The early autumn of Chang'an City came unconsciously, the leaves were no longer thick, the cicadas were quiet, the sky became high, the summer harvest and the war were far away, so that the life of Chang'an people quietly became moisturized, the population breeded, and commerce flourished.

On the last day of August, Cui Yao and his entourage, who had traveled thousands of miles, finally arrived at Chang'an Mingde Gate, he had left Chang'an for a whole year, the scenery of Chang'an was still the same, but Cui Yao had a feeling of being a young man away from home, as if he was in a different world, the most painful thing for him was to get the news in Broken Leaves, his beloved grandfather had left him, which made him eager to go home much lighter.

At this moment, Cui Yao stared blankly at this familiar capital, the streets were full of people coming and going, very lively, and his ears were full of local sounds that made him difficult to let go, but he suddenly remembered the bustle and noise of Baghdad, countless hawkers, dragging the long sound of Arabic, the situation of the two cities alternated in his mind, imprinted together, making him feel as if he had traveled through time and space.

"Cui Lang, where are we going now?" Next to him, Gu Dai asked a little timidly, since she arrived in Longyou, she has become a little restrained, the happy carefree grassland bird has disappeared, her skin color, her language, her habits, her thinking are not very suitable for this vast and profound land, full of various rules and systems, she yearns for a carefree and free grassland life, if possible, she would rather be a fairy in the forest.

Cui Yao felt the uneasiness in her heart, he gently held her hand, and said softly, "Come home with me first, and we will worship my grandfather together." ”

Cui Yao took a few followers. Walk slowly along Suzaku Street. Along the way, many people cast strange glances at him, indeed, although he had changed into Han clothes, he was riding on a camel with a Hu Niang by his side, and his retinue were all wearing wide black robes. With a high nose and blue eyes, looking at this strange city in confusion, Cui Yao looked a little nondescript.

The group entered Xuanyangfang and soon came to the front of Cui's mansion. Compared with the coldness when Cui Yao left home, Cui's mansion at this time seemed quite lively, a carriage was parked in front of the mansion, and several attendants were sitting on the steps chatting with the porter.

The porter suddenly saw a group of camels approaching the gate of Cui's mansion. seemed to have the intention of stopping, his brows immediately furrowed, these Hu people were so unruly, they didn't even look at what kind of place this was, he stood up and was about to reprimand, but his mouth opened wide suddenly, and he couldn't close it for a long time. He couldn't believe his eyes. A man jumped out of a camel, and it turned out to be the eldest son.

The porter suddenly screamed. Stumbled and ran to the house, "The eldest son is back." Master, the eldest son is back! ”

Cui Yao was also taken aback, could it be that his father was in Chang'an? In confusion, he took Gu Dai off the camel and wanted to take her into the house, but he hesitated, and the home that was extremely familiar in the past has now become a little strange.

At this time, there was a sound of hurried footsteps in the door, and a group of people walked out quickly, led by a middle-aged man, who looked quite like Cui Yuan, it was Cui Yao's father Cui Xian, who had been serving in the south all these years, and was initially Pei Jun's means, but after Pei Jun's death, Zhang Huan wanted to transfer him to Beijing several times, but was stopped by Cui Yuan, Cui Yuan resolutely did not allow him to return to Beijing, and he was not allowed to interfere in Cui family affairs, for this reason, the relationship between Cui Xian and his father has been very stiff, and he has not even written a letter to his father for three years, less than a month after Cui Yuan's death, Zhang Huan transferred Cui Xian, who was then the assassin of Guangzhou, back to Chang'an and served as Guanglu Siqing.

Compared with the scheming Cui Yuan, Cui Xian is obviously mediocre a lot, he has no outstanding political achievements in Guangzhou, but there is no fault, every year the evaluation is in the middle school, not long after Cui Xian entered Beijing, Cui Yu resigned as the head of the family, and gave it to Cui Xian, in order to rectify the clan affairs, the first thing Cui Xian did when he took over the family was to move the Cui family from Qinghe, Shandong to Chang'an, regardless of the opposition of the clansmen, and all the children of the Cui family moved to Chang'an, and the ancestral hall of the Cui family also moved to Chang'an, leaving only a few deacons to take care of the property. His reform idea was strongly supported by Zhang Huandi, for which Zhang Huan specially approved the household registration and rewarded many houses, so that Cui Xian completely controlled the clan affairs of the Cui family and became the head of the family.

