Zhongyuan Festival is the day of worshiping ancestors in the middle of the year, also known as the Ullambane Festival, and it is also the ghost festival since ancient times. On this day, Chang'an City did not close the city gates all night and released curfews. People put lights in the rivers and rivers to attract the souls of their families who came out of the underworld. At the same time, every household wanted to put some grains at the door to provide food for the souls of their deceased relatives when they returned home.

The various activities of the Chang'an Zhongyuan Festival are mainly concentrated in Qujiang and major temples. Thousands of people who light up the lights are gathered on both sides of the Qujiang River, making the water in Qujiang reflect the lights, the lights are brilliant and spectacular.`

Temples of all sizes hold Ullambana Dharma Assembly, and monks will hold various rituals such as purifying altars and circumcision, orchid offerings, monks receiving food, and so on.

Chang'an Bao'en Temple is no exception. Hundreds of monks gathered in the temple square, and believers who came from all directions gave various food to the monks to show their supreme respect for the Buddha.

However, on the night of Zhongyuan Festival, another important matter was held in Baoen Temple in Chang'an, which was a secret gathering of the Guanlong nobles, and the Wuchuan Prefecture was re-established.

This was the agreement between Dugu Shun and Dou Qing in Luoyang last year. Although Dou Qing had passed away, it did not affect the restart of Wuchuan Prefecture. On the contrary, Dugu Shun was more active. After a year of planning and communication, all the Guanlong nobles were persuaded by Dugu Shun and unanimously agreed to re-establish Wuchuan Prefecture.

In the backyard, there were more than 20 leading figures from Guanlong nobles. They were representatives of each family, and everyone had a very serious expression. They all understood in their hearts what the re-establishment of Wuchuan Prefecture meant? It meant that the Guanlong nobles had officially broken with the Sui Dynasty.

In the lobby, Dugu Shun stood in front of the main seat and slowly said to everyone: "Yang Jian took office and was jointly elected by our Guanlong nobles to replace the declining Yuwen family. Yang Jian killed all the Yuwen family, and we did not object, we just hope that he would not violate our interests.

But things went against our wishes. Yang Jian not only deprived us of our military power, but also abolished the prince Yang Yong, who had chosen. He completely forgot his promise and who supported him ascending the throne. But his son Yang Guang was even more bullied and completely trampled our Guanlong nobles under his feet. We cannot forget the death of Yuchi Jiong, and the death of Dugu Luo, Yuan Zhou, He Ruobi, and Yuan Min."

Dugu Shun's voice was very low. `The eyes swept through everyone's faces one by one, and everyone was listening to his words and thinking. This was the thought in his heart, which had been suppressed in his heart for many years. Today he was finally able to speak up.

"Trees without foundation are destined to grow into towering trees, and crops without foundations will soon wither. Yang Jian and his son dug up the foundation of the Sui Dynasty with their own hands. Without the support of the Guanlong nobles, their dynasty was destined not to last long. Facts have proved that the Sui Dynasty is rapidly declining and is powerless to return to heaven. Yang Guang's son also fled to Jiangdu, and the world is about to be in chaos. So our Wuchuan will be re-established today. We want to establish a new dynasty and bury the Sui Yang Dynasty that betrayed us with our own hands."

It was already the first update of the night, and all the family representatives who participated in the establishment of the Wuchuan Association went back one after another. Only Dugu Shun and Dou Wei were left in the Zen hall. Dou Qing's death marked the weakness of the Dou clan. Therefore, Dugu Shun was able to lead the re-establishment of the Wuchuan Prefecture and become the new leader without any suspense.

But this does not mean that Dugu Shun can cover the sky with one hand in the Guanlong nobles, and the strength of the Dou group still exists. Dugu Shun dared not underestimate him. Without the support of the Dou group, he could not do a big thing, so Dou Wei was naturally elected as the vice chairman.

"Why didn't Brother Dugu just declare Li Yuan the representative of the Guanlong nobles?" Dou Wei said with some dissatisfaction.

According to their repeated consultations before, it was finally decided that Li Yuan would come forward to represent the Guanlong nobles and establish a new dynasty to replace Sui Yang. Li Yuan's mother was Dugu's daughter, Li Yuan's wife was Dou Wei's niece. The Dugu and Dou families both had common interests, and Li Yuan was generous. He was definitely not as cruel and ruthless as Yang Jian. More importantly, Yang Jian had already mastered the military and political power of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and had enough strong capital, but Li Yuan was mediocre. Even if he was recruiting envoys in Hedong, the military power was still in the hands of others, which shows Li Yuan's weakness.

But what Dugu Shun and Dou Wei wanted was Li Yuan's honesty and weakness. He had learned enough lessons and would never let the second Yang Jian come to power. Only the mediocre and incompetent Li Yuan would rely more on the support of the Guanlong nobles.

Dugu Shun sighed and said helplessly: "You have also seen the expression of the Yuan family. If you declare Li Yuan as the representative of Guanlong nobles too early, it will arouse strong opposition from the Yuan family, and it will cause disunity within the Guanlong nobles. Now the Yuan family is very important in Jiangdu, so you cannot stimulate them too early. In short, I promised my brother that I will definitely let Li Yuan be the representative."

Dou Wei lacked the courage and qualifications of his brother Dou Qing. Since Dugu Shun had made a clear statement, he no longer insisted and asked again: "What's the situation in Jiangdu?"

