To the north of Zuoying is a relatively open place. In the middle stands a large flag three feet high, and there are hundreds of large tents. It is the management center of Zuoying. Many students from Liangzhou University are sitting behind a row of desks.

Detailed registration of basic information such as people's names, ages, place of origin, tribes, number of people in the family, etc. In addition, in accordance with government requirements, the skills and skills they are good at are registered one by one.

Since these people came from the grasslands, their names were completely different from Han names. Therefore, when registering, most of them were Chinese names transliterated by students, so many different names appeared.

In front of the rows of tables, there are dozens of columns of thousands of people, all waiting to register. After each person in line representing a family registers, they will receive a piece of paper with a number engraved on it, representing their family number.

wooden sign.

Yang Ji slowed down his horse and rushed to the registration office along the straight and spacious passage vacated in the middle. As he was looking around, he suddenly heard someone on the right shouting: "Your Majesty, I am here!"

Yang Ji followed the sound and saw Pei Ju sitting behind a long table waving to him. There was a thick stack of "family resumes" on the table in front of him. He was holding a pen in his hand and was helping people register.

When I saw him, I lowered my head and asked the registrant in front of me.

When Yang Ji saw that Pei Ju, the prime minister, actually went to the "front line" and registered the information of the victims in person without doing his job, Yang Ji was greatly surprised. He immediately got off his horse and walked quickly to Pei Ju. He did not disturb him.

He was just waiting for Pei Ju to finish what he was doing.

Pei Ju nodded to Yang Ji, and said to the man in fluent Turkic language: "The names of you and your family have been registered, so which tribe are you from? Are you from the Tongluo tribe in your surname?"

"Yes, I am from the Tongluo tribe." The strong man replied.

Pei Ju wrote the words "Tongluobu, Dahu District" in the place of residence in the register, and asked: "I see you have parents, a son and two daughters, three children who are underage, and you and your two women."

Besides grazing, what else do you do and what do you know how to do?”

"In addition to herding herds, I also follow the tribal warriors to kill wild wolves. If there is a war, I have to go to the battlefield. My women graze during the day and weave blankets and tan leather goods at home at night." The man thought for a while and added:

"If it's too late, the three of us will sleep together and try to have a baby."

"Haha!" As soon as he finished speaking, bursts of laughter arose.

He knew what everyone was laughing at, and he couldn't help laughing either.

Pei Ju couldn't help laughing, and he said while laughing: "There is one last thing to register, which is what other skills do you have? For example, you can blacksmith, or you can make leather armor, etc."

The man said: "I can blacksmith, and I make my sword, spearhead, and arrows all by myself."

Pei Ju registered, put the resume in a green box, and handed him a green sign. He smiled and said: "Liangzhou needs a lot of blacksmiths who are good at blacksmithing, and being a blacksmith is more profitable than herding or farming.

Since you know how to blacksmith, you don’t need to go to farm. After you and your family get together, take this token and report to Dongying with your family."

"Do you know about Dongying? It's the camp near the big blue flag. The officials there will re-arrange your family's residence. In the future, your family will live in Zhangye City and you won't have to separate."

"Thank you, uncle!" The man was overjoyed when he heard that he didn't have to go to farm and the family didn't have to be separated. Under the envious eyes of some excluders, he left happily with a blue sign in his hand.

Pei Ju gave up his seat to a student, stood up and said to Yang Ji, "I've kept the king waiting for a long time."

Yang Ji said with a smile: "People often say that overqualified people are underutilized, and today I have seen the best overqualified people."

"Actually, it's nothing!" Pei Ju smiled and said, "I have done similar things before. I was so moved by the scene that I couldn't help but experience it."

Yang Ji said with emotion: "There must be very few high-ranking officials in the court who are willing to put down their dignity to do such a small thing."

Pei Ju knew that Yang Ji was just speaking out of his feelings, but he would not accept such words that could easily offend others. He pointed to a tent in the distance and said, "I have something to tell you, go and talk over there."

?”

"Okay!" Yang Ji nodded and walked towards the big tent with him.

"What you did in Liangzhou and the Northern Expedition to the Great Lakes Region aroused criticism from the whole court. However, the saint was not dissatisfied. Instead, he tried his best to help you suppress all kinds of rumors. It can be seen that the saint agreed with everything about you.

behavior." Pei Ju looked at the people who came to eliminate them, and then said to Yang Ji: "Thank you for fighting this battle.

