Zhu Tao came to Chang'an with 300,000 yuan worth of gold five days ago. He bought the house first, lived in seclusion, and sent someone to inquire about the movements of the court.

The war in Shu was tug-of-war for nearly two months. The wealthy area in Shu was ravaged by the military chaos and urgently needed time to cultivate and recuperate. However, Zhu Li had been designated as a bandit by the court, causing local officials in Shu to hang seals on Liang and flee from Jiannan. The government operation of the entire Jiannan area was paralyzed. Merchants took the opportunity to hoard goods, causing prices to soar, and the beatings of rice were sold for 500 yuan, which caused serious dissatisfaction among the people. Riot riots occurred in many counties. At this time, a large number of deserters began to appear in Zhu Li's army and were unwilling to work for him.

Just as Zhu Li was overwhelmed by the chaos in Shu, Zhu Tao once again advised him to make peace with the court and strive to reach mutual understanding with the court to ease the situation in Shu. Zhu Li had no choice but to agree, and he sent Zhu Tao as his plenipotent representative to Chang'an to engage in activities.

Before Zhu Tao came to Chang'an, Zhu Li gave him a list and asked him to find people according to the people on the list, but Zhu Tao has always been cautious in doing things. He knew very well what the battle in Shuzhong meant to the court. He was not in a hurry to come forward, but sent his confidants to find several veteran court officials from the Zhu family to test. As he expected, the person he wanted to meet did not even let his confidants go in, and one of them even wanted to report to the official to arrest him.

Zhu Tao simply didn't feel anxious. He sent people to the palaces of important officials in the court every day to find out the news and look for opportunities.

Early this morning, the subordinates who monitored Pei's mansion came to report that Zhang Huan from Longyou had returned. Zhu Tao was overjoyed. When the eldest brother raised an army, Zhang Huan wrote a letter to persuade him. He was Pei Xiang's son-in-law and the best intermediary. He immediately decided to start with Zhang Huan.

"There is no notice in advance. Erlang is coming to visit abruptly. Please forgive me!" Zhu Tao saw Zhang Huan come out, and bowed to the ground and gave a deep salute.

It was the first time Zhang Huan saw Zhu Tao. In his imagination, Zhu Tao was like his brother, with a thin face and a tall figure. But when he saw him, he realized that Zhu Tao was actually a white-faced scholar and his body looked quite thin, which was beyond his expectations.

However, since Zhu Tao came to Chang'an, it means that Zhu Li's strategy has changed, at least it has become pragmatic. Although he won a great military victory, he was an absolute loser in politics. From the initial slogan of "clearing the king's side", he has become a "bandit" that the Tang Dynasty cursed. He is even worse than An Lushan back then. An Lushan has been in charge of Hebei for many years and his power has been deeply rooted. He still has to send troops under the pretext of killing the traitor Yang Guozhong and Wei. What about him, Zhu Li? He only started a military campaign in Shu for half a year, and he arrogantly proposed to use the thirty-six counties in Shu as his fief. He didn't think about how millions of soldiers and civilians in Shu could tolerate a bandit being king in Shu.

Thinking of this, Zhang Huan smiled and greeted Zhu Tao, and said with a smile: "Brother Zhu, don't be polite. It's cold outside. Please come into the house and speak."

"Thank you, Governor." Zhu Tao followed Zhang Huan to the study. Zhang Potian had left the back door and left a letter to Zhang Huan on the table. Zhang Huan put the letter in his arms without showing any expression, then turned around and greeted the guests with a smile: "It's interesting to say. I stayed in the Pei Mansion for a long time, but no one came to visit. After less than an hour of coming here, the guests kept coming. Now I began to consider whether to move over directly."

"Of course!" Zhu Tao sat down. He spread his hands and smiled, "Not everyone can step into the threshold of the Prime Minister's Mansion. Even if he wants to come to you, he will sigh. At least I dare not come to the Prime Minister's Mansion to find you."

At this time, the door knocked, and a fat maid blushed and brought in two cups of tea timidly. She put the tea cup down and gave Zhang Huan a gift, "Please use tea for the master!" Her voice was smaller than a mosquito scream.

After saying that, she turned around and ran away in a panic, but she hit the door with a 'bang' and stumbled and ran out. Zhang Huan couldn't help but shake her head and smiled, "Did you see? I am still their master, but I am unfamiliar with this. It seems that I must have moved here."

Zhu Tao kept looking at the stupid maid running away. He felt enlightened, but he didn't show any expression. He only picked up the tea and took a sip, and asked tentatively: "I have heard some rumors in Chang'an City these two days that the governor had been named Longyou Jiedushi by the court. Is there anything wrong?"

