During the Spring Equinox, there were two spring rains in Wenxi County. The warm spring rain fell gently on the fertile land of Jinzhong, making the breath of spring even stronger.

Tender green grass grew under the withered leaves on both sides of the official road, the birch branches in the woods were covered with green fluff, the li Xing and poplar trees sprouted fragrant slender leaves, and the long-haired branches of willow trees by the river were covered with tender new buds.

Groups of ducks in the river are playing happily foraging, and buffaloes carrying the shepherd's boys are swimming slowly in the river, enjoying the warmth of spring water comfortably. This is a spring full of vitality.

On the misty official road, a group of passers-by from afar were riding horses and following several ox carts, slowly heading towards Peijia Village several miles away.

In a newly built school in Peijia Village, more than thirty children aged four to six are reading and reciting the Analects of Confucius: "The Master said, learn and practice it from time to time..."

Under an old locust tree like an umbrella in the school yard, a thin old man squinted his eyes and watched the children concentrate on reading. His old and expectant eyes seemed to be an old gardener waiting for the new seedlings to sprout.

The old man is Pei Ju. It has been a while since he returned to his hometown. His heart has been completely calm and he temporarily forgot about the court's struggle for power and profit.

He focused all his attention on educating the children of the Pei family. He had to ask about it one by one, no matter the children of four or five years old, a teenager, or a young child with high spirits. He treated the legitimate and illegitimate people equally, gave them the best conditions and asked the best scholars, and he was willing to spend no matter how much money he spent.

But after the New Year, Pei Ju's body suddenly became aging, and he himself felt that life was passing by day and the days he stayed in the world were not long.

Pei Ju has nothing to remember. As long as the Pei family emerges in many talents, the new dynasty will sooner or later have a place for the Pei family. As long as the queen and prince do not fall, then this day will come sooner or later. Although he can no longer see it, he knows the general trend and the general trend is like this.

After sitting under the big tree for a while, Pei Ju was a little tired. He stood up and walked out of the school with a cane. Just as he walked to the door, a twelve or thirteen-year-old boy came over and almost collided with Pei Ju.

The young man was so scared that he knelt down quickly, "The great-grandson was rude and hit his great-grandfather!"

The young man is named Pei Zhao, the second son of the eldest grandson Pei Jin, and Pei Ju's favorite great-grandson. He is extremely smart and outstanding in his studies at the age of twelve or thirteen. Because his age is similar to Yang Ning, Pei Ju largely placed the hopes of the Pei family on him.

Pei Ju smiled and said, "You little monkey, you are so anxious that you are burning your tail?"

"No, I'll report back to my great-grandfather. It's my third grandfather who has returned. I'll report it."

The third grandfather is Pei Ju's third son Pei Wenju. He has been working in business in Jiangnan. Has he finally returned?

Pei Ju was overjoyed and hurriedly said, "Help me go and have a look."

Pei Zhao quickly stood up and supported his great-grandfather and walked slowly outside the school.

There were several carriages parked at the entrance of the school. Pei Wenju and his men, who had returned from Jiangnan, were still riding on horseback. Jiangnan has always been a prosperous place for business in the Sui Dynasty. The Pei family also had a large industry in Jiangnan, dozens of shops and thousands of acres of tea gardens, making a lot of profits for the Pei family every year.

Such a large industry certainly requires core figures to preside over it, so Pei Ju's third son Pei Wenju was the general manager.

Pei Wenju is over fifty years old this year, with a medium figure and a thin face. He has never had the opportunity to enter the officialdom, but he is very business-minded, shrewd and capable, and has managed the Pei family business empire in the south of the Yangtze River in an orderly manner.

At this time, an old school manager said to them: "The third master asked to dismount. The old master set a rule. No matter who, the school must dismount at the door of the family to show his respect for the gentleman."

Pei Wenju got off the horse in a hurry, and more than a dozen of his subordinates also got off the horse. Suddenly, footsteps came from the school. Pei Ju was helped out by his great-grandson Pei Zhao. Pei Wenju saw his father at a glance. Seeing that he was extremely weak and was almost exhausted, he felt sad in his heart and hurriedly stepped forward and knelt down, "Wenju pays homage to his father!"

The followers behind also knelt down one after another, "See the head of the family!"

"Everyone gets up."

Pei Ju asked everyone to get up. He glanced at his son again, and was happy in his heart. He waved his hand and smiled, "Sanlang, get up too!"

Pei Wenju stood up and supported his father. Pei Ju smiled and said, "Let's go back home and talk."

"yes!"

Pei Wenju and Pei Zhao, one left and one right, helped Pei Ju slowly walked towards the inner palace...

When he returned to the room, Pei Ju sat down. His son's return made him happy and he was extremely energetic. He smiled at Pei Zhao first and said, "You go and study! Don't bother you here."

"Great grandson said goodbye."

Pei Zhao bowed and bowed to Pei Wen and said, "Three grandfathers and grandsons say goodbye."

"Yeah, go!"

Pei Wenju looked at him and walked away, stroked his beard and smiled at his father, "This child is not bad, he is polite and calm, and quite generous."

Pei Ju sighed and said, "Among the children of the Pei family, you are relatively weak. There is only one Pei Shiqing and another military general Pei Renji is good. But among your children, there are many talents. I won't talk about Minqiu. Like Jin'er, Qingsong, Xingyan, these are all outstanding, but there is never a talent. I learned from the pain and found that our Pei family has a deviation in education. He pays too much attention to Pei's studies and despises his family and trains many subordinates. However, the children of the Pei family have become mediocre. So I want to change this deviation. Every year, 40% of the money and grain that the Pei family earns must be devoted to the education of the Pei family. I believe that after decades of hard work, the Pei family will surely produce many talents in the future. From Zhaoer, I have already seen hope."

