The third emperor of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 919 The disaster of extinction
At midnight, in one of the most spacious yards in the backyard of the Baihua Pavilion, candles were everywhere, illuminating the yard brightly, with winding rockeries and winding corridors with flying eaves.

This is an extremely beautiful and elegant garden, which is completely different from the unrestrained wildness. Even a single piece of grass has traces of chiseling here, and every place is uniquely arranged and arranged in an orderly manner.

A group of well-dressed people each according to a few tables, light clothes and soft robes, these people are tall, short, fat and thin, and of different ages, there are old men with childlike faces and white hair, and there are also young men with aloof temperament. Crowned and wearing wide bands, each of them sits upright and wide behind a few tables, which has a bit of the charm of the Han and Jin Dynasties.

There are long tables in front of everyone, full of condiments and food, sauces, garlic, mustard, pepper, coriander, leeks, onion ginger, dogwood juice and other seasonings are placed in small plates, and there are deer Ridge, lamb neck, hump, beef, mushrooms and other various foods are sliced ​​together, shaped like flowers.

In the middle of each table is a copper pot with a simple style like a bronze tripod, burning incense charcoal, boiling water in the pot, and steaming.

Each person has a beautiful and dignified beautiful girl in a plain narrow-sleeved skirt and a short waist skirt. They kneel and sit on the side of the table, leaning on the table according to the needs of the guests. The pairs are as beautiful as flowers. The little hands methodically put all the condiments into the boiling water, and put a pair of ivory chopsticks with a piece of food, rinse it in the boiling water for a while, then dip it in the sauce and put it into a small dish of orchids as thin as cicada's wings, holding it with both hands In front of the guests, the movements are graceful and elegant.

Although they ate and chatted, they were very careful when eating, chewing slowly, as if conceiving a poem, very patient and focused, and never spoke during eating.

The little beauty next to her rinsed the food, dipped it in the sauce, and handed it to them. Ordinary people would probably feel extremely impatient if they ate like this, but these young and old seemed to be used to this way of eating, and no one was pretending Even if someone is watching, I'm afraid they won't feel uncomfortable. In addition, they don't eat fast, so the maids are very calm in rinsing the food and dipping the sauce.

This is a group of real nobles, nobles among the sons of nobles.Each of them has a family behind them, representing a family, so they are all noble and elegant.

This group of people are old and young of the gentry who are unwilling to give up. It's just that this place is elegant, but the flirting and cursing voices from the surrounding brothels from time to time make this place really awkward.

But as the master, Lu Zhaochun, the new head of Fanyang Lu's family, had no choice. In the big battle against them, every family suffered heavy losses. What they lost was not only population, money, business, land, but also freedom, so they could only shrink into brothels. , and use it as a place for banquets.

Originally, after the negotiation, everyone should disperse separately, but he is the master, so he has to do some superficial work. After all, the gathering of so many masters is a rare event among the gentry. If there is no hospitality, what will others think of Fan Yang Lu?But it is not suitable to do it during the day, and everyone has to go their separate ways, so we changed the farewell banquet to the present.From the perspective of the guests, the owner has tried his best to entertain, and you should eat a little bit. If you don’t eat, it will not only disrespect the host, but also disrespect others. Therefore, you must do enough superficial effort.

This is ritual.

It is a courtesy for the host to entertain guests, and it is also a courtesy for the guests to eat.

But if you look closely, you will find that some people are absent-minded.

Now Luoyang is an eventful season, everyone is very sensitive, and a little more movement will attract the attention of the court, so the gentry cannot contact with each other in a big way.It's just because everyone thinks that it will be difficult for them to rise in ten or twenty years, so the 'Chunqiu Hall' must become a strictly disciplined organization. As ruthless as Yu was when he was forced, he was as ruthless as he sold them. That guy exposed many strongholds of the gentry in the Central Plains by relying on the black materials in his hands, causing them to suffer heavy losses.He also made meritorious service by relying on these black materials, and the court only demoted him to the county magistrate of Xingze County.

This person is capable, and is also controlled by others, and he has lost face with the gentry. Yang Tong is not afraid that he will once again turn to the gentry who hate him to the bone. Unearthed, its value is unimaginable.

This is Yang Tong's maturity in employing people, and it is not a good thing for the gentry, but they also saw from this incident that outsiders are not trustworthy, and the position of hall master must be taken by the gentry themselves, otherwise, he The destructive power is too much.

