In the central capital, Ziwei Pavilion, Cui Junsu, who had returned from a Turkic mission, was reporting his trip to the Turks to the regent Zhang Xuan and seven members of the Ziwei Pavilion. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"The Turkic Khan knew of our arrival, but he did not show any indication of receiving us, nor did he prevent us from leaving, as if we were just passers-by, and I can only understand that the Turks have made up their minds and do not want to communicate with us or communicate with us."

"Why doesn't Princess Yicheng refuse to see the messenger?" Su Wei asked.

"She has a grudge against us and just sent her brother Yang Shanjing to contact us, she thinks..... We are not really the Sui Dynasty. ”

Cui Junsu glanced at Zhang Xuan, but Zhang Xuan was expressionless, Cui Junsu sighed and said: "We only lived in the Turkic court for three days, and early on the fourth day, Yang Shanjing sent us away, which of course was the meaning of Princess Yicheng, urging us to leave." ”

"Did Princess Yicheng say that she would persuade Chu Luo Khan to stop the southern expedition?" This is Xiangguo Xiao Yu asking a question.

"She made the conditions."

"On what terms?" Xiao Yu asked.

"Wechen ......"

The conditions proposed by Princess Yicheng really made it difficult for Cui Junsu to speak, but this was Ziwei Pavilion's inquiry, and it was an extremely serious place, he couldn't hide anything, so he had to say vaguely: "Princess Yicheng proposed to return the government to the Son of Heaven." ”

Everyone glanced at each other, everyone could guess this condition, and everyone could understand that Princess Yicheng was the princess of the Sui Dynasty, and of course she had to safeguard the interests of the Sui Dynasty, but it was absolutely impossible for the Northern Sui to accept it.

At this time, Zhang Xuan, who had been silent, slowly got up and said to everyone: "Peace is not a prayer, even if the Turks are willing to stop the war, but the conditions put forward must be extremely harsh, that is the material loss that we can't afford, and I don't want to bear it, this time Cui Yuanjun went north to the Turks, his task is only to determine whether the Turks have decided to invade the south, and how much time we have to prepare for war, from this point, Cui Yuanjun has completed the task, Cui Yuanjun, you tell everyone!" ”

"The Turks did decide to march south, and the Khan of Chuluo has sworn to Changshengtian, which Princess Yicheng told us through the mouth of Yang Shanjing, the reason is that the Turkic Khan wants to use this southern expedition to consolidate his throne, and he also told me that the arrow of the transfer order of Chuluo Khan has been issued to the Turkic tribes, and he said that at least more than 100,000 troops are going south, but I think at least 300,000 people, the time is at the end of February, that is the time when they go out to sacrifice to Changshengtian, the sacrifice is completed, and the army will set off immediately."

There was silence in the lobby, and at this time, Zhang Xuan glanced at Cui Junsu, and Cui Junsu bowed and retreated.

After a long time, Wei Yunqi said: "Presumably His Highness has already made some preparations, please talk about it!" ”

Zhang Xuan stepped forward and said: "Since it has been clear that the Turkic army will invade the south, then we need to do three things next, the first is to prepare for war, which is what the military is already doing, but the food and materials are far from enough, I decided to use all the food and materials in the Lushui warehouse in Youzhou to prepare for the war, and we can use Sangganshui to transport the food and materials directly to Shanyang County....."

At this time, Lu Chu raised his hand and said: "Your Highness, please interrupt Rong Weichen, Sangganshui needs to spend a lot of people's power to carry out large-scale dredging before it can sail, I'm afraid it's too late." ”

Zhang Xuan nodded and said: "This is what I want to discuss with you, we have to make two preparations, first ask the imperial court to come up with 500,000 yuan to raise 100,000 people from various counties in Youzhou to dredge the river, if the river can be dredged within half a month, then it can be transported to Shanyang County by boat, if the dredging project cannot be completed before the ice, then we can only use sleds to transport food and materials on the ice, then the imperial court needs to come forward to requisition 10,000 horse-drawn sleighs." ”

Su Wei laughed: "It's not the old minister who hits His Highness, today is already October 14, and it will start to freeze in half a month at most, so the grain ship will freeze on the way, it's really too late, it's really a good way to use a sled to pull grain on the ice, usually the first snow will fall in early November, so we simply use this method directly." ”

Everyone was in favor of using sleds to transport grain goods, and Jang Hyun agreed to everyone's plan, not considering recruiting people to dredge the river for the time being.

Zhang Xuan continued: "The second thing is to move all the people of Mayi County, Yanmen County and Loufan County to Hebei. ”

It was easy to reach a consensus on this matter, and everyone had rich experience in reconciling the victims, and they also received unanimous support from everyone.

At this time, Zhang Xuan said the third thing, "The third thing is that I want to negotiate with the Tang Dynasty, and the two sides will strike for a year to prevent the Tang army from stabbing us from behind when we are fighting against the Turks. ”

........

Cui Junsu's envoy determined that the Turks would invade the south in the spring of next year, and the Northern Sui Dynasty immediately began large-scale preparations for war, first of all, thousands of 500-stone cargo ships began to transport strategic materials such as grain and armor from Lushui Cang in Zhuo County to Huairong County in the northwest of Zhuo County, that is, the area around the Guanting Reservoir in Beijing in later generations.

This section of the distance is about 300 miles, you can also sail, and then go west to dredge the river, in this way, Huairong small county has become a transit station for material transfer, a large number of strategic materials are temporarily hoarded here.

At the same time, the Northern Sui court and the local government began to recruit large sleds in Youzhou and Liaodong, which were the means of transportation for transporting goods in the winter in the Liaodong area of Youzhou, almost every household had them, and it was very common, and there was basically no problem in raising 10,000 pairs of animal sleds.

