Chapter 327: Escape from Chang'an
Chapter 327: Escape from Chang'an
Xiao Xia came to the office of the General Manager and placed a heavy cloth bag on the table. He opened the bag and found it was full of glittering gold and silver jewelry, as many as four or five hundred pieces.
He picked out two sets of top-quality gold jewelry, and more than twenty gold bracelets, gold hairpins and the like, and placed them in the drawer.
Xiao Xia sent someone to look for Liu Wenjing. Not long after, Liu Wenjing came to the official residence and was shocked to see the table full of gold and silver jewelry.
"Where did you get this from, sir?"
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "These are the spoils of war from suppressing bandits. The army has them all. You can distribute them to the General Administration Office and the County Office for me. Give some to the County Office as well."
"The butler, please stay here!"
Xiao Xia shook his head, "I kept some, you divide these for me, everyone will definitely benefit from following me."
Liu Wenjing smiled and nodded. This trick was really good for winning people's hearts.
He asked two of his men to carry the cloth bag back to his office, and then called Pei Wen'an and several second-level aides to discuss how to distribute it.
This trick really worked. The officials got gold jewelry, and the clerks and constables got silver jewelry. They all smiled and praised the general manager for his consideration for his subordinates and for making money for everyone.
When the officials took the gold and silver jewelry home, their wives were extremely happy. At this time, who cared who the original owners of these jewelry were?
Later, Xiao Xia learned that these gold, silver and jewelry were all from the inventory of Shan Xiongxin's mansion. They were stolen goods that Shan Xiongxin had collected over the years. When he escaped, he could not take the copper coins with him, so he distributed the gold, silver, jewelry and silk to the bandits.
In the end, they all became spoils of the Sui army.
By March, the emperor fell into a coma again. Crown Prince Yang Yong and Concubine Chen reached an agreement. He promised to make Concubine Chen the dowager consort and provide her with an annual stipend of 30,000 strings of cash. Concubine Chen then handed over the emperor's tiger talisman and the imperial seal to the crown prince.
After Yang Yong got the tiger talisman, he immediately mobilized 30,000 troops to be deployed to the city of Chang'an, and announced that he would begin preparations for the emperor's funeral and select 300 coffin bearers from various powerful families.
At the same time, Yang Yong dismissed Prime Minister Gao Jiong and Deputy Prime Minister Yang Su, appointed Su Wei as Right Prime Minister, Liu Shu as Left Prime Minister, and promoted Yun Dingxing and Yuan Min as Deputy Prime Ministers.
General Yuwen Chengdu of the Thousand Oxen Guards was transferred to be the governor of Ezhou, and Yun Shide took over as General Yuwen Chengdu of the Thousand Oxen Guards.
Before the emperor passed away, Crown Prince Yang Yong was eager to exercise his imperial power. The court was suddenly in a state of panic and everyone was in danger.
Outside the Ziwei Palace, Princess Yang Lihua was stopped by the guards. The new general of the Qianniu Guard, Yun Shide, said coldly: "The emperor is critically ill and will not see anyone. Please go back, Princess!"
Yang Lihua was furious. "I am the eldest princess. I came to visit my father. Who are you to block my way?"
Yun Shide waved his spear and said, "Without the permission of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, no one is allowed to see the Emperor. If Your Royal Highness the Princess dares to force her way in, it will be considered as treason and will be killed without mercy!"
Yun Shide waved his hand, and hundreds of guards raised their spears and pointed them at Yang Lihua. Yang Lihua was so angry that she was shaking all over. She pointed at Yun Shide and cursed, "You chicken and dog, let's see how long you can be so arrogant?"
She had no choice but to order the return of the princess's mansion. When Yang Lihua returned to the mansion, she immediately called her son-in-law Li Min and said to him, "The situation is probably not good. You should immediately find a way to transport the money in the treasury to Jiangdu and hand it over to the King of Jin. You should also take Eying and Jingxun to Jiangdu."
Li Min was shocked, "Mother-in-law, is the prince going to attack us?"
Yang Lihua said worriedly, "The emperor hasn't passed away yet, but the prince's fox tail has been exposed. He has long been dissatisfied with my support for Prince Jin. Once he ascends the throne, he will definitely attack me."
"Then let's go together, mother-in-law!"
Yang Lihua shook her head. "The emperor is dying. How can I leave? I have to see my father off. You can go ahead. I am the eldest princess. No matter how arrogant he is, he dare not touch me. But he will kill you to avenge me!"
Li Min nodded, "Then I'll go find a boat!"
Yang Lihua ordered again: "Go to Xihai Trading Company, they have several fleets over there!"
