Li Chun was about fifty years old, tall and thin, with dark and rough skin, he had long served in the capital water supervision and the Ministry of Industry, and in Jiangdu he served as a member of the Ministry of Works.

Even Li Chun himself couldn't have imagined that he would be reused by Zhang Xuan, which gave Li Chun, who was already desperate for his career, a new hope, and he was extremely serious and active.

Hearing that he was going to give him a new responsibility, he hurriedly bowed down and said, "Please command Your Highness, Wechen will go all out!" ”

Zhang Xuan didn't mention the new task, but asked, "How long will it take for the new city to be completed?" ”

Li Chun understood what Zhang Xuan meant, so he pointed to an official who was supervising the repair of the city in the distance and said: "That person is Zhao Wenyi of the Ministry of Works, my adjutantant, I can leave the rest of the things to him to do, the important things have been completed, and my absence will not affect the progress." ”

Zhang Xuan nodded and said to Li Chun, "I want you to go to Liaodong." ”

Li Chun was stunned for a moment, and said for a while: "Wechen has built the Linliao Palace in Liaodong, did His Highness ask Wechen to repair it?" ”

"It's not to repair the palace and strengthen the defenses of Liucheng so that it can resist the attack of at least 100,000 people, this matter is very urgent and important, I'm afraid you can't spend the New Year with your family." Zhang Xuan said to Li Chun with some apologies.

Li Chun nodded silently, and then said, "Weichen understands, let's go and clean up, and then we can set off for Liucheng!" ”

Li Chun turned around and left, Zhang Xuan looked at his back and walked away, but he was thinking about Liaodong in his heart, Zhang Xuan knew that Goguryeo was likely to attack Liaodong under the pretext of helping Goguryeo restore the country, but at the same time he was also looking forward to Goguryeo attacking Liaodong.

"Your Highness!"

Someone behind him was calling him, Zhang Xuan turned around, but it was Pei Ju standing not far behind him.

Zhang Xuan stepped forward and asked with a smile, "Why didn't Pei Gong go to see the homestead?" ”

Pei Ju smiled slightly, "I have a grandson who is the capital of the capital." I don't have to worry about this kind of thing, I guess I'll be the worst piece of land. ”

"He just chooses the worst piece of land by himself, Pei Gong chooses by himself, and I will decide."

"Thank you, Your Highness, in fact, I am not in a hurry at this time, let's pick it later! Wechen has another thing he wants to say to His Highness. ”

Jang Xuan nodded. "Pei Gong, please speak!"

Pei Ju waved his hand forward, "Your Highness, can we take a walk." ”

The two walked slowly on the stone-paved avenue, and Pei Ju smiled: "Has Your Highness considered holding a imperial examination?" ”

"There has been a lot of fighting in recent months, and I haven't considered the imperial examination for the time being."

"Although His Highness is very busy, we have considered it, and we have all agreed that we can hold a imperial examination next spring, facing the imperial examination of the scholars of the world, in the words of His Highness. It's meritocracy. ”

"Don't you think about the family first?" Jang Hyun smiled.

"We have debated this issue, in fact, the people who can be admitted to the imperial examination are basically the children of various families, or the protégés of the major families, there is no need to reserve places for certain families, which will attract the dissatisfaction of other families, anyway, they are all children of the family, everyone competes fairly, and if they lose, they are not good at learning. You have nothing to say, Your Highness. We have come to a consensus that we are all willing to accept meritocracy. ”

Zhang Xuan's heart is like a mirror, he knows that even if it is meritocracy, several major families have an advantage, and the so-called meritocracy actually protects the interests of major families, and it is unfair to small and medium-sized families, so it is reasonable for Pei Ju and other ministers to support meritocracy.

However, the reform of the imperial examination is not trivial. To a certain extent, the Sui Dynasty lost the support of the scholars because of the abolition of the Jiupin Zhongzheng system and the implementation of the imperial examination system, so Zhang Xuan did not want to oppose many ministers in this matter, and he still needed the support of these ministers to maintain the existence of the imperial court.

Zhang Xuan smiled and said, "That's it! I would like to ask Pei Gong to write a recital in accordance with the normal procedures. Everyone has expressed their position, and if they unanimously support it, then I will not oppose it. ”

Pei Ju tested Zhang Xuan's attitude at the request of everyone, Zhang Xuan's statement made him secretly happy in his heart, and he immediately smiled again: "It's a little ashamed to say it, our country's prince has not yet been appointed, I don't know if His Highness has a suitable candidate?" ”

Zhang Xuan nodded, "I am indeed going to recommend one person, it is Cheng Du Yan in the original imperial history, what does Pei Gong think?" ”

Pei Ju was stunned, "Didn't Du Yan serve as a servant in Luoyang?" ”

"He was excluded by Duan Da in Luoyang, and he was dissatisfied with Wang Shichong's dictatorship, he was Du Senjun's uncle, I asked Du Senjun to write a letter to him, and he came."

Pei Ju was slightly unhappy in his heart, he originally wanted to recommend Wang Shan, the former doctor of Guozijian, as the Guozijian priest, but he didn't expect Zhang Xuan to decide on the candidate a long time ago.

