Zhang Xuan has been back in Zhongdu for half a month, this time the southern requisition took four months, he is really a little tired, back home to get along with his family day and night, get his wife meticulous care, he quickly got rid of the exhaustion, and again energetic and devoted himself to the heavy court affairs. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

On this morning, Zhang Xuan came to the harem and made a special trip to meet the young Son of Heaven and the Empress Dowager Xiao, the Son of Heaven is only four years old this year, in fact, he has been forgotten, in the hearts of the subjects of the world, Zhang Xuan is the Emperor of the Mandate of Heaven, and in the hearts of the civil and military officials of the imperial court, the highest symbol of power in the Northern Sui is the Queen Mother.

It is no wonder that according to the law of the imperial court, before the Son of Heaven was a minor, the supreme decree was issued by the Queen Mother, and even the New Year's Dynasty was also issued by the Empress Dowager Xiao, as for the Son of Heaven, his figure never appeared in any ceremony, and there was no edict, as time passed, everyone naturally gradually forgot about this young Son of Heaven.

Zhang Xuan saw that the Son of Heaven just took a brief look, asked about his physical condition, and then asked the palace maid and eunuch to take good care of it, the time was very short, and then he went to see the Queen Mother.

The palace where Empress Dowager Xiao received foreign ministers is called Liuyun Palace, which is a small palace, and sometimes several Xiangguo will come here to meet the Empress Dowager, but today Empress Xiao is in her own living place, Furong Hall to meet Zhang Xuan, which is also a special favor to Zhang Xuan.

In the past two years, Empress Xiao has lived very quietly, because the harem and the back house of King Qi are connected by lake, you can sit on the painting boat to and fro, when Zhang Xuan is not in the house, Empress Xiao and Lu Qing often visit the door to chat, and the life is not lonely.

"Weichen Zhang Xuan meets the Queen Mother!" Jang Hyun knelt down in front of the steps and saluted.

Empress Xiao is well maintained, her skin is delicate and snow-white, her appearance is still beautiful, she looks a little younger than her daughter Princess Nanyang, but her body is slightly plump, which brings out her grace and luxury, Empress Xiao smiled and said: "Your Highness is exempt, please take a seat!" ”

A palace maid sent a futon, Empress Xiao waved her hand, and asked the palace maids to retreat, only the two of them were left in the Furong Palace, Zhang Xuan sat down under Empress Xiao, and asked with concern: "I heard the princess say that the queen mother was sick in the spring, is it better now?" ”

Empress Xiao smiled and waved her hand, "That was two months ago, it's just a small feeling, it's a long time ago, but I still have to thank His Highness for your concern." ”

Empress Xiao looked at Zhang Xuan carefully, and sighed slightly: "I haven't seen you for a few months, Your Highness has lost a lot of weight, presumably the princess is very distressed, and even I ......."

Zhang Xuan heard that there was something in her words, so he didn't need to look up, he just looked at Xiao Hou, Xiao Hou's face was slightly red, his eyes quickly moved away, and he said in a low voice: "Your Highness sent the little girl back to me, my gratitude to Your Highness in my heart is beyond words, please accept my worship!" ”

After speaking, Empress Xiao stood up and stepped forward and knelt down to Zhang Xuan.

Empress Xiao refers to the princess of Nanyang, Yuwenshi and his wife, after the Yuwen brothers were executed, Yuwenshi and abandoned his wife and children, and fled to Chang'an, he and Li Jiancheng had an excellent personal relationship, and they were reused again in Chang'an.

Princess Nanyang and her son were captured by the Sui army, and Zhang Xuan handed over their mother and son to Empress Xiao, which made Empress Xiao grateful to Zhang Xuan.

Zhang Xuan was startled, and hurriedly helped Empress Xiao up, "The Queen Mother can't be like this!" ”

He touched Empress Xiao's snow-white and delicate arm, and suddenly felt that something was wrong, so he hurriedly withdrew his hand, and at this moment, he had a strange feeling in his heart.

Empress Xiao smiled at him, then turned back to her seat, Empress Xiao was an extremely shrewd woman, who had read the world for a long time and knew the cruelty of the palace struggle.

She knows that the fate of their orphans and widows is in the hands of Zhang Xuan, and now Zhang Xuan needs her, once Zhang Xuan ascends the throne and becomes emperor in two years, her use value will disappear, what will be their fate? Will he be thrown into the cold palace, lack food and clothing, die in misery, or simply get sick and die in time.

So Empress Xiao decided to use all her capital to entrap Zhang Xuan, including currying favor with Princess Qi, trying her best to play the value of her queen mother in the court, etc., but she always felt that it was still a little bit short, when she took a self-portrait in the mirror, she found that she was still very beautiful, and she had an idea, maybe she could use a woman's capital to further entrap Zhang Xuan.

Zhang Xuan felt something, Empress Xiao actually only needs to kneel and bow in her seat, there is no need to go in front of herself to bow down and thank you, is she deliberately letting herself help her?

Zhang Xuan found that there were only two of them in the small hall, which was obviously deliberately arranged by Empress Xiao.

Zhang Xuan's heart jumped violently, he did have a thought of admiration for Empress Xiao in his heart, after all, this is Queen Xiao who is famous for her beauty, and it is this deep admiration in his heart that makes him especially care for Empress Xiao.

But he never thought about Empress Xiao, and at this moment, under a hint from Empress Xiao, he finally gave birth to a desire for conquest that he had never had before, the kind of conquest unique to those who are in power in the world.

