Early autumn in Chang'an City came unknowingly, the leaves are no longer dense, the cicadas are silent, the sky becomes high, the harvest of summer and the distant wars make Chang'an people's lives quietly nourish, the population is growing, and the commerce is flourishing.

On the last day of August, Cui Yao and his party, who had been trekking thousands of miles, finally arrived at the Mingde Gate of Chang'an. It had been a whole year since he left Chang'an. The scenery in Chang'an was still the same, but Cui Yao felt like he was young and left home as if he was a different life. What made him most painful was that he received the news at Saiye that his beloved grandfather had left him, which made his eagerness to go home fade much less.

At this moment, Cui Yao looked at the familiar capital blankly. The streets were crowded with people, and his ears were filled with the local accent that he could not let go. But he suddenly remembered the bustling and noisy of Baghdad. Countless hawkers dragged the Arabic in long-toned Arabic. The situations of the two cities alternated in his mind, and were printed together, making him feel like he was traveling through time and space.

"Cui Lang, where are we going now?" Gu Dai asked timidly next to him. Since she arrived in Longyou, she has become a little restrained. The happy carefree grassland bird disappeared. Her skin color, her language, her habits, and her thinking are not very suitable for this vast and profound land, full of various rules and systems. She yearns for carefree and free grassland life. If possible, she would rather be an elf in the forest.

Cui Yao felt the uneasiness in her heart. He gently held her hand and said softly: "Go home with me first, let's worship our grandfather together."

Cui Yao took a few followers and walked slowly along the Zhuque Street. Along the way, many people cast strange eyes at him. Indeed, although he had changed into Han clothes, he was riding on a camel with a Hu Niang beside him. His followers were all wearing wide black robes, high noses and blue eyes, and looked at the strange city in confusion. Cui Yao seemed a little out of character.

The group entered Xuanyangfang and soon arrived in front of Cui's mansion. Compared with the coldness when Cui Yao left home, Cui's mansion seemed quite lively at this time. A carriage was parked in front of the mansion, and several followers were sitting on the steps and chatting with the gatekeeper.

The gatekeeper suddenly saw a group of camels approaching the gate of Cui Mansion, as if he was trying to stop. His brows immediately frowned. These Hu people were so unruly that they didn't even look at what this place. He stood up and was about to scold him, but his mouth suddenly opened wide. He couldn't close for a long time. He couldn't believe his eyes. He jumped off the camel and it turned out to be the eldest son.

The concierge suddenly screamed, stumbled and ran to the mansion, "The eldest son is back, master, the eldest son is back!"

Cui Yao was also surprised. Is his father in Chang'an? In confusion, he took Gu Dai from the camel and wanted to take her into the mansion, but he was a little hesitant. The home that was extremely familiar to him in the past has become a little unfamiliar now.

At this time, a group of people walked out quickly. The leader was a middle-aged man who looked quite like Choi Won. Choi Yao's father Choi Hyun. He has been working in the south for many years. It was originally Pei Jun's method. However, after Bae Jun's death, Zhang Huan wanted to transfer him to Beijing several times, but was stopped by Choi Won. Choi Won refused to allow him to return to Beijing or interfere in the affairs of the Choi family. For this reason, Choi Hyun and his father had been in a very stalemate, and he had not even written a letter to his father for three years. Just less than a month after Choi Won's death, Zhang Huan transferred Choi Hyun, who was then the governor of Guangzhou, back to Chang'an and served as the Minister of Guanglu Temple.

Compared with the scheming Cui Yuan, Cui Xian is obviously much mediocre. He did not have any outstanding political achievements in Guangzhou, but he did not make any mistakes. He was evaluated every year in the middle school. Not long after Cui Xian entered Beijing, Cui Yu resigned from the head of the family and gave it to Cui Xian. In order to rectify the clan affairs, Cui Xian took over the first thing that Cui Xian did, which was to move the Cui family's clan from Qinghe, Shandong to Chang'an despite the opposition of the clan members. All the children of the Cui family moved to Chang'an, and the Cui family's ancestral hall was also moved to Chang'an. Only a few deacons were left to manage the land. His reform ideas were strongly supported by Zhang Huan. Zhang Huan specially approved his household registration and rewarded many houses. In this way, Cui Xian completely controlled the clan affairs of the Cui family and became the head of the Yiyan Jiuding.

