Pei Ju hurried into the imperial study room, and saw the emperor Yang Guang standing in front of the window with his hands behind his back, looking at the sky with time, his face pale and without a trace of blood. Compared with a month ago, Yang Guang lost weight a lot. Pei Ju sighed secretly, it seemed that the rumor that the emperor was addicted to wine and color, which seemed to be groundless.

"Old minister Pei Ju, please see Your Majesty!" Pei Ju hurriedly stepped forward and bowed to salute.

"Flat!" Yang Guang's tone was a little impatient, as if Pei Ju had disturbed his thoughts.

Pei Ju didn't dare to say much, so he quickly stood beside Yu Shiji. Yu Shiji stood beside the table like a statue, motionless. Pei Ju gave him a wink, and he seemed to have not seen it. Pei Ju had to imitate him and waited aside without saying a word.

After a while, Yang Guang woke up from his thoughts. He glanced at Pei Ju and slowly returned to his seat.

"Does Pei Gong know a few things Zhang Xuan has done recently?" Yang Guang asked coldly.

Pei Ju was shocked. He knew exactly what Zhang Xuan did, but it should have nothing to do with him. Why is the emperor so indifferent? Is he trying to hold him accountable for recommending Zhang Xuan back then?

Pei Ju hurriedly bowed and said, "The old minister just heard something."

"Tell me what you heard?"

"The old minister heard that he deployed disaster relief in Lu County, Jibei County and Dongping County. Although disaster relief is a good thing, the old minister felt that he was suspected of winning people's hearts."

At this point, Pei Ju didn't dare to tell the truth for Zhang Xuan, so he had to tell the truth.

Yang Guang's expression slightly eased, "I don't want to pursue this matter. He is willing to provide relief to the victims. I cannot ask for it. He has also asked me for instructions and reported to me in advance when he attacked Lu Mingyue. I also acquiesced. He took the grain from Li Yangcang to provide relief to the victims. Although he did too much, I can tolerate it. Even if he crossed the territory to suppress bandits in Liaodong without authorization, I will not pursue it. But I cannot tolerate him who negotiated with Goguryeo without authorization. He is just a small Hebei recruitment envoy. What qualifications do he have to negotiate with Goguryeo?"

Pei Ju was silent. He wanted to think that the emperor would pursue Zhang Xuan's occupation of Li Yangcang to seize food and food. It turned out that the emperor hated Zhang Xuan for negotiating with Goguryeo without authorization.

This made Pei Ju a little dissatisfied. Negotiating with Goguryeo was just disrespectful of etiquette, but unauthorized disaster relief and occupation of Liyang Cang were the substantive issues. Why did the emperor avoid the real and make the false?

Most people may think that the emperor pays too much attention to face and false etiquette, and does not care about the erosion of actual interests. However, Pei Ju has been in the officialdom for a lifetime. He knows Yang Guang too much. How could Yang Guang not care about the infringement of actual interests, but care about the false etiquette. There must be something strange about it. Pei Ju did not dare to express his opinion in a hurry, so he had to silently ignore it.

At this time, Yu Shiji, who was like a statue, suddenly spoke, "Your Majesty, I think it's actually understandable that General Zhang and Goguryeo negotiate."

"Where is understandable?"

"Your Majesty, Goguryeo is a vassal state of the Great Sui Dynasty, and Gao Yuan is also his minister. Zhang Xuan and Goguryeo negotiations were actually a negotiation between ministers and was in line with the etiquette system. If the court negotiated with Goguryeo, the weak ministers would find it a bit inappropriate."

"According to what you say, this matter will be left alone?" Yang Guang asked lightly.

"It must be left unresolved. Your Majesty must order Zhang Xuan to do two things. First, he must write a detailed report to Your Majesty. Second, he must give the land of the Liaodong Peninsula to the court. Under the sky, is it the land of the king? Even if it is a form, he must do it."

Yang Guang nodded, "Speak well, just draw the order like this!"

Pei Ju next to him suddenly realized that the emperor did not want to punish Zhang Xuan at all, so he avoided the truth and turned to the false. However, there were loopholes in the Goguryeo negotiations. Just as Yu Shiji said, it was just a consultation between ministers. After Yu Shiji's explanation, he gave another step. The emperor pretended to be confused and no longer pursued what Zhang Xuan did.

But Pei Ju was still a little puzzled. Why did the emperor let Zhang Xuan go? You should know that occupying Li Yang Cang and stationing troops in Liaodong are all very serious matters. Negotiating with Goguryeo also has suspicion of usurpation, which is definitely not as simple as Yu Shiji said. Pei Ju felt that there should be a deeper reason in this, so Pei Ju still said nothing and did not make any statement.

At this time, Yang Guang picked up a report on the table and said to Pei Ju: "This is the official report sent by Zhang Xuan yesterday. He said that after receiving Wang Bian's urgent request for help, because the situation in Li Yangcang was critical, he had no time to ask the court for instructions, so he urgently sent troops to rescue Li Yangcang.

He is the Hebei recruitment envoy, and it is his duty to rescue Li Yangcang. I think he doesn't have to ask the court. What makes me happy is that he defeated Lu Mingyue's 100,000 thieves in Tanyuan County and killed the thief leader Lu Mingyue. The head of the thief has been sent to Luoyang, which really makes me happy. As for his unauthorized use of Li Yangcang's grain to provide relief to the victims of the Central Plains, he admitted his mistake and apologized after the report, saying that he couldn't bear it in the face of starvation. Seeing that he was doing it for disaster relief, I will not pursue his minor mistakes."

