Chapter 355: Aftershocks are not over

The rain fell into the ground all night, but the heavy rain could not stop the galloping of countless knights. The iron cavalry stepped into the pond, and the rain splashed everywhere, spreading the news that shocked the court and the country and the Tang Dynasty to every corner of Chang'an. Right Prime Minister Pei Jun passed away suddenly.

In the stormy Tang Dynasty, when the country was about to be destroyed and the family was destroyed, the sudden death of the prime minister undoubtedly brought a tragic color. This will surely be a sleepless night for many people.

That night, Chang'an City did not close the gate. Carriages rushed to Xuanrenfang anxiously. The gate of Pei's mansion was full of carriages, and countless guards were waiting in the rain. The eldest son Pei Mingkai stood at the door with a sad expression. The concerning greetings made him cry, especially the fourth uncle Pei Shi said that he accepted the will of the head of the family and supported his statement to the new head of the family, which made him feel warmer in this cold night.

At this time, a carriage rushed towards him under the escort of more than 200 cavalrymen. Pei Mingkai's heart suddenly became nervous. His sister Pei Ying came. Although she had nothing to do with family affairs, her attitude would undoubtedly be the key to whether she could get the position of head of the family.

Pei Ying's carriage stopped abruptly in front of the steps. A personal soldier stepped forward and opened the car door. Pei Ying ran out of the car with tears on her face. Her father's sudden death made her heart hurt. When she saw her elder brother appearing next to her with tears in her face, she could no longer help but screamed, "Big Brother!" The brother and sister hugged their heads and cried bitterly.

"Why did my father go suddenly?" Pei Ying calmed down and asked. This was always difficult for her to accept. When she came to see her father last time, the doctor said that although he was critically ill, he might not be able to turn around as long as he was careful. Yesterday, she asked someone to bring a message to Longyou, hoping that they could get some good medicine, but in the blink of an eye, my father left. Pei Ying, who was as careful as a child, always felt something strange.

"It's the Empress Dowager." Pei Mingkai trembled and took out the Queen Mother's book last night. At this moment, the letter became his most powerful shield. He said regretfully: "I shouldn't have given the Queen Mother's letter to my father last night, I'm confused!"

Pei Ying took the letter and read it quickly. The content of the letter was actually related to her husband. A rage had just arisen and suddenly extinguished. At this moment, she became extremely awake. She read the letter three times, with a lot of doubts in her heart. If it were just this letter, her father would not be so excited that he would suddenly die. Pei Ying knew her father very well. With her father's nature, he would definitely ask why Zhang Huan was asked in Hebei. The key should be the next one.

Pei Ying suddenly glanced at her elder brother alertly, "What did you say to her father?"

A hint of panic flashed in Pei Mingkai's eyes. He was about to say nothing, but a painful voice sounded next to him, "Ying'er, now is not the time to hold the responsibility accountable. Everyone is very sad. Let's arrange the funeral for the head of the family first!"

A man walked out of the door, who looked quite similar to Pei Jun. He was Pei Jia, the minister of the Secretariat. Pei Jia was the fourth son of Pei Jun's second uncle. He was formerly the governor of Ye County. He was transferred to the capital in April last year. Although he was an elder, he was only two years older than Pei Mingkai. The two grew up together and had a good relationship. Since Pei You was not in Chang'an, his position was the highest among the elders of the Pei family. This time Pei Jun died, he was the one who took charge of the overall situation.

Seeing Pei Ying asking too much, he was a little displeased and said, "Ying'er, there are many important guests in the mansion now, so don't let people laugh at it."

After pausing, he said again: "The suicide note of the head of the family has been appointed your elder brother as the heir of the head of the family. I hope you can also support it with all your strength."

Pei Ying was stunned. She glanced at her elder brother, and said with a gloomy look: "I'm going to see my father."

She didn't say anything more and went straight to the inner house. Pei Mingkai and Pei Jia looked at each other, and their eyes also showed a look of worry.

