Shangdang County in the east of the river is close to Ye County in Hebei Province, along the turbid Zhangshui has been eastward, about 300 miles to reach the state of Ye County, Anyang County is the Pei family's main sect, but also the economic and cultural center of the entire Hebei Province, with a population of more than 90,000 households and nearly 500,000 people.

The buildings in ancient times were different from now, there was no skyscraper that could accommodate thousands of people, most of them were bungalows, and most of the middle-class and above families were mansions, coupled with the architectural style of the Tang Dynasty, which was grandiose and magnificent, covering an area of dozens or even hundreds of hectares, the mansions of the powerful abounded, so the scale of the city with a population of one million in Chang'an exceeded that of many metropolises with millions of people today.

The same is true of Anyang, the prosperity created by the population of 500,000 is extremely prosperous, there is the escort of the Pei family's army, and seven or eight of the rich families of Hebei Province live here, but at this time Anyang City is a chaos, the news of the defeat of the Hebei army has been confirmed by the endless stream of defeated soldiers, the rich people have packed up their families and prepared to flee to Hedong or Shandong, and the streets are full of horses and convoys full of money and women rushing past, but soon this wind of escape has subsided.

There are rumors that a certain family in the south of the city was looted by the defeated soldiers on the way to escape, the money and women were robbed, and even their lives were lost, but the real reason for stabilizing the situation is that the Longyou army has entered Hebei, and has intercepted the invading Hu people in the north of Handan.

Early in the morning, Pei You was accompanied by dozens of guards to patrol the streets, there are still more than 40,000 troops in Anyang City, there is enough food, and the city is tall and strong, so he is not worried that the city will be attacked by the Hui people, despite this, Pei You's mood has never been as depressed as today, and the death of the eldest brother is like a broken beam. The Pei family fell from the peak of power overnight, and the invasion of foreign races made it even worse. Completely extinguished the Pei family is preparing to rekindle the family fire, since the Longyou army entered Hebei in a big way, Pei You knows that the glory of the Pei family has ended.

Pei You is fifty-five years old today, he is Pei Jun's younger brother, but his appearance is very different from Pei Jun, not only is he relatively thin, but he also lacks Pei Jun's suave temperament. He is more like a bookkeeper, with a shrewd businessman's air flowing from top to bottom, he was transferred to the imperial court ten years ago as a squire of the Wei County as a squire of the household department and an envoy, and now he is also a servant of the ministry. (UC eBook & First & Issue) has always held the financial and personnel rights of the imperial court.

Rushing back to Hebei this time, although it will affect the official affairs of the DPRK and China, he is the second person of the Pei family after all, and when the Pei family encounters a crisis that has not been encountered for decades, he can only take care of the interests of the whole family first.

The Pei family was aimlessly patrolling the streets, and the situation of people shouting and neighing and crowding panicked people everywhere a few days ago was gone, and the streets seemed very deserted. Several well-known restaurants are also closed, except for a few pedestrians who hurriedly walk along the wall. He was carrying a little bit of rice in his hand.

Pei You walked around, feeling very lost in his heart, so he waved his hand and said, "Let's go back!" ”

Suddenly, there was a hurried sound of horses' hooves behind him, Pei You turned around in surprise, only to see a cavalry galloping from the direction of the city gate, and when he got close, he jumped off his horse and reported loudly: "Qi Yu Shilang, Zhang Huan, the secretary of the military department, led more than 20,000 troops to ten miles away, and he ordered someone to report." I want to see the waiter. ”

Pei You was taken aback. Why didn't Zhang Huan return to Beijing? He actually came to his own Ye County, but as soon as he thought about it, he immediately understood. After a deep sigh, he said to Pei Mingli, the long book beside him: "You go and invite Zhang Shangshu to our house for your father, remember!" It's about the future of our Pei family, you must not neglect him, and then tell Pei Danming that you must not send troops to stop him, he can have as many troops as he wants. ”

After repeatedly telling him, Pei You turned around and went back to the house first, at this time outside the north city gate, a large army was already visible from afar, waving flags, and arraying like ink clouds.

