For Chen Bin and Zhu Zhirong, joining Lu Zhongtian's family was completely a self-interested strategy. Lu Zhongtian has controlled the government all year round, cut off dissidents, has a high position, and is ruthless. Under such circumstances, seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages is the rule of the court.
It is an inevitable choice for Chinese officials.
Since the Jinxiu period of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the political ecology has deteriorated extremely. The positive attitude of working hard for the good of the country and the people during the founding of the country has long been replaced by behaviors such as extravagance, greed, partying, and personal gain. This is often a common problem of a dynasty.
At the beginning of the founding of the country, everyone in the imperial court experienced the difficulties of founding the country, so they understood that everything was hard-won, so they cherished and protected it. However, people living in the peaceful and prosperous times for several generations have long been unaware of the hardships and sufferings of their predecessors, and many precious things.
Quality and spirit were slowly lost in the peaceful years.
When a dynasty comes to an end, the first thing it must experience is the collapse of values. Corruption of officials, deterioration of the political ecology, and the emergence of cliques and authoritarian groups are signs of the end of the Zhou Dynasty.
Some of the officials were upright, but these people were basically dealt with by Lu Zhongtian. They either died or were dismissed from their posts. In short, there was no good end. There were also some people who chose to turn a blind eye and turn a deaf ear. They neither refused to join Lu Zhongtian nor
They did not dare to openly oppose Lu Zhongtian, so they became a group of amiable peacemakers and centrists. They were ignorant and achieved nothing. More people, like Chen Bin and Zhu Zhirong, directly defected to Lu Zhongtian's sect and became a member of Lu Zhongtian's interest group. This
It is the most practical approach. In an officialdom with a deteriorating political environment, this choice is the most common. Even they themselves do not feel that they have done anything wrong. In fact, many people want to join Prime Minister Lu, but it takes a lot of effort.
As for Zhou Zhang, Prime Minister Lu doesn't protect everyone, he only wants people who are useful to him.
Chen Bin and Zhu Zhirong's original idea was to rely on Lu Zhongtian's big tree to enjoy the shade and earn power, status and money for themselves. If they go against Lu Zhongtian, they will never get these things. They don't know what Lu Zhongtian is doing
The fire of ambition was burning in their hearts. When they knew all this, they had followed Lu Zhongtian too far and could no longer look back. Therefore, in today's desperate situation, Chen Bin and Zhu Zhirong
The others were very angry and regretful in their hearts. They blamed all this on Lu Zhongtian. They thought that Lu Zhongtian dragged them onto the pirate ship and walked into the raging sea that would never be restored. It was about to capsize and be submerged.
In this turbulent sea, and in this extreme despair, they most hope that there is a life-saving straw for them to grasp, so that they can escape this disaster.
In fact, Chen Bin and Zhu Zhirong had communicated in private. When the outer city was in crisis, the two returned to the palace tacitly. They wanted to persuade Lu Zhongtian to escape quickly, but Lu Zhongtian scolded them. After coming down, the two
After a brief exchange, they both agreed that the matter was already very troublesome, and discussed the possibility of making peace with Lin Jue. However, the two did not take action after all, because after discussion, they believed that Lin Jue could not let them go. They
He was the closest person to Lu Zhongtian. He was involved in almost everything and it was almost impossible to be forgiven. Therefore, they did not dare to take real action. But now, Lin Jue actually stretched out his hand to save them. Wouldn't that make them embarrassed?
What a pleasant surprise.
"Mr. Lin, it turns out that this is what you have in mind. You are insulting me, Chen Bin and Mr. Zhu. Are we the kind of people you think? We follow Prime Minister Lu because we have great ambitions.
People who are extremely loyal are not doing it just to do it
There are only unruly things in the world. This is clear, and we can learn from the sun and the moon. But we did not expect that things have reached this point today. But now that the matter has come to this, there is no more to say. Mr. Zhu and I have personal honor and disgrace, life and death.
Secondly, we agree with what Mr. Lin said. Now that the time has come, it is futile to resist any longer. Instead, it will cost more lives, destroy the sacred palace of my great Zhou Dynasty, and destroy so many things.
The beautiful Huayu Hall. This is no longer necessary. Well, I have a request. I would like to ask Mr. Lin to postpone the attack. Mr. Zhu and I will go together to persuade Mr. Lu so that the matter can be resolved and will not happen again.
Killing and destruction. What do you think?" Chen Bin replied loudly.
Lin Jue burst out laughing. Chen Bin had clearly decided to surrender, but he said it in such a high-sounding and righteous way, saying that he would not cause more killing and destruction in response to his proposal. The two of them were going to persuade Lu Zhongtian to surrender.
?I’m afraid that is not persuasion, but to force Lu Zhongtian to surrender. Chen Bin and Zhu Zhirong are really treacherous people. They are still playing tricks at this moment and are unwilling to lose their reputation. They are really cunning and treacherous. These people around Lu Zhongtian are all
If you come here for your own benefit, you must act for your own benefit. It is not surprising that they can make such a happy decision at this moment.
"Okay, you are indeed responsible and aware of current affairs. Then I will wait for you to persuade Lu Zhongtian and give you a stick of incense. After one stick of incense, my Luoyan Army will attack. By then, there will be no room for maneuver.
Lin Jue said loudly.
Chen Bin and Zhu Zhirong were overjoyed, but their faces showed no emotion. They even said loudly: "We can't guarantee that we will be able to persuade Prime Minister Lu. Maybe we will have to fight against each other, and then we won't have any good feelings from the past."
