Chengdu, the palace of the king of Shu, although the imperial court did not recognize any title of Zhu, but this warlord of Shuzhong, who never knew what it meant to be the most powerful in the world, still called himself the king of Shu, and forced the soldiers and civilians of dozens of counties in Shuzhong to call him the same: King Chitose of Shu.

In the past three years, Zhu Zaishu has only done two things, collecting money and grain without restraint, and then using the money and grain to expand the army.

Although Shuzhong has been rich since ancient times, under Zhu's rampant conquest, the people's lives have become increasingly difficult, coupled with the lack of military discipline, soldiers have robbed large households and raped women from time to time.

Zhu Tao also wrote letters from Chang'an from time to time to persuade him, let him pay attention to long-term development, but Zhu never paid attention to these, what he cared about was the number of troops and money and food hoarding, Shuzhong was just a springboard for him to seize the Tang Dynasty, according to his theory, when the army became the only way for the people to survive, his soldiers would come in a steady stream, in fact, the army became the only profession in Shu that did not have to worry about eating, and in just three years, Zhu's army swelled to 400,000.

However, an incident happened the year before last that Zhu suffered heavy losses, he sent his general Li Na to lead an army of 200,000 to capture Hanzhong, but only 100,000 horses came back in the end.

This incident not only seriously shook the military morale of Zhu's army, but also caused Zhu to have a sense of distrust of his subordinates, and then he carried out a large-scale purge in the army, and all the officers who usually had discontent were charged with disloyalty, or arrested or killed, and almost half of them were implicated, until Liu Qian, the soldiers and horses of Yuzhou, were forced to raise troops to rebel. Zhu Cai gradually stopped.

Coincidentally. Just when Zhu was preparing to expand the army on a large scale again, he found an even worse situation, Shuzhong's financial resources had dried up, not only that, in the past three years, there were hundreds of thousands of people who fled into Hanzhong, Longyou, and Guanzhong, and there were 200,000 households and more than one million people who fled to Longyou alone.

Internal and external troubles have undoubtedly made Zhu Di's situation worse, in order to get rid of the unfavorable situation. Zhu decided to take the road of expansion, his eyes were directly on Longyou, from the beginning of the sixth year of Xuanren, he sent a large number of fine works to Longyou to collect intelligence, but the news he got surprised him greatly. Longyou turned out to be a piece of fat that was so rich that it flowed with oil. That's when it happened. Xizuo once again came the news that Zhang Huan poured 150,000 troops to conquer Tibet.

Zhu, who has always held grudges and does not remember gratitude, suddenly thought of the Shuzhong where Zhang Huan had attacked him back then.

Like all the doctors, Zhu also had his own study, the most important feature of the study was its spaciousness, needless to say, five or six rooms each large enough to accommodate a hundred people were connected as a whole, and each room was filled with a roof of new books. It's a bit like a modern reading room. In his landlord's study, a large desk was a foot long. There is a pen, ink, paper, and inkstone on it, and of course, Zhu never lifts a pen.

As wide as the study, Zhu's body is also as wide, if Zhang Huan is allowed to stand in front of Zhu again, he may not be able to recognize this old friend from the past, in just a few years, Zhu's body has blown up like a soap bubble, and it is more than twice as wide.

At this time, in addition to this king of Shu in the study, there was also a Zhu most trusted staff, called Qi Lu, a native of Guanzhong, this person had a horse face and a thin body, as if he fell down as soon as the wind blew, although he was thin, he was scheming, and called himself Xiao Kongming.

For Zhu to take advantage of Zhang Huan's western expedition to seize Longyou, Qi Lu is completely in favor, he is in charge of Shuzhong government affairs, Shuzhong has been ruined by Zhu ruined, this year the south has suffered another flood, if not to expand outward, his 300,000 troops may be difficult to feed, as for taking advantage of Zhang Huanxi's conquest of his foundation will be criticized by the world, Qi Lu, like Zhu, does not take these false names to heart at all, the important thing is the wealth of Longyou, in order to solve his urgent needs.

"Have you ever thought about it, if you take Longyou, the western part of the Tang Dynasty will be completely owned by us, there is the strategic depth of Shuzhong, and there is Longyou to choke the gate of Chang'an, then the prince can completely establish a generation of imperial industry."

