November this year is particularly cold, the snow has stopped a few days ago, the hustle and bustle of the past in Chang'an East City is gone, the streets are deserted, the cold weather makes people too lazy to go out, the ground is frozen hard, as white as silver, all the pedestrians are carefully walking against the wall, from time to time you can see the slipping and overturned carriage falling on the side of the road, long icicles like short swords made of crystal hanging under the eaves.

Not far from the gate of the East City is the area dedicated to the sale of jewelry and jade, there are hundreds of time-honored famous stores, more than seventy percent of the jewelry sales in Chang'an are from here, even the Imperial Palace is no exception, each store is very deep, generally speaking, the back of the store is mostly a workshop for processing jewelry.

Wu Zhu Yue Bao is a very ordinary jewelry store, the façade is not large, in the East City one hundred and eight jewelry stores are only medium, the business is also very reluctant, from the name of the store, it seems to be the jewelry and jade produced in the area of Wu Yue, but in fact, most of the goods it deals in come from the Western Regions.

If you further analyze this store, then its other identity is Zhang Huan's intelligence center in Chang'an, and the big and small things that happen in Chang'an are sent here every day, and then the pigeons are sent to Longyou from here.

In Chang'an, raising flying pigeons to transmit information has become fashionable, not only large households, many large merchants also raise carrier pigeons to transmit commodity information from all over the world, in one hundred and eight jewelry stores, at least thirty have their own flying slaves, Wu Zhu Yue Bao is no exception, but its carrier pigeons are not used to convey any business information.

Wu Zhuyue treasured the shopkeeper was a middle-aged man with a smile on his face. The surname is Hu, and being kind to others is his life creed, whether it is a buddy, a guest, or a beggar for food, he can treat them well, and he has a good reputation in Dongshi.

Early in the morning, Shopkeeper Hu opened the door of the store as usual, and asked a few men to shovel off the ice in front of the door to prevent customers from falling when they came in. Business was pretty good today, and as soon as the door opened, a man who looked like a housekeeper came in, followed by a young maid.

Shopkeeper Hu recognized at a glance that it was the old customer in the store, the second housekeeper of the Zhongdi of the Sisheng Wangfu, he hurriedly put down the account book and greeted him with a smile, "It's still coming on such a cold day, Steward Qian has worked hard, please come in and have a cup of hot tea." ”

He glanced at the maid behind him, although it was a maid, but his expression was quite arrogant. Shopkeeper Hu immediately understood, I am afraid that the young lady of the Sisheng Wang family wants to buy jewelry, and sure enough, his voice just fell. The second housekeeper waved his hand and said, "Don't bother, the county lord of my family will get married the day after tomorrow, and I need to buy some fine jewelry." Let's pick some up and take them home to pick up for the young lady. ”

"Yes! Be! Be! Shopkeeper Hu was smiling. He was about to say that he would send it himself, when he caught a glimpse of two carrier pigeons flying in the air in this direction.

The words immediately changed, and he hurriedly summoned the deputy director next to him and said, "You quickly take the money housekeeper to the small library, and then send the jewelry they selected to the palace, understand?" "I understand." The deputy director hurriedly invited the housekeeper and the young lady's maid to the side room, while the shopkeeper Hu hurried to the backyard. The pigeon coop is on a platform in the backyard. The two pigeons have flown down and are cooing! I look around.

Sure enough, there were two tubes of pigeon letters tied to the pigeon's legs. Shopkeeper Hu skillfully took down the letter, the mark on the thin bamboo pipe is the same, indicating that this is the same letter, and the color of the top of the bamboo pipe is orange, the shopkeeper Hu was startled, the letter said that it was 100,000 urgent, he suddenly panicked, put on a robe and ran outside the store, shouting while running: "Quickly lead the carriage out, I want to go out." ”

"Shopkeeper, the road outside is too slippery, and the carriage is very dangerous." The coachman sitting at the door hurriedly stood up and said.

"The road is slippery, go and lead the carriage for me."

The coachman had no choice but to catch the carriage, and the carriage started and drove quickly towards Yongle Fang.

Today is the day after the impeachment of Pei Yidi, and it is also the day of the imperial court's holiday, and early in the morning, Zhang Huan's mansion came to several groups of court officials, some came to test Zhang Huan's high-ranking officials, and there were also middle- and lower-level officials who hoped that Zhang Huan could take a hand, as well as several people in the palace who came to give gifts by the master's order.

