Foreword: For the wicked, if an evil deed cannot be done once, then he will have a second, third, or fourth time... All in all, to defeat him completely, the defenders have to be more persistent than him.

Body:

(Kyoto Zhangfu)

A courtier hurried into the gate of Zhang's mansion.

In the mansion, Zhang An lay calmly on the seat.

The courtier informed the doorman that he had something important to report, and the doorman cautiously walked up to Zhang An, and said in a soft tone: "My lord, Lord Lu outside the door asks to see you." ”

"Well, got it, let him go to the main hall, I'll go later. ”

In the main hall, Lu Ru stood in the center of the hall, nervous, and as the minutes passed, he felt his body tremble more and more.

At this time, a pair of hands were on his shoulders, and Lu Ru was even more excited, and then, a voice came from behind him:

"Why is Master Lu standing here all the time, isn't he tired? Come on, come on, sit down and talk. ”

"Zhang~Master Zhang, humble duty... I don't dare to do it. Lu Ru said hesitantly.

Zhang An no longer spoke, but sat down on the seat beside Lu Ru, picked up a cup of tea, pushed it repeatedly with the lid of tea, and said in a calm tone: "How about letting you do things?"

When Lu Ru heard this, he was immediately frightened, and hurriedly knelt down, kowtowed to Zhang Anzhi, and said: "Adult, the little one is damned, the little one is incompetent, about the spirit wine, in the past two months, I haven't gotten it at all." ”

"Smack!" The scorching tea slid from the side of Lu Ru's face into his chest little by little, but he didn't even dare to gasp.

"What I asked you to do, you dog slave can't do it well, do you know what kind of guilt you should have, right?"

"The adults spare their lives, the adults forgive their sins, the small ones did buy the famous killer assassin group on the rivers and lakes - the Phantom Assassins, but almost all of them made mistakes when attacking the Spirit Master Gate, especially the ghosts and ghosts, they were even caught, and the small ones had to send demons, owls, heavenly demons, and earth demons to rescue, even so these four killers were almost caught, fortunately, they were rescued. ”

"Who saved you when you said you were rescued?" asked Zhang An.

"This... I can't answer the lowly position. ”

"You can't answer, I'll tell you for you, it's my subordinate. Zhang An said as he said as two people came out of the inner hall, a man and a woman, one dressed in black and the other dressed in white, with pale faces, as bloodless as dead people.

"Master Lu, when you go back, remember to tell those fools, if it weren't for the two of us, they would be in the air prison of the Spirit Master Gate now, and they would have owed the two of us a big favor. The woman in white said.

Lu Ru nervously said yes again and again.

"Lord Lu, you need to take a look at these two people, so that you can thank them in the future. ”

Lu Ru reluctantly raised his eyes to look at it, and hurriedly kowtowed respectfully: "The adult is like a god, it turns out that he sent two heroes, black and white, to secretly help the little one, and the slave has eyes without beads, eyes without beads, palms!

"You two stand down. Zhang An said lightly, and left in black and white.

"Tell me why there hasn't been a little spiritual wine to pay tribute in the past two months. ”

"My lord, the Phantom Assassin's spiritual power has been greatly damaged, and he is unable to move, and it will take three months to recover his spirit. And because the Spirit Master Sect has strengthened its defenses in the past few days, the other four people did not dare to attack rashly. ”

"According to what you say, it's still Lord Ben's fault, isn't it?! It is His Majesty the Emperor who wants to get the spirit wine, do you mean that His Majesty the Emperor is wrong?"

"Adults, the small one is death, and I don't have such a mind. Your Excellency!" Lu Ru wailed in defense.

"That's it, that's it, it's all for the emperor, we are all grasshoppers on the same boat, Lord Lu, don't you say?"

"Lord Zhang is serious, the little one who does things for Lord Zhang is doing things for the emperor. ”

"Having said that, in recent years, the Lingshimen has become less and less concerned about the imperial court, relying on the exoneration order of the first emperor, and until now, the imperial court has enough to give them face, and they even toast and don't eat, so I, Zhang, have to give them a few glasses of punishment wine. ”

"My lord, the small one planted in the eyes of the Spirit Master Gate has a big trend of recruiting troops in the past few months, the number of people in the door has been more than twice as many as before, and the headquarters has reached more than 1,000 people, plus the spirit masters from all walks of life have gathered in the Spirit Master Gate, the total number of people has exceeded 10,000. ”

"What you mean, I understand, the Spirit Master Sect has great intentions to rebel, even if they don't have this intention, if they continue to develop like this, in the end, I am afraid that it will be difficult to argue. We can make a fuss about this, is this information you provided true?"

