Chapter 233: Preparing for war (VI)

Pei Ying has been back in Chang'an for many days. She has been living in her grandfather Yan Zhenqing's house, waiting for the old man's last years. It was night when Yan Zhenqing passed away.

In the next few days, Pei Ying and Yan's family handled the funeral together and reported to the court that she had been busy for three or four days before she gradually withdrew. That evening, Pei Ying, who was exhausted, finally returned to her parents' home.

"Miss is back!" The old housekeeper who had been in the Pei family for 30 years saw her from a distance, ran over and greeted her happily.

"Butler Wang, it's been a long time since we've seen each other. Is my father at home?"

"Yeah! You're! The master returned home very early today." The old butler smiled kindly and immediately ran to report to the master.

Pei Jun's mind was not on official business these two days. He had been waiting for the news from Shandong. According to Pei Tanming's report, his spies had completely controlled Cui Xiong and asked Cui Xiong to send three urgent secret reports to Shandong. He sent people to follow Cui Yuan to send a letter to Ge the day before yesterday. When Cui Yuan passed Xingyang County, he mobilized 5,000 Cui family troops stationed in Xingyang to accompany him. Everything was following the trajectory that Pei Jun expected. If it were not expected, the news he was looking forward to would have come in the past or two days.

"Master, the lady is back." The old housekeeper suddenly heard from outside the door. Pei Jun has many daughters, but it is generally said that the third and fourth ladies are distinguished. Only Pei Jun's only legitimate daughter Pei Ying.

Although Pei Jun was eager to wait for news from Shandong at this time, out of the consideration of eased relationship with his daughter, Pei Jun still said in his will: "Let her come to see me!"

On the surface, the conflict between Pei Jun and Zhang Huan began at the end of last year. Pei Jun wanted to take advantage of Cui Yuan's resignation due to illness and seek the position of right prime minister, and ordered Zhang Huan to seize Feng Xiang, but Zhang Huan did not obey, which caused a disagreement between the two, but this reason was somewhat untenable. After all, Zhang Huan led his troops to Feng Xiang, and the garrisons in Kaiyang and Longxi were also mobilized to Feng Xiang. In the end, Pei Yi ruined the big thing, and at least the two did not break up because of this.

In fact, the root of the conflict between the two was planted as early as when Zhang Huan led the Tianqi Camp to leave Chang'an. Pei Jun wanted Zhang Huan to become one of his own high-level hawks. For this reason, he even used his daughter as a capital to win him over. However, Zhang Huan did not obey his orders, but embarked on the road of independence. At the beginning of Wuwei, Zhang Huan was regarded as a springboard for advancing westward and spared no effort to win over and support him. At that time, Pei Qiang and Zhang Ruo were in a harmonious relationship. However, since Zhang Huan seized Longyou and began to demand equality, the conflict between them began to gradually emerge, until Pei Jun took advantage of the opportunity to occupy the northern part of Guanlong, and the conflict between the two reached a white-hot heat.

But as a politician with vision, Pei Jun did not want to push Zhang Huan to Cui Yuan's side in extreme circumstances. After the vested interests were realized, he also intended to ease his relationship with Zhang Huan. Therefore, he always kept silent in the matter of Zhang Huan's opening of the government without authorization and appointing Hehuang officials in private to avoid further stimulating Zhang Huan. Pei Ying was a bridge between him and Zhang Huan.

At this moment, a familiar voice came from outside the door, "Father, can I come in?"

"Come in!" Pei Jun quickly sat upright, looked at Pei Ying in white clothes with a smile and walked into the house. Pei Ying stepped forward and gave a gentle salute, "Ying'er greeted her father."

Seeing his daughter wearing white clothes, Pei Jun suddenly remembered Yan Zhenqing who had just passed away, and he looked sad, "I am also very sad about my grandfather's affairs, but birth, old age, sickness and death are normal. I hope you can get out of your grief as soon as possible and return to your normal life as soon as possible."

Pei Ying nodded silently. She was a generous woman. Although she was sad about her grandfather's death, she would not indulge in grief and could not extricate herself. Now, since she appeared in her father's study, it means that she had begun to make her second plan to enter Beijing, ease the conflict between Zhang Huan and her father and gain room for development for Zhang Huan.

