Hearing Zhao Junchen's stiff rhetorical question, Zheng Ming remained silent for a moment, his expression a little embarrassed. He seemed to know that he should not take the initiative to bring up this topic, and smiled reluctantly: "With Zhao Junchen's well-informed information, if he didn't know about this situation, then
Maybe I heard it wrong... I hope Zhao Gechen will not misunderstand. From the beginning to the end, I just wanted to express my sincerity."
"The so-called sincerity of the Zheng family is that they believe that the future of our cabinet is unpredictable, so do we want to leave a way out for our cabinet in Taiwan? These words of yours should be inspired by An Nanbo, right?"
As he spoke, Zhao Junchen's attitude was noncommittal, and his expression showed no emotion or anger.
In fact, of course, the more escape routes the better, so Zhao Junchen will not directly reject Zheng Ming's "good intention" with ulterior motives - what if it is really used in the future?
But Zhao Junchen would not show weakness. After giving Zheng Ming a meaningful look, he suddenly laughed. He also showed a sincere attitude of reciprocating love and said lightly: "I deeply express my sincerity to the Zheng family.
I am grateful, and of course I am also sincere... If the Zheng family cannot resist the pressure of Western pirates in the future and cannot defend the island of Taiwan, then this pavilion will also be the best escape route for the Zheng family, and it will definitely guarantee the safety of the Zheng family.
No worries about food and clothing."
Hearing Zhao Junchen's response, Zheng Ming became even more embarrassed.
His statement was originally intended to gain a certain psychological advantage in future cooperation, but he never expected that although Zhao Junchen had lived in the capital for a long time and was thousands of miles away from Taiwan, he was actually well aware of the current predicament of the Zheng family.
And he is a rebel general.
In this way, Zheng Ming not only failed to achieve his goal, but also became a villain in vain.
After all, Zheng Ming was young and the city government was not yet mature. He just felt restless. After chatting with Zhao Junchen for a few more times, he saw that several major issues had been discussed and he hurriedly stood up and left, making the conversation somewhat anticlimactic.
mean.
On the other side, Zhao Junchen seemed to express his dissatisfaction and did not get up to see him off in person.
*
But he said that when Zheng Ming left the room, Zhao Junchen's expression suddenly became gloomy, and he snorted softly: "It has only been more than half a month since Zheng Ming arrived in the capital. The Zheng family has no news channels in the capital, but unexpectedly...
Even he has heard the relevant rumors. It seems that although the content of this rumor is absurd, it is spreading more and more widely and becoming more and more intense!"
During the previous conversation with Zheng Ming, although Zhao Junchen acted as if he was unaware of the relevant rumors, in fact, with his current ability to collect information, how could he really be ignorant? He was just deliberately unwilling to admit the existence of this rumor.
That’s all.
It turns out that in the past month, a ridiculous rumor related to Zhao Junchen has been circulating in the streets of Beijing - saying that Zhao Junchen is a descendant of the emperor of the Song Dynasty and has noble royal blood.
Zhao Junchen's current sycophantic style is just to try his best to survive. In fact, Zhao Junchen has great ambitions and wants to restore the Song Dynasty...
Such rumors were too absurd, so Zhao Junchen didn't care at first. After all, there are countless rumors in this world that cannot withstand scrutiny, but they will soon be submerged in more absurd rumors. No matter who
Won't even notice.
However, this time, for unknown reasons, this absurd rumor not only did not disappear gradually, but instead intensified and spread wider and wider.
Obviously, there must be someone behind the scenes, secretly promoting the spread of rumors!
On the other side, seeing Zhao Junchen's unhappy expression, Xu Qingyan and Huo Zhengyuan both accompanied him carefully.
Xu Qingyan comforted him and said, "Master, don't worry, it's just a rumor after all! I also went to the learned master in the mansion to ask for advice. It has been four or five hundred years since the fall of the Song Dynasty. Anyone with a normal mind can
, they would not fantasize about restoring the Song Dynasty. The descendants of the Song Dynasty royal family have long since disappeared. If just because the young master's surname is Zhao, he must be regarded as a descendant of the Song Dynasty royal family. This reason is too far-fetched!