Zhu who was lying on a soft couch smiled proudly, the fat on his face suddenly trembled, he suddenly thought of something, waved his hand and said hatefully: "It is inevitable to be called emperor, but the first thing Lao Tzu wants to destroy is Li Na's bastard, who dares to betray me, and I still marry my sister to him." ”

Qi Lu's eyes rolled, and he smiled darkly: "I have a plan, I can kill two birds with one stone!" Not only can you get Longyou, but you can also get rid of Li Na. ”

Zhu Daxi hurriedly sat up, "I knew that Mr. would definitely not let me down, come on, what is the plan to kill two birds with one stone?" ”

"It's very simple, I heard that there is a big drought in Hanzhong this year, and Li Na's military rations are also in trouble, presumably he is also anxious now, if the prince reconciles with him at this time, and orders him to cooperate with us to attack Longyou, and then make an appointment, he will take the three counties of Jincheng, and we will take Hehuang, so that Hanzhong will not be empty?"

"Not bad! Not bad! Zhu Liansheng praised, "Sure enough, it is a good plan to kill two birds with one stone, so that even if we can't take Longyou, we can capture Hanzhong." ”

He pondered for a moment and then asked, "I'm afraid that Li Na will not send troops, and what if he attacks Chengdu in turn?" ”

Qi Lu smiled and shook his head, "No, then Li Na is not a good man and a woman, I don't believe that he doesn't covet the fat of Longyou, as long as the prince lets him see our determination to take Longyou, he will definitely wait for the opportunity to come out, as for the counterattack on Chengdu, the prince doesn't have to worry, as long as we deploy heavy troops to defend the line from Yangping Pass to the Sword Pavilion, he will not be able to enter Shuzhong." ”

"Good!" Zhu struck his fists with both hands and resolutely made up his mind, "Back then, Zhang Huan sneaked up on my Shuzhong, and he didn't come and go, which was rude!" ”

In September, there was a change in the strength of Shuzhong, Zhu gradually increased troops to the Jiangyou area, ten days later, Jiangyou's troops had reached 200,000 people, Zhu Fengge, the younger brother of Zhu Ming, led 20,000 troops to defend Chengdu, and ordered another brother Zhu Ruoxi to quietly lead 60,000 troops to Jianmen, ready to attack Hanzhong.

He himself personally rushed to Jiangyou, at the same time. Zhu gave his most beloved concubine to Li Na in Hanzhong. He expressed his sincerity in reconciliation, and proposed that the two families take Longyou together, and divide the river with the Yellow River as the boundary to rule, and Li Na, who was deeply troubled by money and grain, decided to send 80,000 troops to cooperate with Zhudi's plan to send troops after thinking about it again and again.

The early autumn of Bashu is completely different from the sunny and sunny in Longyou, and the autumn is connected with the gloomy and humid weather, and there is an unnatural green - the product of the dull, constant rain - fog. Like a thin wire net, it shrouded the fields and fields.

In this rainy season, the gathering of relatives and friends is the most pleasant thing, since September, the major restaurants in Chengdu, which have been deserted, have also begun to improve their business, and most of the restaurants can maintain about 50% of the seats every day.

In the vicinity of Chengdu's Ximaqiao, the business of Wangjiang Restaurant has also improved significantly. From time to time, groups of diners enter and exit the restaurant. Wangjiang Restaurant has a history of 100 years. It is said to be a senior general in the Zhu army, perhaps because of its hard background, Wangjiang Restaurant is rarely harassed by bandits, and the shopkeeper who is specifically responsible for running the restaurant is surnamed Qian, less than 40 years old. Very shrewd and capable.

It was noon that day. The restaurant was full of people, and a diner dressed in black walked into the restaurant leisurely. He glanced at the money shopkeeper who was settling the account on the first floor, and the two of them exchanged glances with each other, and the man in black disappeared into the noisy crowd on the first floor.

About a quarter of an hour later, the man in black appeared in the aisle behind the restaurant, and seeing that there was no one left and right, he quickly flashed into a hut, passed through several doors one after another, and finally entered a secret room.

