In the chūn season, it rained two chūn rains in Wenxi County, and the warm chūn rain fell on the fertile land of Jinzhong in a fine and dense manner, making the breath of chūn even stronger.

Grass grew under the withered leaves on both sides of the road, birch branches in the woods were covered with verdant fluff, plum apricots and poplars pulled out fragrant slender leaves, and the long hair-like branches of the willows by the river were full of delicate new shoots.

Flocks of ducks frolicking and foraging in the river, and buffaloes carrying shepherd boys swimming slowly in the river, enjoying the warmth of the chūn water, is a chūn full of life.

On the official road covered with smoke and rain, a group of passers-by from afar rode horses, followed by several ox carts, and walked unhurriedly towards Peijia Village, which was miles away.

In a newly built school in Peijia Village, more than 30 children between the ages of four and six are reciting the Analects aloud: "Zi said, learn and learn......

Under an old locust tree like an umbrella in the courtyard of the school, a thin old man squinted at the children and focused on reading, his old and expectant eyes were like an old gardener waiting for new seedlings to sprout.

The old man is Pei Ju, he has been back to his hometown for a while, his heart has been completely calm, and he has forgotten about the struggle for power and profit in the court for the time being.

He put all his thoughts on the education of Pei's children, whether it was a child of four or five years old, a teenager, or a high-spirited young child, he had to ask them one by one, regardless of his concubine, treat them equally, give them the best conditions, invite the best Confucian, and he was willing to spend more money.

It's just that after the New Year, Pei Ju's body suddenly became old, and he himself felt that life was passing day by day, and the rìzi he left in the world was not long.

Pei Ju has nothing to remember, as long as the Pei family is talented, then sooner or later the new dynasty will have a place for the Pei family. As long as the crown prince does not fall, then this day will come sooner or later, although he can no longer see it, but he knows the general trend, the general trend is so.

After sitting under the big tree for a while, Pei Ju was a little tired, stood up and walked outside the school with a cane, and just walked to the door. A teenager of twelve or thirteen years old came running in a hurry. almost collided with Pei Ju.

Frightened, the young man hurriedly knelt down, "The great-grandson was rude and collided with his great-grandfather!" ”

This young man's name is Pei Zhao, the second son of the eldest grandson Pei Jin, and he is also Pei Ju's favorite great-grandson, and he is very smart. At the age of twelve or thirteen, he was outstanding in learning, and because he was the same age as Yang Ning, Pei Ju pinned the hopes of the Pei family on him to a large extent.

Pei Ju smiled and said, "You little monkey." In a hurry, did the fire burn the tail? ”

"No, back to my great-grandfather. It's the third grandfather who has returned, and I'm here to tell you. ”

The third grandfather is Pei Ju's third son, Pei Wenju, who has been in business in Jiangnan, has he finally come back?

Pei Ju was overjoyed and hurriedly said, "Help me go and see." ”

Pei Zhao hurriedly got up and hugged his great-grandfather. Slowly walk towards the outside of the school.

There are a few carriages parked at the gate of the school, Pei Wenju and his subordinates who came back from Jiangnan are still riding on horses, Jiangnan has always been a prosperous place for commerce in the Great Sui, and the Pei family also has a big industry in Jiangnan, dozens of shops, thousands of acres of tea gardens, and earns rolling profits for the Pei family every year.

Of course, such a large industry needs a core person to preside, so Pei Ju's third son, Pei Wenju, is the manager.

Pei Wenju is in his fifties this year, with a medium build, a thin face, he has never had a chance to enter the office, but he is extremely business-minded, jīng is capable, and has excellent ability, and he keeps the Pei family's business empire in Jiangnan in order.

