In the eyes of the people in Yongjia City, among so many officials in the imperial court, the most leisurely is the Ministry of Etiquette.

People who know a little bit about the operation of the imperial court know that although the Ministry of Rites is idle but valuable, especially the officials of the Ministry of Rites have always been candidates for Zhongshu Zaizhi.

In fact, the ministry of the Ministry of Rites is far from simple.

From the various ceremonies and ceremonies to the rules and rituals that the officials and citizens need to abide by, these are all the responsibilities of the Ministry of Rites.

In addition to being in charge of etiquette, diplomacy is also the purview of the Ministry of Etiquette.

In addition, including but not limited to the selection of scholars for the imperial examination, the observation of celestial phenomena, the calculation of solar terms, the formulation of calendars, the casting of official seals, the compilation of medical books, etc., are all the work of officials of the Ministry of Rites.

"You are still as humble as before, in fact, I know that you, the left squire, have done a good job, get along with other officials like a fish in water, and have not delayed serious things, such a skillful wrist shows that you have gradually understood the samadhi of being an official."

But he is by no means a spoiled gentleman like Li Yunyi, he has followed Li Daoyan since he was a child, taught by this old man hand in hand, and he doesn't know how much talent has been instilled in his stomach, and he naturally develops a spirit of poetry and books.

Li Daoyan's face was as usual, looking at his grandson who was respectfully kowtowing, and Lao Huai smiled with relief.

"Back to my father, my colleagues in the Ministry of Rites are very capable, I just follow the old routine, but I can still deal with it."

Li Shizhi groaned: "Although I don't know anything about military affairs, I also know that Jing Jun is menacing this time, and Qing Yugong is the god of war in the hearts of Jing Lian people, and I am under a lot of pressure on the border army." In fact, my father doesn't have to care about my thoughts, I opposed the Northern Expedition in the past, it doesn't mean that I will hold back at this critical time, and I have no right to meddle in military affairs as a servant of the Ministry of Rites. If my father wanted to ask my opinion, then I don't think that Jingjun would do his best in this battle, and Emperor Jingguo was a very patient figure, and he probably wanted to use this battle to seek benefits, and wait until the future to mobilize the strength of the country to go south. ”

After a moment of silence, Li Daoyan said softly: "What do you think of the current frontier war? ”

A deep voice came from the shadows next to him: "Yes, Xiangye." ”

When the Son of Heaven and the Jiangnan clan had a dispute over the Northern Expedition, this old man secretly poked and poked Lu Shen with eye medicine, and was beaten by the Son of Heaven.

"It's appropriate, my father wants to know what your obsession is, but it's very likely that he won't get an answer in this life."

Li Shizhi observed quietly, and quietly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. Even though he and Li Daoyan have big differences on some issues, this is his biological father, and in the eyes of outsiders, the father and son of the Li family are one, of course he hopes that his father can live a long life.

A desolate look appeared on the old man's face.

Li Daoyan's tone was flat, and he couldn't tell whether it was praise or ridicule.

In just four months, Li Shizhi took care of the etiquette department in an orderly manner, whether it was the funeral of the eldest prince or the canonization ceremony of the prince, he did it very properly, neither there was any loss of etiquette, nor did he spend too much silver taels, which won the praise of all departments of the court.

There is his father and emperor, and there are also Li Tianrun, who have contributed all the loyal ministers and good generals to Daqi.

"Get up."

Judging from those earnest words, Li Shizhi seems to really realize his previous stubborn mistakes, and gradually has the concept of putting the overall situation first, as long as he can maintain such a correct mentality, coupled with his almost impeccable governance ability and profound knowledge, he can also be worthy of the burden of the next head of the Jinlin Li family.

"Really? It turned out that the problem was with the old man. ”

"Yes, father."

"Have you been doing well in the Ministry of Rites lately?"

Li Duan fell into a long silence, this king, who had experienced countless ups and downs in his life, appeared to be unruly, but in fact was in the midst of a fierce battle between heaven and man.

