Tibet

For the next two days, the young couple lived in the garden house like glue and were inseparable. On the third day, they returned home. They took a carriage early in the morning and returned to Dugu Mansion.

Dugu Lie specially took half a day off to accompany his son-in-law at home, and Dugu Ming also came with several of his children.

The daughter and son-in-law returned home. The daughter Xinyue returned to the back house and acted coquettishly in front of her grandmother. She was accompanied by a large family of children. Dugu Xinyue also brought a small lapis lazuli to her aunt Dugu Hui. This was a treasure that Dugu Hui never forgot. .

Son-in-law Li Ye was accompanied by men from his natal family, and everyone sat together drinking tea and chatting about important matters.

Dugu Ming smiled and said: "Land prices in Chang'an have increased dramatically recently. They have doubled, and the three-acre and five-acre houses have gone crazy. The court sold a lot of land and official residences and made a huge profit."

Dugu Lie nodded, "The emperor issued a decree to relax the restrictions on housing. If the common people have an honorary official, they can buy a house of three to five acres. In the past, civilians were only allowed to live on one acre, but now the maximum is relaxed to five acres. Many wealthy businessmen have seized the opportunity to change their houses, and the land market has become hot. Ye'er, it is said that this is a plan proposed by your father to increase financial income."

Li Ye smiled and said: "This is actually the advice I gave to my father. The imperial government only had a few hundred thousand dollars left in the finances, and it was extremely embarrassed, so I suggested that the imperial court sell land and real estate, but this can only be effective in the short term. Two or three years at most, but I didn’t mention the honorary officer.”

Dugu Ming waved his hand, "Xun Guan is also a way to make money. It is easier to get. There is a clear price tag. It is nominally a student aid, but in fact it is selling Xun Guan. As an additional condition for buying a big house, you can also get a lot of money. money.

It stands to reason that the imperial court should have relaxed its policies a long time ago, but it is not bad to relax it now, which can just open up financial resources. As Ye'er said, the imperial court's finances are too embarrassed. What can more than a hundred thousand guan do? No wonder they can't even pay out their salaries. Yang Guozhong is really good at being the prime minister! "

"You should be able to pay your salary now."

Li Ye smiled and said: "I donated various materials to the imperial court worth millions of guan. I heard that the imperial court sold them for 800,000 guan and repaid all the arrears. Later, I donated a batch of gold and silverware. About half a million guan."

"It turns out that those gold and silverware were donated by Ah Ye!"

The fifth old man, Dugu Pingyang, smiled and said: "Baoji Cabinet Shop has received a batch of collateral sent by the Ministry of Household Affairs. They are all gold and silverware. They are from the Western Regions at first glance, equivalent to half a million yuan. I also said The Ministry of Finance sold all the old people."

Li Ye nodded, "Yang Guozhong has long sold out all the people in the Ministry of Revenue. This batch of gold and silverware is my trophy. I donated it to the Ministry of Revenue as a special fund to dredge the Tianbao Canal and repair the transit warehouse in Sanmenxia. There are only 300,000 grains left in the imperial court, half of which are military rations. If we don’t transport grain from the Jianghuai River, there will be a famine throughout Guanzhong in winter."

Everyone heard that the imperial court only had 300,000 shi of grain left, and they immediately started talking. It was indeed a bit scary. There was a drought this year, and the autumn grain production was destined to be reduced. Guanzhong has a population of three million!

At this time, Dugu Lie pondered for a moment and said: "Last time, my virtuous son-in-law and my second uncle talked about An Lushan's rebellion. I have been thinking about this matter for the past two days. Could my virtuous son-in-law say more?"

Li Ye smiled slightly and said: "First of all, I said that An Lushan has actually supported his own troops. Does my father-in-law agree?"

Dugu Lie nodded, "Everyone agrees on this. Our Ministry of War has a particularly profound experience. The Ministry of War basically has no control over An Lushan's army. In the past few years, he appointed generals and filed them with the Ministry of War. Since last year, there has been no more Come and register, but at present he is only supporting the army to support himself, but if he goes to the stage of rebellion, how long does the wise son-in-law think it will be?"

