Chapter 346: Bohai seeks help (Part 1)

On December 30, the first year of Yong'an in the Tang Dynasty, on the eve of the New Year, a group of envoys from the Bohai Kingdom arrived in Chang'an City in vain.

Bohai Kingdom is located in the northeast of the Tang Dynasty. It was founded by Dae Jo-young, the leader of the Sumo and Mohe people, in the first year of the Shengli period of Wu Zetian. At the beginning of its establishment, Bohai Kingdom accepted the enthronement of the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty, surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and fully imitated the political system of the Tang Dynasty, introducing the splendid Tang Dynasty culture. Fortunately, it was born in generations of heroes, which made its national strength increasingly stronger and dominate the north, and created the glory of the northern country with the prosperous Tang Dynasty, which was also called the Haidong Sheng Kingdom.

During the Anshi Rebellion, the Bohai Kingdom once separated from the Tang Dynasty, but soon it sent envoys to Beijing and continued to be a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty. At the end of the first year of Yong'an in the Tang Dynasty, the king of the Bohai Kingdom, Daqinmao, sent his son Dasonglin to a mission to Chang'an to worship the new emperor. At the same time, Dasonglin also brought a special mission, asking the Tang Dynasty to send troops to help them resist the attack of the Khitan.

The Khitans have always been natural enemies of the Marines. They have been in wartime with the Bohai Kingdom for nearly a hundred years. However, this year the Khitans' attack was unusually durable and tough. They started in October for nearly two months, but there was still no sign of stopping. Especially the Fuyu Prefecture, which borders the Bohai Kingdom and the Khitan, was the focus of the Khitan attack. The two-month war caused the Bohai Kingdom to suffer significant losses. As a lasting force, Da Qinmao urgently sent his son to Beijing for help.

The envoy was five miles away from the city, and Zheng Pu, the young minister of the Honglu Temple, went out to the city to greet him. Dasonglin was nearly thirty years old. He advocated the Han style like his father. He wore a long robe and a jade belt. He received Han culture education since childhood. He could speak fluent Chinese. He was named Bohai County Duke by the court. He dismounted from a distance and bowed to Zheng Pu, who was dressed in the fourth-rank court robbery and smiled: "I am ashamed to let the envoy go out to the city to greet him in person."

Zheng Pu also dismounted and replied: "You don't have to be polite to the county magistrate. This is the etiquette of the court. The county magistrate worked hard all the way. Please follow me to the inn to rest. We will arrange for the visit to the Empress Dowager and the New Emperor a few days later."

When Da Songlin heard that he would make another day, he couldn't help but feel anxious, but he didn't know Zheng Pu's background and dared not talk about state affairs lightly, so he forced himself to hold back the anxiety in his heart. The group entered Mingde Gate. The breath of the New Year in Chang'an was coming. The crowd was like a sea of ​​people, and the carriages ran. People who were preparing for the New Year could be seen everywhere. Zheng Pu had already discovered that Da Songlin was restless all the way. Now seeing that he was not even interested in entering the city, he asked in a low voice: "Mr. The county magistrate just came to Chang'an, did he feel homesick?"

Da Songlin sighed slightly and said, "I have urgent national affairs, but why do I have to arrange an interview next day? Therefore, I am confused. Please don't blame me."

"Urgent state affairs?" Zheng Pu saw that he seemed to not understand the distribution of power of the court, so he smiled and reminded him: "The county minister has some misunderstandings. The interview I mentioned refers to the etiquette of the country. If the county minister has urgent state affairs, he can go to the prime minister Pei and the prime minister, but this is not under our Honglu Temple."

Although Da Songlin received systematic Chinese education, it was his first time to go to the Tang Dynasty. He didn't know this relationship. He suddenly realized it and asked: "If I want to go to Pei Xiangguo, I don't know if he is willing to see me, or who else I want to find to introduce him. It is of great importance. I hope Zheng's envoy will give me advice."

Zheng Pu glanced at him, then smiled slightly and said, "Pei Xiangguo usually sees you in the affairs of Bohai Kingdom, but it happens to be the New Year. Pei may not be available. Someone really needs to introduce you to you. In this way, I will introduce the Secretariat to the Secretariat to you later. He is the legitimate son of Pei, and may be able to speak for you."

