Coming out of the Qi Palace, Lu Zhuo was still in a trance, or because he was not mentally prepared, when he went to the Qi Palace, his Ministry of Rites was gone, which made him really unacceptable.

"Master, are you going home?" Lu Zhuo got into the carriage, and the coachman in front of him asked in a low voice.

"Let's go home!"

As soon as Lu Zhuo finished speaking, he suddenly changed his mind again, and hurriedly ordered: "Go to Pei Xiangguo's mansion." ”

By this time it was almost dark, the scorching sun had receded, the air had a little cool breeze, the streets became lively, people came and went everywhere, and the sound of gongs and drums celebrating the victory could be faintly heard in the distance.

Lu Ju's arrival was expected by Pei Ju, in the study, a maid served them tea, Pei Ju took a sip of tea and said with a smile: "The virtuous nephew seems to have something on his mind?" ”

Power is a sweet poison, which makes Pei Ju want to stop, although he is over seventy years old, he is still extremely obsessed with the power in his hands, and he refuses to relax for a moment, and strives for the most allies to maintain his power, which is what Pei Ju has been doing.

Lu Ju and Pei Ju's personal relationship has always been very good, especially after Zhang Xuan married Pei Zhizhi, the two have become 'relatives' to some extent, especially Pei Ju's continuous failure to recommend ministers and is in a period of loss, at this time he needs the support of his allies more, but looking around, it seems that only Fan Yang Lu can give him support, so Pei Ju is also very close to Lu Ju.

Lu Zhuo sighed, "Last time, my clan's grandson Lu Han was removed from my imperial examination list, I originally thought it was a trivial matter, but now I found out that I had caused a big disaster. ”

"Why did the virtuous nephew say this?"

"The King of Qi accused me of sabotaging the imperial examination, and he was furious, I really don't know who told him about it?" Lu Zhuo said hatefully.

Pei Ju didn't care who leaked the secret, he only cared about how Lu Zhuo got the news of King Qi, he groaned slightly, suddenly came to his senses, and said with a smile: "The virtuous nephew just came from the princess!" ”

"Exactly!"

Seeing that Pei Ju had guessed the source, Lu Ju sighed and said, "King Qi takes care of my face and is willing to settle this matter privately, but I always have a bad feeling in my heart, and I am very confused, so I ask Uncle Shi to guide me through the maze." ”

"Can you tell me first, what is King Qi's solution?" Pei Ju looked at Lu Ju and asked.

Lu Zhuo hesitated slightly, but still said, "King Qi has two plans, let me choose one of them, one is to let me resign from the official after I am sick, and the second is to transfer Jianghuai as an official, which is a disguised derogation." ”

When Pei Ju heard the second plan, his eyebrows were raised, and he smiled and said: "I don't think the virtuous nephew will consider the first plan, in fact, there is only one plan, if I am not mistaken, the king of Qi is ready to let the virtuous nephew serve as the Taishou of Jiangdu." ”

"But Jiang Du is still in Chen Ling's hands!"

"Soon it won't be."

Lu Zhuo leaned forward and asked with great interest: "So, has Chen Ling already decided to be loyal to Zhongdu?" ”

"It's hard to say, but Chang'an has already sent a special envoy to Jiangdu, it is said to be Chen Ling's brother, under pressure, we will not delay any longer."

Speaking of this, Pei Ju said with a smile: "I'll tell the virtuous nephew another news, Cui Huan is likely to be transferred to Beihai County as the Taishou, and this was also mentioned in the letter from the King of Qi to us today, of course, as compensation, Cui Huan will be crowned the Duke of Qinghe County, then, the virtuous nephew will also be the Duke of Fanyang County." ”

Lu Zhuo was stunned, not because he was knighted, but because Cui Huan was also going to be transferred, his mind was in a mess, and he didn't understand why this was for a long time?

"Don't you understand?"

Pei Ju smiled slightly: "It's not a sabotage of the imperial examination, it's just an excuse, the fundamental reason is the Hebei Shi clan, the Shi clan itself has no problem, but once an interest group is formed, no one in a position will tolerate it." ”

The so-called authorities are fascinated, bystanders are clear, Pei Ju's words made Lu Zhuo wake up like a dream, and Zhang Xuan transferred himself and Cui Huan away, just to dismantle the Hebei Shi Group

Lu Zuo returned home with a heavy heart, but when he entered the mansion, he unexpectedly learned that his second son Lu Qingyuan had come to Zhongdu.

Lu Qingyuan has been the county governor of Zhuo County since last year, and Jiang Zhong, the former Shouguang County commander who originally served as the county commander, was reappointed as the Taishou of Anle County, which can be regarded as a selfish intention of Zhang Xuan, and gave this important position to his wife and brother.

Although Lu Qingyuan is not a county taishou, Zhuo County is one of the two most populous counties in Hebei, and as a county leader of Zhuo County, its officialdom status is far greater than that of ordinary small county taishou.

Lu Zuo went back to the study to change his clothes, and at this time, the maid reported at the door, "Master, the second son is here." ”

"Let him in!"

Lu Zuo returned to his table and sat down, and after a while, Lu Qingyuan walked into the room quickly, knelt down and bowed, "The child greets his father!" ”

Lu Zhuo is really not in a good mood today, the arrival of his son makes him feel a little relieved in his heart, but he is also a little strange, okay, what does his son do when he comes to China? It should not be the time to debrief.

"Sit down and talk!"

Lu Qingyuan sat down and said to his father: "The child has received a letter from the ministry when he comes, and it seems that the child is going to be transferred to the imperial court." ”

Lu Zhuo's heart jumped, he was going to be transferred to Jiangdu soon, but his son was going to be transferred to the imperial court from the local area, is there a relationship between the two?