Zhang Huan rode on a divine horse of the Polar Eater War, and was beating the curtain to look at the towering Anyang City from afar, which stretched to more than ten miles away, except for Chang'an City and Luoyang City, he had never seen a city with a scale beyond it, Zhang Huan couldn't help but gently shake his head and exclaimed: "What a majestic city!" ”

Li Mi next to him also sighed slightly: "This is the foundation of Yuan Shao at the end of the Han Dynasty, he laid an excellent foundation, more than 20 years ago An Qingxu set the capital here, heightened and strengthened the city, when Yu Chaoen led 600,000 troops to defeat under the city, I persuaded the first emperor not to listen, to the eunuch as the military envoy to govern it, how can it not be defeated?" ”

Zhang Huan glanced at him, only smiled and did not speak, at this time there were hundreds of horsemen galloping towards this side in the distance, whistling, led by a general with bright armor, Zhang Huan knew, it was Pei Jun's intelligence head Pei Danming, he is now serving as an envoy of Anyang soldiers and horses, leading the Pei family to stay in Anyang 40,000 troops, his face was flat, without any expression, next to him was a male book about thirty years old, dressed in a white robe, tall, handsome, with a humble smile on his face, this is Pei You's long book Pei Mingli, The official appointed the commander of Anyang County. xUC e-book x first x release x

Pei Mingli was also present when Zhang Huan took Pei Ying back to Beijing to get married, and he also toasted him, but Zhang Huan had forgotten him, but when he saw his demeanor and portrait Pei Jun, he knew that he was also a scholar of the Pei family.

He urged the horse forward, and immediately hugged his fist to Zhang Huan and saluted deeply: "Anyang County ordered Pei Mingli to see Zhang Shangshu." ”

Zhang Huan suddenly remembered that he was Pei You's book, so he nodded slightly and smiled: "I heard Pei Ying say that she has a family of brothers who write very well, but it is Mingli." ”

To put it mildly, the sense of coercion when the army pressed the realm was eliminated, as if he was a relative, Pei Mingli suddenly had a good impression of him, and the previous humble smile also disappeared, replaced by a natural and casual smile, "Yingmei said the opposite, my words are unseemly, I never dare to sign, I only use seals, so people call Pei Yinjian me." ”

Zhang Huan raised his head and laughed, "Mingli is really interesting!" Even Pei Danming, who was as plain as water next to him, couldn't help but show a smile, Zhang Huan's laughter gradually stopped, and he looked back and asked, "Second uncle can be in Anyang?" ”

"My father is in the house, but he is not in good health, so he ordered me to come to greet him, please forgive Zhang Shangshu!"

Pei Mingli bowed slightly, bowed down and said, "Please Zhang Shangshu follow me into the city." ”

"Please!"

The army was temporarily stationed outside Anyang City, and 3,000 soldiers closely guarded the commander all the way into Anyang City. Peijiadi Benzong Mansion is located in the south of the city, covering an area of about 500 hectares. There is a more solid and tall house wall, a five-zhang wide house moat river surrounds the house, all kinds of buildings in the house are overlapped, unfathomable, several times wider than the Zhang Mansion of the year, tens of thousands of Pei family clansmen and subordinates live in it, like a city in a city.

After entering Pei's house. Only three hundred cavalry guards protected Zhang Huan, and under Pei Mingli's guidance, they walked along a straight avenue full of shade, and everyone stopped in front of a huge five-story building. The door was already open, and a row of Pei family scholars stood respectfully on both sides to greet them.

"Zhang Shangshu, this is my Pei family's gift, my father is waiting inside, please come with me."

As he spoke, Pei Mingli led Zhang Huan into the gate and walked towards a slightly smaller building on the left, and as soon as Zhang Huan walked into the gate, he suddenly heard Pei Danming whispering beside him: "Zhang Huan, the gate of Huili is the first time in 20 years that the Pei family has opened." You must know that my Pei family has shown the greatest sincerity. ”

Zhang Huan glanced back at him, and said with a faint smile: "How do you know that I don't have the greatest sincerity?" ”

Pei Mingli led Zhang Huan to the front of the guest room. Pushed the door open and said, "My father is waiting inside, Zhang Shangshu please!" ”

The room is not big, the layout is very simple, there is a calligraphy of Yan Zhenqing hanging on the snow-white wall, two couches are placed diagonally, there is a small number on each couch, there is a thin neck vase carved with a whole piece of jadeite on the small table, a pink and white plum blossom is blooming brightly, so that the whole room is filled with a faint fragrance.

