Su Ri'an put down the teacup in his hand and said, "Prime Minister? Senior is joking, how could I......"

Gong Zheng interrupted Su Ri'an's words, and he said, "I know, the emperor also knows that you have worked diligently and worked hard all your life, not for authority. I also know that you have no intention of being the Prime Minister, but sooner or later, you will become the Prime Minister of the Empire."

"Why?" Su Ri'an asked.

Gong Zhengzheng said, "Because you are a sharp knife!"

Su Ri'an's face changed slightly, and the expression on his face changed several times. He was a little happy, a little angry, happy that he was sharp enough, and angry that he was a knife. Su Ri'an asked: "Senior, what kind of knife am I? Who is holding my knife?"

Gong Zheng packed up the tea set and said to Su Ri'an: "You are a red-burned scalpel, a life-suffering knife to cut the rotten and smelly flesh on the body of the empire! As for whoever holds your knife, it should be the next generation of emperor..."

Su Ri'an immediately signaled Gong Zheng to silence. He listened with his ears. In the bedroom not far away, two maids spoke softly. He said, "Senior, be careful, your words are suspected of cursing Your Majesty..."

Su Ri'an reminded Gong Zheng this way that he was afraid of the imperial security bureau and power, but more of respect for the emperor. The emperor of the empire ruled over the world for more than 30 years. Su Ri'an did not think that he was a saint, and he also felt that the emperor had missed many things. However, Su Ri'an still firmly believed that the emperor was the best emperor in ancient times and present, and the emperors of all dynasties could not compete with him, regardless of Qin, Han and Wu. Even the Taizu of this dynasty was just a prosperous martial arts in Su Ri'an's eyes. It was far worse than today's rule, fostering the people and pursuing the border and destructing the border.

In Su Ri'an's view, such an emperor's longevity is a blessing for the empire and for thousands of people.

Gong Zheng laughed and waved his hand and said, "It's okay, it's okay. Lord Su, you have been away from Shen Jing for a few years and have no idea about the royal family. Why not tell you one thing? The emperor has already made plans to abdicate."

Su Ri'an said: "Take it seriously? How did you know and when will you abdicate?"

Gong Zheng said: "Of course it was said by the emperor himself. I had a long talk with the emperor a few days ago, and the emperor himself said by the emperor himself. As for when he abdicated, it was not something I could know. It might take longer. But one thing is that the emperor may delegate power at some time in the future."

"Delegate power?" Su Ri'an was puzzled.

Gong Zheng said: "Of course, a prince of Prince Yu's mansion was to supervise the country."

"Will not establish a prince?" Su Ri'an asked.

Gong Zheng nodded: "I think the emperor means that it should not be established. In the eyes of the royal family, the prince is just a title, and he pays attention to justification, but the problem is that the emperor of this dynasty does not pay attention to this, but what he values ​​is ability. If a prince is appointed, then the title is determined early. If there are people with outstanding talents, the prince will decree the original and shake the foundation of the country, and the supervision of the country can be established or replaced."

"Is this what the emperor said?" Su Ri'an asked.

"Yes, what the emperor said in person." Gong Zhengdao.

Su Ri'an was surprised and looked at Gong Zheng deeply. He knew Gong Zheng very well and the emperor very well, but he didn't know the relationship between the two. Only then did he remember that in his past interactions with these two, it seemed that in addition to work reasons, the two never mentioned each other in front of him. So Su Ri'an was still very surprised that Gong Zheng could hear such a secret from the emperor.

But Su Ri'an thought about it again and said that this was another great good thing.

It is true that the secret of the news shows the personal friendship between the emperor and the Supreme Justice, but it also shows the emperor's respect for the Supreme Justice.

After Gong Zheng became a member of the Supreme Court of the Empire, he has never forgotten his original intention and has been at the forefront of the imperial privileged class for more than 20 years. Having a good personal relationship with the emperor and being able to do such a fight against privilege is shocking enough.

Su Ri'an nodded slightly. Perhaps this is why Gong Zheng was able to serve as the Supreme Court for more than 20 years, and it is also the main content of teaching himself today.

