readx; After a few days of intense preparation by the Pei family, the time gradually came to Pei Kuan's seventy-fifth birthday, and at the fifth watch, Li Qingan came to Pei's mansion, at this time, Pei's mansion has gathered hundreds of Pei's children from all over the Tang Dynasty to celebrate his birthday, including more than 200 Pei family children who came from the ancestral land of Hedong, and Pei's mansion was very lively. But they are the masters, and the high-ranking officials of the Tang Dynasty and the famous families who came to celebrate their birthdays in Chang'an are the guests, so the Pei children were organized to greet the guests, arrange carriages, clean up the garbage, and carry heavy objects, in short, everyone has their own tasks. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

Before dawn, everyone got up and began to work on the final nervous busyness.

Pei Kuan's birthday ceremony was held in the Pei Mansion Hall, which is a hall that is enough to accommodate thousands of people, the momentum is magnificent, the sky is not completely bright at this time, the lanterns in the lobby have been half extinguished, the light seems a little dim, a hundred Pei family children are busy arranging the venue, thousands of low tables have been set up, each low table can sit two people, flowers and fruits and vegetables have been placed on the table, and there are early morning dew drops on it, this time the Pei family's dishes will be provided by the ten most famous wine stores in Chang'an, and the dishes will be delivered one after another at noon, At this time, the Pei family had to arrange the venue first.

Li Qing'an walked through the busy lobby, on the wall of the front desk of the lobby, posted a huge 'Shou' character made of gold leaf, and the following was filled with all kinds of Shou peaches, Shou noodles and a white jade carved Baizi birthday screen, in front of the screen placed a wide circle chair, this will be Pei Kuan's seat, although the Tang people's habit is to sit on the ground, but in the Tang Dynasty the chair has been introduced from the Western Regions, the court and many rich and noble families have used the circle chair, Pei Kuan's body is weak, it is difficult to kneel and sit, so the wide circle chair is just right for him, On both sides of Pei Kuan's main seat, there are also seven circle chairs, which are for the seven birthday ceremony preparers to sit, in fact, it is the seven core figures of the Pei family, at this time, a young woman is laying Pei Kuan's seat, it is Pei Zunqing's granddaughter Pei Wan'er, she is so focused that Li Qing'an approached, she did not find that the cushion is three high-quality lambskins, in order to make Pei Kuan sit as soft and comfortable as possible, the lambskin is covered with a soft and snow-white white fox skin, This precious fox skin is a gift from the Khitan people when Pei Kuan was the envoy of Fan Yangjiedu, and it has been decades, the white fox skin is still as bright as new, but there is a black panther skin on the back of the chair, and it is this black panther skin that attracted Li Qing'an's attention.

Pei Wan'er was bending down to carefully arrange the black panther skin, she suddenly felt something, and when she turned around, she saw a man standing behind her, and she was scared. With a light snort, she hurriedly walked away, she saw clearly that it was Li Qing'an, and she was suddenly stunned for a moment, and at the same time, a flush flew over her face, a pair of big eyes blinked a few times, and she took a deep breath, she seemed to have calmed down, and smiled at Li Qing'an very shyly.

"General Li, is there something wrong with you?"

Li Qingan pointed to the black panther skin and smiled apologetically: "I wanted to see this black panther skin, which frightened the girl." ”

"It's okay!"

Pei Wan'er took a step back to the side and gave up her seat to Li Qing'an, Li Qing'an slowly stepped forward and gently stroked the black shiny leopard skin, the soft leather made him seem to have returned to the Lilou Fengshu Fort many years ago, the frozen Lingshan, a new soldier who had just arrived in the Tang Dynasty, time seemed to be reversed at this moment, making Li Qingan immersed in the reminiscence of the past.

Pei Wan'er on the side did not disturb Li Qing'an's contemplation, she was still holding a golden satin cloth in her hand, after arranging the chair, she needed to cover the chair with satin, she stood aside, curiously looking at Li Qing'an in contemplation, she heard her grandfather say that this man was the most powerful person in the Tang Dynasty, and even Huang Yanjing was afraid of him.

But where is he strong? Pei Wan'er didn't feel Li Qing'an's strength at all, his demeanor was so polite, his smile was gentle, his voice was low and soft, he was simply a reader who read the scriptures a lot.

Pei Wan'er has been listening to adults mention this person since she was ten years old, for six years, his heroic deeds, his anecdotes, always circulated among her sisters, he led the army to defeat the big cannibal, he drove the Hui people back to the grassland, and then he got married, the wedding was grand, all kinds of rumors made Li Qingan an an unattainable figure in her heart, he seemed to be a god on the clouds, full of mystery and awe in her heart.