, otherwise, many officials do not know that the East Turks have grown to such an extent; if the East Turks are allowed to grow, they will become a powerful enemy in the future. Many knowledgeable people also complained to the court because of this battle, hoping that

The imperial court re-evaluated the relationship between the Sui Dynasty and the Eastern Turks. Therefore, your victory has far-reaching significance."

Yang Ji pondered for a while and then said with a smile: "From this incident, it shows that there are many knowledgeable people in our Sui Dynasty who have great righteousness, but they know too little about the outside world."

"That's right!" Pei Ju nodded: "This is also one of my important missions as envoy to the Western Regions."

As they spoke, the two entered the big tent.

This was a large tent for students to rest. There was no one inside, so Yang Ji's soldiers guarded the door and no one was allowed to enter.

After the two sat down, Pei Ju wiped away his indifference and asked Yang Ji seriously: "When I came home from the Prefectural Mufu Mansion yesterday, I met Sikong Dugushun. Why is he here?"

"Dugu Sikong came to Zhangye for two purposes. One is to open the Silk Road so that the Dugu family's caravan can travel to and from Liangzhou." Yang Ji said to Pei Ju: "The Prime Minister also knows that I have had trouble with the Dugu family.'

Dugutuo even did not hesitate to lure wolves into his house for the sake of the golden trade route of the Silk Road.

The Dugu family now sees that many caravans can travel smoothly on the Silk Road, and they also want to get a share of the pie. However, they are worried that I am deliberately making things difficult for them, so they transport a large amount of grain to sell when Liangzhou is short of food, solving Liangzhou's problem.

The reason why Dugu Sikong is here is because the Dugu family wants to improve relations with me."

"The second is for the career of his grandson Dugu Xianyi. Dugu Xianyi was once the magistrate of Changsong County, Liangzhou, and has now been promoted to the general secretary of the Neishi Province (Zhongshu Province). However, Liangzhou's reputation and comments

It is extremely important to his official career, so Dugu Sikong hopes that I will let him go."

Speaking of this, Yang Jiman said to Pei Ju nonchalantly: "Actually, they were worried too much. Although 'Dugu Tuo' did cause me a lot of trouble, it also made me famous. Afterwards, 'Dugu Tuo' also received a lot of attention."

There is a punishment, and this matter is a turning point."

"Although I still feel a little uncomfortable in my heart, public is public and private is private. As long as the Dugu family's caravan does not carry prohibited items out of the customs and pays the full commercial tax in accordance with the law, I cannot deliberately make things difficult. In the same way, Dugu Xian's intentions are good.

Well, it’s not me who has the final say, but public reputation and political performance.”

Almost all of these words were true, but he ignored the fact that Yang Ji and the Dugu family had secretly reconciled.

Of course, Yang Ji would not be so stupid as to believe that the Dugu family would let go of everything.

"Have you met him?" Pei Ju asked silently. Pei Ju knew that Liangzhou's rules were to act in accordance with the law. Yang Ji admired it, and he was famous for being "cold and ruthless". Naturally, he would not break the rules.

, deliberately making things difficult for the Dugu family. Of course, Pei Ju did not expect Yang Ji to tell the truth; but the main news that the Dugu family came to Yang Ji was true, and it also deserved his attention.

"We met yesterday. After all, in addition to being the current Sikong, he is also the former head of the Dugu family and my uncle in name. There is nothing we can do!" Yang Ji paused and said with a smile: "But it's not without gain.

Dugu Sima heard that there was a shortage of food here, so he planned to donate 200,000 shi of food to Liangzhou to resettle new residents."

Pei Ju's expression suddenly turned serious, and he asked in a deep voice: "Does the king accept it?"

"No!" Yang Ji smiled bitterly: "It's not that I don't want to, but I'm worried about being tricked."

"It's okay, it's okay! If you accept it, you are really tricked." Pei Ju breathed a long sigh of relief. The wedding date of Yang Ji and Pei Shuying has been decided. As long as Pei Shuying becomes the wife of the Yang family, Yang Ji and their Pei family will be outsiders.

In his eyes, it is a relationship of honor and disgrace. Whether it is from a personal emotional point of view or from a family interest point of view, Pei Ju does not want anything to happen to Yang Ji.