Zhang Xuan tried his best to hide the embarrassment in his eyes, and asked with a dry smile: "What does the Queen Mother usually do?" ”

Empress Xiao had already seen through the mind of the man in front of her, she knew that she was about to succeed, so she pursed her lips and smiled, "I have liked painting since I was a child, and I will paint a few landscapes or people if I have nothing to do, by the way, I specially painted a portrait for His Highness, Your Highness would like to see it?" ”

"Of course Weichen wants to witness the Queen Mother's masterpiece!"

"The painting is not very easy to take, Your Highness can come with me."

Xiao Hou got up, looked back at Zhang Xuan deeply, and walked behind the curtain, Zhang Xuan hesitated slightly, he wanted to restrain that desire, but he was a mortal after all, and more importantly, he had been balancing in the high position of power for a long time, and the kind of power poison that would rather let the world bear me than let the world bear me had already unconsciously invaded his bone marrow.

Zhang Xuan did not hesitate, and followed Empress Xiao to the back of the tent, but as soon as he walked to the edge of the tent, he suddenly stopped his body, he heard a very slight footsteps behind him, and the corner of his eye swept back, and there was no one behind him, but Zhang Xuan saw a pair of emerald green embroidered shoes inlaid with gold wire next to the big pillar, and then looked up, he saw the angry gaze of a young girl.

........

In the afternoon, Zhang Xuan sat alone in the official room of Ziwei Palace to deal with official business, and what happened in the morning made his heart difficult to calm down for a long time, and he didn't know whether he should regret or rejoice.

At this time, a guard reported outside the door, "Your Highness, General Li Jing's 800-mile express has been delivered!" ”

Zhang Xuan perked up and hurriedly said, "Present it immediately!" ”

Although the battle on the main battlefield in the south has ended, but the campaign to expand to the south is still ongoing, the Sui army after the end of the Jiangnan Campaign, the southernmost to Dongyang County, but then to the south there are Yongjia County and Jian'an County, especially Jian'an County is very large, that is, the later Fujian Province.

In addition, after the Battle of the Ganjiang River, the southernmost county controlled by the Sui army was Nankang County, that is, the source of the Ganjiang River, but the Lingnan counties further south of Nankang County were not involved in this battle.

Therefore, Li Jing's task was to include Yongjia County, Jian'an County, and Lingnan counties in the territory of the Northern Sui, which were themselves the territory of the Great Sui, and all officials were appointed by the imperial court.

When Yang Guang died in Jiangdu, the southern counties were in a state of detachment and autonomy, neither self-established as princes, but also without the jurisdiction of the central court, but this kind of improper name, unsatisfactory state will not be delayed for long, Li Yuan's eastern crusade plan clearly included the inclusion of the southern counties, Zhang Xuan did not forget, his southward strategy also included the southern counties, Li Jing led an expeditionary force of 10,000 people directly to the south.

Not long after, the guards sent an urgent military report, and Zhang Xuan immediately ordered: "Go and invite Fang Junshi and Du Shenjun!" ”

Zhang Xuan slowly spread out the scroll and carefully read the military report written by Li Jing, at present, the expeditionary force has recovered Yongjia County and Jian'an County, and all the way has been smooth before, the army only had a battle in Nan'an County, and Nan'an County was occupied by a pirate.

The number of pirates is small, only a few hundred, and they have been exterminated by the Sui army, but Zhang Xuan is very interested in another piece of information mentioned in Li Jingjun's newspaper, these pirates were originally coastal fishermen, gathered as bands, and traveled between Yongjia, Jian'an and Liuqiu, which is Taiwan.

During the Great Cause, the Sui warships went to Liuqiu twice, and the main general in charge of this matter was Chen Ling, but it happened that Chen Ling went to pacify Jianghuai and Jiangnan on behalf of the imperial court, and Zhang Xuan had to temporarily put aside this idea.

At this time, the guards reported at the door: "Fang Junshi and Du Senjun are here!" ”

"Let them in!"

After a while, Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui walked in, and the two bowed and saluted, "See Your Highness!" ”

"You may be seated!"

Zhang Xuan smiled and asked them to sit down, and handed them Li Jing's express report, "The pharmacist has entered Nanhai County, and the military newspaper said that Feng An, the governor of Lingnan, has sent someone to contact him and express his willingness to join the Northern Sui, but the pharmacist is very cautious, he has learned that Feng Ang has recruited a large number of troops in advance, and suspects that Feng Ang has ill intentions, so he is temporarily stationed in the Zengcheng area, waiting for my decision." ”

Fang Xuanling read the report and said with a smile: "This is the advice given to His Highness before the humble position, you need to have both civil and military skills, Wen must be appeased, military must be prestigious, and the combination of rigidity and softness will be achieved with half the effort, but it is a pity that His Highness only used the rigid side, Feng Ang is naturally suspicious, and the humble position is still the same sentence, first stabilize Feng An, at least let him nominally submit to the Northern Sui, and then make a decision when the conditions are ripe in the future." ”

Du Ruhui also said: "In fact, whether it is Feng Ang in Lingnan, or Ning Changzhen in Qinzhou, they are all ruled for generations, Feng An's grandmother, Mrs. Xian, is known as the Holy Mother of Lingnan, the Feng family has a high prestige in Lingnan, and the Ning family is the same, they have been the leaders of various clans for generations, and they have a high status in Qinzhou and even Guangnan Province. ”

Zhang Xuan also realized that he had thought a little simple at that time, so he nodded slowly, "Okay, I'll send someone to Lingnan!" ”

(To be continued.) )