After a moment, Turkic soldiers brought Wei Zheng and three people to the side tent. The Turks were very particular about rules. Fengzhou was only a territory of the Sui Dynasty. The envoys of Fengzhou were not qualified to enter the king's tent. There were no other Turkic officials in the side tent, only Duji. He received the envoys of Fengzhou in his private identity.

Wei Zheng walked into the side tent and saluted neither humble nor arrogantly, saying: "Fengzhou Hu Cao joined the military service of Wei Zheng, who met the Turkic Khan!"

Duji can speak Chinese, and they don’t need to translate. Duji turned his hands behind his back to Wei Zheng and others. After a while, he asked coldly: “What did Yang Yuanqing ask you to do?”

Wei Zheng smiled slightly, "There are still five thousand Turkic prisoners of war in Fengzhou. Doesn't the Khan care about their lives?"

It was not that Duji didn't care, but that he couldn't take care of it. He suddenly turned around and looked at Wei Zheng and said, "Are you here to discuss the ransom?"

"No ransom, we just want to change one person."

Duji pondered for a moment and then realized, "You want to change Pei Ju, right!"

Wei Zheng nodded, "It's this deal. If Khan agrees, we will bring Pei Ju back, and then all five thousand Turkic prisoners of war are released back. What does Khan think?"

Duji pondered for a while, and arresting Pei Ju was just to teach him a lesson to split the Turks, but the five thousand Turkic prisoners of war was his real interest. How could he not want to exchange one Pei Ju for five thousand prisoners of war? But he was a little disbelief and turned around and asked Wei Zheng: "It's that simple?"

Wei Zheng smiled, "It's that simple!"

Duji always felt that things would not be that simple, but he couldn't think of any further problems, so he slowly said: "Pei Ju is not in the den, I will send someone to pick him up. I will wait a few hours, so you can take a break!"

Duji immediately ordered someone to send Wei Zheng and his entourage to rest, and sent someone to send Pei Ju.

In the big tent, Duoji paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. In fact, the answer he was looking for was in his mind. Among the four, the Western Turks, the Wutu tribe, the Sui Dynasty and the Khitan. The most profitable was the Sui Dynasty.

In recent years, a large number of Sui Dynasty people went north to the grasslands, which made him realize that there was a chaos within the Sui Dynasty. He had the ambition to invade the south. This failure in Yanmen caused him to suffer a heavy blow, and at the same time he understood a truth that the Turks did not have the strength to directly conquer the Sui Dynasty.

But Duji was not willing to fail, and began to change his mind. Since he could not directly conquer the Sui Dynasty, why didn't he look for a spokesperson? Just as the Sui Dynasty used his father Qimin Khan as the spokesperson, he could in turn support the Sui Dynasty who was loyal to him, so that his spokesperson could seize the world of the Sui Dynasty. Then he paid tribute to him, and he could achieve the conditions that the Emperor of Sui had not agreed to him at the lowest price.

Duji has already matured his considerations and now he needs to start implementing it.

At this time, the guards came from outside the tent, "Mr. Wang is here."

"Let him in!"

After a moment, an obese middle-aged Han man named Wang Jinfu walked into the tent outside the tent. This man was the chief manager who was responsible for selling pig iron for Yuwen Shu to the Turks. After Yuwen Shu had an accident due to pig iron, Yuwen Shu wanted to kill him to silence him. He received the news and fled to the capital overnight. He had no way to go. So he defected to the Turks. Duji valued him quite and ordered him to take charge of his account. Wang Jinfu was loyal to him for many years and was deeply trusted by Duji.

Wang Jinfu walked into the tent, bowed and said, "See Khan!"

Duji smiled and said, "Mr. Wang, I have something important to ask you for help."

"Please give your orders, and you will never resign if you are humble!"

Duji was very satisfied with his attitude and nodded and said, "That's right, I plan to set up an intelligence point in the Sui Dynasty. If you want someone to fully collect information from the Sui Dynasty for me, this person must be a Han person. I must be trusted by me. I think about it, only you are the most suitable."

Wang Jinfu immediately agreed, "I am willing to serve the Khan!"

"good!"

Duji walked to the Sui Dynasty map, looked for a while, and asked him, "Where do you think the information point is the most suitable?"

Wang Jinfu thought for a while and said, "Bizhi is from Mayi County and is very familiar with Mayi County. Moreover, it is normal for Mayi County to have Turkic interactions and will not be suspected. Beizhi suggested that you set this point in Mayi County and Beizhi open a business to cover it."

"very good!"

Duji said happily: "Just follow your plan. You can choose some trustworthy people from the Han people in Beitou as your helper, so I will bear all the money and goods."

Duji whispered again: "The key is to find the Sui Dynasty rebellion forces that were willing to surrender to the Turks for me."

"I understand and will not let Khan down. I will prepare for it and set off tomorrow."

"Go!"

Duji sent Wang Jinfu away. He glanced at the door of the tent and said, "Did Pei Ju bring it?"

"Report to Khan and bring him."

"Take him to the side tent, and then let Yang Yuanqing's envoy come to see me."

.........

After a moment, Wei Zheng and others rushed over. In the side tent, Wei Zheng met Pei Ju, who was captured by the Turks. Pei Ju was detained from the breakdown of the negotiations in Yanmen County. It has only been more than a month since then, but he seemed to have grown ten years old and his hair turned white. Pei Ju was already 69 years old this year, nearly seventy years old, and was captured by the Turks in the north and was beaten, scolded and abused by the guards, which greatly damaged his body and mind.