"Don't worry, my lord, there is absolutely no half-point pool. ”

"The number of people in the door has increased, and in recent years, the imperial court has asked for spirit wine, and their new head has not given even a drop on the grounds of destroying the balance of the spirit world, His Majesty the Emperor has been merciful and has not pursued them, just to find spirit wine for the emperor, and those of us who are courtiers are heartbroken. Now that they have recruited a wide range of disciples, if they are accused of rebellion, the emperor will definitely not tolerate them anymore. ”

"Lu Ru. ”

"The little ones are in. ”

"You step down first, tomorrow I will personally meet His Majesty the Emperor, so that the Emperor can completely dispel the idea of being merciful to the Spirit Master. ”

"Yes. ”

At about five o'clock in the morning of the second day, the ministers waited quietly outside the Taihe Hall for the arrival of the same person.

After a while, a yellow sedan chair, carried by four eunuchs, appeared in the eyes of the ministers little by little, came to the door of the Taihe Palace, the sedan chair fell to the ground, the eunuch hurriedly opened the curtain, and walked out of a person from inside. This person is none other than the Tongzhi Emperor.

After a while, the accompanying eunuch inside shouted loudly:

"The emperor has a decree to start the court as soon as possible, and announce that all the courtiers will enter the court to discuss matters. ”

The ministers waiting outside the door on the left and right entered the Taihe Hall in turn from high to low.

(Inside the Taihe Palace)

"Everyone, Aiqing, is there something important in the early dynasty today?"

A minister reported on the matter described in the dossier that there had been floods in the southwest and that relief was needed.

When Emperor Tongzhi heard this, his face was sad, and he said: "The grain output of the provinces this year is not much, and the rations that can barely maintain self-reflection are estimated to be unable to get excess grain. ”

Zhang An took a step forward and said:

"Your Majesty, there was a fire in the palace last month, in order to repair the palace, although the Ministry of Industry has been saved again and again, but there are still two million taels of silver spent on the desk of the Ministry of Households, plus this year, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions suffered from locust plagues, the mulberry fields were damaged, the silk industry was affected, and it was impossible to achieve last year's profit income. An empty treasury is inevitable. ”

The ministers on the left and right said, "That's true." ”

"However, the emperor doesn't have to worry, the minister has a plan, and he wants to ask the emperor to decide. ”

"Tell me quickly. ”

"The Spirit Master Sect will receive a reward of 200,000 stone grain from the imperial court every year, and now that the situation is critical, this year we can take out less than 150,000 stone for disaster relief. ”

"It's just that when the first emperor was here, he attached great importance to the Lingshimen, and personally said that he would give the Lingshimen 200,000 stone grain every year, and he had the right not to be restricted by the imperial court.

"Your Majesty, the world has changed, and the decision of the first emperor is accurate, however, can the emperor know that the actions of the Spirit Master Sect in recent years?"

"What's going on?"

"As far as Wei Chen knows, the Spirit Master Sect is recruiting troops and has bad intentions. ”

"There is such a thing!" said Emperor Tongzhi.

"Yes, the minister has just gotten the news recently, in the past two months, the number of people in the Spirit Master Gate has more than doubled compared to the original, and there are more than 1,000 people in the total gate, plus all the spirit masters are coming and going to the Spirit Master Gate factory, and there is a flow of more than 10,000 people every day, the emperor doesn't think that this is like a stinger planted in the territory of the Qing Empire? If it is not dealt with as soon as possible, I am afraid that the wound will continue to extend. ”

"Could this move of the Spirit Master Sect simply increase its defenses? ”

"Your Majesty, no one knows, no one knows, the emperor has been in power for many years, the people have lived and worked in peace and contentment, peace and security, what kind of system does he have to engage in in the Spirit Master Sect. Weichen put forward the idea of giving less 150,000 stone grain to the Lingshimen, one is to alleviate the noise of the victims in the southwest region, and the other is to visit the performance of the Lingshimen, if the Lingshimen is not sympathetic to His Majesty's difficulties, it proves that their ambitions are not small, and they do not put the emperor in their eyes. ”

"This..." Emperor Tongzhi hesitated.

"Your Majesty, in your eyes, the people are more important than God, if there is no food for disaster relief in the southwest this time, then the people will cause a riot, which is much more powerful than a riot in the Lingshi Gate, the emperor must think twice before acting, don't lose a big one because of a small one. ”

In the end, Emperor Tongzhi nodded.

(Spirit Master Gate Golden Spirit Hall)

The news soon spread to the Spirit Master Gate, and all the halls came to the Golden Spirit Hall to ask for an explanation.

