Jiuxi

Chapter 627 Chapter 625 [Visitors Under the Moon]

"Not that much."

Lu Chen shook his head.

In his opinion, Li Zongben was a very weird person.

He does not have the clear and firm belief of the previous emperor. Although he has means, he is not tactful enough. Although he has patience, he is not calm enough. Generally speaking, he is a weakened version of the previous emperor in all aspects.

In fact, this is not a fatal flaw.

At the beginning, Li Duan was just a frustrated prince. He had never been involved in government affairs before he ascended the throne. It could be said that he was forced to do something unsuccessful. Later, after various hardships, he finally embarked on the path of a wise ruler.

Li Zongben is still very young and has no health problems. Just give him enough time. Even if he cannot compare to the late emperor in the end, he will not be too bad.

The problem is that there are too many storms and monsters in the capital, and the young emperor may not be able to keep his mind clear and not be affected by external forces.

Lu Tong stared into his eyes and asked curiously, "Why? Is it because of the late emperor's kindness that you can't make such a decision?"

“There are concerns in this regard, but this is not the most important reason.”

Lu Chen looked calm and continued, "Although I am a little disappointed in His Majesty, he has not yet reached the point of being hated by the heavens and the people. He just used some small tricks that are not worthy of being shown on the stage. Perhaps Dad would say that this is just the beginning and he will go further and further in the future, but Da Qi has no better choice. Burn him to death and let Li Zongjian take the throne? Or let the four-year-old Prince Yanning ascend the throne? No matter which choice is made, it will be a disaster for Da Qi."

The hall fell into silence.

After a long while, Lu Tong slowly said, "There must be a Li surname in this world?"

In fact, they discussed this issue a long time ago.

That was three years ago, when Wang Chulong had not yet gone south, the father and son had a long heart-to-heart talk.

At first it was just a casual chat to prepare for a rainy day, but now that Lu Tong mentioned it again, there was a hint of sternness in his words.

Because now Lu Chen is indeed on the path of a powerful official.

Picking up fragments of good news from the long river of history, we can see that most of the powerful officials who were once in power did not have a good end. Even if they could depose and enthrone the emperor during their lifetime, their families would most likely be affected after their death, and they might even be exhumed and their bodies might be mutilated.

As for the powerful officials who were purged during their lifetime, there were countless of them.

This is the reason why they say it gets lonely at the top.

Seeing Lu remained silent, Lu Tong sighed and said, "I know you are a man of loyalty and righteousness. The late emperor treated you so well, you certainly don't want to be ungrateful. However, you have to be clear that others can't see through your heart. They won't believe that a young man in his twenties who has great power in the court is willing to be a loyal minister of the Great Qi for his whole life."

Lu Chen said calmly: "Yes."

Lu Tong said earnestly, "Let alone the current situation, even if he can really be as cautious as before and trust his people, what will happen in ten or twenty years? By then, you will recover your homeland and return to the old capital, and he will become the wise ruler of the Great Qi, with more and more control over the court and the country. Will he still tolerate a powerful minister of your age? In the past, Marshal Yang was imprisoned. In addition to the operation of Jingguo's spies, there was another most critical reason. The incompetent emperor suspected Marshal Yang of having a rebellious heart."

Lu Chen frowned slightly, picked up the teacup but did not drink it.

Lu Tong continued, "Think about it. That time and that moment are very similar to this moment. Marshal Yang holds the power of the border army. In a few years, you will not be too far behind. They are all powerful officials who are far away from the center. In the past hundred years, except for the late emperor, the other emperors of the Li family have been highly suspicious. I'm afraid that in the end, an imperial edict will summon you back to the capital without any warning, and before anyone can react, you will have already died."

Lu Chen put down the teacup and said in a deep voice: "I won't make the same mistake again."

"I believe you can do this."

Lu Tong slowed down his tone and said gently, "I am not telling you this tonight to encourage you to rebel, but I hope you can understand your situation and stop having unrealistic fantasies about those people in the court. Once upon a time, I regarded Marshal Yang as the person I was determined to follow. Under his influence, I only wanted to serve the people wholeheartedly, and thus ignored how sinister people's hearts were."

He paused, and said with a bit of sadness: "Chen'er, I am old now. If the tragedy like that happened again, I will not be able to burn down the palace again to avenge you."

"Father, please don't say that. It is my unfilial son who has caused you to worry."

Lu Chen's heart tightened, and he said solemnly: "Actually, I have made some preparations."

"Oh?"

Lu Tong's eyes lit up slightly, and he said with interest: "Tell me about it."

Lu Chen then told him all about the things he had done in Beijing, such as how he asked Su Yunqing to win the trust of Li Zongben so that he could take over the Weaving Department when Qin Zheng stepped down and it was irreversible. He also used the assassination case to successfully subdue Gao Huan, the Minister of Justice, and the Longlin Gao family, and developed his own power among the Jiangnan clans.

In addition, Tan Zheng and Qu Zhong led the Lu family's secret guards, quietly lurking in the capital, constantly extending their tentacles to weave a big net.

He also discussed with Li Tianrun about replacing the governor of Huaizhou, and there has been definite progress on this matter.

As for his plan to bring out Empress Dowager Xu to compete with Li Zongben, he only mentioned it in a few words.

