Two years ago, Lao Zhu got the news that Han Du led a lone naval force deep into the vast sea in order to pursue the rebels, and there was no news from him since. The whole person seemed to have aged ten years in an instant, and even avoided the day for this reason.
This is an unprecedented move since the founding of the country by Lao Zhu. Even when Xu Da, the leading hero of the founding of the country, passed away, Lao Zhu did not avoid it. Although Lao Zhu personally held the funeral for Xu Da when he died to show his sorrow, he listed Xu Da as the first hero of the founding of the country, posthumously named Xu Da the King of Zhongshan, with the posthumous title "Wuning", and gave him the title of king for three generations. The burial of the Yin of Zhongshan and the control of Shinto inscriptions, all the mourning and honors are enough to show Lao Zhu's grief for Xu Da.
However, after Lao Zhu learned that Han Du rushed to the vast sea in order to chase the rebels and was never heard from again, he said nothing and just avoided seeing anyone for a day. Then on the third day, he went to court to listen to politics as usual.
In the eyes of ordinary people, they may not think there is anything wrong with this. But in the eyes of those who know Lao Zhu, this favor is really too heavy.
Sure enough, after Lao Zhu came to court again, he issued several orders. One is to expel Zhang Chao. Although everyone knows that Zhang Chao was wronged, who told him not to stop Han Du at that time? Of course, as a count, he couldn't stop him even if he wanted to. It was his fault that he did not stop Han Du and allowed Han Du to risk going deep into the sea. Now the emperor wants to hold him accountable for his crimes, and no one dares to intercede for him.
Fortunately, Lao Zhu still had a semblance of reason. Taking into account his past achievements, he was only expelled from the rank, but not executed.
No one in the civil and military circles of the dynasty stood up to speak for Zhang Chao. This was the embarrassment of having no one in the dynasty.
The second is to order those distinguished gentlemen from the academy to be summoned to serve as officials in the court. Lao Zhu knew that the academy had placed Han Du's hard work on it, and maybe he didn't want Han Du's hard work to go to waste.
After receiving the order, Xue Xiang immediately summoned those who had the title of Jinshi in the academy. Originally they disdained becoming officials in the court, but Xue Xiang told them. In the past, it was okay for them to disdain being an official, but not now. Because Han Du was in the front to protect the academy from wind and rain, the academy and people like them could have a peaceful life and study whatever they liked.
But it doesn't work now. Han Du's life or death is uncertain. If no one in the court speaks for the academy, sooner or later the academy will be ostracized, or even disappear.
Therefore, in order for the academy to survive, Xue Xiang stood up and proactively begged the gentlemen to obey the emperor's will and join the court as officials. In the past, Han Du was protecting them. These gentlemen could teach according to their own preferences and did not like to be officials. But that's not possible now. Without Han Du's protection, they have to think about themselves, the academy, and the future students of the academy.
If they don't go to court, no one will speak up for the academy if it encounters trouble. Although the academy has never thought of confusing right and wrong, at least it cannot be bullied.
So, half of the gentlemen put down their rulers, put on their official uniforms and walked into the court.
...
One day, Lao Zhu was reviewing a memorial with his eyebrows. He didn’t know what the content of the memorial was, but Lao Zhu’s eyes widened and he frowned angrily.
Just when Lao Zhu was about to bully Zhu Pi, the old eunuch stumbled in from outside the palace gate. While running, he shouted: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty..."
Lao Zhu threw Zhu Pi down angrily, and shot the old eunuch with his gaze like a sword. Just as he was about to scold him, he suddenly saw that the old eunuch's feet were unsteady, and he fell to the ground and rolled twice.
Lao Zhu suddenly turned his anger into a smile and couldn't help scolding: "You are an old man, but you are still as frizzy as a young man. Walk slower, be careful that your old bones will fall apart."
After saying that, Lao Zhu leaned back lazily, stretched out his hand to pick up the tea and took a sip, "Tell me, what exactly happened?"
