A small town located south of Yongcheng.
The town is not big, and the folk customs are relatively simple. Over the past few years, the world has been peaceful, and the people's lives have been equally stable. But in such a small town, two extraordinary people came out - these two people were the two brothers of the Gongsun family, Gongsun Cuo and Gongsun Changsheng.
In fact, the only one who is truly "outrageous" is Gongsun Cuo, but the experience and status of another Gongsun Changsheng are still out of reach for the people in the small town. Gongsun Changsheng is the biological brother of Gongsun Cuo. If these two people stood in front of you and said that they were brothers from the same father and mother, no one would believe it, because Gongsun Changsheng looked very talented, and his figure was not as fat as Gongsun Cuo. , tall and straight, even more like a soldier than his brother.
In this way, two people with completely different appearances are actually brothers. Sometimes you have to lament that God is indeed a little biased. However, if you meet the parents of these two brothers, you will have some understanding of the differences between the two brothers, because Gongsun Wong is very much like his father, and Gongsun Changsheng is very much like his mother.
It is such a pair of brothers who have become famous figures in the town. Whenever local people and outsiders have a dispute, these two brothers will inevitably be mentioned. The Gongsun brothers have been extremely smart since childhood. They have studied for several years, but they did not choose to obtain fame and become officials. Instead, they left the small town early and went out to work. Unexpectedly, they both became famous! Of course, Gongsun Cuo goes without saying, not to mention the powerful General Shence who is now in power. During the Six Kings Rebellion, he was already a general under Chang Zhishan, which is beyond the reach of most people. His younger brother Gongsun Changsheng chose the 'business' path, and the business he did was none other than the 'salt path' that could be called huge profits. Xintang is located inland, and most of the salt collected is pool salt and well salt. Moreover, due to the ancient idea of "official mountains and seas", most of the salt in the Central Plains countries is sold by the government. The salt tax is high, and the price of table salt is naturally not low. Many poor people do not necessarily have access to salt. Knowing this, Gongsun Changsheng traveled thousands of miles to Tianqi, which was close to the sea and was flooded with illegal salt. After establishing a relationship with the salt dealers there, he transported the sea salt from Tianqi to Yongcheng, and made a lot of money as expected. Get a lot of money.
Like his elder brother, Gongsun Changsheng was an extremely ambitious man. Over time, the smuggling salt business in Yongcheng could no longer satisfy his appetite. His private salt business continued to spread to the surrounding areas, and he built a good business in just a few years. , and even made the Jiang family feel vaguely threatened. This shows how big Gongsun Changsheng's business is. After that, Gongsun Cuo got better and better in the army, which directly helped his younger brother. At first, the salt team was frightened when entering and leaving the border, but had to be managed from top to bottom. Later, it was smooth and smooth. As a result, the private salt business grew bigger and bigger. , even the shadow of Gongsun Changsheng's private salt appeared in the Jiang family's business territory, but at that time the Jiang family did not dare to say anything and could only turn a blind eye.
As the status of the two brothers rose, the Gongsun family's mansion in the small town gradually expanded to the surrounding areas, and became luxurious inside.
Everything was going smoothly at first, and the parents of the Gongsun brothers were preparing to enjoy their old age in peace. At this moment, Gongsun Cuo's incident suddenly happened——
The situation is unpredictable and everything happens so suddenly!
After Gongsun Cuo was demoted, Gongsun Changsheng was caught by the government before he even had time to sell off his business. Selling salt privately is a serious crime, and Gongsun Cuo has lost power. Gongsun Changsheng may not end well.
Seeing this situation, Gongsun Cuo had no choice but to sell his property to provide for his brother's transportation. At first, he couldn't even give the money away. Think about it. You have offended General Chang. Can you spend the money after accepting it? In the end, he begged his grandfather to sue his grandmother before the matter was completed. Gongsun Changsheng was sentenced to a prison near Yongcheng, and his relatives would not be unable to see him if they wanted to. Compared to other smugglers, this is already a good result. If the sentence was harsher, he might never see him again in his life.
