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Speaking of this, Cui Ting sighed, and then continued: "It's a pity that we have missed the best opportunity to make friends with Yu Ming, and Yu Ming is already wary of our Cui family. If you want to enter the decision-making level of Da Zhou, I am afraid that you will pay a big price...... Moreover, Yuming may not be able to win the war for world domination. So, after consulting with a few elders in my family, I decided to find another Lord! ”

"Ahh Dad wants to find other princes to take refuge? After Cui Zhuxiu heard this, he was also shocked.

"It's not the other princes, it's the Pei family!" Cui Ting said mysteriously.

"Pei family? But didn't the Pei family have not raised troops at all? And Pei Ju, the head of the Pei family, is still in Luoyang, under house arrest by Wang Shichong. Cui Zhuxiu was surprised.

The Cui family and the Pei family are both important gate valves of the Shandong Shi clan, and there is an in-law relationship between the two families, and they also advanced and retreated together in the Sui Dynasty. However, Pei Ju and Pei Yun, the heads of the Pei family, as well as Pei Renji, Pei Xingyan and others were all in Luoyang, and they did not follow Yang Guang to the eastern capital, and later Wang Shichong launched a mutiny and mastered the eastern capital Luoyang, they have been guarded by Wang Shichong, and even soldiers follow them when they go out on the street. As a result, in the last few years of the Sui Dynasty, the Pei family, known as the first family of the imperial court, was unknown in the war in which the heroes rose together and competed for hegemony in the world.

"Wang Shichong is now exhausted, and the four major forces around him, Li Yuan, Yu Ming, Xiao Miao, and Du Fuwei, are all in a better situation than him. And because Wang Shichong reused his Wang clansmen, and squeezed out and attacked the truly talented former Sui generals and ministers, he had lost the hearts and minds of the military. Cui Ting smiled slightly: "Zhu Xiu, I know that you are more concerned about the battle situation in the Central Plains, do you know why Wang Shichong was able to seize the opportunity to take advantage of the battle between Li Mi and Yuming to subdue the Tiger Prison Pass and the territory occupied by Li Mi in the past." Even conquered many of Li Mi's original territories? ”

Cui Zhuxiu said with surprise on his face at this time: "I always thought that Wang Shichong had opened his mind, or that Zhang Chongren and Chen Zhiluo saw that Li Mi was no longer good, so they surrendered to Wang Shichong." Dad, is there something else hidden here? ”

"Of course! With Wang Shichong's ability, I'm afraid that he won't even be able to take back the Tiger Prison Pass! Cui Ting sneered and said: "Luoyang, although it is said to the outside world that it is the Tiger Prison Pass captured by Yang Gongqing, Zhang Gongjin and others. But in fact, it was Pei Renji and Pei Xingyan's father who were directing the battle. ”

"Ahh Bae Renji and Pei Xingyan? Could it be that the people of the Pei family got rid of surveillance and house arrest? When Cui Zhuxiu heard this, he was immediately shocked.

"Yes!" Cui Ting said with a smug face: "Zhang Gongjin and Yang Gongqing returned to Luoyang after the Tiger Prison Pass was lost, and they were extremely angry. He staged a mutiny and imprisoned Wang Shichong and his henchmen. Then he released his old boss Bae Renji. After Pei Renji regained control of the military power in Luoyang, he naturally took Pei Ju, the head of the Pei family, as an order. And Pei Ju is also a scheming person, knowing that if he immediately announced the abolition of Wang Shichong's Emperor Zheng and stood at the front desk, he would become the target of public criticism. After all, the Yu family and the Li family are both important families of the Guanlongmen valve, and they have a very bad relationship with the Shandong Shi clan. Whether it is Li Yuan or Yu Ming, if they learn that Pei Ju has regained control of Luoyang, they may come to attack. ”

Cui Zhuxiu listened and nodded again and again. He immediately asked, "Dad, then how should we cooperate with Master Pei now?" ”

Cui Ting smiled and said: "Master Pei has already planned, although Luoyang is the former Sui capital, the largest city and the first strong city in the world, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. But it is surrounded by enemies on all sides, and it is not the place to start. And now the most suitable place for our Shandong scholars to start is of course Hebei and Shandong! ”

When Cui Zhuxiu heard this, he was a little puzzled and said: "Dad, speaking of this, the child is a little puzzled: Shandong and Hebei are indeed the strongest places in my Shandong Shi clan, whether it is my Cui family, the Lu family, or the Pei family and the Gao family, they are all quite famous, and there are many disciples. But this is currently Yuming's territory, and he has a heavy army here. How do we get into trouble? ”

"It doesn't matter! Although our Shandong scholars did not send people to the court as officials, many of our younger brothers and protégés had a very good relationship with the local officials. And in the last year or two, the Zhou army has recruited many recruits in various places to serve as city guards in various counties. Many of these people are willing to follow our families. As long as someone stands up and raises their arms and shouts, Shandong, Hebei and other places will change the sky overnight! Cui Ting said with a look of longing and joy in his eyes. He seems to have seen the resurgence of the Cui family.