Compared with his father, Cui Xian and Cui Yao's father-son relationship is far less deep than that of grandchildren, Cui Xian has been an official outside since Cui Yao was two years old, and rarely meets his son, let alone emotional exchanges, despite this, his son can return safely from Da Shi, which still makes Cui Xian feel extremely happy.

"The son knocks to his father!" Cui Yao knelt down on his knees and kowtowed to his father, and when he saw his father who had been separated for many years, Cui Yao's voice choked.

"Yao'er, hurry up." Cui Xian's eyes were also a little red, he picked up this son, who was as tall and sturdy as he was when he was young, patted him on the shoulder and said with emotion: "You have become an adult this moment, time is like an arrow!" ”

He suddenly saw Gu Dai, he was slightly stunned, and a trace of imperceptible anger quickly flashed in his eyes, and then he smiled gently: "Is this the princess of Huangjiasi?" ”

"Yes! She is Gu Dai. Cui Yao hurriedly gave Gu Dai a look and motioned her to come forward to salute, Gu Dai had no choice but to step forward and give a salute, and said in slightly jerky Chinese: "Gu Dai see Cui Bo."

"Huh! When you come to my house, you are a distinguished guest. Cui Xian raised his head and smiled, and immediately turned around and instructed his subordinates: "Aren't you still coming to get things for the guests?" ”

His father was a distinguished guest on the left and a guest on the right, which made Cui Yao really feel a little uneasy, but now was not the time to talk about this matter in detail, he was just about to ask his grandfather about the situation when he was seriously ill, and suddenly, there was a hearty laugh at the door, "Is my nephew back?" ”

Cui Yao turned around, only to see a person walking out of the door, moderate figure, about the same age as his father, with a very kind smile, Cui Yao recognized this person as Fang Zongyan, the head of the household just now, the carriage at the door turned out to be his, at this time Cui Yao suddenly remembered something, and his heart suddenly sank into the abyss, his grandfather once said that the wife he was going to marry was not Fang Zongyan's daughter Fang Min?

He is now in the Cui Mansion, should it be

"I heard the emperor say a few days ago that my nephew should come back in a few days. So if it's okay, come and sit. I didn't expect to encounter it today. Fang Zongyan glanced at Gu Dai, and slowly stepped forward with a meaningful smile: "It's really a great joy for my nephew to be able to return safely from the Great Food, Min'er is also crying with joy these days, my nephew should go and see her when he is free!" ”

Cui Yao was silent, Cui Xian saw that he was a little cold, and hurriedly smiled and said, "Standing at the door for so long." Everyone is tired, so let's go into the house quickly! ”

Fang Zongyan also turned a blind eye to Cui Yaodi's indifference, and he also stroked his palms and laughed: "Yes, my nephew has returned from thousands of miles away." We're already exhausted, but we're here to make noise, we're really confused, come! Come! Come! Hurry up and let my nephew in, freshen up, and tell us about the experience of eating a lot. I can't wait. ”

Cui Yao was about to enter the palace with Gu Dai, when a fast horse galloped over, and immediately the guards stopped the war horse and said loudly: "Your Majesty has a decree, Xuan Cui Yao and Princess Huang Jiasi will enter the palace immediately." ”

For some reason, Cui Yao actually felt a sense of relief at this time, and an indescribable joy surged in his heart. He hurriedly gave a deep salute. "Minister Cui Yao received the decree and entered the palace immediately."

Inside the Imperial Study. Zhang Huanzheng was silent on a recital, which was Zhang Potian's superiority. said that he was too old to be qualified for the position of Xiangguo, and wanted to resign from the post of secretary of the Ministry of War, and quit the political hall, and asked Zhang Huan to give back the land of the Zhang family for Zhang Ruohao's sake, and give the Zhang family a certain position.

Zhang Potian is sixty-eight years old this year, two years away from the legal retirement age of Datang at 70 years old, according to common sense, he should take the initiative to retire in the second half of next year, he will take the initiative to retire now, don't think about it, Zhang Huan also understands what he means, he wants to use the last two years in exchange for the opportunity to revitalize the Zhang family.

