This November is particularly cold, and the snow had stopped a few days ago. The hustle and bustle of Chang'an East City has disappeared. The streets are deserted and the cold weather makes people too lazy to go out. The ground is frozen hard and white and bright like silver. All pedestrians are walking carefully on the wall. From time to time, they can see slipping and overturning carriages lying on the side of the road, and long icicles hang under the eaves like crystal swords.

Not far from the gate of Dongshi, there is an area specializing in selling jewelry and jade. There are hundreds of famous stores with time-honored brands. More than 70% of the jewelry sales in Chang'an are from here, and even the Imperial Palace is no exception. Each store is very deep. Generally speaking, most of the backs of the store are workshops for processing jewelry.

"Wu Zhuyue Bao" is a very ordinary jewelry store with a small storefront. Among the 108 jewelry stores in the East City, it is considered medium-sized, and its business is very bare. Judging from the store name, it seems to be a jewelry and jade produced in the Wu Yue area, but in fact, most of the goods it operates come from the Western Regions.

If we analyze this store further, its other identity is that Zhang Huan is located in Chang'an's intelligence center. The big and small things that happen in Chang'an are delivered here every day, and then from here to Longyou.

In Chang'an, raising flying pigeons has become a fashion to convey information. Not only the wealthy families, but many big businesses also raise pigeons to convey product information from all over the country. Among the 108 jewelry stores, at least 30 have their own flying slaves, and "Wu Zhuyuebao" is no exception. However, its pigeons are not used to convey any business information.

The shopkeeper of "Wu Zhuyuebao" is a smiling middle-aged man with a surname, and being kind to others is his life creed. Whether it is a friend, a guest, or a beggar who is begging for food, he can treat them well. He is quite famous in Dongshi.

Early in the morning, Manager Hu opened the store as usual and asked a few guys to shovel the ice surface in front of the door to prevent the customers from falling when they came in. The business is pretty good today. As soon as the door opened, a man who looked like a housekeeper came in, followed by a young maid.

Manager Hu recognized the old customer in the store at a glance, the second housekeeper in the Sisheng Palace. He quickly put down the account book and greeted him with a smile, "It's still here for such a cold day. Thank you, Mr. Qian, for your hard work, please come in and have a cup of hot tea."

He glanced at the maid behind him. Although he was a maid, his expression was quite arrogant. Manager Hu immediately understood that it was probably the lady of the Sisheng Wang family who wanted to buy jewelry. Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, the second housekeeper waved his hand and said, "No need to worry, my parents, County Lord Yang, will get married the next day and need to buy some good jewelry. Let's take some back home to choose for the lady."

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Manager Hu smiled. He was about to send him there in person, but at this moment, he saw two carrier pigeons flying towards him in the air one after another.

He immediately changed his words, and he hurriedly summoned the deputy director next to him and said, "You can take the Qian Manager to Xiaoku and then send the jewelry they selected to the royal palace. Do you understand?"

"I understand." The deputy director quickly invited the housekeeper and the lady's maid to the side room, while the shopkeeper Hu hurriedly ran to the backyard. The pigeon cage was on a platform in the backyard. The two pigeons had just flew down and were looking around "gugu!"

There were indeed two pipes of pigeon letters tied to the pigeon's legs. Manager Hu skillfully took off the letter. The marks on the thin bamboo tubes were the same, which means that this was the same letter. The color at the top of the bamboo tube was actually orange. Manager Hu was shocked. The letter said it was 100,000 yuan. He was panicked, put on a robe and ran forward to the store, shouting while running: "Take the carriage out quickly, I want to go out."

"Shopkeeper, the road outside is too slippery, and it is very dangerous to carry a carriage." The coachman sitting at the door quickly stood up and said.

"You have to walk even if the road is slippery, go and lead me a carriage."

The coachman had no choice but to drive the carriage. The carriage started and drove quickly towards Yonglefang.

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Today is the day after impeachment of Pei Yi, and it is also the day when the court's rest. Early in the morning, several groups of court officials came to Zhang Huan's mansion, including high-ranking officials who came to test Zhang Huan's words, as well as middle and lower-level officials who hoped that Zhang Huan could support him, and several people from the royal palace who came to give gifts by his master.

Carriages and horses came and went, and the former deserted mansion began to become lively. At noon, a gorgeous carriage stopped in front of Zhang Huan's mansion. Pei You, the Minister of Personnel, walked down from the carriage. He looked at the new mansion and walked up the steps.

