It was already December, the fog was heavy in the morning above the river, and on the deck, two small figures were churning up and down to practice swords, it was Chu Ruotong and Zhou Qingyou, Chu Haoyu was standing on the side and looking at the two, even if the two of them were jerky and naïve, but Chu Haoyu's face instead of smiling showed a thoughtful look, as if he had an understanding, but at this moment, Sun Hou walked behind him and said: "Qiyu son, Wu Shenyuan, the head of the Zheng family, and Wu Qingyuan, the eldest son, ask to see." ”

In an instant, Chu Haoyu had come back to his senses, and his face showed a smile that seemed to be not a smile, he came to Jiangdu just for the behemoth of the Zheng family, but before he arrived in Jiangdu, Wu Shenyuan and his son blocked the road to visit, which was a little interesting. With a chuckle, Chu Haoyu opened his mouth and said, "Take it to the lobby first, and say that this king has something to do, and he will go over in a while." ”

Sun Hou understood what his son-in-law meant, so he cooled them down first, bowed down and responded: "The little one has an order." ”

When Sun Hou left, Chu Haoyu set his eyes on the two little girls again, especially Zhou Qingyou, although he was young and meticulous in practicing his sword, his little face was full of determination, obviously much more attentive than the playful Chu Ruotong, and a layer of sweat appeared on his head. Unconsciously, the fog faded little by little, and when the sun finally pierced the dark clouds and scattered on the earth, reflecting the small faces of the two people, the red was very cute. At this moment, Chu Ruotong's face also had beads of sweat, but when Zhou Qingyou swung his sword, his arm trembled obviously.

Seeing this, Chu Haoyu opened his mouth and said, "Okay, I practiced well today, encourage and encourage." Clapping his palms, Chu Haoyu walked to the side of the two of them, put away the short sword in the hands of the two of them, and said at the same time: "I'm already sweating, hurry up and wash it, are you hungry?" My mother prepares the meal early and goes to eat. ”

Chu Ruotong was hungry for a long time, but seeing that Zhou Qingyou was still insisting, he thought that he couldn't be weaker than his junior sister so he insisted hard, so when he heard that he was eating, he immediately jumped up and shouted, "Eat, you, go, eat." After finishing speaking, he took Zhou Qingyou's palm and ran to the cabin, colding Chu Haoyu, the master, to one side.

Chu Haoyu couldn't guess his daughter's thoughts, and was angry that he didn't shout to stop earlier, so he deliberately cooled himself to one side, and suddenly couldn't cry or laugh. "Retribution!" With a self-deprecating wry laugh, Chu Haoyu did not follow the two of them away, but turned around and walked towards the lobby.

In the lobby, Zheng Shenyuan and Zheng Qingyuan, the father and son, had been waiting for a while, but the two of them could understand Chu Haoyu's thoughts, and they had used this trick many times, so there was no emotion on their faces, but compared with a few days ago, the father and son were obviously much paler, and there was no arrogance in their expressions, but there were vicissitudes and losses that could not be concealed. Suddenly, seeing a handsome man with an elegant and smiling face walking slowly, even if they had never seen the Seventh Prince Chu Haoyu, the two of them could be sure that he was the Seventh Prince, the kind of arrogance and self-confidence that went deep into the bone marrow could never be imitated, but the coolness of the Seventh Prince seemed to be too short.

Seeing the Seventh Prince, Zheng Shenyuan and his son immediately stood up, knelt down and said, "The grass people knock on the prince Chitose Chitose Chitose Chitose. ”

walked to the center of the lobby and sat down, Chu Haoyu opened his mouth and said, "No courtesy, sit." ”

After thanking him, Zheng Shenyuan just raised his head but never got up, looked at Chu Haoyu and said: "The prince loves the people and admires the grass people, but today, the grass people came to ask the prince for their guilt and didn't dare to sit down." ”

Chu Haoyu had already guessed the intention of their father and son, but when he heard Zheng Shenyuan being so direct, a different color flashed in his eyes, and without waiting for Chu Haoyu to speak, Zheng Shenyuan continued: "My Zheng family has been in Jiangdu for more than 200 years, especially when it was passed into the hands of my father, and it jumped up, and Sun, Qian, Wang, and Wu are called the five major clans in Jiangnan. ”

After a pause at this, Zheng Shenyuan sighed in his heart. His father Zheng Weijun surrendered to the city and carried the infamy of betraying Xinyi, but there was less of that military disaster, at least saved the lives of tens of thousands of children, you must know that the river is prosperous, and all dynasties have been strengthening the city is a number of strong cities in the world, and the Chu family is also because of this to seal Zheng Weijun Qingping Marquis, and with Zheng Weijun's surrender, the officials of Huainan Province have followed suit, and it also has a decisive role in the stability of Huainan Province, but it also laid the root cause, the Zheng family's influence on Huainan Province is too huge and even greater than the imperial court. Therefore, the successive governors of Huainan Province had to rely on the Zheng family and suppress the Zheng family in order to seize control of Huainan Province, but unfortunately with little success, and Yang Gongling acted domineering and meticulous, the saint entrusted him with a heavy task to control Huainan, and Yang Gongling also lived up to expectations, and the business of six or seven years was finally able to be equal to the Zheng family, but at this moment, a mutiny occurred in Qi'an, which eventually led to the demise of the Zheng family.

