She wants to ask him for verification, her Zhao companion.

Did he, who turned his back on his former mistress and his little lord, and not turn all that night he saw to the present saint, her Aya.

Her Aya is ignorant of everything, unaware.

……

Outside the black-lacquered gate of a concert hall near the Imperial City, a young man in unremarkable clothes but tall and tall came in.

There are many similar places on several long streets in this area, which are all places where the feudal kings of various places or the envoys of the Jiedu outside Beijing set up in Beijing, so the neighborhood is not as noisy as other markets, and it is the afternoon time, and there are not many cars and horses on the road. He reported his name to the doorman of the Concert Academy, and waited quietly.

In a few moments, there was a commotion at the gate, breaking the silence of the afternoon. A young man who looked like a noble man rushed out of the inner hall, and he didn't have time to put on one of his boots, and was thrown in the courtyard, he didn't care, and ran out of the gate directly with white socks.

The man waiting outside the door turned to face him, smiling slightly.

"Erlang!"

In the shouts of surprise, Cheng Ping kicked out of the threshold, and with a "bang", his fist hit him on the shoulder.

"Okay, you Pei Xiaoyuan! Why did it come today? Tell me to wait! I looked for you for a day yesterday! Thought you had an accident on the way! When did you arrive? Which door to take? ”

Pei Xiaoyuan didn't dodge, and accepted this heavy punch from a friend, and then apologized with a smile: "I'm really sorry, I'm worried about you." I arrived last night, and I came in from Tonghua Gate. ”

Cheng Ping was furious when he heard this: "What an old brute! I think that Changle Yicheng is tired of living! I had just been there this morning to look for you, and he told me he didn't know! See if I don't whip him next time! ”

Pei Xiaoyuan said: "I didn't stay in Changle Station, how does he know?" ”

Cheng Ping paused, and then laughed, "That's it!" It's good that you're there! He stretched out his arm to pull him inward, only to realize that he was missing a boot on his foot. An entourage had already picked it up and waited for it, he jumped back with his feet, and then led Pei Xiaoyuan into with a smile, and after sitting down, he naturally asked him the result of this trip to find people, and he was disappointed when he heard that he didn't find anyone.

"Me too. On the way here, I kept inquiring, but there was no news. If the person is really gone, I am afraid that I will not dare to see Pei Gong in the future. ”

"You're overthinking. If you are entering Beijing, she will naturally not go with you. People should not have accidents, she has traveled with her grandfather since she was a child, maybe she is back at this moment, and Uncle He must have new news soon. ”

Pei Xiaoyuan comforted Chengping so much in his mouth, but he was not very sure about it in his heart.

Cheng Ping sighed, and complained a little: "Where did this woman go, it's easy to find!" ”

Pei Xiaoyuan was silent for a while.

Cheng Ping glanced at him, "That's it, don't talk about this, you've done your best." After speaking, he changed the topic, called out loudly, and ordered him to immediately go to the best restaurant in Chang'an, Chunfeng Building, to set up a banquet, and to pick up the wind and wash the dust for Pei Xiaoyuan. Without waiting for him to speak, he smiled and said, "It's useless for you to say anything, this meal is inevitable." Many of the sons and daughters of the guards in Beijing who are good with me have admired you for a long time, knowing that you have entered Beijing this time, you have already asked me again and again, if you don't go, I am nothing, ask them if they do not follow! ”

Pei Xiaoyuan thought for a moment and smiled: "Then thank you." I'll go over later, and I'll go to Cui Mansion later. ”

The Cui family is known as the first clan in the world, and his maternal uncle is one of them, Chengping has long known it, and when he heard the words, he no longer forced him to stay, and nodded: "It's okay, then I won't keep you." Before you arrived, your uncle had sent to me several times to deliver a message to me, saying that if he saw you, he would send him a message at once. ”

When he had finished speaking, he asked him about his next place and invited him to stay with him.

Pei Xiaoyuan said that he had settled in Jin Wuwei's house, and it would be just as convenient to move to the public office in a few days.

Cheng Ping knew that he didn't want to live with him, and he didn't force it, so he talked for a while, got up to send him out, and repeatedly told the evening reception banquet, and the two separated.

***

Yesterday, a treasure helped note pinyin in the comments,Refill ~

Li Yan (Yin Hu) child.