It was precisely because of this incident that the Gongsun family fell into decline. However, although they were corrupted, Gongsun Changsheng's life was saved after all. Moreover, Gongsun Cuo was still serving the court. The old couple often prayed to gods and Buddhas to protect the two brothers from causing any more troubles and to spend the rest of their lives in peace. Never mind. Perhaps the piety of the old couple moved God, but unexpectedly, something happened to General Chang! It can be said that things have turned around. Chang Zhishan, which was so heavy that Gongsun Cuo couldn't lift his head, is now sunset, and the person who takes his place is Gongsun Cuo himself. It has to be said that fate plays tricks on people! Who would have lamented the drama of fate...
...
In an old courtyard, Old Ding was standing in the living room, with several large boxes beside him. The boxes seemed to be extremely heavy, because the few strong men had spent a lot of effort putting the boxes down, and even almost broke the thick wooden sticks used to lift the boxes. After the box landed, Lao Ding waved his hand to signal the coolies to leave. After these strong men left, Old Ding looked at the middle-aged man in front of him with a smile. This middle-aged man has regular features, but due to weathering, his appearance seems to be much older than his actual age.
Looking at these big boxes, the man looked at Old Ding in confusion and asked: "Manager Ding, this is..."
"Haha, Master Gongsun, these are your confiscated goods back then." Butler Ding opened one of the boxes and saw that it was all filled with silver. Feeling the man's puzzled look, he continued: "But those goods have been confiscated long ago, and the villain here will exchange them for you at the market price."
Although he was once rich, Gongsun Changsheng was still very surprised to see so much dazzling silver. He hurriedly said: "How to do this?"
"Master Gongsun, please don't be polite. My master said that this money was originally yours. Now it just returns to its original owner. You must not be polite."
"Master Wang is so polite! Chang Sheng is lucky to be able to avoid prison! This money..."
It turned out that before Gongsun Cuo took up the post of General Shence, Wang Yanqing sent someone to inquire about Gongsun Changsheng. On the day when Gongsun Cuo met the Tang Emperor, Wang Yanqing used some connections to secretly capture Gongsun Changsheng. out. This was originally a great honor, but now he comes to the door with several large boxes of money, and the meaning is self-evident.
"Young man, you have come all the way here. It is too heavy and inconvenient to carry these things back and forth. I hope Master Gongsun will be considerate."
Seeing Butler Ding's smile, Gongsun Changsheng recalled what his brother had told him, thought about his previous sins, and thought about his brother's current status, so he nodded heavily and said, "Okay! Then I’ll keep it for now.”
With a 'bang--' sound, Old Ding closed the box, and then he said with a smile: "It's getting late, and I have to rush back to Chang'an to recover, so I won't bother you."
"Steward Ding, go slowly. I won't send Chang Sheng away. When you get to Chang'an, remember to express your gratitude to Mr. Wang!" Gongsun Changsheng accompanied Lao Ding all the way to the entrance of the mansion.
"Absolutely! Master Gongsun, please stay." When he arrived at the door of the mansion, Lao Ding signaled Gongsun Changsheng to stop.
After confirming that Old Ding's figure was gone, Gongsun Changsheng looked around the door, and after confirming that there was no one else, he closed the door, bolted it, turned around and walked back to the hall.
When Gongsun Changsheng returned to the living room, he saw a fat figure bending over to check these heavy boxes. Gongsun Changsheng was originally going to go to his brother to report the matter, but he didn't want his brother to go directly to the living room and start looking at the silver.
"Brother, I accepted the money, is there no problem?"
Facing the comeback of Gongsun Cuo, Gongsun Changsheng was a little cautious. After all, their current position was hard-won and they had to be careful.
'Bata——'
Gongsun Cuo dropped a piece of silver into the box, making a crisp impact sound. Then, he turned around and patted his brother on the shoulder. He sighed softly and said, "You have suffered so much these years -"
Faced with his brother's sudden melancholy, Gongsun Changsheng was filled with emotions. The two of his brothers had always had a good relationship. Although his brother was involved in his imprisonment, he really didn't mean to blame Gongsun, not to mention his brother after he was imprisoned. Running around to take care of yourself is better than those brothers who cut off the relationship once the incident comes to light.
Seeing that his brother had been caring about him, Gongsun Changsheng felt better, as if all the hardships he had endured were nothing, he sighed -
"Brother, what are you talking about?"
