Late autumn was supposed to be a ripe and calm season, a harvest season full of joy, but the autumn of the second year of Xuanren was tense and full of murderous opportunities, and the much-anticipated polo tournament was canceled again, because the situation in Jiannan Province deteriorated rapidly, and the 800 miles of emergency military reports running on the official road every day had numbed the ordinary people, and almost every day there were states and counties falling and surrendering, and Zhu's power was like a snowball, growing stronger and stronger.

Correspondingly, Cui Yuan's mood is getting heavier and heavier, since he vomited blood last time, he has lost weight day by day, and his body has begun to deteriorate, sometimes early in the morning on the way to Daming Palace and turn back, he has to lie on the bed to calm the strong dizziness in front of his eyes.

It's the same today, Cui Yuan's eyes were black when he was about to go out, he fainted and fell to the ground, his family carried him to the bed, and several imperial doctors who had lived in his house for a long time skillfully diagnosed his pulse and prescribed medicine.

"Boiled over low heat, remember to boil for half an hour." The main imperial doctor's surname is Cao, he is more than 60 years old, he has been treating Li Longji since the Tianbao period, and he is very old in the imperial doctor, he was entrusted by the Empress Dowager Cui Xiaofu to come to Cui Yuan to treat his illness.

Soon, the medicine was decocted, and Imperial Doctor Cao was holding a spoon to taste the concentration of the medicine, when Cui Xian heard the news and rushed back from the room, "Imperial Doctor Cao, what is my father's illness?" Cui Xian asked worriedly, the number of times his father fainted more and more these days made him really uneasy, he was very worried that his father would die of illness because of this, in this eventful season, no one in the Cui family could replace his father to get through this difficult time.

Imperial Doctor Cao seemed to know his thoughts, and he sighed slightly and said to Cui Xian: "Xiangguo's illness is actually the root left by overwork, and this time it was induced by the incident in Shu County. Chronic illness has to be treated slowly, Cui Shilang wants to persuade Xiangguo to pay more attention to rest and not to work too hard, otherwise what will happen in the future, even I don't know. ”

Cui Xian nodded silently. Picked up the medicine bowl and walked into his father's room, at this time Cui Yuan had already woken up, he was half-lying on the soft mattress and stared blankly at the roof, his eye sockets collapsed deeply. There was a look of anxiety in his eyes.

Cui Xian was sad for a while, it was only a month, and his father was skinny, and he handed over the medicine bowl with both hands. "Father, drink the medicine!"

Cui Yuan took the medicine bowl and smiled apologetically: "My problem comes and goes quickly, so you don't have to rush back from the room in the future." ”

"Yes!" Cui Xian lowered his hand and agreed, obviously coping in his tone. Lin Lei

Cui Yuan took a sip of medicine and suddenly sighed: "In the past, when I was sick, your sister served me medicine, but now she is no longer by my side." It is said that she taught girls to read in Wuwei, and she has already accepted 200 students, but it is difficult for her. ”

"Why don't you write a letter to your sister back! At least come and see the father. ”

Cui Yuan shook his head, sighed and said, "Forget it, let her be!" Let her go on her own path she chose, and if she hits a wall, she will naturally come back. ”

But Cui Xian wanted to say that her sister is a very stubborn person in her bones, and even if she hits a wall, she may not be willing to come back. But when he saw that his father was drinking medicine, he swallowed the words back.

Cui Yuan was slowly drinking the medicine, but in the end he gradually stopped, his brows were twisted, I don't know what he was thinking? Suddenly. He picked his eyes. asked Cui Xian again: "Let me ask you, the year before last, you wrote to the imperial court that a section of Lychee Road was washed away by heavy rain. You can't walk on a cart, did you fix it later? ”

"Back to my father, the road has been repaired."

"It's good to repair it, I'm still worried that the logistics grain truck won't be able to pass." Cui Yuan's brows stretched suddenly, and he slowly took another sip of medicine.

At this time, Cui Xian finally couldn't help but say: "Father, since Zhu didn't really rebel, then simply make him the envoy of Jiannan Jiedu, recognize him as one of the families, include him in the imperial court system, and appease him, wouldn't it be much better than the army entering Shu to quell the rebellion." ”

"What do you know!" Cui Yuan's face immediately became gloomy, and he rebuked his son: "Zhu is a wolf, don't I know him yet?" He just wants to establish himself as the emperor, but now the claws are not good enough, so he played the slogan of returning the power to the emperor, blinding the world, if he indulges his strength, once he is deeply rooted in Shu, he will inevitably rebel, and its harm is no less than An Lushan, which will ruin the family government at least and overthrow the Tang Dynasty, so it must not be tolerated and treacherous. ”

"But your body

Before he could finish speaking, Cui Yuan waved his hand and interrupted him impatiently, "My body is fine, but if I don't kill Zhu, I won't be blind even if I die." ”

"Father!" Cui Xian took a step forward and knelt down, crying: "You don't have to worry about these things anymore, Imperial Doctor Cao said that your body is sick from overwork, and you can't work anymore, if you have any mistakes, who can support our Cui family?" Who's the last laugh? Father, the Zhang family's lessons from the past, we can't repeat the mistakes of the past! ”

The last sentence of his son knocked in Cui Yuan's heart, he slowly closed his eyes, and a sense of exhaustion that he had never felt before invaded his whole body, yes, he was the same as Zhang Ruohao, he did everything himself, so that he was not able to train a successor with his heart, his body knew by himself, once he fell, who in the Cui family was still Pei Jundi's opponent? I want to give more opportunities to my clansmen.