"Look at his level of preparation! Generally speaking, war preparations take up to two to three years. If he started preparing last year, he would raise his troops to rebel in two years at the latest. That's why I advised my second uncle that the Dugu family should We are considering retreating, especially since Baoji Cabinet Store stores so much of the rich and powerful’s wealth, once it is robbed by the rebels, the Dugu family cannot afford to lose it!”

Dugu Ming sighed: "Aye is right, Baoji must be reduced. Although it makes a lot of money, the risk is too great. In fact, we closed the cabinet shop in Youzhou two years ago, and the cabinet shop in Hebei last year. This year It is a wise move to close the cabinet shop in Hedong, prepare to close the cabinet shop on Henan Road next year, and then move to Bashu and Jiangnan."

Everyone was talking about An Lushan's rebellion. At this time, the eldest son Dugu Jinyang came back. He sat down and asked: "Father, I heard that there was a war in Hexi. Is it true?"

Li Ye was also surprised and asked anxiously: "Father-in-law, where is the war in Hexi?"

Dugulie said slowly: "In Shazhou, three thousand Tubo troops joined two thousand Tuyuhun troops to attack Dunhuang County. Dunhuang County fell, and the Shazhou army was defeated and retreated to Guazhou. The emperor issued instructions to recapture Dunhuang as soon as possible. The Shazhou army and Guazhou army The state army has launched a counterattack against the Tibetan army in Dunhuang County, and the current status of the battle is unknown."

Everyone was surprised and asked: "How did the Tibetan army kill Dunhuang?"

Dugu Lie said to Li Ye: "My good son-in-law is the new governor of Anxi. Do you know the situation?"

Li Ye nodded, "I heard Gao Xianzhi say something last year that the Tibetan army should start from the West Sea, march along the southern foot of the Snow Mountain, establish a logistics base at Hala Lake, and then march along the sweet spring water, or Fight into Shazhou from Dangjin Mountain Pass, or fight into Shazhou from Ganquanshui Valley."

"The good son-in-law is absolutely right. The Tubo army has no chance in Longyou. They have begun to advance westward. As you said, they will establish a supply point in the middle and enter Shazhou along the sweet spring water valley. Now I am very worried about Anxi. When the Tibetan army captured Dunhuang, their real goal must not have been the Hexi Corridor, but Anxi."

Only Dugu Lie and Li Ye were left in the study. Dugu Lie looked out the window with his hands behind his hands for a long time and asked, "When do you plan to go back now?"

“Let’s set out in early September and try to get to Broken Leaf before heavy snow blocks roads.”

"Are you going to take Xin Yue with you to Broken Leaf?"

Li Ye nodded, "She must come with me!"

Dugulie thought for a moment and then said, "Xinyue may not be able to go, so let her stay in Chang'an!"

Li Ye was startled, "Why?"

Dugulie smiled bitterly and said: "I didn't tell you that the Tubo army was divided into two groups. They attacked Dunhuang all the way and Qiemo City all the way. Now not only Dunhuang is occupied, but Qiemo City is also occupied by the Tibetan army."

Li Ye was stunned for a moment, and he asked after a while: "When did this happen?"

"We don't know exactly what happened, but the news reached Chang'an yesterday. Two news came at the same time. Now the court is very nervous. Your uncle rushed back to Hexi overnight last night."

Li Ye said anxiously: "But I am the governor of Anxi, so I should be notified of this news in time!"

"I will notify you, probably in two days! After all, you are newly married now."

Li Ye was silent. The news came so suddenly that he was a little caught off guard. Gao Xianzhi had told him before that the Anxi army had been transferred to the east to defend Tibet, so Xiao Bolu was left to him, but in the end the city would be destroyed. It was actually captured by Tubo. Li Ye knew what this meant. It meant that the Tubo army had a foothold and a springboard in Anxi.

How did Feng Changqing defend himself?

Li Ye felt disturbed for a while. He knew that his father-in-law was right. Xinyue would probably not be able to follow him to Broken Leaf.