Chapter 225: Fall

This year, Zhang Rongling was 40 years old, and Chen Luo was 63 years old.

His hair was gray and his face was wrinkled, but he didn't look that old after practicing for a long time, and his spirit was still at its peak.

Zhang Rongling's momentum was getting stronger and stronger, and he didn't show his emotions. Everyone around him would feel a sense of awe when facing him, and his momentum was more and more like those cabinet elders. Today, Zhang Rongling has become the banner of the new party. His own power is mixed in the new party, which makes his influence in the new party very important.

"This is an opportunity."

In the back courtyard, Zhang Rongling and Chen Luo sat by the pond, holding two fishing rods in their hands.

Green bricks and green tiles, a pond, two people, a tree, and a setting sun.

After serving as officials in Dizhou for seven years, the uncle and nephew both had this hobby. The purpose was not fishing, but they liked the process. Zhang Rongling's calamity became heavier, his power was getting stronger, and the Rongling elders in the outside world were getting weaker and weaker, and the calamity began to erode his foundation.

The foundation of Taoism is the foundation of every foundation-building cultivator. If the foundation is damaged, the path of Taoism will be gone.

"The offender is the Prince Consort of Qi, and the princess and the King of Rui are involved behind it. Elder Zhou obviously doesn't want to get involved in this matter, so he threw it to me."

Zhang Rongling sat here as usual and talked about his views on this matter.

"What are you going to do?"

Chen Luo asked the fifth question.

The heart demon tribulation is also a heavenly tribulation, and there are also tribulations.

Every choice is a tribulation, and the choice made by Zhang Rongling is to experience tribulations.

"Naturally, it is impartial and selfless."

Zhang Rongling's eyes flickered, and he had already calculated in his heart.

"Only in this way can the benefits be maximized. I need a good reputation. Only a higher reputation can help me enter the cabinet and become a prime minister!"

If people have colors, Zhang Rongling is now pure gray. You can no longer see black and white in him, and there is no way to tell whether he is a good person or a bad person. When benefits are needed, he is a good person, an iron-faced and selfless master. When he doesn't need benefits, he is the most greedy dog ​​official, a wicked man who sucks the marrow out of bones.

His original intention has not changed since the beginning, and what he pursues is still "fame and fortune".

"This will offend many people."

Chen Luo looked at the fishing rod in his hand and clearly felt that the Heart Demon Art had absorbed more power. When the heavenly tribulation absorbed Elder Rong Ling, the Heart Demon Art intercepted a part of it from the heavenly tribulation. This intercepted power is the main source of power for the Heart Demon Art.

Before, when Chen Luo practiced the Heart Demon Art, he always felt that the speed of Qi refining was not enough. Even after integrating the Black Stone Secret Art, the speed of Qi refining was also average. Compared with the Demon Bone Array Pattern Art, it was completely not at the same level. At that time, Chen Luo didn't understand why the mummy brain would take a fancy to this art. Now he knows.

"You can only gain if you give up."

Zhang Rong Ling put down the fishing rod and walked out of the courtyard.

Looking at his back, Chen Luo retracted his gaze, and his body began to absorb the surrounding calamity like a black hole.

This year, Zhang Rongling entered the Dali Temple and tried the "son-in-law murder case" under pressure from many parties.

He was ruthless and selfless and killed many people. There were more than 20 royal relatives involved in the case, and more than 100 officials from the capital to the local areas were implicated. It can be said that the world was in an uproar. The case shocked the world, and Zhang Rongling's name spread all over the world for the first time. Countless scholars regarded him as an idol, and the groups whose interests were violated hated him with gnashing teeth. But none of these affected Zhang Rongling's path to rise. After handling this case, his name was deeply rooted in the emperor's heart, and he was nominated by the cabinet and had the hope of entering the cabinet.

In front of Zhang's house, there was a crowd of people for a while.

Time passed, and another two years passed. Zhang Rongling was 42 years old.

He finally heard the wind, and the emperor wrote in red, appointing him to the cabinet.

Everything will be settled tomorrow.

As long as this step is right, he will have the hope of impacting the position of prime minister at the age of 50, and by then he will have the most power in the world and be the most powerful minister! With such momentum, even Lord Zhou couldn't suppress him. More and more people gathered around him, and there was a tendency to separate from the New Party and become the third party.

Night.

Light rain.

Zhang Rongling stood in the yard, the lanterns on both sides of the corridor swayed with the rain and wind, and in the distant pond, some small fish occasionally poked out of the water to breathe, and the ripples of exhalation and the ripples of rain intertwined, making the entire water surface a mess.

"Second uncle, I finally got to this step."

Zhang Rongling looked back at Chen Luo behind him. Chen Luo is now sixty-five years old. There are more white hairs on his head. Unlike ordinary old people, Chen Luo's health-preserving skills are more profound. He is wearing a gray coarse cloth robe and standing in the rain behind him. The whole person is like a ghost. If you don't look at him deliberately, you can't sense his existence at all.

Zhang Rongling has long known about the skills of his second uncle and knows that he is practicing health-preserving skills. Judging from the current appearance, his health-preserving skills should be successfully cultivated.

Should I practice it too?

This thought flashed through Zhang Rongling's mind. He also wanted to be like his second uncle, still having such vigor and vitality when he was over 60 years old.

"Congratulations."

Chen Luo's eyes penetrated the Zhang Mansion. In the distant sky, the calamity began to surge again. How could the heavenly calamity let Zhang Rongling go smoothly? It would definitely give him a new calamity, making him sink in choices again and again.

As if to confirm Chen Luo's guess, there was a sudden noisy sound outside, followed by the sound of armor colliding, as if a large number of people broke into the mansion.

The peaceful rainy night was suddenly disrupted by someone.