At the third update, the cabinet ministers and the queen mother Cui Xiaofu in Beijing rushed to Pei Mansion one after another. Several people held the first secret meeting after Pei Jun's death in the guest room of Pei Mansion to negotiate the candidates for the new prime minister. Among the three parties, Zhang Huan and Chu Xingshui of the Zhang Party were not in Chang'an, and Cui Yu was the only one. Although Zhang Potian attended, he had no voting rights. Pei Jun, who was among the prime minister, passed away, Pei You went to Hebei, and Lu Qi was inclined to Zhang Huan. Therefore, there was no one in the prime minister party, and the most crowded Empress Dowager Party, Li Mian, Wei Yan, Han Huan, and Cui Xiaofu's opinions, the whole meeting formed a one-sided posture and proposed that Li Mian take over Pei Jun's position as the right prime minister, but Cui Yu and Lu Qi strongly opposed it, pointing out that the appointment of the prime minister under the incomplete cabinet was harmful to the national system. Finally, the two sides reached a compromise, and Li Mian temporarily took over the position of right prime minister and discussed military and national affairs with the left prime minister Cui Yu.

The next morning, the court officially released the obituary of the death of the prime minister and left the court for one day to express condolences. At the same time, the news of Pei Jun's death flew away to all parts of the Tang Dynasty as if it had grown wings.

The confrontation in Luoyang has been going on for seven days. Zhang Huan's army has always been stationed on the other side of the Yellow River and has not launched an attack on Luoyang. However, Cui Qinggong's army confronted Zhang Huan has two, one in the west, with 60,000 Puyang troops for Li Shidao; the other in the east is Ma Dawei's 80,000 Xuzhou troops, 140,000 to 80,000, and three large armies are formed in a font shape on both sides of the Yellow River. None of the Li Shidao army and Ma Dawei army dared to act rashly, and quietly waited for the arrival of a war.

In early February, countless fast horses surged out from Tongguan, and doves in the sky were flying, rushing to the battlefield of Luoyang with the news of Pei Jun's death in Chang'an.

Zhang Huan received emergency information from the Internal Affairs Department on the third day of Pei Jun's death. He was also shocked by Pei Jun's sudden death, but he did not return to the capital immediately. The stability of the capital did not lie in his return, and the delivery of power did not lie in where he was. All the key lies in the two battlefields of Central Plains and Hebei. If you settle the country, you must first resist foreign power. Without absolute strength, you cannot change the sky of the Tang Dynasty.

At this moment, Zhang Huan was standing on a high hill on the bank of the Yellow River and staring at the opposite bank. Above the river was a vast white ice surface. Under the sunlight, it supported a black dot several miles away to the outside world. It was the camp of Li Shidao Army. Dozens of generals behind Zhang Huan were whispering, mostly talking about Li Shidao. The former general under Li Huaiguang was stationed in Puyang for a long time and had 30,000 Puyang elite troops. Later, he supported Wei Deqing to inherit Li Huaiguang. After Wei Deqing's death, he surrendered Cui Qinggong. He made great achievements in the two battles of defeating the Hedong Army and ambushing the Hebei reinforcements. He was named the King of Pinghai and sweeping the marshal of Peking. He was Cui Qinggong's most powerful right-hand man.

But Zhang Huan's eyes did not fall on Li Shidao camp on the other side of the Yellow River, but his eyes turned to the wider Central Plains in the distance, where was Cui Qinggong's weakness.

"Governor, I have received news that the Yellow River in Lingwu area has already shown signs of thawing. It is estimated that we will start to thaw here in a few days. At that time, the Yellow River boats are difficult to move. Why don't we cross the Yellow River to find fighters first?" Wang Siyu had been depressed for several days. He didn't understand why the Governor had been slow to fight. Seeing that the river water was about to thaw, he would lose the opportunity if he did not cross the river. Not to mention that the battle between the river would be extremely passive, and at the beginning of the flood season, he could not cross the river at all. Wang Siyu was anxious and took advantage of this opportunity to go to the bank of the Yellow River to observe the enemy situation and carefully put forward his own suggestions.

Zhang Huan glanced at him, then looked back at everyone, and smiled and said, "Who among you thought about the reason why I have been slow to leave the river?"

Everyone was silent, and finally Wang Siyu hesitated and said, "Did the Governor have ordered Li Panyu and Lin Jiuhan to send troops?"

"You haven't disappointed me too much."

