"Lord Zhao, look at what you said, I didn't say that I would not be paid." Liu Cheng laughed: "Besides, what you said, 'I'm afraid that Yang Zhijun may not be able to protect you', in the final analysis, you still have to protect me." ”

Zhao Wende was teased by Liu Cheng for a few words, but he didn't get angry like usual, and sighed and said: "Lord Liu, things have come to such a point, even if you break the sky, I will pull Lord Yang to protect you." Otherwise, who else will dare to serve Lord Yang in the future? ”

Hearing Zhao Wende say this, Liu Cheng's heart couldn't help but warm, and then hurriedly warned himself not to take the other party's words seriously, in this world that follows the law of the jungle, excess warmth is often fatal. The reason why he worked so hard this time was not so much because of his loyalty to Yang He, but because he wanted to kill the enemy He Renlong first. In fact, until now, Liu Cheng does not think that Yang He's fate will change - without the central government to import more food and money, Shaanxi will not be able to peacefully survive the five-year spring famine in Chongzhen. Yang He's choice is nothing more than two: continue to insist on appeasing and sit back and watch the Shaanxi civil uprising break out again; Or change the tactics to repression by force, and either the former or the latter would mean the bankruptcy of his long-standing policy of appeasement. Neither his political enemies in the court nor Emperor Chongzhen would give him a chance to continue. Thinking of this, Liu Cheng looked at Zhao Wende, the person in front of him can be regarded as outstanding among the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty in terms of talent and character, especially the proposal to Yang He to sell salt in exchange for military expenses, this is not the courage and vision that ordinary people can have, if it is a pity to let Yang He be martyred?

Seeing that there was no one left and right, Liu Cheng suddenly asked in a low voice, "Lord Zhao, what are your plans next?" ”

"What's next?" Zhao Wende quickly reacted to the meaning of Liu Cheng's words, and he asked in a low voice, "Lord Liu, what do you mean by this?" ”

"Lord Zhao, the cunning rabbit has three holes, and he can only be saved from death. You don't have a hole right now. I'm afraid it's not the time to lie down with your pillow up, right? ”

Zhao Wende's eyes narrowed dangerously, he looked at the smile on Liu Cheng's face for a while, and said coldly: "Lord Liu, don't forget that there is no Yang Zhijun's great kindness to you!" ”

"Lord Zhao, I have not forgotten Yang Zhijun's great kindness, and I have also repaid the kindness with practical actions. But let me ask you, can the current situation be changed by killing a He Renlong? You and I both know that Shaanxi is now full of dry firewood, and killing a He Renlong is just removing a torch, but as long as a spark falls, it will be a prairie fire, is this something you and I can stop? ”

"So what. You and I eat the court, and we are blessed by Yang Zhijun's knowledge, isn't it just for today's difficulties? ”

"Lord Zhao!" Liu Cheng sneered: "He Renlong dared to do this, it was definitely not his own intention, there was a big man behind him." Shaanxi swords and soldiers together, no matter whether they win or lose in the end, Yang Zhijun is a loser, you won't not understand what I mean! “

"My lord, the villain found these things from He Renlong's residence!" Du Gu's voice interrupted Liu Cheng and Zhao Wende's conversation. He presented a half-foot square Nanmu box, and when he opened it, there were several letters of correspondence inside. Liu Cheng picked up one casually and opened it to look at it, and couldn't help but sigh. His brow furrowed.

"What's written on it?" Seeing this, Zhao Wende hurriedly asked, Liu Cheng didn't answer immediately, picked up another one and read it, and after reading it, he sighed. handed the wooden box to Zhao Wende: "Lord Zhao, take a look for yourself!" “

"How so!" Compared with Liu Cheng, Zhao Wende is even more unbearable. His face changed greatly after looking at it for a while, and his fingers trembled uncontrollably: "Just for such a little selfish interest, they want to destroy the overall situation of the imperial court, and also harm the life of Yang Zhijun, don't these people have a little public heart?" “

"Huh!" Liu Cheng sneered: "If they have a public heart, how could Da Ming fall into this step today?" Lord Zhao, don't forget that the idea of selling salt is yours, they even have to attack Yang Zhijun, you have to be more careful. ”

"Thank you, Lord Liu!" Zhao Wende carefully collected the wooden box: "Bother Lord Liu to lend me a few good horses." ”

"You want to go back to Guyuan?" Liu Cheng asked.

"Yes, I want to tell Yang Zhijun about such an important matter immediately, and let him take precautions as soon as possible!"