At this time, an old housekeeper of the school said to them: "The third master, please dismount, the old lady has made a rule, no matter who it is, the door of the family school must be dismounted, in order to show respect for the gentleman." ”

Pei Wenju hurriedly dismounted, more than a dozen of his subordinates also dismounted, suddenly there was a sound of footsteps in the school, Pei Ju was helped out by his great-grandson Pei Zhao, Pei Wenju saw his father at a glance, saw that his body was extremely weak, and he was close to running out of oil, he felt sad for a while, and hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down, "Wenju greets his father!" ”

The retinue behind also knelt down one after another, "See the head of the family!" ”

"Everybody get up."

Pei Ju asked everyone to get up, he glanced at his son again, his heart was happy, and he hurriedly waved his hand and smiled: "San Lang should also get up!" ”

Pei Wenju stood up and hugged his father, Pei Ju smiled: "Let's go back to the house to talk." ”

"Yes!"

Pei Wenju and Pei Zhao walked slowly towards the inner mansion with Pei Ju on the left and right......

Back in the room, Pei Ju sat down, his son's return made him happy in his heart, and the god jīng was also very uplifted, he smiled at Pei Zhao first: "You go study!" You don't have to worry about it here. ”

"The great-grandson has taken his leave."

Pei Zhao bowed, bowed to Pei Wen and said, "Third grandfather, grandson farewell." ”

"Well, go ahead!"

Pei Wenju looked at him and walked away, and smiled at his father: "This kid is good, he knows etiquette calmly, and he is quite atmospheric. ”

Pei Ju sighed and said: "Among the children of the Pei family, your generation is relatively weak, there is only one Pei Shiqing, and there is also a military general Pei Renji is good, and among your children, there are many talents, Minqiu, I won't talk about it, like Jin'er, Qingsong, Xingyan, these are all outstanding, but there has never been a talent, I learned from the pain, and found that our Pei family has a deviation in education, paying too much attention to Pei Xue, and despising family learning, and cultivating a lot of disciples, but the children of the Pei family have become mediocre, So I want to change this deviation, every year forty percent of the Pei family's income must be invested in the education of the Pei family's children, I believe that after decades of hard work, the Pei family will definitely produce talents in the future, from Zhao'er's body, I have seen hope. ”

Pei Wenju said with a face full of shame: "It was the child's incompetence that disappointed his father." ”

"I am not disappointed in you, you are very capable, earn enough money for the Pei family to educate future generations, you are a meritorious hero of the Pei family."

The words 'meritorious minister' moved Pei Wenju silently in his heart, and Pei Ju smiled, "Don't talk about this, let's talk about the situation in Jiangnan!" I heard that there was a war over there, so Yang Yuanqing personally went to Jiangnan and told me about it. ”

"Back to his father, when the child left Jiangnan, he had not yet arrived, and when the child arrived in Liangjun, he heard the news. Yang Yuanqing has already destroyed Li Mi, so Jiangnan should be calmed down now. ”

"Hmmm! As I expected. ”

Pei Ju nodded and praised: "Yang Yuanqing is indeed courageous, has a strategic mind, first destroy the weak and then destroy the strong, if I guess correctly, his next step is to fight Jingxiang, then Bashu, and finally chaos Chang'an." Capture Gangnam. In fact, the general trend of the world has been decided. ”

Speaking of this, Pei Ju sighed again, "Speaking of which, the Tang Dynasty was originally very promising, with the support of the Long nobles, the occupation of the land of Guanlong Longxing, and the richness of Bashu. This is like the Qin State during the Warring States Period, if the soldiers use their lives, the monarch and the ministers are united. The clan is united, so it is really unknown who will kill the deer. It's a pity that the internal strife of the Tang Dynasty ruined the great future, and the Tang Dynasty will go and will never return! ”

"Why does my father think there was such infighting in the Tang Dynasty?"

This is actually Li Yuan's responsibility, and he should not have named Li Shimin the king of Qin from the beginning. You can seal Li Shimin as the king of Jin, the king of Yan, the king of Wei, but you can't be the king of Qin, the king of Qin is the lord of Guanlong, generally only before the prince enters the East Palace, you can be named the king of Qin or the king of Yong, when Li Yuan named Li Shimin as the king of Qin, there was already the idea of changing him as the prince, and the root of the turmoil in the Tang Dynasty had been buried at that time. ”

"Maybe it's because Li Jiancheng is too old and threatens Li Yuan's throne, is that so?"

