In the end, Yang Ning was unable to resist the nature of a seven-year-old child. When he came back, he had a fluffy gray bunny in his arms. This was a small gift given to him by an old farmer. He was only half a month old.
Seeing his son holding the little rabbit in his arms like a treasure, Yang Yuanqing liked his childlike innocence very much. He touched his son's head lovingly and said with a smile: "If my sister sees it, it will be gone."
"I won't let her see it, and I won't let my mother see it either."
Yang Ning raised her head and asked her father, "Dad, little rabbit likes to eat radishes, right?"
Yang Yuanqing smiled and shook his head, "This rabbit is probably too small to chew radishes. You can feed it with tender vegetable leaves. It likes it too. And rabbits are afraid of cold at night, so you have to make a nest for it with some soft padding."
Linen and the like.”
"Yeah! I plan to make a small box out of wood and make a nest for it, but... I'm just afraid that my mother won't let me raise it."
Yang Ning looked at his father as if asking for help. Yang Yuanqing smiled and said, "I will convince your mother to agree, but you can't waste your studies."
"I won't!"
Yang Ning suddenly became excited. He picked up the little rabbit and put it on his face.
The group returned to the palace. Yang Yuanqing ordered his son to be sent back to the palace first. He himself took hundreds of cavalry and continued driving to the north of the city. After a while, they stopped in front of a large mansion, which was Pei Ju's mansion.
Pei Ju's life is very regular. He gets up with Zhaoxia every day, practices swordplay in the backyard for half an hour, then washes up, eats some breakfast, rests for two hours as he likes, or goes out to chat with people, or fishes in the back garden of Fuzhong. After lunch
, a short nap is the time for him to read and think.
At this time, Pei Ju was wearing a fisherman's raincoat and a bamboo hat, and was sitting on a big rock in the back garden fishing. Pei Ju also gradually fell in love with fishing after he retired from office. In his words, fishing was his time to think.
When fishing, he likes to dress up as an old fisherman. Even though there is a fishing pavilion by the water, he doesn't sit down. Instead, he sits on a few big rocks and feels the nature. He was lucky today and caught two carp and three carp in just over half an hour.
Silver carp.
Although Pei Ju is no longer in the court, he still pays attention to every move of the court. The Wang family was purged, the Wang brothers were reduced from their posts to civilians, his nephew was killed for bootlegging, the manor and shop were confiscated by the government, and more than twenty people
The royal party was either demoted or dismissed, and was purged from the court.
Pei Ju had expected what happened to the Wang family, which was also the main reason why he took the initiative to retire from office. At the beginning of the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, the Pei and Wang parties occupied almost all important official positions, and Yang Yuanqing could only endure it at first.
But as the Sui Dynasty gradually expanded, the Wang family and the Pei family needed to vacate the throne. If they knew what they were interested in, they would go down by themselves, just like the Pei family. If they didn't know the interests, they could only clean up. Just like the Wang family, Yang Yuanqing was absolutely ruthless in the power struggle.
.This is the spirit that a founder of a country should have. He must be broad-minded, embrace all rivers, and make the best use of people's talents, but he must also be cruel, ruthless, and eradicate dissidents.
Pei Ju is very eager now. He wants to know when Yang Yuanqing is going to ascend the throne?
At this time, the fishing rod suddenly moved, and a fish took the bait. Just as Pei Ju was about to pull the rod, the butler ran over in a hurry and shouted nervously: "Master! His Royal Highness the King of Chu is here."
Pei Ju was startled when Yang Yuanqing arrived, and he immediately asked: "Is anyone accompanying you?"
"Goro will accompany you."
Wu Lang was Pei Qingsong. Pei Ju nodded and said, "Please come here, His Majesty the King of Chu."
The housekeeper felt that something was wrong, but he did not dare to disobey the master's order, so he had to go to the front yard. Pei Ju sat down slowly, but he was thinking about Yang Yuanqing's purpose. If he guessed correctly, Yang Yuanqing was going to make the next move.
When he arrived, Pei Ju felt vaguely that Yang Yuanqing seemed to be a little undecided recently.
At this time, Pei Ju suddenly realized that the fish he had just caught had run away. "It's easy for you!" Pei Ju laughed and cursed.
In the distance, Yang Yuanqing was walking quickly under the leadership of the housekeeper, followed by Pei Qingsong. Until he got closer, Yang Yuanqing discovered that the old man sitting by the river wearing a raincoat and a bamboo hat was not a servant cleaning the pond, but
It was Pei Ju himself. Pei Qingsong was also shocked by Pei Ju's outfit. It wasn't raining or snowing. Why was the head of the family dressed like this?
Yang Yuanqing waved his hand and ordered Pei Qingsong to stop. He walked forward quickly, bowed and saluted: "Yuanqing meets my grandfather!"
Pei Ju smiled and said: "Yuan Qing, come and see the fish I caught."
Yang Yuanqing happily stepped forward, picked up the fish basket in the water, looked at it, and said with a smile: "The harvest is good, there are already five."
"Hey! If you didn't come, Article 6 would have taken the bait."
Pei Ju sighed, took a small Hu stool and handed it to him. Yang Yuanqing sat down next to Pei Ju, looked at the water and said: "There is a severe drought this year, and many places have no water. Grandpa's pond is not bad."
Pei Ju stroked his beard and shook his head and said: "It has shrunk by half. There is a spring under the pond, which is the same as the pond in your palace. There is almost no water source during the day. Only a little water is replenished at night to prevent it from drying up. There is a severe drought this year.
