There are priorities, and compared with asking for rewards from Sui Yang Emperor, Zhai Hong and his son's entry into Kou Xiao's letter is a trivial matter of sesame and mung bean. The distant cousin Pei Xingfang is enough to strangle them, so let's take a look at Qian Xiangmin's situation first.
Qian Xiangmin's unzippered mouth made him suffer. He had to settle his official business before departure, so he couldn't immediately set off to the south. Few of my colleagues knew that in less than a day, dozens of families of officials and dignitaries came to their doors, all of them were family members of civil and military officials who accompanied Emperor Sui Yang to go south. Xiangmin brings gifts to their families. As for the reason, of course, the world is in chaos and wars are raging, roads are blocked and traffic is difficult. The family members of these accompanying officials are eager to get in touch with their relatives and understand each other's situation. Qian Xiangmin.
Qian Xiangmin, who is very good at being a man, in order to maintain the relationship with his colleagues and to please many superiors, of course he would not refuse to come to this, and they all agreed. However, as the family members of these accompanying officials brought more and more gifts, Qian Xiangmin Gradually, Xiang Min couldn't bear it any longer, so he could only quickly finish the work of receiving the goods from Xiang Min Express, and only promised to send letters, but refused to bring any more items. Not to mention the family members of many high-ranking officials and dignitaries, and a group of guards headed by He Er complained about him. What are the local specialties of Guanzhong
"These things are useless to us, but to the officials who accompany His Majesty, they are more precious than gold. He Er, you are from Qiao County. If you can have a bite of Yongcheng in Guanzhong How much are you willing to pay for dried jujubes and crispy pears from Gaozhuang?" This was Qian Xiangmin's sophistry, and it was also a truth that came from the bottom of his heart. The people look for trouble for their nothing.
In this way, in the snowflakes, Qian Xiangmin took more than 20 selected Sui army masters on the road. It is very sad that Qian Xiangmin, who was already in the official residence, and who had already accumulated meritorious service, was named a sword He Er, two civil and military officials of the Sui Dynasty who were in charge, together with their entourage, walked on the land road of the Sui Dynasty, and even had to wear civilian clothes to perform such an important task as meeting Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. Disguise as an ordinary businessman and hit the road. What's even more sad is that not only are they not ashamed of such behavior, but they also take it for granted and must.
Just after leaving Jingzhao County, which is directly controlled by Chen Sangliang, Qian Xiangmin, He Er and others have already experienced the difficulty of traveling in troubled times. The county bandits have nothing to do, and Shangluo Pengchong, who has only a few thousand township soldiers in his hands, also has nothing to do with the plethora of bandits in the territory, allowing the Shangluo bandits headed by Zhou Tao to roam around the county, plundering merchants and officials traveling from north to south at will. , making it extremely difficult for Daxing to communicate with the southern counties. The bones on both sides of the official road are exposed in the wild, there are no cocks crowing for a hundred miles, only wild dogs and jackdaws scurrying around cannibalizing human flesh until their eyes are red.
Qian Xiangmin has never been lucky in terms of luck. On the way south to Shangluo County, he saw the corpse of a pedestrian who had just been killed twice, but he never encountered a large group of robbers. Occasionally, a few small thieves saw Qian Xiangmin Xiangmin and his party were numerous and armed, and they behaved well enough not to make trouble for Qian Xiangmin. After arriving at Shangluo, it happened that the prefect of Shangluo sent troops to deliver food to Wuguan, and Qian Xiangmin and others were able to go south with the village soldiers to leave the pass. Their luck was so good that the second-class followers were amazed, saying it was no wonder Qian Xiangmin has gone through so many things with Chen Sangliang, and he is still alive today.
The further south you go, the more dangerous you go, and there are more rogues and dead bodies along the way. However, Qian Xiangmin himself finds it a little unbelievable that Zhou Faming, the super landlord of Yong'an, rebelled and was recruiting rogues to attack Xiangyang City. The large groups of rogues in Zheyang and Nanyang counties in the south responded to Zhou Faming's call and went to Xiangyang to participate in the siege of the city. Things got better a lot, and Qian Xiangmin and his party were able to miraculously cross these two dangerous counties smoothly. They were not as unlucky as the last emissary, Pei Ning, who died tragically in Nanyang.
Huai'an County in the southeast is similar to the previous two counties. Most of the rogues in the territory were tempted by women who shared money and food after the capture of Xiangyang. They responded to Zhou Faming's call and ran to Xiangyang County further south. The small city of Huai'an County is relatively dense, and Qian Xiangmin and his party can spend the night in the city and travel during the day, but they wasted some time to avoid the large groups of passing bandits. Go down Henan.