"Your Majesty, it's a great joy, Your Majesty, the Marquis of Zhenhai is back..."
Lao Zhu suddenly stood up, and the tea cup in his hand fell down as he couldn't hold it, and the full cup of tea spilled all over the dragon robe. Completely ignoring the wet dragon robe, Lao Zhu walked down three steps at a time and asked sternly at the old eunuch who stood up: "Are you telling the truth? Where is Han Du?"
The old eunuch was so happy that tears flowed from the corners of his eyes, and he quickly replied: "The news that was sent urgently from Babaili in Shanghai County said that yesterday morning, someone discovered that the flag of the Marquis of Zhenhai had entered the Yangtze River with several giant ships. I’m afraid we’ve reached the dock outside Beicheng now.”
The look on Lao Zhu's face swept away the gloom of the past, and he laughed happily. Even the irritation just now was forgotten in an instant.
"Okay, this bastard has been gone for two years, and he finally came back."
Lao Zhu sighed deeply, thinking of losing the news of Han Du, he was filled with grief. The key is that he still had to face An Qing's lonely eyes. Every time Anqing entered the palace, Lao Zhu would inevitably blame himself deeply.
"Quick, pass the order immediately and ask Han Du to come to see you immediately."
"Yes, slave, go right away." The old eunuch replied, and quickly turned around to go out and make arrangements.
But Lao Zhu stood there and thought for a moment, then raised his hand to stop the old eunuch and said, "Forget it, just drive on, I'm going to Beicheng Pier."
The old eunuch glanced at the emperor in surprise. The emperor personally went out of the city to greet him. This was the treatment that a general would receive only after he returned in triumph. Han Du didn't go to war, he just came back alive. Is this kind of courtesy too much?
When Lao Zhu saw the old eunuch frozen in place without moving, he glared at him suddenly and said, "Why don't you hurry up and get ready for the ride?"
"Yes, I'll go right away." Seeing the emperor's insistence, the old eunuch didn't say anything and quickly agreed.
Naturally, Lao Zhu couldn't be the only one out of the city. Hearing that the emperor was about to leave the city, although he didn't know what was going on, all the six ministers of the imperial court and various big shots came.
The Imperial Guards were dispatched immediately and the streets that Lao Zhu was passing through were tightly guarded. The people on the street immediately retreated to both sides of the street. Those who wanted to witness the grand occasion of the emperor's trip could just stay on both sides of the street and wait for the emperor to arrive, kneel down and kowtow. People in urgent need left from the alleys on both sides of the street to avoid the emperor's path.
Lao Zhu Yuhu was in front, and the officials' sedans were behind. The group of people headed out of Beicheng in a mighty manner.
Since Lao Zhu did not inform the officials about his trip, when they saw the emperor's imperial concubine leaving the Shence Gate, all of them had surprise in their eyes. They did not understand why the emperor suddenly wanted to come outside Beicheng. .
However, before the officials could be puzzled for too long, they saw the emperor's royal carriage stopping at the pier.
The Imperial Guards had already cleared out the entire dock and drove the boats floating on the river to a lower position.
Lao Zhu sat on the imperial boat, looked at the empty dock, and waited quietly.
"Master Qin, is the Emperor waiting for someone?"
"Master Yang asked me, who should I ask? If Master Yang is brave, why not go forward and ask the emperor."
There is no one who can become a minister but is not a cunning fox. How could he actually go up and question the emperor after hearing someone else's words?
Everyone knew that if the emperor wanted to tell them, he would have told them long ago. Now, since the emperor didn't say anything, it means that the emperor didn't want to let them know, at least he didn't have the patience to explain to them.
Several big guys whispered a few words, but no one came forward to ask Lao Zhu. After a while, they even lost interest in whispering, and just stood motionless behind Lao Zhu's coffin, waiting quietly.
