heart, he knew that this was the internal guard army established by Li Yuan two months ago, which was originally to search for spies hiding in Chang'an, but now it has gradually become the eyes and ears of the people.

Xiao Yu was also afraid of being recognized by the internal guards, so he got up and smiled at Shi Wenshun and said, "I still have important matters, so I'll go first, and we'll see you tomorrow morning." ”

Shi Wenshun also hurriedly got up and saluted, "I must wait for Mr. Xiao." ”

Xiao Yu paid for the wine, and then left from the back door stairs, just as Xiao Yu left, more than a dozen internal security soldiers walked to the second floor under the leadership of a captain, and said to a few drinkers on the second floor with a fierce attitude: "Check your identity, no one is allowed to leave!" ”

Shi Wenshun suddenly became interested in Xiao Yu's identity, and actually left before the internal guard soldiers went upstairs, it seems that he was quite worried about being recognized by the internal guards, so who is this person? actually knows his father, a middle-aged man surnamed Xiao.

Shi Wenshun thought for a moment, and suddenly remembered one thing his father had told him, Xiao Xiangguo met his father in Luoyang the year before last, could he be ...... (To be continued.) )