Since Zhang Huan ascended the throne, the Zhang family has not received the grace of the imagination, on the contrary, all the land of the Zhang family has been nationalized and distributed to the landless people, only leaving 20 hectares of land for Zhang Can personally, as his Yongye field of the Viscount of Yuxiang, and Zhang Can has not even gotten an official and a half-position, let alone help him restore the famous family of the Zhang family, the current situation of the Zhang family is not even as good as Zhang Huan when he was in Longyou, and even the only proud Beidu Academy has also been rebuilt into a government-run school in the three-year persuasion order of Dazhi, all these years, The Zhang family is more and more dilapidated, and the hearts of the people who are easy to gather together are scattered, the family is separated, the people who move away, the old house in Taiyuan is only a dozen Zhang family's relatives are struggling to support, all relying on a little rent of the shop to survive, in Taiyuan City, the glory of the Zhang family has become yesterday's yellow flower, and now the Zhang family can only barely be regarded as a big family, for which Zhang Potian reminded Zhang Huan several times to take care of the Zhang family, but Zhang Huan always smiled and did not speak. This time, Zhang Potian actually exchanged his retirement for the rise of Zhangjiadi, Zhang Huan finally couldn't help but snort coldly, maybe he thought that his special approval of the Cui family to enter Beijing was to take care of the Cui family, if he really thought like this, then Zhang Potian was really a little old and confused, and it was indeed time to retire, he couldn't see the reason why Cui Yuan refused to let Cui Xian enter Beijing, and he couldn't see his real intention of transferring Cui Xian to Beijing, if it wasn't for Cui Xian to enter Beijing, how could he become the head of the Cui family and move the foundation of the Cui family to Chang'an?

Zhang Huan paced slowly in the room with his hands behind his back, counting this year, he has been on the throne for five full years, the first three years his main energy is to restore the vitality of the Tang Dynasty and consolidate his throne, and in the last two years, he concentrated on the Battle of Broken Leaves, now that the war has subsided, Hui Hui is in his hands, he doesn't take Jiegan Gas to heart at all, and he can't even attack Zhang Sancheng, how can he be his opponent?

With the calm of the situation at home and abroad, his mind slowly returned to solving the problem of the family, Cui Yuan's death is an opportunity to solve this problem, of course, the family is accumulated for a hundred years, and their cultivation of talents is far more than that of ordinary children, so the elimination of the influence of the family is not a year or two can be done, maybe ten or twenty years, but no matter how much time, the first thing he has to do is to eradicate the soil for the survival of the family, one is to turn the intellectual resources enjoyed by the family into state-owned, for this reason, In the third year of the reign of Dazhi, he issued an order to persuade scholars, and under the pretext of running official schools extensively, he skillfully changed the private schools of the major families to official schools, reformed the imperial examination system, added the state examination to the provincial examination, and abolished the privilege of the academicians of the major scholars to directly participate in the provincial examination.

The second is to deprive the family of its financial resources, in order to collect the military power of the major families. He gave in. The Cui family, the Pei family, and the Chu family all gave them 10,000 hectares of land and enjoyed the treatment of the prince, and now it was time to liquidate the autumn, in fact, he began to further weaken the family since the beginning of the year, he transferred Pei Mingyuan to the Yizhou Assassin History, and married the princess Li Su, as expected. Two months ago, the Pei family officially dismissed Pei Mingyuan as the head of the family and replaced Pei You as the head of the family;

Transferring Cui Xian to Beijing and making him the head of the Cui family was Zhang Huan's second move. I believe that under his leadership, the Cui family will follow in the footsteps of the Zhang family sooner or later, and as for the third move, which is the most ruthless step, he has already formulated a plan. It will be introduced in a few years.

Just when Zhang Huan was thinking about dealing with the family, An Zhongshun reported from outside the door, "Your Majesty, Cui Yao has already arrived, waiting to see you outside the palace." ”

Zhang Huan got the news when Cui Yao first entered the city, and he immediately ordered Cui Yao to come to meet him, and Cui Yao had a secret letter from the Great Food Caliphate. This is what he has been waiting for for a long time. To deal with Hui Hui, it is first necessary to stabilize the West, and he has already received the news. The Great Eclipse Minister, Ye Haya, has arrived in Jiuyuan and is preparing to go south to Chang'an to meet with him. Since the Great Eclipse Xiangguo is here, why does the caliph still need to order Cui Yao to bring a letter, he always feels that there is something strange in this.