Lao Zhu, who was sitting behind General Yu Chu, could clearly hear the movement in his ears. During this time, he couldn't help but put a smile on his face, and he didn't know what Lao Zhu was thinking.
About half an hour later, just when all the officials felt that the sun above their heads was too strong for them to bear. A sharp-eyed man suddenly pointed at the river and said, "Look, there is a ship, it's a navy warship."
Navy warships... Could it be that the emperor came here with such great force just to wait for a few navy warships?
Some people didn't know why, but some people suddenly thought of something and couldn't help showing a surprised expression on their faces.
Could it be that that person is really back?
Lao Zhu naturally saw the naval warships on the river, and his eyes were more careful than others.
These three warships in front of me...how should I put it? Just letting Lao Zhu take a look, Lao Zhu felt that these three warships seemed to have experienced many things, and every board seemed to be telling the story of what it had experienced.
Lao Zhu opened the curtain, stepped down from Yuhu, stood on the ground and looked up at the approaching warship, with a smile on his face.
Han Du stood on the bow of the ship and saw Lao Zhu's bright yellow fish through the telescope from a distance. Surprised, he said to Fang Xiaoru beside him: "The emperor is here?"
Fang Xiaoru also saw Yu Hu, and turned to look at Han Du. The two looked at each other, not knowing what was going on.
Lao Zhu actually went out of the city to greet him. He couldn't bear such a big gift.
Hmm... But that's not necessarily the case. Han Du suddenly took a deep breath twice. He had suffered so much along the way, so why did he receive such courtesy from Lao Zhu?
Han Du's flagship sailed into the dock first. Han Du took Fang Xiaoru and Jiang Ming away and quickly got off the ship. He came directly to Lao Zhu and knelt down: "Your Majesty Han Du..."
"My filial piety..."
"Your Majesty Jiang Ming..."
"Meet the Emperor!"
"Pingshen." Lao Zhu smiled with a smile on his face and raised his hand to signal to the three of them.
"Thank you, Your Majesty~" The three of them said all the courtesy before standing up from the ground.
Lao Zhu looked at Han Du standing in front of him and saw that his face was dark. He couldn't help but sigh: "You have suffered a lot these past two years, but it would be great if you could come back. It would be great if you come back."
When Lao Zhu was sighing, he suddenly sniffed his nose subconsciously and felt that he was enveloped by a strange smell. He frowned and asked, "What is this smell?"
When Lao Zhu realized that the source of the strange smell was Han Du and others, he asked in confusion: "You... what's going on?"
Other officials had already smelled the peculiar smell on Han Du's body, but it was difficult to show it in front of the emperor. Just hold your breath and forcefully endure it, making them extremely uncomfortable.
Now when the emperor mentioned it, everyone's faces secretly sighed, and they quietly took two steps back and stayed away from Han Du.
What does it taste like...of course it's marinated. It's impossible to stay with those sweet potatoes all day without being pickled.
Han Du raised his arm and smelled it carefully, but couldn't smell anything.
Sure enough, after living in an abalone shop for a long time, I don’t smell the smell. He couldn't even smell the stench at all. If he hadn't been reminded by Lao Zhu, he wouldn't have noticed anything was wrong.
Lao Zhu was born as a farmer, so he naturally knew what this smell was like. Since he had not been exposed to it less as a child, he could barely tolerate it, but the expression on his face gradually became unhappy.
Han Du deliberately played it off and said to Lao Zhu: "Your Majesty, I encountered three kinds of auspiciousness when I went to sea this time, and I brought them back."
"Auspicious? Or three types? Are you kidding me? Or, you put gold pieces on something and want to offer it to me as a unicorn?" Lao Zhu's tone was full of ridicule, because This is what the officials who used to offer auspicious omen to Lao Zhu did in the past.
After hearing this, all the officials laughed heartily. They have seen too many such jokes and don't believe that there are really any unicorns in this world.
Han Du did not explain too much. He bowed to Lao Zhu and said, "The emperor will know it as soon as he sees it."
