141-150

Chapter 141 The old emperor still has charm, and the young prince is young and lovely

For dozens of breaths, no minister came out to report.

Xu Yanmiao: [Wow! They say that if there is something to report, then report it. If there is nothing to report, then leave the court. Is today a rare day without anything to report? Am I so unlucky? I was just planning to draw a blind box. ]

Ministers: "..."

We also want to move, and we don't want to be reserved here, but we don't want to be stripped naked in front of our former colleagues or even newcomers!

Damn it, but if he didn't move, even a fool would be able to tell that something was wrong, not to mention that he was not a fool.

Look at each other.

'you go?'

'Why don't you go?'

'I'm sixty, you have to respect me!'

'I'm forty, you have to love the young!'

Some officials twisted their bodies, hesitated and raised their feet, but they couldn't muster the courage to put their boots on the ground for a long time.

The dozen or so new scholars were so shocked that they were so stunned that they didn't even dare to breathe.

'What is this sound? What is a blind box? Gossip... Could it be Fuxi Gossip? What's there to be afraid of?'

'Why do they all look so cautious?'

"Is this the officialdom? It's so horrible!"

Everyone was brainstorming, but no one dared to raise their heads.

Li Ying - the son of Li Shihu who had been lost for many years and found that the dynasty had changed after returning to the court. In the second year after Li Shihu's surrender, he was appointed as a fifth-rank Langzhong of the Bibu Department, affiliated to the Ministry of Justice.

After taking a look at the current atmosphere and the confusion on Xu Lang's face, I decided to watch the fun (crossed out) and share your worries.

——And he admitted that he didn't like the newcomer assigned to their Ministry of Justice.

"Director Dong." Li Ying smiled at the man and said slowly, "You have just taken office as the Director of the Guangdong Qingli Division. Don't you think there are any crimes in Guangdong that need to be presented to His Majesty?"

——The Guangdong Qingli Division of the Ministry of Justice is responsible for handling all crimes in Guangdong and preventing inappropriate charges and sentencing.

However, above the chief clerk there is a deputy minister, and above the deputy minister there is a doctor. It is impossible for him, the chief clerk, to go out and report on affairs!

A sense of frustration flashed across Director Dong's dark eyes.

I don't know whether the other party is bullying new officials out of habit, or because he knows that his father-in-law has become his ex-father-in-law, so he can't wait to jump out and target him in order to please his ex-father-in-law.

His father-in-law is an official of the Hanlin Academy! Even if he is a fifth-rank official, he can still suppress the fifth-rank official who is not from the Hanlin Academy!

But no matter what, your superior has called you to step out, and unless you quit, you have to endure it no matter how frustrated you are.

Dong Zhushi stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, I have something to report!"

All the officials breathed a sigh of relief.

The scapegoat is here!

【Wuhu! Finally here! 】

Xu Yanmiao's eyes swept over Director Dong and then looked at the system.

[Hey! It's you! Mr. Liu's ex-son-in-law! ]

The word "before" directly pierced Dong's heart.

Who is this person? Can he speak?

Director Dong: irritable.jpg

【Let me see......】

Manager Dong cursed in his heart: What are you looking at! You just came out of the mountains, haven't you ever seen a human? Two eyes and a nose, what's so good about it!

Li Ying suppressed her gloating and looked at him sideways.

"You will know what Xu Lang is looking at in a moment."

"Letting your own brother abduct someone's daughter and elope is really shameless!"

Even during those turbulent times, when his stepfather wanted to marry his mother, he insisted on having a matchmaker come to their house and propose marriage in a formal manner, even though he knew that if he used threats or inducements, his mother might compromise for the sake of her mother-in-law and young son and follow him without any status, and he prepared the three matchmakers and six ceremonies!

'Pooh!'

[Wow! A father-in-law like Master Liu is really generous. He has taken care of Dong's fellow villagers, parents, sister, brother, and cousins ​​from his third uncle and second uncle's families for nearly ten years, and spent three thousand taels of silver! ]

[Wow! That's 1.26 million! ]

[This does not include the positions I helped them get and the favors I paid them.]

[This Dong is really shameless. Your father-in-law is so devoted to you, and you let your idle brother seduce the daughter of someone else? ]

Wow even!

Lian Hang seemed to be extremely distressed.

What a loud slap! It was so miserable. I was called shameless. Although I was indeed shameless, I couldn't even refute myself that I was not shameless. It was so miserable, so miserable.

whee.

Manager Dong forced himself to smile.

He was not familiar with Xu Yanmiao's voice and had no idea who was criticizing him.

And judging from the reactions of other ministers before, this sound was not only heard by him, but by all officials!

I'm so embarrassed!

[Hahahahahahaha——]

[So now after forcing my daughter to divorce him, I asked him to pay back the money.]

[A full three thousand taels of silver! I'm so worried that my hair is almost falling out.]

[He went to ask his friend and family for money, but no one was willing to give it to him. They all avoided him. It was so funny. He helped a bunch of ungrateful people.]

【But maybe he enjoys it? 】

Who is enjoying it!