Zhang Huan walked into the room. Pei You, who had been waiting for a long time, stood up with a smile. "It's the first time I've come to our Pei Mansion to get sick!"

Zhang Huan stepped forward and bowed, "Zhang Huan salutes the second uncle." ”

"No need to be polite. Here I think I am home. Pei You waved his hand and invited Zhang Huan to sit down, and two maids came in and served them tea and pastries.

Pei You picked up the teacup and sucked it, the corner of his eye slightly picked up from the teacup, and quickly glanced at Zhang Huan's expression, he closed his eyelids and put down the teacup again, sighed and said: "This time the Hui and Khitan joint southern invasion, caught us off guard, I heard the head of the family say that you reminded him, but he didn't take it to heart, so that it fell to this point today, losing the land and humiliating the country, our Pei family's century-old reputation was ruined, and even the head of the family died of anger because of this, alas!" ”

Zhang Huan smiled slightly and said: "Second uncle doesn't have to blame himself, the matter is not as serious as the second uncle thought, my 200,000 elite soldiers in Longyou have arrived in time, cut off the way back thousands of miles from Tuoba thousands of miles, and sweeping up Chief Hu is just around the corner, and the second uncle evacuated the people in time, so that the loss of Hebei is also minimized, as long as people have nothing to do, the home can always be rebuilt, so I came here this time to discuss with the second uncle the transition of the Pei family after the death of my father-in-law." ”

The air in the room froze as soon as the book was written, Pei You never expected Zhang Huan to be so frank, and straightforwardly picked out the meaning, he was a son-in-law, and he had no right to intervene in the internal affairs of the Pei family, so he could only say that the Pei family's status in the imperial court, Pei You suddenly coughed violently, he hurriedly took the teacup and drank a few sips of tea before finally stopping the cough, Pei You panted slightly and laughed at himself: "No, this old man obviously feels the weakness of his body, and he coughs and gets sick at every turn." ”

"Pei Shilang is middle-aged, why is he old?" A hint of a smile on Zhang Huan's face disappeared in an instant, his face became extremely serious, and he stared at Pei You with sharp eyes and said slowly: "I thought that the position of the right minister of the Tang Dynasty in the future should be held by the Pei family, and I personally prefer Pei Shilang." ”

Pei You's back also seemed to be frozen, of course he knew the deep meaning of the future that Zhang Huan was referring to, that is to say, the Pei family was still put first in his future political layout, it was true that although the Pei family was defeated in front of him, it was still unmatched by the strength of the power in the DPRK, but a more important reason was that Zhang Huan wanted to make a deal with the Pei family to support him on the throne.

Pei You turned countless thoughts in his heart, with Zhang Huan's current strength, Cui Xiaofu's obstacle is already a mantis arm blocking the car, as long as he does not pursue Yu Taishu's tragic death in the palace seizure, many people in the sect will support him to take the throne, and after Cui Yuan's defeat, the once extremely powerful Cui Party will be scattered like a tree for a while, and the lessons from the past are not far away, and now how sure can he Pei You pat his chest to ensure that the Xiangguo Party will still be sincerely united?

Pei You has been a household servant and envoy for five years, and accurate calculation has become one of his strengths, and he immediately deduced that Zhang Huan would be exchanged for the position of the right minister with his superior mind, and the conditions that would be offered were by no means as simple as asking the Pei family to support him on the throne.

He took a deep breath and asked frankly, "Then what do you need my Pei family to do?" ”

Zhang Huan smiled, suddenly changed the topic, and asked him: "Where does Pei Shilang think that Zhu Chao Shuzhong, Cui Qinggong Chao Central Plains, as well as Li Zhengji, Li Huaiguang, Wei Deqing, Li Xilie, etc., are emerging in an endless stream? ”

This Pei You was a little hesitant, he had discussed this issue with the head of the family, but at that time, the discussion was to put Zhang Huan, the great warlord of Longyou, in the first place, and the head of the family had categorically concluded that the root of the emergence of local warlords was the family's control of the army.

Suddenly, Pei You finally understood what the conditions Zhang Huan was going to prescribe were.

(What are the conditions?) Take a look at the title of my chapter)