After Ni Chenyi finished speaking, he looked directly at Changsheng, waiting for his answer.
But Changsheng frowned and did not answer immediately. He pondered for a long time before asking, "If I leave, Longhu Mountain will be implicated."
"The debt you owe to Longhu Mountain has been paid off long ago," Ni Chenyi said calmly. "You won the first place in the children's list competition, making Longhu Mountain famous all over the world. And Longhu Mountain can win the first place in the main list competition, too. You got Gu Yan's full help at the critical moment. Why did Gu Yan want to help Longhushan come forward? You know better than me."
Seeing that Changsheng didn't answer, Ni Chenyi said again, "You should be the first to eradicate the eunuchs. Whether it's the imperial court or Longhu Mountain, you don't owe them anything."
Changsheng sighed, "Let me think about it carefully."
Ni Chenyi said, "With your intelligence, you naturally know why the emperor appointed you as the Minister of Household Affairs and the Imperial Censor at the same time. He asked you to bloodbath the officialdom of the Tang Dynasty, rectify the administration of officials, and at the same time seize the officials' properties to use as military pay. This is an offense." A human job is also a job that takes the blame. You will be called a cruel official because of this, and the civil and military officials of the dynasty will regard you as a thorn in their side. Not to mention that the Tang Dynasty has exhausted its power and there is no possibility of resurgence. Even if you turn the tide and continue the Tang Dynasty Once the fate of the country is determined, the emperor will definitely punish you severely, so as to silence the people of the world, lest the world criticize him for sending you to plunder all the civil servants and generals in the government and the public in order to raise military pay."
Changsheng frowned and closed his eyes, not answering.
After a brief pause, Ni Chenyi said softly, "Changsheng, I know you value love and righteousness, but you can't always live for others in this life, and you should also think clearly about what you want."
After Ni Chenyi finished speaking, Changsheng slowly opened his eyes and said in a deep voice, "I will not allow the court to harm you, but I cannot retreat and be alone. Don't force me to make a decision now. Let's see and then talk."
Hearing what Changsheng said, Ni Chenyi no longer forced him to make an immediate decision, "Okay, as you said, the Ni Mansion still has six million taels of silver in cash, but do you want us to donate it first?"
"What does your father mean?" Changsheng asked.
"Donate it all." Ni Chenyi said.
Changsheng knew that six million taels would not harm the Ni family's vitality, so he nodded in agreement, "It's okay to donate it, at least it can alleviate the conflict."
"Okay," Ni Chenyi nodded, then stood up, "You have been very tired these past few days, so I won't disturb you anymore. When we get back, we will send someone to deliver the silver to the Ministry of Finance."
Changsheng stood up to see each other off. Both of them were in heavy moods. No one spoke a word along the way. After sending Ni Chenyi out of the censor's stage, Changsheng came back depressed and sad.
The execution in the morning had already put him in a very bad mood. Before he could recover, something like this happened again. Changsheng's mood at this time was already extremely bad. The ancients said that people feel refreshed when happy events happen, and when they are depressed, they become sleepy. This That's wrong, because when a person is in an extremely bad mood, he won't feel sleepy at all. Chang Sheng lay down with his eyes closed, feeling blocked and depressed.
After talking for a long time, I suppressed the irritability and frustration in my heart, stabilized my mood, and started to sort out my thoughts. The first thing I had to determine was whether the two million taels that the Ni family had moved out of the city were just to transfer property, or whether they were intended to be given to Yang Shouxin as cash. As military pay, if you think about it carefully, the second possibility is more likely. The reason is very simple. Ni Zuo once met a beggar from a thousand years later. Before he died, the beggar told Ni Zuo that the Tang Dynasty had run out of energy, and that in recent times, monsters were everywhere. , causing chaos in the world, does coincide with the saying that when a country is about to perish, there must be evildoers. Knowing that the Tang Dynasty is exhausted, it is not difficult to understand why Ni Tuo chose to bet his treasure on the eunuchs.
In addition, it was taboo for Ni Zhuo to place an informant around the emperor. No one likes to be monitored by others, especially the emperor. Placing an informant around the emperor is tantamount to evil intentions, even worse than treason.
Finally, from the standpoint of the emperor, will he take action against the Ni family? The result of thinking is yes! First, the Ni family's position is not firm, and they always want to have both sides. Second, the Ni family has money, let alone 6 million taels, even 60 million taels can be copied. At the moment, the court is in urgent need of money. If you rob a Ni family, you will have money for the war.
Changsheng's mood at this time was really bad, and it couldn't get any worse. He was angry with the Ni family for being so smart. There is no such thing as having both sides in this world. The ultimate consequence of having two boats is nothing. You must be firm in life. From this position, you can only bet on one company. If you win, it will be better, but if you lose, it will be unlucky.
In addition to treading two boats, the Ni family also made a fatal mistake, that is, they should not monitor the emperor. Everyone wants to grasp the trends and control the situation, but they don't know that some people cannot be controlled.
In addition to being angry with the Ni family, Changsheng was also dissatisfied with the emperor. What Ni Chenyi said before was not to sow discord, but the truth. The things the emperor asked him to do were the most difficult and dirtiest things. He began to doubt the meaning of his allegiance. He didn't like being an official, but now he was deeply involved in it.