Compared with his father, Choi Hyun and Choi Yao's father-son relationship is far less deep than that of grandparents and grandchildren. Choi Hyun has been an official abroad since Choi Yao was two years old and rarely meets his son, let alone communicate with his relationship. Despite this, Choi Hyun is extremely happy that his son can return safely from the Great Food.

"Son, I'll kowtow to my father!" Cui Yao knelt down on his knees and kowtowed to his father. When he saw his father who had been away for many years, Cui Yao's voice choked.

"Yaoer, get up quickly." Cui Xian's eyes also turned red. He helped up his son who was as tall and strong as his youth, patted his shoulder and said with emotion: "You have grown up in this flash, and time is like an arrow!"

He suddenly saw Gu Dai, was a little stunned, and a hint of undetectable anger flashed in his eyes. He then smiled gently and said, "Is this the Princess of Kiagas?"

"Yes! She is Gu Dai." Cui Yao quickly winked Gu Dai and signaled her to come forward to see him. Gu Dai had no choice but to go forward to Yingying and gave a gift, saying in a slightly awkward Chinese: "Gu Dai met Uncle Cui."

"Haha! I'll be a distinguished guest when I arrived at my mansion." Cui Xian raised his head and smiled, and immediately turned around and ordered his subordinates, "Aren't you here to bring things to the guests?"

Cui Yao was really uneasy when his father had a distinguished guest on the left and a guest on the right. But now it was not the time to talk about this matter in detail. He was about to ask about his grandfather's situation when he was seriously ill, suddenly, a hearty laugh came from the door, "Is it my nephew back?"

Cui Yao turned around and saw a person walking out of the door. He was of moderate figure and was about the same age as his father. He smiled very kindly. Cui Yao recognized this person as Fang Zongyan, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. The carriage at the door just now turned out to be his. At this time, Cui Yao suddenly remembered something, and his heart suddenly sank into the abyss. His grandfather once said that the wife he was going to marry was Fang Zongyan's daughter Fang Min?

He appears in Cui's Mansion now, would it be?

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"I heard from the emperor that my nephew should come back these days, so I came to sit there without any trouble. I didn't expect that I would meet you today." Fang Zongyan glanced at Gu Dai, walked up to him and smiled meaningfully: "It's such a great joy for my nephew to return from the big food safely. Min'er has also cried with joy these days. If you have time, go and see her!"

Cui Yao was silent. Seeing that there was a little dismay, Cui Xian quickly smiled and smoothed out and said, "Standing at the door for so long, everyone is exhausted. Come into the mansion quickly!"

Fang Zongyan turned a blind eye to Cui Yao's coldness. He also smiled and said, "That's the most important thing. My nephew has returned from thousands of miles away and is already exhausted. But we are so confused. Come! Come! Come! Come! Come! Come! Come and come quickly. After washing up, I will tell us about the experience of eating food. I can't wait."

Cui Yao and Gu Dai were about to enter the mansion, when at this moment, a fast horse rushed over. The guard immediately stopped the war horse and said loudly: "Your Majesty has an order, and I will announce that Cui Yao and Princess Khikas will enter the palace immediately."

For some reason, Cui Yao felt relieved at this moment, and a kind of unspeakable joy surged in his heart. He quickly gave a deep tribute, "My minister Cui Yao received the order and entered the palace immediately."

In the imperial study room, Zhang Huanzheng pondered and said nothing about a memorial. The memorial was submitted by Zhang Potian, saying that he was old and unable to take the position of prime minister. He wanted to resign from the position of Minister of War and withdraw from the Political Affairs Hall. He also asked Zhang Huan to return the land to the Zhang family for Zhang Ruohao's sake and to assign Zhang Can a certain position to the Zhang family.