“…… At present, the strong enemy is attacking as it was back then, although the minister is sick and disabled, he is still willing to offer advice in front of the emperor and lead the army in front of the battle to solve the danger of the frontier and bless the rivers and mountains of Daqi. ”

Imperial City, Wenhe Palace.

Now he basically doesn't leave the house, and the government affairs of the Ministry of Rites are actually in charge of two waiters, among which Li Shizhi, the left waiter, is the main one.

After a long time, he looked at the void in front of him and said, "Go and call the young fish." ”

Although his methods are a bit inferior, they are nothing in a power struggle, and if the Jinlin Li clan is in danger, Li Daoyan believes that those people will perform even worse.

"Grandson greets grandfather."

At this moment, the extremely cautious voice of the great eunuch Lu Shizhou sounded outside: "Your Majesty, the Minister of Military Affairs, Lord Liu, Lord Zhang, Lord Lu, Lord Shen, and Lord Han are asking to see you outside the palace. ”

Li Daoyan's thin fingers tapped lightly on the armrest, and his mind recalled the words of his eldest son today.

On the afternoon of this day at the end of the month, Li Shizhi rarely returned home early, and went straight to Jinlin Hall to greet his father.

The prince did not dare to answer.

Of course, Li Shizhi knew very well in his heart that only a small half of these praises were due to his ability to do things, and the remaining half were directed at Jinlin Li and his father Li Daoyan.

……

It's just that because these government affairs have nothing to fish, and there is no chance to be in the limelight, they give people the illusion of being very idle.

In fact, he has only seen Li Tianrun twice, the most recent time was eight years ago, when Li Tianrun won a great victory in Mengshan in Jiangbei, broke the myth of Jingjun's undefeated and then returned to Beijing to receive a reward, it stands to reason that he did not have much affection for this famous general, but after becoming the prince and really getting in touch with the government, he really understood which people were struggling to resist the great Qi.

Others could not see his role in the rebellion of the Beijing army, and Li Daoyan must have noticed that he had been waiting for his old father to mention it.

Li Daoyan's gray eyebrows furrowed slightly: "Do you still think that you want to limit the strength of the border army?" ”

He raised his eyes to look at Li Daoyan and said seriously: "Father, flowing water does not rot and does not rot, this is the truth you taught me, I just follow the boundaries you drew to do this, and I have no other ideas." ”

He held the secret fold from Jingzhou and read it meticulously.

Li Daoyan smiled indifferently, looked at the eldest son with growing wings, and said slowly: "Having said that, I shouldn't have taught you, and I changed the method to let Guo Wang Ningle and the four families go to death." ”

Li Gongxu stood up with a calm demeanor.

Li Duan's eyes narrowed slightly, suppressed the emotions in his heart, and said slowly: "They are all stubborn people." ”

Li Daoyan laughed at himself, and then said: "Although the old man is old and frail, his memory has not deteriorated, I remember that you resolutely opposed the Northern Expedition at the beginning, and you wanted to unite other high-ranking clans, why did you betray them backhandedly?" ”

Thirteen-year-old Li Gongxu walked into Jinlin Hall with vigorous steps, his figure has jumped a lot compared to the beginning of the year, and now he has a bit of the bearing of a noble son.

Li Daoyan waved his hand.

Speaking of this, he couldn't help but sigh, shook his head and said, "I was sure that I couldn't work with these people from that time, so I secretly pushed them, which can be regarded as cooperating with Your Majesty's wishes to resolve this conflict as soon as possible." ”

However, Li Daoyan lowered his head slightly, his eyes were obscure, and he whispered to himself: "Nine points true and one point false, what are you hiding?" You said that Wang Yan and others went to assassinate Hou Yu and then blamed His Majesty, so that you could see the essence of these people, so why did you intervene in it? In order to hide from my ears and eyes, you didn't use the manpower of the clan, and deliberately chose the dead soldiers you raised outside to assassinate Hou Yu, but you never thought that there was no absolute secret in this world. ”

"Chen Li Tianrunqi: Now the war situation in northern Xinjiang is entangled repeatedly, the enemy army is large, covering the sky and the sun, and our border army is confined to the border for a long time, and it is controlled everywhere ......"