All in all, this rumor is really absurd, and only some foolish men and women will believe it. But after hearing this rumor, truly knowledgeable people will just laugh it off and forget about it. They will never believe it because of this rumor.
I doubt the young master."
Zhao Junchen glanced sideways at Xu Qingyan, then shook his head slightly, completely disagreeing.
On the other side, Huo Zhengyuan, as the "Zhao Party", is a wise and courageous person, and his vision and vision are naturally completely different from Xu Qingyan's, so he also has a worried expression at this moment.
After a slight hesitation, Huo Zhengyuan finally explained to Xu Qingyan: "Qingyan, things are not as simple as you think! This rumor cannot stand up to scrutiny, and no knowledgeable and knowledgeable person can.
You will believe it, but the vicious and terrifying thing about it is that it will guide people's thinking and make some people who think they are smart subconsciously consider another issue, an issue they have never considered before, that is...
If Zhao Gechen is really harboring evil intentions, is he actually capable of causing trouble?
Especially our present Majesty, who has always been suspicious in temperament, once relevant rumors reach his ears, he will definitely consider this issue seriously, and then... things will be difficult to handle!"
While speaking, Huo Zhengyuan carefully observed Zhao Junchen, but saw that Zhao Junchen was still expressionless at this moment.
Huo Zhengyuan's words can be said to have come from his thoughts. As an intelligent person, when he heard the rumors, his thought process was probably like this - "What? Someone actually spread the rumor that Zhao Gechen is a descendant of the Song Dynasty royal family? What else do you think?"
Want to restore the Song Dynasty? It is really ridiculous! Not to mention that Zhao Gechen is most likely to have nothing to do with the Song Dynasty royal family, and it is absolutely impossible to fantasize about restoring the Song Dynasty. Even if he really harbors evil intentions, does he have the ability to take actual actions? Well, it seems like
…Is there really one?”
At that time, Huo Zhengyuan was thinking about this and was immediately frightened by his own thoughts and broke into a cold sweat.
If a person wants to rebel and commit rebellion, the basic conditions required are nothing more than financial resources, military strength, and influence!
As for Zhao Junchen's current situation, he naturally has no shortage of financial resources. He also has certain influence in the Shaanxi-Gansu military town, and his reputation in the government and the public is gradually changing... In short, although Zhao Junchen's foundation is still shallow, if he is
If you really want to rebel and commit rebellion, even if the chance of success is extremely low, you do already have the basic conditions for rebellion and rebellion.
In this way, the nature of the matter has completely changed!
For a person like Emperor Deqing, who was suspicious by nature, it didn't matter whether a minister had treasonous thoughts or not. Whether he had the ability to rebel was the key. No matter how loyal a minister was,
But as long as he had the strength to rebel and conspire, it would be enough to make Emperor Deqing restless and regard him as an enemy!
Before that, although Emperor Deqing secretly made many attempts to suppress the development of Zhao Junchen's power, this was mostly out of considerations of checks and balances among the temple factions, and he was just afraid that Zhao Junchen would turn into another younger Zhou Shangjing. However, he never
The possibility of Zhao Junchen's rebellion was not considered.
Once this rumor reached the ears of Emperor Deqing, it guided Emperor Deqing's thinking and made Emperor Deqing start to consider the question of "whether Zhao Junchen is capable of rebellion?" Even if Zhao Junchen has never thought about it,
The idea of rebellion and treason, but as long as Emperor Deqing is aware that Zhao Junchen has indeed met the basic conditions for rebellion and treason, Zhao Junchen's future situation will be a thousand times worse, and he will die inexplicably at any time!
This is also the real reason why Zhao Junchen is facing a formidable enemy and Huo Zhengyuan is secretly worried!
At this time, Zhao Junchen naturally noticed the probing meaning in Huo Zhengyuan's eyes.
After thinking about it, Huo Zhengyuan believed that Zhao Junchen already met the basic conditions for being a rebel, but he still wanted to hear Zhao Junchen's own opinion.
However, Zhao Junchen obviously did not intend to respond to Huo Zhengyuan's temptation.
Although Huo Zhengyuan was still loyal, he was not completely tied to Zhao Junchen's ship, so many of Zhao Junchen's secret plans were deliberately kept hidden from him.