Chapter 20

The deadline for death is approaching, and the master has not yet arrived. Qingtou was still anxious a few days ago, and followed Chengping everywhere to inquire about the news, and today he appeared safely, full of endless joy, only to hear that he was going to Cui's house, and immediately asked someone to carry two red lacquer luodian boxes wrapped in colored silk.

This was what He asked him to prepare before leaving. Because he was worried that the things over there were not as good as those in Chang'an, and that Lang Jun would be looked down upon by the Cui family, who had not seen each other for many years, He took out his family foundation and specially told Qingtou to prepare a gift for Lang Jun according to the gift list.

"Lang Jun, look, these are all from the best shops in the West Market. Let's come to the door like this, and we will never lose face! ”

Qingtou opened the lid of the box and pointed to the gift in the same way.

"This is the rat whisker pen made by the Zhuge clan in Xuanzhou, and the pen used by Wang Youjun Shulan Tingxu in the past. Lang Jun, how much money do you know? One tube costs ten gold! I couldn't get this money even if I sold ten of them, and even so, it was hard to find a sum, so I waited for a month! This is Xi Jiamo from Shezhou. It's finally easier to buy than Zhuge pen, but it's not cheap. This is the peacock Luo and Wu Aya prepared by Eminem for the king's aunt, and he designated to buy Hengzhou and Yuezhou, which can make me look for it all the time, and the soles of my shoes will grind out holes......"

Qingtou invited the merit for himself, but suddenly felt that something was wrong, and his eyes fell on the master.

Cui's Mansion is next to the East Market, and the left and right are either high-ranking officials and nobles or high-ranking families. Qingtou looked at Lang Jun's clothes and found that it was too ordinary, but it was just a dark cyan round-necked spring shirt that anyone could wear, and an ordinary black rhino belt was no different from a flat-headed person, and it looked very unseemly.

During the period of time when Qingtou arrived in advance, he often followed Prince Ashina as an entourage, traveled around, and in addition to greatly increasing his knowledge, he also knew the importance of brocade clothes, and immediately asked him to change his body. He said that the luggage had been delivered, because he had not come before, and it was still in the prince's place, and there was a suitable one in it. People in Chang'an are different from before, and they must be dressed up brightly so that they will not be looked down upon.

Pei Xiaoyuan only told him that he didn't have to follow, and took out a gift box that the He family had prepared in the county guard mansion from the box with colorful silks, left Qingtou and the others, and urged the horse to go. He went to Cui's house, dismounted outside the door, tied the horse to the tethered stake at the door, and walked up with the box.

A Cui Mansion gatekeeper had already looked at him from head to toe.

"Who are you? What's going on here? Have you ever handed over a prayer post? ”

Pei Xiaoyuan handed over the salute, "Pei Xiaoyuan, I came to visit my uncle and aunt today, and I was tired to report it." ”

When the porter heard this name, he had been ordered before, and he was stunned, and then he looked at him again, and then he reacted, hurriedly grinned, took it, and opened the door for the guest.

Pei Xiaoyuan entered all the way under the gaze of many people from the Shuangcui Mansion, and waited calmly in the guest hall. Soon a steward came out, called for tea, and asked him to wait, saying that someone had informed the master of the house, and then stood aside to accompany the guest.

The steward called himself surnamed Wang, with a smile on his face, and his tone sounded very respectful, but in the face of this young visitor who had not moved for many years, although he also knew that the head of the family had been waiting for him for many days, the reserve and arrogance in his bones were still undoubted.

The head of the family, the official residence of the Ministry of Rites, has been low-key in recent years, and several rooms of the family have also withered due to long-term infighting, and the children are mediocre. But it doesn't matter, with this surname, the Cui family goes out, and in front of outsiders, it is still enough to raise their heads and stand tall.

The steward also knows the identity of the visitor, the son of the head of the family's sister, however, the Pei family is no longer what it used to be, although it was true that it was in a high position and famous all over the world, but Pei Gu died, Pei Ji is still a degraded official in the border area, and it is impossible to return to the court.

After all, General Jin Wu is Jin Wuwei, and those military candidates and horsemen who open and close the city gates and patrol the streets to commit rape are also Jin Wuwei.