Although Li Daoyan has not been free recently, his spirit is not bad, and he looks tougher than before, maybe this is the meaning of power for men.

Li Shizhi categorically denied: "No, I think we should give all-round support to the border army at this time." Father, after going through so many things, I have already thought clearly, Emperor Jingguo will not be satisfied with rowing the river and rule, and my father will definitely not change his course and become a minister of the country. As your eldest son, and I shoulder the centuries-old foundation of the Jinlin Li family, how can I not be clear about right and wrong? I really don't want to see the border army too strong and repeat the mistakes of the warriors who wantonly killed two hundred years ago, but there are priorities, and compared with the aggressive Jing army, the contradiction between the center of our dynasty and the border army can naturally be put aside for the time being. ”

There was another long silence.

He saw the tiredness in his father's eyes, so he got up and saluted, "Father, let's take a nap, and my son will retire first." ”

The voice of the crown prince Li Zongben Qingyue sounded in the hall.

The prince couldn't help but stop when he read this, and his expression was quite sad.

The hall was very quiet.

During this time, Li Shizhi was busy with government affairs, and Li Daoyan could not live in the mansion as before, after all, the war in Jiangbei was in full swing, and the imperial court began to choose to pilot the implementation of the meridian boundary law, coupled with the inspection and selection of officials, Xue Nanting was really too busy alone, and he had to drag his old body to sit in the book.

Li Daoyan said a little tiredly: "It's naturally best if you think like this, the great enemy is current, and the imperial court can't fall into civil strife." ”

Li Shizhi replied respectfully: "Yes, father." ”

Li Duan's eyes didn't roll, and he only said one word: "Read." ”

Li Shizhi was very calm in his heart, because he had been waiting for this day for a long time.

He was so calm that Li Daoyan had nothing to say.

People like Li Tianrun will never exaggerate, since he used words like "sick and mutilated" in the secret compromise, it means that the real situation is more serious.

"Yes, Father."

The prince hurriedly responded and read the secret fold written by Li Tianrun himself at a slow speed.

He didn't know if he should agree to Li Tianrun's request.

Li Duan reclined on the couch, his eyes were looking straight ahead, and a touch of complicated emotions appeared on his slightly pale face.

"At first, I did think so, because the Northern Expedition was contrary to the fundamental interests of our Jiangnan clan, and everyone else could benefit from the Northern Expedition, but we couldn't, so I still tried to stop the Northern Expedition knowing that my father would mind."

Li Daoyan looked at his delicate eyebrows and smiled: "Juvenile fish, grandfather will find you a great gentleman, okay?" ”

Li Shizhi replied calmly: "This is all thanks to his father's words and deeds, and his son does not dare not be humble." ”

Li Daoyan sat on the Taishi chair, pointed to the chair at the bottom and said, "Sit down." ”

There were only father and son in the hall, and the atmosphere suddenly became serious.

Therefore, the Ministry of Rites has direct jurisdiction over the yamen of Taichang Temple, Honglu Temple, Qintianjian and Tai Hospital.

Li Shizhi was unhurried, and his tone was sincere: "But later I found out that Wang Yan and the others didn't even have the most basic sense of advance and retreat, I just wanted to stop the Northern Expedition, but they wanted to fight with His Majesty." Father, in order to make Your Majesty feel at ease, you deliberately gave up the authority of the Zhongshu to Xue Nanting, and I also went home to recuperate for a long time, the essence of which was to avoid a head-on conflict with Your Majesty. But they refused to even make the most basic concessions, held on to the power in their hands and did not let go, and even asked people to assassinate Hou Yu in order to intensify the conflict. ”

It's been a long time since father and son have sat down to talk.

The prince changed color slightly.

These five people jointly asked to see, something big must have happened, could it be that the frontier has changed?

Li Duan sat up, his eyes were clear as usual, and he said calmly: "Xuan." ”

(End of chapter)