After going down to the court, Su Ruyu went to the Ministry of Rites alone. As one of the six departments of Great Chu, the Ministry of Rites can be said to manage many mundane affairs up and down Great Chu.

These include worshipping the temple, receiving foreign guests, and doing a good job in diplomacy with other countries.

But in fact, there is nothing to do in diplomacy over the years, except for the easing of relations with the Southern Tang Dynasty, whether it is facing the steppe barbarians in the south or the Turkic tribes in the eastern mountains and forests, there is only one word - fight!

Originally, there was also a divination auspicious evil, and the work of selecting auspicious days for the zodiac for the royal family was also under the management of the Ministry of Rites, but later Chu Zheng set up a Divine Calculation Pavilion and collected a group of qi practitioners, and the task of this piece was assigned to Jingyue's head, which was regarded as reducing some of the burden for the Ministry of Rites.

But even so, the official's official uniform, seal letter and other items are still made by the Ministry of Rites, so the first thing Su Ruyu did after going down to the court was naturally to go to the Ministry of Rites to get his official uniform.

In the past, the carriages and horses were always very slow, and when Su Ruyu returned home after walking around the palace, it was already time for dinner.

During this period, Su's mother was naturally indispensable to Su Ruyu's cold greetings, mainly because she said that her son had lost a lot of weight in the countryside, and that his unconscionable father had to let him go to the countryside to suffer for three years.

Originally, when she went, Su Ruyu and Su Mo said that they would go to Su's mother to cry when they came back, but at this time, Su Ruyu hadn't spoken, but her mother's tears fell first.

After finally calming her mother's emotions, Su Ruyu was able to withdraw from the dining table and return to her room.

And the first thing Su Ruyu did after returning to the room was to take out the brand-new official uniform of the three-grade household servant and put it on herself.

It's not that he can't wait to wear it, but after he came back from the palace, his father Su Wang told him to put on his official uniform and go to the courtyard of his father's study after eating.

When Su Ruyu came to the courtyard in official uniform, Su Wang had already ordered someone to bring two reclining chairs, and he himself was lying in one of the chairs with his eyes closed.

"Sit down!"

Probably sensing that his son had come, Su Wang asked him to sit down before he saluted. The latter did not have the trepidation he had when he saw his father, and he lay down in the chair beside his father with a relaxed expression.

"It seems that you haven't seen the guy surnamed Zhu in vain in the past three years? ”

Su Wang closed his eyes and asked himself, not giving his son a chance to speak.

"But there are some things that he can teach you, and there are some things that he hasn't experienced himself, so how can he teach you? When he entered politics, the previous dynasty had reached the end of the road, and even the royal family of the Great Zhao Kingdom had to look at the faces of him and Lu Xiangrui, so he naturally didn't know that he should always have a sense of awe in the face of the royal family. ”

Su Ruyu didn't speak until this time, he knew very well the purpose of his father letting him come here today.

In addition to teaching him something, it was to make him recognize his identity clearly, and Su Wang waited for a while, and continued when he noticed that his son did not react.

"In ancient times, there was a saying that a companion is like a tiger, so you must always remember that the identity between the monarch and the minister is insurmountable, you were not a person in the officialdom before, so you don't have to care too much about some things, the big guy will also treat you as a child, but from now on it will be different. ”

Speaking of this, even Su Wangdu was a little hesitant, even with his identity, he would still be a little uneasy when he said the next paragraph, because if this passage fell into the ears of outsiders, it would be a bit rebellious.

Su Wang probably wanted to better convey some profound truths to his son, and after pondering for a long time, he still said some things that could not be said.

The friendship between him and Chu Zheng is very deep, even if Chu Zheng hears this passage, he will only laugh at it.

"I know that you have had a bad relationship with the crown prince Chu Wushuang since you were a child, and my Su family has long been labeled as the prince's party, but it doesn't matter, but you have to understand a truth in your heart, if Chu Wushuang really sits in that position in the future, you can't get along with him so casually. ”

Su Wang seemed to remember something interesting, and he actually laughed at this moment.