Pei Wenju said with shame: "It was the child who was incompetent and disappointed his father."

"I am not disappointed with you. You are very capable and earn enough money for the Pei family to educate their descendants. You are a meritorious minister of the Pei family."

The four words "a meritorious minister" made Pei Wenju silently moved. Pei Ju smiled, "I won't talk about this anymore, let's talk about the situation in Jiangnan! I heard that there was a war there, Yang Yuanqing went to Jiangnan in person and told me about it."

"Report to my father, when the child left Jiangnan, he had not arrived yet. When the child arrived in Liangjun, he heard the news. Yang Yuanqing had already destroyed Li Mi, so Jiangnan should be calmed now."

"Well! It's true that's not what I expected."

Pei Ju nodded and praised: "Yang Yuanqing is indeed courageous and strategic, first destroying the weak and then destroying the strong. If I guess correctly, his next step is to attack Jingxiang, then Bashu, and finally to chaos in Chang'an and conquer Jiangnan. In fact, the general trend of the world has been decided."

Speaking of this, Pei Ju sighed again, "Speaking of the Tang Dynasty, there was a long future. The support of the nobles of Long, occupied the land of Guanlong and the prosperity of Bashu. This is like the Qin State during the Warring States Period. If the soldiers use their lives, the king and the ministers unite, then it is still unknown who will die. Unfortunately, the internal strife of the Tang Dynasty ruined the bright future, and the Tang Dynasty will go and never return!"

"Why did my father think that the Tang Dynasty had such an internal strife?"

"This is actually Li Yuan's responsibility. From the beginning, he should not have named Li Shimin the King of Qin. He can be named Li Shimin the King of Jin, Yan and Wei, but he cannot be named Qin. The King of Qin is the lord of Guanlong. Generally, only the crown prince can be named Qin or Yong before entering the Eastern Palace. When Li Yuan named Li Shimin the King of Qin, he already had the idea of ​​changing him as the crown prince. The root of the turmoil in the Tang Dynasty was buried at that time."

"Maybe it was because Li Jiancheng was too old and threatened Li Yuan's throne. Is that true?"

Pei Ju nodded in praise, "It is not easy for you to see this. It is true. Li Yuan appointed Li Shimin as the Minister of the Shangshu, General Tiance, and allowed him to establish his own officials. These are powers that only the crown prince has. Obviously, Li Yuan was deliberately provoking a dispute between the crown prince and the Qin king. As an emperor, this is a very clever emperor's technique. Li Yuan's approach itself is beyond reproach. However, he was five years earlier. He should have destroyed the powerful enemy of the Sui Dynasty first and then played with the emperor's technique. At that time, whether Wang Shichong, Li Mi or Dou Jiande was no longer important, but it was a pity that Li Yuan was too anxious and was careless, which led to a loss of everything."

Pei Wenju pondered for a moment and said, "I heard that Li Yuan had already removed Li Shimin's Shangshu Ling and was preparing to seize his military power. If the Tang Dynasty lost its way, will they still have hope?"

Pei Ju shook his head, "The key is that the Tang Dynasty has lost too much, and has exhausted its entire national strength. Guanlong swept the grounds into soldiers, heavy taxes, and rampant manors have led to public resentment. In addition, the capital was broken, and the confidence of the government and the country was lost. However, the strong enemy in the north of the Sui Dynasty had been eliminated, but Yang Yuanqing was working step by step, with a brilliant strategy and no flaws. Unless Yang Yuanqing made major mistakes, such as the rebellion in Hebei, the rebellion in the Central Plains, or the rebellion in the south, dispersed the energy of the Sui army and gave the Tang Dynasty a chance to breathe, otherwise, the Tang Dynasty would not be able to turn the tables again."

"Will my father think there will be a rebellion?"

"Hebei, the Central Plains have been in turmoil for so many years, and the people have long decided to do so. Who will rebel again? The only possibility is the south, but Yang Yuanqing also realized it, so he went to the south to personally ease the south, and did not give the Tang Dynasty any chance."

Speaking of this, Pei Ju sighed, "The misfortune of the Tang Dynasty was that Yang Yuanqing was the opponent. If Pei Ju could be twenty years younger and be the prime minister of Yang Yuanqing, I would never regret it in my life. However, when I knew people with keen eyes, this was the most proud thing for me in my life."

Pei Wenju remembered another thing, bit his lip, and asked worriedly: "But, father, what if Yang Yuanqing discovered something about the Shen family?"

Pei Ju smiled faintly, "If you were in Jiangnan, maybe he would think of something, so I asked you to come back unless you didn't do it as required in my letter."

Pei Wenju shook his head, "I have arranged everything one by one according to my father's instructions, and there is no omission."

"That's okay. With my Pei Ju's foresight, Yang Yuanqing would never have thought that the Shen family would be destroyed by the Pei family."

After hesitating, Pei Wenju said again: "But there is still a Shen family in Dunhuang. Shen Chun, the former military officer of the Records Office, was the prefect of Dunhuang County."

Pei Ju sneered, "I hope Yang Yuanqing uses the Shen family in Dunhuang. How many talents are there in the Shen family in Jiangnan, but the Shen family in Dunhuang are all mediocre talents. Shen Chun is even more greedy for money. He thought that the emperor of Dunhuang Mountain was far away, so I didn't know?"

Speaking of this, he looked at Pei Wenju and said, "Do you understand? The key is talent. Talents can prosper the country, while mediocre talents can only destroy the family. If Yang Yuanqing reuses the mediocre talents of the Shen family in Dunhuang, then the position of Ning'er as the prince is really worry-free. I am afraid that Yang Yuanqing will marry another famous southern family, such as the daughter of Xiao, which is a threat."

..............)

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