At this moment, he suddenly felt hopeless. Longhu Mountain did help him, but he also gave back to Longhu Mountain. He could not spend his whole life for Longhu Mountain.
Let's go?
No, what's the matter if he just leaves like this? The court in turmoil needs him, Zhang Shan, who is about to lead the army to go to war, needs him, and the suffering people also need him.
Leave?
He felt unhappy and had no meaning at all. He was doing things he didn't like, being a bad guy, taking the blame, worrying about hard work, and endless intrigues. This was not the life he wanted.
Changsheng lay on the bed, tossing and turning, hesitating and swaying. He had never felt this hopeless before. He was depressed and decadent, with no strength at all, extremely negative, and it seemed that no matter what he did, it was meaningless.
At the time of application in the afternoon, Datou came to report that the search of the criminal's property was almost complete and that the detectives in charge of the search were moving the confiscated gold and silver property to the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Chang Sheng was too lazy to be there in person and didn't even open the door. He just casually asked Da Tou to go over and supervise the warehousing.
Lying until dusk, Changsheng was still so worried that he couldn't fall asleep even if he lay down. He simply turned over and sat up, mounted the black master and rode out of the city, galloping down the official road.
After running for dozens of miles, Chang Sheng turned around and left the official road. He drove Hei Gongzi up the mountain to the east of the road. When he reached a high place, he dismounted and sat on the boulder on the top of the mountain to look at the lights of thousands of families in Chang'an in the distance.
The cold wind on the top of the mountain did not make Changsheng sober, and climbing up and looking into the distance did not relieve the frustration and depression in his heart. For some reason, he felt that there was always a fire in his heart, full of hostility, and he disliked everyone.
Changsheng knew something was wrong with his emotions, but he couldn't tell what was wrong. At this moment, he had the idea of leaving for the first time, leaving Longhu Mountain, leaving the court, leaving the Ni family, and leaving everyone.
Once this thought appeared in his mind, it became stronger and stronger. He really wanted to leave. For the next half hour, what he thought about was what he should do before leaving. He couldn't just leave, even if he left. A good beginning and a good end.
Before leaving, he tried his best to make money for the court and leave enough military salary for the court to fight in the future. Before leaving, we must try to protect everyone in the Ni family. The Ni family has a place to live in the Western Region. It doesn't matter how much money we can take with us. We must ensure that everyone in the Ni family is sent away safely.
As for Longhu Mountain, that's all he can do. If Zhang Shan wants to lead troops to fight, then leave him some more military pay. He doesn't want this Taoist book either. He didn't want to be a Taoist priest in the first place. His master Luo Yangzi asked him to do so. He did it.
When he returned to Chang'an at the second watch, Chang Sheng was much calmer. He had already made up his mind to leave. The next thing to do was to deal with the aftermath.
With an idea in mind, I no longer worried and worried. I went back to the Yushitai and lay down on the bed, and finally fell asleep this time.
At the fourth watch, Changsheng woke up. He did not go to the ground or light a candle, but lay quietly in the darkness.
He was hesitating whether to go to court. He didn't want to go, but he wanted to go. He hesitated until halfway through the fourth watch, and finally got up to change his clothes and ride to go to court.
Many officials greeted him on the way to court, but Changsheng didn't bother to pay attention. These people only awed the power in his hands, not him, a young man from a mountain village.
After entering the palace, he found that Zhang Shan and Zhang Mo were also in the court procession. Normally, he would have come forward to greet them, but he didn't do that at this time. He doesn't know why. He doesn't like anyone now.
When he went to the inner corridor of Rihua Gate where he was waiting to go to court, Changsheng didn't speak to anyone. Seeing his gloomy face, everyone didn't dare to come forward and disturb him.
When the time came, all the officials went to court. Changsheng stood in the queue with an expressionless face. The emperor did not issue an edict this morning. The eunuch in charge of the ceremony shouted that if there was something to do, he would start playing, and if there was nothing to do, he would leave the court.
Even though someone came out to report, the information the Ni family received was still very accurate. What the officials reported was indeed a petition to the emperor to confer Zhang Mo as the imperial concubine. The reason was that Longhushan served the country loyally and should become an imperial relative. , with this honor.
One person reported it, and others immediately echoed it, saying that the remnants of the eunuchs had not been wiped out, and someone was needed to protect the emperor. Zhang Mo was proficient in martial arts and had both talent and appearance, making him the best candidate for the emperor's concubine.
Then no less than ten people seconded the proposal, and Changsheng stood blankly, his mind going blank.
After everyone finished reporting, the emperor's voice came from the north, "All those who submitted the report will be demoted by one level and fined for one year."
Hearing the emperor's words, the whole hall was in an uproar.
"The Minister of Hubu Changsheng listens to the decree." The emperor stood up.
Chang Sheng turned his head in confusion when he heard this, and was stunned for a moment before he stepped out of the queue and handed over his hand.
"Eternal life, loyal to the king, serving the country, protecting the country with meritorious service, being rewarded with the country's surname, withdrawing from Taoism, and being granted marriage to Zhang Mo of Longhu Mountain..."