In addition, the imperial court transferred 300 capable officials and 2,000 Taishu scholars from all over the country to Taigu County, and the Zhuo County garrison had begun to set up tent camps in Yi County, preparing to receive immigrants from the three northern counties.

At the same time as the Northern Sui court was preparing for large-scale war, Taiwei Pei Ju, as a special envoy sent by Zhang Xuan, went to Chang'an to negotiate an armistice with the Tang Dynasty.

......

Although Pei Ju no longer served as the prime minister and lost the power to discuss politics, his political status was further improved and he became the only three dukes of the Northern Sui Dynasty, second only to the regent Zhang Xuan, which was a typical political compromise to hand over power and gain status.

Although Pei Ju lost power, his influence is still there, and if he resolutely opposes some court affairs, the court still has to consider his opinions when making decisions.

However, after understanding Zhang Xuan's wrist, Pei Ju became silent, and he would not easily implement his influence on the political situation, and a more important reason was that Zhang Xuan promised him that within ten years, he would promote his grandson Pei Hong to the prime minister, although Jun did not joke, but it also depended on whether he understood the reason, and the words that should not be said were preached everywhere all day long, and no emperor would remember any promise.

"Pei Gong, did we know in advance about this negotiation Tang Ting?"

It was the deputy envoy Wen Yanbo who spoke, Wen Yanbo is currently the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, this time the envoy, Zhang Xuan took into account Pei Ju's advanced age, and he was afraid that he would not be able to withstand the physical strength of the long-term negotiation, but Wen Yanbo, who has a sharp mind and outstanding talent, is undoubtedly a good complement.

Seeing that it was less than ten miles away from Chang'an City, the dragon-like city wall could be clearly seen, but Tang Ting didn't seem to have any reaction, which made Wen Yanbo have a trace of doubt in his heart.

Pei Ju sat in the carriage, he glanced at the Tang cavalry guarding them, and said with a slight smile: "Don't worry!" Li Yuan knows everything. ”

As soon as the words fell, I saw a team of people rushing out of the city gate, and soon ran to the Sui envoy, the leader was Chen Shuda, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, Chen Shuda turned over and dismounted, and Pei Ju in the carriage bowed his hand and said: "Pei Gong, I haven't seen you for many years!" ”

Pei Ju was an official in the Chen Dynasty in his early years, and Chen Shuda was the younger brother of the later lord Chen Shubao, and the two had a very close relationship, but he was ten years younger than Pei Ju, so he took the initiative to come forward and salute.

Pei Ju returned the salute and smiled: "Zicong, please get in the car for a while!" ”

Chen Shuda greeted Wen Yanbo in the car behind him, and got into Pei Ju's carriage.

The two sat opposite each other in the carriage, and Pei Ju said with a smile: "I was still missing some old friends from Chang'an just now, and the first one I thought of Zicong, and there is really a providence in the dark." ”

The two laughed, and the carriage slowly started and headed for the city.

When entering the city gate, the light suddenly turned black, and Chen Shuda lowered his voice and said, "I heard that Pei Gong has been transferred to the rank of captain, why is this?" ”

Pei Ju smiled faintly, "There are many talents in the Northern Sui Dynasty, and we old people are old and have not enough energy, so we need to give way to young people." ”

"But Su Xiangguo is still in power."

Chen Shuda's implication is that Su Wei is older, but he is still in phase, and the reason for giving up his seat to young people seems unreasonable.

How could Pei Ju tell Chen Shuda the real reason, this is not Chen Shuda asking, but Li Yuan is asking, he smiled and said: "It is impossible for both of them to retreat at the same time, and an old Xiangguo with old qualifications and experience must be left to take them, Su Xiangguo is obviously more suitable than me, but Su Xiangguo may not be able to do it for a few years, and his health is getting worse and worse year by year." ”

Chen Shuda didn't ask the real reason, he was a little stunned, he had to divert the topic and said: "I also heard that the hundred officials of the imperial court invited the king of Qi to ascend the throne, but the king of Qi still declined, what is the reason for this?" ”

Pei Ju said with a smile: "Actually, you should think about it, the King of Qi is not like the Son of Guitian, the family is not huge, there are many sons and nephews, and the sons and nephews can be in charge of the military power respectively, the King of Qi was born poor, the clansmen died in the war, and the son is young, if he ascends the throne, then who will be in charge of the military power?" ”

Chen Shuda was stunned, nodded and said, "I see, His Royal Highness King Qi also has unspeakable secrets, I understand." ”

After a short time, the convoy arrived at your hotel, where three people in front of the hotel, five people and one sentry, full of elite Tang Army soldiers, extremely heavily guarded, and cavalry patrolling back and forth.

Chen Shuda said with a smile: "The room is all cleaned up, Pei Gong has a good night's rest, what do you need, just bring it up, tomorrow morning, my son of heaven will officially receive Pei Gong, and I will personally come to pick up Pei Gong into the court." ”

"Is this place so heavily guarded that we're under house arrest?" Pei Ju pointed to the soldier standing guard and asked.

Chen Shuda was taken aback, "Pei Gong can't say nonsense, how can the messenger be under house arrest, we are afraid that Luoyang's misfortune will happen in Chang'an, so we have to be cautious, if Pei Gong wants to send a letter or meet someone, as long as he doesn't go out in person, the soldiers will never interfere with the question, and no one will monitor, this is still the amount of my family." ”

Pei Ju smiled, "I see, then convey my gratitude to your son of heaven for me!" ”

"Definitely! Certain! ”

Chen Shuda said goodbye and left, Pei Ju smiled at Wen Yanbo, who was full of doubts: "Everything is in my expectation, let's go in and talk about it in detail!" (To be continued.) )