The banquet of the Princess of Chu caused a sensation in the court. Civil and military officials praised the princess for being frugal and frugal, which was a blessing for the subjects of the world. The princess's example led the ladies in the backyard of the officialdom to restrain their extravagance and began to act as frugal and simple. Although it was impossible for women to change their minds all at once, at least they became low-key when they showed up, and they could only wear jewelry and silk clothes at home in private.

Not only were the women restrained, but even the officials themselves were embarrassed to show off. They tried to dress simply, and they were ordinary, and they worked as much as possible. A small thing changed the atmosphere of Taiyuan greatly, and the glitz and luxury were washed away.

Just when the people of Taiyuan praised the princess, Yang Yuanqing was not in Taiyuan and could not realize the love of the officials and the people for the princess. The New Year was approaching, and as the supreme commander of the army, he could not enjoy family happiness at home. Under the escort of two thousand cavalry, he came to Hedong County in a mighty way, and drank Tusu wine with the 5,000 soldiers stationed in Hedong County, and then transferred to Hanoi County and spent the New Year with the soldiers of Hanoi County. He still rushed to Hengshan County and Shanggu County without stopping, and the soldiers there were also waiting for him.

On the 24th day of the 12th lunar month, Yang Yuanqing arrived in Hedong City.

At this time, as the Sui and Tang dynasties reached a settlement agreement, the border troops garrisons between the two dynasties had been greatly reduced. The Tang Dynasty transferred a large number of troops to deal with the Liang Shidu, while the Sui Dynasty transferred troops to Hebei, making Hedong County, which was originally garrisoned by heavy troops, suddenly became deserted.

The head general of Hedong County was Cui Pojun. When he heard that the general manager had arrived, he went out of the city to greet him thirty miles away.

‘Woo--’ The horn in the distance sounded, Cui Pojun led 300 soldiers to speed up. He turned over and dismounted, stepped forward and knelt on one knee in front of Yang Yuanqing’s horse. “The last general Cui Pojun, come to welcome the general manager to Hedong County for inspection!”

Yang Yuanqing dismounted and helped him up. He smiled and said, "General Cui, please get up!"

Yang Yuanqing waved his hands to the three hundred soldiers who knelt down at him. "Thank you for your hard work, brothers, please get up!"

"Mr. Xie!"

Yang Yuanqing looked behind Cui Pojun again and asked with a smile: "Is coach Xiao Lu here?"

A young brigade coach, about sixteen or seventeen years old, rode a horse and rushed up. He immediately bowed, "Xiao Yannian meets with the general manager!"

Xiao Yannian was the son of Yuwen Chengdu. Two months ago, he brought his mother to Taiyuan to surrender to Yang Yuanqing. Yang Yuanqing placed their mother and son in his mansion and arranged for Xiao Yannian to be a guard at Jinyang Palace. However, Xiao Yannian was unwilling to stay in the capital and was willing to go to the army to fight. After thinking for a long time, Yang Yuanqing agreed to his joining the army and appointed him as the commander of the army and stationed in Hedong County.

Because of Yuwen Chengdu, Yang Yuanqing took special care of Xiao Yannian. Xiao Yannian looked very much like his father, tall and burly, and had great strength. He also gave him a phoenix-tailed gilded boring. His martial arts were truly taught by his father, and he was extraordinary. He was still relatively young and had insufficient combat experience.

Yang Yuanqing stepped forward and patted his shoulder and smiled, "Do you want to go back to celebrate the New Year with your mother?"

Yang Yuanqing was just a joke, but Xiao Yannian said solemnly: "I was not allowed to take leave when I joined the army. The military discipline was as good as a mountain. How dare I return to Taiyuan!"

Yang Yuanqing laughed loudly, "Okay! A good military discipline is like a mountain."

He turned over the horse, took his bow from his personal soldiers, drew an iron arrow, and smiled at Xiao Yannian: "Your father and I had compared arrows back then. I heard that your archery skills are no less than that of my father, so let me see it."