Not only was his hair completely white, but he was also thin as a bone. He sat in the tent, but his waist was straight, and he would never lower his arrogant head because of the torture of the Turks.

Everyone walked into the tent. A follower knew Pei Ju and hurriedly said to Wei Zheng. Wei Zheng stepped forward to salute, "The subordinate officials of Fengzhou household Cao and the military officer Wei Zheng met Pei Xiangguo."

Pei Ju narrowed her eyes, "Did you send it from Yuan Qing?"

"The lower-ranking official was sent by General Manager Yang, and he came to take the prime minister back."

"What conditions did Yuan Qing offer to convince Hu Kai to let me go?"

"General Manager Yang used 5,000 prisoners of war to exchange for the ministerial state."

Pei Ju laughed, and he glanced at Duji contemptuously, "Shibi Khan, you can't let me go back. You're so shameless if you let me go. Just let the five thousand Turks dig for Fengzhou! I think this is more meaningful, Khan, do you think so?"

Duji snorted heavily, ignoring Pei Ju's sarcasm, and he said to Wei Zheng: "The person is here, you take him away! I will then send someone to pick up prisoners of war."

Wei Zheng didn't expect that it was so simple and could just take the person away. He asked, "Don't you sign an agreement?"

"No need, it's been a day since I've been dealing with Yang Yuanqing. He knows what the consequences of not keeping his word, and you'll take the person away."

Wei Zheng gave a gift and asked a follower to carry Pei Ju. He whispered: "Old man, we are back home."

Pei Ju smiled at the sky and said, "What a pity! He failed to imitate Su Wu to show me Pei Ju's chastity."

Duji sneered behind him, "Let you go to shepherd the sheep, my sheep will sooner or later be eaten by the wolf, and you are the old bone."

Pei Ju narrowed his eyes and said, "Duji, let me go, one day you will regret it!"

Duji had a blue face and said to Wei Zheng viciously: "You can take him away immediately before I regret killing this old man."

...........

It was very smooth to come back. Half a month later, Wei Zheng took Pei Ju back to Dali County, looking at the calm flowing North Yellow River in the distance, where the territory of the Great Sui Dynasty was. Pei Ju, who was chatting and laughing all the way, suddenly fell silent, and a trace of tears appeared in his old eyes.

He thought he would die alone in the grassland, but he did not expect that his grandson-in-law did not forget him, so he took him back from the grassland and redeemed him, the twilight old man with five thousand prisoners of war.

Five thousand prisoners of war were a huge fortune, but Yang Yuanqing took it out without hesitation, and even did not bargain. This made Pei Ju feel a warmth of family affection. Yang Yuanqing's heart was not so cold that he had the same level of country and interests, and he still retained such a trace of kindness in his heart.

A group of cavalry rushed in the distance, and some soldiers recognized the flag and shouted: "Wei joins the army, the general manager is here!"

After a moment, the cavalry approached and Wei Zheng also saw the person in front, Yang Yuanqing, who smiled at Pei Ju and said, "Gei Master, the general manager is here to greet him in person."

Pei Ju smiled and said, "He is my grandson-in-law, how can he not come to pick me up?"

Yang Yuanqing rushed over like lightning. When he saw Pei Ju, he was overjoyed and stepped forward and excitedly said, "Grandfather is finally back!"

Pei Ju nodded slightly, "Thank you for your sincerity, otherwise I might not be able to survive this winter."

Seeing that although Pei Ju was in good spirits, his hair was all white and his face was old. You can imagine the torture he suffered when he was captured and went to the grassland. He apologized: "It was my grandson who came to save my grandfather!"

"Hey! Don't mention it. Let me go to Dali for two days first, and then go to Jiuyuan to visit my granddaughter."

Yang Yuanqing nodded to Wei Zheng with a smile, his eyes full of praise for him, and immediately ordered: "Go back to Dali City!"

Everyone surrounded Pei Ju and headed towards the Yellow River.

...........

In the room, Pei Ju had already taken a shower and changed his clothes, sat at the table and savored the best Pujiao wine in Dali City. Opposite him, Yang Yuanqing picked up the wine pot and filled him with a glass.

"How does grandfather think the rose wine taste?"

Pei Ju sighed slightly, "In the grassland, the Turks gave me the already sour horse milk and the mutton that could not be bitten. One day, they were very kind and gave me a bag of water. I drank it slowly. After drinking it for ten days, how do you think this rose wine tastes?"

"Didn't Wei Ganjun drink with his grandfather on the way?"

"He said my health was too bad and I didn't drink alcohol. I let me drink porridge all day, which made me feel nauseous, but my health was much better. I scolded him on the way. Thinking about it now, he is actually for my own good and I will apologize to him another day."

Pei Ju smiled again and said, "This person is good, with lofty eyes and clear minds. He is a rare talent. Yuan Qing, you must be good at this person."

Yang Yuanqing nodded. At this time, Pei Ju asked anxiously again: "Tell me about the latest situation in the court. Wei Zheng said he didn't know whether he was clear about it. What is the current situation in the Central Plains?"

Yang Yuanqing originally wanted to wait until Pei Ju is in better health before telling him that since he asked now, Yang Yuanqing would no longer hide it and said: "A month ago, a major incident happened in the Central Plains. Li Mi led the Wagang army to capture Li Yangcang." (To be continued)
Chapter completed!