In short, Zhang Potian is 68 years old this year, and he is still two years away from the legal age of resignation of the Tang Dynasty. According to common sense, he should take the initiative to resign from the government and it should be the second half of next year. He has taken the initiative to resign from the government now, so there is no need to think about it. Zhang Huan also understands what he meant. He wanted to use the last two years to exchange for the opportunity to revitalize the Zhang family.

Since Zhang Huan ascended the throne, the Zhang family did not receive the favor that people imagined. On the contrary, all the land of the Zhang family was collected as state-owned and allocated to the landless people. Only twenty hectares of land were left for Zhang Can personally. As the Yongye Field of the Viscount of Yuxiang, Zhang Can did not even get a single official position, let alone help him restore the famous Zhang family. The current situation of the Zhang family was even worse than Zhang Huan when he was in Longyou. Even the only proud Beidu Academy was in the encouraging order for the third year of Dazhi.

The transformation into an official school has become more and more ruined over the years. The people who have finally gathered together have dispersed. The separation of families and the relocation of the family, the relocation of the family, and the relocation of the old house in Taiyuan is only a dozen relatives of the Zhang family who are struggling to survive, relying on the little rent of the shops. In Taiyuan City, the glory of the Zhang family has become yesterday's yellow flower. Now the Zhang family can only barely be considered a big family. For this reason, Zhang Potian reminded Zhang Huan several times to take care of the Zhang family, but Zhang Huan always smiled but said nothing.

This time, Zhang Potian actually exchanged the rise of the Zhang family by retreating to the officialdom. Zhang Huan finally couldn't help but snorted coldly. Perhaps he thought that he specially criticized the Cui family for entering Beijing to take care of the Cui family. If he really thought so, then Zhang Potian would be a little confused. It was indeed time to retire. He could not see the reason why Choi Yuan refused to let Choi Xian enter Beijing, nor could he see his true intention of transferring Choi Xian to Beijing. If Choi Xian had not entered Beijing, how could he become the head of the Cui family and move the foundation of the Cui family to Chang'an?

Zhang Huan walked slowly in the room with his hands behind his back. Including this year, it has been five years since he ascended the throne. In the first three years, his main energy was to restore the vitality of the Tang Dynasty and consolidate his throne. In the next two years, he concentrated on the Battle of Saiye. Now that the war has subsided, the Uighurs are in his hands. He did not take Jie Gangas to heart at all. Who can't even attack Zhang Sancheng defended and captured people, so how can they be his opponent?

As the domestic and foreign situation calmed down, his mind slowly returned to solving the problem of aristocratic families. Cui Yuan's death was an opportunity to solve this problem. Of course, aristocratic families were accumulated over a hundred years, and their cultivation of talents was far greater than that of ordinary children. Therefore, it was not possible to eliminate the influence of aristocratic families in a year or two, perhaps ten or twenty years, but no matter how much time it took, what he had to do was to eradicate the soil for the survival of aristocratic families. First, he turned the intellectual resources enjoyed by the aristocratic families into state-owned. For this reason, he issued an order to persuade students to study in the third year of the Great Administration. Using the excuse of widespread official schools, he cleverly changed the private schools of major aristocratic families into official schools, and reformed the imperial examination system, added the provincial examination on the basis of the provincial examination, and canceled the privilege of major academies to directly participate in the provincial examination.

The second is to deprive the financial resources of the aristocratic families. In order to acquire the military power of the major aristocratic families, he gave them one step forward. The Cui family, Pei family, and Chu family all gave them 10,000 hectares of land and enjoyed the treatment of a prince. Now it is time for the liquidation after the autumn. In fact, he started to further weaken the aristocratic families since the beginning of the year. He transferred Pei Mingyuan to the governor of Yizhou and married Princess Li Su to him. As expected, two months ago, the Pei family officially removed Pei Mingyuan's position as head of the family and replaced Pei You as head of the family;

The transfer of Cui Xian to Beijing and let him serve as the head of the Cui family was Zhang Huan's second move. I believe that under his leadership, the Cui family will follow the footsteps of the Zhang family sooner or later. As for the third move, which is the most ruthless step, he has formulated a plan and will be introduced at the right time within the next two years.

Just as Zhang Huan was thinking about dealing with the aristocratic family, An Zhongshun's report came from outside the door, "Your Majesty, Cui Yao has arrived, waiting to see him outside the palace."