Xiao Yannian was young and energetic. He heard his father say more than once that Yang Yuanqing had an unparalleled archery technique in the world. He wanted to see him very much. He also believed that he was very skilled in archery techniques, so he took off his two hard bows without hesitation, drew out an arrow, and bowed to Yang Yuanqing: "Please give the question!"

Yang Yuanqing looked up at the sky. In winter, the migratory birds went south and the sky was quiet. There was a willow tree by the river a hundred steps away. The willow branches were slender and dense. Yang Yuanqing pointed with an iron arrow, "There is a willow tree over there. You can shoot the technique of passing through the willows in a hundred steps."

After saying that, Yang Yuanqing urged the horse to gallop and ran out 150 steps. He took a bow and arrow and shot him at the high speed. The iron arrow passed through the dense willow branches like black lightning, without moving a willow branch, winning the applause of the soldiers. Yang Yuanqing put down his bow and looked at him with a smile.

Xiao Yannian bit his lip, and he had no problem with piercing Yang with a hundred steps, but he had never shot 150 steps. He suddenly bit his lip hard, urged the horse to run wildly, and ran to 150 steps away. He suddenly turned around and shot an arrow. The arrow flew fast and passed through the dense willow branches, but the last willow branch moved slightly, which attracted the soldiers' sigh of regret.

Xiao Yannian's face suddenly turned red and she lowered her head in shame. Yang Yuanqing smiled and patted his shoulder, "I hope that next time I see you, you can pass by a hundred and fifty steps away."

Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly, and under the escort of everyone, he rushed towards Hedong City, leaving only Xiao Yannian staring at the willow tree in a daze.

Yang Yuanqing did not rush to enter the city, but went to Pujin Ferry. According to the settlement agreement between the Sui and Tang dynasties, the two parties restored the original iron cable pontoon bridge at Pujin Ferry. At this time, a long iron cable pontoon bridge had appeared on the frozen Yellow River for thousands of miles. In order not to affect shipping, the floating bridge also adopted Li Chun's method. He used the cofferdam to drain water in the winter, and built a real bridge at the bottom of the river. The ship could pass through the huge bridge hole. From a distance, the floating bridge formed an arc at the center of the river, which was spectacular. On the eve of the New Year, people came and went on the iron cable pontoon bridge, which was particularly lively. Many merchants drove mules and horses, loaded with goods from the other side.

Yang Yuanqing immediately stared at Guanzhong in the distance on a high hill. The weather was clear and he could clearly see the forests and mountains on the other side.

After staring for a moment, Yang Yuanqing turned around and asked Cui Pojun, "Have there been any abnormal movements between the Tang army on the other side of the strait recently?"

Cui Pojun shook his head, "Report to the general manager, there was no abnormal movement. We often send scouts to disguise themselves as merchants to check the situation on the other side. There are about 5,000 troops on the other side. The chief general is Sheng Yanshi. A few days ago, he sent people to deliver hundreds of baskets of mountain fruits, and we also sent some mutton."

After pausing, Cui Pojun said again: "It seems that there is something important to the court to report to the court, and I mentioned it yesterday."

As soon as he finished speaking, a soldier shouted: "Changshi Pei is here!"

I saw more than a dozen horse riding men running from a distance. The head official was about fifty years old, with a medium figure and a very similar appearance to Pei Ju. He was Pei Ju's eldest son Pei Wenjing. He has been an official in the local area for many years. Yang Yuanqing has only seen him twice for so many years.

Pei Wenjing was originally the prefect of Nanyang County. He led a 100,000 army to capture Nanyang County due to the rebellious bandit Zhu Jie. Pei Wenjing fled north in a panic. After the establishment of the New Sui Dynasty, Pei Wenjing was appointed as the chief of Hedong County.

Although Pei Wenjing had an extremely smart prime minister father, he was relatively mediocre. He was promoted to prefect for twenty years after he entered the officialdom. He belonged to the type of tiger father and dog son. However, his eldest son Pei Jin was good and young and promising. He was the best among the younger generation of officials in Luoyang. Pei Ju was very disappointed with his son and placed all his hopes on his grandson.