In fact, Zhao Junchen knew very well that he not only had the basic conditions for rebellion? Once his various plans progressed smoothly, he would only need to wait for another five or six years, plus a suitable time, he might even
There is a 30% to 50% certainty that the rebellion will succeed!
Of course, Zhao Junchen had not already made up his mind to do something, but he had long seen through Emperor Deqing's character and had been preparing for a rainy day.
In short, if Emperor Deqing thinks that you already have the strength to conspire and cause rebellion, then you'd better really have the strength to conspire and cause rebellion. Only in this way can you gain a chance of survival, otherwise you will definitely die without success.
Burial place!
Thinking of this, Zhao Junchen only felt that things had fallen into an endless loop. In order to prevent Emperor Deqing from burning bridges, he had to accumulate strength to protect himself. But once he was too strong, it would further deepen Emperor Deqing's fear and fear.
Hostility... is simply incomprehensible.
With a slight sigh, Zhao Junchen pretended not to notice Huo Zhengyuan's probing gaze, and just asked Xu Qingyan: "Who is the force behind the scenes that promotes the spread of rumors? Have they been found out?"
At this time, Xu Qingyan also realized the seriousness of the matter, and of course he did not dare to neglect it, and quickly replied: "We have roughly found out that the source of the rumors is Jianzhou Jurchen!
At the end of the year, the Jianzhou Jurchen envoys arrived in the capital to celebrate His Majesty's birthday, and took the opportunity to spread this rumor! To this day, although the Jianzhou Jurchen envoys have left the capital, they still secretly left behind several spies.
, they are all Han Chinese who have defected to the Jianzhou Jurchens over the years, and even left behind a large sum of money. It is precisely because of the secret mischief of these Han traitors that they bribed a large number of idle people in the market to spread rumors, which made the rumors intensify and spread more and more.
The wider!”
Hearing Xu Qingyan's explanation, Zhao Junchen couldn't help but snorted again, gritted his teeth and said: "It turns out to be Jianzhou Jurchen! She really has bad intentions!"
Ever since Zhao Junchen met and negotiated with Xuan Ye, they regarded each other as their future enemy. Zhao Junchen has been trying every means to dig holes for the Jianzhou Jurchens during this period, but it is obvious that the Jianzhou Jurchen Khan also
There is no idle time, and there are also frequent small actions.
Without any hesitation, Zhao Junchen ordered decisively: "Now that the source has been found, we cannot allow them to continue to cause harm! Qingyan, you will handle this matter personally. I will give you two days to completely eradicate the Jurchens in Jianzhou."
Not a single one of the spies left behind will be left behind! Also, all the idle people who were bribed to spread rumors will be thrown into prison so that they can learn a lesson. In short, we must use thunderous means to eradicate the source of the rumors in one fell swoop!"
Xu Qingyan immediately nodded in agreement and said: "Don't worry, young master, now that I have a general grasp of the situation, I don't need two days at all. I can bury all the Jurchen spies in Jianzhou to feed the insects tonight!"
After Zhao Junchen pondered for a moment, he asked again: "This rumor has become more and more intense now. When things have developed to this point, it is no longer enough to eradicate the source... Qingyan, please tell me, is there any way to quickly quell this rumor?"
Spread?"
During this period of time, Zhao Junchen has handed over the "Guild of Storytellers" to Xu Qingyan. This organization can not only collect news and intelligence for Zhao Junchen, but also guide public opinion for Zhao Junchen. Xu Qingyan now assumes an important responsibility.
Because of this, although Zhao Junchen was facing a formidable enemy now, he still did not miss any opportunity to test Xu Qingyan. He did not immediately come up with his own ideas, but asked Xu Qingyan for his opinions.
What's more, this matter was originally within the scope of Xu Qingyan's responsibilities. From a certain point of view, Xu Qingyan was derelict in his duty by sitting back and watching this rumor spread to this point. Now he must make amends for it.
Xu Qingyan also knew what Zhao Junchen was thinking. After thinking seriously for a moment, he raised his head and replied: "Gossip is human instinct, and only rumors can quell rumors! If you want to quell a rumor so that people will no longer pay attention, then
The best thing to do is to completely drown it with a bunch of more ridiculous rumors!"