Zhang Xutuo walked in with a smile, "I saw that your light was still on, so I came in and had a look." ”

Zhang Xuan invited Zhang Xutuo to sit down, poured him a cup of warm tea, and asked with a smile: "I haven't seen Dashuai for a long time, what has Dashuai been busy with lately?" ”

"I just took office, and there are a lot of things, but they are all trivial things, what personnel transfers, what official evaluations, etc., many people I have never seen at all, how do I evaluate them? It's annoying, it's not interesting, just mess around! ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Xutuo smiled again and asked, "I heard Wei Chi say, you went on a blind date today, how is it?" ”

Zhang Xuan's face was slightly hot, and he scolded with a smile: "That guy, repeatedly told him not to say it, but he still said it." ”

"Don't blame him for this, Yuan Ding, this is a good thing, we all care about you getting married, and you also know that you have no relatives at home, maybe you still need me to come forward to ask for relatives!"

Zhang Xutuo couldn't help laughing, "You should tell me, and then I'll go with you." ”

Zhang Xuan shook his head, "It's also fortunate that Dashuai didn't go, otherwise-"

Zhang Xuan didn't say any more, of course Zhang Xutuo understood what Zhang Xuan meant, in fact, he also got a hint from Wei Chigong that Zhang Xuan seemed to have hit a nail when he went to the Lu family, and the Lu family committed the common disease of the family and politely rejected Zhang Xuan's request to marry.

For this kind of common disease of the family, Zhang Xutuo has a deep experience, he himself is because of his poor background, he was depressed in the court dominated by the gate valve family, until the world is in turmoil, he has a chance to get ahead.

Zhang Xutuo sighed and said: "Pei Xiangguo talked to me two days ago, it seems that the Pei family wants to marry you, but you are not very willing, there is such a thing!" ”

"That's true."

Zhang Xuan smiled bitterly and said: "Marriage is really strange, you can't get what you want, but those who take the initiative to come to the door may not be what you want." Sometimes I'm confused myself, and I don't know what kind of marriage I want. ”

"But haven't you always had a close relationship with Pei Gong? Why can't it go any further? ”

Zhang Xuan was silent for a moment and said: "My relationship with Pei Gong is one thing, and my friendship with Dashuai is another, I can frankly tell Dashuai that the Pei family wants me to be their general, and they feel that they can't completely control me." So I have to tie up a marriage, although marriage is also a political transaction, but the premise is to have sincerity, so far, I can't see the sincerity of the Pei family. ”

Zhang Xuan made it very clear, his relationship with Pei Ju is just to use each other, he doesn't want to be a vassal of the Pei family, he doesn't want to be controlled by the Pei family, in fact, he doesn't want to be controlled by anyone. This is his bottom line, and Pei Ju just wants to break through this bottom line, of course he can't accept it.

Zhang Xutuo nodded, "I can understand your feelings, but our local generals have never been able to escape the control of the imperial court, and the Pei family occupies two positions in the power center of the imperial court, which shows the strength of their family, I only hope that my subordinates will not repeat my mistakes again." If someone in the court had been willing to speak for me, I would not have been deprived of military power. Retired in the capital, Yuan Ding, in the final analysis, our own background is too weak. ”

Zhang Xutuo's implication was to tell Zhang Xuan that they did not have strong capital now, and they could not offend a powerful person like the Pei family in the court, and they should compromise to some extent. For example, marriage, this will have a real backer in the court, and will not follow in his footsteps.

Zhang Xutuo was of course well-intentioned, but his assumption was that the Sui Dynasty still had decades, if not hundreds of years, to live. In this case, it is indeed a wise move to choose a powerful person like Pei Ju as a backer.

But Zhang Xuan knew that the Sui Dynasty's time was running out, and that it only had two years left to control the local area, and it was not cost-effective to pay the price of marriage for the sake of security for these two years.

Moreover, his roots are in the Shandong Peninsula, even if he considers political marriage, he should choose the Shandong Shi clan, Qinghe Cui clan, Boling Cui clan, Bohai Gao clan, Zhaojun Li clan or Fanyang Lu clan are all ideal choices.

The Pei clan in Hedong is only a scholar clan in Bingzhou, and it may be suitable for Li Yuan, Liu Wuzhou and others who raised troops in Bingzhou, but it is not very suitable for himself, which is the fundamental reason why Zhang Xuanwan refused Pei's marriage, he thought about it deeper and farther than Zhang Xutuo, and chose the Lu family, more or less there is also a little consideration in this regard.

