Xiangyang.

Zhang Chao's old house.

Pingyang rarely stepped into this mansion again. After experiencing this life and death, Cui Yingying seemed to have less hostility towards her.

Not only did he allow Pingyang to step into her forbidden area, but he even asked Qingluan to visit her door together.

Zhang Cong, the Eleventh Lang, was not very close to Pingyang. Pingyang tried hard to maintain a smile and took out many prepared gifts for him, but his reaction was very plain. He believed and accepted that Pingyang was his mother, but he still only recognized Thirteen Niang as his mother in his heart.

"Okay, go and study." Zhang Chao looked at the aloofness of the two, helplessly let Zhang Cong retreat.

"Take it slowly. If you have time, meet him more and participate in his life more, and he will be able to accept you."

"Is Thirteen Niang willing?"

"She is an informed and reasonable person, especially after experiencing this time, her mood has changed a lot."

Pingyang is still a little lonely. In recent years, she actually regretted sending her child to the Zhang family. "I felt heartbroken when I heard the news of Shisanlang's murder. I couldn't even imagine what I would do if it were Shisanlang."

When she heard that Ling Wu and the Zhewei brothers were poisoned by the emperor, she also collapsed for a while.

Qingluan is quite comfortable.

Sitting there, he acted like a guest.

She and Zhang Chao also have two children, one daughter and one son. Now their daughter is also graceful, but this time they have not brought her children. The customs of the country, children and mothers, and the father of the child actually has no responsibilities and obligations.

They will tell their children who their father is, but that's all.

In their tradition, it is a matriarchal society, where women are in charge, and uncles live in the family, and men and women walk in marriage and do not live together.

Zhang Chao did not ask her to leave her child in the Tang Dynasty, and Qingluan was satisfied.

"Where is Thirteen Niang?" Qingluan asked while drinking tea.

"She has something to do. She just returned to Xiangyang and needs to take care of it inside and outside." Zhang Chao said with a smile. In fact, although Cui Yingying generously let the two women enter the door, she still felt a little unnatural. She didn't want to sit with them, and she acted like her best friend who had been for many years.

Qingluan put down the teacup, "The war here is over, and I plan to go back too."

"You don't have to hurry to stay in Hanjing for a while, it will be good for you and Su Bi."

Qingluan looked at Zhang Chao, "You definitely won't support us in annexing Qinghai, right?"

Zhang Chao shook his head, "Qinghai has long become a Zhili Road in the Tang Dynasty, which is an impossible fact. However, this time you have made great contributions to the stability of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty will support you in sending troops to Tubo. As long as you pay, the court will provide you with various types of weapons and armor."

Zhang Chao sips a sip of ginger tea.

"But you have to know some things in your mind. Subi is the protective captain of the Tang Dynasty, and you are protected by the Tang Dynasty. Subi can manage the internal affairs of his own, but you do not have the right to declare war on the outside world. Only the Tang Dynasty has the right to decide military affairs."

Compared with the past vassal relationships, the protection lord can be said to be a further strengthening of control over the vassals by the sect leader. For example, Subi can now have a queen, or be responsible for internal affairs, or even have his own army, but they must enforce the laws of the Tang Dynasty and even tax laws.

At the same time, Subi can have an army, but the army must be organized by the Tang Dynasty and belong to the army sequence of the Tang Dynasty. Once the Tang Dynasty needs it, Subi's army must obey the conscript and dispatch. If Subi wants to use troops abroad, he must first obtain approval from the Tang Dynasty.

Even if Su Bi wants to interact with other countries other than the Tang Dynasty, he must obtain the approval of the Tang Dynasty.

Queen Subi must also be enfeoffed by the Tang Dynasty.

It can be said that such a protective territory cannot be called a country. They have no sovereignty and are a vassal of the Tang Dynasty.

But compared to Zhang Chao and his friends' feudal divisions, the power is greater. At least, there is still a certain degree of autonomy in administration, taxation, and military aspects.

The protection lord does not need to pay taxes to the court, and it is tribute every year.

The Tang Dynasty could also build cities and roads under the protection of the territory, or even set up passes, garrisons, etc.

Although Qingluan is Zhang Chao's woman, Zhang Chao will not betray the interests of the Tang Dynasty.

Su Bi can only be a protective captain and a vassal of the Tang Dynasty, and will never give him the opportunity to become an independent and sovereign country.

Qingluan wanted to annex Tubo, but Zhang Chao supported it, but these had to be under the control of the Tang Dynasty.

For the Tang Dynasty, I actually hope to capture Tubo earlier, so that there will be more road to trust. Moreover, from a strategic perspective, the Tang Dynasty would not allow Tubo people to be independent on the plateau between the Tang Dynasty and the Western Regions, between trustworthiness, and the Tubo people, which would be too dangerous.

"All these are OK, but I have a request," said Qingluan.

"you say."

"First of all, the military equipment sold to us by the court cannot be too outrageous. The ones sold to us in the past were too expensive. Although I did not ask for the same price as the Tang army, it would have to be similar. Furthermore, I hope the court will allow us Supi to send officers to the military academy in Hanjing for further study."

"This is OK, and we are also willing to send some military instructors to help you train soldiers." Zhang Chao said with a smile.

Qingluan knew what Zhang Chao was thinking, but she didn't object.

