Shi Donglai took out a bamboo letter from his arms and handed it to Guo Song, "This is a letter of accusation written by Aiju, the chief of the Po'an tribe, to His Highness on the eve of the joint strangulation of the Po'an tribe by the Suye army and the Khazar army.
He sent an envoy to Chang'an, but the envoy was captured and made into a slave by Sui Ye's army on the way, and he did not escape until more than two months ago.
But he was in poor health and fell ill not long after escaping. Before he died, he met a Sogdian caravan. He asked the leader of the caravan to take the bamboo letter back to Chang'an for him. The caravan arrived the day before yesterday.
Chang'an, entrust this matter to me."
Guo Song looked solemn. He took out a roll of sheepskin from his bamboo tube and spread it on the table. It was written in Sogdian. The content seemed to be very long. Guo Song found Lu Lun and handed the sheepskin to him, "Take this roll."
The sheepskin content will be translated immediately!”
His staff included more than a dozen specialized translators who were proficient in various languages. Lu Lun tied the parchment, bowed and left.
Guo Song added: "Ma Weijiang is an old subordinate who has followed me for many years. He is low-key and cautious. It is precisely because of his trust in him that he has not adjusted his commander-in-chief and let him guard the border for a long time."
Shi Donglai said calmly: "But the businessman who came here from Suiye did not describe Governor Ma like this. I have no intention of instigating the relationship between His Highness and his subordinates, but I will only tell His Highness one fact. Just three months ago, he led an army of 20,000 to annihilate
He conquered the country of Bukhanna and chopped off the heads of the king and three princes in public. The queen was rewarded by his own soldiers and humiliated. The other concubines and princesses were occupied by him. All the wealth of the treasury of Bukhanna was transported back to Suiye.
The palace, of course, his reason is that King Bakhanna colluded with the cannibals, but the cannibals have long controlled the Sogdian countries, so there is no collusion!"
There was a look of shock in Guo Song's eyes. He didn't know about this at all. He had to agree to send troops to destroy the country. Also, when did Suiye have 20,000 troops? When did he have a palace? When did Ma Weijiang become
So cruel?
"Master Shidong, where is the businessman from Suiye? I want to talk to him."
"Reporting to your highness, they have gone to Yong County and will be back the day after tomorrow. As soon as he comes back, I will bring their leader over immediately."
Shi Donglai said goodbye and left. Guo Song sent him out of the official compound and then walked back quickly.
At this time, Lu Lun handed the translated parchment to Guo Song. Guo Song read it carefully and suddenly became angry. He slammed the table and cursed: "Asshole!"
He immediately ordered: "Invite Pan Liao and Zhang Qiu'an quickly!"
Not long after, Pan Liao and Zhang Qiu'an hurried over. Both of them held official positions. Pan Liao was the chief history of the Jin Palace and the chief of administrative affairs. Zhang Qiu'an was the chief history of Tiance Building and the chief of military affairs. But Pan Liao
He is the chief counselor of the counselor's hall, while Zhang Qiu'an is just an ordinary counselor. Generally speaking, Pan Liao's status is higher.
"See Your Highness!" The two of them bowed and saluted.
Guo Songtie said with a green face: "Look at this letter. It is a letter of accusation written by Aiju, the chief of the Pogo tribe, last year. He has been killed. This letter just came to my hands today. It is a translation. The original is
It’s written on parchment, and what’s inside is simply outrageous.”
Zhang Qiu'an first took the letter and read it carefully. Guo Song then said to Pan Liao: "When I left Suiye, it was stipulated that the Pogo tribe would be taxed at 10%. This tax was already relatively high, higher than that of the Wusun people, but Ma Weijiang imposed a 10% tax on the Pogo tribe.
The Gong tribe levied a 40% tax, and they also had to pay tribute every year.
Ma Weijiang told me that the Po'an tribe secretly colluded with the Khazar state and introduced the power of the Khazar state into the Yibo Sea, so he led his army to destroy the Po'an tribe. However, the chief of the Po'an tribe accused Ma Weijiang of colluding with the Khazar state.
The Khazar cavalry seized the pastures of the Pochu tribe and robbed their women. They fought back, but were strangled by the Khazar army and the Broken Leaf army. Tens of thousands of young and strong men were killed. Now they can no longer survive. Please ask me.
Let them go."
Zhang Qiu'an was very shocked after reading the letter. He handed the letter to Pan Liao and said to Guo Song: "I think the chief of the Pogo tribe is more credible. If it is the chief of the Pogo tribe and the Khazar
They joined forces and were defeated by the Broken Leaf Army. This happened last year, so we should know the battle report. Besides, no one would attract outsiders to invade their pasture.
Moreover, Sui Ye’s establishment is 10,000 troops, but I always feel something is wrong from every military report. In the past few years, the number of troops has not increased or decreased at all. This is impossible!"