The Shandong gentry is now being purged on a large scale, and its power has reached the weakest time in history. The Shandong gentry is eager to occupy the vacancy of power vacated by the imperial court’s anti-corruption through the imperial examination. In the inner circle, financial resources can be used to help the children make political achievements, and with the emperor's talent-based employment method, these nephews who are officials at the bottom will soon be able to gradually move closer to the center through promotion or promotion.Once this grand plan is successful, it will be much easier to realize their goals and ideals.But today's world is no longer a dynasty dominated by gentry and nobles. If they had such a powerful force to control the court, they would have used force to determine the rise and fall of the dynasty like the Guanlong nobles. Why bother so much? ?
Fan Yang's Lu family raised private soldiers, and Dugu's learned literature and Taoism. In fact, it is a process of learning from each other, but no matter who they are, the power they created has been wiped out. Development, after all, the army is too easy to trigger the sensitive nerves of the court. Take the former Guanlong nobles as an example, the army is certainly their most powerful weapon, but why not their deadliest poison?
The emperors of the Western Wei Dynasty, the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty and Li Yuan had a lot of fear of the Guanlong nobles. Isn't it because of the army?

The nobles of Guanlong and the wise emperor are hostile to them, how dare they abolish their martial arts in order to protect themselves?
As a result, the imperial power and harmony fell into a vicious circle. When the contradictions were irreconcilable, they finally turned swords and soldiers and used force to change the dynasty.

Li Ziheng drank all the wine in front of him, stood up and saluted: "Thank you, Patriarch Lu, for your kind hospitality. If you have no other ideas, then the younger generation will go back first, mobilize the power of the family, and use this opportunity to help the court send some wine to the court. People are pulled down so that we can get a bigger chance."

"Ziheng's words are right. This is a very good time. Everyone should stop in time to avoid being hit again. It's not too late for us to meet again at another time." Gao Xiaoji also said.

"Not bad."

Everyone got up one after another, bowed their hands to Lu Zhaochun, the owner of the room, discussed in whispers and left.

Their carriages and horses were parked in the large courtyard at the back, and led by their owner Lu Zhaochun, they walked towards the backyard talking and laughing.

Suddenly hearing a commotion, Lu Zhaochun was very displeased. Before he could utter a reprimand, the back door and several side doors were slammed open, and groups of soldiers in black armour, armed with strange scimitars, rushed majestically. After entering, a murderous atmosphere filled the night sky.

Lu Zhaochun was dumbfounded, Gao Xiaoji was dumbfounded, Li Ziheng was dumbfounded, all the Patriarchs were dumbfounded...

This sweeping battle officially begins with the heads of each family.

Cheng Yaojin walked in triumphantly. His urgent request for an audience was received by the emperor. When he expressed various doubts, Yang Tong ordered arrests without hesitation, and he led the Xuanjia army into the palace. Wenroufang, surrounded by Baihua Pavilion.

Cheng Yaojin was not a poor person. His ancestor was Cheng Yu, the most important adviser of Cao Cao, his great-grandfather Cheng Xing was the Sima of Yanzhou in the Northern Qi Dynasty, his grandfather Cheng Zhe was the Sima of Jinzhou in the Northern Qi Dynasty, and his father Cheng Lou was the governor of Qizhou in the Sui Dynasty. For a generation, the Cheng family fell into decline, but after all, he was born as a son of a bureaucrat. He has extraordinary knowledge and a wicked eye. Judging from these well-dressed and extraordinary bearing old men, this is definitely a group of extraordinary people.

He thought he would catch a group of small miscellaneous fish at most, but unexpectedly he caught a group of big fish.This unintentional meritorious service is probably greater than fighting a bloody battle.

What made Lao Cheng even more insane with joy was that he saw a familiar person from this group of people. This person was a well-known person, Cui Xin, who was born in the "Qinghe Cui family". And seeing how respectful he is to an old man, it can be seen that the other party has a bigger background.

"Arrest them for me." Lao Cheng triumphantly gave the order to search, "These are priceless treasures, so be careful, we won't be able to pay for them if they are damaged."

When the family heads and elders heard this, they were immediately angry and afraid.

What is angry is that this guy treats them as things, and what is afraid is that this midnight hot pot meal actually stewed himself.

"Here." All the soldiers stepped forward to arrest people.

"Wait." Cui Xin stepped forward and bowed slightly to Cheng Yaojin, "The general is Cheng Lou's son, Cheng Zhijie?"

Indistinctly, Cui Xincong had a familiar look on Cheng Yaojin's face.

"Wrong." Cheng Yaojin's heart skipped a beat, whoever made friends with this group of troubles at this time would suffer, and hurriedly said loudly: "A man can change his name if he is going or sitting. My name is Cheng Chumo."

Cheng Chumo: "..."

