Chapter 15: The people and the army

The system of the Great Sui Dynasty was already very complete, with hundreds of thousands of troops sent out. In addition to supervising the transportation of material, food and grass, the court in the rear did not need to be as nervous as when the Turks attacked on a large scale last year. The people were not afraid at all. They should live the same way. Although the Great Sui Dynasty was established less than three years ago, the prestige of the court had been established. The people believed that the Turks were defeated last year, and they could not even beg for it this year.

Daxing City is not as disorderly as the old city, everything is neatly arranged. The East Palace is right behind the imperial city, parallel to the imperial palace. After the morning court, Yang Yong does not have to guard the imperial city every day. He can directly bring some not-so-important memorials back to the Eastern Palace for review. If the emperor has something to do, he can also be at any time. Yang Yong himself has more time.

That day, after the morning court, seeing that there was no emergency, Yang Yong went directly through several corridors from the side hall to Yanxi Gate behind as usual. When he saw the prince coming, the four guards guards were bent down to salute the prince. Yang Yong smiled slightly: "Thank you for your hard work."

"I dare not! I dare not!" The four of them quickly said modestly.

After crossing Yanxi Gate, it was where the East Palace was. When Yang Yong's figure disappeared, the four guards straightened their chests again. One of them couldn't help but say, "The prince is really approachable."

Another person said: "Not only that, the prince is also very concerned about us. A few days ago, Brother Niu's mother was sick and was worried when she was on duty. She was seen by the prince. After asking, she immediately gave Brother Niu a ten-ciete money to take him home to see his mother. Although the imperial guards are good, the total monthly amount is only very good. Brother Niu's family is old and young, and his monthly salary is almost a little left. This ten-ciete money is equivalent to saving Brother Niu's mother's life."

"Yes, that's it." The other people also nodded and attached themselves. Although they were imperial guards in the palace, they had to have ordinary guards. Usually, ministers went to see the prince through here, and ignored these guards. Yang Yong had to pass by Yanxi Gate at least several times a day. No matter who was on duty, he would say thank you to them.

As soon as Yang Yong returned to the East Palace, Yun Meier rushed over and served Yang Yong a cup of fragrant tea, and shouted sweetly: "Young Master."

Yun Meier lived in the East Palace as a maid when Yang Yong returned to Beijing from Luoyang two years ago. At that time, Yuan Qing'er and Yang Yong met again after a long separation. Although it was not very comfortable to see that there was a woman next to Yang Yong, Yun Meier was still in her age, and Yuan Qing'er didn't care much. Now in the blink of an eye, Yun Meier has grown two years older and is already a graceful girl.

"Where is that girl Xing'er, why haven't you seen her?"

Xing'er is naturally Yuan Qing'er's close girl. Since she saw Yun Meier for the first time, she has no good feelings for Yun Meier. She has always been tit-for-tat to Yun Meier and has not allowed Yun Meier to approach Yang Yong alone. Fortunately, Yun Meier knows how to give in, so the two of them will not make a big fuss.

Yun Meier smiled: "Sister Xing'er went to burn incense with the Crown Princess again."

Yang Yong patted his legs: "Okay, I've given money to these bald donkeys again."

Yun Qing'er and Yang Yong have been married for several years and have never shown any sign of pregnancy. When they were in the old city of Chang'an, they almost had to go out to burn incense every month. Now they moved into the new city, and Daxing Temple is closer to the East Palace. Yuan Qing'er almost burns incense and worships Buddha every time, and gives a large sum of money every time.

The host of Daxing Temple was Huiyuan who dared to openly intimidate Emperor Wu with karma when Emperor Wu destroyed Buddhism, so he became famous. Now Daxing Temple has a vague identity as a royal temple, so it is naturally full of incense, so it is not an exaggeration to call it a daily stake of gold. Yang Yong was very unwilling to give Yuan Qing'er a large amount of money to Daxing Temple, but because the relationship between husband and wife was not good, he said in person that fortunately Yang Yong had a large amount of private money to mobilize, otherwise with Yuan Qing'er's generous attitude towards the temple, the prince's mansion would probably be in debt.

Yun Meier stuck out her tongue and did not dare to accept Yang Yong's words. Emperor Wu decisively made a decision and personally carried out the formation during the conquest. The hero, who was rare in hundreds of years, might have defeated the Turks and unified the south, but died of illness in his prime. A few years later, his country was replaced. Many people were vaguely linked to his actions to destroy Buddhism. Buddhism was even vigorously promoted among believers. Now, even those who do not believe in Buddhism dare not say too many bad words in Buddhism, for fear of being retribution.