"Who are you? Do you know where this place is?!"

"Ouch."

Zhang Rongling's face turned cold, and he had a bad feeling in his heart.

Clang!

The wooden door of the backyard opened, and two rows of soldiers entered. A general with a sword in one hand stepped into the door, and his eyes looked around, and finally fell on Zhang Rongling.

"Sir Zhang, I'm sorry."

The general smiled proudly, and the pleasure of revenge flashed in his eyes. Zhang Rongling had offended many people in the past few years when he was in power, and this general was one of them. Maybe Zhang Rongling didn't remember when he offended this person, but the other party remembered.

"Do you know what crime you should be punished for leading troops to break into the house of an official appointed by the court late at night?" Zhang Rongling also noticed the problem.

But his expression still did not change, he was waiting.

Waiting for his men to bring him news.

"Haha, I don't know whether it's a crime or not, I'm just following orders." After saying that, the general pressed the sword in his hand and said to the soldiers behind him.

"Seal Zhang's house, no one is allowed to enter or leave before dawn."

"Yes!"

A group of soldiers quickly dispersed and sealed off Zhang's house inside and outside.

Zhang Rongling and Chen Luo were also blocked in the backyard, isolated from the world, and had no idea what was happening outside.

The torches in the hands of the soldiers illuminated the yard, and compared with these flames, the light rain in the air was ignored.

Soon, there was another round of hurried footsteps.

A little yellow door dressed in palace clothes ran out quickly, lowered his head and said something in the general's ear, and then stuffed something into his hand. This person didn't look at Zhang Rongling from beginning to end, and left in a hurry after handing over the things.

Zhang Rongling's heart sank, he recognized the eunuch just now, who had an intersection with him before and was someone around the emperor.

"Master Zhang, accept the decree."

The general looked at the imperial edict with a stamp in his hand, and a smile appeared on his face. He knew that the matter behind the scenes had been settled, and the rest was a carnival. Zhang Rongling, the upstart who was half a beat slower, was destined to lose power in this great change and be beaten down again.

Those who had been offended by him would definitely find an opportunity to retaliate.

Power is like this. When you stand in a specific position, all you can do is keep climbing up. Once you stop, the people around you will immediately turn against you and join forces to push you into the abyss.

"When will it be General Wu's turn to read the decree? The law of this dynasty."

"Master Zhang, you should say less. Today is different from the past. The late emperor passed away last night. The imperial edict in my hand was issued by the new emperor."

As he said this, the general unfolded the imperial edict in his hand and began to read the contents.

"The invasion of the Japanese pirates in the southwest has violated the majesty of the holy dynasty. Order Zhang Shangshu to go and quell the rebellion immediately."

This is to transfer him out of the capital!

Otherwise, how could such a military task as suppressing a rebellion fall on the head of a civil official like him, and a civil official with the title of Shangshu. This group of people had planned everything long ago. If you think deeply, the death of the previous emperor may be the work of these people. Zhang Rongling stood in the courtyard and felt a little cold for a while.

He felt the power of the "old party" for the first time.

After eradicating him, the banner of the new party, the remaining Zhou Ge Lao would definitely not have an easy life. The best outcome would be retirement and return to the countryside. In serious cases, he would even be imprisoned and lose his integrity in his later years.

The sky gradually brightened.

Everything was settled, and Zhang Rongling was expelled from the capital for the second time.

The imperial edict did not reserve any time for him, and ordered him to go to the southwest immediately on the grounds of military urgency.

On the carriage.

Only three people left the capital this time, and the woman who had sat next to Chen Luo was gone.

"Second uncle, I understand some truths again."

Zhang Rongling's eyes flashed. This time he was deported differently from the last time. He was a Beijing official suppressing a rebellion, and he could return as long as he completed the task. Of course, those people in the capital have a thousand ways to make him never go back. As long as he misses the opportunity, he will never be able to ascend the throne and become a prime minister.

"It turns out that the game can be played like this. I used to be too rule-abiding."

Zhang Rongling's mentality has changed again. In the outside world, he is covered with black fire, and his aura has fallen to the early stage of foundation building. The collapse of the foundation has further accelerated.

This calamity is almost over.

With Zhang Rongling's last change in mentality, his heart demon calamity completely failed. The rest is to burn everything with calamity ashes and wait for death. The power absorbed by Chen Luo is getting stronger and stronger. He doesn't even need to activate the heart demon formula. He absorbs the calamity energy at an unimaginable speed. The spiritual dragon in his body begins to condense rapidly, which is faster than taking pills and assisting with spiritual veins.

When he arrived at the place, Zhang Rongling changed his style seven years ago.

This time, he left the task of suppressing the Japanese pirates to his subordinates, and began to make money by any means. With his experience in governing the prefectures and states, he quickly colluded with local tyrants and plundered the people. In just half a year, he gained a huge amount of wealth.

With money as a way out, he quickly contacted a group of people who had not been cleared out of the capital and got in touch with a eunuch. Not only that, he also colluded with Japanese pirates, making these roving bandits a knife in his hand. Whenever he was too greedy to settle accounts, Japanese pirates would come out to wreak havoc, burn, kill, rob, and settle all the accounts.

Collude with eunuchs and privately indulge the bandits.

Under his rule, countless people could not survive and rose up in rebellion. Rebellion was not uncommon in the Holy Dynasty, nor was it as serious as imagined. In the three hundred years since the Holy Dynasty was established, there have been more than two hundred peasant rebellions, of which nineteen were large-scale rebellions. The government could easily suppress small local rebels like these.

It was nothing more than another bill for public security expenses.

After "enlightenment", Zhang Rongling abandoned the last "original heart" in his heart, driven by desire, and slid into the abyss