At noon, a gorgeous carriage stopped in front of Zhang Huan's mansion, and Pei You, the servant of the ministry, stepped down from the carriage, he looked at the new mansion, and walked up the steps

In the study, Zhang Huan placed a pigeon letter in front of him, which was the urgent letter that Hu had just sent to the shopkeeper, which said that Tubo had sent an envoy to Jincheng County, and was willing to offer the little princess of Tubo to marry Zhang Huan as his wife, and marry 300,000 cattle and sheep, as a condition Tubo asked to maintain the status quo, with Zhangye County as the boundary, and the east and west ruled by each other.

At the end of Xindi, a major situation was added, the Qarluqs and the Baifu Turks jointly attacked Beiting, and the Uighurs fighting in Anxi were attacked by the enemy, and it was very likely that they would withdraw their army in Anxi.

This is indeed a big event, Zhang Huan couldn't help but fall into deep thought, the timing of the Tibetan envoy and the time of the joint attack on the Beiting by the Qarluqs and the white-robed Turks were very coincidental, was it really just a coincidence? No! It shouldn't be, the Qarluq people and the white-costed Turks have always been subservient to the Hui, this southern invasion, without the support of external forces, they can't rashly rebel, if the big food supports them, then the big food itself should also send troops, if the big food is excluded, then the rest can only be the Tubo people.

At this moment, Zhang Huan's mind sketched a clear strategic deduction map, when the battles of the two lines of Anxi and Hexi broke out at the same time, Tubo Zanpu Trisong Dezan was in the predicament of Tocharo, and the logistics Jiuqu area was occupied by the Tang army, and some reinforcements could not support, but at this time, the cold winter came, and the war had to be suspended, which gave the Tubo people a chance to breathe, and when the Tubo reinforcements could not reach Anxi, they rebelled against the Qarluq and the Baifu Turks, and ordered them to attack Beiting from behind, so that Attacking Anxi, the Hui army suffered from the enemy. had to retreat north, the danger of Anxi was solved, but the situation in Hexi was also very critical to Tubo, in order to buy time to solve the dilemma of Anxi first, and then deal with Hexi, so Tubo's peace plan came into being.

Thinking of this, Zhang Huan was already able to fully judge the strategic intentions of Tubo, and it was obvious. They want to use harmony as bait to delay time, and once they stabilize the situation in Anxi, they will inevitably counterattack Hexi.

Zhang Huan walked slowly in the room with his hands behind his back, seizing Hexi was an established strategy he had already set, and it would not change because of what Tubo princess and a little cattle and sheep, the reason why he stopped fighting Zhangye, on the one hand, was that winter was coming, and another important reason was that he hoped to get the official authorization of the imperial court, and the recovery of Hexi and Anxi would become the will of the country, so that his battle to conquer the west would become reasonable and legitimate. It happened that the Tang army, which was alone in Shule, sent Cao Hanchen and his party, which made an excuse for him to send troops.

But time did not allow him to delay any longer, and the matter could be carried out at the same time between winning the support of the imperial court and fighting in Hexi, Zhang Huan pondered for a moment. Resolutely ordered to the soldiers around him: "Pass my order to Longyou, and order Pei Mingyuan to be the main negotiator and negotiate with the Tibetan envoy about the ownership of Dunhuang County." Then he ordered He Lou Wuji's troops to attack Jiuquan County in ten days. He ordered Wang Siyu's troops to send troops from Dunhuang County to cooperate, and they must be completely annihilated by the Tubo army in Hexi before the New Year, and they must not be allowed to flee back to Anxi. ”

The pro-soldier leader turned around and ran out, and at this moment, the voice of Steward Sun suddenly came from outside the door, "Master, the official Pei Shilang is here." Do you want to see him? ”

Zhang Huan was in good spirits. He immediately put down his train of thought in the Western Regions and ordered: "Quickly invite Pei Shilang to my study." ”

Zhang Huan didn't go anywhere today. Just to wait for him, he knew that Pei Jun would inevitably negotiate with him, and after a while, Pei You came to Zhang Huan's study under the guidance of the housekeeper, and as soon as he entered the door, he smiled and said: "The new mansion of the virtuous nephew is really good, even the old man is envious!" ”