Soon, with the sound of hurried footsteps, a person came from the direction of the back hall. The man was about fifty years old, wearing the usual clothes at home, and looked as if he had just come out of the study, and when he saw Pei Xiaoyuan sitting in the hall, he paused, stopped, and looked fixedly, as if he didn't dare to recognize each other for a while.

Pei Xiaoyuan naturally saw his uncle when he was young. Now that many years have passed, Cui Daosi has not changed much except for the wrinkles on his face, his hair is grayer, and he looks old.

He called out to his uncle, got up, and saluted.

"Niece Xiao Yuan took the liberty to come to visit, if you are disturbed, I hope you will forgive me."

Cui Daosi came back to his senses, walked quickly to Pei Xiaoyuan's side, supported his arms, looked at it for a moment, and couldn't stop nodding his head, his face was happy.

"Xiao Yuan, it's really you! You're so old too! Uncle Fang almost didn't recognize you! I thought you should have arrived a long time ago, but I heard that you had a good relationship with Prince Ashina, and I asked people to inquire about it several times. How did you arrive so late? ”

Pei Xiaoyuan said that there was something else on the road and delayed the trip.

"It's good to be there, it's good to be there! Come with my uncle and go in and talk!" ”

Cui Daosi personally led his nephew to his study, and after sitting down, he praised his military exploits three years ago, and asked Pei Ji about his current situation. Pei Xiaoyuan said that his uncle was well, conveyed Pei Ji's greetings to Cui Daohei, and then asked his aunt An.

The Cui family's lady Wang is a distant relative of the current Empress Dowager, she has always regarded herself very highly, and she is worried about the affairs of the Pei family back then, and feels that her own children are not obvious now, all because of the drag of the Pei family back then, so I just heard the family say that the son of the Pei family is here, alone, not even an entourage, the mount is parked by himself, and the salute brought by him seems to be some local products brought by Gan Liang, how to look at it, bored, and don't want to see it, so he said that he was sick.

Cui Daosi was in front of his nephew, so he naturally covered it up.

"Your aunt happens to be unwell and bedridden these days, so it is inconvenient for me to come out to see you today, but I am very happy to learn that you are coming, so I specially told me to change the conversation and tell you to move around often in the future."

Pei Xiaoyuan nodded with a smile: "Thank you, aunt." ”

Cui Daosi coughed slightly, thinking that the Pei family's old house in Chang'an had already changed hands, so he changed the topic and asked his nephew about his stay, saying that his family had another house in Beijing that was empty, although it was not big, there were also three entrances, bring a garden, and ask him to live there. Pei Xiaoyuan said that Jin Wuwei had a mansion for him to live in, and it was more convenient there.

The nephew's attitude is very respectful, but distant. has been isolated from news for more than ten years, and this time he came to the door as soon as he arrived in Chang'an, probably because of Pei Ji.

Cui Daosi knew it, and he didn't know what to say for a while, looking at his face, remembering the old things, he also had mixed feelings, and sighed.

"Xiao Yuan, my uncle also knows that my Cui family did something inappropriate back then, but the situation forced it, it was indeed a helpless move, I hope you don't blame my uncle too much."

The "events of the year" in Cui Daosi's mouth happened when the counterinsurgency war was about to end, and Pei Xiaoyuan was eight years old. At that time, Chang'an had been recovered by the official army, and he returned to Chang'an with his mother Cui, waiting for his father Pei Gu to triumph.

Pei Gu was the general of the Shenhu Army at that time, leading this elite army that he had led for many years to block the invasion of the Western Fan Army many times, firmly guarding the western border of Chang'an, and clearing the worries of several other imperial armies to quell the rebellion.

When the overall situation was about to be decided, he received an order from the crown prince to immediately lead the army back to Chang'an, and his military affairs were handed over to someone else to take over.

At that time, the Shenhu Army was stationed in the area of Beiyuan City, Hezhou, northwest of Chang'an, in order to prevent another rebellion in Xifan, which was an important factor in the reason why the rebels were able to set off monstrous waves before.

After being sniped many times, the Xifan army was very jealous of him, and had no choice but to shrink, but he did not give up, he was still eyeing the tiger, and the battle was not completely lifted, and Beiyuan City was an important western defense line built by the Shenhu army.

The old sage was bedridden at that time, and almost all the decrees came from the crown prince. This order is the highest level of urgency, and he is ordered to execute it quickly after seeing it.