"Lord Zhao, why are you doing this?" Liu Cheng smiled bitterly: "From the perspective of time, I'm afraid that the Jingshi side is about to see the truth now, and it will not help you to rush back to Guyuan." “

"Anyway, it can be used to save Lord Yang's life!" Zhao Wende walked out by himself, and just took two steps when he heard Liu Cheng shouting behind his back: "Du Gu, stop Lord Zhao for me!" Although Du Gu didn't know what was going on, he reflexively spread his arms and blocked Zhao Wende's way.

"Lord Liu, what do you mean by this!"

"It's nothing, please return the wooden box to me, my Liu Cheng's net worth and life are in that wooden box!"

"What?" Zhao Wende looked at Liu Cheng with disbelief, only to see the man in front of him looking at him with cold and bone-chilling eyes, and said in a deep voice: "The defeat of the Yang army has been decided, and the one who will take over him is the one who directly ordered He Renlong to attack and kill the god and not get muddy, I killed his people, if you want not to die, you have to hold this credential in your hand!" “

Zhao Wende asked, "Do you want to use this to blackmail that person?" “

"Yes, that's the only way I'll survive!" Liu Cheng said with a smile: "The things I did in Yanzhou have offended too many people, if I don't have a protective thing, I'm afraid that I will be crushed in a blink of an eye." “

"How do you know that person is going to be coerced by you? If it were me, I would fight with you to break the net! Nor is it coerced by your little guerrilla! ”

"Lord Zhao, not everyone is like you. That person is willing to take such a big risk to do such a thing, he must have great intentions, and he will not insist on embarrassing me as a little guerrilla for such a trivial matter, after all, I only want to save a life, and I can't hinder his big thing. ”

Zhao Wende stared at Liu Cheng coldly, and Liu Cheng did not show weakness to meet the other party's gaze, and after a while, Zhao Wende took out the wooden box in his arms and threw it to Liu Cheng: "Liu Cheng, I thought you were a man of lofty ideals who was not afraid of death, but I misjudged you!" “

Liu Cheng opened the wooden box and carefully checked it, and after confirming that the documents were correct, he solemnly put it in his arms, and replied: "Lord Zhao, I also send you a word, it is good not to be afraid of death." But in this world, the living can always do much more than the dead! ”

Zhao Wende snorted coldly, turned his head and walked out. Liu Cheng looked at Zhao Wende's departing back, shook his head, he walked to Du Gu, who was already dumbfounded, and asked, "Du Gu, do you think Fang is right, or is Lord Zhao right?" ”

"This-" Du Gu pondered for a while, and said with a wry smile: "I can hear what the two of you said, and the villain doesn't know what they are saying, where do they dare to say right or wrong." But look at that Lord Zhao handed over the things, it should be that the adults took advantage, it doesn't matter if it's right or wrong these years, the important thing is not to suffer! ”

"It doesn't matter if it's right or wrong, the important thing is not to suffer!" Liu Cheng recalled what Du Gu said twice, and suddenly laughed: "Du Gu, Du Gu, I didn't expect that I would have a first-class talent like you under me." ”

Beijing, Wenhua Palace.

This building, located outside the Concord Gate of the Outer Dynasty, was originally a place for the prince to learn political affairs before he ascended the throne, but after the Chenghua Dynasty, the successive princes were generally young before they ascended the throne. Unable to participate in political affairs. Therefore, in the fifteenth year of Jiajing, it was changed to the Son of Heaven Palace, which was mainly used as a place for holding sutra feasts. After Chongzhen ascended the throne, he often summoned several auxiliary ministers here for small-scale high-level meetings to discuss countermeasures to sudden incidents. In a sense. This is the "** meeting" of the Ming Dynasty.

"Mr. Zhou." Chongzhen sat on the throne and said in a deep voice: "You have also seen the excerpts from the northwest, Yang He said that He Renlong advocated killing the appeased Shen Yikui without permission, so he sent Liu Cheng to execute him. and asked the court to send more money and food to appease the soldiers who started the incident; However, the local political envoys of Shaanxi and Shanxi, the governor of Yansui and others said that the people were in turmoil, which was even better than last year, and asked the imperial court to send troops to conscript. Mr. Zhou. You are the first assistant, do you think it should be disposed of? “

Shoufu Zhou Yanru did not immediately answer Chongzhen's question, but carefully speculated on Chongzhen's psychology, as the first assistant of the current dynasty, he naturally understood the inside story of the turmoil in the northwest, but he also knew that the force behind it was strong, and it was by no means something he could intervene in. He thought for a while and replied in a low voice: "Your Majesty, do you think that the affairs of the northwest are still based on Jingzhi?" ”

"Why do you say that?"

