On December 30 of the first year of Yong'an of the Tang Dynasty, that is, on the eve of the New Year, a team of envoys from the Bohai Kingdom arrived in Chang'an City.

The Bohai State is located in the northeast of the Tang Dynasty, founded by the leader of the Su Mo people, Da Zuorong, in the first year of the Wu Zetian Sacred Calendar, at the beginning of its establishment, the Bohai State accepted the canonization of the Tang Emperor, surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and fully imitated the political system of the Tang Dynasty, introduced the splendid Tang Dynasty culture, and fortunately from generation to generation of British lords, it made its national strength increasingly strong, located in the north, and the Tang Dynasty created the glory of the northern country, and thus called the prosperous country of Haidong.

In the Anshi Rebellion, the Bohai State once broke away from the Tang Dynasty, but soon it sent envoys into Beijing, and continued to be a subject country of the Tang Dynasty, when the first year of Yong'an of the Tang Dynasty, the king of the Bohai Kingdom, Da Qinmao, sent a special letter to Chang'an to worship the new emperor, and at the same time, the Great Song also brought a special mission, asking the Tang Dynasty to send troops to help them resist the attack of the Khitan.

The Khitan people have always been the natural enemies of people, and the Bohai State has been at war for nearly a hundred years, but this year's Khitan attack is unusually durable and tough, starting from October for nearly two months, there is still no sign of stopping, especially the Fuyu Mansion on the border between the Bohai State and the Khitan, it is the focus of the Khitan attack, the two-month war has caused the Bohai State to suffer heavy losses, and as a last resort, Da Qinmao urgently sent a children's book to Beijing for help.

The envoy is still five miles away from the city, Honglu Temple Shaoqing Zheng Pu personally went out of the city to greet, Da Song is nearly thirty years old, he and his father advocate the Han style, wearing a robe, waist jade belt, received Han culture education since childhood, can speak fluent Chinese, was named Bohai County Duke by the imperial court, he dismounted from afar to Zheng Pu who was wearing a four-grade court dress and smiled: "Let the envoy personally go out of the city to greet, I dare not be." ”

Zheng Pu also dismounted and saluted back: "The county prince doesn't have to be polite, this is the etiquette of the imperial court." The county prince has worked hard all the way, please follow me into the post house to rest, and we will arrange to meet the queen mother and the new emperor another day. ”

When Da Song heard that it would be arranged another day, he couldn't help but feel anxious. But I don't know the details of Zheng Pu, I don't dare to talk about state affairs lightly, so I forcibly held back the anxiety in my heart, and the group entered the Mingde Gate, the breath of the New Year in Chang'an came to the face, the crowd was like a sea, the carriage was rushing, and the people who made the final preparations for the New Year could be seen everywhere, Zheng Pu had already found that Da Song was restless all the way, and now he was not interested in even entering the city. Then he asked with a low smile: "The county prince just came to Chang'an, could it be that he felt homesick?" ”

Da Song sighed slightly and said: "I have an urgent state matter, so I have to arrange an audience for another day, so I am hesitant in my heart, please don't blame the bubble." \\\\\\”

"Urgent state affairs?" Zheng Pu saw that he didn't seem to understand the distribution of power in the imperial court, so he reminded him with a smile: "The county prince has misunderstood, and the audience I said refers to the etiquette of the country." Regardless of government affairs, if the county has urgent state affairs, you can go to Pei Xiangguo to discuss, but this is not under the control of our Honglu Temple. ”

Although Da Song received a systematic education in Sinology, it was the first time he went to the Tang Dynasty and he didn't know this relationship. couldn't help but suddenly realize, so he hurriedly asked: "If I want to go to Pei Xiangguo, I don't know if he is willing to see me, or who else I have to look for to introduce, the stakes are very high, I hope Zheng Envoy will not hesitate to advise." ”

Zheng Pu glanced at him, then smiled slightly: "Pei Xiangguo usually sees you for the affairs of Bohai Kingdom, but it happens to be the New Year, Pei Xiangguo may not be free, and someone really needs to introduce you to you." In this way, I will introduce Zhongshu Province to you later, he is Pei Xiangyanshu, maybe he can help you speak. ”

Pei Mingyao has been a powerful official for several years, and he has also accumulated some contacts in the officialdom, especially Pei Dang, everyone regards him as the successor of the Tang Dynasty. What a chance. will help him easily, this Zheng Pu is also a member of the Pei Party. He has always been good friends with Pei Mingyao, he knows that Pei Mingyao has been unfavorable in recent months, so he also wants to help him, it just so happens that Bohai has an urgent matter to find Xiangguo, he knows that Bohai and Hebei are close to each other, and has always been valued by Pei Jun, so he immediately decided to give this opportunity to Pei Mingyao, arranged the accommodation of the envoy of Bohai State, and Zheng Pu hurriedly came to Pei Mingyao.