Pei Ju nodded approvingly, "You can see this, it's not easy, it's true, Li Yuan named Li Shimin as Shang Shuling, Admiral Tiance, and allowed him to set up his own subordinate officials, these are all the powers that the prince has, obviously, Li Yuan is deliberately provoking the dispute between the prince and the king of Qin, as an emperor, this is a very clever imperial technique, Li Yuan's approach itself is beyond reproach, but he did it five years earlier, he should have destroyed the strong enemy of the Sui Dynasty first, and then played with the emperor's technique, at that time, whether Wang Shichong, Li Mi or Dou Jiande, It's all insignificant, but it's a pity that Li Yuan was too anxious and made a careless move, resulting in a loss of the whole game. ”

Pei Wenju pondered for a moment and said: "The child heard that Li Yuan has dismissed Li Shimin's Shangshu Order and is ready to seize his military power, if the Tang Dynasty is lost and returns, do they still have hope?" ”

Pei Ju shook his head, "The key is that the Tang Dynasty has lost too much in front, and the entire national strength has been exhausted, Guan Long has been swept away as soldiers, taxes are heavy, and manors are rampant, resulting in boiling public resentment, plus the capital has been breached, and the confidence of the government and the opposition has been lost, and the strong enemy in the north of the Sui Dynasty has been eliminated, but Yang Yuanqing is working step by step, with a clever strategy, without a trace of flaws, unless Yang Yuanqing makes a major mistake, such as the Hebei rebellion, the Central Plains rebellion, or the southern rebellion, which disperses the Sui army's strength and gives the Tang Dynasty a chance to breathe, otherwise, It is impossible for the Tang Dynasty to turn the tables again. ”

"Does my father think there will be a rebellion?"

"Hebei and the Central Plains have been in turmoil for so many years, and the people have long decided that who will rebel again? The only possibility was the south, but Yang Yuanqing also realized it, so he personally went to Jiangnan to pacify the south and not give the Tang Dynasty any chance. ”

Speaking of this, Pei Ju let out a long sigh, "The misfortune of the Tang Dynasty is that there is an opponent of Yang Yuanqing, if I Pei Ju can be twenty years younger and be the appearance of Yang Yuanqing, I have no regrets in my life, but back then, I knew people with my eyes, and this was the proudest thing in my life Pei Ju." ”

Pei Wenju remembered another matter, bit his lip, and asked worriedly: "But father, what if Yang Yuanqing finds out about the Shen family?" ”

Pei Ju smiled faintly, "If you were in Jiangnan, maybe he would have thought of something, so I let you come back, unless you didn't do what I asked in my letter." ”

Pei Wenju shook his head, "I have arranged everything one by one according to my father's explanation, and there is no omission." ”

"Then it doesn't matter, with my Pei Ju's foresight, Yang Yuanqing would never have imagined that the Shen family's destruction would be done by the Pei family."

After hesitating for a moment, Pei Wenju said again: "But there is still the Shen family in Dunhuang, and in the past, Shen Chūn, who joined the army in the record room, was the Taishou of Dunhuang County. ”

Pei Ju sneered, "I hope that Yang Yuanqing will use the Dunhuang Shen family, there are a few talents in the Shen family in Jiangnan, but the Dunhuang Shen family is all mediocre, and that Shen Chūn is even more greedy for money, he thinks that the Dunhuang Mountain is far away from the emperor, don't I know?" ”

Speaking of this, he looked at Pei Wenju again and said, "Do you understand? The key is talent, talent can rejuvenate the country, and mediocrity can only destroy the family, if Yang Yuanqing reuses Dunhuang Shen's mediocrity, then the position of Prince Ning'er is really worry-free, I am afraid that Yang Yuanqing will marry some famous family in the south, such as the daughter of the Xiao family, that is the threat. ”

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