"You don't understand—you don't understand—!"
Gongsun Cuo said "You don't understand" twice in a row, as if it contained countless unknown hardships and secrets.
Gongsun Changsheng was at a loss for words. He was certainly aware of the dangers in officialdom, but he didn't know exactly what his brother meant by "you don't understand."
Seeing that his younger brother had aged much in the past two years, Gongsun patted the wooden box and said, "You can safely keep the money."
"Hey - that's great! I listen to my brother."
Seeing that his brother did not express any objection or inappropriateness, Gongsun Changsheng finally relaxed. Although his brother had told him before that he would keep all the money that others brought to his door, this time it was Wang Yanqing who gave it to him. The magistrate of Yongzhou is different from the small fish and shrimps, so he is a little worried. But now that he has his brother's approval, he has nothing to worry about. He believes that his brother has his own sense of proportion.
"As long as I'm here, even if Wang Yanqing comes to give you gifts in person, you will accept them all."
After that, Gongsun Cuo looked up at the old house again. After selling the house, his parents moved back to this ancestral house. The ancestral house was in disrepair and looked a little dilapidated. Thinking that his parents had aged a lot in the past two years, Gongsun Cuo felt a little guilty in his heart. He said, "Let's renovate this house."
"Okay, the money happens to be here."
"Tch! When did you become so cautious?" Gongsun Cuo expressed his feelings unabashedly. In his opinion, the ups and downs in the past few years have made this once bold brother feel like walking on thin ice. Gongsun Cuo sneered, and then seemed to say to himself——
"We don't need to spend money, someone will naturally pay for it for us!"
Gongsun Changsheng nodded, and then smiled honestly. Looking at his appearance, how could he look like he had the arrogance and shadow of the domineering businessman who used to spend huge sums of money at every turn?
Looking at his brother, who was also much older, Gongsun Cuo said softly again: "My father and mother depend on you back home."
"Of course I know." His parents were worried about his two brothers a lot. Now that the situation has improved, they will naturally let them live a good life for a few more years. Seeing his brother's thoughtful look, Gongsun Changsheng suddenly asked: "Brother, General Chang...has Chang Zhishan really fallen out of favor?"
Gongsun Cuo was startled. Thinking of this old boss who had made him demoted and gained power because of him, his eyes gradually became sharp. He said meaningfully: "Being with a king is like being with a tiger."
Gongsun Changsheng nodded, recalling that just a few months ago, Chang Zhishan was still a very popular minister and fought against Wang Yanqing in the court. Now he fell out of favor and was suspended in the court. If the Holy Emperor hadn't been thinking about his old feelings, he might not even have the final say. I can't even save my face.
"As an emperor and as a courtier, we can't say what will happen in the future."
Gongsun Cuo said softly that although he accepted these 'gifts' generously, he still did not dare to be so confident about the power of the DPRK.
The elder brother said something for no reason. Gongsun Changsheng was a little confused. Is it possible that Chang Zhishan can still stand up? Or should I say... The Holy One is about to... Gongsun Changsheng was startled and wanted to ask his brother.
"Don't ask about these things. It's useless to talk about them."
Before his brother could look at him, Gongsun Cuo raised his hand to stop him. Gongsun Changsheng had no choice but to swallow the words that came to his lips.
"I'll go see my parents again. I have to rush back to the camp before nightfall tomorrow. I'll set off later."
Gongsun Cuo especially cherished this opportunity to come back. The situation in Chang'an is unclear now. I'm afraid he won't be able to leave at will from now on. If he leaves this time and wants to come back again, he won't know what year or month it will be.
"So urgent? It's not too late to leave tomorrow morning?"
Gongsun Changsheng was a little surprised. He had already returned, so why did he have to rush back again?
"You cannot disobey your orders!"
Gongsun Cuo had just arrived home, and the secret order from the Taiji Palace followed him. When he took the secret order from the guard, he felt an ominous feeling in his heart - maybe something big was about to happen in Chang'an.
As the sky grew dark, he left his brother behind and walked to the backyard. Now that he had seen his parents and younger brother in his hometown, this was very rare for him. Now that he was sure that his family was fine, he should hurry back to the camp to recover. !