Qian Xiangmin's good luck seems to end here. One of the two private boats hired in Tongbai is a pirate boat. The owner of the boat agreed to carry Qian Xiangmin and others because he was eyeing the several truckloads of goods brought by Qian Xiangmin. Jiangdu is planning to ask Qian Xiangmin to choose whether to eat bandao noodles or wonton noodles at night. But fortunately, He Er, who Qian Xiangmin insisted on asking Chen Sangliang before, played a role. Before he was rescued by Ma Sanbao from the thief's nest, He Er was already living on the water, and the sailors of the black boat accidentally said in front of He Er A few incisive words, and then He Er immediately summoned his men to act first, killed the heroes of the black boat, and robbed their boat instead, Qian Xiangmin and others escaped another catastrophe and were able to Take another regular civilian boat that has been frightened and stupid and continue eastward.
"I almost lost my life on a boat. How messed up is the world in the Great Sui Dynasty? What hope can there be in the Great Sui Dynasty?" This was Qian Xiangmin's wail as he watched the cabin full of blood and dead bodies, and then, Qian Xiangmin Xiang Min hurried to change his wet pants.
After killing the leader and sailors of the black boat, and taking the relatively safe Huaihe waterway, Qian Xiangmin, He Er and others once thought it was relatively safe, and discussed whether to go back to the place where Chen Sangliang started when they passed through the southern part of Qiao County. Looking at the situation, however, they quickly discover that they were dead wrong. Just after crossing Yiyang County and entering Yiyang County, they were stunned to see that the large and small cities south of the Huaihe River had changed their colors, and the vermilion Great Sui flag had disappeared, replaced by the apricot-yellow Du Fuwei military flag.
After further inquiring, Qian Xiangmin and others were shocked to learn that Yiyang, Liuhe, Gaoyou and other cities, which are only more than a hundred miles away from Jiangdu, have all fallen into the clutches of Du Fuwei. Du Fuwei, Liang's former defeated general, controlled most of the Jianghuai area under the nose of Sui Yang Emperor, and the hundreds of thousands of elite Sui troops stationed outside Jiangdu City had nothing to do with Du Fuwei.
If it weren't for turning back, it would be equally dangerous, and our Qian Xiangmin and Qian Ye people would no longer have the courage to go forward. Fortunately, Du Fuwei has adjusted his rogue tactics at this moment, and no longer relies entirely on robbing houses for a living. With the support of capitulation intellectuals to establish a political power, develop internal affairs, pay light taxes and rectify law and order to buy people's hearts, Qian Xiangmin's boat was not looted by Du Fuwei's army. Qian Xiangmin and others, who became ordinary businessmen, bought Du Jun soldiers who searched the ships, and rescued a few women who were about to starve to death on the road, pretending to be family members to cover them, so that they were able to continue down the Huai River.
After surviving countless difficulties and obstacles and experiencing countless fears, Qian Xiangmin and his party came to Pengcheng and the Xiapi River Section, which was once governed by Chen Sangliang. Xiapi County, which lost an important source of money and food, has also become a paradise for wild dogs and carrion crows. The very important Xucheng Wharf in the south of Xiapi has been reduced to a piece of scorched earth, only a few trackers with green lights in their eyes. The shore was attracting business, but after seeing the human arms boiled in their pot from a distance, Qian Xiangmin and He Er dared not even rely on the shore, and went directly eastward along the Huai River. Leaving those ragged trackers shouting on the pier, "Master, please do me a favor, we are starving to death, give us a bite of food."
Shanyang County, the mouth of the Huai River into the Tongji Canal, is also under the control of Du Fuwei, and no ships are allowed to divert into the Tongji Canal to go south. Qian Xiangmin, He Er and others can only give up. The goods on the ship, as well as the local products brought from Guanzhong to the accompanying officials, were disembarked in the upper reaches of Shanyang with letters, memorials, dry food, gold and silver, and went to Jiangdu by land to meet Sui Yang Emperor.
On the way, they were interrogated by Du Fuwei's soldiers several times. Qian Xiangmin and his party could only go back to Danyang's hometown together under the pretext, and even sent these Du Jun soldiers away with bribes and gifts. Daxing, but there is no turning back, Qian Xiangmin and others can only bite the bullet and continue to Jiangdu. During the period, Qian Xiangmin wailed several times, He Er and others were also forced to fight a group of Du Jun soldiers who refused to let go, and three of their companions died. .