Tell me, we will fight to the death and never surrender."
Lin Jue waved his hand and said: "Easy to say, easy to say. Go quickly, the time of burning incense is very short."
Chen Bin and Zhu Zhirong immediately began to summon their personal guards to follow and prepare to go down the city wall to the palace. A deputy general frowned and shouted righteously: "Two adults, are you really going to persuade the emperor? I'm afraid you will force the emperor to surrender.
What you are doing is disloyal to the Emperor. How could you do this? The Emperor trusts these two adults wholeheartedly."
Chen Bin approached slowly and asked with a smile on his face: "General Cao, what did you say?"
The general named Cao also came from Lu Zhongtian's house and was a guard in the army. He was very loyal to Lu Zhongtian, so he dared to say such a thing. When Chen Bin asked, he said confidently: "Is it true that you are humble?
Isn’t that right? Don’t think we can’t hear it, you and Mr. Zhu just want to surrender.”
Chen Bin raised his head and laughed loudly. He suddenly slashed with his sword. The distance between the two sides was so close. The deputy general did not expect that Chen Bin would attack so brazenly that he had no time to dodge. Chen Bin already had martial arts skills, and the sword was fast and urgent, hitting Cao Cao right in the air.
The deputy general's neck was cut off in half. A stream of blood spurted out, turning the heads and faces of the generals next to him red.
Chen Bin flew up and kicked the deputy general's body off the city wall, spat and cursed: "Damn it, it's your turn to teach me a lesson? How can you pretend to be loyal at this time? Do you want to accompany him? Death, I will send you on your way first."
The surrounding generals and soldiers were horrified and silent. They finally understood what Mr. Chen and Mr. Zhu were going to do. It turned out that what he meant by persuading the emperor was to get the emperor to surrender. But most people had no idea at all. Instead of feeling angry, I felt happy. If a fight broke out, everyone would
If Lu Zhongtian's life was exchanged for everyone's life, everyone would be saved.
…
The Chongzheng Hall was extremely dark and gloomy. The setting sun outside had already set, and the daylight inside the hall had disappeared. Under the dim light at this moment, the tall pillars and ornaments with carved dragons and phoenixes in the originally splendid palace were all dimmed in the shadows. It appears and disappears, making it appear rather eerie.
Lu Zhongtian sat on the throne, with a candle burning on the treasure case in front of him. The candle flame danced, illuminating his old wrinkled face with a gloomy look. Liu Zhenbang and Lu Tianci stood in the shadow below, looking like each other. They were like two clay and wooden figures, standing there motionless with sad expressions on their faces.
"Hey! The big thing is over, the big thing is over." Lu Zhongtian let out a long sigh. He glanced at Lu Tianci, who was standing on the side of the throne, and beckoned: "Tianci, come up and come to me."
Lu Tianci said with a face full of fear: "Dad, I don't dare, that's your place."
Lu Zhongtian laughed loudly and said: "Silly, what are you afraid of? This is just a seat, anyone can do it. Guo can do it, dad can do it, you can do it too, and there will be many people who can do it in the future. Are you afraid? What? Take an ax and split it open. It’s just a pile of rotten wood. The chair is not scary. What’s scary is the power held by the person sitting on the chair. Daddy has nothing now, so you don’t have to be afraid of daddy. Come up. Bar."
Lu Tianci smacked his lips and said, "Dad, don't be discouraged. Chen Bin and Zhu Zhirong may be able to withstand the attack of that little thief Lin Jue. Maybe the Jurchens will come to help. Maybe... the situation will get better soon."
Lu Zhongtian smiled bitterly and said: "Silly thing, you don't understand anything. None of this will happen. What about Chen Bin and Zhu Zhirong? They are unreliable. The Jurchens are even more unreliable. We have nothing left, Lin Jue and the others will come in soon." of."
Lu Tianci said in shock: "Then what should we do? Dad, will that little thief Lin Jue let us go?"
Lu Zhongtian shook his head and said: "He will not let us go, he will kill us."
Lu Tianci shouted: "Father, what should we do? How about we surrender? Please ask him to spare our lives. We are no longer emperors. The emperor can just give up to him. We can still be prime ministers."
Lu Zhongtian sighed in his heart, how smart he was, but his son was a dandy waste. He didn't understand anything, and he still dreamed of going back to the past.
"Tianci, stop talking, come up, dad wants you to come up." Lu Zhongtian said in a stronger tone.
Lu Tianci said: "Why did dad ask me to go up? I don't want to go up. It's the throne that's causing trouble. I don't want to mess with that throne."
Lu Zhongtian was stunned and suddenly felt quite emotional. Yes, his stupid son knew that it was this throne that caused trouble, but he still wanted to sit on it. If he had known this, why would he have done it in the first place?
"Tianci, if you don't come up, dad will come down. Tianci, don't blame dad. We can't escape today. Dad is going to die, and you can't live either. Rather than letting you suffer the humiliation and torture of Lin Jue and the others and die, it would be better
Daddy killed you before he died, so you should go with him. Don't blame daddy, he did it for your own good."
Lu Zhongtian slowly stepped down from the throne, a dagger shining brightly under his robe sleeve. It turned out that he had been asking Lu Tianci to come up, but he actually wanted to kill Lu Tianci on the throne with his own hands, so that his son could sit there before he died.
The emperor's throne. Let that throne be stained with the blood of his father and son. Lu Tianci refused to go up, so he had no choice but to come down to find him.