Before coming to Chang'an, Zhang Huan had already had a deep conversation with her, hoping that she could show her attitude to Pei Jun for herself, and that she would no longer follow the old path of relying on the Pei family. Pei Jun would like to accept the fact that he was independent. If Pei Jun was willing, he would be willing to develop cooperation with each other in the form of an allies.

Thinking of this, Pei Ying bowed to her father and said, "Father, I will be keeping my grandfather for a while from tomorrow. So when I have time today, I will come to visit my father and declare to her father that Qier will not go to Beijing for responsibilities. He is less than one year old. This decision is really ridiculous."

Letting Zhang Huan's son go to Beijing as a qualifier is just Pei Jun's move to test Zhang Huan. If Zhang Huan flatly refuses, it means that he has made up his determination to be independent; if Zhang Huan has a tone of discussion, it means that he is still in conflict and has room for maneuver; but if Zhang Huan sends the child without hesitation, the matter will be much simpler. Although Pei Ying's flatly refuses can be understood as the mood of being a mother, Zhang Huan later agreed to Pei Ying's attitude, which means that he has settled his mind and Pei Jun has no need to get entangled in the hostage matter.

He smiled slightly and said, "It is the empress dowager who wants Qier to come to Beijing. I hope that you and my son can come back to Beijing often, at least I should have met my grandson who has been born for nearly a year but has not met yet!"

Pei Ying then remembered that her father had never met his grandson before. She smiled apologetically and said, "When the situation stabilizes, I will bring him to see his father."

"Is Zhang Huan okay?" Pei Jun suddenly asked with a faint smile.

"He is fine. He seems much older after returning from Hehuang. Thank you for your concern for him."

The conversation between the two gradually touched the essence, and the atmosphere in the room became a little awkward. After a moment of silence, Pei Jun suddenly sighed and said, "Just a few years ago, you secretly pulled your father's beard and sometimes locked your father in the study. But since you married him, our relationship has become much stranger. Now you are also a mother, and you should know the love of your parents for your children. Why don't you understand the heart of being a father!"

Pei Jun's tone became a little excited. He suddenly turned around and looked at Pei Ying, "We father and daughter should never be so rigid. What happened?"

"Don't you know what happened?" Pei Ying was also excited. She stared into her father's eyes and said, "You kept saying that letting Qier enter Beijing was the empress dowager, but would the empress dowager ask Pei Yi to announce the imperial edict? Don't treat me as a fool. You just want to catch Qier as a qualifier when you see that you don't listen to you, but don't consider how I feel."

Speaking of this, Pei Ying took a deep breath, and a trace of sadness appeared in her eyes, "Yes! You never think about it for me. You keep saying that I don't understand the love of my parents for your children, but do you understand me? When you sent an army of 200,000 to occupy Guanlong, have you ever thought about the pressure your daughter faces in Longyou? No! Not only did it not, but you also wanted to take away my son. All you think about is your territory and your power, and they are your children."

"Enough!" Pei Jun interrupted Pei Ying's words in annoyance, "Is there anyone who speaks to his father like this? If you dare to be rude to me again, I will pretend that you don't have a daughter."

The room was silent, and neither of them spoke. After a while, Pei Jun smiled bitterly, "Maybe we should all calm down."

"Yes, we should calm down, I should apologize to you." Pei Ying turned her head aside, with a faint sense of tears in her eyes. Pei Jun slowly walked to her daughter, gently tied her hair for her, and sighed slightly: "Child, Dad is the leader of the clan, and he can't help it. Although sometimes I did something that made you embarrassed, Daddy never wants to hurt you."

"Dad!" Pei Ying gently pulled her father's arm and leaned her face against his arm. When she was young, this arm was her most powerful leaning back. "Dad, let us go! She doesn't want to be enemies with her when she gets sick."

Pei Ying's words calmed down Pei Jun. The trace of fatherly love that had just appeared was immediately replaced by Longyou's interests. He hurriedly asked: "What did you say! Does Zhang Huan mean to want to rely on me again?"