The minister of the Secretariat was Pei Mingyao. Pei Mingyao had been a real-power official for several years and had accumulated some connections in the officialdom, especially Pei Dang. Everyone regarded him as the successor of the Tang Dynasty prime minister. He would help him whenever he had any chance. Zheng Pu was also a member of the Pei Dang and had always had a good relationship with Pei Mingyao. He knew that Pei Mingyao had a bad year in recent months, so he wanted to help him. It just so happened that Bohai State had an urgent matter to find the prime minister. He knew that Bohai State was close to Hebei and had always been valued by Pei Jun, so he immediately decided to give this opportunity to Pei Mingyao and arranged a place for the envoy of the Bohai State. Zheng Pu hurried to find Pei Mingyao.

Pei Mingyao has been quite quiet these days. Since he decided to win the support of the military, he has been low-key and disciplined himself in every situation. He goes to court on time every day and goes to court on time, and does not go out to have fun. He reads books and practices calligraphy when he has free time. His father Pei Jun saw his changes and secretly praised them.

But Pei Mingyao ordered his confidant to go to Hebei behind his back. He risked his father's discovery and had secret contact with several generals who had supported him in the past. His hard work paid off. Just two days ago, Liu Shou, the governor of Pinglu, brought him a secret letter, expressing his firm support for his successor to the head of the Pei family. Duan Lianda, another general in charge of the army, also let go, saying that he would seriously consider the matter.

Seeing that tomorrow is the New Year, the various imperial departments had their holidays at noon. Pei Mingyao rushed back to the mansion early. He was riding a horse and was still a hundred steps away from the mansion. He saw a man waved to him on the steps. When he ran closer, he recognized him as Zheng Pu, the young minister of the Honglu Temple. He had a strong personal relationship with him and could be considered his hard-core supporter. Now he came to him to drink or watch a polo training match. Pei Mingyao turned over and got off the horse and smiled at Zheng Pu who ran forward, saying, "It's not possible today. My father is in the mansion. He will go to Bashang to reward the army tomorrow. He will not come back until the next day. Let's go to drink again tomorrow."

"No! No!" Zheng Pu waved his hands repeatedly and said, "I have something to do with you. Today, the envoy of the Bohai Kingdom has entered Beijing."

He told Da Songlin about the major incident that he was eager to see the prime minister, and finally said: "He didn't tell me what was going on, but when I saw him, I felt that something big might have happened. If you think it's useful, go see him. If you think it's useless, I won't care about it."

Pei Mingyao has been an official for many years, so how could he not understand the importance of this matter? Bohai Kingdom is a close neighbor of the Pei family. For decades, the Pei family has always wanted to form an allied relationship with Bohai Kingdom in order to jointly deal with the threat of the Khitans. At the same time, he also wanted to establish a trade relationship with Bohai Kingdom. However, Bohai King Daqinmao and Pei Zunqing, the former head of the Pei family, were in a bad relationship and were attracted by Cui Yuan. Therefore, their relationship with the Pei family for decades has been close and separated. Whether they enter the North Korean or go to Shangda, they took a boat directly to Shandong and rarely traveled south to Hebei. Today, Bohai Kingdom has something to ask for his father, which is an opportunity to improve the relationship between the two families. If he can seize this opportunity and become the leader of the alliance between the two families, perhaps his father will re-establish himself as the heir to the head of the family.

Thinking of this, Pei Mingyao said impatiently: "Where is he now? Take me to see him quickly."

Just as Pei Mingyao and Zheng Pu went to meet with the Bohai envoy, Pei Jun, the right prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, stole half a day to relax and was playing chess with one of his staff. Today is New Year's Eve. Starting this afternoon, the court entered the five-day holiday, which was the longest period of holiday in a year. Moreover, he had just received a letter from Ge, and Cui Qinggong and Wei Deqing reached a New Year's truce treaty, and the entire Central Plains was in peace.

There is no war on the Eastern Front, and Pei Jun is rarely so leisurely, so he pushed all the political affairs aside. He wants to have a good New Year with his family.

"I heard that Ling Sun is going to participate in the imperial examination this time, right?" Pei Jun took a step forward and asked his staff with a smile.

The aide who played chess with Pei Jun was named Yu, and was named Yu Guangyou. He was 65 years old this year. He was a Hanlin scholar from Emperor Suzong of Tang Dynasty. He resigned from his post due to illness and returned to his hometown to rest. Twenty years ago, Pei Jun invited him to go out of the mountain to become a respectful teacher for several sons. As Pei Jun's sons grew up one by one, Yu Guangyou was idle again and had nothing to do, so he simply stayed in Pei's mansion as an aide and made his own opinions on some of Pei Jun's government decisions. However, after this year, he was also ready to return to his hometown.

