Squeak quack! The heavy door of Pei Mansion opened, making a piercing turn and opening it for a rare time, covered with rust, Cui Yuan stood on the steps with a smile behind his back, waiting for the master to come and greet him.

These days are the most comfortable days for Cui Yuan in ten years, he can finally send troops to Hedong, and realize the dream he has planned for nearly ten years in the most direct way, and the rich Hedong has finally changed hands and become his Cui Yuan's delicacy.

Although the delicacy is delicious, it is a pity that it cannot be enjoyed exclusively, and the other pair of chopsticks unceremoniously took away half of it, but Cui Yuan was not annoyed by this, if Pei Jun stood by and watched him take over Hedong alone, it would be the most incredible thing.

Cui Yuan knows very well that there is no absolute success in anyone and anything, and it is rational to seek a balance in the end, so he specially visited Pei Jun today in order to find this balance, and he didn't need to look at anything else, just watch him open the door to greet him, and he knew that Pei Jun also had the intention to find this balance.

"Wouldn't it be nice to have friends from afar?" Pei Jun laughed and greeted him from the gate, "Brother Cui, you haven't been to my house for two years!" How should I punish you? ”

Cui Yuan smiled faintly and said, "It should be Pei Xiang who should be punished!" Have you forgotten? At the beginning of the year, I made a special trip to ask for marriage. ”

"Yes! Yes! Said: "My dead girl was scolded by me a few days ago and ran back to the county." ”

"No wonder Cui Ning said that he hadn't seen Xiaoying for a long time, so that's the case." Narrow. "It's just that the road to Hedong is not quite smooth, and Pei Xiangke has to send more people."

Pei Jun saw that he gradually turned to the topic, so he smiled and said: "It's cold at night, but I don't let Xiangguo into the house, it's a big crime." ”

He leaned over and made a respectful gesture, "Please!" ”

Cui Yuan arched his hand and smiled, "It's better to be respectful than to obey." ”

The two talked and laughed and entered Pei Jun's study, which had been cleaned up by Pei Mingyuan, and a pot of charcoal was burning. made the room very warm, and the most important thing was that Cui Yuan should not be able to see it, and there was no trace of it at the moment.

Pei Mingyuan was about to leave, but he met his father and Cui Yuan walking in, and he hurriedly stepped forward to give a salute, "Nephew, see Cui Shibo." ”

"Oh! It's Mingyuan, we haven't seen each other for a long time. ”

Cui Yuan saw that he was leaving, so he smiled and said, "I'll talk to your father about some family things, and it's okay for you to be next to you." ”

"This. Pei Mingyuan looked at his father with some uneasiness, and the two Xiangguo talked. How does he qualify to be on the side.

A hint of vigilance flashed in Pei Jun's eyes, the power of this Cui Yuan lies in the fact that he unconsciously got off the trap, but he didn't know that he made a statement today intentionally or unintentionally. Maybe it will become the root of the Pei family's internal strife in the future, but Pei Jun was silent, he said to his son gently: "Since Uncle Cui asked you to stay, then you can wait on the side!" ”

Pei Mingyuan agreed, and then stood aside with his hands down, and at this time, the two maids spread a thick cushion on the couch. Brought hot tea again, Cui Yuan took a sip of the teacup gently, a warm current melted into his abdomen, making him feel very comfortable, he nodded and smiled: "On a cold winter night, a pot of charcoal fire and a cup of hot tea are enough!" ”

"Brother Cui has just recovered from his injuries and came to visit in the wind and rain, Pei Jun is grateful, I don't know what is important about Brother Cui?" Pei no longer greeted. He gets straight to the point.

"Actually, it's not a big deal, and the recent court affairs have made me very annoyed. So I came to find Brother Pei to play a game of chess. ”

"Playing chess?" Bae Jun smiled knowingly. He turned around and nodded to Pei Mingyuan, who immediately took the chessboard and chess jar from the bookshelf. Pei Jun pushed Bai Zi in front of Cui Yuan, and said with a smile: "Brother Cui is the first to lay out, and I am the last, let Brother Cui go first."

”

"It's still the same old saying, it's better to be respectful than to obey." Cui Yuan took the chess, and then laid a son in his left corner, and then Pei Jun also made a son in his right corner, both of them stopped talking, and their faces gradually became extremely serious.

Pei Mingyuan next to him became more and more frightened, not because of how fierce the competition between the two was, on the contrary, it was because they played too weirdly, according to the general chess, it should be-for-tat, the corners must be contested, and every step will be cautious, but these two people play chess, just go to their own side, the other party does not even raise their eyelids, and finally the chess surface forms half black and half white, just like two children playing with chess pieces, but these two people are the most powerful left and right ministers of the Tang Dynasty.

Pei Mingyuan suddenly realized, where is the chessboard in front of him, it is clearly the land of Hedong, the Cui family is in the south, the Pei family is in the north, the chess pieces in their hands are the army, and the real place of competition is the middle, Pei Mingyuan's eyes immediately stared at the long blank space in the middle, especially the small piece in the middle, which should be Taiyuan.

"Brother Pei, Your Majesty has been gone for ten days, but you still stop at Taiji Palace, this is really a shame for us to be courtiers, Your Majesty will not be buried for a day, the situation between the DPRK and China will be tense for a day, all the officials are in danger, which is not conducive to the stability of my Tang Sheji, I think Your Majesty should be buried immediately, and let the prince ascend the throne, what does Brother Pei think?"

Cui Yuan said, but his hand clicked on the left blank space, and Pei Jun was no longer another at this time

chess, but also played a piece next to the white piece.