The money shopkeeper in the secret room had been waiting for a long time, and the two did not greet each other, and the man in black directly took out a roll of paper and handed it to the shopkeeper, "This is the map of the 20,000 left-behind troops." ”

After speaking, he took out a thick stack of materials and pushed them to the shopkeeper, "This is all the information of Zhu Feng Pavilion." ”

The shopkeeper never said a word, he very skillfully rolled up the information and put it into an orange pigeon tube, and took out a flying ticket from the sandalwood box on the table and handed it to the man in black: "Here is 20,000 yuan, the above ordered to get the comparison of the strength and weakness of each unit of Zhu's 200,000 army and the structure of the troops within five days, if the money is not enough, you can add more, but in any case, you must get this information." ”

The black-clothed diner quickly estimated the problem, nodded silently, put away the 20,000 tickets, and went out through a small door, and soon, the three pigeons flapped their wings and flew towards the distant Longyou.

It has been nearly 20 days since Zhang Huan sent troops to Hexi, and the imperial court has always remained silent on this matter, whether it is the Ministry of War, the Cabinet, the Zhongshu Province, or even the Yushitai, no one has made a public comment on this matter, no one has praised him for recovering the lost territory for the country, and no one has impeached him for sending troops to Hexi without authorization, and silence is the best footnote to this ambivalence, but this silence was still broken on September 18.

Early in the morning, the gate of the Guozijian in Chongrenfang was opened, and 3,000 Guozijian scholars poured out of the door, they were full of emotions, their faces were full of hope for the recovery of their homeland, and they pulled huge banners and drove towards Suzaku Street.

Support Longyou Jiedu to make Zhang Zhijun recover his homeland in Hexi!; The court should not be silent!; Recovering Hexi was by no means the last goal of the Tang Army! Encouraged by the great enthusiasm of the scholars, more and more people in Chang'an were infected by the patriotic enthusiasm of the scholars, and poured into the team, especially in Chang'an to study and wait for the examination, the scholars from all over the country heard the news and rushed from all corners, and when the team arrived on the Suzaku Street, it had grown to 200,000 people, the momentum was huge, and the shouts resounded all over the world.

The loss of the Western Regions has always been the deepest and most painful wound in the hearts of the Tang people, the joy of recovering Hehuang three years ago and the pain of losing Wuwei have been suppressed in people's hearts, and today, the news that the Tang Army sent troops to Hexi has ignited the expectations that have been suppressed for three years.

Along the way, a steady stream of people spontaneously poured into the procession, and when the team stopped in front of the Suzaku Gate, the overwhelming crowd was like a big river flowing, stretching to ten miles away, more than 400,000 people, a kind of enthusiasm that had not been seen for many years made Chang'an City completely boiling.

In the face of strong public pressure, the imperial court finally broke the silence, and the right minister Pei Jun was the first to express his support for Hexi Jiedu to make Zhang Huan send troops to recover Hexi. and urgently transferred 300,000 Shi Taicang rice as the military rations of the Western Expeditionary Army. Immediately, the Ministry of Households, the Ministry of War, the Imperial Historical Observatory and other imperial court authorities also successively expressed their support for sending troops to Hexi, but that's it, compared with the public opinion as enthusiastic as fire, the attitude of the imperial court was still quite ambiguous, and the other six cabinet ministers, including the Empress Dowager Cui Xiaofu, seemed to have suddenly disappeared.

Zichen Pavilion of Daming Palace, since Cui Yu gave up the position of right minister, this has become the place where Cui Xiaofu deals with court affairs. As a support for Pei Jun's right-hand deal, Cui Xiaofu can not only attend cabinet meetings, but also have the right to review major court and local government affairs, although as the queen mother she has no power to directly refute, but she can influence the introduction of major decisions through the cabinet.

Just in terms of power. She has indeed surpassed the first emperor Li now. But if she can't attend a cabinet meeting. Then there is actually no difference between her status and the Li family, so her actual power acquisition is still the result of Cui Yuan's concessions back then.

At the same moment when hundreds of thousands of people gathered in front of the Suzaku Gate to support Zhang Huan, a carriage stopped on the high steps of Zichen Pavilion under the escort of hundreds of guards, and Pei Jun, the right minister of the Tang Dynasty, immediately came out of the carriage, he dressed up and strode up the steps.

Now the soldiers on duty in the Daming Palace have been replaced by Qianniuwei. Jin Wuwei, who was in the limelight back then, has gradually declined. There were only 3,000 Jinwu soldiers in the entire Chang'an City, mainly stationed in Xingqing Palace, Dongshi, Pingkangfang and Xuanyangfang, which were closely related to the Cui family. The rest are all Qianniuwei's world, and even most of the counties in Chang'an are garrisoned by Qianniuwei.