Dugu Shun sneered, "It's ridiculous that tyrant monarch tried his best to suppress the Guanlong nobles, but more than 70% of his Xiaoguo army were all children in Guanzhong. It's a great irony. But he forgot that the Guanzhong children were under our control. Several Tiger Generals, Yuan Li, Sima Dekan, Zhao Xingshu, and Meng Bing were all my people. Yuan Min was responsible for planning and using the Yuwen brothers to overthrow the tyrant monarch. However, the time is not yet ripe. Once the time is ripe, it can cause chaos in the world."

Dou Wei sighed, "I hope this day will come soon!"

Dugu Shun nodded, he looked at the hourglass and said, "I have to go to the Yuan family to comfort them. My brother, go back early to rest!"

Dugu Shun and Dou Wei each rode away in a carriage, but Dou Wei was a little worried. He was not at ease with Dugu Shun's promise. Dou Wei knew that Dugu Shun had always chosen between Li Yuan and the Yuan family. Li Yuan had a foundation in Taiyuan, while the Yuan family had certain power in Longyou. This time Wuchuan Prefecture was re-established and Dugu Shun gave him the vice president. How could he appease the Yuan family?

Dou Wei suspected that Dugu Shun wanted to give the opportunity to the Yuan family to the representatives of Guanlong nobles, so he did not make a clear statement today to elect Li Yuan as the representatives of Guanlong nobles.

Dou Wei sighed secretly. Since the death of his brother Dou Qing, the Yu family and Changsun family, which were originally in the Dou group, turned to Dugu Shun. The only forces of the Dou family were Du Dou and Li, and they were unable to join forces with Dugu Shun and Yuan.

The carriage entered Wubenfang and slowly stopped in front of Dou's house. At this time, Dou Lu ran out and whispered: "Second uncle, Uncle is here!"

Li Yuan actually came, Dou Wei was stunned. Since Li Yuan was in Chang'an, why did he let Li Shentong come to participate in the establishment of Wuchuan Prefecture tonight? Li Yuan actually avoided such an important discussion.

Dou Wei was really puzzled, so he got off the carriage and walked towards the mansion.

In the inner hall, Li Yuan was walking back and forth with his hands behind his back. The Zhongyuan Festival was the second largest clan festival after the New Year. He specially asked for leave to return to Chang'an to worship his father and grandfather. Of course, Li Yuan knew that tonight was the day of Wuchuan Prefecture, which was very important, but Li Yuan thought about it again and again and again and decided to let his cousin Li Shentong attend the establishment ceremony for him.

At this time, a gentle cough came from the hall, followed by Dou Wei's voice, "How long has Uncle De been here?"

Li Yuan hurriedly stepped forward and bowed, "I haven't been here for a long time, see my second uncle!"

Although Li Yuan is Dou Wei's niece, the Dou Li family is a family friend, and it is not wrong to call Dou Wei the uncle of Shi.

Dou Wei waved his hand and said, "Sit down!"

The two sat down, and the two maids served them tea. Dou Wei took a sip of tea and asked, "Why didn't my nephew participate in the establishment of Wuchuan Mansion tonight?"

"Reporting to the second uncle, my nephew was originally going to attend, but he still had some concerns after repeated consideration."

"What are the concerns?" Dou Wei asked.

"I know that the emperor must have an inner supporter in the Guanlong nobles, and my nephew has a military position. If the emperor knows that my nephew participates in this discussion, it may be very unfavorable to me and will destroy my plan."

Dou Wei secretly praised Li Yuan's prudence was very necessary. They were all idle officials, and even if Yang Guang knew about it, it didn't matter. But Li Yuan was different. He was a Hedong recruitment envoy. Once the emperor knew that he was against Sui, he would inevitably dismiss him, causing Li Yuan's efforts to be wasted in the past few years.

Dou Wei stopped mentioning this matter, and asked again: "How is the construction situation?"

"He is good now. He has established a foundation in the area of ​​Hanoi County and has 25,000 elite troops. Once we start a military army in Taiyuan, this army will be our capital. The efforts of so many years have not been in vain."

Dou Wei nodded, "I didn't expect that he, a weak scholar, could actually accomplish something. I think he should be very different from before."

"It's true!"

Li Yuan did not hide his praise for his eldest son, "It can be said that he has been reborn, has become calm and courageous. He can no longer see his former weakness in his past. Even if he is really Li Mi may not be stronger than him."

"Is he still going to continue pretending?"

"It is not advisable to be exposed for the time being, but trusted subordinates like Wei Zheng, Xu Shiji and others know his true identity. I have also told him that once his subordinates are trustworthy, they should take the initiative to confess their identity so that they can slowly replace Li Mi."

"My nephew said it well, so be cautious."

At this time, Li Yuan asked carefully again: "I heard from the supernatural powers that the Lord Dugu did not announce what he said last time tonight. What is the reason?"

Li Yuan was more concerned about Dugu Shun's attitude than anyone else. Will he declare himself a representative of the Guanlong nobles? He replaced Sui Yang's status.

Although once it was announced, it would bring him huge hidden dangers and the emperor would not let him go, this benefit was really hard for him to refuse. He would rather take risks than get a reputation, but Dugu Shun's failure to announce it today really made Li Yuan's heart hang up.

Dou Wei understood his concerns, but he really couldn't say it explicitly, so he had to say perfunctorily: "The nephew himself said that once it was announced, he might be retaliated by the foolish monarch. The Lord Dugu did not make a clear announcement for protection. Don't worry, it must be you!"

Li Yuan was silent. He heard Dou Wei's perfunctory intentions and said for a while: "The Lord Dugu has told me clearly that he will choose one between Li and Yuan."

Dou Wei was also silent. After a while, he slowly said: "I only have one sentence, my destiny cannot be placed on other people's choices."

(To be continued.)
Chapter completed!