Zhang Xuan has been back to Zhongdu for half a month. This time, Nan has been expropriated for four months. He is really tired. When he returns home and spends time with his family day and night, he receives meticulous care from his wife. He quickly gets rid of his fatigue and regains his energy and devotes himself to the heavy court affairs.

That morning, Zhang Xuan came to the harem and made a special trip to the young emperor and Empress Dowager Xiao. The emperor is only four years old this year. In fact, he has been forgotten. In the hearts of the subjects in the world, Zhang Xuan is the destiny of the emperor, and in the hearts of civil and military officials of the court, the highest symbol of power in the Northern Sui Dynasty was the Empress Dowager.

It is no wonder that according to the laws of the court, before the emperor became an emperor, the highest order was issued by the empress dowager, and even the New Year dynasty was introduced by Empress Dowager Xiao. As for the emperor, his figure never appeared at any ceremony. Whether there was any edict, as time passed, everyone naturally gradually forgot the young emperor.

When Zhang Xuan saw that the emperor had just a simple look, asked about his physical condition, and then asked the palace maids and eunuchs to take good care of him. The time was very short, he went to see the queen mother.

The palace where Empress Xiao met with foreign ministers was called Liuyun Hall, which was a small palace. Sometimes several prime ministers would come here to pay homage to the Empress Dowager. However, today Empress Xiao met Zhang Xuan at her own living place, Furong Hall, which was also a special kind of favor to Zhang Xuan.

Empress Xiao lived a very peaceful life in the past two years. Because the harem and the back house of the Prince Qi's mansion were connected by lake, she could travel on a pleasure boat. When Zhang Xuan was not in the mansion, Empress Xiao and Lu Qing often visited each other and chatted, and their lives were not lonely.

"My minister Zhang Xuan pays homage to the Queen Mother!" Zhang Xuan knelt down in front of the steps to salute.

Empress Xiao is well maintained, with delicate and white skin, and her appearance is still beautiful. She looks a little younger than her daughter Princess Nanyang. However, her body is a little plump, which further highlights her elegance and luxury. Empress Xiao smiled and said, "Your Highness is not a gift, please sit down!"

A palace maid brought the cushion. Empress Xiao waved her hand and asked the palace maids to retreat. The only two of them were left in the Furong Palace. Zhang Xuan sat down with Empress Xiao and asked with concern: "I heard from the princess that the queen mother was sick in spring. Is it better now?"

Empress Xiao smiled and waved her hand, "That happened two months ago. It's just a small illness, so it's been gone, but I still have to thank Your Highness for your concern."

Empress Xiao looked at Zhang Xuan carefully and sighed slightly, "I haven't seen you for a few months. Your Highness has lost a lot of weight. I guess the princess feels very distressed, even me."

Zhang Xuan heard something in her words, and without looking up, he happened to face Queen Xiao’s eyes. Queen Xiao’s face turned slightly red, her eyes quickly moved away, and then said in a low voice: “Your Highness sends the little girl back to me. I have no words to express my gratitude to Your Highness. Please accept my respect!”

After saying that, Empress Xiao stood up and walked forward Yingying and knelt down at Zhang Xuan.

Empress Xiao refers to the wife of Princess Nanyang and Yu Wen Shiji. After the Yu Wen brothers were executed, Yu Wen Shiji abandoned his wife and son and fled to Chang'an. He had a very good personal relationship with Li Jiancheng and was reused again in Chang'an.

Princess Nanyang and her son were captured by the Sui army, and Zhang Xuan handed over the mother and son to Empress Xiao. This incident made Empress Xiao very grateful to Zhang Xuan.

Zhang Xuan was startled and quickly helped Queen Xiao up, "The Empress Dowager must not do this!"

He touched Xiao Hou's white and tender arm, and suddenly felt something was wrong, so he quickly shrank his hand. At this moment, he felt a strange feeling in his heart.

Empress Xiao smiled charmingly at him, then turned around and returned to her seat. Empress Xiao was an extremely smart woman who had been reading the world for a long time and knew the cruelty of the palace struggle.

She knew that the fate of their orphans and widows was in the hands of Zhang Xuan. Now Zhang Xuan needed her. Once Zhang Xuan ascended the throne and became emperor in two years, her value would disappear. What would their fate be? Will they be thrown into the cold palace, lack food and clothing, die in misery, or simply die in time?

So Empress Xiao decided to use all her capital to win over Zhang Xuan, including pleasing Princess Qi, trying her best to exert her Queen Mother's value in the court, etc., but she always felt that she was a little short of it. When she looked at herself in the mirror, she found that she was still extremely beautiful, so she had an idea that perhaps she could use the capital of a woman to further win over Zhang Xuan.

Zhang Xuan felt something. Empress Xiao actually just had to kneel down in her seat. There was no need to walk in front of her and kneel down to thank her. Did she deliberately ask herself to help her?

Zhang Xuan also found that there were only two of them in the small hall, which was obviously a deliberate arrangement by Empress Xiao.

Zhang Xuan's heart suddenly jumped. He did have a thought of admiration for Empress Xiao. After all, this is Empress Xiao, who is famous for her beauty. It is this deep admiration that makes him particularly caring for Empress Xiao.

But he had never had any inappropriate thoughts about Empress Xiao, and at this moment, under some suggestion from Empress Xiao, he finally felt a desire to conquer that he had never had before, which was unique to those who ruled the world.

Zhang Xuan tried his best to hide the embarrassment in his eyes, and asked with a dry smile: "What do the Empress Dowager usually do?"