This is the inevitable after the imbalance of strength, even Cui Yu served as the servant of the ground door has lost the original right to refute, according to the principle of balance of power, the edict issued by the Zhongshu Province must be reviewed by the Ministry of Doors, and the subordinates do not agree to be returned and reissued after alteration, for more than 100 years, the balance between the Province of Zhongshu and the Province of the Door has not been broken, and even when Cui Yuan is the right minister, Pei Jun still holds the power to refute.

But three years ago, after Pei Jun was the right minister, he did not hand over the right to refute Cui Yu, but slightly changed the procedure, and transferred the post of the ministry under the jurisdiction of the ministry to the direct management of the political affairs hall, if the political affairs hall can be called the board of directors, then this is the executive secretary of the board of directors, with such a permanent body, the edict of the Zhongshu Province will be directly issued to the political affairs hall, which will be reviewed by the matter, and if it is important, a cabinet meeting will be convened, and if it is not important, it will be directly issued to the six ministries and nine temples for implementation, thus bypassing the province of Menxia, It is nominally to strengthen the power of the cabinet, but in fact it completely empties the power of the left minister.

Not only that, but the cabinet is actually set up in this matter, and whether the matter is discussed by the cabinet is completely decided by the five-grade petty official in the matter, and the person in charge of this matter is Pei Mingyao, the second son of Pei Jundi. A small five-grade official brilliantly interpreted the profound meaning of four or two thousand catties, and Pei Junquan's mastery lies in this.

Menxia Province lost the right to refute, Cui Yu's position as the left minister was also a vacant position, and the Cui family, who was once in power, also declined to the point that only the control of several temples such as the Ministry of War and Dali Temple remained.

According to the results of the redistribution of power, as far as the six departments of Shangshu Province are concerned, Pei Jun controls the three departments of officials, households, and rites; Chu Xingshui controlled the Criminal Department, and Cui Yu controlled the Military Department; There was also a Ministry of Industry that was controlled by Wang Ang, and Li Mian held the supervisory power of the Imperial Historical Observatory, while the declining Wei Ge and the up-and-coming Zhu Tao only participated in the discussion of major state affairs as cabinet members.

The biggest feature of this series of political changes is that Pei Jun monopolized power, breaking the balance of power of the previous seven great families.

Pei Jun walked into Zichen Pavilion, arched his hand to a eunuch on duty and smiled: "Please report to the Queen Mother, Pei Jun asks to see." ”

The difference with the martial arts ruling is that Pei Jun did not directly break into Cui Xiaofu's courtroom, but respectfully waited for Cui Xiaofu's summons in the waiting area, although this is just a formality, but Pei Xiangguo, who was born as a scholar, has a deep understanding of the words "etiquette" and "virtuous".

In a moment, the eunuch's high-pitched voice came from the depths of the inner hall, "The Queen Mother summoned Pei Xiangguo to meet you!" ”

Pei Jun quickly walked into Cui Xiaofu's court room under the guidance of the little eunuch, the room was very warm, exuding a faint fragrance of flowers, this court room was also changed from the original Li family's imperial study, and the items that Li loved were removed, and replaced with Cui Xiaofu's commonly used personal furnishings, especially a high-necked vase on the table with a bouquet of fragrant osmanthus flowers, showing the gentle side of the owner of this room.

Cui Xiaofu was reading a copy of the excerpt sent by Chen Liu's assassination history with an expedited 800 li, and appealed to the imperial court Huaibei Cui Qinggong cut off the Jianghuai land transportation, and Chen Liu's ship to transport money and grain had not arrived for half a month.

This is an extremely serious incident. The Guanzhong area has a large population. There are more than 200,000 troops stationed, and at the same time, the imperial court also has to allocate grain to all parts of the Tang Dynasty for disaster relief, and the shortage of money and grain is huge, which has been extremely dependent on Cao Yun for decades.

Cui Qinggong did not interfere with Caoyun at the beginning of his occupation of Huaibei, but it was only after he sent a letter to the imperial court for the third time last month that he asked to replace Wei Ge as secretary of the military department and merge him into the cabinet, and the incident occurred to interrupt Caoyun.

In this matter, Pei Jun has ordered Pei Mingyao to issue a notice to convene a cabinet meeting, and a cabinet meeting will be held tomorrow to discuss countermeasures, but Pei Jun's plan has already been decided. The main purpose of his visit to Cui Xiaofu today was to discuss this plan in advance.