"Second Uncle Pei made fun of it, a hundred-year-old mansion is not worth talking about." Zhang Huan hurriedly smiled and invited Pei You in and sat down, and then two maids came in and served hot fragrant tea, Pei You took a sip of hot tea, and said with a smile: "Don't underestimate this mansion, it is located in Chang'an's Ninth Five-Year Plan, Zhang was impeached because it was not impeached, and even Pei Xiang's current mansion, that is, Yang Guozong's mansion back then, had to move a lot to the south, but the Queen Mother rewarded it to you, so graceful, you have to remember." ”

Zhang Huan suddenly smiled and couldn't help laughing at himself: "I'm only a shallow learner, I don't know any of this, no wonder the Queen Mother always asks me how I live?" It turns out that this house has such a deep background. ”

Pei You shook his head, and said with a faint smile: "Actually, you are not a shallow learner, when you were studying at Taiyuan Beidu Academy, I heard that it was the first every year, but it is a pity that the case of Cui Qinggong's son Mao Gong made you have no chance to participate in the imperial examination, and the real person who is not a shallow scholar should be Pei Mingdian, the cheating person in the imperial examination where you impeached." ”

After a few words, Pei You went around to the topic, both of them were silent, and the atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense, and after a long time, Zhang Huan smiled and said, "Second Uncle Pei wants me to withdraw the impeachment?" ”

"Nope! No! No! You misunderstood what I meant. Pei You denied it repeatedly, and he solemnly said to Zhang Huan: "I came this time to be entrusted by your father-in-law, that is, Pei Xiangguo, to talk to you about this matter, in addition, I personally hope that the official affairs between you and Pei Xiang, and the private affairs will be private affairs, and don't hurt Weng's son-in-law because of political disagreements." ”

"Good!" Zhang Huan nodded, and said briskly: "I don't like to go around the bend either, so what is Pei Xiangguo's attitude in this matter, please let Second Uncle Pei say it clearly!" ”

Pei You pondered for a while, and said: "Pei Mingdian's cheating in the imperial examination is true, but Pei Yi really has nothing to do with this matter, at that time, the landlord examiner was Yuan Zai, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, and it was he who ordered Pei Mingdian's Jinshi, who should be responsible for negligence, Xiangguo's preliminary opinion is to remove Pei Mingdian from the post of Lingtailang, and never use it again, Yuan Zai is responsible for negligence, and he is demoted to Sima of Jiujiang County, I don't know what the virtuous nephew thinks?" ”

Zhang Huan couldn't help but sneer secretly, things were as he expected, Pei Jun gave up his hand and skillfully transferred the contradiction, although the result was a little aggrieved Yuan Zai, there will be a chance to use him again in the future, the key is that his goal has been achieved, and he doesn't want to make things bigger, Zhang Huan smiled slightly and said: "It's rare that Pei Xiangguo doesn't show favoritism, I completely agree with his decision." ”

Pei Mingdian's cheating case is just an introduction to the dispute between Zhang and Pei, so Zhang Huandi's attitude is completely expected by Pei Youdi. He didn't really come to Zhang Huan to talk about it, since both sides knew it, Pei Youdi's words slowly moved closer to today's topic.

"Now the chaos in the DPRK and China, many people say that it is caused by Pei Xiangjia Air Book Province, but in fact, it is not, it is mainly caused by the sharp reduction of taxes and the withering of people's livelihood. After nearly five turns, the people of Chang'an are miserable, but to trace the root cause, the first is the change of the Cui family, which caused Cui Qinggong to go south to occupy Jianghuai, hindering Jianghuai's money and grain from entering Beijing; On the one hand, a large number of refugees fled into Guanzhong, increasing the burden on the imperial court, and on the other hand, the imperial court lost the source of taxes in Shuzhong, although the virtuous nephew had driven Zhu out of Bashu. The DPRK and China are encouraging, but it will take time to recover from the prospects! ”

Thinking of the embarrassment of the imperial court, Pei You, who had been a household servant for many years, couldn't help but let out a long sigh and said, "Although there is still a little rice in Taicang. But at most, it can only last until mid-January next year, and after that, it coincides with the lack of success, and I really don't know what to do at that time. Let's talk about it. Where is there food for Chang'an? ”

Pei You meant that Zhang Huan understood that he just wanted him to take out the grain, but Zhang Huan pretended to be confused and smiled: "Then why didn't the imperial court transfer grain from Hedong?" Or what about transferring grain from the Central Plains and Xiangyang? ”