On the other hand, he also wants to know the impact of the Battle of Broken Leaves on the Great Eclipse, the two countries are thousands of miles apart, they don't communicate with each other, and they are close to some merchants to bring a little news, and these merchants have a low status, and it is impossible to know what happened to the upper echelons of the Great Eclipse, so Cui Yao's return may bring him a lot of enlightenment, since even the caliph is relieved to let him bring a letter, which means that this kid is mixing well in the big food, the corners of Zhang Huan's mouth can't help but float a smile, Cui Yao, this kid is a person, no wonder it is the future of the Cui family that Cui Yuan pinned his hopes on, This person can be of great use, but he must not be allowed to inherit the foundation of the Cui family.

Thinking of this, he immediately put up his pen and approved it on Zhang Potian's recital, Xiangguo is a great talent, I am not allowed to retire a few words, he put down the pen, and then ordered: "Xuan Cui Yao came to see me." ”

Immediately, there was a long shout outside the door: Your Majesty has a decree, Xuan Cui Yao will see you.

After a while, Cui Yao hurriedly walked in and saluted Zhang Huanshen, "The minister Cui Yao has insulted His Majesty's mission, please punish Your Majesty." ”

Zhang Huan endured it for a while, but in the end he couldn't hold back, he couldn't help but look up to the sky and laugh, Ba Khan had already returned to the Tang Dynasty, but Cui Yao said that it was humiliating to the mission, which really made Zhang Huan feel extremely funny, after a long time, he slowly suppressed his smile and said to him gently: "Actually, you didn't fail, if you hadn't sent Bahanna, their king would not have risen up after Shi Yang's surprise attack on the big food depot, this is your credit, I will not forget." ”

"The minister is really ashamed."

"Don't be ashamed, I'm glad you can come back." Zhang Huan waved his hand and said with a smile: "Your aunt has always been worried about your safety, and she keeps asking me to find a way to save you. ”

Hearing the emperor mention his aunt, Cui Yao's heart was filled with a burst of warmth, in his heart, his aunt was more kind to him than his father, he took out Rashid's letter and handed it over respectfully, "The minister came back this time, and he was entrusted by the Great Diet Caliph to send a secret letter to His Majesty. ”

A guard came next to him, checked the letter, and confirmed that there was nothing before handing it to the emperor, Zhang Huan took the letter and smiled slightly, the caliph would give him a secret letter, which is really interesting, he opened the letter, but handed it to Cui Yao, and said with a smile: "He actually wrote a letter in Da Shiwen, presumably you are already proficient in this language." ”

Cui Yao patted his head and said apologetically: "The minister actually forgot about this matter, which made His Majesty embarrassed." ”

He took the letter and read it aloud, the content of the letter surprised Cui Yao, Rashid hoped that Zhang Huan could detain Ye Haya in Datang for a year, as a condition, Da Shi would no longer support Hui Hui, if Zhang Huan could agree to cooperate, Rashid was willing to abandon the battlefield hatred of Broken Leaves, and formally conclude a peace treaty with Datang.

Cui Yao finished reading the letter, the room was very quiet, Zhang Huan was still in contemplation, as a handwritten letter from the monarch of a country, he did not doubt that Rashid would not believe his words, he was weighing the pros and cons of this.

After pondering for a long time, Zhang Huan suddenly smiled at Cui Yao and said: "You have only been in Dashi for half a year, and you have learned their language, and you can also know words, it is indeed not simple, can you briefly tell me about your experience in Dashi." ”

"The minister is very happy." Cui Yao recounted in detail his experience after being brought to Baghdad by Agush, and finally said with a smile: "Your Majesty, the most regrettable thing for the minister is that he forgot to tell the students that I had left. Let them pounce the next day. ”

Zhang Huan listened. He nodded and smiled: "I didn't expect that the Great Food Caliph was the same age as me, I can see from the Battle of Broken Leaves that this person is very courageous, and now after listening to your story, this person does have the mind of a great monarch and is a respectable opponent, so you can tell me again, what is the relationship between him and Yehaya?" ”