When he saw Pei Junxiang ask, he nodded and said with emotion: "Yes! Time flies so fast. In a blink of an eye, the young men of that year are going to take the imperial examination. Time is not forgiving people, and you and I are old."

Pei Jun smiled, not following Yu Guangyou's words, although he had celebrated his 60th birthday last year, he didn't feel that he was old. He was still young and strong and energetic, and could work for at least twenty years. He gave birth to another son and asked lightly: "Mr. Yu thought, which of my legitimate sons could be of great use?"

Pei Jun couldn't put the chess piece in his hand anymore. He picked up his eyes and looked at Yu Guangyou silently. His children were all his students, and he should know them better than ordinary people.

Yu Guangyou was stunned. He didn't expect Pei Jun would ask this question. This was actually asking him the successor of the head of the Pei family. He didn't know how to answer for a while. After pondering for a while, he slowly said: "Does the Prime Minister want to hear the truth?"

"Of course, I hope Mr. can give them justice."

Yu Guangyou put down the chess piece in his hand and sighed slightly: "Mingkai is usually kind and kind to others. This is his advantage, but he is generous and lacks majesty. Even his servants dare to bully him. To put it more seriously, it is cowardly and unworthy. Mingyao has been very smart since childhood and is good at calculating. If he lets him recite a thousand-character text, he will never recite one more word. He has some vision of things and will win people's hearts with small favors. Compared with Mingkai, he is much better, but he is narrow-minded, jealous and has no tolerance for others, which is destined to fail to accomplish great things. Mingqian and Mingwen have been ordinary in elementary school, like to follow others and have no opinions of their own. Now they seem to be mediocre. You can use the power of the prime minister to be a county magistrate who has no merits and no faults. I don't like the above four sons, which disappoints the prime minister."

Speaking of this, Yu Guangyou stopped talking. He stood up and bowed to Pei Jungong and said, "I am really sorry to bother the Prime Minister for one afternoon, so I will say goodbye first."

As soon as he took two steps, Pei Jun suddenly called him, "Mr. Yu seems to have forgotten one person?"

Yu Guangyou stood there motionless. After a long time, he slowly said: "Mingyuan has been a genius since he was a child. There is nothing he can't do if he wants to do. Pei Xiang should know more about what he is doing now than me. Although he is just a small Longyou Sima and does not even have the title of a scattered official, if the Pei family can still flourish in time, perhaps it is because of this existence."

After saying that, Yu Guangyou smiled at the sky and left.

Pei Jun sat there motionless, and he fell into deep thought. The inheritance of the head of the Pei family involved the fate of the Pei family for decades in the future. If one is not handled properly, the Pei family will be destroyed by the next generation. Of course, he did not consider the concubine's son. After all, the lessons of the Zhang family were there, and among the many legitimate sons in the family, he always had to consider his son first. This is human nature. He did not believe that one of his five legitimate sons could not choose a suitable person. A few years ago, Pei Mingyao did a pretty job in the position of the clerk, and helped him lose his disciples and the cabinet. He also thought that he had found an heir.

He promoted Pei Mingyao to the heir of the head of the family, but now it seems that Pei Jun was too impatient for this matter. Pei Mingyao can overthrow the subordinates and cabinet because he is such a person, who is good at calculating on the dark side and only makes things on small matters, but when planning big matters, he seems so clumsy and short-sighted, too considering personal interests and disregarding the overall situation.

This is the real reason why Pei Jun decided to exempt Pei Mingyao from the heirs of the head of the family. It is just an excuse to use him to put a housewife outside.

Mingkai, Mingyao, Mingqian and Mingwen, Pei Jun tossed and turned the four sons like fried leftover rice, but he never considered the five sons Mingyuan. It was very simple. This son betrayed him. The word "betrayal" was like two thorns on his clothes, making him unable to calm down and think calmly. He threw it away immediately after he was touched a little.

But now, Yu Guangyou's words seemed to be a blow, and woke Pei Jun up a little. Yes! It doesn't matter whether the heir of the Pei family's head likes it. What's important is whether he can make the Pei family prosperous for a long time.

But when you think of Pei Mingyuan, you will inevitably encounter Zhang Huan, which is related to his own power. This is another bottom line that Pei Jun does not want to touch. Therefore, between the long-term interests of the family and his personal real interests, Pei Jun fell into a deep contradiction.
Chapter completed!