!”
"The drought is indeed serious this year. Hedong, Hebei, Guanzhong, Central Plains, and Longyou are all suffering from severe drought. It is the most serious disaster in Daye in the past six years. I inspected the farmland outside the city in the morning. Production reduction is a foregone conclusion. If we fight the drought effectively, we can maintain the situation."
Half the harvest.”
"How much food does the imperial court have?" Pei Ju asked quietly. He knew that Yang Yuanqing came to ask him for advice, so he was not polite and went straight to the key point.
"After receiving the Tang Dynasty's war compensation of about 500,000 shi of grain, the grain storage can reach 1 million shi."
"It's not that small, but have you considered the possible outbreak of hunger in the six counties of Qingzhou?"
Pei Ju is worthy of being an old prime minister for more than ten years. He has a sharp eye and can see potential crises at a glance. Yang Yuanqing has to admire that Jiang is still smart.
"Right now, the problem of hungry people in Qingzhou has caused a shortage of food, which is quite a headache. So I came here to ask my grandfather if he had any good suggestions." Yang Yuanqing sighed helplessly.
Pei Ju stared at the float on the water and said slowly: "There are not many ways. For example, we can trade with the grasslands and exchange light cloth or tea for the Turks' cattle and sheep. However, this can only solve the temporary food shortage. If you want to
To obtain a large amount of food, we have to rely on plunder through foreign wars, and this has been done since ancient times."
Yang Yuanqing perked up and said quickly: "Recently, I have also been considering attacking the Tang Dynasty, either within the pass or Jingxiang. This time the Sui army recaptured Huining County. I found that the Sui army can completely capture the pass or Hexi."
"Capture Hexi? Do you want to cut off the Tang army's source of war horses?" Pei Ju asked.
Yang Yuanqing nodded, "On the one hand, this attack on Huining County is to seize the mineral deposits. On the other hand, it is also to prepare for the next step of seizing Hexi. Most of the war horses of the Tang Dynasty came from Hexi. Occupying Hexi will also cut off
The source of war horses in the Tang Dynasty.”
Pei Ju sighed, "Yuan Qing, your biggest problem is that you are too successful. You always think that the Tang Dynasty is a soft persimmon that can be manipulated by you. But have you ever thought about it? Your front line has extended from the coast of the Yellow Sea to the Hexi Corridor. You have
How many troops are needed to maintain such a long front? Then there are your enemies, Tang Dynasty, Dou Jiande, Goryeo, East and West Turks, and Li Mi and Wang Shichong who have ulterior motives. It can be said that you are surrounded by enemies on all sides, but your eyes are only focused on the Tang army. How can others do this?
Are you going to stand by and wait until you finish taking care of the Tang Dynasty before you deal with them?"
Yang Yuanqing was silent for a long time. In fact, he captured Huining County and ignited the war into the pass. There were already objections in Ziwei Pavilion. They believed that the battle line was too long. It was only because Huining County had huge copper and silver mine interests that he
Opposition voices were suppressed.
But Pei Ju's warning was like an alarm bell ringing in his ears. He was silent for a moment and then said: "But my grandfather also said that waging war is the fastest way to obtain food."
Pei Ju shook his head, "You misunderstood me. How much food can you plunder from the Tang Dynasty war? It will also cause more serious famines. If you attack Qingzhou, you will get a huge burden. The gains outweigh the losses. What I mean is plundering."
War refers to external affairs."
"foreign!"
Yang Yuanqing suddenly understood what Pei Ju meant, "Grandpa refers to Goryeo?"
Pei Ju stroked his beard and laughed. Yang Yuanqing was really good. He guessed what he was thinking at a glance, "Actually, I am also thinking about solutions to the food shortage. There is only so much food in the world. If the food of the Tang Dynasty is taken away, then the people of the Tang Dynasty will be hungry."
Starting a civil war is not the way to solve the food problem. The only way to solve the food problem is to fight against the outside world, either the Turks or Goryeo. But the Turks have just established a new khan, and they also need a war to establish the authority of the new khan. If you attack the Turks, you will play into their own hands.
I will do my best to deal with it. After a war, no matter you win or lose, you will have to pay a heavy price. The most terrible thing is that the army has not returned, but Taiyuan has been lost, so I will never support fighting the Turks."
Yang Yuanqing nodded silently. Yesterday, he and Cui Junsu also had a deep talk about the Turks. The Turks had destroyed the Utu tribe. Jieli Khan came to the throne and gradually became stronger. Sooner or later, he would become the biggest threat to the north of the Sui Dynasty. At this time, they could only
Try to maintain the friendship with the Turks. Once they fall out with the Turks and form the Southern Tang Dynasty, the Northern Turks will attack from the north and the south, and the Sui Dynasty will be in danger.
"We have discussed the relationship with the Turks. It is unwise to start a war with the Turks now. According to my grandfather's wishes, it is most beneficial to attack Goryeo. However, Yang Guang's three conquests of Goryeo eventually led to the country's demise. Goryeo was not so easy to capture."
Pei Ju narrowed his eyes and laughed, "You are not planning to destroy Goryeo, are you? You just want food. In fact, you only need one person to seize Goryeo's food. It is very easy."
"Who is it?"
Pei Ju smiled lightly and said, "This person is now in Xiao Mian's hands."
Yang Yuanqing suddenly understood what Pei Ju meant. He was indeed wily and resourceful. At the critical moment, he still had to rely on his veteran minister!