Thinking of this, Zheng Shenyuan sighed again in his heart, when Zheng Weijun, the Marquis of Qingping, was alive, he was still able to suppress the local officials in Huainan and rarely conflict with the imperial court, and before his death, he specially instructed Zheng Shenyuan and the Chu family not to fight with it, but Zheng Shenyuan's desire for power in his heart, coupled with the fact that it has been too smooth sailing over the years, has finally caused today's disaster. Shaking his head, a mocking smile appeared at the corner of Zheng Shenyuan's mouth, and he turned his mouth and said: "It should be prosperity and decline, the prosperity of these years has made the old man get carried away, forgetting why my Zheng family can have today's prosperity, and even thinking of joining forces with Yang Dudu to suppress the Qi'an people's rebellion, and finally fell into the hub of the heavenly thorn traitor, causing the defeat of Qi'an, so today, the grass people specially came to ask the prince for guilt and the court for guilt." As he spoke, Zheng Shenyuan bowed down again, and at the same time said: "The father and son of the grass people are willing to use their lives, all the property of my Zheng family, in exchange for the safety of the clansmen." ”

Looking at Zheng Shenyuan's father and son who were prostrate on the ground, Chu Haoyu did not answer immediately, but thought about whether to accept this deal in his heart. After getting the information from Sun Hou, Chu Haoyu guessed the reason why Xie Donglin chose Qi'an, dragged the Zheng family into the whirlpool, and pulled the Zheng family to bury him with the Xie family, but if it weren't for the Zheng family's arrogance, they even wanted to suppress such a thing as the civil uprising, how could there be today's disaster? Therefore, staring at Zheng Shenyuan's father and son, although Chu Haoyu felt a little regretful in his heart, he did not have any sympathy, all kinds of things today were the bitter fruits he planted in the past.

After not seeing Chu Haoyu answer for a long time, Zheng Shenyuan seemed to have guessed what Chu Haoyu was thinking, and also knew that his conditions were not enough to impress Chu Haoyu, so he bowed again: "Caomin still has a notebook here, which records the changes in the officialdom of Huainan Province over the years, please take a look at it." As he spoke, Zheng Shenyuan took out a handscroll from his arms, raised his hands above his head, and waited for Chu Haoyu's choice.

After a moment of silence, Chu Haoyu finally nodded at Sun Hou. Sun Hou understood what his son meant, picked up the scroll and handed it to Chu Haoyu, and said, "Childe." ”

After taking the account book and looking at it twice, Chu Haoyu got up and said, "Okay, stand down." After finishing speaking, without waiting for Zheng Shenyuan and his son to speak, Chu Haoyu walked away, but Zheng Shenyuan and his son still bowed respectfully before getting up and leaving.

Leaving the boat ashore, Zheng Qingyuan couldn't help but ask: "Daddy, what do you mean by the Seventh Prince, who didn't leave a word?" ”

Zheng Shenyuan saw the anxiety on his son Zheng Qingyuan's face, shook his head and said: "The old man has not been able to guess the intentions of the Seventh Prince, but since he accepted the scroll, he thought that he would leave the lives of all the clansmen, but he didn't know how to stay in the law." After finishing speaking, Zheng Shenyuan looked at the mighty ships and walked away, his face was full of helplessness, thinking about how proud he was at the beginning of his succession as the head of the family, now twenty years have passed, the family is about to be removed, and life and death are in the hands of others.

Chu Ruotong didn't see his father Chu Haoyu come to eat after breakfast, so he finally couldn't bear to run into the study and asked cautiously: "Father, why don't you eat yet, angry with Tong'er?" That Tong'er is not going to accompany you. While speaking, Chu Ruotong even made a blessing to Chu Haoyu, and then stared at Chu Haoyu intently, wanting to see how he answered.

Seeing the aggrieved expression of his beloved daughter Chu Ruotong, Chu Haoyu's solemn face finally spread out to reveal a smile, raised his hand to signal Chu Ruotong to come to his arms, and said at the same time: "You little naughty, how can Daddy be angry with you?" ”

At the same time that a smile appeared on Chu Haoyu's face, Chu Ruotong's face also lit up with a smile, jumped into Chu Haoyu's arms and said at the same time: "Tong'er knows that Daddy is the best, but why don't you eat?" Tong'er was very hungry just now, and drank two bowls of porridge in one go, two full heads, she had never eaten so much, but don't gain weight. ”

Chu Haoyu was immediately happy, and said with a smile: "My family Tong'er is so beautiful, no matter what, she is beautiful." Besides, what Daddy taught you is superior martial arts, and you will only practice more and more energetically, how can you get fat? Unless......" In the elongated voice, seeing Chu Ruotong looking at himself with an expectant face, Chu Haoyu continued: "Unless you are a little naughty and lazy." ”

Chu Ruotong was startled at first, then she was unhappy, pouted and said, "Tong'er is not lazy, Tong'er is the most diligent." ”

Haha laughed, Chu Haoyu lifted Chu Ruotong high and said with a smile: "Yes, my family Tong'er is the most diligent." Let's go to dinner with Daddy. ”

After a simple breakfast, Chu Haoyu handed Chu Ruotong to his concubine Chen Fangfei, and returned to the study alone, looking at the dossier carefully. Zheng Weijun was originally the governor of Huainan Province, and there were many disciples, even if he became the Marquis of Qingping without a real position after joining the city, he still controlled the Huainan officialdom, but he was very smart to realize that the Chu family was too powerful to fight hard, and the two sides did not have a conflict. Later, Zheng Shenyuan succeeded to the throne, although he did not set foot in the officialdom, but in order to prove his influence on the officialdom, he set up another mountain and was almost able to sit on an equal footing with the governor of the capital. Therefore, Zheng Shenyuan specially recorded the vicissitudes of Huainan officialdom over the years, the personality and hobbies of each official, the causes and results of each conflict, and even had very detailed annotations, where it was successful, and why it failed, which is completely a microcosm of Huainan officialdom in the past 20 years.

After reading it in one go, Chu Haoyu sighed lightly, and said with an overview: "This Zheng Shenyuan is also a talent, and one is not a problem, it's a pity!" ”