Du Yan is a famous figure in the Guan Sergeant clan, if Zhang Xuan's reuse of Jing Zhao Wei's Wei Yunqi is because of the sharing of adversity, then the reuse of Du Yan means that Zhang Xuan began to win over the Guan Sergeant clan.

But Pei Ju's dissatisfaction in his heart is not because Zhang Xuan attaches importance to the Guan Sergeant clan, but because Zhang Xuan is unambiguous in the appointment of important official positions and has monopoly power, which is the third time that he has opposed his recommendation.

Two days ago, Pei Ju wanted to recommend Huangfu Song, the former waiter of the Ministry of Rites, to serve as the waiter of the Inner History, but Zhang Xuan appointed Xiao Yu, who had just come from Chang'an, as the waiter of the Inner History, and again, Pei Ju suggested that Cui Junsu be Taichangqing, but Zhang Xuan thought that Cui Junsu was good at diplomacy, so he appointed him as the secretary of Honglu Temple and the Turkic envoy.

All in all, none of the people recommended by Pei Ju, Zhang Xuan, were reused, or they were reappointed, which made Pei Ju feel very faceless, and this time the candidate for the Guozi Priest Wine was vetoed by Zhang Xuan.

Pei Ju finally couldn't help but say: "Your Highness, although Du Yan is an old minister, after all, he was born in the Jingzhao Shi clan, and most of the Tai students are from Hebei, the Central Plains and Bingzhou, and the old minister thinks that it is more appropriate to choose the Shandong Shi clan." ”

Zhang Xuan smiled slightly, "Pei Gong is too rigid about the region, our court is not the court of Shandong and Hebei, but the world Sheji, what does it matter if Jingzhao is born, besides, Du Yan is also a famous man in the world, rigorous in his studies, and has a strong appeal, let him serve as the country's chief priest, just to recruit talents from all over the world for us, Pei Gong said isn't it?" ”

Pei Ju smiled, "Your Highness is right, it's the old minister who didn't think it through. ”

Zhang Xuan suddenly remembered something, and asked again: "This Wang Shan is the Taiyuan Wang family, right?" ”

"Exactly, he is the younger brother of Wang Shuo, the head of the Taiyuan Wang family."

"I want to see him, where is he now?"

"Back to His Highness, he is currently in Beihai County."

At this moment, a personal soldier rushed over and presented a letter to Zhang Xuan, "Your Highness, the pigeon letter urgently sent by Yidu Fuzhong." ”

Zhang Xuan was stunned, it was actually a family letter, he didn't know what was going on at home, so he quickly opened the letter and read it, and was overjoyed, his wife Lu Qing and Wu Niang gave birth to a daughter and son respectively.

Zhang Xuan's heart was full of joy, and he smiled at Pei Ju: "I'm going to clean up, I'm ready to return to Yidu, let's go back together!" ”

．．．．．．．

Yidu these days are full of lights, jubilant, the reason is that Zhang Xuan, the king of Qi, has another pair of children, after the news spread, the people of Yidu spontaneously celebrated, and every household hung out the lanterns in advance to prepare for the New Year, and the sound of firecrackers continued, as if the New Year was coming.

The palace of the king of Qi is also busy, the princess gave birth to a beloved daughter, the second lady gave birth to a noble son, double happiness is coming, the minister's family members who came to celebrate are endless, big and small, the whole house is a little unbearable.

Lu Qing was wearing a confinement suit, wearing a warm hat and half lying on the soft couch, this time due to the excessive bleeding, she was really a little weak, and she has been recuperating during this time.

Although the weather was already in winter and it was very cold outside, two pots of charcoal were burned in the room, which made the room very stuffy, and Lu Qing was a little unbearable, so he hurriedly asked a few maids to carry a charcoal pot out.

The third lady Xinyu sat next to Lu Qing, a little aggrieved, living in the Central Plains for several years, she has gradually faded the mark of a grassland woman, her skin has become white and delicate, and there is a little more gentleness between her eyebrows and eyes, no matter the language or living habits are no different from Han women.

Her father was given the surname Yang by the Son of Heaven Yang Guangen, so she changed her name to Yang Xinyu and was named Liangdi.

Because the two ladies gave birth at the same time, the big and small affairs of the family were pressed on her, she was really a little unbearable, especially she was very bad at socializing, and the minister's family came to congratulate her at a loss, and embarrassing things constantly happened.

"Eldest sister, I'll just do the things in the house, let the fourth sister go for entertainment!"

Lu Qing knew Xinyu's difficulties, so he nodded and agreed, "Okay! I'll let the fourth sister do it, you just have to take care of your two-month-old mother and three children. ”

Xin Yu was suddenly relieved, and finally didn't let her go to socialize, she held Lu Qing's hand and smiled: "Thank you eldest sister for understanding the little sister's difficulties, then I'll go and see the situation of the two children, and report back to the eldest sister." ”

Lu Qing smiled, "I know you want to slip away, go ahead!" ”

Xin Yu smiled embarrassedly, got up and went, and Lu Qing said to Lixiang next to him: "Go and ask the fourth lady to come over." (To be continued.) )