Pei Jun entered the room and gave a deep salute, "Minister Pei Jun see the Queen Mother!" ”

"Bae Sang-kook, please take a seat!" Cui Xiaofu folded the music together, sighed and said: "The mourning family didn't expect this Cui Qinggong to be so heartbroken, there was originally a tiger in Shuzhong, and now there is a wolf in Jianghuai." I'm in Datang again. ”

Bae Jun sat down. He owes a debt and says, "The minister has an idea for this matter. I am willing to discuss with the Queen Mother. ”

Cui Xiaofu was a little surprised, she originally thought that Pei Jun was here for the gathering of the people outside the Suzaku Gate, but she didn't expect that she was going to discuss the interruption of Cao Yun with herself, which is really rare, she suppressed the surprise in her heart, and said quietly: "Xiangguo, please speak!" ”

Chen Yi had already talked to Wei Shangshu, and he expressed his willingness to give up the post of Shangshu of the Ministry of Troops. The Queen Mother can reappoint him as the right servant of Shangshu. gave the military department Shangshu to Cui Qinggong, and it was impossible to enter the cabinet. As compensation, I asked the Queen Mother to make him the king of Ruyang County, and appointed his son Cui Xiong as the Shaoqing of the Taifu Temple, and I ordered Lu Shangshu to go to comfort him, and the danger of Cao Yun should be solved. ”

After speaking, Pei Jun took out a book of folds and handed it to the eunuch, who placed it on Cui Xiaofu's desk.

Cui Xiaofu stared at the excerpt without saying a word, for a long time, she sighed slightly: "If you want the wind to the wind, and the rain to give the rain, so accommodating to him, I'm afraid his appetite will get bigger and bigger, and one day you and I will have to look at his eyes and act." ”

Pei Jun shook his head a little helplessly, "I also know very well about this matter, Cui Qinggong's decision is far from a probing move, we show it with weakness, arrogant and arrogant, and then eradicate it in one fell swoop when the time is ripe." ”

Cui Xiaofu was obviously a little dissatisfied with Pei Jun's answer, what to show with weakness and what time is ripe, it is clearly perfunctory, to show it with weakness, Cui Qinggong will be even more rampant, and when the time is ripe, to deal with this arrogant local warlord, it is to beat him, and he will be honest. Although she was dissatisfied, Cui Xiaofu didn't say it, and only smiled lightly: "I'm afraid Cui Qinggong was dissatisfied when he saw Zhu Tao enter the cabinet!" ”

Pei Jun saw that Cui Xiaofu was dissatisfied in his heart, and he groaned and said, "Actually, there is another reason why I have to temporarily stabilize Cui Qinggong. ”

Speaking of this, Pei Jundi's face became extremely serious, and he pointed in the direction of the Suzaku Gate and said: "Everyone is cheering for Zhang Huan to send troops to Hexi, but they don't know that Zhu has already stationed 200,000 troops in Jiangyou, and I am afraid that he will attack Longyou in a big way soon." ”

"What!" Cui Xiaofu stood up suddenly, she stared at Pei Jun and said, "Is this serious?" ”

"There shouldn't be anything wrong with that." Pei Jun said in a deep voice: "Not only Zhu, I heard that Li Na in Hanzhong is also gathering troops. ”

Cui Xiaofu sat down dejectedly, she looked out the window blankly, and asked for a while: "Zhu is a tiger and wolf person, if he is allowed to occupy Longyou, I am afraid that the day when he becomes emperor will not be far away, can Pei Xiangguo be careless?" ”

"The minister has made two preparations, one is to send the news of Zhu Jiang to Longyou, Zhang Huan still has 100,000 troops left in Longyou, as long as the preparation is sufficient, it may not be a loss, and the other hand is to prepare that the minister has ordered 150,000 Guanzhong troops to be on standby at any time, once Longyou is difficult to protect, we will immediately send troops to support Longyou."

Although Pei Jun said it with convincing words, Cui Xiaofu always felt that there seemed to be something wrong with these two plans, she pondered for a moment and found the reason, since Pei Jun planned to support Longyou, then he would directly send troops to Longyou now, and it would not take much, one or two thousand people would be enough to show the court's tough attitude and deter Zhu, but why did he wait until Longyou was difficult to protect before acting?

Cui Xiaofu was about to ask a question, but she bit her lip violently, and at this moment she suddenly understood Pei Jun's true intention, that is, cranes and mussels compete, and fishermen benefited!