The palace examination was finally over, and the early summer of the second year of Tianqi was as short as a rabbit's tail.
The capital city in the Little Glacier climate is not very hot.
Liu Zhaosun remembered that during the Dragon Boat Festival this year, his family gathered around the Eight Immortals table to eat rice dumplings with red bean paste.
That day, the three sisters, Jin Yuji, Yang Qinger, and Zhang Yan, were still wearing horse-faced skirts, which showed that the weather was not very hot.
Jin Yuji shook her long legs with nowhere to rest, and argued with Yang Qing'er about who was Qu Yuan's hometown, North Korea or Ming Dynasty.
Zhang Yan's belly swelled slightly. The Protector untied the hemp ropes on each bamboo leaf and handed the rice dumplings to the pregnant woman whose appetite had increased sharply.
In the blink of an eye, June is here, and the weather is starting to get extremely hot.
On the afternoon of the second day of June, around midnight, a dark green cloud suddenly floated from the western sky, followed by strong winds, and soon there was crackling hail.
People in the capital were killed and many injured. Even the most eloquent officials in the capital were unable to connect this extreme weather with auspiciousness.
It's not just the people who suffer.
The Lord Protector worked overtime every day for two months to review the memorials, and was busy in the barracks workshop during the day. It can be said that he worked hard and worked hard all night.
The day after the hailstorm, he finally suffered from an old illness and became ill.
In the early morning of May 28th, Liu Zhaosun got up early to patrol the camp. He felt slightly feverish, but he didn't notice it at first. He continued to review memorials in the afternoon. When he returned to the military camp that night, he had a high fever, chest tightness, nausea, headache and irritability, and finally fell into a coma.
The Duke Protector's house suddenly became a mess.
Kang Yingqian and Qiao Yiqi were afraid that there would be something wrong with the Protector. After all, it was not the first time that Liu Zhaosun fell ill.
After the two discussed, they called in Lao Songtou to treat him and at the same time told Deng Changxiong to order the soldiers stationed in the nine gates to wear armor and prepare for battle.
Lao Songtou disclosed the medicine to Hu Guo, patted his chest and said that the patient just had a cold attack, and that two doses of warm tonic would cure the disease.
However, after taking two doses of medicine, the high fever still did not go away.
Jin Yuji stayed in front of her husband's bed, crying into tears.
When everyone was looking at each other and at a loss, Yang Qing'er ordered Wu Xiao to go to the palace overnight and go to the Imperial Hospital to find his relative, the Imperial Physician Wu Youke.
Wu Youke came out of the palace overnight and cut the pulse of the Protector. Under the admiring gaze of Old Songtou, he said lightly:
"It's okay, it's just an occasional plague. The weather in the capital has been bad recently, and there are a lot of plagues. But don't worry, it's not the plague."
When everyone first heard the word "might as well", they all breathed a sigh of relief. Then when they heard the word "plague", their expressions changed drastically. In this era, plague is synonymous with death.
Kang Yingqian looked gloomy and stared at the ground without saying a word.
Qiao Yiqi looked gloomy, as if she was possessed by Mrs. Xianglin, and said to everyone:
"I'm so stupid, really. I had already advised the Protector to take care of his body, but he is even more cruel than Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. He wants to do what others have done for ten lifetimes, including fighting, training, and... We are planning reforms... This is so, even the toughest people can't stand it!"
"I am so silly."
Sun Chuanting had stayed in both Shaanxi and Shanxi, and knew that the plague was serious, so he whispered to the people around him:
"If it is really a plague, we still have to avoid it. In addition, this matter must not be made public..."
Jin Yuji ignored it and threw herself in front of the bed:
"Heal him quickly!"
Yang Qing'er calmed down the North Korean girl and said to Wu Youke:
"From what my husband said, I think it can be cured."