Zhang Huan turned around and said to everyone: "The art of war says: first attack the weak when encountering the enemy, that is to say, to seize the enemy's weakness. Where is Cui Qinggong's weakness? This is something we must understand before we start the war, and Cui Qinggong's weakness is that the victory is too sudden and he is not prepared at all. Yes, he fought all the way with great force, but what about the bamboo piercing? He left a place of Chiye. The people in the Central Plains ran away and died, leaving less than 20% of the troops left by himself. So, except for some garrisons in the counties near Luoyang, Henan Road was basically blank. I believe that Cui Qinggong, the idiot, is also beginning to realize the serious problem now, but will God give him a second chance? I might as well tell you frankly that five days ago, I ordered Lin Jiuhan from Huainan and Li Shuangyu from Xiangyang to send troops to the Central Plains to accept the gifts left to us by Cui Qinggong."

A terrifying atmosphere was filled with the Luoyang Palace. Nearly a hundred palace maids and eunuchs stood tremblingly under the corridor. The roar of Cui Qinggong like a beast came from a distance. So far, more than 70 palace maids and eunuchs have been killed. Some have been slower to serve tea, while others have been faster to serve tea. As long as there is a slight mistake, they are immediately ordered to be pushed out and killed by sticks. It is said that seven Cui Qinggong's concubines were killed last night alone and were not as good as he wished. No one knows why he suddenly became like a devil. It seems that everything originated from an urgent report three days ago.

In the hall, a little eunuch walked tremblingly with a bowl of ginseng tea. As Cui Qinggong's roar became louder and louder, his body trembled like a sieve. Several generals in the inner hall were lowering their heads and saying no to say anything. Cui Qinggong was like a rooster with red eyes, carrying his hands behind his back and forth on the jade steps.

"You go and rob! Go and kill! Go and play with women! They are all very happy, right? Now? Make the cities like ghost realms. The dignified Shangxian County can't afford to raise two hundred troops. They still want me to pay for food. I don't have food for you. You can find a way to go by yourself. You can't pay for food by yourself, but no matter what, you can take Chenliu within three days. One day later, I will want your head."

Cui Qinggong cursed and waved his arms. He received an urgent report three days ago. Zhang Huan's Xiangyang army and the troops stationed in Huainan went on a joint mission, sweeping across the entire Henan Road and taking away all the territory he had worked hard to capture. In just three days, Zhang Huan's vanguard actually occupied Chenliu, and all the land east of Chenliu fell.

What annoyed him even more was that Zhang Huan had only one thousand vanguards attacking Chenliu, while his garrison in Chenliu had 6,000, but all of these 6,000 people surrendered to Zhang Huanjun without a single arrow.

After finally tracing it, I learned that most of the 6,000 defenders were captured in Xuchang. At this time, Cui Qinggong realized the seriousness of the problem. Almost half of his 300,000 troops were captured in various places. If they really faced Zhang Huan, they would have to turn against each other. This is the consequence of his massacre of the city.

Not only was the soldiers holding a grudge, but he also recruited all officials, and only two or three people came to apply for the job. How could he be the emperor in the future? Of course, Cui Qinggong would not think it was his own problem, but was caused by the failure of his generals to restrain the soldiers. For this, he was furious but had no choice.

"Get out of here!" Cui Qinggong walked down the steps angrily, suddenly his feet slipped and almost fell to the ground. He lowered his head and saw tea stains all over the ground. When he turned around, he saw a little eunuch holding a tea bowl walking tremblingly. The tea stains flowed down from his hands. Cui Qinggong couldn't help but get angry and kicked the little eunuch to the ground with one kick, shouting sternly: "Drag it out and cut it into me!"

The little eunuch was so scared that he collapsed on the ground. At this moment, a burst of laughter came from the gate of the palace, "Why should you be sorry for these lowly palace servants?"

Zhu Tao quickly walked into the hall and bowed to Cui Qinggong deeply and said, "Please calm down your anger."

After being appointed as the Luoyang Yin, Zhu Tao was quite capable. He quickly stabilized the situation in Luoyang and implemented the centralized supply of grain. He obtained nearly one million stones of grain and two million jin of coins from the wealthy households in Luoyang, which further alleviated Cui Qinggong's shortage of food and won Cui Qinggong's trust and appointed him as the prime minister of King Yu, which was actually Cui Qinggong's prime minister.