Although Pei Wenjing is mediocre in his ability, he is very modest and low-key. He is also relatively honest. This is his greatest advantage. He urged him to bow to Yang Yuanqing immediately. "Pei Wenjing, the chief of Hedong County, is a humble person. See General Manager Yang!"

Yang Yuanqing smiled and replied, "Does Pei Changshi want to return to Taiyuan during the New Year?"

Pei Wenjing shook his head. "This year, he was busy with low-level affairs and would not go back for the time being. He planned to return to the news and worship his ancestors in Qingming Festival next year."

Yang Yuanqing nodded, "Thank you for your hard work, General Cui said just now that you have important things to report to the court. I wonder what it is?"

Pei Wenjing thought for a while and said, "A few days ago, Beisheng cracked a private money shop and obtained information. A businessman used the loopholes in new and old coins to make huge profits."

Before the establishment of the New Sui Dynasty, Hedong, like other counties in the Great Sui Dynasty, used relatively poorly. Due to the flood of private money, the currency was extremely chaotic. After the establishment of the New Sui Dynasty, new coins with extremely high copper content were immediately issued. Daye coins were prohibited from circulation. Special residences were designated in all counties as exchange points, allowing people to exchange old coins for new coins, and private exchanges were strictly prohibited. Loops were found in Taiyuan. Some people cast fake new coins to exchange old coins, coaxing those who had never seen new coins, and then exchanged them with the old coins they had returned to exchange for real new coins. Once discovered, the whole family would be killed, and the punishment was extremely severe.

Yang Yuanqing's face immediately sank, "What kind of loophole?"

This happened in Hedong County, and his first reaction was that the Tang Dynasty cast fake money to flow in Hedong and destroyed the Sui Dynasty's currency system.

Seeing that Yang Yuanqing's face darkened and understood his mood, Pei Wenjing quickly smiled and said, "This loophole is not a fake money minting, but a loophole in the value of the Sui and Tang dynasties."

Yang Yuanqing was slightly stunned. He didn't expect that the currency value loopholes between the Sui and Tang dynasties were a little interested and asked: "Tell me specifically, what kind of loopholes are there?"

"I heard that Chang'an Youdi Store specializes in purchasing our new money. Two cents of new money can be exchanged for five cents of money, but on our side, two cents of new money can only be exchanged for four cents of money, so some people use the difference in this money to make huge profits from it."

Yang Yuanqing pondered for a long time and suddenly asked, "Can new money be circulated in Guanzhong?"

"Of course, our new money has a high copper content and is very popular in Guanzhong. If the circulation is large enough, I guess the Guanzhong store will no longer charge Daye money."

An idea flashed through Yang Yuanqing's mind. If this is the case, he could use new money to buy a large amount of important materials such as grain, oil, cloth, etc. in Guanzhong. In recent years, they also mined the accompanying copper ore in Yanchuan County at the same time, and obtained a large number of top-grade copper ingots. They have been minting coins on a large scale. Now the money they cast can fully meet the circulation in the Hedong region. If the amount of coins is increased and the amount of coins is used to exchange copper coins for the materials of the Tang Dynasty, this is a very good way to weaken the Tang Dynasty.

There were even a large amount of exchanged Daye money in the warehouse in the Jinyang Palace Cang City. It was originally planned to melt it. Since Daye money could be circulated in the Tang Dynasty, why not use this money to buy food, cloth and other materials from the Tang Dynasty?

This idea made Yang Yuanqing feel a little uncontrollable. In their reconciliation, there was one thing that both sides kept trade smooth, which made it possible for him to purchase a large amount of Guanzhong materials, especially in winter, the ice surface of the Yellow River can pass at will. In just one month, he could severely damage the national strength of the Tang Dynasty and face a serious shortage of Guanzhong materials.

Thinking of this, Yang Yuanqing immediately said to Pei Wenjing: "I plan to meet with the big merchants in Hedong County. You can arrange it for me, and the time will be set tomorrow morning."

Yang Yuanqing immediately said to Pei Qingsong, who accompanied him on a visit behind him, "I want to send an eagle letter to Taiyuan immediately, you can record it!"
Chapter completed!