Wu Youke recalled the plague cases he encountered during his medical tour in Shaanxi. He raised the patient's limp wrist and carefully cut the pulse. He turned over Liu Zhaosun's tongue and looked at it, and said to everyone:
"Aversion to cold and strong heat, either three times a day or once a day, with irregular onset, chest tightness and nausea, headache and irritability, stringy pulse, dark red edges of the tongue, greasy tongue coating, or white and thick coating like accumulated powder. These symptoms are related to It is exactly the same as what I saw when I was in Xianyang in the 45th year of Wanli. It is undoubtedly a plague."
After everyone heard this, their faces suddenly turned pale.
In the 45th year of Wanli's reign, Xianyang was caught off guard by the great epidemic. Three out of ten of the 100,000 people living inside and outside the city died. It is said that there were not enough people to collect the corpses and bury them in the end.
Kang Yingqian stared at the Protector, speechless for a long time, and murmured:
"It's time and destiny, and I can see that I'm going to be emperor. Why is this happening! It's hateful, hateful!"
Qiao Yiqi, Ma Shiying and others were already scared to death. Only Sun Chuanting called Pei Dahu and asked him to go down to find people and strengthen the security of the house to prevent others from approaching.
Jin Yuji screamed and fainted.
Wu Youke calmly took out a medical book from his sleeve, turned to the middle page, and said to Yang Qing'er:
"Mrs. Gaoming, please see, this is Dayuan drink prepared by Xiaguan. It is composed of seven herbs, including betel nut, magnolia bark, caoguo, anemarrhena, peony, skullcap and licorice."
Yang Qing'er pointed to the prescription and said calmly:
"Does this really work?"
Wu Youke stroked his beard lightly, shook his head and said:
"Betel nut removes Lingnan miasma, Magnolia officinalis breaks the hostility, grass and fruit remove evil spirits, and the three flavors work together to reach their nests, causing the evil spirits to collapse and quickly leave the membrane. Grass and fruit cure the cold of Taiyin alone, and Anemarrhena cures Yangming alone. Heat. It can cure damp-heat obstruction and joint failure, resulting in fluctuations in cold and heat...
Yang Qing'er didn't wait for him to finish speaking and made a decisive decision:
"Hurry up and prepare it and give it to the Lord Protector without delay!"
~~~~~~
The day after Ping Liaohou fell ill, Zhu Youjian, who had a keen eye and ears, sent someone to deliver the imperial edict and reward.
Wang Cheng'en carried the holy edict and the gifts given by the young eunuch to the Duke Protector's Mansion. He wanted to see Liu Zhaosun, but was stopped by Sun Chuanting and others, saying that the Duke had just recovered from a serious illness and it was inconvenient to see guests.
The prince had no choice but to read an oral edict in front of Sun Chuanting:
"Instruction to the Lord Protector: I haven't seen the Lord Protector for several days. I heard that there was a cold wind, so I would like to give you eighty taels of silver and a python robe as a token of my memory."
The gifts are still a mouthful of fresh pig, a mouthful of fresh lamb, sweet pickled melons, eggplants, two stones of white rice, ten bottles of wine, eighty taels of silver, two boxes of sweets, two boxes of dry snacks, and one portion of roasted rice.
~~~~~
The night after taking Dayuan Drink, Lord Protector's high fever began to subside, and five days later, he fully recovered.
During this period, Yang Qing'er, the concubine of the Jin Dynasty, also fell ill. Zhang Yan was pregnant, but she was still naked and had been waiting at the sickbed of the Protector for five days in a row.
Liu Zhaosun was greatly moved.
Surprisingly, the plague did not spread this time, and even Wu Youke didn't know why.
Perhaps the virus is in the incubation period, waiting for a more suitable nurturing environment to form and then explode.
No matter what, after experiencing this incident, Liu Zhaosun gained a new understanding of health.
In the hot summer weather, there were far fewer memorials sent to the capital from various places than in the past. The training of new recruits of the 9th and 10th Guards Corps was changed from every three days to every five days, and workshops and schools were also on holiday.
The Lord Protector has just recovered from his serious illness and no longer goes to the military camp for the time being. He has been staying at the mansion to stay with the beauty.