"No!" Pei Ying denied without hesitation: "Go to the disease and don't want to rely on anyone. He can help you, but when there is a conflict between each other's interests, he will also be enemies with you."

Pei Jun's face changed. Before he could answer, nervous and rapid footsteps suddenly came from the door. Pei Danming rushed in excitedly, "Head of the family, news from Shandong has arrived!"

He suddenly saw Pei Ying, bit his lips tightly, and involuntarily wanted to take two steps back, but Pei Jun didn't care. Pei Ying would know this sooner or later. He asked impatiently: "Tell me quickly! What's the news in Shandong?"

"I just received the news a quarter of an hour ago that Cui Qing led a 150,000 army to leave Shandong and enter Huaibei through Pengjun (Xuzhou)."

"The Cui family has finally split." Pei Jun breathed a sigh of relief. He slowly sat down. At this moment, he felt extremely empty in his heart.

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In early July of the third year of Xuanren, just when Cui Yuan had just arrived in Chenliu, Cui Qinggong, who had received the news in advance, realized that the crisis was coming, and he attacked the first attack and led an army of 150,000 to leave Shandong and march into Huaibei. He established a new Cui clan in Ruyang, established himself as the head of the family, and appointed himself as the governor of Huaibei. The Cui family, the largest aristocratic family in the world, embarked on the old path of the Zhang family in Hedong, and then split into two sects in the north and south.

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In addition to the hot weather in Longyou in July, the popularity was also extremely hot. Nearly 30,000 scholars from Guanzhong, Hedong, Shuzhong and Guanlong areas rushed to apply for the newly established Helong Academy. As early as early June, Zhang Huan sent a large number of people to various places to promote the purpose of Helong Academy's school management: to recover Hehuang, Hexi lost land and establish reserves of reserve officials, regardless of the high or low level.

Although Hehuang is located in a remote area, due to the large number of children of aristocratic families occupying the quota of officials in various places, countless poor scholars have no choice but to seek official positions. However, Zhang Huan's slogan "No matter whether it is high or low, only talent is to raise" greatly aroused their resonance, and he successfully recovered the lost land in Hehuang

Inspired by the fact that countless scholars who were eager to display their talents flocked to Jincheng County to compete for 500 places, among them, there were Jinshi who had already had the high school gold list.

The people in Wuquan County were filled with inns of all sizes, and even temples and temples were filled with scholars who were seeking accommodation. The Wuquan County government, which had just resumed its functions, was extremely busy. More than 200 yamen runners, who were soldiered from house to house to mobilize, and ordinary families were allowed to accept accommodation by subsidizing a certain amount of money and rice by the government. Despite this, scholars who came to take the exam were still coming in a constant stream. County magistrate Tang Xianyao had to ask for help from the army. Under Zhang Huan's order, the 30,000 troops stationed in the city gave up half of the military camp, which finally solved the food and accommodation of all reference scholars.

This time, a large number of scholars were pouring in, but the Jincheng County and State Office were the biggest losers. They also mobilized the people to arrange some scholars. However, these people who did not have a subsidy were severely punished by patrol soldiers for the crime of "staying alive without the permission of the county government." This accidental incident strongly hinted to the people of Jincheng County that the real government was the county government rather than the state government.

However, compared with this unprecedented college entrance examination, the county-state dispute was just a small behind-the-scenes scene, and was soon overwhelmed by the warm atmosphere in the city.

Five days before the exam, the types of questions for the exam have been announced to the candidates. The test policy and poetry are mainly based on strategy theory. This made many scholars who were temporarily memorizing the Analects of Confucius and the Doctrine of the Mean were stunned, but many smart candidates guessed that the strategy theory would inevitably focus on Hehuang and Hexi. For a time, various inns and restaurants were full of debates about the recovery of Hexi and Anxi.

At noon that day, Zhang Huan brought a few servants to the city to visit privately, wanting to hear the scholar debates mentioned by their subordinates these two days. After a walk, he came to the Xihuang Restaurant in the west of the city without realizing it.

Today, the Xihuang Restaurant was as lively as usual, crowded with scholars who came to eat, but today it was particularly noisy. The shopkeeper told Zhang Huan that there were two scholars who were as sharp as if they were born enemies, and a fierce debate broke out on the second floor of the restaurant.