After that, he raised his hand to signal the soldiers to move down the sweet potatoes and potatoes grown on the ship together with the wooden boxes.
A box of sweet potatoes and a box of potatoes were placed in front of the emperor.
Lao Zhu looked at the auspiciousness that Han Du was referring to. It was a little different from what he thought, and he had some expectations for the auspiciousness that Han Du was talking about.
"This is the auspiciousness you are talking about. It doesn't look like it. But your thing looks rare. I have never seen it before." Lao Zhu looked at the leaves growing in the wooden box and said with some curiosity.
The sweet potatoes and potatoes are already fully mature, so the originally green and lush vines are a little withered, lying softly on the soil, not energetic at all, and have no sense of beauty at all.
Without explaining, Han Du reached out and completely removed the vine leaves from a sweet potato seedling, revealing a rhizome growing out of the soil.
Regardless of the marquis robe on his body, Han Du dug hard at the soil on both sides of the root with both hands. Then he suddenly dug up the entire piece of soil. As Han Du's hands continued to shake, the loose soil fell back into the wooden box, revealing six or seven one-card-long sweet potatoes in Han Du's hand.
These sweet potatoes are a bit larger than those grown by the Zhaiyuan people, but it is reasonable. How can the intensive farming of the Zhaiyuan people be compared with that of the people of the Ming Dynasty? Most of the navy soldiers are from ordinary people, and tending crops is an instinct that is melted into their blood. They are all good at taking care of the crops.
Han Du tore off a sweet potato, broke it into two pieces with both hands, and took a bite of the clean flesh under Lao Zhu's stunned gaze.
As Han Du chewed, the crunching sound was clear and sweet.
While eating, Han Du grinned at Lao Zhu and said, "Your Majesty, this is a kind of food."
Lao Zhu was immediately startled, reached out and took the other half from Han Du's hand, and took a bite of the fruit just like Han Du did. After just tasting it for a moment, he couldn't help but say: "It's actually sweet? "
Han Du smiled and nodded.
Lao Zhu's eyes fell on the sweet potatoes that Han Du had placed on the soil. There were still six left there, each one almost the same size.
Lao Zhu reached out and grabbed it. As soon as he caught it, his expression changed.
The other officials were not fools either. When they heard Han Du say that he had brought back a kind of food, they all looked surprised. They know very well what a kind of food means to Ming Dynasty.
As the natural head of the six departments of the Ministry of Personnel, Shangshu Zhan Hui quickly stepped forward and raised his hands to Lao Zhu and said: "Your Majesty, I don't know what kind of food it is. Can I let my ministers taste it?"
Lao Zhu raised his hand and handed the sweet potato to Zhan Hui and said, "You all should have a taste."
Several ministers immediately followed suit and broke the sweet potatoes with both hands to taste the taste.
"Okay, it's really sweet. It's really a good food." Zhao Mian, the Minister of Household Affairs, was the most excited. The Ministry of Revenue is in charge of the taxation of the world, and is naturally extremely concerned about food.
Han Du smiled reservedly, pretending to be amazed and said: "Of course it is good food. This thing is not only drought-resistant, but also does not pick the field. It can be grown even on low-grade dry land. The most important thing is, the yield of this thing It’s huge.”
Hearing Han Du say that the output was very large, Lao Zhu suddenly came to his senses and realized that he had forgotten something. Just now when he held a few sweet potatoes in his hand, he felt something was wrong. Now that he heard Han Du's reminder, he finally recalled it.
The thing in his hand just now must have weighed at least four or five kilograms. One plant can grow four to five kilograms of grain. So if it is planted on one acre of land, how much will it produce?
Lao Zhu quickly turned around, ignoring the dirt, and directly removed the vine seedlings and started digging.
Soon, Lao Zhu dug out a sweet potato plant. It was indeed similar to the one Han Du dug out, and it also had six or seven fruits.
Lao Zhu was still not satisfied after the first one, so he continued to dig the second one.
