A lot of times, a name is just a code name. The big boss of Yundinglou who was wearing silk and satin and chatting with businessmen and bureaucrats was Cheng Yunhe, and with that bronze mask, he became the master of the Flying Heaven Gate who was in charge of the life and death of countless people.

When this face was presented in front of Tang An, there was no longer the usual harmony at all, and the experience of vicissitudes had turned into folds of different shades one after another, crisscrossing like knife marks. The sunken corners of his mouth and the eyes that seemed to be able to penetrate people's hearts made him look full of coldness, like a god of death who could tell a person's life and death with a single word, not the calculating No. 1 merchant of the Tang Dynasty that Tang An originally knew.

Such a contrast is really shocking. Tang An suddenly felt that all his previous cognitions had been subverted at this moment.

The dignified owner of Yunding Tower will be the head of Datang's No. 1 spy department? Rao is his psychological quality is strong enough, and he was stunned for a long time before he came back to his senses.

"Well, it's unexpected, isn't it?"

Qin Tian naturally knew Cheng Yunhe's true identity for a long time, and looked at Tang An with a smile.

It's not just an accident, it's a shock. Tang Anne was speechless, as if he had forgotten how to organize the language, and finally held back two words to express his inner surprise after holding back for a long time.

"Old... Master? ”

Cheng Yunhe sighed and said slowly: "I know, you must have a lot of questions. But now, the facts are in front of you: Yunding Tower is nothing more than a cover for me to hide my identity, and it is also an important agency for gathering intelligence, and it is also a channel for collecting taxes for the imperial court. With such an identity, it is easier to see the dark side behind the court and listen to the emperor clearly. In fact, I have always been a member of the imperial court. ”

Tang An suddenly realized that such a big building as Genting Tower has invisibly woven a network covering the entire Datang, but it can reach important information in any region in the shortest possible time.

The most important thing is that the wealth of Genting Tower is enough to make anyone blush, how many so-called incorruptible court officials have made money through Genting Tower? How many are there to be honored, both openly and covertly? How much black money from unknown sources has been deposited into Genting House?

If Cheng Yunhe was just an ordinary businessman, he would naturally be tight-lipped about all this, but unfortunately he was the emperor's eyes and ears. Those party leaders who pretended to be fair and strict in front of people, but were black and greedy behind enemy lines, had already had nothing to hide in front of Qin Tian.

Qin Tian's move was simply damaged to the bones!

Cheng Yunhe took a step forward and said slowly: "When you were recruited into the Cheng family, I just wanted to find a companion for him. But what you did later made me see that you were different. Whether it is your talent, knowledge, or whimsy, you are by no means like a poor student who came out of a poor country, so I asked someone to investigate you. To my surprise, you are surprisingly innocent, and you are very affectionate and righteous. Such a talented, ambitious, and loyal person, it is too condescending to stay in Chengfu, so I raised the idea of letting you enter the office. But I never imagined that in just one year, you would be able to achieve such brilliant results. ”

Tang An came back to his senses and hurriedly said: "Master, don't say that, if it weren't for the master and the eldest young master, Tang An would definitely not have today's achievements, I am grateful to the master and the Cheng family from the bottom of my heart, oh, just like I am grateful to the emperor." ”

Qin Tian saw that he still didn't forget to arch his hand at himself, and secretly hated this kid for slipping his head. What does that little thing between you and the Cheng family have anything to do with me?

"I know." Cheng Yunhe smiled with relief, "But... Now that you know my identity, the word 'master' will not be mentioned in the future, you and I are officials in the same dynasty, and you still have to call the official position on the surface, in case people see the clues, do you understand? ”

If I don't understand such a simple truth, can it be that I look like a fool? If he shows a little closeness to Cheng Yunhe, it is difficult to guarantee that the relationship between the two will not be suspected, and if Cheng Yunhe's true identity is deduced from this, then the emperor's good intentions to let him live in seclusion behind the scenes will be in vain.

So Tang An nodded and replied: "Don't worry, Lord Door, Tang An Province." ”

Qin Tian corrected: "Now we should change our words and call ourselves 'Benhou'." ”

Tang An chuckled: "If it's outside, it's just a matter of blatting your identity to bluff people, but in front of the emperor and the master of the door, how dare Tang An be presumptuous?" ”

A lukewarm joke made Qin Tian and Cheng Yunhe laugh again and again.

Cheng Yunhe put his hands behind his back, and his eyes were vicissitudes, as if he was like the two people who Tang An once knew. He sighed lightly and said: "Tang An, these things that the emperor asked me to tell you are the most important secret of my Tang Dynasty, involving the emperor's personal safety and the rise and fall of the Tang Dynasty, I hope you can keep this secret as you cherish your life." ”

Is it that serious? Tang Anxin put a question mark in it, but he still said honestly: "Don't worry, Tang An knows the severity." ”

Cheng Yunhe nodded as if relieved, and glanced at Qin Tian again, seeing that the latter bowed slightly, he sighed and said, "This matter... Let's start with the grandfather of today's saint, the old emperor Mingde. The old emperor has reigned for 51 years, and he is the emperor who has been on the throne for the longest time since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, but when he came out of the great treasure, the situation he faced was the same as today: foreign enemies were eyeing each other, and internal turmoil was shaky. For the Xia State and the Qi State, the old emperor did not make too many changes, and still followed the defensive strategy of focusing on stability. But internally...... In the face of the oppression of some self-proclaimed ministers, the emperor chose to forbear on the surface, but secretly supported the four forces single-handedly. When these four forces are big enough to compete with those old forces, the old emperor quickly cut through the chaos and uproot those discordant voices one by one. ”

Cheng Yunhe sighed and continued: "These four forces have made great contributions to the old emperor's stable throne, and they have received countless benefits. In fact, in the final analysis, these four forces are just four families, and coincidentally... The surnames of the four families are connected together, which happens to be an idiom. This idiom seems to be a symbol of God's blessing to the Tang Dynasty, which makes the old emperor look great and happy, and approves these four families as the four major families of the Tang Dynasty. ”

Tang An has been in the capital for so long, but he has never heard of this statement. Not even rumors. But Cheng Yunhe can't lie to himself, which can only show that the "four families" in his mouth are too hidden.