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In the study room, there was a spreading pigeon letter in front of Zhang Huan. This was the express and express letter that Manager Hu had just sent a special express letter. The letter said that Tubo had sent envoys to Jincheng County and was willing to offer the Tubo princess a wife to Zhang Huan and to marry 300,000 cattle and sheep. As a condition, Tubo demanded that the status quo be maintained, with Zhangye County as the boundary, and the east and west were governed.

At the end of the letter, another major situation was added. The Geluo people and the Baifu Turks jointly attacked Beiting. The Uighurs who fought in Anxi were attacked from both sides and were likely to withdraw their troops in Anxi.

This was indeed a big event. Zhang Huan couldn't help but fall into deep thought. The opportunity of the Tubo sent the troops was very coincidental with the time when the Gelulu people and the Baifu Turks attacked Beiting. Is it really just a coincidence? No! It shouldn't be that the Gelulu people and the Baifu Turks have always surrendered to the Uighurs. This time, if there is no support from outside forces, they would not be able to rebel rashly. If Dashi supports them, then Dashi itself should also send troops. If Dashi is excluded, the rest will be the Tubo people.

At this moment, Zhang Huan's mind outlined a clear strategic deduction map. When the battles on Anxi and Hexi were breaking out at the same time, Tubo Zamp Chisong Dezan was in the dilemma of Tochar, and the logistics Jiuqu area was occupied by the Tang army. The reinforcements could not be supported. However, at this time, the cold winter came and the war had to be suspended. This gave the Tubo people a chance to breathe. When the reinforcements could not reach Anxi, the Tubo people reversed the Gelulu people and the Baifu Turks and ordered them to attack Beiting from behind. In this way, the Uighur army attacking Anxi was attacked from both sides and had to retreat northwards. The danger of Anxi was resolved, but the situation in Hexi was also very critical to Tubo. In order to gain time to resolve the dilemma of Anxi first and then deal with Hexi, the Tubo's marriage plan was adapted.

Thinking of this, Zhang Huan was able to fully judge Tubo's strategic intentions. It was obvious that they wanted to delay time by using marriage as bait. Once they stabilized the situation in Anxi, they would inevitably counterattack against Hexi.

Zhang Huan walked slowly in the room with his hands behind his back. The strategy he had already decided to seize Hexi was not changed by any Tubo princess and a little cattle and sheep. The reason why he stopped his troops in Zhangye was that winter was coming, and the other important reason was that he hoped to obtain the official authorization of the court to make the recovery of Hexi and Anxi the will of the country, making his battle to the west reasonable and legal. The Tang army, who was alone in Shule, sent Cao Hanchen and his party, which made him find an excuse to send troops.

But time no longer allows him to delay it. This matter can be carried out simultaneously between winning the support of the imperial court and fighting in Hexi. Zhang Huan pondered for a moment and resolutely ordered the personal soldiers around him: "Transfer my order to Longyou, and order Pei Mingyuan to be the main negotiator, negotiate the ownership of Dunhuang County with the Tubo envoy, and then order Helou Wuji's troops to launch a large-scale attack on Jiuquan County within ten days, and order Wang Siyu's troops to send troops from Dunhuang County to cooperate. Be sure to wipe out the Tubo army in Hexi before the New Year, and they must not be allowed to escape back to Anxi."

The personal soldiers turned around and ran out. At this moment, the voice of Butler Sun suddenly came from outside the door, "Master, Mr. Pei from the Ministry of Personnel is here, do you want to see him?"

Zhang Huan was excited, and he immediately put down his thoughts in the Western Regions and ordered: "Come to my study quickly."

Zhang Huan didn't go anywhere today, just to wait for him. He knew that Pei Jun must negotiate with him. After a while, Pei You came to Zhang Huan's study under the guidance of the housekeeper. As soon as he entered the door, he laughed and said, "My nephew's new mansion is really good, and even I am envious!"

"Uncle Pei made fun of it. A century-old mansion is not worth talking about." Zhang Huan quickly smiled and invited Pei You in to sit down. Then two maids came in and presented the hot tea. Pei You took a sip of the hot tea and said with a smile: "Don't underestimate this mansion. It is located in the 95th position of Chang'an. Zhang said back then that time that it was impeached because of it. Even Pei Xiang's current mansion, which is the mansion of Yang Guozong, had to move a lot of places southward, but the empress dowager rewarded it to you. You must remember such grace."