Pei You's eyes were gloomy, he shook his head and said: "The virtuous nephew doesn't know, in the past three years, there has been a great drought in Hebei every year, and the grain in Hedong has been transferred to Hebei for relief, but the disaster is not a one-way street." Hedong also suffered from drought this year. After three months of rain, a locust plague broke out in 17 of the richest counties in Hedong in June. suffered heavy losses, not to mention Hebei, even its own insurmounted; The Central Plains was occupied by Li Huaiguang, and he nominally obeyed the imperial court, but in fact, like Cui Qinggong and Zhu, he divided one side, not only did not pay money and grain, but also asked the court to stretch out his hand; As for Xiangyang, there is a Li Xilie who is rampant, and Wang Ang is helpless. ”

Speaking of this, the worried Pei You no longer had the heart to play dumb riddles with Zhang Huan, he said anxiously: "Now the whole country, the only thing that can be counted on is Longyou, Longyou has always been rich, and the virtuous nephew is well governed, and he has matured every year in recent years, I heard that the official grain has been nearly 10 million stones, Pei Xiangguo hopes that the virtuous nephew can share one or two worries for the imperial court, not only the hundred officials are grateful, but the millions of people in Chang'an will also remember the kindness of Longyou Zhang Envoy." ”

Pei You's tall hat didn't seem to have any effect, only to see Zhang Huan frowning and said: "It's good that Longyou has saved a little grain over the years, but last month he used two million stones to help the people in Shuzhong, and he had to go west to Hexi, so he had to ensure military rations, as well as Changping storage grain, speaking of which, that bit of grain was just right, there was really no extra food, Zhang Huan was afraid that he couldn't help." ”

At this time, Zhang Huan had fully understood Pei Jun's intentions, he didn't want to change the status quo of the province of the air, and he didn't want to give up monopolizing power, but he was ready to give in to himself, but he was a little unwilling, so he wanted to let himself solve the food crisis in Chang'an.

In fact, Chang'an's grain shortage situation Zhang Huan was clear as early as Longyou, Guanzhong itself was rich, but a large part of the land was occupied by the clan and the magnates, and they did not pay taxes, and Guanzhong had a large population, huge food consumption, these two reasons led to Chang'an every year to need to transfer a large amount of grain from other places, especially the grain-rich Jianghuai region, but since Cui Qinggong occupied Huaibei, the army was greatly expanded, not only greatly reduced the grain available to Beijing, but also began to transport poorly, especially this year he simply cut off the transportation, Directly triggered the food crisis in Chang'an, and the imperial court had to agree to all the conditions of Cui Qinggong's land, including naming him the king of Ruyang County and introducing him into the cabinet.

Before he entered Beijing, he and Hu Weiyong and several other core members had already held a meeting to decide to supply Chang'an with Longyou grain, on the one hand, to invite the hearts of the people and get greater power from the imperial court, but more importantly, to grasp the economic lifeline of the imperial court.

At this time, Pei You of course knew that Zhang Huan was waiting for Pei Jun's conditions, and he hurriedly said: "Before I came, Pei Xiangguo asked me to tell the virtuous nephew that the Tang Dynasty is now in an extraordinary period, and it is not appropriate to make major changes to the power structure of the imperial court before dealing with Cui Qinggong, Zhu and other separatist forces, but with the strength of the virtuous nephew, it is indeed a bit unfair to just be a subordinate servant. ”

Zhang Huan saw that Pei You's words were so explicit, and knew that the time had come, so he changed his tone and said with a smile: "I have no contribution to the imperial court, how can I put forward any personal thoughts, I just calculated again, although there is not much food in the official treasury of Longyou, but the people of Longyou are also quite solid, I want to buy two or three million stone grain to solve the urgent needs of the imperial court, I can still do it, even if I thank the imperial court for distinguishing me from Cui Qinggong and Zhu Zhiliu, as for personal thoughts?" There is a little bit of it. ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Huan stretched out three fingers and said slowly: "First, I hope that the imperial court will officially issue an edict and order me to be the generalissimo of the expedition to the west to recover the hometown of Hexi and Anxi; Second, Zhang Potian, the former secretary of the Ministry of Rites, once contributed to the imperial court, and now he is idle at home, I hope that the imperial court can use him again, such as replacing my local servants; As for the third point

Zhang Huan suddenly lowered his voice and said to Pei You: "Please tell my father-in-law, I can send him two million stone of grain every year to relieve his pressure, and I can also help him destroy Zhu, but my land condition is that the military department will belong to me." ”