"What position do you want you to take?" Lu Zhuo asked.

Lu Qingyuan hesitated and said: "The child went to see Wei Shangshu today, chatted with him for a few words, and he asked the child if he would like to come to the Ministry of Rites to serve, but his father is the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, how can his son enter the Ministry of Rites again, so the child thinks that Wei Shangshu is just joking." ”

Lu Zhuo stood up suddenly, his heart was extremely excited, as if he had suddenly discovered a big secret, he paced back and forth in the room with his hands in his hands, this is right, Zhang Xuan does not want to suppress the Lu family, he will still safeguard the interests of the Lu family's court, if his expectations are good, his son Lu Qingyuan will be appointed as the right attendant of the Ministry of Rites, and in another ten years, he may be promoted to the secretary of the Ministry of Rites.

"Father, the child doesn't want to come to the court to take up a job at all!" Lu Qingyuan said calmly.

"Why?" Lu Zhuo looked at his son in bewilderment.

"The child has only been in Zhuojun for half a year, and he has just straightened out various relationships and is about to start performing his duties, but he was transferred back to Zhongdu, and it is really difficult for the child to accept this appointment."

Lu Zhuo was also silent, he slowly paced back and forth in the room with his hands, at this time he had slowly calmed down, his son's idea was actually very reasonable, his son is still young, only thirty years old, first in the local experience for ten years, accumulate enough qualifications, and when he is forty years old, he will be an official in the court, and when he is a few years old, he can be directly promoted to Shangshu, and he can be promoted to Xiangguo before the age of fifty, which is a safe way to be promoted.

Now Zhang Xuan just let his son enter the court as an official in order to appease the Lu family, such a promotion lacks seniority support, and it can't be long, and it is easy to be degraded if he makes a slight mistake, or he should start as a magistrate, Lu Zhuo remembered Li Qingming again, he has been promoted to the squire of the military department, but he has repeatedly asked to go to the local place as an official, which is actually a truth.

As for the interests of the Lu family in the imperial court, as well as Lu Chu, once he comes to Zhongdu, he can also serve as a waiter in the Ministry of Rites.

Thinking of this, Lu Zhuo said to his son: "I can tell King Qi about this matter, let you continue to be an official in Zhuo County, I will talk to Wei Shangshu tomorrow, let you go back first, in short, you can rest assured that you can be an official in the local area, and accumulate fame and experience." ”

"Thank you father, father's teachings will be remembered by the children."

Lu Qingyuan saluted and was about to leave, but Lu Zhuo said to him again: "There is one more thing you have to keep in mind, you should not participate in any gathering of the Hebei Shi clan. ”

Lu Zhuo was deposed as the leader of the Hebei scholars, he learned from the pain, he never wanted his son to be affected again, he knew that Zhang Xuan was only warning now, if the Hebei scholar group was not disbanded, it would kill people and shed blood.

．．．．．．

Four days later, the first batch of triumphant soldiers, totaling 50,000 Sui troops, arrived in Zhongdu on a large ship.

On the shore of Huanshui in the north of the central capital, the people of Zhongdu poured out of the city to welcome the triumphant return of the Tang Dynasty soldiers, the shore and the official road on both sides were crowded with densely packed hundreds of thousands of people, they cheered, sang and danced, everyone was very excited, waving colored flags, and the whole Huanshui became a sea of colorful flags.

When the soldiers of the Sui army got off the big boat, countless fathers and villagers rushed up and handed pots of wine and bread to the soldiers of the Sui army, and the warm smiles melted the hearts of all the soldiers of the Sui army.

When Zhang Xuan, the king of Qi, walked out of the Vermilion Bird boat he was on, hundreds of thousands of people in Zhongdu were boiling, and the entire south bank of Huanshui suddenly erupted into a landslide and tsunami-like cheers, "Long live His Royal Highness the King of Qi!" ”

"Hooray! Long live King Qi! ”

Jang Hyun kept waving and saluting the people on the shore, and the warm atmosphere was pushed to a climax, "Hooray!" The cheers rang out in the sky.

Then there was a ceremony for 30,000 Sui troops to enter the city, which was the most effective way to boost morale, improve public recognition and centripetal force, when a group of soldiers in armor and armor marched to the north gate of the central capital, hundreds of thousands of people on both sides greeted each other, everyone cheered, the excited expression was overflowing, they beat gongs and drums, waving flags made of brocade, "Long live the Sui army!" ”

This supreme glory brought tears to the eyes of every soldier of the Sui Army, and it was a glory that they were willing to defend with their lives.

But the most passionate and crazy thing is the cheers of hundreds of thousands of people for Zhang Xuan, and every place where the carriage he rode in immediately set off a tidal wave of cheers, "Long live King Qi, long live His Majesty the Emperor!" ”

Finally, someone shouted out their deep desire, and they sincerely hoped that this wise King of Qi would take another step forward and become their Emperor Majesty, whether it was the Sui Dynasty or another dynasty, they didn't care.

Hundreds of old men dressed in white reverently knelt in front of Zhang Xuan's carriage, their white-haired heads kowtowing on the ground, they had the greatest expectations for His Royal Highness King Qi, and everyone longed for the reappearance of the prosperous era.

Although Jang Hyun sat in the well-guarded carriage and could not see the enthusiasm of the welcoming crowd clearly, he still saw the excited crowd from the gap that occasionally flashed, saw the tearful faces, and heard the cheers of the mountains and tsunamis, and he was also extremely moved in his heart.

He deeply felt the burden of a thousand catties on his body, and he knew that the people of Zhongdu were no longer welcoming his triumph, but pinning their greatest expectations on themselves in the troubled times, thousands of miles of rivers and mountains, the fate of tens of millions of people, and the powerful revival of an empire would all be tied to him. (To be continued.) )