Lu Tong nodded repeatedly, a smile bloomed quietly on his old face, and he said generously: "How can five hundred thousand taels be enough? Those people in the capital have very high standards, and they all look down on others. You want them to place spies and win over the rich and powerful, so this money cannot be saved. How about this, we will invest five hundred thousand taels first, and then prepare one million taels later. As long as we can help you lay a solid foundation in Jiangnan, no matter how much money, it is nothing."

Lu Chen was slightly startled and asked, "Dad, is your family so rich?"

Lu Tong was obviously in a very good mood, and said with a smile: "Apart from those fixed fertile fields, industries and storefronts, my family has always prepared silver for you to use at any time, which is currently more than 6 million taels."

Lu Chen's expression looked a little dull.

He was no longer a stranger who had just arrived in this world and knew nothing. Of course, he had a clear understanding of the money.

The year before last, he embezzled more than 13 million taels of silver from the powerful families in Heluo City, which was almost half of the available wealth of the city's wealthy families. The tax revenue of the Great Qi court for the whole year was more than 16 million taels of silver.

Although the silver Lu Tong saved in his entire life was less than half of the annual tax revenue of the Great Qi Dynasty, it was the result of the efforts of one family, so it was not an exaggeration to say that he was rich enough to rival a country.

Lu Chen looked at the middle-aged man's smile and said sincerely: "Dad, you are amazing."

"I can't let your prestige fall. Your son is so successful, how can a father be useless?"

Lu Tong teased, and then said: "Tan Zheng and Qu Zhong are trustworthy, but the first half million taels of silver cannot be handed over directly to them. After all, the amount is too large, and we cannot deliberately test people's hearts." Lu Chen naturally did not object, and nodded and said: "I plan to let Miss Wang be in charge of management. She will decide how to spend the silver and hand it over in small batches to the specific people in the south."

Lu Tong replied: "That's appropriate, let's do it."

Seeing the tiredness between his eyebrows, Lu Chen said with concern: "It's late at night, Dad might as well rest early. Anyway, I'm not going anywhere during this period, so I can chat with you every day."

"Alright."

Lu Tong was very relieved and said slowly: "You can have no intention to harm others, but you can't be without a sense of defense. No matter what, you have to make the border troops your own people, and at the same time make the officials at all levels in Huaizhou and Dingzhou accustomed to your orders. After a long time, you will have a deep enough foundation in Jiangbei, and then those people in the court will be cautious."

"Yes, Dad."

"You should also go to bed early and take good care of your body during this time."

Lu Chen stood up and bowed to leave. Lu Tong looked at his departing back with a gentle smile on his face.

He did not return to the inner house immediately, but sat in the hall for a while.

A figure emerged from the darkness, walked into the hall, bowed his head and said, "Master, the master has left the house."

The visitor was named Nan Yi, Lu Tong's most trusted confidant who had followed him for more than ten years.

Lu Tong was surprised and asked, "You're leaving the house so late?"

Nan Yi said respectfully, "The Lord brought more than ten personal soldiers with him. We have people everywhere in the city, so there won't be any security problems. I saw with my own eyes that the Lord went to the east."

"East?"

Lu Tong's eyes gleamed, and then he shook his head and laughed, "This kid... forget it, let him be. I think he must be feeling uncomfortable after not seeing him for so long."

Nan Yi replied: "Yes, I will personally lead people to guard the perimeter."

Lu Tong nodded slightly, then stood up, put his hands in his sleeves, and walked slowly towards the back house.

It was already late at night, and the huge city of Guangling was utterly silent, with only the sound of insects chirping.

Under the bright moonlight, two figures walked through the streets, followed by more than ten people.

Qin Zilong didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Although he understood that Lu Chen had no choice but to do this, he still felt that a county lord didn't need to do such a sneaky thing.

Lu Chen coughed lightly and lowered his voice and said, "If you laugh again, I will send you to the capital to replace Tan Zheng."

"Sir, I am not laughing."

"You're laughing inside, don't you think I can't see it?"

"My Lord really has a sharp eye."

"It's good to know."

After walking two more streets forward and arriving at Taipingfang, Lu Chen suddenly stopped and looked at the fork in the road ahead, with a look of hesitation on his face.

Qin Zilong asked curiously, "Master, what's wrong?"

Lu Chen sighed and hesitated, "Where do you think I should go?"

Qin Zilong suddenly reacted and cleverly shut his mouth.

Lu Chen turned his head and looked. More than a dozen men who had followed him to fight on the battlefield and did not blink an eye when facing the threat of death all lowered their heads in unison, and no one dared to speak.

"A bunch of ungrateful guys."

Lu Chen cursed in a low voice.

Everyone laughed.

Although they didn't know which side was the Lin Mansion and which was the Wang Residence, they knew why their master was so confused.

Lu Chen looked up at the soft moonlight and gritted his teeth and said, "Everything has a first come first served order. That's it!"

Everyone said in unison: "Master, you are wise."

Lu Chen raised his hand and nodded at them, then he took a step forward and strode towards the house in the south that originally belonged to the Lu family without hesitation.

Everyone looked at his righteous figure and followed him, trying hard to hold back their smiles.

A moment later, suddenly a series of dog barking pierced the darkness.

It was as if the entire East City was awakened.

Torches were lit one after another in the courtyard, and someone outside the wall had a dark face.

Qin Zilong's face was slightly distorted because he was trying to hold back his laughter, and he asked in a trembling voice: "Master, do you want to continue climbing over the wall?"

"Go to the front door!"

Lu Chen finally managed to utter three words, and finally he couldn't help laughing.

(End of this chapter)