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, Li Xing and poplar trees drew out fragrant slender leaves, and the willow trees by the river were long hair.
The branches are full of tender new buds. The warmth of water is a new year 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 thoughts on educating the children of the Pei family. He had to ask about the children of four or five years old, teenagers, or young children with high spirits. He treated the same person, regardless of the legitimate and illegitimate children.
, give them the best conditions and ask the best scholars, and he is willing to spend no matter how much money he spends.
But after the New Year, Pei Ju's body suddenly became aging, and he himself felt that life was passing by day and that the son he left in the world had not grown 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 so
.
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 boy 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. He is the second son of the eldest grandson Pei Jin and also 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 will be very serious.
He placed the hope 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 stores,
Qianqing Tea Garden earns 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. However, he is very business-minded, capable, and has superb abilities. He has managed the Pei family business empire in Jiangnan 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 Wenqiu saw his father at a glance. Seeing that he was extremely weak and was almost exhausted.
When the lamp was dry, he felt sad and hurried forward and knelt down, "Wen Ju 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 got 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 the god of jing was particularly cheered up. He smiled at Pei Zhao first and said, "You go and read! 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 good, he is polite and calm, and quite generous."
Pei Ju sighed and said, "Among the children of the Pei family, you are the weaker generation. There is only one Pei Shiqing and another general Pei Renji is good. But among your children, there have been many talents. Minqiu, I won't
Speaking of which, like Jin'er, Qingsong, Xingyan, these are all outstanding people, but they have never produced any talented people. I learned from the pain and found that our Pei family had a deviation in education. They paid too much attention to Pei's studies and despised his studies.
, Many subordinates have been trained, but the Pei family's children have become mediocre, so I want to change this deviation. Every year, 40% of the food that the Pei family earns must be devoted to the education of the Pei family's children. I believe that after several
With ten years of hard work, the Pei family will surely emerge in the future. From Zhaoer, I have 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 "Meritorious Minister" made Pei Wenju silently moved. Pei Ju smiled, "I won't talk about this, 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-term prospect, the support of the nobles of Long, occupied the land of Guanlong and the prosperity of Bashu. This was like the Qin State during the Warring States Period, if the soldiers were to use their lives
, The king and the ministers are united. The royal family is united, so it is still unknown who will win. 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, and generally only has only one
Before the crown prince entered the Eastern Palace, he could be granted the title of King of Qin or King Yong. When Li Yuan conferred Li Shimin as King of Qin, he had the idea of changing him as the crown prince. The root of the turmoil in the Tang Dynasty was already buried at that time."
"Maybe it's because Li Jiancheng is too old and threatens 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 the powers that only the crown prince has. It is obvious that
Li Yuan was deliberately provoking a dispute between the 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, so he should have destroyed the Sui Dynasty first.
After the strong enemy, playing with the emperor's skills, both Wang Shichong, Li Mi and Dou Jiande were no longer important at that time. Unfortunately, Li Yuan was a little 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 it has exhausted its entire national strength. Guanlong swept the floor and soldier, the taxes are heavy, and the manors are rampant, which has led to the public's resentment. In addition, the capital was broken, and the court was invaded.
All confidence in the upper and lower levels was lost, while 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, without any 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, dispersing the Sui army
The force gave the Tang Dynasty a chance to breathe, otherwise the Tang Dynasty would not have turned 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 Jiangnan to personally pacify 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 face of Yang Yuanqing, I would have no regrets in my life. However, I knew people with keen eyes.
, This is 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." He is the prefect of Dunhuang County."
b is even more a greedy person. He thought Dunhuang Mountain was high and the emperor was far away, so didn’t I 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 was afraid that Yang Yuanqing would marry another famous southern family, such as the daughter of Xiao, which would be a threat."