Pei Mingyao has been quite quiet these days, since he decided to enlist the support of the military, he has been uncharacteristically low-key, disciplined himself in everything, every day on time, on time to go to court, and not to go outside to have fun, when he has spare time, he reads books and practices calligraphy, his father Pei Jun sees his changes in his eyes, and secretly praises.

But Pei Mingyao ordered his henchmen to rush to Hebei behind his back, risking being discovered by his father, and secretly contacted several generals who had supported him in the past, and the hard work paid off, just two days ago, Pinglu Jiedu made Liu Yi bring a secret letter to him, expressing his firm support for him as the successor of the Pei family, and Duan Lianda, the deputy envoy of Fan Yang Jiedu, another general in charge of the army, was also relieved and said that he would seriously consider the matter.

Seeing that tomorrow is the New Year, the imperial court departments will have a holiday at noon, Pei Mingyao also rushed back to the mansion early, he is riding a horse, there are still a hundred steps away from the mansion, and he saw a person on the steps waving to himself, and he recognized it as Zheng Pu, the young secretary of Honglu Temple, who has a very close personal relationship with him, and can be regarded as a supporter of his subway pole, and now he is looking for him either to drink, or to watch a polo training match, Pei Mingyao turned over and got off the horse, and smiled at Zheng Pu who ran forward: "Not today, my father is in the house, tomorrow he will go to Bashang to purge the army, I won't be back until the day after tomorrow, and we'll go back tomorrow for a drink." ^^eBook ^^"

"It's not! No! Zheng Pu waved his hand again and again and said: "I have something to do with you, today the envoy of the Bohai Kingdom has entered Beijing." ”

He said that Da Song had a big event and was eager to see Xiangguo, and finally said: "He didn't tell me exactly what it was, but when I saw him looking panicked, I felt that something big might have happened, and if you think it would be useful, go and see him, if you think it's useless, I don't care about it." ”

Pei Mingyao has been an official for many years, how can he not understand the importance of this matter, the Bohai State is a close neighbor of the Pei family, and the Pei family has been trying to form an alliance with the Bohai State for decades, in order to jointly deal with the threat of the Khitans, and also wants to establish trade relations with the Bohai State, but the relationship between the Bohai King Da Qinmao and the former head of the Pei family, Pei Zunqing, was bad, and was co-opted by Cui Yuan, so the relationship with the Pei family for decades has been like a separation, whether it is entering the dynasty or from the Shang University, it is directly by boat to Shandong, and rarely goes south from Hebei, But today, Bohai has something to ask his father. This is an opportunity to improve the relationship between the two families, and if he can seize this opportunity and become the leader of the alliance between the two families, perhaps his father will re-establish himself as the heir to the head of the family.

Come to think of this. Pei Mingyao said impatiently: "Where is he now?" Take me to him quickly. ”

At the same time that Pei Mingyao and Zheng Pu went to meet with the Bohai envoys, Pei Jun, the right minister of the Tang Dynasty, had stolen half a day of leisure and was playing chess with one of his aides, today is the Chinese New Year's Eve, and from this afternoon, the imperial court has entered the five-day holiday, which is the longest period of vacation in a year, and he has just received a pigeon letter, Cui Qinggong and Wei Deqing have reached a treaty of a New Year's truce. The entire Central Plains is in peace.

There was no war on the Eastern Front, and Pei Jun was rarely so leisurely, so he pushed all the land affairs aside, and he wanted to have a good New Year with his family.

"I heard that Ling Sun is going to participate in the imperial examination this time, right?" Pei Jun took a step and asked his staff with a smile.

The staff member who played chess with Pei Jun was surnamed Yu, called Yu Guangyou. Sixty-five years old this year, a native of Ye County, was a bachelor of Hanlin of Tang Suzong, resigned due to illness and returned to his hometown to recuperate, and was invited by Pei Jun to go out of the mountain to be a respected teacher of several children's books 20 years ago. As Pei Jun's children's books grew up one by one, Yu Guangyou was idle again, and he had nothing to do, so he simply stayed in Pei's Mansion as a staff member and put forward his own opinions on some of Pei Jundi's government decisions, but after this year, he was also ready to return to his hometown.