At this time, Pan Liao also said: "Zhiye has mined a total of five million taels of silver over the years, but only 500,000 taels were actually transported back to Chang'an. It was shipped five years ago. Ma Weijiang said that the journey was too far and the transportation was difficult.
, I later asked him to transport it to the Beiting Warehouse, but there was no record of the shipment of broken leaf silver in the Beiting Warehouse's reports for two consecutive years. I wrote to him again last year to question him, but he has not responded yet."
Guo Song was silent for a while and said: "It seems that Broken Leaf has changed a lot."
Back home, Guo Song sat down in his study, still recalling in his mind the scene when Ma Weijiang took over his Governor's Sword and vowed to protect Suiye.
When he followed him on his mission to Anxi, Ma Weijiang was still a young brigade commander, but he was calm, experienced and reliable. He had always won his trust. He had followed him for nearly ten years and he had always been his best general.
Governor Ye was only six or seven years old, so why was he a completely different person?
Guo Song really couldn't understand that if people's personalities could change, Zhang Lei's personality had not changed at all even after he had been down the mountain for 20 years.
At this time, his wife Xue Tao came in with a bowl of iced sour plum soup and said with a smile: "It's too hot, husband, drink some sour plum soup to relieve the heat!"
"Leave it for now! I'll drink it later."
Xue Tao was slightly startled. She glanced at her husband and saw that he looked very unhappy, so she asked in a low voice: "Husband, what happened?"
Guo Song smiled bitterly and said, "Do you still remember Ma Weijiang?"
Xue Tao nodded, "I remember him. He was a very silent and steady general. It seems that he was appointed as the governor of Suiye. Did something happen to him?"
Guo Song shook his head, "Nothing happened to him, but he has completely changed. He has become cruel, greedy, lustful, ambitious, and lies constantly. He has been deceiving me and hiding from me. I don't know that the general I was most optimistic about back then,
How did it become like this?"
"Maybe it's just one-sided words. Husband, please don't jump to conclusions prematurely."
"I know some things may be one-sided, and I will try to find out the facts, but his character has indeed changed, at least he has become ruthless and greedy for wealth. I just want to know why he changed?"
Xue Tao lowered his head and thought for a while and said: "My father once told me that if a person's temperament changes drastically, he either suffered a great misfortune or gained too much power. If Ma Weijiang really changed, why?
It should be the latter!”
"that power!"
Guo Song said in a low voice and nodded, "Your father is right, power is indeed the greatest poison, but it is so sweet that people can't stop eating it!"
"Will my husband lead his army to break the leaves?"
Guo Song shook his head, "It's too far there. I probably won't go there, but I want to figure things out. If he dares to openly rebel, I will send Anxi Governor Guo Jinwen to lead his army to Suiye to destroy him."
Xue Tao was slightly relieved when he heard that her husband would not go to Anxi. If he went to Anxi, it would take at least half a year.
She turned around and left the study, walked to the door, turned back and said with a smile: "Husband, don't forget to go and see Jinxiu at night. Youlan has been waiting eagerly all day."
Guo Song nodded, "I will go."
Xue Tao then hurried away.
On the morning of the third day, Shi Donglai and his people arrived as promised. This time, they no longer faced Guo Song alone, but gave a narration in the counselor's hall. Seven counselors and Jin Wang Guo Song all participated in this discussion about Broken Leaf City.
hearing.
The witness was a Sogdian businessman about fifty years old. He was tall and thin, wearing a black Sogdian robe. His face was full of vicissitudes of life. He seemed a little nervous, but after all, he had seen some things in the world, and he soon became acquainted with the world.
Calm down.
He bowed and saluted, took out a book of "Genesis" scriptures from his arms, put his hand on it and said slowly: "Kang Daqing, a small citizen, is a native of Samarkand, Kang State. He is the leader of a caravan, traveling between
Samarkand and Chang'an, I swear in the name of the great god Ahura Maz that everything I say is true, there is no exaggeration, and there is no concealment."
Everyone nodded. They all knew that Sogdians would not lie as long as they swore by their doctrine. Pan Liao asked, "How well do you know Suiye?"
"The villain is a businessman. He has traveled between Sogdia and Tang Dynasty for more than 20 years. He has to pass through Suiye back and forth. Last year, he sold a batch of goods in Suiye and stayed in Suiye for six months. The villain should have some knowledge of Suiye.
say."
"How many troops does Sui Ye have?" Zhang Qiu took the lead and asked An.
Kang Daqing thought for a while and said: "Zuiye's army has about 30,000 people, half of whom are miscellaneous barbarians. It's very complicated. People can be found everywhere. The military discipline is not very good. I heard that when the city of Juyue in Tochar was captured the year before last,
The Zahu army burned, killed, raped, and looted property in the city. They also plundered the population in Tochara. The men were plundered as mining slaves, and the young women were sold as camp prostitutes or sold. A few months ago, they captured Bakhan.
In that city, the tragedy happened again, but this time it was the Han army who massacred the city."
"First of all, I want to know what's going on in Suiye's palace?" This time it was Guo Song who asked.