In Zhongdu, Ziwei Pavilion, Cui Junsu, who returned from the Turkic envoy, was reporting his trip to the Regent Zhang Xuan and seven members of the Ziwei Pavilion.

"The Turkic Khan knew that we were coming, but he did not express any expression to receive us, nor did he stop us from leaving. Just like we were just passers-by, I can only understand that the Turks have made up their minds and are unwilling to communicate with us or interact with us."

"Why does Princess Yicheng refuse to see the envoy?" Su Wei asked.

"She has resentment towards us and just sent her brother Yang Shanjing to contact us. She believes that we are not the real Sui Dynasty."

Cui Junsu glanced at Zhang Xuan, but Zhang Xuan had no expression on his face. Cui Junsu sighed and said, "We only lived in the Turkic King's Court for three days. Early on the fourth day, Yang Shanjing sent us away. Of course, this is Princess Yicheng's intention, urging us to leave."

"Did Princess Yicheng say she would persuade Chu Luo Khan to stop the southern expedition?" This was the question of Prime Minister Xiao Yu.

“She put forward the conditions.”

"What conditions?" Xiao Yu asked afterwards.

"Wei Minister"

The conditions proposed by Princess Yicheng really made it difficult for Cui Junsu to speak, but this was a questioning by Ziwei Pavilion, which was extremely serious. He could not hide anything. He had to say vaguely: "Princess Yicheng proposed to return power to the emperor."

Everyone looked at each other and everyone could guess this condition and understand that Princess Yicheng was the princess of the Sui Dynasty. Of course, she had to protect the interests of the Sui Dynasty, but it was absolutely impossible for the Northern Sui Dynasty to accept it.

At this time, Zhang Xuan, who had been silent, slowly stood up and said to everyone: "Peace is not something that can be obtained. Even if the Turks are willing to stop the war, the conditions proposed must be extremely harsh. It is a material loss that we cannot afford, and I am not willing to bear. This time, Cui Jun went north to the Turks. His task was only to determine whether the Turks decided to invade the south and how much time we have to prepare for war. From this point of view, Cui Jun has completed the task. Cui Jun, tell everyone!"

"The Turks did decide to fight south, and Chuluo Khan had swore to Changshengtian. This was Princess Yicheng who told us through Yang Shanjing's mouth. The reason was that the Turkic Khan wanted to use this southern expedition to consolidate his khan's position. He also told me that Chuluo Khan's army orders had been issued to various Turkic divisions. He said that at least more than 100,000 troops had gone south, but I think at least 300,000 people, and the time was at the end of February. That was the time for them to go to sacrifice to Changshengtian. After the sacrifice was completed, the army set off immediately."

The lobby was quiet. At this time, Zhang Xuan winked at Cui Junsu, Cui Junsu bowed and stepped down.

After a long time, Wei Yunqi said, "I guess your highness is ready, please talk to you!"

Zhang Xuan walked forward and said, "Since it has been clear that the Turkic army will invade the south, we need to do three things next. The first is to prepare for war. This is what the military is already doing, but the food and food resources are far from enough. I decided to use all the food and food resources in the Lushui Warehouse in Youzhou to prepare for war. We can use mulberry and dry water to transport the food and food resources directly to Shanyang County."

At this time, Lu Chu raised his hand and said, "Your Highness, please interrupt me. The Sanggan Water requires a lot of civilian power to carry out large-scale dredging before it can be shipped. I'm afraid it's too late."

Zhang Xuan nodded and said, "This is what I want to discuss with everyone. We need to make preparations. First, ask the court to spend 500,000 jin of money to raise 100,000 civilians from various counties in Youzhou to clear the river. If the river can be cleared within half a month, then it can be transported to Shanyang County by boat. If the dredging project cannot be completed before the freezing, then we can only use sleds to transport food and food on the ice, and the court needs to take another 10,000 pairs of horse-drawn sleds."

Su Wei laughed: "It's not that the old minister has attacked Your Highness. Today is October 14th, and it will start to freeze in half a month at most. If the grain transport ship will freeze halfway, it is really too late. Using a sled to pull grain on the ice is indeed a good way. Usually, the first snow will come in early November, so we simply use this method directly."

Everyone agreed to transport food and goods by pulling sleds, so Zhang Xuan agreed to everyone's plan and did not consider recruiting civilians to clear the river.

Zhang Xuan continued: "The second thing is to move all the people of Mayi County, Yanmen County and Loufan County to Hebei. Once the war with the Turks, I don't want the three counties to be miserable again. I will leave the resettlement of immigrants to you."

This matter is easy to reach a consensus, and everyone has rich experience in resettling disaster victims and has received unanimous support from everyone.

At this time, Zhang Xuan said the third thing, "The third thing is that I want to negotiate with the Tang Dynasty. Both sides will stop the troops for a year to prevent us from stabbing us from behind when we fight against the Turks. As for how to compromise, it depends on the negotiations between the two sides."

Cui Junsu's envoy determined that the Turks would invade the south in the spring of next year, and the Northern Sui Dynasty immediately began large-scale preparations. First, thousands of 500-stone cargo ships began to transport strategic materials such as grain, soldiers and arsenal from the Lushui Warehouse in Zhuo County to Huairong County in the northwest of Zhuo County, which is the area of ​​the Guanting Reservoir in Beijing in later generations.

This distance is about 300 miles long, and you can also take a boat. If you go west, you need to clear the river. In this way, Huairong County has become a transit station for material transfer, and a large amount of strategic materials are temporarily stored here.

At the same time, the Northern Sui court and local governments began to recruit large sleds in Youzhou and Liaodong. This is a means of transportation for winter transportation in Youzhou and Liaodong. Almost every household has it, and it is very common. There is basically no problem in raising 10,000 pairs of livestock sleds.