Zhang Huan received the news when Cui Yao first entered the city. He immediately ordered Cui Yao to come and meet him. Cui Yao had a secret letter from the Caliphate Caliph on him. This was something he had been looking forward to. To deal with the Huihe, you need to stabilize the West first. He had already received the news that the Caliphate Prime Minister Ye Haya had arrived in Jiuyuan and was preparing to go south to Chang'an to meet him. Since the Caliphate Prime Minister was here in person, what is the need for the Caliphate to be sent to Cui Yao to bring the letter? He always felt that something was strange here.

On the other hand, he also wanted to know the impact of the Battle of Saiye on Dashi. The two countries were thousands of miles apart and had no news. They were close to some merchants to bring some news. These merchants had a low status and could not know what happened at the upper class of Dashi. Therefore, Cui Yao's return may bring him many inspirations. Since even the Caliph asked him to bring the letter with him with confidence, it means that this kid was doing well in Dashi. Zhang Huan's mouth couldn't help but smile. Cui Yao is a talented man. No wonder Cui Yuan's future is the future of the Cui family, and this person can be of great use, but he must not be allowed to inherit the foundation of the Cui family.

Thinking of this, he immediately picked up his pen and commented on Zhang Potian's memorial, "I am a talented person in the prime minister, I am not allowed to retire from the official position." He put down his pen and immediately ordered: "Xuan Cui Yao comes to see me."

A long shout came from outside the door: "Your Majesty has an order to announce the visit of Cui Yao."

After a moment, Cui Yao hurried in and bowed to Zhang Huanshen, "I have been insulting Your Majesty's mission, please punish me."

Zhang Huan endured it for a while, but in the end he couldn't help laughing to the sky. The Sweat had already returned to Tang, but Cui Yao said that it was a disgrace to Zhang Huan, which really made Zhang Huan feel extremely funny. After a long time, he slowly stopped his smile and said to him gently: "Actually, you have not failed. If you hadn't been on a mission to Sweat, their king would not have risen up after Shi Yang's surprise attack on the large grain warehouse. This is your credit, and I will not have forgotten."

"I am really ashamed."

"No need to be ashamed. I am deeply pleased that you can come back." Zhang Huan waved his hand and smiled: "Your aunt has been thinking about your safety and keeps asking me to find a way to save you. It must be because I am ashamed, but I am helpless."

When the emperor mentioned his aunt, a warm feeling appeared in Cui Yao's heart. In his heart, his aunt made him feel more affectionate than his father. He took out Rashid's letter and respectfully handed it on, "I am here to come back this time by the Caliph of the Great Food to send a secret letter to His Majesty."

A guard came over next to him, checked the letter, and confirmed that there was nothing wrong before handing it over to the emperor. Zhang Huan took the letter and smiled slightly. The Caliph would actually give him a secret letter. This was really interesting. He opened the letter, but handed it to Cui Yao, and said with a smile: "He actually wrote a letter in big food text. I guess you are already proficient in this word."

Cui Yao slapped his forehead and said apologetically: "I have forgotten this matter, which has made Your Majesty embarrassed."

He took the letter and read it aloud. The content in the letter surprised Cui Yao. Rashid hoped that Zhang Huan could detain Ye Haya in the Tang Dynasty for one year. As a condition, Dashi would no longer support the Uighurs. If Zhang Huan could agree to cooperation, Rashid would be willing to abandon the hatred of the Battle of Shattered Ye and formally concluded a peace treaty with the Tang Dynasty.

Cui Yao finished reading the letter, and the room was very quiet. Zhang Huan was still thinking. As the monarch of a country, he did not doubt that Rashid was able to speak without trust. He was weighing the pros and cons of this.

After pondering for a long time, Zhang Huan suddenly smiled at Cui Yao and said, "You have been in Dashi for only half a year. You have learned their language and can also understand words. It is indeed not simple. Can you briefly tell me about your experience in Dashi?"