"I see, go ahead!" Cui Yuan returned the medicine bowl to his son, "Go back to the courtroom!" You are a newcomer to the Ministry of Rites, no more than Yuan Zai is deeply rooted in the Ministry of Rites, you have to work more hard and do more things, you know? ”

"Yes!" Cui Xian bowed and retreated.

Cui Xian left, the room was quiet, the light came in from the top of the curtains, forming countless pillars of light, and the fine floating dust in the pillars of light was flying up and down, Cui Yuan slowly got up from the bed, he walked to the window, opened the curtains, and the autumn sun shone into the room, and the strong light shone so that Cui Yuan's eyes couldn't open. He avoided the bright light slightly, took a deep breath of fresh air outside the window, and involuntarily thought of Zhu in his mind, originally Zhang Huan was his big trouble, for which he also reconciled with Wei Ge and formed an alliance, but Zhu's sudden rise replaced Zhang Huan's threat, Zhang Huan's threat is that he is the son of Prince Yu, and his existence is completely opposite to the family government, but in any case, this is just a contradiction within the Tang Dynasty.

But Zhu's existence threatens the entire Datang Society, he knows this person very well, this person is extremely ambitious, and he is a person who is unwilling to be a subordinate, he will become the second in An Lushan sooner or later, if he indulges him, then he will be the eternal sinner of Datang.

Be sure to send troops!

Cui Yuan paced back and forth in the room with his hands in his hands, according to the local information, Zhu already has more than 100,000 troops, and it is still increasing, even if most of them are new soldiers, but they can't be taken lightly, at least 200,000 troops are needed, and it will take at least one or two months to transfer regiments and train troops from all over the country, and the time can not afford to wait, so he can only rely on a few big families to send troops, Chu Xingshui is too far away, and the time is too late, and Wang Ang can let him enter Shu from the south to respond.

In this way, the real main force has to be brought out by Cui, Pei, and Wei, who are the leaders, and can mobilize 80,000 troops from Hedong and Jinwuwei, and Pei Jun and Wei Ge's family will send 60,000, Wei Ge has formed an alliance with himself, and Zhu's existence also threatens Longyou, he should be willing to send troops, the key is Pei Jun, even if he knows that Zhu Di is harmful, but if he doesn't have a substantial concession, the old fox will not agree.

And what Pei Jun wants, Cui Yuan knows very well in his heart, he can't help but sigh slightly, it seems that this time Cui Qinggong's entry into the cabinet is yellow again.

At dusk, Cui Yuan's carriage set off from Xuanyangfang under the escort of hundreds of cavalry, and drove towards Xuanyifang, where Pei's mansion was located, the carriage went very fast, Cui Yuan closed his eyes in the carriage to recuperate, although it was to recuperate, but his brain was not idle at all, in the afternoon, he found his brother Cui Qinggong and told him that he had decided to agree to Pei Jun's suggestion and let Lingnan Jiedu make Li Mian enter the cabinet and apologize to him.

As he expected, Cui Qinggong was furious, accusing himself of going out on the contrary, and repenting of what he had clearly promised, no wonder, he was blocked by Zhang Potian the year before last and failed to enter the cabinet, and this time it was Yang who died, who was the closest ally of the Cui family, no matter what, it should be him Cui Qinggong to enter the cabinet, but who would have expected to kill a Zhu Lai halfway?

Cui Yuan couldn't help but smile bitterly, but then another thing that came made him quite annoying, that is, Cui Qinggong proposed that he should serve as the generalissimo of this expedition to the south after he calmed down his anger.

According to the principle of sending more troops, the main general of Zhu's southern expedition this time will be appointed by himself, and Pei Jun and Wei Ge will each send one person as a deputy general, for Cui Qinggong, Cui Yuan knows him better, leading troops for decades, and will also fight, but if he is sent to fight others, it will be fine, but this time it is to exterminate Zhu, the two of them are too familiar, Cui Yuan is very worried that he is not Zhu's opponent, so Cui Yuan's original intention is not to let him go, but Cui Qinggong is in charge of Jin Wuwei, and this time he insists on leading the troops to the southern expedition, if he really doesn't let him go, I'm afraid that no one will be able to command the Jin Wuwei army, but the gains will outweigh the losses.

The carriage turned a corner and drove into Xuanyi Fang, Pei Jun's mansion was already far away, Cui Yuan couldn't help but sigh, in fact, he thought of a person who dealt with Zhu, this person is as young as Zhu, generally vicious, and extremely cunning, if he is allowed to make a move, he will be able to level Zhu just around the corner, but unfortunately, Wei Ge will not agree, Cui Qinggong will not agree, and he Cui Yuan will not agree.