Zhang Huan's words when he arrived in the capital: If he wants to go to the Taimiao to comfort the emperor, it is enough to make Pei Jun almost sleepless all night, Zhang Huan's meaning He understands better than anyone else, when the palace of Prince Yu has just been established and is in the spotlight, he wants to go to the Taimiao Temple to worship, who can not understand the information revealed in it? This makes Pei Jun nervous even more than Lu Qi's folding platform, the Central Plains War is about to break out, and the stability of the imperial court is more important than everything!

As soon as the morning dawned, Pei Jun ordered someone to go to the military department to spy on Zhang Huan's movements, and learned that although he entered the military department, his carriage was parked outside the gate, and the guards rode their horses and waited, as if they were about to leave at any time.

"Uninvited, I hope Zhang Shangshu won't be surprised!"

Pei Jun stepped into the door, but found an embarrassing scene for him, Zhang Huan was cleaning up the order of the military department! It made him a bit of a dilemma.

Zhang Huan smiled like a fox, doesn't Pei Jun's arrival show his eagerness to solve the matter of Cui Qinggong and Wei Deqing?

"Let's go back to the courtroom! I'll send you a detailed rule in the afternoon. ”

Zhang Huan waved his hand and ordered everyone to disperse first, he hurriedly greeted Pei Jun and bowed his hand, and smiled apologetically: "I wanted to go to Zhongshu Province after dealing with some trivial matters in the ministry, but I was really ashamed to let Xiangguo come in person." ”

"Where! Benxiang is also passing by here, and when he saw that the military department was quite lively, he came in to take a look, and happened to meet Shangshu to clean up the house, and I knew that I wouldn't come in, haha! ”

The two glanced at each other, and they both looked up to the sky and laughed knowingly, Zhang Huan hurriedly let Pei Jun into the room to drink tea and sit down, Pei Jun was already sure that Zhang Huan would not go to Taimiao for the time being. The nervous mood also relaxed slightly, he took a sip of strong hot tea and said with a smile: "Shang Shu knows that Wu Yuanheng is the queen of Emperor Zetian?" ”

"A small head of the military department can make Pei Xiangguo remember. It can be seen that Pei Xiangguo is discerning, and Zhang Huan is ashamed. Zhang Huan said lightly, and without waiting for Pei Jun to answer, he said solemnly as soon as he changed his words: "I don't think it matters who will be the supervisor of the military department, the important thing is to reverse the decadent atmosphere of the DPRK and the central government." I think Bae Sang-kook should have a deeper understanding than me. ”

He said it so frankly and explicitly, Pei Jun was caught off guard for a moment and smiled awkwardly. But he couldn't find the words to respond, but Zhang Huan didn't stop there, he continued to pressure Pei Jun and said: "If Pei Xiang thinks that the officials went to court too early, the system is to be reformulated, instead of letting it do what it does, once the Beijing officials are like this, what about the local counties and counties, the officials will judge the case at home." Not to mention that the person next to the pillow is easy to interfere in politics, and the person who complains is afraid that it will be difficult to pass even the doorman in the doorman. ”

Pei Jun let out a long sigh, "Alas! Why don't I want to restrain the court? ”

He shook his head and said helplessly: "It's just that Cui Qinggong has always been a big trouble for me, and if he doesn't get rid of it, I won't dare to act rashly for a day, let alone rectify the government, lest he take advantage of the chaos in the DPRK." Seeing that Cui Qinggong and Wei Deqing's fire has become a success, and the Central Plains will be ruined again, I am working hard every day for it, and Zhang Shangshu must help me in this matter. ”

After going around, Pei Jun still turned the topic to today's intention, a broken Tang Dynasty is not good for anyone, he has decided to join forces with Cui Xiaofu to eradicate the tumor of Cui Qinggong, and at the same time, he can also help the Wei family up. = to increase the chips against Zhang Huan.

But he was afraid that Zhang Huan would take the opportunity to attack Hedong. Repeating the old tricks of the three great families when they attacked Zhu, so today he specially came to find Zhang Huan. Hopefully, he'll take care of the bigger picture.

"How does my father-in-law want me to help?" Zhang Huan smiled slightly.

Pei Jun couldn't help but be slightly stunned when he heard him call him his father-in-law, but when he thought about it, he understood what Zhang Huandi meant, and the implication was that they were a family, and a family would not have internal friction.