"Your Majesty, at the moment, the fierce battle in Liaodong is in full swing, and the eastern captives are besieging my Dalinghe Fort; The Denglai Rebellion is located in Shandong, the former is adjacent to Liaoxi, the latter is related to Caoyun, both are related to the lifeblood of the imperial court, and should not be underestimated! ”

"Well, that's true!" Chongzhen nodded, Zhou Yanru's words hit his heart, after Ming Chengzu moved the capital to Beijing, known as "the Son of Heaven guards the country", ensuring the direct control of the imperial power over the northern field army, preventing the recurrence of Jingnan, but this also brought two new problems: one is that the depth of defense in the face of hostile forces in Liaodong and the Mongolian Plateau has been reduced, which was nothing in the early and middle Ming Dynasty when the military force was strong, but the problem was gradually exposed after the military strength weakened in the later period; The second is to separate the political center of gravity from the economic center of gravity located in the southeast, so Cao Yun has become the lifeblood of the country's life and death. Invisibly, the main attention of the Ming Dynasty also continued to shift to the eastern half of the country, and naturally the power invested in the northwest decreased. At this time, if Chongzhen had to make a choice, he would definitely try his best to ensure that Da Linghe and Denglai were not lost, and as for the northwest, he couldn't care so much for a while.

"Then Mr. Zhou, is Yang He going or staying?"

"Your Majesty, since the beginning of the Shaanxi civil uprising in the second year of Chongzhen, Yang He has been the main appeasement, but now it has been five years since Chongzhen, and the chaos has been repeated without results." Speaking of this, Zhou Yanru paused slightly, secretly raised his head and looked at Chongzhen's face, making sure that he did not anger the Son of Heaven before continuing: "Besides, now that the household is empty, I am afraid that there will be no money and food for Yang He." “

"What Mr. Zhou said is very true!" Chongzhen nodded, as Zhou Yanru said, he had given Yang He more than two years, but the situation in Shaanxi had not improved at all, and now the two battlefields of Liaodong and Denglai had sucked all the essence blood of the Ming Dynasty. But who will replace Yang He? Chongzhen hesitated a little and asked, "Mr. Zhou, you go back and discuss with a few gentlemen, and recommend someone to replace Yang He." “

"Obey the order!"

When the ministers retreated, Chongzhen stood up from the throne and began to habitually watch the couplets on the pillars on both sides of the temple door. Ten thousand times of time, Yao weaving is more than three. “

"Alas, where is there any 'Four Seas Shengping' now, let alone any 'Ten Thousand Clear'!" Chongzhen shook his head and walked towards the apse with his hands behind his back.

According to the practice at that time, after the audience, the ministers would go to Wenyuan Pavilion to discuss the candidate to succeed Yang He for Chongzhen to choose. As soon as he left the Wenhua Palace, Zhou Yanru saw a little eunuch outside the door greet him, touched him gently, and then knelt on the ground: "The slave is clumsy, please spare the old man!" “

Zhou Yanru is also a fine person, he saw the strange appearance of the little eunuch, and saw that although the little eunuch kowtowed repeatedly, his right hand made a strange gesture, pointing to the wing room on the right, and he understood six or seven points in his heart, flicked his sleeves and said: "That's it, be careful next time!" “

"Thank you, old man, for your grace!" The little eunuch kowtowed twice, then bowed and withdrew. Zhou Yanru arched his hand to his colleagues: "I'm in a bit of a hurry, I want to go over there for convenience, let's go back to Wenyuan Pavilion first." I'll be there later! The others did not suspect him, and left. Zhou Yanru saw that they were walking away, so he walked quickly in the direction of the little eunuch's right finger.

Zhou Yanru arrived at the side of the wing room, and was looking around to see if there was anyone, but he saw that the door of a side room next to his left hand side opened a line, and someone inside whispered to him: "Mr. Zhou, come over quickly." Zhou Yanru hurriedly got in, only to see that the lights in the room were dim, and he couldn't see the person's face clearly, he could only see that the other party was wearing a eunuch's robe, burly, and had a Chinese face, like a great husband, and when he saw Zhou Yanru enter the door, he bowed down and said with a smile: "Mr. Zhou, our family has seen the ceremony!" “

"It turned out to be Mr. Gao." At this time, Zhou Yanru's eyes had adapted to the dim light in the room, and he recognized that the other party was Gao Qiqian, the head of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, and he couldn't help but be shocked in his heart, this eunuch, who was actually the second person among the ministers, was looking at him with a smile, Zhou Yanru hurriedly bowed and said: "It turned out to be Gao Gonggong, polite!" (To be continued.) )