Xuanjia Army soldier: "..."

…………

There was already chaos in the front yard, and a special team drove into the reception area of ​​Baihua Pavilion. The soldiers were all dressed in uniform armor, equipped with swords and shields, and a pair of sharp machetes could make people feel oppressed from a long distance.

The happy men here have become numb to the scene of soldiers arresting people recently. They just thought that some important criminal broke into the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, which prompted the emperor to use the Xuanjia Army to come and arrest him.

Although such a grand scene tonight is relatively rare, it still loses its freshness to them, and they don't feel scared. Anyway, the court does not arrest innocent people. Even if they are arrested by mistake, they will be released without charge afterwards.

The old bustard is a beautiful mature woman in her thirties. She is not from the Lu family, let alone the proprietor of the house. She is only in charge of the front yard and the girls. She doesn't know much about the back house because it is the owner Even she dared not set foot in the forbidden land set out by the Lord.

Seeing that the soldiers broke into the brothel suddenly, she consciously directed the girls to come to accept the soldiers' inspection, and told them to keep silent.

These girls are a group of masters who can tell whether you should curry favor or not at a glance. They can know your temperament and temperament after a few words, and they are vixen who like you. They are not fools. queue.

The men on the other side looked at the girls standing in rows, considering who was ugly and who was handsome, who was white and who was black, and the girls also looked at the men opposite to see who seemed to be rich...

Both men and women remained silent, treating each other as fat sheep and goods.

Unexpectedly, when everyone waited and watched, suddenly a large number of women in armor came and took all the girls away, and then the Xuanjia Army took all the men away. It is said that many false Tang spies got in The Hundred Flowers Pavilion will take everyone to screen them one by one.

……

However, what happened in Baihua Pavilion was just the beginning. Some patriarchs, nephews of elders, and cronies were forced to take aphrodisiacs. When the male symbol swelled, Cheng Yaojin asked the soldiers to take acupuncture. These people couldn't stand this strange and painful Unbearable torture, I would rather die than be an eunuch, so I confessed the strongholds I knew. These people are all the confidantes of the patriarchs, and they know as much as their own patriarchs. Let them confess one by one.

The imperial court immediately ordered the nearby army, frontier army, and county soldiers to do the same, and they were sure to be sure when they caught it. From here, they followed the vines to find more noble chess pieces hidden in all walks of life.

Brothels, wine houses, inns, business groups, and fleets in various places were also seized.Officials, businessmen, gentry, aristocratic students, and "illegal property" who had various connections with major families were escorted to the capital one after another to stand trial together.

The heads of the families who received the "courteous reception" were placed under house arrest in Dali Temple. They thought that the court would try them, but the court seemed to have forgotten them, and they were still alive and kicking in the prison, but as time went by, I saw children and chess pieces being sent to the sky prison one by one. They were furious, like angry bulls.
They knew that their cronies made the court open their mouths, but what they never expected was that the court would act so quickly, and they didn't know how the court sent messages. The time spread so quickly, even if they only have one eye and eye left in each stronghold, but the imperial court used so many people and attacked so many people at the same time, it is impossible not to leak a little bit of news, isn't it?

But as their disciples and chess pieces from all over the Sui Dynasty gradually gathered in the prison, they realized that the court had not leaked any information this time.

To complete such a big case in such a short period of time, and to arrest so many people all over the country, the imperial court needs not only manpower, but also power. How careful planning, how long preparation, how deep thought, how meticulous planning is required?

It can be seen from this that the imperial court has always known their strongholds and closely monitored them. It is ridiculous that they even tried to add sand to the officialdom.

If Yang Tong knew what they were thinking, he would probably be dumbfounded and say 'you think too much'.

If there is such a careful layout, it would be fine to have a net before.

The reason why the imperial court acted so quickly was that after obtaining the confession, it passed the message to the county magistrates and county magistrates affiliated to the military department in various places, and then the county soldiers and militiamen took action together.

Some people who are ambiguous between the imperial court and the aristocratic families, who have unclear positions and hold positions, are all included in the imperial court's purge this time. .And after this 'bloody battle', the major clans were devastated.

All this, but because of that hot pot meal.

If they finished discussing, they would disperse, and at most it would be Lu Shi who would suffer.But because of the etiquette that the host invites guests and the guests must respect, they miss the most precious time, and thus they are caught in the net.

The result is that all ethnic groups are wiped out in a hasty hot pot.

It can also be said that it was because of Xu Yingying's appearance, and her entanglement with Liu's client aroused Cheng Yaojin's vigilance and desire to make contributions.

(End of this chapter)