Even several ministers couldn't help but stepped forward and started digging when they saw it.
After everyone dug out ten sweet potato plants, several ministers, including Lao Zhu, looked up to the sky and roared, regardless of the mud and dark hands.
"The sky has eyes, the sky has eyes..." Lao Zhu was smiling, but tears fell from the corners of his eyes.
Although Lao Zhu is now rich and wealthy, he still can't forget the scene where his parents and brother were starved to death. When he dreamed back at midnight, he didn't know how many times he had dreamed of his brother putting the last wild vegetable dumpling into his mouth.
If it weren't for his brother's wild vegetable dumpling, Zhu Yuanzhang would have starved to death. But his brother gave him the wild vegetable dumpling, but he died.
That was a lifelong shadow in Lao Zhu's heart. Whenever there was a famine somewhere, what Lao Zhu was most concerned about was whether the people had food to eat.
He has experienced it himself and knows clearly that if the people have no food to eat, it will be turned upside down.
Lao Zhu has always attached great importance to the people's food rations. Unfortunately, he is only the emperor, not God. He cannot make the world smooth every year.
But even so, Lao Zhu is sparing no effort to ensure that the people of the world have food to eat. For this reason, Lao Zhu also established a grain chief because he was afraid that local officials would extort excessive taxes from the people. Thinking that since these grain chiefs were selected from the local people and were from the same village as the local people, there was no way they could bully the people.
But Lao Zhu doesn't understand human nature and takes things for granted. He thought that the grain chiefs were chosen from the common people and would think about the people. However, he did not know that the moment these people became grain chiefs, they had completely separated themselves from the category of the common people and would never be the same as the common people again. class. Not only are they not kind to the people, but they also bully the people. There are many grain chiefs everywhere.
Lao Zhu even formulated a grain depot system. The idea was to allow the people to store excess grain in the county's grain depot during good years, and then take it back during the bad years to tide over the bad years.
It can be said that the original intentions of Lao Zhu's measures are good. But when it landed somewhere, it almost completely changed its taste. Originally it was for people to save food voluntarily, but in the county town it became mandatory to distribute food. Originally, people could take back all the grain stored in the granary during famine years. But when you get to the county government, you can only take 70% of it, because the grain depot managed by the county government will be lost.
After only one year of saving, 30% of the food was missing, and the people were naturally full of complaints.
...
Now Lao Zhu suddenly saw the grain that could withstand drought and have a high yield, and he suddenly became excited and couldn't calm down for a long time.
If this kind of food had appeared forty years earlier, his parents and brothers would not have died of hunger.
Lao Zhu looked at the green seedlings in another wooden box. He had never seen such a thing before. He pointed at it and asked Han Du: "Is this also growing food?"
Han Du nodded, started digging the soil, and said, "Yes."
Lao Zhu quickly asked: "What about the output?"
Han Du dug out a potato the size of a goose egg and handed it to Lao Zhu, saying: "The drought tolerance and yield of these two are similar, but the taste of the two things is different."
Hearing that the taste of these two grains were different, Lao Zhu became curious and opened his mouth, wanting to taste the taste of this thing.
Han Du was shocked when he saw it. He quickly stretched out his hand to stop it. Facing Lao Zhu's confused eyes, he explained: "Your Majesty, this cannot be eaten raw."
Potatoes seem to be poisonous if eaten raw, right? Han Du vaguely remembered it, and the toxicity seemed to be quite high.
Since it can't be eaten raw, Lao Zhu angrily gave up his plan to taste it and asked doubtfully: "Oh? How should I eat this thing?"
Han Du quickly said: "It can be eaten boiled, stir-fried as a vegetable, or grilled."
"This thing can still be used for cooking?" Lao Zhu said in surprise. In his eyes, food is food and vegetables are vegetables. How can there be something that can be used as both food and vegetables?
"Of course, this thing is both food and food." Han Du immediately replied.
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