Chapter 409 Chang'an Nursery Rhyme
Chapter 409 Chang'an Nursery Rhyme
In the afternoon, Liu Wenjing came to the Princess's Mansion and delivered a letter from Xiao Xia to Princess Yang Lihua on behalf of Xiao Xia, and presented a box of beautiful jade. Yang Lihua was very moved. She immediately said that next year when the emperor inspected Hexi and Longyou, she would also go with him to take a look.
After leaving the Princess's Mansion, Liu Wenjing went to the Cui Mansion to deliver a family letter, and then came to the Xihai Trading Company in the Metropolitan City. The chief steward Ma Yue invited him to the inner hall.
Ma Yue took out the account book and reported the expenditure to Liu Wenjing. "At the beginning of last year, we had accumulated profits of 400,000 guan. From last year to now, the total profit of the store is 700,000 guan, and the total accumulated profits are 1.1 million guan. According to your highness's instructions, we started to invest heavily in Luoyang at the beginning of last year. By October last year, we had invested 800,000 guan, mainly to purchase land and stores, purchasing 110 lots.
Since October last year, the land price in Luoyang has skyrocketed. The shops and land we invested in have increased fivefold, but we have stopped buying. We currently have 300,000 guan of profit left. Do we need to transport it to Hexi?"
Liu Wenjing shook his head and said, "The emperor may not let Your Highness stay in Hexi and Longyou for too long, so just leave the money in Chang'an!"
"Your Highness has only been gone for a year, why don't you let Your Highness stay?"
Liu Wenjing smiled bitterly and said, "Many of your actions have made the Confucian scholars represented by Wei Chong hate and resent you. They have been constantly advising the emperor to transfer you away from Hexi. In addition, your achievements are too great, and you are a bit too much for the emperor."
"Ah! Now that you say that, sir, I remember something."
"whats the matter?"
Ma Yue said quickly, "In the past few months, a children's song called "Four Sheep" has been popular in Chang'an. All the children in Chang'an are singing it. When I heard this children's song, I felt something was wrong. Now I completely understand it."
"What kind of nursery rhymes?"
Ma Yue picked up a pen and wrote a nursery rhyme and handed it to Liu Wenjing.
Liu Wenjing took the nursery rhyme and read it through. He was immediately shocked. This was not a nursery rhyme at all, it was clearly a political prophecy.
A sheep in the east, riding a horse to the east village,
A sheep at the west end goes to Xiliang with a knife.
The old sheep becomes the big sheep again, sitting cross-legged in the center.
I am not afraid of the beasts of Luoyang, but I am afraid of the wolves of Northwest China.
The sheep in the east refers to King of Qi Yang Ling, and the sheep in the west clearly refers to King of Jin Yang Xia, also known as Xiao Xia. The old sheep becomes the big sheep, which refers to the emperor and the prince. Yang Ling in the east is not a concern, but one must be careful of the northwest wolf in the west.
Who actually compared the King of Jin to a northwest wolf? Who made up this nursery rhyme?
Only then did Liu Wenjing realize the seriousness of the problem. Some people with ulterior motives had begun to sow discord between father and son and between brothers.
Unfortunately, the emperor is very suspicious, so this matter is really a bit troublesome.
Liu Wenjing was anxious and decided to return to Hexi early tomorrow morning.
At the same time that Liu Wenjing saw the nursery rhyme, in the imperial study, Prime Minister Wei Chong and Yuwen Shu were also persuading Emperor Yang Guang.
"Your Majesty, I think that the establishment of Gaochang Protectorate and Yiwu Protectorate does not require the King of Jin to lead troops to conquer them. They were already vassal states of the Great Sui Dynasty during the time of the previous emperor. Your Majesty sent envoys to the two countries and asked the kings of the other countries to come to Chang'an for an audience and sit down for talks. This is not to merge them into the Great Sui Dynasty, but just to station troops and establish a protectorate. It will have no impact on them. Will they not agree?"
Yuwen Shu also said, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Wei is right. I also think that there is no problem in establishing a Protectorate and stationing troops. I even think that if the two sides talk well, we can even establish Yiwu County and Gaochang County."
Yang Guang walked a few steps with his hands behind his back and said, "In fact, I want to rebuild the Anxi Protectorate, just like the Han Dynasty, and incorporate the entire Western Regions into the Sui Dynasty. This is the dream of the late emperor, and it is also my dream."
Wei Chong said decisively: "Your Majesty's dream can be realized, but the prerequisite is to transfer the Prince of Jin back to the Central Plains."
"Why?"
"Your Majesty, the King of Jin is too cruel. He has killed all the kings and nobles of Tuyuhun and Dangxiang. If we let him build a protectorate, the small countries in the Western Regions will surely be in danger. Where is our sincerity in building a protectorate? Is killing the kings and nobles and robbing their people of their land sincere? Establishing counties will make them even more afraid. If we don't kill them now, what about later?