From the expedition to the Japanese country to the return to Jingnan, it was busy for more than half a year, and finally I had a few days to rest.
On June 15, the streets and alleys of the capital were decorated with lights and colorful decorations, and the capital officials invited the Yiyang Opera Troupe to sing Kunqu opera in the North and South Streets.
At dusk that night, the protector of the country married Zhang Yan with three gifts and six betrothal gifts.
Zhang Yuhe's bulging belly has become more and more obvious. After all, she is six months pregnant and can't delay getting married any longer.
Although Liu Zhaosun was reluctant, he could not withstand the nudges from Kang Yingqian and others. Moreover, after this serious illness, he also had some inexplicable feelings for Zhang Yan.
By the way, since Kang Yingqian spent a lot of money to bring Zhang Yan back to Liaodong from Henan, he recognized Zhang Yuhe as his adopted daughter.
To put it in layman's terms, Lao Kang is now Zhang Yan's godfather.
Just like that, Liu Zhaosun got another father for no reason, and he was the kind of godfather who liked to sell illegal drugs everywhere.
On the day of the wedding, all the civil and military officials from the capital were present to celebrate the newlyweds of the Protector of the Country, and there was a crowd of beauties.
After working hard for half a year, the Protector could finally relax a little. On the day of the wedding, he was so drunk that he fell unconscious.
When she woke up again, Zhang Yan's identity was already the second-grade imperial concubine ordered by the imperial court, and she officially became the third heroine in the Duke Protector's house.
~~~~~
July is on fire.
Although Liu Zhaosun advocated frugality and advocated a pure heart and few desires, after all, he was the protector of the country, a highly respected minister, and his daily expenses were naturally incomparable to ordinary people.
In the Duke Protector's Mansion, there are many luxuries for cooling off from the summer heat, such as ice cream (similar to air conditioners) and chilled red wine.
The three beauties stayed together and hid in the small building as one unit, and lived a very comfortable life.
As described in "Water Margin":
The jade screen is surrounded by red lanterns, and there are clusters of swimming fish playing with algae. The mat is covered with eight feet of white shrimp whiskers, and a red agate pillow is placed on the head. The six dragons were afraid of the heat and did not dare to move. The sea water boiled Penglai Island. The young master still feels that the power of the fan is weak, and the pedestrians are walking on the road of mortals.
What is said here is "On a hot summer day, the princes, princes and grandsons were soaking floating melons and sunken plums in the water pavilion of the pavilion, and mixing ice and snow lotus roots to escape the heat. They still felt too hot. How could they know that the guests had little fame and little profit, and no shackles to restrain them? During the three volts, you have to walk on that road."
The streets and alleys of the capital resounded with the cries of Binghuers (coolies selling sour plum soup).
In ancient times, there were ice cellars that could store ice. In the Yuan Dynasty (Note 1), cream and other products were available in the north to make popsicles or ice cream.
Jin Yuji drinks a cup of sour plum juice every day to cool down. Besides taking care of her daughter, she and Yang Qing'er also study how to make delicious ice cream.
Naturally, there are no such cold drinks in North Korea, and we saw very few of them in Kaiyuan in previous years.
When she arrived in the capital, this North Korean girl had gained some experience. It turned out that there were so many tricks to just this three-volt cold drink.
Fortunately, Tan Erpo, the chef at the Protector's Mansion, is good at making all kinds of pastries, especially amber cakes.
The so-called amber cake is made by filtering the watermelon juice and then boiling it over low heat. The juice is thick and then chilled, making it beautiful and delicious.
Not only Jin Yuji and Yang Qing'er, Liu Zhaosun took a bite, and the taste was almost the same as a certain Das he had eaten, and he praised:
"Tan Er, the pastries you make are pretty good. You can open a pastry shop in the capital in the future and apply for a patent."
Chef Tan didn't know what the patent was, but for the next six months, this cook who narrowly escaped from his ancestral home in western Liaoning was busy making cold and delicious amber cakes.