"At the very least, you can't do anything like taking the emperor to the Qinglou anymore. ”

In the face of his father's deliberate ridicule, Su Ruyu couldn't laugh, because he knew the meaning of his father's words in his heart.

Jun is a minister, and his father hopes that he can correct his posture and not take the creature of the emperor too simply.

Su Ruyu actually understood that what his father said was correct, but he didn't know why he was a little uncomfortable in his heart.

Probably sensing his son's restraint, Su Wang opened his mouth to persuade him.

"You have grown up, you can boldly say whatever you think in your heart, tonight, it is just a heart-to-heart conversation between our father and son. ”

Su Ruyu was not in a hurry and did not speak, because he had not yet figured it out in his heart, and Su Wang did not say anything to urge his son.

There are some things and some truths that you can't understand when others say them, but only when you think it clearly.

After a pillar of incense, Su Ruyu suddenly stood up from the chair and bowed respectfully to her father. The latter was still lying on the chair with his eyes closed, leisurely.

"Father, there are some truths that the child knows in his heart, but there is no way to put it in his pocket, the child always thinks that some things will not change with the passage of time and the change of position, the child may not be able to change some facts, but at least he can change his own mind. ”

After finishing speaking, Su Ruyu didn't look at his father anymore but chose to turn around and leave, frankly speaking, in that pillar of incense, Su Ruyu may not have wavered in his thoughts.

It was only at this time that Su Wang opened his eyes, and his gaze at Su Ruyu's back was a little melancholy, but until the end, he didn't say anything to let his son come back.

It is enough to say the truth once, and if you say it a few more times, the truth is not the truth but the wordy, and he himself is not a verbose person, is he!

Looking up at the moon, it is said that the moon is the first time to see the moon on the bank of the river today, when will the bright moon shine on the old man, Su Wang remembered a scene from a few decades ago for no reason at this time.

The moonlight is as cool as water, and it is under such a bright moon that there are many high-spirited young people who started from Liaozhou with troops and swore by wine.

"Chutian, Su Wang, Lu Xiangrui, Xiao Shanyu, Cheng Yijie, He Ren'an, Ma Suiliang......"

"The emperor is above, and the thick earth is below. We swear here today that we will be brothers of the opposite sex in the future, and we will share blessings and hardships......"

Thinking of this, Su Wang didn't continue to think about it, he used to think that there were many things that would not change, but what about this moment? Now he is not alone in the courtyard looking at the moon.

"Where do you go from here?"

Before he closed his eyes again, he muttered such a sentence in his mouth, and he didn't know if he was saying it to those old brothers back then or to Su Ruyu and Chu Wushuang.

......

The moon shines on people, people look at the moon, but at this time, the people who watch the moon are not only Su Wang and Su Ruyu, the father and son, in the imperial garden of the palace, Chu Zheng also called his two sons to his side.

However, Chu Wushuang and Chu Tianxiong were not as lucky as Su Ruyu, and there was only one chair, so they could only stand respectfully by Chu Zheng's side.

"You have grown so big, I haven't talked to you properly, there are no kings and ministers here today, only father and son, I want to hear the most true thoughts in your hearts. ”

Chu Zheng was the first to speak, and roughly set the direction of tonight's conversation, otherwise these two sons who disagree politically are afraid that they will quarrel again, and if they come to the back, he will still have a headache as a father.

"Actually, for so long, I don't know what you think in your hearts, you talk about it, what kind of country you want to see our Dachu become. Wushuang, you talk about it first. ”

Chu Wushuang took a step forward after hearing Chu Zheng's words.

"Father, in my opinion, the most important thing for our Dachu to do now is to cultivate and recuperate, the battles fought in the previous decades have already finished the next three hundred years, and it is a little too early to expand the territory or regain the lost territory, and the child is not saying that the military town is not important, but it is far from the time to fully develop the military. ”

As soon as Chu Wushuang's words fell, Chu Tianxiong sneered at each other.