In the past 30 years of official career, Su Ri'an himself has not only maintained a relatively good personal relationship with King Yu in his early years, but has been paying attention to keeping a distance since then, because he is worried about his favoritism and fraud. Now he has to see a new path, that is, how to maintain a good relationship with the royal family while adhering to his principles and original intentions.

"Then the emperor also told you that I will become the prime minister in the future?" Su Ri'an couldn't help asking.

Gong Zheng shook his head: "The emperor has not said it, but I think it is inevitable, because you are really a sharp knife, and the empire lacks such a knife, and the inherited king must also need such a knife."

Su Ri'an savored the meaning of Gong Zheng's words carefully. Simply put, if you are useful, you will be used. But Su Ri'an couldn't understand the details and asked, "Please tell me."

"At the end of the Great Northern War, the empire's external expansion has come to an end. Do you agree with this?" Gong Zheng first asked a question...

Su Ri'an nodded and said, "Yes, I think yes, there is no land in this world that the empire is willing to fight for and easily. We have taken advantage of all the possible benefits, and the dividend period of expansion has disappeared. Even if there is still something to do in the future, it will be just a small fuss."

There are two reasons for the end of the empire's expansion. One is that the size of the world is limited.

The world is not big, and the empire expanded very quickly. The empire had little demand for land, but the demand for land was particularly high.

Now the empire has occupied the land in this world that can be easily conquered, so there is a large amount of land in hand that has not been developed. The remaining land is either the land in the South China Sea that has been integrated into the imperial system and can be used without conquering at all, or it requires a huge price to conquer, or it is the tropical areas, places of black people gatherings, and spheres of influence of the Green Cult that the empire does not want to conquer at all.

Another reason is that European countries ended their direct confrontation. Britain and France, a country that had been fighting for hundreds of years, has moved towards union due to the rise of the empire. The two European powers, the Austrian Empire and the Russian Empire, also became opposed to the empire due to geographical interests and original hatred.

These are exactly the four strongest major powers in Europe. In order to fight against the empire, they chose to unite to a certain extent.

Gong Zheng said: "The empire's external expansion has slowed down, and in the short term, no country dares to challenge the empire. This means that the world will enter a period of peace. Of course, this refers to the major powers, but this may not be a completely good thing, especially for the royal family and the successor king."

After the forty-five years of the establishment of the empire, the royal family still mainly had a positive image in the eyes of the empire's people. That is because the internal team headed by the emperor continued to improve the living standards of the empire's people, while the foreign institutions headed by King Yu continued to bring news of victory to the empire's people. Insider and diplomacy blossomed, the royal family's prestige would not be easily wiped out by time.

But peace is not necessarily a good thing for the political structure of the empire.

Over the years, the empire has suppressed the rise of bourgeois political forces, relying on compromise to the bottom and alliance with the nobles. Any dynasty and nobles always quickly corrupted after the founding of the country, but the empire is an exception.

Because the empire adopted a system of surrendering titles, the great nobles during the founding period had their titles reduced and their power also decreased as they were passed down for several generations. After the founding of the country, the Northern Expeditions, King Yu's Western Expeditions, the Americans, Goa Wars, four large-scale wars, and countless military operations of all sizes.

During these wars, the empire has been constantly born with new military aristocrats, injecting fresh blood into the empire's noble class, maintaining the vitality of the noble class, allowing them to fight against bourgeois political forces. Once peace enters, the noble class will solidify and negative things will be shown more.

The same situation applies to the next emperor of the empire. Because for the crown prince, military merits are still very important. The army is the most important guarantee of the imperial power, and military merits will ensure the influence of the empire's emperor in the army and his mastery of the army.

Needless to say, Emperor Taizu Li Mingxun was the pioneer of the imperial army and the greatest military commander. Even Emperor Li Junhua, who was not good at military merits, had participated in the war on the Northern Expedition of the Grasslands and played an important role in it.

Prince Yu commanded all the foreign wars of the empire, but he unconditionally supported the emperor, especially the generals he promoted over the years were selected by the emperor. Therefore, the two brothers had no less control over the army than their fathers.

But the next monarch, without large-scale wars, how do they cultivate their own team and build their prestige?