Gluten fat

"Is there any secret in this?" Yang Ji was accustomed to the later generations' thinking of "when one party is in trouble, all parties will support it", and almost accepted the kindness of the Dugu family, but in the end he was still rejected by the view of "being courteous for nothing, and being a traitor or a thief"

He was defeated, so he had a very difficult time and refused Dugu's donation of food with great reluctance. Now seeing Pei Ju's expression, he knew that he had done something big and important.

Pei Ju suddenly discovered something serious, that is, Yang Ji did not understand Jun Wang, so he asked in a deep voice: "Do you know Jun Wang?"

Yang Ji nodded and said: "Understood! The county king is the most famous and famous family in the area. For example, your Wenxi Pei family is not only the largest family in Jiangzhou, but also the largest family in Hedong."

Pei Ju shook his head and said, "It's all imaginary, but what about the reality?"

"Actually, it's the local emperor..." Yang Ji only knew this much.

"The metaphor of the Earth Emperor is very appropriate, but there is an agreement between the Earth Emperor and the Earth Emperor. No one can enter the other's territory without permission, otherwise it will be regarded as an invasion..." Pei Ju shook his head with a headache and patiently introduced: "

The same is true for each county. No county will provide assistance across counties. When floods occurred in Bingzhou,

, our Pei clan can only cooperate with the southern commanders of Bingzhou to provide relief to the southern part of Bingzhou. If we go to the north to provide relief, the commanders of the Wang clan and Wen clan of Taiyuan will think that we have taken away their popularity and regard our actions as an invasion. In the same way, they

Nor can we go south to provide relief. If anyone breaks this rule, it will be regarded as a declaration of war, and the two will start a war in official circles and local areas."

"That's it! I've learned a lesson." Yang Ji suddenly realized. He knew that the competition between famous families was fierce, but he didn't expect it to reach this stage. These famous families are clearly ancient gangsters, and a family is a gang.

They are kings of the territory and are on guard against each other. No matter whether they have good intentions or bad intentions, they do not allow the other party to engage in various activities within their own sphere of influence. However, this is approved by the government.

Pei Ju smiled: "The traditional sphere of influence of the Guanlong nobles included Yongzhou, Yizhou, Liangzhou, Jingzhou and most of Yuzhou in Guanzhong. After the Sui Dynasty unified the world, they took advantage of the situation to compete with the Shandong gentry for the merger, Ji, You, etc.

Yan, Qing, competes with the southern gentry, Yang, Xu."

"The Dugu family is one of the three major sects of the Guanlong nobles. In addition, the Guanlong nobles are not as divided as the famous county commanders. Therefore, the Dugu family can move anywhere on the territory of the Guanlong nobles."

"Tch!" Yang Ji said contemptuously: "No wonder those so-called thousand-year-old nobles cannot defeat the Guanlong nobles. Let alone their strength, their magnanimity alone is not as good as others. They deserve to be forced to give in every step of the way."

"..." Pei Ju's smile suddenly froze on his face. Although he knew that Yang Ji was not scolding him, what difference did it make?

Yang Ji saw that Pei Ju's expression was wrong and said quickly: "Thank you, Xiangguo Pei, I understand everything!"

He really understood.

Although Liangzhou does not have any county title, it has been managed as a royal territory by him. If the Dugu family comes here to do business, it is a normal trade behavior. Once he, the talker of Liangzhou, accepts the Dugu family's orders privately or openly,

Donating food, in the eyes of Yang Guang and other Yang family disciples, was a traitorous act that led the wolf into the house.

Even if Yang Guang didn't cause trouble for him, I'm afraid people in the royal family would look at him "differently".

This is not a problem of any one person, but a deep-rooted sectarianism and local protectionism!

Fortunately, I would rather die poor than eat the food of complaining, otherwise things would be very serious. But this kind of unspoken rule that ignores the urgent needs of the people is really abominable, but so what?

He can't die for these new people, can he?

“Is there a way to have the best of both worlds?”

"Yes!" Pei Ju said: "For example, these grains were donated by Dugu Xianyi in his own name before he left office. That is, he was trying to gain fame and political achievements by himself. It is a private act that has nothing to do with you and the Dugu family. What you are doing here
To be continued...