But at this moment, Li Qingan was in front of her, this legendary figure in Datang was standing in front of her, she even saw the long scar on his forehead, her two cousins had bet that the scar on his forehead was crescent-shaped or Beidou-shaped, and now she saw it, neither crescent-shaped nor Beidou-shaped, but a slender and long scar.

At this time, Pei Wan'er felt Li Qing'an's blazing eyes looking at her, she lowered her head weakly, her heart was pounding, as if she had done something bad and was caught red-handed, after a while, she secretly glanced at Li Qing'an again, only to find that he was not looking at herself, he was looking at the white jade screen beside her, Pei Wan'er's nervous heart fell slightly, but there was a trace of frustration in her heart.

"Girl, do you know where this panther skin came from?"

Hearing Li Qing'an ask herself, Pei Wan'er's heart couldn't help but become nervous again, she shook her head in a panic and said: "This is my great-grandfather's beloved thing, if the general likes it, you can ask the great-grandfather, he admires the general very much, maybe he will give it to you." ”

"Where did the girl go, how could I want Pei Ge Lao's beloved things."

Li Qingan smiled: "I don't want this black panther skin, but this black panther skin was what I hunted back then, and it reminded me of some things back then." ”

Pei Wan'er was stunned for a moment, and she immediately covered her mouth and smiled: "It turns out that it was hunted by General Li." ”

Li Qingan saw her smiling weirdly, so he asked puzzledly: "Why, don't you believe that I am the prey?" ”

"Nope! No! ”

Pei Wan'er hurriedly waved her hand and said, "I didn't mean that, it was this morning's ......"

In the latter words, Pei Wan'er was a little embarrassed to speak: "What's wrong with this morning?" Li Qingan asked with a smile.

"Then I said, General Li don't be angry."

Li Qingan waved his hand and said, "You just said it, how could I be angry with the girl." ”

Pei Wan'er restrained the smile on her face and said, "This morning, the eldest grandfather gave me this leopard skin, he said that hunting this leopard is the most lame hunter in the world, such a precious black leopard skin was actually shot with a big hole, it is simply a waste of treasure, if he finds this hunter, he must teach him a good lesson." ”

Li Qingan smiled dumbly, and said: "This is also a matter of great regret, originally this leopard was choked half to death by me, and then stabbed it in the heart.....

"Ahh Pei Wan'er let out a low cry and covered her heart with her hands, with a frightened look in her eyes, "General Li, this is too cruel." ”

"But if I don't kill him, I'll be bitten to death by it, and I'll get a whole panther skin, but unfortunately someone shot through it at the liquor store."

Li Qing'an touched the small arrow hole, although it had been patched, there were still obvious flaws, and he couldn't help but think of the brutal little lady in Bahuan City back then, and he didn't know how she was now?

Li Qingan sighed secretly, and smiled at Pei Wan'er: "The old man, I will surrender myself, and the girl will continue to be busy!" I won't bother you. ”

After speaking, Li Qing'an walked towards the inner courtyard, and after walking a few steps, he stopped and turned back and asked, "Your name is Pei Wan'er, right?" ”

"Hmm!" Pei Wan'er blushed and nodded.

"It's a nice name."

Li Qingan smiled and said to himself: "When did Li Linfu reconcile with his old rival?" ”

turned around and left, Pei Wan'er looked at his back, and didn't understand what he meant for a long time.

Just as Li Qing'an and Pei Wan'er were talking, Pei Zunqing was standing behind another screen not far away, looking at the two of them, his eyes were full of pride, he saw that Li Qing'an had a little meaning to his granddaughter Wan'er, and this was exactly what he wanted.

Pei Zunqing is a very pragmatic person, he is not as keen on Buddhism as Pei Kuan, nor is he like Pei Min who focuses on government affairs, he attaches more importance to the development of the family, and now the status of the Pei family in the imperial court has risen to a very high level, he is a servant of the door, and Pei Min is the right minister of Zhongshu Ling, this kind of family not only occupies a high position in the province, but also grasps the power of the province, it is extremely rare, it can be said that the Pei family has reached a peak, but Pei Zunqing is still not satisfied, Because the current imperial court is the weakest moment of the country's strength since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the places that can be controlled are only four places: Guanzhong, Guannei, Hedong and Henan.

And there are eunuchs and strong vassals in the imperial court, and the power of the Pei family will be greatly discounted, Pei Zunqing thinks that in the future, when the Tang Dynasty is reunified and the national strength is restored to the strongest, what will be the status of the Pei family? Can you surpass the Cui family in an all-round way?