It's just that he can't say these words to Zhang Xutuo, Zhang Xuan smiled and diverted the topic, "Actually, I think that the saint will not really let the marshal retire in the capital, and he will definitely let the marshal participate in the pacification of the bandits, the situation is stronger than people, and some things cannot be saged, even if the marshal will not return to Qingzhou, he will also participate in the pacification of the chaos in other places, such as the Central Plains, Guanlong, Jiangnan, and Bingzhou." ”

Zhang Xutuo also smiled: "Yujuluo also said similar things to me, I also look forward to being able to lead the troops to the battle again, I would rather die on the battlefield than be trapped in the high walls of the mansion." ”

Zhang Xutuo was actually entrusted by Pei Ju to ask Zhang Xuan's intention to marry, but now it seems that Zhang Xuan really doesn't want to marry the Pei family for the time being, so he didn't ask any more, got up and said with a smile: "It's not early, you should rest early!" ”

Zhang Xuan sent Zhang Xutuo out of the courtyard gate, and when he returned to his room, he knew that Zhang Xutuo was actually entrusted by Pei Ju to test his attitude, and Zhang Xuan also knew that his refusal of the Pei family's marriage request would affect his relationship with Pei Ju.

Originally, he just wanted to maintain a relatively simple mutual use relationship with Pei Ju, but Pei Ju wanted to further deepen this relationship, which broke their previous tacit understanding and cast a shadow on their relationship.

Zhang Xutuo reminded Zhang Xuan to a certain extent that he really couldn't put all the safety chips on the Pei family, and some of them had already been allocated to Yu Shiji, and he had to consider finding another person

At dawn the next day, Zhang Xuan came to the Yanwang Mansion, and Han Xin told him last time that the Yanwang generally went out early and returned late, and he could only meet him in the Yanwang Mansion in the morning or evening.

Although Pei Ju told him that the current Yan King was no longer the Yan King of the past, Zhang Xuan still felt that no matter whether it was out of etiquette or old affection, he should take the initiative to visit Yang Qi, and there was no irreparable rift between them.

And Zhang Xuan also vaguely felt that Pei Ju actually exaggerated Yang Ju's disgust with him to some extent, after all, Yang Ju was his biggest backer, and without Yang Ju's support, he could only be completely attached to Pei Ju.

Zhang Xuan waited for a while, and an old eunuch hurriedly walked out of the door, bowed down and said with a smile: "General Zhang, His Royal Highness King Yan is invited!" ”

A bit out of Zhang Xuan's expectations, King Yan actually agreed to meet him so happily, which means that he should have come to see him a long time ago, instead of delaying until now, Zhang Xuan suddenly realized that he had made a mistake in the matter of King Yan.

Zhang Xuan followed the eunuch into the Yanwang Mansion quickly, and Yang Qi, who had been coming to the living room, was drinking tea at this time, eating some refreshments, and preparing for entering the palace, the eunuch stepped forward to report: "Your Highness, General Zhang has arrived, waiting under the hall." ”

"Let him come up!"

The eunuch went down, and after a while, Zhang Xuan walked into the living room, stepped forward and bowed to Yang Qi on one knee, "Weichen Zhang Xuan see His Royal Highness King Yan!" ”

Yang Qi smiled slightly, "General Zhang, we haven't seen each other for a long time. ”

"Weichen should have come to see His Highness earlier."

"Lone heard Han Guard's say, you came here once, but unfortunately Lone was in the palace and didn't see the general."

Zhang Xuan was a little ashamed in his heart, the last time he came to Han Xin to inquire about Li Zitong's residence, not to visit King Yan, he didn't expect Han Xin to complete that visit for himself.

"Wechen is ashamed!"

"General Zhang, please sit down and have a cup of tea together."

Yang Qi asked Zhang Xuan to sit down, a palace maid served Zhang Xuan refreshments, Zhang Xuan secretly glanced at Yang Xuan, compared with last year, he has indeed matured a lot, a faint black beard has grown on his lips, and his eyes are deeper and wiser, if he was still a sensible teenager last year, then after a year of court tempering, he has quickly grown into a rational young man.

"General Zhang is also going to participate in the Heroes Meeting this time!" Yang Qi took a sip of tea and asked with a smile.

"Exactly! Wechen directly participated in the second round. ”

"Maybe Lone will also go to watch, hoping to see General Zhang show his might and win a good ranking."

"Wechen will do his best."

At this time, Yang Qi fell into deep thought, he seemed to be thinking about something, Zhang Xuan did not interrupt his train of thought, picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea, waiting for Yang Qi's train of thought to turn back.

Yang Qi pondered for a moment and asked, "Last time, General Zhang wrote to Gu about Beihai Taishou Liang Zhi, saying that he had actually joined the Bohai Society. ”

Zhang Xuan didn't expect Yang Qi to take the initiative to lead the topic to Bohai Society, and a thought suddenly flashed in his heart, whether he could use Yang Qi to bring down Yuan Min and return Dou Qing's favor. (To be continued......)