"I am very happy." Cui Yao told him in detail about his experience after being taken to Baghdad by Agush, and finally said with a smile: "Your Majesty, the most regrettable thing I am is that I forgot to tell the students that I have left and let them lose their spare the next day."

After hearing this, Zhang Huan nodded and smiled, "I didn't expect that the Dashi Caliph was the same age as me. I can see from the Battle of Sailing Ye that this person is very courageous. Now after listening to your statement, this person does have the mind of a monarch of a great country and is a respectable opponent. Then, let me talk about it again, what is his relationship with Ye Haya?"

"Yehaya is Rashid's Shangfu. Their family has held the power of Dashi for generations. Now Yehaya and his son have almost controlled Dashi's military and political power." As soon as they finished speaking, Cui Yao suddenly remembered something again and added with a smile: "Your Majesty might as well guess which section of our history Rashid is most interested in."

"Didn't you say that Ye Haya is Rashid's Shangfu?" Zhang Huan smiled faintly and said, "Then he is naturally interested in the story of how King Ying Zheng of Qin defeated Lu Buwei."

"Your Majesty is right. I heard Rashid say in person that this time Ye Haya came to the Tang Dynasty to discuss the matter of prisoners of war. It was his contribution to Ye Haya's success, and it was his fault for the Caliph's defeat. After Ye Haya returns this time, Rashid will have no place in Baghdad."

"So that's it." Zhang Huan walked slowly to the window with his hands behind his back. No matter whether Dashi was in power or Yehaya was in power, he would not think that Dashi would change the national policy of the Tang Dynasty. The country always aims to realize his best interests. He knew that the reason why Rashid sacrificed the Uighurs was actually because after the Battle of Shuye, Dashi was also weaker. They were unable to fight the second Battle of Shuye within at least ten years. Even if the national strength was restored, their real enemy would be Byzantium in the north, not the Tang Dynasty. In this case, the Uighurs had actually become their useless ribs, so he gave up the Uighurs in exchange for the power to control Dashi, and Rashid would get the greatest benefit.

But the Uighurs were different to the Tang Dynasty. The northern nomadic peoples have always been the mortal enemy of the Han civilization. No matter how respectful they are to the Central Plains, once the climate changes and their survival is threatened, it is inevitable to rush the troops south. Therefore, when you are young and strong, the problem of the northern nomadic people must be completely solved. As for Ye Haya's life and death, what does it have to do with the Tang Dynasty?

Zhang Huan suddenly admired Rashid. He could find the best balance of interests between the two countries. Thinking of this, Zhang Huan finally made up his mind. He looked back at Cui Yao and smiled apologetically: "I really can't think of anyone more suitable for me as my envoy than you. Are you willing to go to Baghdad for me and tell Rashid for me that I really want to meet him, at the right time and in the right place."

Cui Yao bowed without hesitation and replied, "I am willing to serve Your Majesty, and I will never refuse."

Zhang Huan smiled and waved his hand gently, "Don't say it so terrible. You are the one who knows the best in the Tang Dynasty. I also hope that you can take on the important task of communicating Eastern and Western cultures."

"This is also my greatest wish."

"Is that?" Zhang Huan's smile disappeared, and he stared at Cui Yao and said solemnly: "What if this takes your whole life?"

Cui Yao shook his head slowly, and his face showed an extremely firm look, "Even if I spend my whole life, I will have no regrets."

Zhang Huan looked at him silently, and was moved by his perseverance. He took out a gold medal and handed it to Cui Yao and said, "This is my gold medal. I have never given it to anyone. As long as you hold it, you can enter and exit the border of the Tang Dynasty at will. No one dares to make things difficult for you."

Cui Yao took over the gold medal and hid a deep gratitude in his heart. He bowed and bowed, "Then I will say goodbye."

"Wait a minute." Zhang Huan suddenly called him. He walked to Cui Yao, patted his shoulder hard, and smiled like a fox. "Tell me, you are my junior. Do you have any wishes to tell me that I can help you, such as the matter between you and that Princess of Kiagas."

Cui Yao's face suddenly turned red. He didn't know how the emperor knew about this. Could it be that his grandfather told his aunt? Thinking about it, this is the only possibility, but his father's side.

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Chapter completed!