"It's because of this. In fact, I came to Chang'an to a large extent to thank me." Speaking of this, Zhang Huan changed the subject and said lightly: "What's Erlang coming to Chang'an for? Can you report?"

Zhu Tao originally planned to take a few more turns, and then put forward his request implicitly when the time was right, but he did not expect that Zhang Huan was so direct. Without any room for thinking, Zhu Tao hesitated for a moment and sighed slightly, "After the Battle of Shuzhong, I advised my elder brother to send someone to the court to apologize, but he refused to listen and insisted on forcing the court to make him the King of Shu and attack Hanzhong. Originally, many people in Shu thought that the elder brother was forced to fight and still had some sympathy for him. As long as he reconciled with the court in time, the situation could be curbed. Now that the people in Shu were rebellious, he finally knew that he had done something wrong, so he sent me to Chang'an to mediate, hoping to reach a reconciliation with the court."

"What does Zhu Li want?" Zhang Huan asked without leaving any room for anything. His eyes were sharp like a sword, as if it had penetrated Zhu Tao's thin body.

"This, this, this..."

Zhu Tao was stared at by Zhang Huan's eyes. He didn't dare to look up and said three 'this' in a row. Finally, he made up his mind and gritted his teeth and looked directly at Zhang Huan's sharp gaze and said: "This is our bottom line, I can't tell the governor."

"So, Zhu Li just wants to use me, right?" Zhang Huan's eyes quickly became cold. He put the teacup heavily on the table and said coldly: "Sorry! I'm a little tired, so I won't accompany General Zhu Er."

After saying that, he stood up and was about to leave. Zhu Tao hurriedly stood up and stopped him, and bowed repeatedly, "Please calm down. I sincerely ask the governor for help. In my opinion, only the governor can help us. We will thank you very much afterwards!"

Zhang Huan stared at him, then shook his head for a while and said, "Actually, you don't have to ask me for any help. You go directly to the Prime Minister's Office to submit a letter. I think neither Cui nor Pei will be happy to meet you. Why do you have to go around such a big circle?"

Zhu Tao sighed helplessly, bowed to Zhang Huan, and said with great sincerity: "Actually, I don't know that I can submit a letter directly, but I have been to Chang'an for five days. Whenever I mention Shu, everyone in Chang'an gritted their teeth, and everyone denounced him as Zhu bandits. Even Cui Xiangguo was so angry that I fell ill. So I didn't dare to act rashly, so I wanted to find an intermediary so that both sides could reach a compromise. Governor Zhang had an old age with his elder brother, and he wrote a letter to persuade his elder brother. I think Governor Zhang was the most suitable person."

Zhang Huan sneered in his heart. After all, the Zhu brothers still wanted to seek the greatest benefit. They wanted to be intermediaries and refused to tell their bottom line. They just wanted to test the attitude of the court.

Of course, it was something that Zhang Huan wanted to ask his brothers for help.

"Okay! Since Erlang is in a dilemma, I won't ask you where you live. At this time tomorrow, I'll bring you the news."

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Two hours later, Pei Jun finally returned to the mansion. After meeting the Empress Dowager, he was invited by Chu Xingshui to go to his mansion for lunch. It was not until he returned to the mansion that he realized that Zhang Huan was back.

Since Cui Yuan fell ill, Pei Jun gradually became the spiritual pillar of civil and military affairs in the court. When Zhu Li shouted to revive the court, he made a quick decision and urgently transferred 30,000 troops from Hedong to Guanzhong to defend Chang'an, so that Chang'an's troops reached 40,000, stabilizing the situation in Chang'an. After Zhang Huan sent troops to Jiannan to force Zhu Li to retreat, Pei Jun seized the opportunity to adjust the rice in Taicang to stabilize the price of grain and attacked the huge merchants who were garrisoning grain. Finally, this crisis that was likely to trigger the escape of the capital was invisible. He himself won wide praise for his efficient and decisive style, and even had a tendency to replace Cui Yuan.

But Pei Jun was extremely cautious on this point. On the one hand, he severely denounced several subordinates who wanted to ask him to be the right prime minister. On the other hand, he repeatedly asked the Queen Mother for military and national affairs, and sent people to Cui Yuan for instructions every day. He repeated on more than one occasion that the current court is the most important thing, and "everything is in full compliance with the old rules." In this way, he won the respect of Cui Dangzhong.

The battle in Nanchong County almost wiped out Pei Jun's 60,000 Hebei Erlangs, and his most capable confidant Zhang Guangsheng died on the battlefield. Pei Jun did change a little. This is not only reflected in his lack of smiles and his grim appearance, but more importantly, he reflected on the deep reasons for the occurrence of this Shu chaos more than once.

