It was already dark, and a concubine opened the curtains, revealing a misty light gray on the window paper, "Open the window too!" Cui Yuan whispered very tiredly, the concubine hesitated, but still opened the window according to his words, and the cold and fresh wind suddenly hit her face, washing away the turbid air in the room.

Cui Yuan half-lay on the bed and breathed out a breath of fresh air greedily, and gently pressed his temples, the tired state on his face gradually disappeared, he had not slept all night, and the letter sent by Zhang Huan made him think hard all night.

The letter was next to his pillow, the content was very simple, it couldn't even be called a letter, it could only be counted as a note, and the content in it was roughly that he was willing to pacify the Zhu bandits for the court and so on.

The content is very simple, but what is interesting is not the letter itself, but the timing and object of its delivery, Cui Yuan of course knows that Zhang Huan is by no means a whim, let alone a flattering move to marry his daughter, he has another deep meaning.

If it was another person to read this letter, his first reaction would definitely be that Zhang Huan wanted to betray Pei Jun and take refuge in Cui Yuan, but Cui Yuan didn't think so, he had been dealing with Zhang Huan for more than two years, and he had already touched Zhang Huan's chess style, Cui Yuan knew very well in his heart that Zhang Huan had never taken refuge in Pei Jun, and they were just using each other.

And now when the Pei family is prosperous and the Cui family is weak, he will not send charcoal in the snow, but to help himself, and Dangping Zhu Bandit just drew a cake for him Cui Yuan, three years, five years or ten years, these are not said, so his intention is by no means the content of this letter, but he expresses a position to himself through this letter, and he Zhang Huan will be neutral.

It should be like this, Cui Yuan quickly figured it out, but the reason why Cui Yuan almost stayed awake all night was Pei Jun's visit yesterday, he had a hunch, I am afraid that Pei Jun is about to do something to himself, and can Zhang Huan's letter be seen as a kind of precursor before Pei Jun's move?

That's when it happened. The chief housekeeper ran into the house in a panic, he took a letter and said to Cui Yuan anxiously: "Master! The young lady had just left the mansion, and she had left a letter. ”

Cui Yuan was stunned, he took the letter, opened it three times and twice, and a line of beautiful small characters appeared in front of him. The daughter established the Spring Bud Hall in the Western Regions, and she couldn't rest assured, and now she went with Zhang Junxi, hoping that her father would take care of her health and not worry about her daughter!

Zhang Huan is gone! Cui Yuan was taken aback. Zhang Huan only arrived in Chang'an yesterday morning, why did he leave today, his daughter sent a letter late at night last night, it was because of this, is it! Don't! Is his letter a warning to himself?

Cui Yuan's heart was in a mess, and he was anxious to stand up, but he forgot that he couldn't stand up at all. Suddenly, he felt a violent dizziness, his body shook, and he fell under the bed all of a sudden, knocking down the table next to him, and the teacups and medicine bowls on it were knocked over to the ground and broken into pieces, the big housekeeper and several concubines panicked, and they carried Cui Yuan to the bed with all hands and feet, and the big housekeeper saw that the old man's face was extremely pale. He didn't have time to take care of Cui Ning's affairs, so he hurriedly ran out of the room and ordered someone to ask for an imperial doctor.

After a while, Cui Yuan slowly opened his eyes, he sighed softly, and said weakly to several guards who rushed into the house: "Go and find Cui Yu for me!" ”

Twenty miles west of Chang'an, Zhang Huan stood on a small hill with a stern expression, looking at the eastern horizon, a round of red sun was spraying out from the dense fog that filled the earth, and ten thousand golden lights reflected the sky and the red woods. The reckless woods are like floating in the vast sea.

Behind him was a pickaxe like a white practice, and two thousand cavalry were standing quietly in the cold wind of the early morning, when the sound of horses' hooves was heard in the distance, and then a large group of cavalry appeared on the official road two miles away. They came at a gallop. In the midst of them, there was a faint carriage. In a moment, the cavalry group merged into the brigade, and Zhang Huan shook the reins and urged the war horse to gallop towards the carriage.

The curtain opened, revealing Cui Ning's beautiful and vibrant face, her smile was as bright as the morning glow, sadness had ceased to exist in her eyes, the two of them looked at each other and smiled, at this moment, there was no need for any words, their hearts had been connected, and a thousand words were melted in a smile.

Zhang Huan raised his head, facing the ten thousand golden lights, a pride rose from the bottom of his heart, he waved his hand heavily, and ordered loudly: "Go!" The team was quickly activated, and the two thousand cavalry marched westward.

From Chang'an to Fengxiang about 300 miles, according to the ordinary foot, two days can be reached, on the third day of the first month, Zhang Huan's brigade arrived at Fengxiang, at this time, the sky is close to dusk.

In Cui Yuan's transfer to Shuzhong's army, there are 30,000 heavy troops stationed in Fengxiang, the army was wiped out in Shuzhong, and the new army has not been replenished for a while, Fengxiang's defense is very weak at the moment, less than 8,000 people, due to the scarcity of troops, all the troops are concentrated in Fengxiang City and Sanguan two strategic places, and its subordinate counties, such as county, Chencang County, Qishan County, etc., are almost no garrison.