The key is that the Prince of Jin is the son of His Majesty and a prince of the Great Sui. He represents the attitude and credibility of the Great Sui! He has killed all the credibility of the Great Sui. Who will dare to believe in the Great Sui in the future? "
Yuwen Shu also said: "Your Majesty, Tuyuhun and Dangxiang have made a big mistake. We cannot let His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin make the same mistake again. I strongly suggest that he be transferred back to the Central Plains." Yang Guang sighed and said: "I understand your intentions, and I agree with your opinion. It is already late autumn and winter is coming. I will transfer him back after I have inspected Longyou and Hexi in the spring tomorrow."
"But your majesty needs to make it clear that he does not need to establish the Yiwu and Gaochang Protectorates."
Yang Guang nodded, "I will send someone to explain it to him!"
Yuwen Shu came out of the palace in a carriage. As soon as he passed through the Suzaku Gate, the carriage stopped and his eldest son Yuwen Huaji, wearing armor, got on the carriage. Yuwen Huaji entered the palace as a guard and was soon promoted to General of the Thousand Oxen Guards thanks to his father's power.
If he had worked harder, he would have been a general by now. But he was still unreliable and obsessed with romance. In Yuwen Chengdu's words, making him a Lang Jiang was already a great honor for him.
However, although Yu Wenzhi was not good at doing a proper official job, he was very good at doing crooked things.
Yuwen Shu understood his son well, so he simply indulged him in being unrestrained and unruly, using this ridiculous image as a cover, and secretly let him be responsible for contacting the Guanlong nobles.
Yu Wenzhi got on the carriage, and Yu Wenshu said calmly, "You go see Dugu Huai'en today and tell him that the emperor has been convinced. After inspecting Hexi and Longyou next spring, Xiao Xia will be transferred back to the Central Plains."
"I understand, I'll go find Huai En this afternoon!"
After a pause, Yu Wenzhi asked in confusion: "I don't understand why the Guanlong nobles hate Xiao Xia so much in Hexi and Longyou?"
Yuwen Shu snorted in dissatisfaction, "Have you fed your brain to pigs? You can't even think of such a simple reason?"
Yu Wenzhi shrank his neck and said, "My child is really stupid!"
Yuwen Shu glared at his eldest son fiercely, and then said: "Helong is the back of the Guanlong nobles. In the future, when the Guanlong nobles confront Luoyang and Shandong, are you willing to have a sharp dagger pointed at the back of your neck?"
Yu Wenzhi slapped his forehead and said, "My child is really stupid!"
"Go! Tell Dugu Huai'en that I have convinced the emperor."
At night, Dugu Huai'en hurried to see the master of the house. He waited for a while at the gate of the courtyard, and a tea boy led him to the master's room.
"Master, Huai En is here!"
"come in!"
Dugu Huai'en walked into the patriarch's room, knelt down and bowed, "Nephew pays respect to Sixth Uncle!"
Dugu Tuo asked, "Did you see Yu Wenzhi this afternoon?"
"Exactly! My nephew and he went to drink together in the evening, and he told my nephew that his father had persuaded the emperor to transfer him back to Xiaoxia next spring."
Dugu Huai'en and Yuwen Huaji were colleagues, both of them were generals of the Qianniu Guard, so no one would suspect anything even if they drank wine together every day. Moreover, Yuwen Shu moved the tablets of his ancestors into the Wuchuan Tower very secretly, and only a very few people knew about it.
Dugu Tuo nodded. In fact, he knew that the one who really persuaded the emperor was the Confucian leader Wei Chong. They were a group of corrupt Confucian scholars who talked about morality and righteousness all day long. They would never tolerate Xiao Xia killing Tuyuhun nobles.
But in fact, what really made the emperor change his mind was a series of manipulations behind the scenes by the Guanlong nobles. For example, the Four Sheep Song that was popular among children a few months ago was the masterpiece of the Guanlong nobles.
The Guanlong nobles successfully made Xiao Xia's performance appear to be too successful to shock the emperor. They first praised Xiao Xia's achievements and even touted him as the number one person in the Sui Dynasty. They also exaggerated that he distributed the spoils to the soldiers in private, bypassing the court, so that the soldiers would be grateful to him instead of the emperor.
After all these operations, Emperor Yang Guang was naturally unhappy and became suspicious. Yang Guang was very suspicious and would be suspicious even of his own sons, just like Emperor Wen of Sui was suspicious of his five sons. Once he was suspicious of his sons, and then exaggerated it with nursery rhymes, the effect of being too successful to be the master's will appear.
Dugu Tuo said calmly, "I know. I will give Wang Long some benefits in a while and ask him to persuade the King of Qi to go to the Queen and cry. With the Queen's advice, Xiao Xia's transfer will basically be a done deal."
(End of this chapter)