Pei Jun suddenly felt a little ashamed in his heart, but even if this shame disappeared in an instant, the feelings of Weng and his son-in-law were far less than his desire to monopolize power, he groaned and said: "Cui Qinggong has gradually lost control of his subordinates, and his generals are all arrogant and domineering, once Cui Qinggong's army is divided, there will be countless warlords of all sizes in the Central Plains, and the Anshi Rebellion will rise again, so we must take advantage of the fact that Cui Qinggong's troops are weak now to completely get rid of this henchman, I have no requirements for the virtuous son-in-law, I just hope that the virtuous son-in-law can help me control the overall situation and not be chaotic, That's enough! ”

After saying that, he looked at his son-in-law expectantly, hoping that he would agree.

Zhang Huan did not immediately and generously agree, his original plan was to start to eradicate Cui Qinggong and Li Xilie after the Battle of Xiangyang, so that Xiangyang and Jianghuai would be united, and similarly, Wei Deqing could not be allowed to sit down.

However, the Anxi Revolution disrupted his plan, so that he had to implement the Anxi strategy in advance, and now that he had just taken Anxi, it still took time to consolidate the results of Anxi and Hexi, and the main army had to be replaced.

Cui Xiaofu and Pei Jun teamed up to deal with Cui Qinggong at this time, he wanted to meddle in the Central Plains, but it was too late in time.

However, he also knew that there was a way to hold Pei Jun back, but he didn't want to do it, he would rather take some detours than lose points politically, and besides, things might not be as simple as they thought.

Politics is like the art of war, and it also pays attention to patience, waiting, and ruthlessness, Zhang Huan has endured it for three years, so now for him, there is only one word for what needs to be done: wait, and wait patiently for the opportunity to appear.

Thinking of this, Zhang Huan sighed lightly and said: "I also know that the rebellion in the Central Plains is about to start, Zhang Huan does have more than enough strength but not enough strength, although the battle of Anxi won a small victory, but it is far from the end of the battle, the attitude of the big food is not clear, is it good to stop repairing?" Now that the civil strife has subsided, how can we guarantee that it will not come back? Tubo Zanpu was mourned in Anxi, how could Tubo give up, and to prevent the Shatuo people from returning to their hometowns to rebel under the pretext of suppressing the stupid self-reliance of all ethnic groups in Anxi, all of the above crises made Zhang Huan anxious, more difficult than his father-in-law, the Longyou army has long been waiting and ready to go west at any time, and the affairs of the Central Plains can only be borne by his father-in-law and the queen mother, Zhang Huan also hopes that Cui Qing's function will be eradicated as soon as possible. ”

Pei Jun stared closely into Zhang Huan's eyes, and Pei Jun saw a trace of sincerity in his eyes.

Under the clouds of war, Cui Qinggong finally lost his last patience after confronting Wei Deqing for nearly two months. ==== He just received the news that Wei Deqing actually sold his beloved concubine to the Qinglou again. And clearly marked the price: the concubine of the king of Ruyang County, two hundred Wen each time, which made Chen Liuren rush to it, and such a shame made Cui Qinggong jump like thunder, and vowed to kill all the men in Chen Liujun.

At the moment, he ordered the general Yang Tieman to be the left marshal. He was crowned the general of Shaking the Heavens, led 30,000 troops to march to Xuchang, and ordered Ma Dawei to be the right marshal. He personally led 120,000 troops to the north and marched to Chenzhou, and the three-way army attacked Chen Liuwei Deqing, because the military rations were difficult to gather for a while, Cui Qinggong ordered the army to eat along the way.

Cui Qinggong's advisor Ma Si was buying saltpeter in Guangling County, and on the way back, he couldn't help but be shocked to learn that Cui Qinggong had finally ordered to go north. Hurry up and hurry up overnight, and finally rush back to Ruyang City on the day Cui Qinggong sent his troops.