Seeing that his maids were silent about Buddhism, Yang Yong said in his heart: "Forget it, this is not the time to compete with Buddhism." Turning a topic, he asked Yun Meier, "By the way, I asked your father to study and improve the efficiency of weaving. How is it going now?"

Yun Meier shook her head: "Young Master, if there is any progress, I'm afraid my father would have come to report to you happily."

Yang Yong shook his head in disappointment. After the new coins were minted, Yang Yong began to invest money in research and improve the efficiency of weaving. Yundingxing himself was from a craftsman workshop. Yang Yong made every effort to give him the organization of craftsmen's research and development. He would take advantage of the money as long as it was not outrageous. Once there was a breakthrough, he would recommend him to become an official again.

Since Yun Dingxing was kicked out of the craftsman's workshop, he realized the difficulties of life. Now he has the opportunity to become an official again, so he still doesn't work hard. At first, Yang Yong was afraid that Yun Dingxing would repeat the same mistakes and embezzle the general trend. Unexpectedly, Yang Yong sent people to secretly check the accounts several times. Yun Dingxing was quite abide by the rules and was dedicated to his duties. He almost had food and accommodation with the weaver. He would definitely report quickly if he had achievements.

"Young Master, the weaving craftsmanship has been passed down for thousands of years. I don't know how many people have improved it. How easy is it to break through in a short time?" Seeing Yang Yong's face disappointed, Yun Meier advised.

"No, although the weaving skills are long-lasting, everyone used to cherish their own treasures. Even if there is improvement, it will not be announced to the public. It is easy to be lost. Now, I have gathered hundreds of weaving experts together to study, which is still unprecedented. I didn't expect that it would still be impossible to make progress after several months. How can I not be anxious?"

As the prince, Yang Yong was unlikely to make money on military merits. He could only show his ability to govern the country in front of Yang Jian. Everyone should wear clothes. First of all, cloth must be used to make clothes. Now cloth is still circulated as currency. If the weaving efficiency can be increased several times at once, the national strength of the Sui Dynasty will be able to leap forward in an instant, and it is not impossible to overwhelm the south in economic terms. I am afraid that people in later generations will remember the achievements of the prince.

No matter how strong Yang Yong wanted to improve the weaving efficiency immediately, the time was not right, and even if it was not up, it would be useless to urge Yun Dingxing. Yang Yong had no choice but to sigh: "Mei'er, tell General Manager Zou that no matter what Yun Qing needs, it needs to provide it as fast as possible." Now he can only spend money, hoping to shorten the time, the better.

"Yes, young master, that Mei'er has surrendered." Yun Mei'er replied in a sweet voice.

Countless ox carts, horse carriages, and wheelbarrows filled the official roads from Bingzhou to Shuozhou. The chariots were loaded with food and weapons. Bingzhou was located behind Shuozhou. The weapons, food and grass of King Yang Shuang of the King of Guards must be transported from Bingzhou to the front line.

Yang Guang is already fifteen years old, with a tiger back and a bear waist, and is full of heroic posture. He is riding on a tall horse. He is surrounded by Zhang Heng, the chief manager of the royal palace and Dugu Sheng, deputy general. Yang Guang had just returned from Liang Kingdom and brought his fourth princess Xiao Yuwan, whom he personally selected, to get married in Chang'an. He immediately brought his newlywed wife back to Bingzhou and began to be responsible for supervising the transportation of food and grass for the army.

"Hurry up, hurry up." The people who were pushing the cart were all the civilians recruited by Bingzhou. The soldiers on both sides kept shouting loudly, and some even held whips in their hands, slamming them.

Yang Guang turned a blind eye to these things and was immersed in the joy of the newlyweds. His newlywed wife met the ideal standards of Jiangnan women in his mind. Her tiny waist, skin that can pinch water, spoke sweetly and beautifully, and had a gentle and graceful beauty of Jiangnan. She was more than better than the eldest brother's princess. Thinking of this, Yang Guang couldn't help but smile: "Brother, at least I am better than you in terms of wife."

Seeing that Yang Guang was laughing all the way, Dugu Sheng touched Zhang Heng and whispered: "Look at the face of King Jin, I'm afraid he's thinking about the princess again."