Empress Xiao had already seen through the thoughts of the man in front of her. She knew that she was about to succeed, so she pursed her lips and smiled, "I have loved painting since I was a child. I just painted a few landscapes or characters when I have nothing to do. By the way, I specially painted a portrait of Your Highness. Can Your Highness look at it?"

"Of course I want to witness the Queen Mother's masterpiece!"

"The painting is not easy to pick up, Your Highness can follow me."

Queen Xiao stood up, turned back and looked at Zhang Xuan deeply, and walked behind the curtain. Zhang Xuan hesitated for a moment. He wanted to restrain that desire, but he was a mortal after all, and more importantly, he had been competing in the high position of power for a long time. The power poison that would rather let the world betray the world than let the world betray me has long invaded his bones without knowing it.

Zhang Xuan did not hesitate and followed Xiao Hou to the back of the tent, but just as he walked to the tent, he suddenly stopped. He heard extremely slight footsteps behind him, and swept back from the corner of his eyes. There was no one behind him, but Zhang Xuan saw a pair of embroidered green embroidered shoes next to the pillar. Looking up, he saw a girl's angry gaze.

In the afternoon, Zhang Xuan sat alone in the Ziwei Palace official room to handle official duties. What happened in the morning made him unable to calm down for a long time. He didn't know whether he should regret or be grateful.

At this time, a guard reported outside the door, "Report to Your Highness, General Li Jing's 800-mile express report has been delivered!"

Zhang Xuan was excited and hurriedly said, "Come on now!"

Although the battle on the main battlefields in the south had ended, the battle to expand south was still in progress. After the Battle of Jiangnan, the Sui army fought to the south to Dongyang County, but there were Yongjia County and Jian'an County to the south, especially Jian'an County, which was a very active area, which was Fujian Province in later generations.

In addition, after the end of the Ganjiang Battle, the southernmost county controlled by the Sui army was Nankang County, which is the source of the Ganjiang River. However, the Lingnan counties further south of Nankang County did not involve this battle.

Therefore, Li Jing's task was to include Yongjia County, Jian'an County and Lingnan County in the Northern Sui territory. They themselves were the territory of the Great Sui Dynasty, and all officials were appointed by the imperial court.

After Yang Guang died in Jiangdu, the southern counties were in a state of self-government. They neither established themselves as princes, nor were they under the jurisdiction of the central court. However, this state of incorrect and dissatisfaction would not be delayed for long. Li Yuan's plan for the eastern expedition clearly included the storage of the southern counties, and Zhang Xuan did not forget it. His strategy of going south also included the southern counties. Li Jing even led an expeditionary force of 10,000 people to advance directly to the south.

Soon after, the guards sent the emergency military newspaper, and Zhang Xuan immediately ordered: "Go and invite military commander Fang and Du Shenjun!"

Zhang Xuan slowly spread the scroll and carefully read the military newspaper written by Li Jing. At present, the Expeditionary Force has recovered Yongjia County and Jian'an County. They have been going smoothly before. The army only fought in Nan'an County, and Nan'an County was occupied by a pirate.

There were not many pirates, only a few hundred, and they had been wiped out by the Sui army. However, another information mentioned in the Li Jingjun newspaper made Zhang Xuan very interested. These pirates were originally coastal fishermen, gathered as pirates, traveling between Yongjia, Jian'an and Liuqiu, and Liuqiu was Taiwan.

During the Daye period, Sui army warships went to Liuqiu twice. The main general in charge was Chen Len. However, Chen Len was on behalf of the court to appease Jianghuai and Jiangnan, so Zhang Xuan had to give up this idea for the time being.

At this time, the guards reported at the door: "Mr. Fang and Du Zhanjun are here!"

"Please come in!"

Soon, Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui walked in, and they bowed and bowed, "See Your Highness!"

"Please sit down!"

Zhang Xuan smiled and asked them to sit down and handed them Li Jing's express report, "The pharmacist has entered Nanhai County. The military newspaper said that Feng Ang, the general manager of Lingnan, had sent someone to contact him and expressed his willingness to surrender to the Northern Sui Dynasty. However, the pharmacist was very cautious. He had learned that Feng Ang had recruited a large number of troops in advance and suspected that Feng Ang had ulterior motives, so he was temporarily stationed in the Zengcheng area and was waiting for my decision."

Fang Xuanling read the report and smiled: "This is the advice I gave to Your Highness before. It requires both civil and military skills. Wen should be pacified, martial arts should be established, and both rigid and soft will be used. Recovering the counties in Lingnan will be twice the result with half the effort. Unfortunately, your highness only used the tough side. Feng Ang is naturally suspicious. The same thing said in the words of Hu Yi, first stabilize Feng Ang, at least let him surrender to the Northern Sui Dynasty in name, and then make a decision after the conditions in the future are ripe."

Du Ruhui also said: "In fact, whether it is Feng Ang from Lingnan or Ning Changzhen from Qinzhou, they have ruled for generations. Feng Ang's grandmother, Lady Xian, is even known as the Holy Mother of Lingnan. The Feng family has a high prestige in Lingnan, and the Ning family is the same. They have been leaders of all ethnic groups from generation to generation and have a high status in Qinzhou and even Guangnandao. For such local tyrants, Your Highness can only use comforting means and must not attack forcefully, otherwise General Li Jing's 10,000 troops will be difficult to preserve."

Zhang Xuan also realized that he had thought it was a little simple, so he nodded slowly, "Well, I'll send someone to Lingnan now!"
Chapter completed!