"Now is not the time? When will it be the time? When those steppe barbarians and Turkic tribes will fight at the gate of the palace! They said that they wanted to cultivate and recuperate, but most of the annual grain harvest did not fall into the hands of the nobles and local gentry in Beijing, and after so many years, the common people could not only mix food and clothing. ”

Speaking of this, Chu Tianxiong took out an account book from his arms, it seemed that he had been prepared.

"Father, there are some things that Erchen has wanted to say for a long time, this is a statistic made by Erchen in private, just in the capital, there are no less than 30 large households that collect one million quintals of grain every year, if this is counted in the whole world, how many such large households should there be! But those good sons and daughters on the border of Dachu, they are still worried about millions of quintals of military food every year, and they are still struggling for a military salary of one or two or seven cents a month!"

Slowly, the more Chu Tianxiong spoke, the more excited he became, and he couldn't control his emotions anymore.

"Father, if my Great Chu is really poor and weak now, then I will never stand up and say anything ridiculous to expand the army, but what I see now is that the entire Great Chu is singing and dancing, but there is no scholar, scholar, The minister said a terrible word for the border sergeant, Father, you haven't been to the border for ten years to see, the wolf rider of the steppe barbarians has begun to move, and the Turkic tribes are not restless, if my Dachu does not prepare early, the day when the wolf rider breaks through the border city gate will be the time when my Dachu rivers and mountains are devastated!"

There was not a trace of ripples in Chu Zheng's eyes, and it seemed that the so-called urgent situation in Chu Tianxiong's mouth was not a big deal in his heart.

"Why don't you know what you said about me? They all say that the royal family is ruthless, but who knows what the royal family thinks about? You don't look at the people who earn millions of loads of grain every year, according to their generation, even I have to call them uncle and uncle in private. They take what they deserve, and none of them are grateful to our royal family, but if I turn my face, I don't miss the old feelings, they will point at my nose and call me a wolf. ”

"I'm not afraid of them, even if they help my Chu family sit on this throne, but so many years should be enough, if someone dares to reach out in the future, I will chop off his hand!"

Looking at his indignant second son, Chu Zheng shook his head with a smile.

"It's not so easy, what your eldest brother said about cultivating and recuperating, in addition to living with the people, is to slowly wear off the influence of these old ministers in the court, and only then can I work hard in one place. ”

Chu Tianxiong was going to say something, but Chu Zheng didn't want to talk about this topic anymore, otherwise today's conversation would turn into a political debate between the two sons.

"Okay, let's not talk about this, although I have high hopes for both of you, but only after one of you sits in this position in the future, I can know the hardships here, in fact, what I want to tell you today is the way of the emperor. This thing is unfathomable, but in fact, the king must be suspicious of every courtier. ”

Chu Zheng turned his head to look at Chu Wushuang.

"Wushuang, your words, it is more reassuring to be a father, I have been dealing with those ministers in the capital all these years, I know what those courtiers are like, but you have to be careful of one person, I don't say that you also know this person, that is Su Ruyu, I only hope that no matter how much you trust him in the future, at least you must have the last trace of doubt about him in your heart. ”

Then, he looked at Chu Tianxiong again.

"Tianxiong, you have always been very disgusted with Wenchen, I am not worried about this, but in your heart, you always think that those generals are loyal and righteous, I don't understand your thoughts, but as an emperor, there should not be anyone worthy of your complete trust, if there is, then kill him as soon as possible, because only in this way will you become a good emperor!"

Chu Zheng didn't speak again, his eyes looked up at the sky were a little sour, to be honest, he had been alone and lonely for so many years, and he also longed to have a friend who could talk about his heart, but the emperor was destined to have no friends, and no one could change this.

With the country as a companion and the sun and the moon as a friend, this is what a pitiful life of an emperor!