Dugu Sheng was still the younger brother of Dugu Kai of Shangzhu Kingdom. His original surname was Li and was from Qi. Li Kai was defeated and captured in a battle and was appointed as a subordinate of Dugu Xin. Later, he was trusted by Dugu Xin and was given the surname Dugu. During the Zhou Dynasty, he was appointed as Duke of Xihe County. In the Sui Dynasty, he was appointed as the General of the Right Gate and was appointed as the Duke of Ruyang County.

When Dugu Kai joined Zhou, Dugu Sheng was still young and grew up in the Dugu family. He was regarded as a family member by Dugu Xin, so he dared to joke about Yang Guang. Zhang Heng was not so arrogant and did not answer Dugu Sheng's words at all. However, he thought to himself: "Whoever married such a beautiful wife and suddenly separated, may he think day and night. However, the King of Jin could leave the new princess behind and personally supervise the transportation of food and grass. This perseverance alone would not be a loss to be the prince."

Seeing that Zhang Heng did not answer, Dugu Sheng felt bored and had to rush to the road with his head down. A breeze blew, Dugu Sheng felt a little chill. Just as he was about to look up at the sky, a creaking sound sounded in front of him, and many grain trucks stopped.

Dugu Sheng was furious and ran towards a nearby cart. He asked angrily: "Why stop?" The whip in his hand was already raised high. If the farmer was not satisfied with his answer, he would immediately suck it down.

"Sir, it's going to rain." The farmer replied in a hurry.

"It's raining?" Dugu Sheng was shocked. The most feared thing when transporting grain was rain, especially in this way, there was no shop in front and no village in the wilderness. He looked up at the sky. There were only a few small dark clouds in the sky, and the rest of the place was empty: "Nonsense, it was obviously a sunny day, so how could it rain?" After saying that, his whip had already fallen and several blood marks were drawn from the civilians.

The civil servant endured the pain: "Sir, it's really raining, it's already windy, and it's going to get dark soon. You must quickly cover the food with a tarpaulin, otherwise it will be too late."

In the blink of an eye, the breeze just now had turned into a stroke, and the coolness mixed with the wind was getting heavier and heavier. Dugu Sheng was shocked and quickly rode back to Yang Guang: "Prince, it's going to rain. Please order the whole army to stop advancing, push it to the high ground, and cover the grain truck with oil cloth."

Yang Guang was stunned and looked up at the sky. A small half of the sky that had just passed by was covered by black clouds. Moreover, the dark clouds accumulated more and more, and the sky was so obvious that Yang Guang naturally knew how to do it: "Stop moving forward, hurry up, push the grain truck to the high ground."

The official road here is located in the middle of two mountains. If it rains heavily, it is easy to cause floods. It is definitely unsafe to stop in the middle of the road. Fortunately, the civilians who pushed the carts all had experience. Yang Guang ordered that all the big trucks turn around and rushed to the hillside on the left. Suddenly, the entire official road was filled with people shouting and neighing.

The first carriage was quickly pushed up the hillside. Fortunately, the hillside was not high and it was flat. The gangsters who had already climbed the hillside hurriedly took out the tarpaulin to cover the grain cart, untied the rope of the livestock and rushed together. Otherwise, if the livestock continued to pull the cart, it would be easy for the livestock to overturn when it rained.

When most of the grain trucks caught up with the hillside, the fine raindrops had already begun to fall, and Zhang Heng hurriedly found a straw raincoat: "Prince, put it on quickly."

When the raindrops hit people, there was a chill. Yang Guang was about to take over, but he could only remember Wang Shao’s teachings in his ears: “If a general cannot share the joys and sorrows with his soldiers, he will be able to command half of the result with twice the effort.”

Yang Guang pushed away the straw raincoat that Zhang Heng gave: "Everyone is wet in the rain, so how can I be an exception?" He walked down the hillside and personally pushed a grain truck.

Both Zhang Heng and Dugu Sheng were stunned. Dugu Sheng immediately turned to the soldiers standing aside to watch the fun: "The prince is pushing the cart himself, why don't you help quickly."

The soldiers looked at each other, threw their heavy straw raincoat aside, shouted, and ran to the foot of the mountain together to push it hard. With the help of the sergeant, the remaining vehicles greatly accelerated.

"Crazy." The drizzle just now was getting heavier and heavier, and the faces of the people mixed with wind and sand hurt. Yang Guang was still pushing forward behind the last batch of grain trucks. Dugu Sheng put the straw raincoat on Yang Guang's body: "Prince, please, put it on the straw raincoat and go up the mountain."

"No, as long as there is still a truck of grain at the foot of the mountain, I will never go up the mountain."
Chapter completed!