Pei Gu could not disobey the order, so he could only hand over with the army that came to change the defense, leaving He Jin and his nephew Pei Huaiguang to assist in the defense, and after arranging things, he led the army to Chang'an quietly overnight.

Unexpectedly, not long after he went on the road, there was an urgent report from Beiyuan behind him.

It is very likely that the news of his withdrawal leaked the news, and the Western Tibetan army, which had already retreated, made a comeback, and pressed the border with heavy troops, and there was a great situation of not breaking through the northern abyss.

The combat effectiveness of the replacement army was not as good as that of the Shenhu Army, and what was even worse was that the general died unexpectedly in the first battle, and the defenders were panicked. If it weren't for the small number of Divine Tiger Army soldiers left behind by Pei Gu before leaving, I am afraid that he would not be able to hold it, so he could only send him an urgent report and ask for instructions on how to deal with it.

Although Pei Gu was a military general who led the troops to fight, he was not unclear about the dispute between the crown princes at that time.

The reason why the prince sent an urgent order at this time ordered him to quickly lead the army back to Chang'an, he knew very well.

Because of this turmoil, King Ding, who had not been very conspicuous before, showed his extraordinary decisiveness and extraordinary military talents, not only his prestige soared, but also a powerful force accumulated around him, which has begun to threaten the status of the crown prince.

Previously, the rebellion was not settled, and the contradictions were not obvious, but now that Chang'an has been recovered and the war is over, the battle has naturally surfaced.

Just a few months ago, far away in the northwest, he met three sets of secret messengers from King Ding three times in succession.

In addition to the name of the army, the envoy sent the praise and generous gifts of King Ding, and privately transferred one of Wei Wu's famous "Tanka Xing" written by King Ding himself, called asking for calligraphy, and secretly expressed the meaning of longing for extension.

The prince was so anxious to ask him to lead his troops back to Beijing desperately, naturally in order to deal with the king and defend his position as the prince.

The crown prince, how could Pei Gu switch to Dingwang, at this moment, he should put the prince first. He could have left him alone and continued to march to Chang'an. After all, he is no longer the general of the defenders of Beiyuan, and even if Beiyuan is broken, the crime will not fall on his head.

But he hesitated.

This line of defense in Beiyuan is extremely important, once it is broken, the entire northwest of the empire will be restless again, and even Chang'an will be in danger again. If this leads to a new war, at that time, the people who survived the last massacre will face death again, and all the sacrifices that the officers and soldiers have fought so hard before will be wasted.

After vacillating and hesitating, Pei Gu finally made the most difficult decision of his life.

He decided to return to Beiyuan himself, and together with the soldiers who remained there, he fended off the invading enemy, and at the same time ordered Chen Sida, his most trusted general, to continue to lead the army to Chang'an on his behalf, serving the crown prince.

At the same time, he sent a letter of request for help to Feng Zhenping, another garrison general who was stationed in Yuanju at that time, asking him to send reinforcements as soon as possible.

After making these arrangements, Pei Gumu sent Chen Sida to lead the troops to leave, turned around and rushed back to Beiyuan overnight.

In the face of the fierce attack of the Western Fan Army, the Beiyuan Defenders held on for seven or eight days with less than one-third of the enemy's strength.

According to the distance calculation, at this time, Feng Zhenping's men should have arrived early.

Feng Zhenping had also fought with him many times before, and it stands to reason that he would not fail to save him, but for some reason, the men and horses were delayed.

On the tenth day, the defenders were forced to abandon the fortress and plan to retreat to the second line of defense that Pei Gu had constructed.

At that time, the enemy army should have also sensed Pei Gu's intentions, and the attack was even more frenzied, and they moved in a hurry. In order to buy time for most of the men and horses to retreat smoothly, Pei Gu ignored the strong opposition of He Jin and others, personally led 800 soldiers out of the city, took the initiative to attack, and sniped the enemy in a river valley.

The other party found out that he was leading the army, and at first thought it was his plan, and he was afraid to advance.

In this way, Pei Gu confronted the other party with tens of thousands of horses with only 800 people for several days.

A few days later, the prince of Xifan, who was personally leading the troops at that time, finally found out that the other party was a lone army, and he was furious, and immediately ordered to surround it.

A fierce hand-to-hand battle ensued.