Zhang Xutuo walked in with a smile, "I saw that your light was still on, so I came in and checked it out.￥f,"

Zhang Xuan asked Zhang Xutuo to sit down, poured him a cup of warm tea, and asked with a smile: "I haven't seen the Grand Marshal for a long time. What is the Grand Marshal busy with recently?"

"I just performed my duties and had a lot of things, but they were all trivial matters, such as personnel transfers, official evaluations, etc. I have never seen many people before. How do I evaluate them? It's very annoying and boring, just live like this!"

Speaking of this, Zhang Xutuo asked again with a smile: "I heard from Yuchi that you went on a blind date today, how about it?"

Zhang Xuan's face felt slightly hot, and he cursed with a smile: "That guy, tell him not to say it again and again, he still said it."

"Don't blame him for this, Yuan Ding, this is a good thing. We all care about your family. You also know that you have no relatives at home, so maybe I need to come forward to propose marriage!"

Zhang Xutuo couldn't help laughing, "You should tell me, and then I'll go with you."

Zhang Xuan shook his head, "It's also a blessing that the coach didn't go, otherwise"

Zhang Xuan didn't say anything more. Of course, Zhang Xutuo understood what Zhang Xuan meant. In fact, he also got a hint from Yuchi Gong. Zhang Xuan seemed to have encountered a nail when he went to the Lo family. The Lo family had a common problem with a noble family and politely declined Zhang Xuan's proposal.

Zhang Xutuo had a deep understanding of this common problem of aristocratic families. It was because of his poor background that he was depressed and unsuccessful in the court dominated by aristocratic families. It was not until the world was in chaos that he had the opportunity to make a comeback.

Zhang Xutuo pondered for a moment and said, "Pei Xiangguo talked to me two days ago. It seems that the Pei family wants to marry you, but you are not very willing. This is the case!"

"It's true."

Zhang Xuan smiled bitterly and said, "Marriage is indeed very strange. You can't get what you want, but you may not want what you want. Sometimes I am very confused and I don't know what kind of marriage I want."

"But have you and Mr. Pei always had a close relationship? Why can't you go further?"

Zhang Xuan was silent for a moment and said, "My relationship with Pei Gong is the same thing, and my friendship with Dashang is another thing. I can tell Dashang frankly that the Pei family hopes that I will become their family, and they feel that they cannot fully control me. So they have to tie up a marriage. Although marriage is also a political transaction, the premise is to be sincere. So far, I cannot see the sincerity of the Pei family."

Zhang Xuan made it clear that his relationship with Pei Ju is just about using each other. He does not want to become a vassal of the Pei family, does not want to be controlled by the Pei family, and in fact he does not want to be controlled by anyone. This is his bottom line, and Pei Ju just wants to break through this bottom line, so he certainly cannot accept it.

Zhang Xutuo nodded, "I can understand your feelings, but we local generals can never escape the control of the court. The Pei family occupied two positions in the center of the court's power, which shows how strong his family is. I just hope that my generals will not repeat my mistakes. If someone from the court was willing to speak for me, I would not have been deprived of military power. I have retired in the capital, Yuan Ding, after all, our own background is too weak."

Zhang Xutuo's implication is to tell Zhang Xuan that they do not have strong capital yet and cannot offend the powerful and powerful family of the Pei family in the court. They should compromise to some extent. For example, marriage will have a real backer in the court and will not follow his footsteps.

Of course, Zhang Xutuo was kind-hearted, but the premise he assumed was that the Sui Dynasty would have a lifespan of decades or even hundreds of years. In this case, it was indeed wise to choose a powerful man like Pei Ju as his backer.

But Zhang Xuan knew that the Sui Dynasty had not had much time, and it had only two years of control over the local area. It was not cost-effective to pay the price of marriage for the safety of these two years.

Moreover, his foundation is in the Shandong Peninsula, even if he considers political marriage, he should choose Shandong gentry, Qinghe Cui clan, Boling Cui clan, Bohai Gao clan, Zhaojun Li clan or Fanyang Lu clan are all ideal choices.

The Pei family in Hedong was just a gentry in Bingzhou. It may be suitable for Li Yuan, Liu Wuzhou and others who raised an army in Bingzhou, but it is not very suitable for him. This is the fundamental reason why Zhang Xuan politely declined the Pei family's marriage. He considered it deeper and farther than Zhang Xutuo, and chose the Lu family, and there were more or less some considerations in this regard.