When Cui Qinggong saw that he was full of spring breeze, his anger slightly disappeared, and then glared at several generals fiercely and scolded: "Get out! Start counting tomorrow, take Chenliu for me within three days, otherwise I will take your life."

Several generals did not dare to say much, and left with their heads down with hatred. Cui Qinggong kicked the little eunuch kneeling on the ground and ordered him to get out. Then he sat on the dragon throne and pointed at the backs of several generals and said to Zhu Tao: "These bastards indulge their subordinates and robbed and killed people all the way, causing me to lose all the hearts of the people in the world. How can I not be angry!"

Seeing that he began to realize the seriousness of the problem, Zhu Tao wanted to put the blame on his subordinates. He turned his eyes and took a step forward and whispered to Cui Qinggong: "It is not difficult for the prince to win the hearts of the people. The key is that the means must be in place."

Cui Qinggong did not ask according to his words, but glanced at him and said, "Looking at you, what good is there?"

Zhu Tao said in surprise: "Don't the prince know that Pei Jun is dead?"

"What!" Cui Qinggong was shocked. He stood up suddenly and said, "When did it happen, why didn't I know?"

"I just received the news, and now I'm here to report to the prince." As he said that, he handed a pigeon letter to Cui Qinggong. Cui Qinggong snatched it, but glared at him dissatisfiedly. He should have reported when he entered the palace, but he delayed it until now.

Zhu Tao smiled indifferently and said, "Pei Jun died of illness, Li Mian temporarily took over the right prime minister, and Zhang Huan must rush back to Beijing to seize power. In this way, he is very likely not to attack before the Yellow River thaws. In addition, the crisis in Hebei is diverted from the court's attention, so the prince will have time to redeploy, including re-sweeping the people's hearts and preparing for the prince's future ascension."

After reading the Gexin, Cui Qinggong's annoyance accumulated in his heart for many days was immediately washed away by Pei Jun's death. He couldn't help laughing to the sky, and the flesh on his hooked nose trembled up and down, and shouted: "Okay! Good death!"

His laughter drifted over the palace, which also made the palace feel relieved.

Cui Qinggong was now lying comfortably on the dragon chaise, squinting his eyes and asked Zhu Tao, "Just just now, it's not difficult to win the hearts of the people, how do you say this?"

"The key is to have a scapegoat and kill it to thank the world. Ordinary minions are not good. This person must hold heavy troops and fall on him to be convinced, such as Ma Dawei, Li Shidao and others."

Cui Qinggong sat up all of a sudden, staring at Zhu Tao and said word by word: "You actually asked me to seize their military power!"

Zhu Tao touched the bearded man and smiled gloomyly, "The prince is wise."

Compared with Zhang Huan and Cui Qinggong, Pei You received the news that the head of the family passed away was two days later. This was not because the person was late to deliver the letter, but because the time when Chang'an sent them the message was already three days after Pei Jun's death.

At this time, Pei You was personally leading 120,000 Hebei troops from Ye County to the north. They had arrived at Hengshui County in Wei County and merged with the retreating Youzhou Army. The 10,000 vanguards of the Uighur Army were located in Mo County in Wen'an County. The two armies were still more than 400 miles apart.

The news of the death of the head of the family spread throughout the camp instantly, and the entire Hebei army was immersed in great sorrow. The commander Pei You locked himself in the camp tent. Before the water and rice were in full swing, the death of the eldest brother was like the beam of the Pei family suddenly interrupted. The huge pressure made Pei You almost breathless. He not only shouldered the heavy responsibility of expelling the Hu people and regaining the mountains and rivers, but also wanted to revive the Pei family so that the power of the Pei family could be smoothly transferred. Can he afford such a major task?

At this time, the severe responsibility had made him not care about crying for the elder brother. He sat by the couch, inserted his fingers deeply into his hair, thinking about countermeasures in pain. He had been in this posture for three hours.