Due to Cui Qinggong's dismissal, the current Fengxiang Jiedu envoy was served by Li Mo, the original deputy envoy of the Jiedu, and when Zhang Huan's brigade was about five miles away from Fengxiang City, Li Mo personally brought hundreds of cavalry to greet him.

He has received Cui Yuan's flying pigeon message, ordering him to let Zhang Huan go back to Longyou, but he is not allowed to enter Fengxiang City, he can only go around the city, but even if there is no Cui Yuan's order, Li Mo will also let Zhang Huan return to Longyou, just in the bordering Kaiyang County, there is a battalion of Zhang Huan, about 10,000 people, and in the west of Kaiyang County, Longxi County and the original county in the north, there are 10,000 garrisons each, and even in Jincheng County to the west, there are tens of thousands of troops directly under Zhang Huan, such a dense army garrison makes Li Mo deeply afraid, he knows very well, If Zhang Huan wants to take down Fengxiang, it will be really easy.

"Zhang Yuanjun only went to Beijing a few days ago to report on his work, why did he come back today?" Li Mo greeted him and asked with a smile.

Zhang Huangong smiled and said, "I really can't rest assured, so I rushed back." ”

As he spoke, he looked at the sky and said with a smile: "It's getting late now, I plan to rest overnight in Fengxiang, I don't know if it's convenient." ”

"I just came to discuss this matter with Zhang Yuanjun." Li Mo was very embarrassed and said: "It's not that I don't want the envoy to enter the city, but the army in the city is unstable, I am afraid that Zhang Envoy Jun will cause trouble if he enters, so if Zhang Envoy Jun wants to rest, can he go to Yu County or Qishan County?" ”

"It doesn't hurt." Zhang Huan smiled, and asked casually and quietly: "Why is the army in the city unstable?" ”

"Alas!" Li Mo sighed heavily and said: "Speaking of which, I'm not afraid to make you laugh, so many people died in the first battle of Shuzhong, and there are many of their families living in Fengxiang City, and they have been in chaos for a while, and it was not easy to calm down their emotions with a heavy pension, but yesterday came the news that the pension of the fallen soldiers in Hanzhong has come down, and each family can get fifty yuan, but each person in Fengxiang County only sends ten yuan, which is several times different, which has caused strong dissatisfaction among military families and the army. ”

Speaking of which, Li Mo was already worried, he sent a pigeon letter to Cui Yuan early this morning to confirm the matter, but there was no news so far, if there was no clear statement, maybe there was a possibility of a mutiny in the garrison of Fengxiang City.

Zhang Huan smiled coldly, it seems that this is Pei Jun's arrangement, although the pension standard is formulated by the Ministry of War, but the money is ordered by the Ministry of Household to be allocated to Taifu Temple, in order to find an excuse for himself to send troops to Fengxiang, he used the means of deducting the pension of military families in Fengxiang Mansion to cause trouble in the army, of course, things will not be so simple, Pei Jun must still have an inside line in the Fengxiang Army, which will provoke military rebellion at a critical time.

"Since General Li is inconvenient, then I might as well obey my orders respectfully and go to Yu County for a night's rest." After that, Zhang Huan ordered the army: "To the south, go to Yu County." The army and horses turned around when they heard the order, Zhang Huan smiled and arched his hand to Li Mo, and then led the army to the south.

Yu County is about ten miles away from Yongxian County, where Fengxiang City is located, here is close to the Qinling Mountains, the terrain is complex, the official road is undulating, it is inconvenient to walk, the team of people and horses traveled quickly for nearly an hour, and finally arrived at Yu County.

Yu County is a big county in Fengxiang Prefecture, with five or six thousand residents, tens of thousands of people, the county order surnamed Chen, more than 30 years old, is also a Jinshi background, has been a county order in Yu County for three years, quite a good reputation, listen to the official said, there is a large army to enter, Chen County ordered hurriedly ran out of the county seat to meet, "Xia Guanyu County Commander Chen Ying, see Zhang Zhijun!" ”

"Chen County's order, please be exempted!" Zhang Huan had also heard that this person had always loved the people like a son, and seeing that he had an elegant temperament, he couldn't help but have a good impression, so he smiled gently: "We originally planned to go to Fengxiang City to stay, but General Li said that it was not very good, and he suggested that we come to Yu County to rest, how about it?" Chen County's order won't let us run for nothing! ”

"Zhang Yuanjun came to our county to rest, the lower officials are deeply honored, but the county town is small, I'm afraid it can't accommodate thousands of people, please understand."

Zhang Huan smiled slightly and said, "It's okay, the soldiers of the brigade are resting outside the city, and I will only bring three hundred people into the city, so it's convenient?" ”

Chen County Ling hurriedly agreed, "The envoy will first ask to be stationed in the camp, and the lower official will go to arrange a place for the envoy." ”

At the moment, 2,000 men and horses were camped outside the city, and Zhang Huan was escorted by 300 personal soldiers and took Cui Ning into the county seat, but as soon as he entered the city gate, he heard a loud voice laughing and said: "Zhang Dudu is stationed in Fengxiang at night, but he wants to take the opportunity to take Fengxiang and force Cui Yuan to give up the position of right minister?" ”