"The prince must not!" Ma Sisu almost knelt in front of Cui Qinggong, and he mourned repeatedly: "Wei Deqing tried to provoke the prince to send troops first, the purpose is to make the prince bear the charge of unrighteousness, and now the prince orders the army to eat along the way, and it will inevitably be ruined, and re-take the old road of Zhu, which makes the prince lose the hearts of the people in the world, which is one of the unwise; The prince also gave Yang and Ma Er generals the title of shaking the sky and defying the sky. This is clearly suspected of rebellion, and it will only make the court angry, so as to support Wei Deqing, this is the second unwise, doesn't the prince hear that the country is people-oriented, and those who win the hearts of the people win the world? If the prince is short of grain and grass, he can cut down the soldiers and horses, persuade the farmers to work in the mulberry fields, and after three or five years, he will have income, and he must not eat along the way. Imitate the scourge of the people! ”

"Enough!" Cui Qinggong broke off. "The way of heaven is constant, not for Yao. If you don't die, those who have done great things since ancient times will not be troubled by the small people! If I don't indulge the soldiers, I eat, where does the soldiers get their combat power? The court has played with me several times, just because I am too weak, Zhang Huan can squeeze into the prime minister if he is strong, and I can only commit to being a thief if I am weak, I have now seen through this group of villains who bully the soft and are afraid of the hard, in front of me, put away your sour and rotten set in the future. ”

Cui Qinggong feels more and more that this person is pedantic, and he can still give himself some conspiracies and tricks a few years ago, but now he will only drag himself back, what wins the hearts of the people wins the world, he has come to this day, can he take back the hearts of the people? This person is really like Yang Tieman's comment, he has a small belly and chicken intestines all day long, and he can't use it, and he remembered that he had written a letter of loyalty to Pei Jun, Cui Qinggong was even more disgusted, he glared and said: "Let me ask you, you said that the gunpowder smoke is too big because the sulfur is not pure, so I will give you money to buy it in Guangling, now what?" Where is your gunpowder? ”

After several tests, Ma Si was finally able to determine that Zhang Huan's thunderbolt was the Taoist alchemy gunpowder, but the gunpowder he got was not the kind of gunpowder that Zhang Huanjun rumored to have such a sound as giant thunder and red flames soaring into the sky, and the city stones were all powdered, but only black smoke, no flames, and even extinguished halfway through, which disappointed Cui Qinggong, who had high expectations, and killed all the alchemy Taoists he recruited in a fit of anger, and ordered him to get the kind of gunpowder in Zhang Huan's army within three months. It was said that the sulfur produced in the Central Plains was impure, and more than a month ago, he went to Guangling to order a batch of Japanese sulfur, but it had not yet arrived.

"Don't worry, my subordinates already have a little bit of eyebrows in this matter, give me another half a year, and I will be able to develop military gunpowder."

"Half a year!" Cui Qinggong was furious, he picked up the horsewhip and was about to draw it, but he didn't pull it down in the end, he only smashed the horsewhip on the table, pointed at Ma Si's suspicious nose and ordered: "You are limited to make gunpowder for me within a month, otherwise I want your head!" ”

"But where can I get in time for a month?" Ma Si screamed suspiciously, for a month, even his sulfur has not arrived!

"It's your business if it's too late, I don't care what method you use, even if you go to Longyou to steal, I just need to see the gunpowder I want within a month, otherwise Cui Qinggong bent down, stared at his eyes viciously and said: "What will happen to your parents, wife and children, don't blame me for being ruthless." ”

"You

Ma Si's suspicion surged into his chest, and his parents, wife and children actually fell into his hands.

Cui Qinggong stood up, glanced at him coldly and said, "Go ahead!" You only have one month, and the sooner you start, the sooner you see your family. ”

Ma Sisu just left. Immediately walked out of Cui Qinggong's inner tent, and he looked at Ma Siji's back. said coldly: "Lord Wang, this person is a useless scholar, what are you keeping him for?" ”

Cui Qinggong shook his head slightly, "You don't know that his sister is Ma Dawei's wife, I'm afraid that killing him will cause Ma Dawei to be dissatisfied." So keep a few of them for now

Speaking of this, Cui Qinggong looked at the person in front of him again and smiled: "Brother Zhu thinks that the Wei family will really not let Wei Deqing go?" ”

The actual age of this old brother Zhu is only about thirty years old, and his skin is dark. He has a big beard, so he looks like he is forty years old, of course, his old Cui Qinggong is clear, and everyone sitting on the ground is also very clear, he is Zhu's brother Zhu Tao, after the assassination of Zhang Huan in Baling County failed, he took refuge in Cui Qinggong. became his staff.

