Coming back from Beiping County, Yang Yuanqing inspected Anle County and Yuyang County again, appeased the officials there, solved their immediate difficulties, and returned to Zhuo County, it was already early spring in February, although the spring was still cold, but the air had obvious warmth, the willow branches appeared tender green, a bunch of golden spring flowers bloomed in the wind in the field, and the plum blossoms in the woods also bloomed, a piece of snow white and red, beautiful.

Early the next morning after returning, Yang Yuanqing came to the Lu Mansion under the escort of hundreds of personal soldiers, he turned over and dismounted, and more than a dozen members of the Lu family who had been waiting in front of the gate stepped forward together, and the person headed by was the head of the family, Lu Yu.

Lu Yu was a little proud in his heart, Yang Yuanqing came to visit the Lu family on the second day after he came back, which showed that he attached great importance to the Lu family, and he stepped forward to give a deep salute, "His Royal Highness the King of Chu has come to make the Lu Mansion shine, this is the glory of the Lu family, and I also ask His Royal Highness to forgive Lu Yu for his inconsiderate courtesy." ”

Lu Yu punned, and apologized for not visiting Yang Yuanqing, Yang Yuanqing saw Lu Yu for the first time, and saw that although he and Lu Zhao were brothers, they looked completely different, Lu Zhao was tall and thin, and his temperament was elegant, while Lu Yu was short and black and fat, and his appearance was not good, Lu Yu's appearance made him slightly disappointed, but he didn't show it on his face, and he also smiled back: "Yuanqing should have come to visit the Lu family a long time ago, but he was busy with affairs, and it has been delayed until today, please forgive the head of the family!" ”

"Where! Where! The Lu family is ashamed, His Royal Highness invites the government to speak! ”

"The head of the house, please!"

The two exchanged a few words, and Yang Yuanqing, under the guidance of Lu Yu, walked into the main hall of Lufu - Fanyang Hall. This is the place where the Lu family holds major family activities, and it is rare to open it once a year, like receiving guests, it is the first time in ten years, even Luo Yilai is not qualified, he can only meet in your room, and the last time Fan Yangtang opened. It was a great cause for three years, receiving Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty to visit the Lu family.

There are no ornate decorations in Fanyang Hall, only a few couches are placed. Clean and simple, the surrounding walls are covered with portraits of the previous heads of the Lu family, and there is an offering table on the front. It enshrines the spirit tablet of Lu Zhi, a great Confucian in the late Han Dynasty, who is recognized as the origin of Lu's fame.

Yang Yuanqing walked to the offering table and put on a stick of incense, bowed down to make a salute, this is a basic etiquette, go to a large family as a guest, see that there is a spiritual card in the hall, and have to put on incense to make a salute, in order to show respect for the master, although it is only basic etiquette, but Yang Yuanqing's etiquette and thoughtfulness still won the favor of the Lu family.

"Your Highness, please be seated!"

Yang Yuanqing sat down in Lu Yu's humility. Accompanied by Lu Zhao and two elders of the Lu family, several maids brought hot tea in, everyone greeted a few words, Lu Yu thanked and said: "My brother Lu Ce is immoral and incompetent, but he is loved by His Royal Highness." Entrusted with the important task, the Lu family is grateful to His Royal Highness for his kindness. ”

Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly and said: "A person who is immoral and incompetent can enter the court as an official?" The head of the Lu family is also too modest. ”

Lu Yu also realized that he had not thought through what he had just spoken, and he meant to mock the court, he felt sorry in his heart, and was about to explain, but Yang Yuanqing stopped him with a wave of his hand. "I understand what the head of the family means, I'm just joking, Brother Ling is indeed very capable, known as the first time-browling Taifu Temple Shaoqing in the imperial court, he is actually handled in an orderly manner, Ziwei Pavilion praises him, he is a talent, worthy of being a child of the Lu family."

Yang Yuanqing's words were frank and sincere, which made every Lu family member present feel very excited, and this excitement came from Yang Yuanqing's sincerity, not his intentional flattery, which made them feel the trust of the imperial court in the Lu family.

Lu Yu is the head of the family after all, although he is grateful in his heart, but his face is still indifferent, and he found that Yang Yuanqing is paying attention to himself, as if he wants to find something from his words and demeanor, he also instinctively concealed his inner emotions, and said with a faint smile: "Thank you Your Highness for your kind words, the Lu family has always been loyal to the imperial court, and the Lu family is also very willing to contribute a meager strength to stabilize the situation in Youzhou, as long as His Highness needs the Lu family to do, we will definitely do our best." ”

Today's visit to the Lu family is just a courtesy visit, which is destined to make the topic of the two sides impossible to go too deep, just a general talk, but also an opportunity to express a position, for example, the Lu family invited Yang Yuanqing to sit in Fan Yang Hall, in fact, it is a statement, but this kind of courtesy visit is not dispensable, his visit is also to create a good and harmonious atmosphere, and lay the foundation for the next pragmatic and in-depth talk.

And without this kind of atmosphere, Yang Yuanqing's invitation to Lu Yu to Taiyuan as an official will seem very abrupt, and Lu Yu may not be willing to agree, both sides know it, from Yang Yuanqing's inspection of the warehouse to hint at Lu Zhao, to today's official visit, everything is going on in an orderly manner.

"Lu Xiangguo's death, I'm sorry, when the Tang army invaded Hongnong County, a serious threat to Hedong, in order to repel the Tang army, I established a military alliance with Wang Shichong, one of the conditions is to ensure Lu Xiangguo's safety, send him to Taiyuan safely, but Wang Shichong treacherously, killed Lu Xiangguo, and put the responsibility on the following generals, I will not give up on this matter, one day, I will make Wang Shichong pay the price of dishonesty, and I will also use his head to sacrifice Lu Xiangguo, this is also my promise to the Lu family."