Cui Zhuxiu was also very moved by what he heard at this time, and he said excitedly: "Dad, what do we need to do now?" ”

Cui Ting said excitedly: "Back then, in order to avoid the mud-legged rebellion of Wang Bo, Xu Yuanlang and Dou Jiande, we moved our family to the relative safety of Beiping City. I thought that Yu Ming would reuse us, but who would have thought that he would look down on us so much. Now that I'm planning to start an incident, I'm going to tear my face with it. Then we need to move all our family members back to their hometowns in case of accidents...... You're going to arrange it tomorrow. Then wait for the news from Luoyang, as long as Lord Pei Ju and General Pei Renji call back, I believe that Shandong and Hebei will be able to echo and make this big Monday night change! ”

Cui Zhuxiu was overjoyed and said: "Please rest assured, Daddy, the child will arrange it, and there will be a month and a half before the New Year." Our Cui family just withdrew to Shandong on the pretext of returning to their hometown for the New Year. It won't be noticeable! ”

Cui Ting nodded and said, "That's very good!" You need to be very careful in this matter, after all, it is going to cause an incident, and if Yu Ming knows about it, there is a danger of being beheaded all over the house, you have to be cautious! ”

Cui Zhuxiu naturally agreed, and then said goodbye and left.

At the same time, several other major families in the same city, such as the Pei family, the Lu family, the Gao family, and other families of the Shandong Shi family, also held similar secret meetings among the clans to arrange for their families to evacuate Beiping and return to their hometowns.

At this time, Yu Ming didn't expect that a crisis was coming, and after he returned to the palace, he listened to the reports of Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Wei Zheng, Changsun Wuji and others, as well as his own wives. Understand the situation in Hebei, Hedong, Shandong, Liaodong and other places in the past six months.

Judging from the feedback of several ministers, order in various places is gradually recovering from the chaos of war. Because the government gave the displaced people seeds and agricultural tools, and redistributed the ownerless land, and because there were large tracts of desolate fertile black soil in eastern Liaodong that could be cultivated, the cultivators had their own fields.

After the peasants no longer had to pay rent to the landlords, the accumulation of grain production also increased greatly, and after the autumn harvest was completed two months ago, grain output in eastern Liaoning increased by 20 percent and in Hebei. Shandong and Hedong had only just recovered from the war, so after the displaced people settled down, grain production increased the most, by about 50 percent.

This made the eldest grandson Wujian, who was in charge of finance, also greatly relieved, and she could no longer purchase grain from Japan and the Nanyang countries. This money can be saved and used to build water conservancy and repair walls that have been damaged in the war.

"King Zhou, the most difficult thing in the local area now is the lack of manpower, and the repair of city walls, roads, embankments, etc. requires migrant workers. Due to the newly occupied land of Huaibei, there are currently more than 20 counties without county orders, and seven counties without county guards. They are all temporarily replaced by the generals of the local garrison, which is not a long-term solution! Du Ruhui said worriedly.

"There is a shortage of manpower, and we can find a way to recruit some. We have destroyed Li Mi this time, and captured many soldiers of the Wagang Army, and those who are willing to surrender to us can be incorporated into the new army. Those who are unruly can let them do these coolies! Yu Ming thought for a while, and then continued: "As for the lack of local officials, some candidates who have achieved excellent results in the imperial examination can be recruited. ”

Speaking of this, he turned his head to Wei Zheng and asked, "Lord Wei, how is the situation of the imperial examination now?" I'm waiting for you to select a group of much-needed talents for me. ”

Wei Zheng hurriedly replied: "King Zhou, rest assured, his subordinates will hold the exam in strict accordance with the plan you have formulated. After the prefectural and prefectural examinations, 110 people have been selected to participate in the temple examination. The questions for the palace exam have been prepared early, just waiting for you to take the exam! ”

After Yu Ming heard this, Fang nodded with satisfaction and said, "Okay!" Then without further ado, you will inform the candidates, and the palace examination will be held in the future! ”

"Good!" Wei Zheng answered, and when he was about to sit down, he suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly said: "King Zhou, this imperial examination, most of the people who came to sign up for the imperial examination were poor disciples and dilapidated nobles, as well as some private schools. The Pei family, Cui family, Lu family, and Gao family in the Shandong Shi clan did not send their younger brothers to participate. Even if there are individual family members who have taken the exam, they are all side brothers who are not valued in the family, and it seems that they still broke through a lot of resistance to come. I heard that some people have quarreled a lot with the elders of the clan and the head of the family. ”

"Oh? How could there be such a thing? When Yu Ming heard this, he was also surprised.

Shandong Shi clan and Guanlongmen have always fought openly and secretly, starting from the split of the Northern Wei Dynasty into the Eastern Wei and Western Wei Dynasty. Later, the Northern Zhou Dynasty, which represented the Guanlongmen valve, destroyed the Northern Qi Dynasty, which represented the Shandong Shi clan, and the two major gate valve groups have formed a deep grudge since then. It was not until after the establishment of the Sui Dynasty that the two generations of monarchs Yang Jian and Yang Guang wanted to use the Shandong Shi clan to balance the Guanlongmen valve, and the Shandong Shi clan gradually recovered their vitality and had the ambition to compete with the Guanlongmen valve.

In Yuming's opinion, although he and the people of the Pei family had some grudges before. But at present, the Guanlongmen valve supports Li Yuan, and it is impossible for the Shandong Shi clan to put down to support Xiao Miao, who is supported by the Jiangnan Shi clan, and Du Fuwei, who has always been known for looting and robbing houses, and Wang Shichong, who is dying, is even more unlikely to support the Shandong Shi clan. Their only choice is themselves, and now that they have launched the imperial examination, the Shandong scholars should be relented. How can you continue to fight against yourself all the time?

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