On the surface, Yang Qi was stupid and lustful, indulged in Zhu Li's presence, and the governor of Shu County was greedy for money and misunderstood the truth, but looking deeper, the court had weak control over the local area. When the aristocratic family that controlled a place suddenly disappeared, it immediately became a state of scatteredness, and Zhu Li finally took advantage of the loophole. This is the fundamental reason, and it is the contradiction between the aristocratic family's government and centralization.

In fact, it was not only Zhu Li in Shu, but also Zhang Huan from Hexi. If it were not for the Wei family's wall to block it, the court would not have no choice but to use Zhang Huan, who appoint and remove officials on his own.

At this moment, Pei Jun had returned to his study, and he immediately sent his son to invite Zhang Huan. Soon, Zhang Huan rushed over. He had just arrived from the Quanzhai house. Before he could sit down, Pei Jun looked for him.

"Son-in-law, please see my father-in-law!" Zhang Huan respectfully saluted Pei Jun, while Pei Jun looked at his son-in-law with complicated eyes. Although he used various methods to eliminate the bad influence of Zhang Huan's occupation of Longyou, he was still very dissatisfied with Zhang Huan. This dissatisfaction was not because of his breach of contract, nor because he was insured on the contract, but because Zhang Huan did not tell him the truth on the issue of Dangxiang people.

"Sit down!" Pei Jun forced a smile. He waved his hand to signal Zhang Huan to sit down, then took the teapot and poured a cup of hot tea for himself and Zhang Huan, pushed it in front of him, and asked, "When will you go back this time when you come to Beijing?"

"I plan to go back after reporting my job. There are still many things that have not been dealt with there." Zhang Huan also knew very well that Pei Jun was very conflicted with him now. On the one hand, as the left prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, he presided over the cabinet meeting and formulated a strategy to summon himself to Beijing to test himself; on the other hand, as his father-in-law, he hoped that he could become stronger and help him.

Zhang Huan guessed correctly. Pei Jun was indeed in a confusion at this time. From the lessons of the rebellion in Shu, he clarified more about the general direction of strengthening centralization. However, when Cui Yuan fell ill and the opportunity came to him, he couldn't help but want to replace him and make the Pei family dominate.

Pei Jun was silent for a moment, sorted out his chaotic thoughts, and said to Zhang Huan: "The cabinet has reached an agreement to change Wei Yan to the military governor of Hanzhong to defend against Zhu Li in Shuzhong. At the same time, the Wei family will also move to Hanzhong. Although your report said that it was to attack Hehuang and not to be thought of it, this cannot change the fact that you occupied Longyou. I hope you will express your apology to Wei Yan and give them some practical things to compensate them."

When Zhang Huan heard this, he smiled and said, "This is very simple. I can return all the Wei family's property, and I can sell some of their Wei family's stores and industries to them for money. I can return all the personal belongings belonging to their Wei family. However, in addition to this, I will forgive my son-in-law for not being able to agree."

"You guy!" Pei Jun shook his head and smiled bitterly: "If you hadn't seen the opportunity quickly this time, you sent troops to Shuzhong to help the court once in time, I'm afraid it would be difficult for you to be an official in the court in the future."

Zhang Huan was stunned. He heard what Pei Jun said, and hurriedly asked, "Does the court want me to go to Beijing to become an official?"

"What do you think?" Pei Jun smiled faintly and asked back: "Since you have officially become a prince, do you still want to be out of the power balance of the court?"

Zhang Huan didn't say anything. He lowered his head and pondered for a long time, and then said, "As I said in my report on work, I do have the consideration of attacking Hehuang. Please give me another year."

"It's okay to give you a year!" Pei Jun agreed without hesitation. He changed his tone and said sternly: "But our Tang Dynasty and Tubo alliance. Although we do not recognize the current border between the two countries, you cannot act without permission this time without my consent. This is a state affairs and has nothing to do with our personal relationship."

"This time I promised the Prime Minister." Zhang Huan nodded solemnly and said, "I will definitely send someone to report to the Prime Minister in advance and then take action after obtaining the Prime Minister's consent."

Pei Jun sighed, "Okay! I'll trust you again."

"Please rest assured, my father-in-law. I may use some means to reach the high position, but once I reach the high position, I will not necessarily do anything that is not worth the loss."

Speaking of this, Zhang Huan no longer wanted to mention this matter. He smiled and changed the subject and said mysteriously: "A man came to me for help today. May my father-in-law guess who he is?"

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Chapter completed!