Pei Ju's eyelids twitched. It was a small matter to seize Li Yangcang. When did the emperor become so magnanimous? Although Pei Ju didn't know the real reason why the emperor tolerated Zhang Xuan, he understood one thing. The emperor must have planned to reward Zhang Xuan's military achievements. Pei Ju no longer remained silent and bowed and said, "Your Majesty is wise!"

Yu Shiji secretly scolded Pei Ju for being cunning and cunning, what does Your Majesty mean? Everything Your Majesty did is right. Although this sentence expresses his opinion, it means that he has said nothing.

Yu Shiji smiled and said, "Have you been saying that Zhang Xuan had recovered the Liaodong Peninsula for the Great Sui Dynasty and wiped out Gao Kaidao. Should he be rewarded heavily? This time he destroyed Lu Mingyue, so he simply rewarded them together."

Yang Guang took a piece of su paper from the imperial case. He looked at the memorandum on it and said to Pei Ju: "I have decided to grant Zhang Xuan the title of General of the Right Guard, Duke of Qi, and the three departments of the founding official Yi, Fu Jie, the chief censor of Hebei to inspect the counties in Hebei. At the same time, he bounty 10,000 taels. Duke Pei will go to Qinghe County for me!"

Pei Ju was shocked and actually granted the title of General of the Right Guard, Duke of Qi, and the third sect of Kaifu Yi. Duke of Qi was the title of Gao Qian, and belonged to the first-class Duke. After Gao Qian was killed, the title was deprived. He had never been granted anyone, but now he was given to Zhang Xuan. Yuwen Shu was just like this after quelling the Yang Xuangan Rebellion. Why did the emperor make such a big deal?

But under Yang Guang's sharp gaze, Pei Ju didn't dare to think too much, and hurriedly bowed and said, "I obey the order!"

Pei Ju slowly retreated, Yang Guang's smile suddenly disappeared, his eyes became particularly vicious. He picked up Zhang Xuan's report and looked at it for a moment. He couldn't help but fall to the ground. He walked to the window with his hands on his back and stared at Pei Ju's back away. His slightly swollen eyes flashed with an unconcealed fierce light.

Yu Shiji next to him was secretly proud, and even Pei Ju didn't know the emperor's true heart. I'm afraid that Yu Shiji could understand the emperor's heart in the world.

The so-called re-entry of Zhang Xuan was because the emperor was eager to deal with another person, so he had to temporarily use the re-entry to stabilize him and prevent Zhang Xuan from rebelling.

"Can Your Majesty confirm that Zhang Xuan's words are true?" Yu Shiji asked in a low voice.

Three months ago, Zhang Xuan secretly reported something to Yang Guang. Li Mi's true identity of Wagang is Li Jiancheng, the eldest son of Li Yuan. Li Mi has long been dead. Li Jiancheng replaced him to Wagang. This matter was secretly covered by Yang Guang. It was not until today that Yang Guang began to liquidate.

Yang Guang said coldly: "Do you think I will remain indifferent? I sent someone to investigate the matter secretly the day after I received Zhang Xuan's report."

"Your Majesty must have gotten the accurate result!"

Yang Guang nodded, "I have been confirmed from the Dugu family that this matter was the decision of Dugu Shun and Dou Qing, and Li Jiancheng, the son of Li Yuan, will replace Li Mi to Wagang."

Speaking of this, Yang Guang couldn't help but snorted heavily, "For so many years, I have been hidden by Li Yuan's illusion. I thought he was a cowardly and useless person, but in fact, his scheming is more profound than anyone else, and his ambition is greater than anyone else. He is the one who fulfills the prophecy. I killed Li Hun because I killed the wrong person."

"But it was Dugu Shun and Dou Qing who decided to go to Wagang, and it seemed that Li Yuan had no choice."

Yang Guang glared at Yu Shiji fiercely, "Do you want to plead for him?"

Yu Shiji was so scared that he lowered his head quickly, "I don't dare!"

"Hmph! I'm sorry you dare not."

Yang Guang took out another secret letter and threw it in front of Yu Shiji, "This is a secret letter from Gao Junya and Wang Wei to me. After defeating Wu Duaner, Li Yuan privately selected 20,000 elite troops from the surrendered stroke for training. There is also Zhang Xuan's report. He wanted to go to Hanoi County to wipe out Li Jiancheng, but Li Jiancheng got the news in advance and led his army to flee to Bingzhou. Judging from all the signs, Li Yuan was going to rebel, and I must kill him before he rose up!"

Yang Guang did not fully express his concerns. If he was just Li Yuan, he would not have faced a great enemy like this. What he was really worried about was the Guanlong nobles. Li Yuan's rebellion meant that the Guanlong nobles began to openly become enemies with him.

Although the Bohai Association made Yang Guang hate it, Yang Guang really didn't take it seriously. The Guanlong nobles were the foundation of the founding of the Great Sui country and the largest force in the Great Sui Dynasty. If the Guanlong nobles rebelled, the Sui country would be in danger.
Chapter completed!