When he saw Pei Jun asking, he nodded and said with some emotion: "Yes!" Time flies so fast, and in a blink of an eye, the little hairy people of the year are going to participate in the imperial examination, and the years are unforgiving. You and I are old. ”

Pei Jun smiled, and did not follow Yu Guang's right words, although he also passed his sixtieth birthday last year, he did not feel that he was old, he was still young and energetic, not to mention that he could work for another twenty years, he wrote another book, and asked lightly: "Mr. Yu thinks." A few of my in-laws. Which one is the most useful? ”

Pei Jun couldn't put down the chess book in his hand, so he looked at it. Silently staring at Yu Guangyou, several of his children's books were his students, and he should know them better than ordinary people.

Yu Guangyou was stunned, he didn't expect Pei Jun to ask this question, this was actually asking him the successor of the Pei family, and he didn't know how to answer for a while, and after a long silence, he said slowly: "Xiangguo wants to hear the truth?" ”

"Of course, I hope that the gentleman will judge them fairly."

Yu Guangyou put down the chess book in his hand and sighed slightly: "Ming Kai usually treats people with generosity and kindness, which is his advantage, but he is more than lenient and not majestic enough, and even his subordinates dare to bully him. Mingyao has been shrewd since he was a child, good at calculation, let him memorize a thousand words, he will never memorize a word more, he also has some vision to see things, and will buy people's hearts with small favors, which is much better than Mingkai, but he is narrow-minded, jealous and heavy, and has no room for others, which dooms him to not be able to do great things; Mingqian and Mingwen have been studying normally since childhood, like people and clouds, and have no own opinions, and now they seem to be mediocre, but they can use the power of Xiangguo to do a useless county guard, I am not optimistic about the above four books, and I am disappointed in Xiangguo. ”

Speaking of this, Yu Guangyou stopped talking, he stood up, arched his hand to Pei Jun, and said, "It's really too bad to disturb Xiangguo for an afternoon, so I'll leave first." ”

As soon as he took two steps, Pei Jun suddenly stopped him, "Mr. Yu seems to have forgotten someone?" ”

Yu Guangyou stood there motionless, for a long time, he said slowly: "Mingyuan has been a genius since he was a child, there is nothing he can't do if he wants to do something, what he is doing now Pei Xiang should know better than me, although he is only a small Longyou Sima, and he doesn't even have the title of a loose official, but over time, the Pei family can still prosper, maybe because of the existence of this book." ”

After saying that, Yu Guang looked up to the sky and smiled, and walked away.

Pei Jun sat there motionless, he fell into deep contemplation, the inheritance of the head of the Pei family involves the fate of the Pei family for decades in the future, if one is not properly disposed of, the Pei family will be destroyed in the hands of the next generation, of course, he does not consider the book, after all, the lessons of the Zhang family are there, and among the many books of the family, he always has to consider his own children's book first, this is human nature, he does not believe that he can't choose a suitable person among his five books, a few years ago, Pei Mingyao did a very good job in the position in the matter, helped him empty the ministry and the cabinet, and he thought he had found an heir.

promoted Pei Mingyao to the heir of the head of the family in one step, but now it seems that this matter is too hasty for him Pei Jun, Pei Mingyao can set up the province and the cabinet, because he is such a person, he is good at calculating on the dark side, and he only makes a fuss about small things, but in terms of planning big things, he seems so clumsy and short-sighted, too much about self-interest and ignoring the overall situation.

This is the real reason why Pei Jun is determined to remove the heir of the head of Pei Mingyao's family, and it is just an excuse to say goodbye to the housewife outside.

Ming Kai, Ming Yao, Ming Qian and Ming Wen, Pei Jun thought about these four children's books over and over again like fried leftovers, but he never thought about the five books Mingyuan, it was very simple, this children's book betrayed him, and the two words betrayal were like two thorns in his clothes, so he couldn't calm down and think calmly, and he threw it away immediately after a little bit of it.

But now, Yu Guangyou's words seemed to be a blow to the head, and Pei Jun woke up a little, yes! It doesn't matter whether the heir of the head of the Pei family likes it or not, what matters is whether he can make the Pei family prosper for a long time.

But when he thinks of Pei Mingyuan, he will inevitably run into Zhang Huan, which is related to his own power, which is a bottom line that Pei Jun is unwilling to touch, so between the long-term interests of the family and his personal practical interests, Pei Jun fell into a deep contradiction.

At this time, there was a slight sound of footsteps outside the door, only to hear Pei Mingyao whispering respectfully at the door: "Father, the child has something important to report to his father!" ”

(Today is the financial month end of Lao Gao, and I have been working overtime until eight o'clock, and I am missing a thousand words, and I will make up for it tomorrow)