In addition, the imperial court allocated 300 capable officials and 2,000 Taixue scholars from all over the country to Taigu County. The troops in Zhuo County had already started to build tent camps in Yi County and were preparing to accept immigrants from the three northern counties.

While the Northern Sui court was preparing for a large-scale war, Taiwei Pei Ju, as a special envoy sent by Zhang Xuan, went to Chang'an to negotiate a ceasefire with the Tang Dynasty.

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Although Pei Ju no longer served as prime minister and lost the power to discuss politics, his political status was further improved and he became the only three Dukes in the Northern Sui Dynasty, second only to the Regent Zhang Xuan. This is a typical political compromise, giving up power and gaining status.

Although Pei Ju lost his power, his influence is still there. If he firmly opposes some court government affairs, the court should still consider his opinions when making decisions.

However, after learning about Zhang Xuan's skills, Pei Ju became silent and would not easily implement his influence on the political situation. One more important reason is that Zhang Xuan promised him that he would promote his grandson Pei Hong into prime minister within ten years. Although he had no joke, it also depends on whether he understood the truth and spread what he shouldn't say everywhere. He would not remember any promise if he changed to an emperor.

"Mr. Pei, did Tang Ting know about this negotiation in advance?"

The person who spoke was Deputy Envoy Wen Yanbo, who is currently the Minister of Rites. This time, Zhang Xuan considered that Pei Ju was old and might not be able to withstand the physical strength after a long negotiation. However, Wen Yanbo, who has a sharp mind and outstanding talent, is undoubtedly a good supplement to his deputy.

Seeing that it was less than ten miles away from Chang'an City, the dragon-like wall could be clearly seen, but Tang Ting seemed to have no reaction, which made Wen Yanbo feel a little doubtful.

Pei Ju sat in the carriage. He glanced at the Tang cavalry who was guarding them and smiled and said, "Don't worry! Li Yuan knew everything."

As soon as he finished speaking, a group of people ran out of the city gate and soon rushed to the front of the Sui envoy. The leader was Chen Shuda, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. Chen Shuda turned over and dismounted, Pei Ju, who was in the carriage, bowed and said, "Mr. Pei, I haven't seen him for many years!"

Pei Ju was an official in the Chen Dynasty in his early years, and Chen Shuda was the younger brother of the later lord Chen Shubao. The two had a close relationship, but he was ten years younger than Pei Ju, so he took the initiative to salute.

Pei Ju replied with a smile: "Zicong, please get in the car and talk!"

Chen Shuda greeted Wen Yanbo from the car behind and got on Pei Ju's carriage.

The two sat opposite each other in the carriage, and Pei Ju smiled and said, "I was missing some old friends in Chang'an just now. The first thing I thought of Zicong was the one who thought of him. It was true that God would do it in the dark."

The two laughed, the carriage slowly started and drove into the city.

When entering the city gate, the light suddenly turned black. Chen Shuda lowered his voice and said, "I heard that Gong Pei was transferred to the Grand Marshal, why is this?"

Pei Ju smiled faintly, "The Northern and Sui people have emerged in many talents. We are old and have insufficient energy. We need to give up seats to young people."

"But the Prime Minister of Su can still be in power."

Chen Shuda’s implication is that Su Wei is older, but he is still in the court, so the reason for giving up the young man seems unreasonable.

How could Pei Ju tell Chen Shuda the real reason? It’s not that Chen Shuda is asking, but Li Yuan is asking. He smiled and said, “It’s impossible for both of them to retreat at the same time. You must leave a senior and experienced prime minister to take them with you. Su Prime Minister is obviously more suitable than me. However, Su Prime Minister may not be able to work for a few years, and his health is getting worse every year.”

Chen Shuda did not ask the real reason, and felt a little disappointed. He had to change the topic and said, "I also heard that all the officials of the court asked the King of Qi to ascend the throne, but the King of Qi still declined. What is the reason?"

Pei Ju smiled and said, "Actually, you should think that the King of Qi is not as big as the noble emperor, with many sons and nephews. The clans and nephews can be controlled by the clans and clans. The King of Qi was born in poverty, and the clans and clans died in the war and his son was young. If he ascended the throne, who would take control of the military power?"

Chen Shuda suddenly realized and nodded and said, "So that's it. Your Highness, King Qi, has a hidden secret, I understand."

Soon, the convoy arrived at the VIP hotel. The front of the VIP hotel was three people and five people whistle, and the standing was full of elite Tang soldiers, with extremely strict guards, and the cavalry team was patrolling back and forth.

Chen Shuda smiled and said, "The room is cleaned up, Mr. Pei has a good rest for a night. What do you need? Even if you ask, my emperor will officially receive Mr. Pei early tomorrow morning, and I will come to pick Mr. Pei in person to the court."

"Is it because we are so vigilant here? Is it because we are under house arrest?" Pei Ju pointed to the soldiers on guard and asked.

Chen Shuda was startled, "Mr. Pei cannot say this nonsense. How could he put an envoy under house arrest? We are afraid that Luoyang's misfortune will happen in Chang'an, and we have to do it with caution. If Mr. Pei wants to send a letter or receive someone, as long as he is not going out, the soldiers will never interfere and no one will monitor him. My emperor still has this little bit of ambition."

Pei Ju smiled, "So that's it, then I'll convey my gratitude to the noble emperor for me!"

"Sure! Sure!"

Chen Shuda said goodbye and left. Pei Ju smiled at Wen Yanbo, who was full of confusion and said, "Everything is within my expectations. Let's go in and talk in detail!"
Chapter completed!