Early the next morning, Zhongshu Province officially issued an edict to the regent, and Zheng Shanguo, the secretary of the Criminal Department, was reappointed as the Taishou of Qichun County, and Yang Gongren, the secretary of the Taichang Temple, was promoted to the secretary of the Criminal Department. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The civil and military officials of the imperial court are still obsessed with the details of the reform of the multi-phase system, although they are a little surprised by this edict, but they don't care too much, after all, after the implementation of the multi-phase system, the status of Shangshu has declined significantly, not only with the Shangshu order, but also with the left and right servants, in the eyes of many officials, Shangshu without the title of senior minister of Ziwei Pavilion is no longer a high-ranking official, at least he has been squeezed out of the decision-making circle.

Zheng Shanguo knew the reason for his deposition, and the fact that the King of Qi did not mention Lu Chu in the edict was already taking care of his reputation, and what else did he have to say.

Zheng Shanguo had to let out a long sigh, packed his bags gloomily, and left Zhongdu the next day, and took a boat to Qichun County in Jianghuai with endless loss.

Among the civil and military officials, only Pei Ju was a little disillusioned, he thought that Zhang Xuan would consider the influence of the Central Plains family and give Zheng Shanguo a little warning, such as changing to Taifu Siqing or doing his old job, serving as Dali Siqing, etc., but he didn't expect Zhang Xuan to be so resolute and directly demoted Zheng Shanguo to Xiaojun Taishou, so that the relationship between the Pei family and the Zheng family was completely over.

Pei Ju was disappointed in his heart, so he used the excuse of being unwell and returned to his mansion, he locked himself in the study and saw no one.

At noon, Pei Ju sat in the study reading a book, he seemed restless, and he didn't read a word for a long time, at this time, the voice of the eldest grandson Pei Hong came from outside the door, "Grandfather, grandson has something important to see!" ”

Pei Hong is Pei Ju's most valued grandson, but also his eldest grandson, only in his early thirties to serve as the governor of the central capital, a few years to govern the capital in an orderly manner, won the praise of civil and military officials, plus his elegant demeanor, integrity, everyone praised him as the third generation of the children of the family.

Pei Ju also thinks that his eldest grandson is outstanding, of course, there are several outstanding children of the third generation, such as Li Qingming, the son of Li Shoujie, and Shi Fang Xuanling, the head of the Qi Palace, Du Ruhui, who joined the army in the office, Wen Yanbo, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, etc., but in any case, his eldest grandson is no worse than any of them.

Although Pei Ju's mood was not very good, but the eldest grandson had important things, he still wanted to see them, so Pei Ju said: "Come in!" ”

The door opened, Pei Hong walked in from outside, he knelt down and kowtowed to his grandfather, "Grandson, please say hello to grandfather!" ”

"Just sit down and talk."

"Thank you, Grandfather!"

Pei Ju saw that he was still wearing court clothes, so he asked, "Are you from the palace?" ”

"Back to my grandfather, my grandson came from Ziwei Palace."

Pei Ju was stunned, "What are you doing in Ziwei Palace?" ”

Pei Hong said respectfully: "This is the important event that the grandson wants to report to his grandfather, and His Royal Highness the King of Qi summoned the grandson early in the morning." ”

Pei Ju's face changed greatly, and he was so nervous that he stammered a little, "He.... What did he do when he met you? ”

He knows that Jang Hyun will not stop there, and he will definitely not let himself go, but what will he do? Pei Ju suddenly discovered a possibility that frightened him, Zhang Xuan would not take his eldest grandson under the knife!

Grandfather's nervousness made Pei Hong a little surprised, and he hurriedly said: "Grandfather, His Royal Highness King Qi and his grandson have been talking for more than half an hour, and he said that after Zhang Xuansu became the left servant of Shangshu, the Huangmen squire has been vacant, and he considered letting his grandson serve as the Huangmen squire." ”

Pei Ju was stunned, it turned out to be his eldest grandson to serve as the Huangmen squire, this is a high-ranking official known as the candidate of Xiangguo, although his eldest grandson is excellent, but his qualifications are still shallow, and his experience is insufficient, not to the extent of serving as the Huangmen squire, what kind of medicine is Zhang Xuan's gourd selling?

At this time, Pei Ju suddenly understood, and the corners of his mouth slowly revealed an extremely bitter smile, Zhang Xuan was euphemistically persuading himself to return to his hometown!

"King Qi has already decided to let you serve as the Yellow Gate Squire, or is he considering letting you be the Yellow Gate Squire?" Pei Ju asked carefully again.

These two concepts are completely different, the former is to force him to retire, and the latter is to lure him to return to his hometown, and the attitude is completely different, so Pei Ju must confirm it clearly.

Pei Hong thought for a while and said: "His Royal Highness the King of Qi said that the servants of the door can be temporarily vacant, but the servants of the Yellow Gate cannot be missing, otherwise the government will not be able to operate, he has considered many candidates, and I am also one of them, His Royal Highness asked me if I have any thoughts in this regard?" ”

"And what do you say?"

"My grandson said I needed to go back and think about it."

