After sitting paralyzed like this for a long time, Xu Chengzong slowly looked up at Lu Zhen again, his eyes were already bloodshot: "You are so bad to me this time, aren't you afraid that I will let people kill you now?" The murderous intent in his words could not be concealed at all, and the eyes that looked at him seemed to hate to pierce people through thousands of transparent holes.

Lu Zhen can understand the other party's emotions. If you change anyone, when the plan you have made for many years is ruthlessly exposed and destroyed by someone at the moment before it is about to be implemented, your heart will inevitably be filled with resentment, and you only think about venting and revenge.

However, he still looked extremely calm, looked directly into the other party's eyes and said, "Of course you can kill me, but in this way, there is really no turning back." I'm a messenger of the imperial court, and if you kill me, you will declare war on the imperial court, and now you no longer have the determination and courage to raise troops. ”

"You...... Do you think I have any other options? Xu Chengzong was broken by a word, and his breath couldn't help but shorten, but his voice was still cold.

Lu Zhen responded quickly: "Of course there is." As long as you dispel the idea of raising troops now and don't put it into action again, you will still be the Duke of Wei and an important minister of the imperial court. Your Xu family is still a wealthy family only under the vassal kings of various places, and nothing will change. ”

"Didn't you already send the news out? Zhejiang's soldiers and horses, Xiaolingwei, and the capital? Xu Chengzong suddenly had doubts in his heart, this Lu Jin's words just now are not false words and intimidation, just to persuade himself to dispel the idea of raising troops, right?

Lu Zhen quickly saw his thoughts, and said: "I only let Lin Lie and Chen Bing meet the two provinces, but I never told him that you Xu Chengzong was going to raise an army. On the side of the capital, I only mentioned that there are people who are suspected of being loyal to Nangong and have colluded with the people around Wei Guogong. As for Xiaolingwei, as long as you don't move, they won't leave Taizu's mausoleum. ”

"In other words, as long as I don't have troops, none of these so-called threats will happen?"

"Not bad. But as long as you move, the Zhejiang official army and Xiaolingwei will react, and at that time, your rebellion will be completely implemented, and the whole country will be suppressed. So it's up to you to make the final decision. ”

"How much can I believe your words?" Xu Chengzong's eyes narrowed, his heart full of hesitation.

"Brother Xu, you and I have been friends for so many years, and you have saved me many times, if it is not a last resort, I will never harm you. It's just this time that I advised you to stop, in fact, it was for your sake. Hit the whole country in one corner, and you won't even have half a chance of winning. As a result, you will only end up ruined and ruined, and the whole clan will end up, this is a dead end! Lu Zhen looked at the other party sincerely and said.

"Do you really think I can't do it? That Zhu Di is not the same as sweeping the world with the soldiers of a city......" Obviously, Xu Chengzong still failed to get out of the established ideas.

"This time, that time. What's more, the gap between you and Emperor Taizong is too big, you don't have his ruthlessness and decisiveness at all, and if you want to emulate him, you will only draw a tiger and not an anti-dog. ”

"You ......" Xu Chengzong was angry: "Do you actually look down on me like this?" ”

"It's not underestimating you, it's the truth. Although you have some skills and ambitions, but in terms of temperament, you are by no means a person who has done such great things. Let me ask you, since the first day I stepped into the city of Nanjing, in fact, there has been a lot of obstacles to what you have been planning, but why didn't you attack me? ”

Seeing that the other party was stunned, he asked himself and answered: "Because you can't bear it." You cherish this relationship between you and me, and even want to test it, to see if you can pull me to your side. But even if I refuse your request, you still have no intention of attacking me, in the final analysis, because you value love and righteousness, and don't want to put me to death because of this. ”

Xu Chengzong bowed his head and was speechless, Lu Jin's words were right on his mind. Indeed, as early as after Lu Zhen came to Nanjing, people around him, such as Xu Zhang and others, proposed to get rid of this scourge first, anyway, the army was about to rise, and he was not afraid of being charged with murdering Qincha again. But as a result, he rejected the proposal, which led to today's change.

Lu Jin's words continued: "You are like this to me, and even more so to your brother. If I expected it to be true, in the years that he was bedridden, you have completely controlled the whole of Nanjing, and then you can get rid of him without knowing it, and then slowly wait for the opportunity. But you didn't succeed after all, and that's why I found a flaw today. So in the end, your heart is far from enough to give birth to the ambition to compete for the world, so why do you have to take this risk? ”

A few words completely broke through Xu Chengzong's problem, making him completely stunned. After a while, a miserable smile slowly emerged from his face: "You are right, I am indeed a little too incompetent...... I thought I could make my Xu family go further, but it turned out that everything was just wishful thinking on my part......"