"Yahaya is Rashid's father. Their family has held the power of Da Shi for generations, and now Ye Haya and his son almost control the military and political power of Da Shi. As soon as he finished speaking, Cui Yao suddenly remembered something again, and added with a smile: "Your Majesty might as well guess." Which part of our history is most interesting to Rashid. ”

"Didn't you already say that Yahaya was the father of Rashid?" Zhang Huan smiled faintly and said, "Then he is naturally interested in the story of how King Yingzheng of Qin overthrew Lu Buwei." ”

"Your Majesty is right, the minister heard Rashid himself say that this time Yehaya came to the Tang Dynasty to discuss the matter of prisoners of war, and it was his Yahaya's credit if the negotiation was successful, and it was the fault of the caliph's defeat if he failed to negotiate. When Yahaya returned this time, he Rashid would have no place in Baghdad." Zhang Huan walked slowly to the window with his hands behind his back, no matter whether the Great Food was in power by Rashid or Yehaya in power, he would not think that the Great Food would change the national policy of the Tang Dynasty, and the goal between countries would always be to achieve their own best interests, and he knew that the reason why Rashid sacrificed Hui was actually because of the Battle of Broken Leaves. The same is true of the great eclipse, and the national power is weakened. They won't be able to fight a second Broken Leaf campaign for at least a decade, even if they regain their national strength. Their real enemy is also Byzantium in the north, and not the Tang Dynasty. In this case, the Hui Hui has actually become their chicken ribs, so giving up the Hui Hui in exchange for holding the power of the Great Food Land, he Rashid will get the greatest benefit.

But the Hui is different from the Tang Dynasty, the northern nomads have always been the sworn enemies of the Han civilization, no matter how obedient they are to the Central Plains, once the climate changes, when their survival is threatened, it is inevitable to move south, so it is necessary to completely solve the problem of the northern nomads when they are in the prime of life, as for the life and death of Ye Haya, what does it have to do with the Tang Dynasty?

Zhang Huan suddenly admired this Rashid, he was able to find the best balance of interests between the two countries, thinking of this, Zhang Huan finally made up his mind, he looked back at Cui Yao, and smiled apologetically: "I really can't think of anyone more suitable to be my envoy than you, are you willing to go to Baghdad for me again, and tell Rashid for me, I really want to meet him, at the right time and in the right place." Cui Yao bowed down without hesitation and replied: "The minister is willing to serve His Majesty, and he will never give up." ”

Zhang Huan smiled and waved his hand gently, "Don't say it so scary, you are now the person who knows Da Shi best in my Tang Dynasty, and I also hope that you can take on the responsibility of communicating Eastern and Western cultures." ”

"This is also the greatest wish of the minister."

"Really?" Zhang Huan's smile disappeared, and he stared at Cui Yao and said solemnly, "What if this takes your life?" ”

Cui Yao shook his head slowly, with an extremely resolute look on his face, "Even if you use a lifetime of time, the minister has no regrets." ”

Zhang Huan looked at him silently, and was also moved by his perseverance, he took out a gold medal and handed it to Cui Yao and said: "This is my gold medal, I haven't given it to anyone yet, as long as you hold it, you can enter and exit the Datang border at will, and no one dares to embarrass you." ”

Cui Yao took the gold medal and hid a gratitude deep in his heart, he bowed and bowed, "The minister will leave." ”

"Wait a minute." Zhang Huan suddenly stopped him, he walked up to Cui Yao, patted him on the shoulder, and his eyes smiled like a fox, "Speaking of which, you are also my junior, if you have any wishes, you can tell me, I can help you, such as you and that princess." ”

Cui Yao's face turned red all of a sudden, he didn't know how the emperor could know about this, could it be that his grandfather told his aunt? Thinking about it, this is the only possibility, but on my father's side

Zhang Huan seemed to see through his thoughts, so he smiled slightly: "This is actually what your aunt meant, she has taken Princess Huangjia to her palace, saving you from worrying about being caught in the middle, I am actually a temperamental person, I always hope that there are lovers in the world who can become dependents, Fang Min is of course right with you, but if you are really combined, but you will make each other suffer for a lifetime, why bother?" If your grandfather knew that this would be the outcome, he would also be uneasy under Jiuquan, so I discussed with your aunt that before you were officially engaged, I would personally come forward to help you cancel this marriage with the Fang family. ”