The dragon general took the lead and said: "Master, the first emperor of the Qing Dynasty has made a rule, no matter how difficult the world is, the imperial court will give 200,000 stone grain to the Lingshi Gate every year, but now the imperial court has gone back on its word and reduced the grain by three-quarters, doesn't the Qing Emperor know? The number of spiritual masters gathered in the Lingshi Gate can reach more than 10,000, if the food is reduced so much, what will the Lingshi eat, if it is not for the Lingshimen to use these 200,000 stone grain to maintain the livelihood of the Lingshi Sect of all walks of life, I am afraid that half of the Lingshi would have become grass cobs!"

"Dragon General, Hugh is talking nonsense!" Qinglu shouted.

"If this sentence is known by the imperial court, the Spirit Master Sect will suffer, do you know?!"

"Boss, although the commander of the dragon general spoke a little extremely, what he said is not unreasonable, in the first two months, the recruitment of personnel from the Lingshimen Dachang has more than tripled the number of Lingshimen, which means that the food required will also increase accordingly, and the imperial court is forcing us to a dead end, and the remaining food is not enough except for the rations of the Lingshimen headquarters, and the rest of the Lingshimen come to the Lingshimen to exchange food. ”

This means that some spiritual masters cannot eat food, a person cannot survive without food, and people sometimes do whatever it takes to survive in times of crisis. This is the source of the crisis. ”

Ouyang Yingluo also stood up and said.

Qinglu carefully considered it in place, with both anger and hidden worries.

"Master, in my opinion, we must give these 150,000 stone of grain, and we will give it willingly, without the slightest complaint. ”

The dragon general and Ouyang Yingluo looked at each other, and it was the Great Protector of the Spirit Protector Hall who said this.

Nian took a step forward and said, "Do you think the head of the sect is strong in the Qing Empire, or is the Spirit Master Sect strong?"

Qinglu replied: "Naturally, it is an empire. ”

"Then this is very clear, no matter what reason and purpose the Qing Empire asks us for the 150,000 stone grain, we have to give it, if we don't give it, it is against the empire, once it is caught by people with ulterior motives in the court, the Spirit Master Gate will face an unprecedented crisis. ”

"Please think again. ”

"Nian, how can you speak for the Qing Dynasty, they are treacherous in doing so, we don't promise it anything to say, don't turn your elbows out. The dragon general said menacingly.

"I'm just looking at the big picture. ”

"Hmph, to put it lightly, I think your overall situation is to push the Spirit Master Gate into the fire pit. ”

"What the dragon general said is for the consideration of the spirit master, and what Nian said is also for the consideration of the spirit master, but from a long-term perspective, I still agree with Nian's statement. Qinglu said.

"But the master, once you lose these grains, the spirit master sect will not have a good time in the future. ”

"Yes, life must be very tight, I don't know as the head of the house, but if we are estranged from the court because of this matter, it will really be a big loss for us, it is one thing to have a bad life, and it is another thing to have a bad life, and it is another thing to live a bad life, since neither choice is a good result, then, the lesser of two evils. ”

"But ······" The dragon general wanted to continue, but was interrupted by Qinglu.

"That's it, don't think about it anymore, this year's food is insufficient, I'll think of other ways. ”

(Kyoto Zhangfu)

"Master, Lord Lu asks to see you. ”

"Let him in. ”

"Yes. ”

After a while.

"Your Excellency. ”

"Come on, come on, sit down and talk, don't be formal. ”

"Yes, sir. ”

Sitting down, Lu Ru said: "Your Excellency is really clever, using the disaster situation in the southwest as an excuse to make it difficult for the Spirit Master to sleep and eat. I don't think they will agree, so the rumors of their rebellion will be confirmed, and when the time comes, the imperial court will send an army and send out the Phantom Assassin Regiment, and I think the day of the destruction of the Spirit Master Gate will be approaching. ”

"Don't be too happy, although this incident will cause a riot in the Spirit Master Gate, but there are not without visionaries within the Spirit Master Gate, and they will respectfully agree to the court to deduct the food they should give. ”

"Isn't that so..."

"My purpose is not to make the Spirit Master Sect resist instantly, I just let them know little by little that they either obediently listen to the words of the imperial court, or understand that going behind the imperial court's back will only be tolerated by the imperial court. ”

"Your Excellency, if they were a little more sensible, then they would obediently offer the spirit wine, and if they did not know each other, we would have reason to show that they had rebelled. ”

"The Spirit Master Sect has existed for hundreds of years, and it has also enjoyed the rare peace in this world, it's time to make it sober and sober, who has the final say in this world. ”