"I've actually been thinking about whether it is appropriate for us to agree with Your Majesty to set up a three-year-old child as the crown prince, but now Your Majesty unfortunately left halfway, the prince is young, and naturally Queen Cui will have the power of the Queen Mother to supervise the country, and it is easy to say otherwise, I am just worried that the right minister and the queen mother are both surnamed Cui, which will make people all over the world talk about Xiangguo, and I am afraid it will damage the reputation of Xiangguo."

After Pei Jun said this, he didn't wait for Cui Yuan to fall, and played ten pieces in a row, and the black chess piece took up half of the blank strip in the middle, Cui Yuan smiled, and did not prevent the opponent from playing chess without abiding by the rules, but gave the left piece to Pei Jun.

Pei Mingyuan nodded secretly, if he was not mistaken, this piece occupied by his father should be Fenyang County and Fenyin County, the land is extremely rich, and it is known as the granary of Jinzhong.

At this moment, there is still a piece of the middle and right on the chessboard, and the piece on the right should be Jiang County and Lu County, Jiang County is a densely populated place, and Lu County is the Taihang Mountains, although the population is small, but it is close to Hebei, and the strategic location is very important.

Cui Yuan gave a son first in Jiangjun, and he smiled lightly: "The queen mother is the queen mother, the right minister is the right minister, my Tang Dynasty is the country and not the family, and the surname Cui is actually okay, but I heard that Pei Xiangguo received tens of thousands of soldiers from Anbei Duhu, and I thought that Pei Xiang had expanded the establishment of Fan Yang Jiedu without authorization, which gave me a headache." ”

He didn't wait for Pei Jun to fall into the country, and he had three sons in a row, and he pocketed the densely populated Jiangxian County, so he smiled slightly: "Duan Xiushi has scarce food there, and he really can't support 80,000 troops, so this cheap will be given to Pei Xiang." ”

Pei Jun also did not show weakness, he also found out the third son, occupied Lu County, which was close to Hebei, and said with a cold smile: "Actually, each other, since Brother Cui is borrowing the Tao Chen Liu, why did he leave 5,000 soldiers and horses to garrison, it will also make people think of Pianpin, is it a repetition of the allusion of the fake Dao War?" ”

It is related to each other's vital interests, both of them no longer give in, at this time, both of their eyes fell on a small piece of open space in the middle, which is the northern capital of Taiyuan, they raised chess at the same time, halfway through, but they couldn't put it down, stiffened for a while, and the two of them invariably withdrew the chess in their hands.

Cui Yuan smiled faintly and said: "It is inappropriate for Pei Xiang to mention that the prince is young, in fact, it doesn't matter, just let the good teacher teach carefully from a young age, so that my Tang Dynasty will produce a benevolent and virtuous monarch in the future, but Zhang Potian, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, was from a humble background and has shallow knowledge, compared to Zhang Ruohao, I thought that how could the ministers of the Tang Dynasty cabinet be determined by a family, but it was difficult to oppose the emperor's face, but now that the emperor is no longer there, I have to re-mention this matter, I am going to convene a cabinet meeting to remove Zhang Potian from the post of Pingzhangshi under the Zhongshu Sect and retain his lieutenant, I wonder if Pei Xiang agrees? ”

Pei Mingyuan next to him sighed in his heart, people say that strength is the capital to stand on, this is not false at all, Hedong has been divided between Cui and Pei's two families, the Zhang family is gone, naturally they can't squeeze into the cabinet, and it is reasonable for Zhang Potian to fall again.

Pei Jun nodded, he understood what Cui Yuan meant, since Zhang Potian was out of the cabinet, there must be someone to replace him, and this new Ministry of Rites Shangshu and Taiyuan land formed a bear's paw and a fish, and the two could not be both.

"I agree with Cui Xiang's opinion, Zhang Potian should be out of the cabinet, but I don't know if the younger brother can recommend someone?" In Pei Jun's view, Taiyuan is a fish, and the book of the Ministry of Rites is a bear's paw, so he naturally wants to give up the fish and take the bear's paw.

Cui Yuan has already had a belly case, the situation in the court is about balance, only balance can be stable, now he has the Wang and Yang families in hand, the Wei family is neutral, and Pei Jun only has the Huainan Chu family, so this new Ministry of Rites must be given to Pei Jun.

He Cui Yuan now desperately needs a stable situation to digest the benefits he has gained, so he smiled slightly, and filled the blank space in the middle with the five chess pieces in his hand, "I agree that Pei Xiangguo will recommend the Xindi Rite Department Shangshu." ”

.

Cui Yuan has already said goodbye and left, the remnants of the chess are still not collected, Pei Jun is silently watching the chessboard with his hands behind his back, Pei Mingyuan is standing with his hands hanging down, he does not dare to disturb his father's contemplation, for a long time, Pei Jun gently picked up the five white chess pieces that occupy Taiyuan, Taiyuan is still in the hands of the Zhang family, and there are still 30,000 Hedong troops unresolved, it is still too early to say.

Zhang Potian left Chang'an five days ago and went to Hedong, but he couldn't get out of Tongguan, so he had no choice but to return to Chang'an, in this way, Taiyuan really became a fish on the board, Pei Jun frowned slightly, "The Hedong Army is a powerful elite army, do you really want to give it to Cui Yuan?" ’

Pei Jun glanced at Pei Mingyuan out of the corner of his eye, and saw that he seemed to have an understanding, so he smiled faintly and asked, "Tell me, how should we play this move?" ”

Pei Mingyuan nodded, he tore a corner from a piece of red paper, kneaded it into a ball, and swung it on the blank space in Taiyuan, "This chess piece is neither black nor white, since my father is bent on getting the position of secretary of the Ministry of Rites, it is best not to interfere in Taiyuan again, then we might as well take this move." ”

Pei Jun's eyes slowly narrowed, and an elusive smile flashed, "This may be a good move, but I also thought of another move." ”