Zhang Huan became interested and quickly walked up the second floor. He saw hundreds of people living in three floors and three floors outside, surrounding a seat by the window. The two personal soldiers squeezed out a way and allowed Zhang Huan to the innermost part.

I saw two people sitting facing the table, both of whom were facing each other, as if two roosters were about to fight.

These two men are a little older, over thirty years old, named Li Jifu, a native of Zhaojun, Hebei. He loved traveling and followed his brother, Li Bai, to the north and south of the Yangtze River. Today he came to Longyou not to take the exam. In April, he had already joined the official position from the school and was appointed as the chief clerk of the eighth-rank Dushui Supervisor. This time he came to Longyou for public service, which happened to be the Helong Academy exam.

The other one was very young, and was just in his twentieth year. He was from Anding County, Longyou. He was born in a poor family. He had nothing to do with Li Jifu, but he just had a meal with him. However, when Li Jifu talked about the imperial examination and became an official, he criticized the poor children for only studying hard, not being well-educated, and lacking good family education. He was far inferior to the famous children. Therefore, the family system was much better than the imperial examination system where he could become an official by only understanding a poem and an article.

This revelation aroused Niu Sengru's strong dissatisfaction. He said angrily: "According to what the public has, the world can only be divided into nobles and lows. A noble person enjoys wealth and honor for life and life, and he will be power in the officialdom. But the bitch only needs to work hard to farm the fields and be slaughtered by others. Don't you hear that the short-term demise of the Wei and Jin Dynasties is that people divide the nobles and lows, mediocre people in the court, and wise people in the wild? Isn't the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty lies in the broad mind and the imperial examination to win the wise men in the world?"

"Huang Maoru, if you don't understand what I mean, you will speak loudly." Li Jifu looked at him contemptuously, knocked on the table with his finger and said disdainfully: "What I am talking about is not that the children of famous families can become officials without studying, but that reading is just a foundation. But why do you need to do any knowledge when you are a real official? You must be able to coordinate the relationship between superiors and subordinates and balance the demands of different interests. This requires ability, and this ability cannot be obtained by reading. Moreover, for the long-term family, how can you not produce all elites in your family? In fact, for the past hundred years of my Tang Dynasty, most of the officials, nobles and ministers have come from famous families."

"That's because you can't pass the Jinshi exam and say such shameless words." Niu Sengru refuted him mercilessly: "Didn't the imperial examination system think about the abilities you mentioned? Can you become an official if you pass the Jinshi exam? The imperial examination is just a test of talent, and the subsequent examination of the Ministry of Personnel is a test of competent examination. It uses fair means to select talented people, and then select those who are suitable for officials in a pragmatic way. In this way, I will produce many talents in the Tang Dynasty, strengthen the country and enrich the people. As you said, choosing officials only depends on the children of wealthy families, but it's just a tall man from a short man. I heard that there is a caste system in the Tianzhu Kingdom, which is suitable for your argument. It's better to borrow a horse to move your family over! Maybe you can still be the prime minister there."

Niu Sengru's words aroused laughter and applause, and Zhang Huan couldn't help but nodded in agreement. This time he started the exam to openly oppose the imperial court's family system and win the hearts of scholars through fair selection.

At this time, Li Jifu's face was a little uneasy, and he said coldly: "Don't you really think there is something fair in the world? Since ancient times, power has been to safeguard the interests of a few people. When will it be used to uphold fairness? When power is corrupted, it will change dynasty, and then rot and then change dynasty, and it will continue over and over again. This has been the case for thousands of years."

"This guy is not here to take the exam, right?" Zhang Huan finally couldn't help but stand up. Although Li Jifu said something reasonable, his words seemed very harsh in the atmosphere where everyone longed for fairness to come to Longyou to take the exam. He looked at Li Jifu and snorted, "If brother is here to take the exam, we welcome him; but if you are jealous and angry and deliberately destroy this academy exam, you must be careful that the disaster comes from your mouth."

After saying that, Zhang Huan glanced at him coldly, turned around and went downstairs, and then ordered his personal soldiers to say, "Investigate the background of these two people for me, the more detailed the better."
Chapter completed!