Tang Anqi said: "These four families... Do I know any? ”

Cheng Yunhe laughed twice, squinted his eyes and said, "Speaking of which... You should have seen all the people of these four families. ”

As if seeing Tang An's doubts, Qin Tian personally opened his mouth to solve the mystery for him: "Back then, the four major families produced many talents, except for the civil officials who served in the court, the power of the four major families mainly infiltrated the army. The old emperor personally built three guards, the 50,000-person weaving West Feather Guard was controlled by the Wan family, and the Zhong family commanded the 50,000-strong Northern Xuanwei, as the Yulin Army and the Praetorian Guard of the Son of Heaven's guard, the old emperor handed it over to the Dai family. And the most mysterious Datang Dark Flying Gate is in charge of the Cheng family. ”

As he spoke, Qin Tian's eyes were blazing, and he stared at Tang An word by word and said, "The surnames of these four families together are...... Wan, Dai, Zhong, Cheng! ”

Bandai loyalty!

Tang An was shocked, he didn't expect the surnames of these families to be so deafening. No wonder the old emperor is long-faced and happy, presumably in his opinion, if he can be protected by the four major families loyal to the royal family for all generations, the country of the Tang Dynasty will definitely be able to survive for generations.

As soon as he heard these four words, a few faces naturally appeared in Tang An's mind: Wan Shanchuan who hugged Dongfang Xuan's thigh during the "Double Absolute Competition", Wan Jie, the commander of the Yulin Army who prevented him from going to Xiangguo's Mansion to grab his relatives, and Zhong Rongxian, the mysterious handsome blind man...... Could it be that they are all members of the "four major families"?

But before these questions could be asked, a more important question had arisen. Tang An looked at Qin Tian and said, "I only heard about Xiyuwei and Beixuanwei, but what about Donglingwei?" ”

Qin Tian's face changed slightly, and he snorted coldly: "When the emperor was old, Datang produced a stunning genius. This person not only has a superior vision, but also has a deep understanding of the way of being a minister, and is deeply favored by the emperor. The 30,000 horses of Donglingwei, which were originally separated from the military department, were also assigned to that person's command. That person's name is Oriental Travel! ”

Damn, it turns out that it's really that old immortal. Tang An vaguely guessed the identity of that person just now, but he didn't expect it to be him.

The old emperor has the courage and courage to change the world at a young age, and he can be described as a generation of saints. Such a character will be deceived by the journey to the East, which shows how deep his city is.

Tang An said indignantly: "If I had known that he would plot against the Tang Dynasty today, the emperor should have killed him back then." ”

"The old dog of the East back then really did his best for Datang, and he didn't show any ambition at all. Later, when my father succeeded to the throne, he gradually showed his eagerness to dominate the world. His father saw his ambitions, and gradually discovered that with the renewal of the four major families of the year, the minds of the new generation of family heads also changed. As a result, the father carried out a major reshuffle of the four major families: the three guards were reclassified into the military department separately, and they were led by Qin Yue, the uncle of the six emperors. The Yulin Army was separated from the Praetorian Guard, the Dai Jiasi was in charge of the Yulin Army, while the Zhong family was in charge of the Praetorian Guard, and the Wan family was stripped of their military power, and all of them entered the court to become officials. The only thing that hasn't changed in responsibilities is the Cheng family. ”

The change of responsibilities, these words are simple to say, but judging from the results, the authority of the three major families of Wan, Dai and Zhong has all been weakened, and only the Cheng family is still honored by the Holy Family, which shows the status of the Cheng family in the minds of the emperors of previous dynasties.

Tang An tilted his head and thought about it, then suddenly frowned and said, "Your Majesty, Weichen is stupid." It seems that the current Praetorian Guard is led by Wan Jie Wan, not the people of the Dai family, right? ”

Qin Tian sighed gloomily, and replied, "That kid from the Zhong family, you should have seen it, right?" ”

Tang An was a little unhappy and said: "If the emperor is talking about the blind man who always wears two beauties and pretends to be thirteen, then I know." ”

Qin Tian frowned and said, "What is 'pretending to be thirteen'?" ”

Tang An laughed and "explained": "Oh, pretending to be thirteen means that... He always dresses himself up as the thirteenth handsome man in the Tang Dynasty. ”

Qin Tian was still puzzled: "Since you want to pretend, why don't you pretend to be the first?" ”

Tang An smiled: "Isn't the most handsome person in the Tang Dynasty the emperor?" If he dares to pretend to be you, he will be killed. ”

"You kid." Qin Tian laughed a few times, obviously very useful for this sycophant. "This handsome blind man who 'pretends to be thirteen' is now known as the first person of the young generation in Beijing. I have been in contact with him a few times, and he is indeed as witty as a fox, if it weren't for you kid, he would be the 'No. 1 in the capital'. But... Thirteen years ago, the first in the capital, do you know who it is? ”