"My son-in-law knows!"
Li Min hurried to Xihai Trading Company in Metropolitan City and found the chief manager Ma Yue. Ma Yue asked Li Min to sit down and served tea.
"I wonder how many boats Mr. Li wants?" Ma Yue asked.
"At least a hundred, right?"
Ma Yue hesitated for a moment and said, "We have ships. Currently, our company has 300 ships. To be honest with you, Mr. Li, I am also going to transport all the valuables out of Chang'an and send them to Liang County. If you are also transporting valuables, you can go with us. But the problem now is safety. I am very worried that we will be intercepted along the way."
Li Min thought for a moment and said, "I can organize 300 warriors to escort them."
Ma Yue took out a letter and handed it to Li Min. "This is a letter my son wrote a few days ago. It's about how to transport property out of Guanzhong. Mr. Li, take a look!"
Li Min took the letter and read it carefully. In the letter, Xiao Xia suggested not to board the ship in Chang'an, but to transport the property to Fengyi County first, then transport the fodder from Chang'an to Fengyi County, and then exchange the fodder for property.
The letter particularly urged people to seize the opportunity and act before the emperor passed away. Everyone's attention was drawn to the palace, and this was an extremely short period of safety.
Ma Yue added: "We have been observing for some time and found that the prince is indeed conducting land and water surveillance. The surface surveillance range is from Xianyang County to Xinfeng County, and the focus is on Chang'an.
The land surveillance is from Chang'an East City to Xinfeng County. If any abnormality is found, they will be intercepted at Tongguan or Hanguguan. If we want to evacuate, we must avoid these sections. "
Li Min nodded and said, "My mother-in-law owns a small manor near Guangtongcang in Huayin County, close to the Wei River, and has its own dock. We can first use a large cart to transport the property to the manor in Huayin County, and then we can change boats at the manor. What do you think, Chief Steward?"
"But how do we get out of Chang'an?"
Li Min pondered for a moment and said, "There is a way. We can transport the property to the old city of Chang'an during the day. The general guarding the Weiyang Palace is my brother. We can leave the old city of Chang'an from the Weiyang Palace at night."
Ma Yue happily said, "Go south from Weiyang Palace, turn east after reaching Huxian County, and go east along the Hulan Official Road. This way you can avoid the surveillance area."
The two discussed many details before Li Min left in a hurry. It was time to start the action.
An hour later, Ma Yue rented a large warehouse near the Weiyang Palace in his own name. That afternoon, the first batch of properties of Xihai Trading Company and Yang Lihua were transferred to the warehouse.
At three o'clock in the morning, the door of a large house near the dock outside the east city slowly opened. Yuwen Shu, accompanied by a dozen guards and hundreds of servants, escorted hundreds of large carts out of the Yuwen Mansion. His two sons, Yuwen Wenji and Yuwen Shiji, also followed their father.
Yuwen Shu received news that the prince had made a list of families to be dealt with after he ascended the throne, and he was the first on the list.
At the beginning, he openly betrayed the Prince of Jin and defected to the Crown Prince. Later, he betrayed the Crown Prince and defected to the Prince of Han. What's more, in order to overthrow the Crown Prince Yang Yong, he set up a trap with the King of Han, pretending to defect to the Crown Prince again, and then tried his best to seduce the Emperor's eldest grandson Yang Yan.
This led to Yang Yan's complete depravity, and eventually one of his hands was cut off, leaving him disabled. How could the prince let him go for the murder of his son?
Yuwen Shu felt a strong sense of crisis and decided to escape from Chang'an and head to Taiyuan before the emperor passed away.
A month ago, Yuwen Shu bought a house outside the east city near Guangtong Canal, and then gradually transferred his property to the mansion outside the east city. During the day today, Yuwen Shu took his two sons and his wives and concubines to the mansion outside the city.
At night, Yuwen Shu was ready to take action. They came to the Guangtongqu Wharf, where thirty large ships were already prepared. The servants worked together to carry the property onto the ships. Yuwen Shu asked his eldest son to lead half of the servants to escort the ships, while he himself took his second son and drove eastward.
Just as Yuwen Shu's team left, several dark figures on the dock immediately rode their horses towards the imperial city.
Crown Prince Yang Yong had been keeping an eye on his father's condition. He had just fallen asleep for less than an hour when he was woken up again. It took him a while to realize that Yuwen Shu had run away.
It’s not impossible for Yuwen Shu to leave, but one of the people and the money must remain.
Crown Prince Yang Yong drank a sip of hot tea and said slowly: "Pass the order down, seize his fleet!"
(End of this chapter)