However, the thing that made him very painful was not just the sudden death of his elder brother, but the fact that he knew the truth about his elder brother's death was placed on the table next to him. If Pei Mingkai saw this, he would be shocked and would be frightened and tremble all over, because this secret book was the real inheritance book of the head of the family. As early as when Pei You left Beijing and went to Hebei, Pei Jun had quietly handed the official inheritance book of the head of the family to his most trusted second brother. The letter was written by him, and it also contained his signature and Pei You's signature. It was clearly written and the position of the head of the family was given to Pei Mingyuan.

Pei You knew very well why the eldest brother finally chose Pei Mingyuan. The eldest brother had realized that Zhang Huan's advance would be inevitable, and he wanted to leave a way out for the Pei family.

But now the news from Chang'an was that the eldest son Pei Mingkai, who passed the throne before his death. Pei You immediately understood that the eldest brother's sudden death was by no means accidental.

This is exactly what makes him suffer and dilemma. If he exposes Pei Mingkai, he will inevitably involve Pei Jia and other Pei children in Beijing. Then the blow to the Pei family will be extremely heavy. Maybe he will follow the footsteps of the Cui family, and the Pei family will also split. But if it is not exposed in time, the raw rice will probably be cooked when they go back.

"What should I do?" Pei You tore his hair up in pain.

"Second uncle!" As soon as the curtain was lifted, Pei Mingyao walked in angrily. At present, Pei Mingyao was the marshal of the marshal of the army and controls 50,000 rear troops. In addition to grief, he had just heard that Pei Mingkai had served as the head of the family. He immediately wiped away his tears and came to find the second uncle in great angrily. He believed that his father would never pass the head of the family to a cripple.

His coming in brought a bitter cold wind, blowing the documents on the table everywhere, but Pei Mingyao didn't care. While picking up several documents on the ground, he said, "I heard that Uncle Pei Si announced that his elder brother was the heir to the head of the family. Uncle Second thought it was fair. We are fighting here to defend Hebei, but they stole the head of the family before his father's body was cold. Do you still take the second uncle seriously?"

"I'm in great pain, too!"

Pei You slowly raised his head, his face looked very haggard. He sighed and said, "What should our Pei family do when the head of the family suddenly dies!"

Pei Mingyao stepped forward and asked in a low voice: "Uncle II, has your father mentioned to you the matter of the heir to the head of the family?"

A word reminded Pei You. He suddenly stood up, flirted with the things on the table, and murmured: "Where did you go?"

Suddenly, he glanced at the document in Pei Mingyao's hand, his face changed suddenly, and he shouted in a low voice: "Give it to me!"

Seeing that his second uncle had an abnormal expression, Pei Mingyao glanced at the document in his hand suspiciously, but his eyes were so shocked that his head was about to fall off. "The head of the family inherited the book", he whispered in his voice, "This is written by his father, and he knew him."

Pei Mingyao took a few steps back suddenly, and he couldn't believe his eyes. "Pei Mingyuan", his father actually made his fifth brother the heir to the head of the family. Then why did the lame man say that his father made him? Why? Is that?

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Pei Mingyao's face changed drastically. He knelt down and shouted heart-wrenchingly, "Father!" Tears were falling like rain.

Pei You realized that the problem was going to be serious, so he hurriedly stepped forward and pressed his nephew's shoulder and said, "Mingyao, you must be rational!"

"Reasonable? No!" Pei Mingyao jumped up, stared at his red eyes and shouted: "Uncle Second, don't you understand? My father is probably killed by them. How could I be rational!"

"You bastard!" Pei You saw him screaming and the soldiers outside probably heard it, so he rushed up and slapped him hard, "Now the enemy is in front of you, are you going to kill us?"

Pei Mingyao covered his face and took another step back. He looked at his second uncle sadly and returned the inheritance letter from his head. Tears surged out of his eyes, "My father is dead, he died inexplicably. The second uncle knows the truth but ignores it. Are you worthy of my father?"

Pei You's eyes turned red, he stepped forward and pressed Pei Mingyao's shoulder and said in pain: "I know, when we drive the Tartars out of Hebei, I will definitely go back to find out the matter and will never tolerate it. But you must restrain yourself now, do you understand?"

"But, but by then it might be too late." Pei Mingyao murmured to himself. He suddenly sneered and resolutely turned around and left the tent.
Chapter completed!