Pei Ju breathed a sigh of relief, Zhang Xuan made a condition to let himself retire, which is a temptation, if he refuses to retire, then he will not be reluctant, but his eldest grandson will not have a chance.

'What a great move! Pei Ju thought secretly in his heart.

"My grandson has come to ask my grandfather for instructions."

Pei Ju pondered for a moment and said, "Do you understand Zhang Xuan's intentions?" ”

"My grandson feels a little wrong."

Pei Ju smiled, "I am a servant of the door, but you are a waiter of the Yellow Gate, and the two ancestors and grandchildren dominate the province of the sect, so it is really going to be a strange thing to talk about." ”

"Grandson thinks ......" Pei Hong bit his lip and didn't continue.

"What do you think, keep talking."

"My grandson feels that His Royal Highness King Qi seems to want to transfer my grandfather out of Menxia Province."

Pei Ju nodded, "You saw half of it, but it wasn't to transfer out of Menxia Province, but to persuade me to return to my hometown." ”

Pei Hong was taken aback, "This.... How does this work? ”

"I'm actually to blame."

Pei Ju let out a long sigh, "Zheng Shanguo was deposed to Qichun County, and I just retired conditionally, and he is not thin on me." ”

"Grandfather, what's going on?"

Pei Ju pondered for a while, but decided to tell the truth, otherwise his grandson would not know, which would cause him to make a wrong choice.

"Zheng Shanguo was deposed because of Lu Chu's matter."

"Ahh

Pei Hong exclaimed in a low voice, he was extremely shocked in his heart, he couldn't have imagined that the Lu Chu case that was making a lot of noise turned out to be Zheng Shanguo, listening to his grandfather's tone...... It seems that he was also involved.

Pei Hong is very shrewd, although his grandfather is vague, he still immediately understands the cause and effect, it must be his grandfather and Zheng Shanguo who planned the Lu Chu case, the king of Qi began to settle accounts after the autumn, Zheng Shanguo was deposed, and his grandfather asked to return to his hometown, in exchange for conditions, he was promoted to the Yellow Gate Squire.

Pei Hong was silent for a moment and said, "Sun Er decided to reply to King Qi, he is not qualified enough to be a waiter of the Yellow Gate. ”

Pei Ju understood what the eldest grandson meant, he would rather give up his career than maintain his dignity, which made him feel ashamed for a while, and he actually asked his grandson to take responsibility for the sins he created.

Pei Ju touched his grandson's head, and said to him seriously: "Zhang Xuan didn't depose Zheng Shanguo because of the Lu Chu case, I know him very well, he has long wanted to do something to Zheng Shanguo, but he has been waiting for an opportunity, and this time Zhang Xuan seized the opportunity." ”

"Why?" Pei Hong asked puzzled.

Pei Ju smiled bitterly, "The family is only loyal to the family and doesn't care about the change of dynasty, so the family often bets on both ends, some of the children are officials in Chang'an, and some of the children are officials in Zhongdu, like our Pei family, Wen Yanbo brothers, Taiyuan Wang family, and even the new champion Chu Suiliang father and son, and there are many in the army, Qin Qiong father and son, Pei Renji father and son, Luo Yi father and son, etc., Zhang Xuan actually doesn't care, so Chu Sui Liang can be the champion, but the key is that there is a degree of problem, the family must maintain a balance between Chang'an and Zhongdu. ”

"Grandfather is saying that the Zheng family is biased towards Chang'an?"

Pei Ju snorted, "It's not just bias, the crown princess of the Tang Dynasty is the daughter of the Zheng family, the Zheng family spared no effort to support the Tang Dynasty, how much wealth did Yang Qing bribe, hundreds of thousands of taels of gold were temporarily deposited in the Zheng family, and all of them were donated to the Tang Dynasty by the Zheng family, if it was wealth, the Zheng family also supported the Tang Dynasty politically, this time Wang Shichong and the Tang Dynasty reached an agreement on Xiangyang for Hongnong, that is, the Zheng family threaded the needle in the middle, before the Zheng family refused to support Wang Shichong, after Li Jiancheng wrote a letter, the Zheng family changed their attitude, And the scholars of the Central Plains basically went to Chang'an to participate in the imperial examination, what is the reason for this, Hong'er, do you understand? ”

"Could it be the result of the Zheng family's pressure on other Central Plains families?"

"That's why! These are all Zheng Shanguo told me personally, he thought that Zhang Xuan didn't know, I had already seen that Zhang Xuan couldn't bear him anymore, and he didn't do anything to him just to take care of the overall situation. ”

"In that case, why is my grandfather still .......?"

Pei Hong didn't understand, since he knew that King Qi was disgusted with Zheng Shanguo, why did his grandfather help Zheng Shanguo plot against Lu Chu?

Pei Ju sneered, "Where am I here to help him, I just don't want Lu Chu to be the prime minister, I am for the benefit of the Pei family, don't you know that it caused pregnancy?" ”

Pei Hong was like an electric shock, he suddenly understood what his grandfather was thinking, it turned out that the Pei family was competing with the Lu family for the second generation of monarchs of the Northern Sui. (To be continued.) )