Surpassing the Cui family has always been Pei Zunqing's greatest concern, for this reason, he must find a big tree for the Pei family, so that the Pei family can get the support of this big tree, can get the shade of this big tree, when Li Qing'an entered the city on the first day, in front of the civil and military officials like slaughtering a chicken and killing Meng Yun, he recognized Li Qing'an's style of killing chickens and setting an example for monkeys, Li Qing'an is undoubtedly the most suitable tree.

He also saw Li Qing'an's eagerness to win over the family, he understood Li Qing'an's ambition, Pei Zunqing couldn't help but think of the words of "Warring States Policy":

Lu Buweijia, a native of Puyang, was in Handan, and when he saw Qin's proton and a different person, he returned to his father and said: "How many times is the benefit of plowing the field?" ”

He said, "Ten times." ”

"How many times does Jewel win?"

He said, "A hundredfold." ”

"How many times does the lord of the country win?"

He said: "Countless. ”

He said: "Today's strength is in the field, there is no warm food and clothing, and now the country is established as a king, Ze can be left behind, and I wish the past." ”

When Li Qing'an was anxious to get the support of the family, why didn't he follow Lu Buwei's example and double his capital?

Pei Zunqing walked to his granddaughter Pei Wan'er with his hands behind his back, Pei Wan'er saw her grandfather coming, Ying Ying saluted and said, "Wan'er greets her grandfather!" ”

Pei Zunqing waved his hand and said with a slight smile: "Does Wan'er not understand the meaning of Li Qing'an's last sentence?" ”

Pei Wan'er nodded, "My granddaughter really doesn't understand. ”

"Not only do you not understand, I'm afraid that the vast majority of officials in the court will be confused when they hear this, do you know why?"

Pei Wan'er looked at her grandfather blankly, she didn't understand at all, Pei Zunqing gently stroked the black leopard skin, sighed and said: "Because this black leopard skin was Li Linfu's beloved thing, he ordered his son to give me this leopard skin before he died, please I give it to your eldest grandfather, people are dying, his words are also good, Li Linfu has several big opponents in his life, your eldest grandfather is one of them, Li Linfu asked me to give this leopard skin to your eldest grandfather before he died, just to reconcile with the Pei family, but I never told your grandfather that this leopard skin was given by Li Linfu." , Li Qingan's last sentence is what he meant. ”

Only then did Pei Wan'er understand, and she sighed in a low voice: "It turns out that he said a word casually, and it was so meaningful." ”

Pei Zunqing squinted and smiled, his granddaughter seemed to have a little bit of interest in Li Qing'an, now is not the time, he didn't say anything, so he ordered: "The black panther skin and the white fox skin are not paved for the time being, you put it away first, and then spread it after the first batch of guests come." ”

"Yes, my granddaughter understands. Pei Zunqing looked outside the lobby, it was already dark, and there should be a guest with the surname Anxious coming first.

．．．．．． The sun had already shown its face from the magnificent eastern city wall of Chang'an, shooting out golden light, as if laughing loudly, defying the layer of light mist, and there was not a trace of cloud in the blue sky, showing its depth and boundlessness.

Jingshan Fang has been lively, more than a dozen Pei family children drove ox carts, a bag of birthday gifts wrapped in red cloth to every family in the workshop, each red bag has two longevity peaches, a bottle of longevity wine, and three hundred money, this is not only to the villagers' hearts, but also a kind of apology, today the road in front of Pei's house will be temporarily closed for a day, used to park the guest carriage, Pei's kindness and knowledge of the gift attracted a voice of praise from the people in the workshop.

Firecrackers also went off, 'Boom! The sound was deafening, a large group of children were jumping in front of the fire with their ears covered, and the carriage of the first guest was slowly driving into Jingshanfang, which was the first guest of the Pei family.

A child of the Pei family who set off firecrackers immediately rushed into the house to report, and after a while, Pei Zunqing and Pei Zhen went out together to greet them, the carriage stopped in front of Pei's mansion, and the first guest to arrive turned out to be Wei Tao.

The Wei family was second only to the Pei family in Chang'an, ranking third, but several heavy blows made the Wei family gradually decline, one was the Wei Jian case during the Tianbao period, most of the Wei family's children who were officials in various places were cleaned up, and the second time was the recall case of Li Hengdong Palace, Wei Tao and Wei Jian were both dismissed, although Wei Jiansu later served as Xiangguo, but Li Yu was in the power to remove Yang Guozhong, Wei Jiansu was also deposed, and later was appointed as the left squire of the military department, and after Li Heng came to power, he didn't miss the old feelings at all, didn't consider the sacrifices made by the Wei family for him, and even Concubine Wei, who was forced to become a monk in the past, didn't take a look, which made the Wei family very chilling.