Zhang Huan suddenly realized and couldn't help but smiled with a self-deprecating smile: "I am a little sloppy and I don't know these things. No wonder the Queen Mother always asks me how I live? It turns out that this house has such a deep background."

Pei You shook his head and smiled faintly, "Actually, you are not a little talented and knowledgeable. When you were studying at Beidu Academy in Taiyuan, I heard that he was the first every year. It's a pity that Cui Qinggong's son Mao Gong's case made you not have the opportunity to participate in the imperial examination. The real talented and knowledgeable person should be Pei Mingdian, the cheater you impeached, should be."

After a few words, Pei You got to the point. Both of them were silent. The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense. After a long time, Zhang Huan smiled and said, "Uncle Pei Er hopes that I will withdraw my impeachment?"

"No! No! No! No! You misunderstood what I mean." Pei You denied repeatedly, and he solemnly said to Zhang Huan: "I came here this time to talk to you about this matter by your father-in-law, that is, the Prime Minister Pei. In addition, I personally hope that the business affairs between you and Prince Pei will be the business affairs, and the private affairs will be the personal affairs. Don't hurt your father-in-law and son-in-law because of disagreement."

"Okay!" Zhang Huan nodded and said readily: "I don't like to go around the corner. So what is Pei Xiangguo's attitude in this matter? Please tell me clearly!"

Pei You pondered for a moment and said, "Pei Mingdian cheated on the imperial examination, but Pei Yi had nothing to do with this matter. The examiner at that time was Yuan Zai, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites. He ordered Pei Mingdian to be the Jinshi, and he should be responsible for failing to be inspected. The prime minister's preliminary opinion was to remove Pei Mingdian as Lingtai Lang and never use it again. Yuan Zai was responsible for failing to be inspected and demoted to Sima of Jiujiang County. I wonder what his nephew thought?"

Zhang Huan couldn't help but sneer secretly. Things were indeed as he expected. Pei Junshe had the help of the general and cleverly transferred the conflict. Although the result was a little aggrieved, Yuan Zai would use him again if he had the chance in the future. The key is that his goal has been achieved, and he does not want to make things worse. Zhang Huan smiled slightly and said, "It's rare that Pei Xiangguo is not favored. I completely agree with his decision."

The Pei Mingdian cheating case is just the introduction to the dispute between Zhang and Pei Zhi, so Zhang Huan's attitude was completely as expected by Pei You. He did not come to Zhang Huan to discuss this matter. Since both sides knew it well, Pei You's words slowly moved closer to today's topic.

"The chaos in the court now is caused by Pei Xiang's abduction of the Secretariat. In fact, this is not the case. It is mainly due to the sharp reduction in taxes and the decline of people's livelihood. If you don't mention the big ones, take the price of rice in Chang'an for example, 280 coins of rice, but the previous year was only 60 coins of rice. After nearly five turns, the people of Chang'an were suffering. But to trace the root cause, the first thing is the Cui family's change, which led to Cui Qinggong's southward occupation of Jianghuai, hindering the entry of money and grain into the capital of Jianghuai; secondly, Zhu Li in Shu had long implemented tyranny, which caused the people in Shu to live in miserable life. On the one hand, a large number of refugees fled to Guanzhong, increasing the burden on the court, and on the other hand, it also caused the court to lose the source of taxes in Shu. Although his nephew had driven Zhu Li out of Bashu, which encouraged the court, it would take some time to restore the future situation!"

Thinking of the embarrassment of the court, Pei You, who has been the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue for many years, couldn't help but sigh: "Although there is still a little rice stored in Taicang, it can only last until mid-January next year. After that, it happened that the green and yellow people were not allowed to accept it. I really don't know what to do at that time. My nephew tells you, where is there any food available to help Chang'an?"

Pei You's meaning was nothing more than hoping that he would take out the food. Zhang Huan pretended to be confused and said, "Why didn't the court transfer grain from Hedong? Or from the Central Plains and Xiangyang?"