Fortunately, when Chen Sangliang, who was thoughtful, arranged for Qian Xiangmin to be guarded, he specially arranged for two Jiangdu soldiers to act as guides for Qian Xiangmin and others when necessary. Lost in the territory of Jiangdu County, relying on perseverance, persecution with no way out, and Qian Xiangmin's usual shit luck, he finally passed through the control area of Du Fuwei's army and came to Gaoyou To the south is the area controlled by the Sui Army.
Departing from Daxing at the beginning of the twelfth lunar month and entering Jiangdu County controlled by the Sui army, it was already the end of the first lunar month of the 14th year of Daye, and Qian Xiangmin and his party, who were dressed reasonably when they set off, had become ragged and unkempt , looking a little more embarrassed than when he crossed the Wutai Mountains to visit Sui Yang Emperor at Yanmen. So much so that when Qian Xiangmin and others finally met the patrolling Sui army soldiers, they were treated as refugees and hungry people everywhere in the Jianghuai area, holding up knives and guns and yelling orders to force them to leave.
Quickly stepped forward to explain that Qian Xiangmin originally thought that it would take a lot of words and efforts to convince the soldiers of the Sui Army on the opposite side, but to Qian Xiangmin's surprise and sadness, he only said that he came from Daxing, Guanzhong, The soldiers of the Sui Army immediately surrounded him, and all of them asked with ecstasy, "Are you from Guanzhong? How is Yunyang County? I heard that Tang Guogong invaded Daxing, and Yunyang County, where my family is located, was captured." Have you washed it?"
"My home is in Siping. How's Siping? It's close to Daxing. Are there bandit troops messing around there?"
"My home is in Acheng. Has Acheng been washed? Have the bandits entered Acheng?"
"My family belongs to Qishan, what's going on in Qishan? How's my mother and father?"
Hearing these questions, Qian Xiangmin, He Er and the others had the urge to cry, but when they answered what they knew, most of the Sui soldiers who came from all over Guanzhong cried out. After Qian Xiangmin told him that the city of Qishan County had been stormed by Bai Yupo, all the food and property in the city had been looted, and countless residents in the county had been killed and injured, Gao Da, who was in his thirties, The man actually lay down on the ground and began to cry loudly. While hammering the ground frantically, he cried hoarsely, and all he chanted were the names of his relatives.
If Qian Xiangmin hadn't proposed it himself, these Sui army officers and soldiers would have forgotten to take him to Jiangdu to meet Sui Yang Emperor. However, on the way back to the city, Qian Xiangmin and others were still being questioned by these Sui army officers and soldiers. The soldiers, after learning that they were from Guanzhong, rushed forward as if they saw their relatives, ignored the patrol mission, and only asked about the situation in their hometown, and the crying of missing their hometown and relatives continued, countless The soldiers of the Sui Army washed their faces with tears, and wept into children.
Even if he was not a time traveler, Qian Xiangmin couldn't help feeling worried after seeing such a scene, and said to himself: "This situation is not good? If His Majesty insists on moving the capital to Danyang and never returning to the north, how many of these Guanzhong soldiers are there?" A person who is willing to continue to protect him with all his heart?"
On the 23rd day of the first lunar month in the 14th year of Daye, this day was the happiest day in Qian Xiangmin's life. When Qian Xiangmin, a small official of the ninth grade, came to the outside of Jiangdu City, nearly ten thousand people came to greet him. Most of them are ordinary Guanzhong soldiers, but there are also a large number of high-ranking court officials and civil and military officials who hold real power. In normal times, they might not even look at the sixth-rank officials like Qian Xiangmin. Too lazy to take a look.
Of course Qian Xiangmin knew that these people wanted to inquire about the situation in Guanzhong, but Qian Xiangmin had more important things to do now. The official who seemed to have a high official position said: "My lord, can you let me see His Majesty the Emperor immediately? Daxing was once occupied by Li Yuan's bandits, and His Majesty must be very worried. I must first report to him that Chen Liushou has recovered Daxing. event."
The senior official on the opposite side reacted very strangely. Not only did he not agree immediately, but he also thought about it before saying: "You should go to see Pei Zuoxiang and Yu Shilang first, report the situation to them first, and then listen to their decision."
"Why?" Qian Xiangmin was confused, and hurriedly asked the name of the official opposite him, and the senior official answered that his name was Xiao Ju, so scared that Qian Xiangmin hurriedly saluted, saying that he had seen Liang Gong.