Although Wei Tao does not have a position, he still has the title of loose official, the golden purple Guanglu doctor of the third grade, and he was the young master of the crown prince, with a noble status, and he is the patriarch of the Wei family, so his arrival was courtesy by the Pei family.

"I didn't expect the first guest to arrive was Brother Wei!"

Pei Zunqing greeted him with a laugh, and hugged Wei Tao affectionately, Wei Tao also smiled: "With the friendship between Pei and Wei's two families, Pei Ge has a birthday, how dare I not be the first to come." ”

The relationship between the Wei family and the Pei family is very good, the marriage is very deep, Pei Zunqing's deceased wife is the daughter of the Wei family, of course, Wei Tao came so early, it was not because of the relationship between the Wei family and the Pei family, he had another purpose, he glanced at it and saw Li Qing'an's carriage parked aside, and he was secretly happy in his heart.

He came early, he wanted to come to talk to Li Qing'an, a few days ago, Li Qing'an personally sent him an invitation, but he happened to be not at home, his younger brother Wei Jiang accepted the invitation for him, this incident made Wei Tao regret it all the time, if he knew that Li Qing'an was coming, he would definitely not leave the house one step.

Wei Tao dealt with Li Qing'an in Yangzhou back then, and also formed a grudge, when Li Qing'an was assassinated in Yangzhou, it was Wei Tao's single-hand planning, he was instructed by his son-in-law Li Yan, the king of Di, although he has always been worried about this matter, but later Li Qing'an had a good relationship with him, and he also borrowed wine to cut a table in his house, and the matter of Yangzhou seems to have been diluted.

At this time, Li Qingan also walked out quickly, and Lao Yuan smiled and said, "It turned out to be Young Master Wei, I went to the house to deliver an invitation a few days ago, and you happened to be away." ”

"Let His Highness run for nothing, Wei Tao is uneasy, I came early today, I also want to apologize to the general, and by the way, I want to reminisce about the past."

Li Qing'an naturally understood what Wei Tao wanted to reminisce about, so he smiled and said: "It just so happens that I have nothing to do, let's talk together and talk about Yangzhou." ”

He smiled at Pei Zunqing again: "Pei Shilang, this first guest, I will receive you." ”

"Huh! Great general though casual! ”

．．．．．．．． Li Qing'an is one of the members of the preparatory team, and he can be regarded as half of the master of the Pei family, he invited Wei Tao into the small guest room, the two sat down separately, Li Qing'an's personal soldiers served them tea, at this time, Wei Tao suddenly stood up, bowed deeply to Li Qing'an and said: "I have to apologize to the general first!" Li Qingan hurriedly waved his hand and smiled: "What is there to atone for, Young Master Wei has something to go out temporarily, and I didn't make an appointment in advance, so I should apologize." ”

"No!" Wei Tao shook his head, "I'm not talking about sending invitations two days ago, I'm making amends for the assassination of the general in Yangzhou back then." ”

Li Qingan's eyes slowly narrowed, "It turns out that the Yangzhou Post House assassination was committed by you!" ”

That incident has always been a mystery in Li Qing'an, he was assassinated when he first arrived in Yangzhou, and the murderer has not been identified, and the matter is somewhat unresolved, until now, Li Qingan understands that it was Wei Tao who did it, and he was the governor of Yangzhou at that time.

Wei Tao sighed and said sincerely: "I have no grievances with the general, and that case was also forced by Li Yan, the king of Di, including the back to rob the gold, which was also the order of the king of Di, this matter has passed for many years, but it has always made me haunted, if I don't say it, I am afraid that I will not be at peace in this life." ”

After speaking, he knelt down, kowtowed to Li Qingan, and said bitterly: "I know that I am guilty of a lot, although the general escaped, but he was almost killed by me, I dare not beg the general for forgiveness, but I really can't regret it." ”

Li Qing'an helped him up, nodded silently, and said: "As Wei Taishi said, I have never been wronged or revengeless, Wei Taishi was also persecuted by King Di, and now that King Di is also dead, the grievance should be resolved rather than settled, that matter is over, I forgive Wei Taishi." ”

Speaking of this, he smiled again: "I remember that I still owe Master Wei a table, so that what we both owe is exactly offset, and neither of us owes anyone else." ”

Wei Tao was very moved in his heart, he sighed, and said with emotion: "The general's broad-mindedness makes Wei Tao very respectful, if the general does not give up, our Wei family is willing to serve the general!" ”

(To be continued)