Hearing what Zhang Mo said, Changsheng felt much better, "Uncle Master, how much do you know about this person?"
"I only met him once in the back hall of Ni Mansion a few days ago," Zhang Mo said. "According to my observation, this person is not like Jie and Zhou, nor is he incompetent. He still wants to work hard to revive the Tang Dynasty."
"This person is very suspicious." Changsheng said.
"Why do you say this?" Zhang Mo asked.
Chang Sheng then briefly and concisely stated some of the details he had observed during the previous competition and what happened tonight.
After listening to Chang Sheng's story, Zhang Mo did not answer immediately. He pondered for a moment before speaking, "He is indeed suspicious, but I can't blame him for that. What he inherited was a shaky mess, and as far as I know, he was used as a puppet by the eunuch Yang Fugong. The person who supported the throne has an unstable foundation and no one is in charge. If he is careless and trusts others, not only will his throne be in danger, but his life will also be in danger."
Changsheng nodded.
Zhang Mo said again, "I know you are arrogant and disdain to climb the dragon and the phoenix, but the Tang Dynasty belongs to the Li family. If we Taoists want to save the world and save the suffering, we can only help Bi Mingzhu, shine the light of the sun and the moon, and shine on the common people."
After Changsheng nodded slowly, Zhang Mo added, "The emperor is also a human being, and he also has emotions, angers, sorrows, and joys. Even if he makes some mistakes, ministers should not feel resentment or disobedience. What's more, he has no rebellious behavior, he is just showing off. It’s a bit older, so don’t take it too seriously.”
"I don't have any resentment, I just feel uncomfortable," Changsheng said. "When I met him, I performed a Taoist's bowing ceremony, but in fact it is not a groveling."
Hearing Changsheng's words, Zhang Mozhan smiled and said, "No matter who sees the emperor, they will kneel down, but you won't kneel down when you see me. Why else do you feel uncomfortable?"
"I also said some flattering words," Chang Sheng said with a frown, "I don't want to be promoted to a higher position, nor am I greedy for wealth. I really can't think of why I should flatter you."
"I'm serious, you just answered appropriately, why are you trying to flatter me?" Zhang Mo shook his head and said, "According to my eldest brother's guess, he wanted to take the opportunity to recruit a group of young talents as his confidants during this child martial arts test. Entrusted with an important task, you must make him happy when you get along with him in the future. Only by making him happy can he be able to reuse you and be willing to stay with you..."
Seeing that Chang Sheng wanted to interrupt, Zhang Mo hurriedly waved his hand to stop him and continued, "I know you don't covet glory and wealth, but if you want to save the world and do good deeds, you must gain his trust. If he sees you, he will be annoyed. , hide away when they see you, even if you have in mind policies that benefit the country and the people, you are not allowed to advise and implement them."
"That makes sense." Changsheng nodded heavily.
Zhang Mo added, "You should understand the truth that people who are close to red are red and those who are close to ink are dark. You must make him trust you and like you. Only in this way can you have the opportunity to stay by his side, be subtle, and be good at tempting and assisting. If you arouse his resentment, there will be other people staying around him. If this person has evil intentions and engages in slander and evil, it will be the civil and military officials of the court and the common people who will be unlucky."
Zhang Mo's words cleared away the gloom in Changsheng's heart, "Don't worry, uncle, I know what to do."
Zhang Mo was still not at ease and said again, "In the future, he may do some things that are not to your liking. You can't feel resentful. You must know that under Pu Tian, is it the king's land? On the shore of the land, is it the king's ministers? It belongs to him in the first place, he is the king, and you are just a minister."
Zhang Mo lowered his voice when he said this, "I know you. You have a pure nature and value loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness. If one day you feel dissatisfied, you will never commit rebellion. At most, you will abandon your official position and leave the court. But think about it, if you If you leave, the court will lose a good official. You are hiding from leisure, and the people of Li will be the unlucky ones."
"I understand, Uncle Master. When dealing with the Emperor, you must be polite and responsive. Even if you sometimes say flattering words, it is not for selfish reasons, but to guide him to do good and benefit the country and the people." Changsheng said.
"I feel relieved if you think so." Zhang Mo said with a smile, "You are now a senior official of the third rank. If the imperial court is a big tree, you are now a big branch on this big tree. You There’s so much that can be done.”
After Changsheng nodded, he suddenly remembered something, "Uncle, what if he asks me to do bad things?"
Zhang Mo asked instead, "Will you wantonly destroy your own things?"
"No." Changsheng shook his head.
"That's it, he won't," Zhang Mo said, "He is the emperor, and the whole world belongs to him. He will only hope that the country will be rich and the people are strong, and will never destroy his own foundation. The emperor has no selfish motives. If there is , there is only one thing, that is, someone has endangered his throne, and when that happens, he will definitely choose to preserve the throne instead of protecting the people."
"It makes sense," Changsheng nodded, "Only when he regards the world as his own will he cherish and care for it."
Zhang Mo smiled and nodded, then picked up the teapot on the table and poured water for Changsheng. Seeing this, Changsheng hurriedly got up and grabbed the teapot, first poured a cup for Zhang Mo, and then poured a cup for himself.
Zhang Mo picked up the tea cup and took a sip, "According to what you said before, he tested you a total of seven times tonight. First, he handed you a tattoo with the name "Li" to test your mind. If you haven't understood it, you won't be able to see him tonight. .
The second is to see if you will go with the guard to see him immediately. If you don't go with him immediately, but come back and say hello to us before leaving, he will also be dissatisfied.