But he couldn't say these words to Zhang Xutuo. Zhang Xuan smiled and changed the topic, "Actually, I think the emperor wouldn't really let the generals take care of their elderly in the capital, and would definitely let the generals participate in quelling the rebellious bandits. The situation is stronger than others. Some things are unavailable for the emperor. Even if the generals don't return to Qingzhou, they will participate in quelling the rebellion in other places, such as the Central Plains, Guanlong, Jiangnan, Bingzhou and other places."

Zhang Xutuo also smiled and said, "Yu Juluo also said something similar to me. I also look forward to being able to lead troops to war. I would rather die on the battlefield than be trapped in the high walls of the mansion."

Zhang Xutuo was actually commissioned by Pei Ju to ask Zhang Xuan about his intention to marry him, but now it seems that Zhang Xuan does not want to marry the Pei family for the time being. He no longer asked more questions, stood up and smiled, "It's getting late, you should rest early!"

Zhang Xuan sent Zhang Xutuo out of the yard and returned to his room. He knew that Zhang Xutuo was actually entrusted by Pei Ju to test his attitude, and Zhang Xuan also knew that his rejection of the Pei family's marriage request would affect his relationship with Pei Ju.

Originally, he just wanted to maintain a relatively simple mutual utilization relationship with Pei Ju, but Pei Ju wanted to further deepen this relationship, which broke their previous tacit understanding and cast a shadow on their relationship.

Zhang Xutuo reminded Zhang Xuan to some extent that he really could not put all the safety chips on the Pei family. He had already distributed some of them on Yu Shiji, and he had to consider finding another person.

The next day, just dawn, Zhang Xuan came to the Yan Prince's Mansion. Last time, Han Xin told him that the Yan Prince usually went out early and returned late, and he could only meet him in the Yan Prince's Mansion in the morning or evening.

Although Pei Ju told him that the current King of Yan is no longer the former King of Yan, Zhang Xuan still felt that he should take the initiative to pay homage to Yang Qing, and there was no irreversible crack between them.

Moreover, Zhang Xuan also vaguely felt that Pei Ju actually exaggerated Yang Ju’s degree of disgust towards him to some extent. After all, Yang Ju was once his biggest backer. Without Yang Ju’s support, he could only rely entirely on Pei Ju.

Zhang Xuan waited for a while, an old eunuch hurried out of the gate, bowed and smiled, "General Zhang, Your Highness, King Yan, please invite him!"

It was a bit beyond Zhang Xuan's expectations. The King of Yan actually agreed to meet him so happily, which means that he should have come to pay a visit to him long ago, rather than delaying it until now. Zhang Xuan suddenly realized that he had made some mistakes in the King of Yan.

Zhang Xuan followed the eunuch and walked into the Yan Prince's Mansion. Yang Neng's living hall that had been here. At this time, Yang Neng was drinking tea and eating some refreshments. Before entering the palace, the eunuch stepped forward to report: "Your Highness, General Zhang has arrived, and I'm waiting in the hall."

"Let him come up!"

The eunuch went down. After a moment, Zhang Xuan walked into the living hall and stepped forward to kneel down on one knee to salute Yang, "My minister Zhang Xuan will meet His Highness the King of Yan!"

Yang Qing smiled slightly, "General Zhang, long time no see us."

"I should have come to see Your Highness earlier."

"I heard Gu Wen Gu said that you have been here once, but unfortunately I was in the palace and I didn't see the general."

Zhang Xuan felt a little ashamed. The last time he came to Han Xin to find out Li Zitong's residence, not to pay homage to the King of Yan. Unexpectedly, Han Xin actually made the visit for him.

"I am ashamed!"

"General Zhang, please sit down and have a cup of tea together."

Yang Neng asked Zhang Xuan to sit down, and a palace maid gave Zhang Xuan a refreshment. Zhang Xuan secretly glanced at Yang Neng. Compared with last year, he was indeed much more mature. He had a faint black beard on his lips, and his eyes were deeper and more wise. If he was a sensible boy last year, then after a year of tempering in the court, he had quickly grown into a rational young man.

"General Zhang is going to attend the hero meeting this time!" Yang Neng asked with a smile after taking a sip of tea.

"That's right! Wei Chen directly participated in the second round."

"Maybe I will also go and watch it, hoping to see General Zhang show his power and win a good ranking."

"I will do my best."

At this time, Yang Qing fell into deep thought. He seemed to be thinking about something. Zhang Xuan did not interrupt his thoughts. He picked up the teacup and drank a sip of tea, waiting for Yang Qing's thoughts to turn back.

Yang Qing pondered for a moment and asked: "The last time General Zhang's letter to Gu talked about Liang Zhi, the prefect of Beihai, saying that he had actually joined the Bohai Association. Gu really wanted to know how rampant the Bohai Association was in Shandong, and even the prefect could bribe him."
Chapter completed!