Without a complete grasp of the army, can he firmly sit in the imperial throne?

"If an emperor cannot fully grasp the army, he needs to make achievements in the people's expectations. And you, Su Ri'an and Lord Su, are your best companions." Gong Zheng reminded.

Su Ri'an was drinking tea, but he could no longer taste it. He knew his reputation. Over the years, he had used decades of self-discipline, estrangement from relatives and friends, meanness and even cold blood to exchange for the title of Bao Gong in the current era, and was an official trusted by the people of the empire.

Indeed, such an official as the prime minister of the empire could welcome the emperor's favor. But Su Ri'an said: "I wouldn't be a puppet who was carried on the stage to perform. If that were the case, I would rather retire to the mountains and forests than enter the officialdom again."

"No one will treat you as a puppet, because everyone knows that you will not want to. The new king succeeds to the throne and you will become the prime minister. He will make you, a person who is not afraid of the powerful and powerful, dares to attack the interests of the privileged class, and dares to declare war on bureaucracy, carry out a large-scale cleanup of the imperial administration and even the entire government, refresh the administration and fight against corruption.

This will quickly win the public's expectations for the new king. Perhaps on that day, Lord Su, you will have the opportunity to realize your lifelong wish. Wouldn't you be moved?" Gong Zheng asked.

Su Ri'an focused his attention and said, "If there really is one day, I, Su Ri'an, will not hesitate to sacrifice my life."

Gong Zheng smiled and stared at Su Ri'an's eyes: "But are you willing to do only one thing? Do you think you can do only one thing? If you want to realize your ideal, you must first gain power. If you want to become the prime minister, you must have the talent of the prime minister. With your people's expectations, even if you become the prime minister ten years ago, no one will object, but your progress is much slower after all."

Su Ri'an understood this. He did have reputation, but lacked the talents that an official possessed. Especially the Prime Minister, he was not only a vanguard of anti-corruption, but also a versatile talent. Because he shouldered the welfare of countless people in the empire, what could he do if the people were not allowed to eat and wear enough food and clothing to kill all corrupt officials?

Therefore, in the past few years, Su Ri'an has been sent to the emperor to experience it in order to make up for his shortcomings. In the past few years, while sticking to his original intention, Su Ri'an has indeed made progress, but compared with the talents required by a prime minister, Su Ri'an believes that there is still some gap, especially when he returned to China this time, after he contacted Pei Yuanqi, the deputy prime minister of the cabinet, he felt that his shortcomings were so obvious.

Pei Yuanqi and Su Ri'an were also old friends. When Su Ri'an entered the officialdom through the imperial examination, he was not satisfied at the beginning, mainly because he was incompatible with all kinds of habits in the bureaucratic organization. He once made him feel reluctant. When he met the late emperor and participated in the banquet, the late emperor asked him to follow Pei Yuanqi for several days to cultivate his mind. In those days, Su Ri'an followed Pei Yuanqi to linger in the market, fighting crickets and racing horses, and had a lot of fun.

At that time, Su Ri'an just thought Pei Yuanqi was a special noble child, but this noble child, who had been in charge of the western border of the empire for twenty years, returned again. The two of them met again. Although Pei Yuanqi's temperament had not changed much from when he was young, his talents were completely different. Su Ri'an talked to him and looked at his political affairs. He felt that this former playboy had now become an unparalleled national sage, and his achievements in internal affairs were far greater than that of himself.

Su Ri'an said: "I still need to learn more to live up to the only opportunity in my life."

"It's good that you understand this. In addition, I'll ask you another question. Over the years, the cooperation between the emperor and me has been complementary, which can be said to be harmonious with each other. Do you know why?"

Su Ri'an thought for a while: "Trust!"

"wrong!"

"That's the mind!" Su Ri'an said again.

Gong Zheng still shook his head and said bluntly: "Wrong, big mistake, and very wrong."

Now Su Ri'an's interest was attracted. After careful consideration, he said, "Are those so-called cooperation illusions? In fact, there is a disagreement between you and the two of you?"

"Haha, Lord Su, you have been in the place for many years, but there are some conspiracy theories."

"What is that?"
Chapter completed!