When he came to the Central Plains this time, Qingluan also discovered that the Tang Dynasty was still strong and had not been affected much. It was really not a pity that the Han Dynasty was the Five Barbarians. Su Bi was able to gain a foothold on the plateau, which was entirely due to the support of the Tang Dynasty.

If you really want to get rid of the Tang Dynasty, you probably will be like Tuyuhun.

"How did Wen Yuan plan to resettle Murong Fuyun?" Qingluan asked.

"I will give him a choice, one, to become a vassal of the court. The court can enfeoff him as a duke, and let him take some loyal tribes to the Xihai territorial territory to establish fiefdoms and become the imperial court's guard. Of course, he can also choose to stay in Qinghai, but he will only be the people of the Tang Dynasty in the future."

"Wen Yuan, if Murong Fuyun is willing to go to Subi, will the court accept it?"

"Go to Subi?"

"Since you want to fight Tubo, you will definitely have more troops and better soldiers. Murong Fuyun comes to Qinghai, and I can give him a fiefdom."

Zhang Chao smiled and said, "It's okay, it's up to him to choose this, and the court will not interfere."

Anyway, Murong Fuyun can't make any trouble now, and he made contributions this time.

The matter of Qingluan was negotiated, and everyone continued to drink tea.

Ping Yang said to Zhang Chao with some concern, "I have to remind you, Chengqian, you have to be careful."

"oh?"

"The reward in the palace today was too sudden. If you only enfeoffed you, King Zhao of Anguo, it would be nothing. But General Tiance is undoubtedly holding back. I feel that this child is not as simple as before. Today, he suddenly threw out this questionable reward. I suspect that it was actually instigated by others."

Zhang Chao is very grateful to Pingyang for being open-minded to him. In fact, Zhang Chao himself did not understand many things.

When he was still in Jiangnan, Cheng Qian's many performances had already seen him.

Chengqian was too old and was unwilling to be merciless. In the past, even the emperor could not control Chengqian, so how could Chengqian let Zhang Chao control it?

Now that the emperor is under house arrest and is about to abdicate, Chengqian is the crown prince of the country and is even about to become the emperor.

The true number one person in the world.

I'm afraid Cheng Qian has long wanted to do something big, and even is eager to get rid of all kinds of constraints.

There is a saying that can share the joys and sorrows, but not the wealth and honor. To put it bluntly, power cannot be shared.

Whether it is someone instigating it or Cheng Qian himself wants to stand out from Zhang Chao's shadow, this is very normal.

"Don't worry, I will be careful. The prince still can't live without me now, I will grasp the standards."

"What are your plans in the future? Help Chengqian to take office, and then? Stay in the capital and continue to be the prime minister?" Li Xiuning asked.

"I definitely can't go until the situation is clear and clear, the world is stable and the power of the court is rebalanced. To this point today, it is full of hardships, and I can't give up halfway."

Pingyang smiled, "Are you still implementing the new policy? In fact, you are now retiring, which is probably the result that everyone is willing to see."

"If I retreated bravely now, why would I have to worry so much at the beginning? If I had retreated bravely a few years ago, nothing would have happened?" He sighed, "If people do not have a long-term plan, they will have immediate worries. If I retreat now, I am afraid I will be strangled by joint efforts!"

This time, with Zhang Chao's resistance and Ping Yang and others' advice, Cheng Qian finally took back his will to be granted the title of General Zhang Chao's Tiance.

But he still stubbornly refused to take back the title of King Zhao of Zhang Chao of Anguo.

"I now find that Chengqian is becoming more and more like Erlang. To be honest, I really don't want you and Chengqian to be the same as the emperor in the future."

During the Xuanwu Sect Incident, Zhang Chao was the chief minister and the leader. At that time, the emperor had a good relationship with Zhang Chao.

"I will pay attention to the right measure." Zhang Chao said.

In the afternoon, Ma Zhou visited.

"Old Ma, we will probably face a lot of pressure when we enter Beijing this time." Zhang Chao smiled and said to Ma Zhou, who was also named the king, "But no matter what, there is one thing we have to insist on, and we must form a cabinet with us as the leader. We must change the current situation of the Third Central Court of Hanjing and change it to our cabinet system."

"I thought carefully that the cabinet should be based on nine people, one prime minister and one secondary minister, and then seven auxiliary ministers."

"Then do you have a cabinet list?" Ma Zhou asked.

"Old Ma, I plan not to let you enter the pavilion this time." Zhang Chao said.

Ma Zhou doesn't seem to be surprised.

"Does Wen Yuan want me to go to Hanlin Academy?"

Zhang Chao nodded.

"Under our cabinet system, the cabinet is the decision-making and execution, and the six departments of the upper house of the parliament have the power to refute. But at the same time, the Hanlin Academy is not under the leadership of the cabinet. The Hanlin Academy is the emperor's secretary assistant. The cabinet proposes votes, and the Hanlin Academy criticizes the rewards. It can be said that although it is a judge of the rewards on behalf of the emperor, it can be used as the emperor's assistant and consultant, but it has great real power. I hope you can serve as the bachelor of the Hanlin Academy for the order of the Hanlin Academy and master the Hanlin Academy."

Ma Zhou smiled, "This arrangement is also very good. You are the prime minister in the cabinet, and I am the president in Hanlin."

"Hahaha, as long as you can understand, everything is for the Tang Dynasty!"
Chapter completed!