Regarding Lu Chu's death, Yang Yuanqing made an official statement, and the Lu brothers and clansmen hurriedly got up to thank Yang Yuanqing, "Thank you, Your Highness, for your love to the Lu family, the Lu family is grateful." ”

Yang Yuanqing smiled and hurriedly waved his hand, "Don't dare to be!" You may be seated. ”

They chatted about some Zhuojun customs again, and the time was almost up, so Yang Yuanqing got up and said goodbye.

"The day after tomorrow, I will temporarily return to Taiyuan, there are a lot of things piled up in the imperial court, and there are still a lot of military affairs to deal with here, so I can only visit in a hurry today, and I will come to have a good chat with the head of the Lu family another day, so I will leave first."

Lu Yuzhan also hurriedly got up and said: "Your Highness also took time out of your busy schedule to come to the Lu family, the Lu family is grateful, and does not dare to delay Your Highness's precious time, and hopes that Your Highness will come to sit often when he is free." ”

"Definitely! Certain! ”

Yang Yuanqing said goodbye and left, Lu Yu kept sending him out of the mansion, watching him ride away, only then did he breathe a long sigh of relief, and Lu Zhao next to him stroked his long beard and said to his brother: "The King of Chu actually made a promise to the Lu family to kill Wang Shichong, and it is not an ordinary importance to our Lu family!" ”

Lu Yu snorted lightly in his nose, "Of course, this is just a favor, he wants to take the world, and naturally he wants to destroy Wang Shichong, but what?" You're right, since he is willing to say this to the Lu family, it shows that he attaches great importance to the Lu family, which is the key. ”……

Leaving the Lu Mansion, Yang Yuanqing returned to the Youzhou Governor's Mansion, but he was thinking about using Lu Yu as the prime minister, when he set up the Ziwei Pavilion, he was thinking about the seven phases, but he was worried that the quota would be full, and it would be difficult to remove it in the future, so he only set up five phases at the beginning.

Now take Youzhou, if you can put Lu Yu into the phase, this will play a pivotal role in winning the support of the Hebei scholars, and there is also a Boling Cui family, which is also the family he focuses on wooing, from the experience of Hedong, he reuses the family's route is completely correct, it is precisely because of the strong support of the famous family, the new Sui Dynasty quickly stabilized, and established the orthodox status, in Hebei he is ready to do the same, using the prestige of the family to quickly stabilize the regime.

But Yang Yuanqing also has a principle, that is, only use people from the family, and cannot establish a system for the family to engage in politics, that is, to avoid the dross of the Wei and Jin dynasties, and not to let the children of famous families fully control the center of the court.

Returning to the chief manager's yamen, a personal soldier on the steps immediately rushed over to report, "Chief Qiqi, Dou Jiande has sent a messenger here, and he is waiting for the chief manager to receive him!" ”

This was a bit unexpected by Yang Yuanqing, but it was not strange, he pondered for a while and said, "Bring him to the side hall to see me!" ”

Yang Yuanqing turned over and dismounted and entered the chief manager's yamen, came to the side hall and sat down, and soon, several soldiers brought up a middle-aged man, he stepped forward and bowed, "Han Zhili, the minister of the King of Changle, see His Royal Highness the King of Chu!" ”

Yang Yuanqing thought for a while, this Han Zhili seemed to be Dou Jiande's secretary to join the army, so he asked: "Are you the secretary of Han joining the army?" ”

"It's exactly under it!"

"I don't know if Han joined the army to see me, what's the matter?"

"On the orders of my prince, I have come to give a small gift to His Royal Highness the King of Chu, I wonder if His Royal Highness is willing to look at it?"

Yang Yuanqing smiled faintly, "Then take it and take a look." ”

Han Zhili was overjoyed, and hurriedly turned around and shouted, "Please help carry it up!" ”

Dozens of Sui soldiers carried up more than a dozen large boxes, followed by more than 20 young and beautiful girls, Han Zhili stepped forward to open the boxes one by one, the boxes were full of jewels, piles of all kinds of jewels and jade, large pieces of gold were shining, dazzling.

Han Zhili pointed to the jewels, gold and the girl and said: "These are all small gifts from the prince to His Royal Highness the King of Chu, but it is just the prince's heart, please accept it with a smile." ”

Yang Yuanqing glanced at the jewelry beauty disdainfully, but asked silently: "I heard that General Dou has no money to spare, but whenever he gets a little gold and silver treasure, he will reward his subordinates, but he himself has coarse tea and light food, wears cloth clothes, and never gets close to women, but how can he have so many gold, silver and jewelry, and beautiful girls, is it not true that the world's rumors about General Dou are not true, and it is his nature to spend all his time drinking, greedy for money and lustful?" ”

Han Zhili blushed, and hurriedly explained: "My prince does live a simple life, neither greedy for money, nor lustful, these pearl and jade beauties are all gifts from Yu culture and to the prince, the prince doesn't like it, so he will transfer them to His Royal Highness, please Your Highness smile." ”

Yang Yuanqing laughed, "This is General Dou's wrong, do not do to others what you don't want, give me what he doesn't like, will I like it?" There is something wrong with your General Dou's thinking! ”

Han Zhili's face was red and white, he bit his lip and said, "I don't know what His Highness wants?" ”

"Actually, General Dou knows very well, but he is reluctant to give it to me, if he is willing to give me what I want, then it doesn't hurt for me to make peace with him."

"Please tell Your Highness the lowly position, and the lowly position will definitely be conveyed to the prince."

Yang Yuanqing's eyes slowly narrowed, "I want the land of Hebei, he should know it very well!" ”