Zhu Tao smiled faintly and said: "Wei Ge is narrow-minded and suspicious, just look at him leaving Wei Deqing's old lady in Wei Mansion, you can know that he can't trust Wei Deqing at all, otherwise why let Wei Qing go to Chen Liu to make a history of assassination, so no matter how loyal Wei Deqing is, Wei Ge will definitely use this battle to take the army into his own hands." ”

Cui Qinggong nodded, he groaned for a while and said to Zhu Tao: "Then again, I really want to get Zhang Huan's gunpowder formula and production method, although Ma Si is a little small-minded. But he may not be able to get it, so I want to ask Mr. Zhu to make a hard trip, how about it? ”

Zhu Tao immediately gave a long salute and said angrily: "Zhu Tao is fortunate to be taken in by the prince, and he only hates that he has not repaid his efforts, and he is willing to serve the prince for the work of dogs and horses." ”

Let's say that Ma Sisu returned to the house in frustration, the house was empty, and his family had been taken away by Cui Qinggong. I thought I was loyal. But it ended up like this, Ma Siyi couldn't help but grit his teeth for a while. If it weren't for his family in his hands, he would definitely defect to Wei Deqing and kill this demon with his own hands in the future.

Ma Si was suspicious of regret and hatred in his heart, and thought that his parents, wife and children might never see each other again, and the sadness came from it, he finally couldn't help but lie on the table and cry, at this time, there was a sudden sound of footsteps behind him, and someone persuaded behind him: "Brother Ma, it's useless to cry, let's still think of a way to save my sister-in-law and nephew!" ”

Ma Siyi hurriedly wiped away his tears, turned around and looked at the person behind him: "What can Mr. Jiang do?" ”

This Mr. Jiang is called Jiang Gan, that is, the master who pointed out that gunpowder may be impure sulfur, he claims to be a businessman in Shuzhong, has dealt with the Longyou army, so he knows a little about gunpowder, not long ago he took Ma Siyi to Guangling to buy sulfur, because he is shrewd and capable, very smart, and Ma Si is quite fatal, so Ma Si Su has refused to let him go.

Jiang Gan smiled slightly and said, "I think Brother Ma is in a hurry, have you forgotten whose parents-in-law your parents are?" ”

Ma Siwei slapped himself suddenly, he actually forgot that his brother-in-law was Ma Dawei, the general under Cui Qinggong! But after thinking about it, he shook his head in frustration and said: "You don't know Cui Qinggong, he let my parents go at most, but my wife and children will never be spared, and I still have to find a way from gunpowder." ”

"Maybe I have some clues." Jiang Gan thought for a while and said: "I have an uncle who is doing business in Chang'an, and I have his guidance to do business with Longyou, and he has a good relationship with many generals in the Longyou army, so it is better for you to go to him and see if he can find a way." ”

"What does your uncle do?" Ma Si asked with some doubts.

Jiang Gan smiled and said: "My uncle's surname is Hu, he runs a jewelry store in Chang'an East City, but this jewelry store is just a cover, in fact, he is engaged in military trading, you go to him, just say that I introduced him, and I will write a letter to you later." ”

"It might not be right for me to go alone." Ma Si suspiciously bowed his hand to him again and again: "I have never known your uncle in my life, how can he help him easily with this kind of help, it is better for Brother Jiang Xian to accompany me, and I will be grateful afterwards." ”

"This

Jiang Gan looked very embarrassed, "I still have to go to Guangling to buy goods, I may not be able to pull away for a while, Brother Ma, I'm really sorry." ”

Ma Si was already very ill and went to the hospital at this time, as long as there was a glimmer of hope to save his wife and children, he would not let go, not to mention that he only had a month left? He grabbed Jiang Gan's arm and begged him: "I'm already desperate, for the sake of our friendship, you can help my brother this time!" ”

"That's alright!" Jiang Gan reluctantly nodded in agreement.

On the eighth day of December in the first year of Yong'an, Cui Qinggong sacrificed to heaven and earth, and officially sent troops to Chenliu in three ways, with nearly 200,000 troops raging, burning and killing along the way, robbing people's property, and Wei Deqing's army retreated to Chenliu on all fronts.

On December 13, Yang Tieman on the left conquered Xuchang County, and the troops plundered Xuchang, and Ma Dawei on the right also conquered Qian County on the same day, and privately obtained Wei Deqing's military food of 200,000 stone and 500,000 yuan, but was secretly told Cui Qinggong, Cui Qinggong then ordered Ma Dawei to hand over the money and grain, but Ma Dawei deduced that there was no such thing, at this time, Cui Qinggong suddenly received the news that the imperial court named Ma Dawei as the Duke of Ruguo.