Pei You's eyes were gloomy, and he shook his head and said, "I don't know that in the past three years, Hebei has drought every year, and all the food in Hedong has been transferred to Hebei for relief. But the disaster has not happened alone. This year, Hedong also suffered a drought. There was no rain in three months. In June, the seventeen most prosperous counties in Hedong broke out again, and the losses were heavy. Not to mention helping Hebei, he could not even protect himself. The Central Plains was occupied by Li Huaiguang, and he nominally obeyed the court. In fact, like Cui Qinggong and Zhu Li, he separated the country and not only did not pay the money and grain, but also asked the court to reach out. As for Xiangyang, there was a Li Xilie rampant in the country, and Wang Ang was helpless."

Speaking of this, the worried Pei You no longer had the intention to have a puzzle with Zhang Huan. He said anxiously: "Now the only thing that the whole country can count on is Longyou. Longyou has always been rich and his nephew has a good governance. He has been ripe every year in recent years. I heard that the officials have stored nearly 10 million stones of grain. Pei Prime Minister hopes that his nephew can share the worries of the court. Not only are the officials grateful, but the millions of people in Chang'an will also remember the kindness of the envoy Zhang of Longyou."

Pei You's high hat seemed to have no effect. Zhang Huan frowned and said, "In recent years, Longyou has saved some food, but last month, he used 2 million stones to provide relief to the people in Shuzhong. He also had to fight westward to Hexi, so he had to ensure military rations and store grains in Changping. Speaking of which, that little food is just right. There is really no excess food, so Zhang Huan may not be able to help."

After all, it was actually a matter of condition. At this time, Zhang Huan had fully understood Pei Jun's intention. He did not want to change the current situation of the Census of the Central Secretariat, nor did he give up taking over the power. However, he was about to make concessions to himself, but he was a little unwilling to let himself solve the food crisis in Chang'an.

In fact, Zhang Huan knew the situation of food shortage in Chang'an as early as Longyou. Guanzhong was rich, but a large part of the land was occupied by the royal family and the powerful, and they did not pay taxes. At the same time, Guanzhong was large in population and consumed huge grain. These two reasons led to Chang'an needing to transfer large amounts of grain from other places every year, especially the Jianghuai area where grain was abundant. However, since Cui Qinggong occupied Huaibei, he expanded his army greatly, which not only greatly reduced the grain available to Beijing, but also poor transportation began to be transported smoothly. In particular, he simply cut off the canal transportation, which directly triggered the food crisis in Chang'an. The court had no choice but to agree to all the conditions of Cui Qinggong, including appointing him as the Prince of Ruyang and leading him into the cabinet.

However, the food crisis in Chang'an made Zhang Huan, who was looking high, see the huge benefits hidden in it. Before he entered Beijing, he had a meeting with several core members such as Hu Weiyong to decide to use Longyou grain to provide Chang'an with food. On the one hand, it was to attract the hearts of the people and gain greater power from the court, but more importantly, it was to grasp the economic lifeline of the court.

At this time, Pei You knew that Zhang Huan was waiting for the conditions offered by Pei Jun. He hurriedly said: "Before I came, Pei Xiangguo asked me to tell my nephew that the Tang Dynasty is in an extraordinary period. Before dealing with separatist forces such as Cui Qinggong and Zhu Li, it is not advisable to make major changes to the power structure of the court. However, with the strength of the nephew, it is indeed a bit unfair to be a subordinate minister. It just happened that a personnel transfer should be carried out before the New Year's court meeting. Pei Xiangguo asked me to ask, don't you know what my nephew thinks?"

Seeing Pei You talking so plainly, Zhang Huan smiled and said, "I have no contribution to the court, so how can I mention any personal ideas? I just calculated it again. Although there is not much food in the Longyou official warehouse, the people in Longyou are also quite wealthy. I want to purchase two or three million stones of grain to solve the urgent needs of the court. This is even if I thank the court for distinguishing me from Cui Qinggong, Zhu Li and others. As for my personal ideas? There are also a little bit."

Speaking of this, Zhang Huan stretched out three fingers and said slowly: "First, I hope the court will issue an official edict to order me to be the Grand Marshal of the West to regain Hexi and Anxi's former land; Second, Zhang Potian, the former Minister of Rites, once made contributions to the court. Now he is idle at home, I hope the court can use him again, such as to replace my subordinate minister; as for the third point...."

Zhang Huan suddenly lowered his voice and said to Pei You: "Please tell my father-in-law that I can give him two million stones of food every year to relieve his pressure, or help him destroy Zhu Li, but my condition is to have the Ministry of War belong to me."

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Chapter completed!