"Brother Xu, in fact, you are already a supreme minister, so why take the risk of taking this last step? The Son of Heaven is extremely noble, but in fact, it is the most restrained and helpless position in the world, but it is far less comfortable than you, the Duke of Wei, in Nanjing. Look at your brother's funeral this time, how many people spontaneously came to cry? They didn't come to play this play because of your Xu family's status, but completely from the bottom of their hearts. It's because of my love for your brother that I came to see you off like a mourner.

"Do you really have the heart to let these Nanjing people who regard your Xu family as their relatives be pushed into the abyss from which they will never recover? Together, their peaceful life will be completely broken, how many people will become a stepping stone on your road to raising troops, and how many people will die because of this, have you thought about it carefully?

"Also, in my opinion, if you force your army, you will end up in defeat. In this way, all the people in the city of Nanjing will be designated by the imperial court as rebellious ministers, and at that time, even those who are lucky enough to survive will inevitably end up extremely miserable. Do you know what the situation of Shandong has been like in the past few decades? I've heard a lot about it when I'm governor. At the beginning, because the Shandong officials and troops strictly guarded Emperor Taizong, he fell into a crisis several times, and as a result, after he became emperor, the people of Shandong had a hard life for decades, and the real people were not able to make a living. Brother Xu, can you bear to let the people in Nanjing follow in the footsteps? ”

A sentence pierced Xu Chengzong's heart like a sharp needle, making his heart constantly tighten and ache. As Lu Zhen judged, he does have a certain amount of ambition, but he is not ruthless enough, and even very soft-hearted. When Lu Zhen exposed everything bloodily in front of his eyes and let him know what the consequences of all this were, he had already begun to retreat in his heart: "I ......" After opening his mouth, he didn't know what to say.

"Brother Xu, whether it is for yourself, for the Xu family, or for the people of Nanjing, I beg you not to take that step out of that catastrophe. You can't succeed, it's just a catastrophe. As he spoke, he stood up solemnly and bowed deeply to the other.

Xu Chengzong's face turned from blue to white, and then he was full of confusion: "But...... Everything is already on the bow, how can I stop if I say stop? ”

"Of course you can, you are the absolute leader of this matter, and everything is naturally up to you. And I believe that these soldiers in Nanjing City actually don't want to go to this point, and even many of them are still in the dark until today, and they don't know that they are about to start a rebellion. Lu Zhen continued to persuade him with his incorruptible tongue. He could see that the other party was really shaken, so he hurriedly stepped up.

These words reminded him of the expressions of the other party when he was in contact with some generals before. I didn't feel anything at the time, but now that I think about it, it's likely that those people didn't have much confidence in it. Maybe only Xu Zhang is the most determined person to rebel by his side.

"Brother Xu, stop it, while everything is still in time." Lu Zhen once again sincerely requested: "After the defeat of Tumubao, after the defeat of Tumubao, after several years of hard work, there has finally been some improvement, if the war is fought again, it will only give the Warat people who have always been restless a chance to invade the Central Plains." At that point, you will be a sinner for the ages. ”

"However, everything has been done, even if I stop now, will the court really not pursue it?" Xu Chengzong asked a little blankly. At this moment, his heart had given up on this idea.

Seeing this, Lu Zhen breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. His own hard persuasion finally came to fruition, and the other party was finally moved. However, he couldn't answer this question, so he could only frown and say, "I really can't guarantee this." After all, things will leak more or less, and the imperial court is bound to strictly inspect such a major event. So what I mean is to let a few people help you carry this crime. ”

"You're asking me to be too wrong?"

"It's the only way to go. As long as there are people around you who are willing to admit that he hid all this from you and did it in the name of Wei Guogong, the imperial court will at most punish the Xu family for an unknown crime. Moreover, the head of the Xu family was actually your brother before, so you didn't even have to bear any charges. Of course, in this way, the person who pleads guilty will naturally be severely punished. Lu Zhen gave his own countermeasures.

"This is not good, how can I let others take the blame for me......"

"Brother Xu, have you ever thought about it, is this Steward Xu, whom you have always trusted and respectful and obedient to you, really as simple as it seems on the surface? Is he really innocent? Lu Zhen suddenly said such a sentence, which made Xu Chengzong's whole person stunned......