Hearing the news of Qian Xiangmin's arrival, Pei Ju, Yu Shiji and other super dignitaries did not go out of the city to meet Qian Xiangmin in person just because of their status and face, but they also hurriedly gathered at the temporary desk in Jiangdu Gongcheng, waiting for Qian Xiangmin to come to see him, They even skipped the scenes of changing clothes and bathing, and let Qian Xiangmin, who was covered in mud all over his face, go to Shangshutai to meet them. And when Qian Xiangmin reported that Chen Sangliang had successfully restored Daxing, Pei Ju, Yu Shiji and other important court officials also heaved a long sigh of relief, but their faces were still not happy, and they were still frowning. something.
In a low voice, he reported to Pei Ju, Pei Yun, Yu Shiji and others that their mansion was safe and that they had not been looted by the rebels. Qian Xiangmin once again proposed to have an audience with Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty as soon as possible to submit the victory memorial, but Pei Ju, Yu Shiji and others whispered After discussing for a while, they still shook their heads and rejected Qian Xiangmin's plea. Then Pei Ju said to Qian Xiangmin again: "Qian Yezhe, you have worked so hard from afar, leave the victory memorial, go down and rest first, we will arrange for you to see His Majesty as soon as possible, and we will notify you when the time comes. , send money to the guest to go down to rest, and arrange the best post for him, so as to entertain him."
After walking for thousands of miles, he almost lost his head countless times. Seeing that he would be promoted and rewarded soon, Qian Xiangmin handed over the victory memorial when he was stupid. It was Chen Liushou who told the officials that he must present his victory memorial to His Majesty the Emperor face to face."
Qian Xiangmin's narrow-mindedness can't be hidden from Pei Ju and Yu Shiji and other official old foxes. After looking at each other and smiling wryly, Pei Yun stood up under Pei Ju's signal, walked to Qian Xiangmin's side, and whispered in his ear: "Don't think that Pei Zuoxiang They are trying to take your credit, they are doing it for your own good! To tell you the truth, His Majesty has not heard the news that Daxing was captured by Li Yuan's bandits. Now you go to see His Majesty and say that Daxing will be restored. What do you think will happen? What will happen?"
"Your Majesty still doesn't know the news of Daxing's fall?" Qian Xiangmin almost stared out of his eye sockets, and it took a lot of effort to suppress his voice.
Pei Yun nodded, and then said in a low voice: "You may not know that the last time Nephew Yingliang reported to His Majesty Li Yuan's rebellion and request for conquest, we hesitated for four days before we used a special method to let His Majesty know that Li Yuan For the rebellion, three servants in the palace died, and then we waited for another five days, and when His Majesty's mood improved a little, we asked His Majesty to issue an order for Ying Liang's virtuous nephew to send troops to suppress the rebellion."
Qian Xiangmin opened his mouth wide, and immediately remembered that before Chen Sangliang sent troops to Daxing last time, Emperor Sui Yang's decree to send troops was indeed sent to Dongdu much later than Chen Sangliang expected. At that time, Chen Sangliang thought it was a road It is inconvenient to block traffic, and now Qian Xiangmin knows that this is the reason.
"Take it out, you will gradually understand in the future." Pei Yun said in a low voice again: "Ying Liang is our nephew, and you belong to him. Why should we take your credit? We are trying to find a way to make His Majesty not If you get angry and find out about this, and tell you to report directly, many people’s heads will fall to the ground, and yours will also hang.”
Qian Xiangmin didn't dare not listen anymore, obediently took out Chen Sangliang's memorial and handed it to Pei Yun, Pei Yun shook his head after taking it, sighed, first sent Qian Xiangmin to leave Shangshutai to rest in the post, and then Turning to Pei Ju, Yu Shiji and the others with a wry smile, he said, "Hehe, it's time to discuss how to report this good news to His Majesty, gentlemen, do you have a clever plan?"
The super dignitaries such as Pei Ju and Yu Shiji also smiled wryly, their smiles were more bitter than Pei Yun's.
At the same time, Qian Xiangmin went out with the officials of Shangshutai, and just after leaving the gate of Shangshutai, he was immediately surrounded by many civil and military officials, one of them was tall and full of flesh, and grabbed Qian Xiangmin He asked aggressively: "Li Yuan's thieves broke into Daxing City. Has this general's mansion been looted? Tell me quickly! Has this general's mansion been looted?"
"General, are you...?" Qian Xiangmin asked cautiously.
"General Youtunwei! Yu Wenhuaji!"