The third is to test your eyesight after entering the door. If you worship the wrong person, he will look down on you and will not even come out to see you.
Then there are the three surnames: Li, Zhang, and Ni. No matter which one you choose, it will be wrong. He is testing your position. If one day our Zhang family, Ni family and Li family are in opposition, what will you do? At home?
Fifth, it seemed unintentional to mention the Ni family's martial arts competition to recruit a bride. The talisman my eldest brother gave you at that time clearly stated that you would be "executed." After you read it, you ate the talisman. The emperor also saw this move. , I can see that he was very satisfied, but you did not fully obey the order, but let three people go, two of them were your friends, but in the end, you did not take the life of Yang Shouyi, he looked down upon him very much. They may think that you did it on purpose, leaving room for a meeting with the eunuch eunuch. He brought up the old things again just to see if you would take the initiative to explain, and your response was also very clever. If not, he would definitely have his heart in mind. Grievance.
The sixth is to ask you about the various visions you had in your hometown. If you don't respond appropriately, he will probably regard you as a potential threat. Let alone entrusting you with important tasks, he may even do harm in secret.
Finally, the food is poisoned and the antidote is left in the wine. If you don't eat it all and drink it all according to the order, you will die from the poison. His move is not only to test whether you will strictly implement his order, but also to test whether you will strictly implement his order. I'm still bitter about you letting Yang Shouyi go that day. If you hadn't let Yang Shouyi go before, I guess he wouldn't have set such a harsh test for you. "
Changsheng finally got rid of his sweat, but Zhang Mo's words made him sweat again. Zhang Mo was right. He didn't kill Yang Shouyi that day because he was grateful to the idiot and because he didn't want to completely fall out with the eunuch. , letting go of the two eunuchs who assassinated Yang Kai also had the same idea.
Seeing Chang Sheng's face turned ugly, Zhang Mo comforted him softly, "Fortunately, your explanation was reasonable and dispelled his suspicion. You should remember that it is a taboo in official circles to have two feet on one's own. I know you are not afraid of eunuchs and eunuchs, you just don't want to It's too early to fall out, you have your difficulties, but the emperor will not understand your difficulties, he will only see if you are loyal."
Changsheng drank from a cup of water and raised his hand to wipe his sweat, "Uncle Master, what do you think of him summoning me tonight?"
"What do you think?" Zhang Mo asked.
Changsheng put down his tea cup and said, "I will be arranging a ministry tomorrow at court. He met me in advance, probably because he wanted to see what kind of person I am and what kind of ministry would be suitable for me."
"You're only half right," Zhang Mo said, "He should have already thought about what ministry to arrange for you. This meeting with you is just to confirm whether you can take on the important task."
"It makes sense," Changsheng nodded, "Uncle, what kind of duties do you think he will arrange for me?"
"It's hard to say," Zhang Mo shook his head, "but one thing is certain, that is, he will definitely give you real power and will not give you an idle position."
Chang Sheng frowned slightly and did not answer.
Zhang Mo added, "According to my brother and I's previous idea, we wanted you to take the first step. After the main examination is over, you will serve as my brother's deputy. You can practice calmly under him. Now it seems that the emperor does not I plan to give you time to practice and then directly entrust you with important tasks."
Changsheng was nervous and curious, and asked again, "Uncle, guess what he will ask me to do?"
"I really can't say," Zhang Mo said, "The Emperor is the same age as me and is very young. Young people do not follow the rules. If I had to guess, I feel that he might place you in the Shence Army. Shence The army accounts for 70% of the total number of forbidden troops in the imperial city, and the Shence Army is controlled by eunuchs. If the eunuchs rebel, the imperial army will not be able to resist it."
Seeing Changsheng frowning in worry, Zhang Mo waved his hand and said, "This is just my guess. It's hard to guess the emperor's thoughts, so let's not guess. We will find out at the court tomorrow."
"Well," Changsheng nodded. Seeing that Zhang Mo no longer took the initiative to speak, he asked, "Uncle, how are you preparing for the competition between you and my uncle?"
"It's a little tricky," Zhang Mo said with a frown, "This time the child examination and the main examination were a secret game between the emperor and the eunuchs and powerful ministers, and both sides made concessions. The child examination was handled by the emperor, but the main examination was secretly controlled by the eunuchs, and the emperor had almost no intervention. "
"What about the rules? Have they been set?" Changsheng asked.
Zhang Mo said, "It has been roughly decided. Nine arenas will be set up in the past few days. We will use a joint defense style to determine the nine champions and then join forces. The arena will change from nine to three, and finally three will be decided. Chief Champion, these three Chief Champions will no longer compete, but will protect the country and serve the country."
"Doesn't it mean that we can't tell the difference between Wu Ju and Wu Jinshi?" Changsheng asked.
"It can be distinguished," Zhang Mo said, "the two hundred and forty martial arts candidates are recommended by the nine division masters, and the sixty martial arts scholars are recommended by the three general masters."
"Isn't this a gang fight and rewards based on merit?" Chang Sheng said with a smile.
"Yes, it's a bit like placing bets in a gambling house." Zhang Mo also smiled.
After talking about the business, Chang Sheng saw Zhang Mo showing sleepiness and asked, "Uncle Master, where are you staying tonight?"
"It's too late. I won't leave tonight. I'll stay with you in the inn." Zhang Mo said casually.
Seeing Chang Sheng's stunned eyes, Zhang Mo raised his hand angrily and slapped his head, "What are you thinking about? I live upstairs..."