Director Dong almost squeezed out two "hehe" sounds from his throat, but when he glanced around, he saw that the censors were staring at him eagerly, waiting for him to misbehave in front of the emperor, just like a group of vultures waiting for a living thing to die.

He gritted his teeth and pretended he heard nothing.

Suddenly, an uncomfortable feeling of frustration crashed into my heart.

Seniors: Yes, that's the expression! It's the kind of feeling of being scolded but having to hold it in and not being able to refute back!

Seeing that the newcomers didn't escape either, they felt much more comfortable: )

[But anyway, father-in-law... Pah! It just comes out of nowhere. Anyway, Master Liu is really a good father-in-law.]

When Xiao Bai Ze called him father-in-law, Liu Bingwen's expression suddenly became strange.

Actually...if...it doesn't seem to be impossible?

Although letting Xiao Bai Ze be his son-in-law is equivalent to running naked for the whole family, but if Xiao Bai Ze really likes his daughter, even if he runs naked, will he not consider the interests of their family!

His eldest daughter still has charm.

His second daughter is capable and sophisticated.

His youngest daughter... forget about her. She is too spoiled and too naive to know the ways of the world. She is not suitable for Xu Lang.

If his daughter is not okay, he doesn't mind his son! Isn't it just Long Yangzhi's preference? He is very open-minded!

Fortune and misfortune go hand in hand. As long as the interests are appropriate, a mere eight...

[Eh? This? Is there such a thing? Mr. Liu is in trouble...]

[This can be considered as another way of leaving a name in history, right? ]

[Who first spread the news that Master Liu was defeated and captured, and in order to save his life, he kowtowed a thousand times to the enemy leader, and was forced to wear women's clothes, just because the enemy leader loved his sister but couldn't get her, so he used him as a substitute meal? ]

The sky gradually brightened, a faint pale sky floated on the mountain top, and the rosy glow leaped out, casting a blush on Liu Bingwen's face.

slander!

It's pure slander!

Which damn thing is so rumored! He was only ten years old in the first year of Tiantong. Before that, when there was a war, how could he, a child under ten years old, be defeated and captured, and how could his sister be loved!

The enemy leader is in love with a girl who is less than ten years old? !

Hard. The fist is hard.

Liu Bingwen gritted his teeth and cursed the rumormonger a thousand times in his heart.

Especially when Xu Yanmiao said: "Ah... This incident was clearly the deeds of a soldier whose name was unknown during the war on the weekend. However, because of Mr. Liu's reputation for being charming, this incident was pinned on him?"

[Now when people talk about Liu Meigong, they always mention: "I know him, Liu Bingwen, the man who disguised himself as a woman and became his sister's concubine."]

[It's miserable, so miserable, really miserable...]

Master Liu no longer cared whether he was miserable or not.

His whole body was almost numb.

Wind...wind what?!

He stared blankly ahead, without blinking for a long time.

The minister next to him quickly glanced at Mr. Liu's snow-white skin and flowing beard, and remembered that this man had a nickname, "Liu Meigong". It was not surprising why the people would pin the rumor of "once dressed as a woman" on him.

But... the word "charm" still exists...

The ministers suddenly felt annoyed.

Xu Yanmiao, as a person who once served as the chief examiner of the imperial examination, don't you think there is something wrong with using the word "charm still there" to describe a handsome man?

＊

Not only did Xu Yanmiao not think it was wrong, he also recalled the memes that had been played online before.

[The old emperor still has his charm? ]

Emperor Tiantong: "...what?"

[The little prince is young and lovely? ]

The prince himself: "...Huh?"

The two men's pupils trembled.

Is this how people spread the story about them? !

This is too scary...

The smiles of the ministers who were watching the fun froze and they began to pinch their thighs skillfully.

Many of the new scholars' legs went weak and before they fell to the ground, their seniors reached out and helped them stand up.

Ji Sui's former adopted son looked at his colleague who had kindly held him up, his face pale and his body shaking like a delicate flower ravaged by a strong wind: "He——"

"Has he always been like this? So bold?"

Look at what he just said! The emperor still has his charm, the prince is young and lovely, is this what a human being can say! Is this what he can listen to!

Xie Huai, a colleague who was also a compiler in the Hanlin Academy, looked up at the sky and sighed, "You'll get used to it."

——This is valuable experience from our predecessors.

Ji Sui, the former adopted son, felt dizzy.

He heard it, which means that even the emperor would not care about what the other party said, otherwise he would have dragged him away and beheaded him, and would not have allowed the minister to become "accustomed to it."

On Liu Xueshi's side, a nosy colleague asked him gently, "How is it, are you still interested in having Xiao Bai Ze as your son-in-law?"

Liu Bingwen's face turned pale and he shook his head blankly.

Can't hold on.

I really can't withstand this power.

I'm sorry, he was too reckless before.

＊

The old emperor thinks he is the blind box.

He was just watching the ministers' excitement, but suddenly it affected him.

——Sad.jpg

After listening to Dong's report on criminal cases in Guangdong, the eunuch took advantage of the opportunity to bring a piece of ice. The old emperor gave him a praiseful look, grabbed the ice and put it on his forehead. The cold touch immediately calmed his brain.

He knocked on the dragon throne and expressed his views on the case in words. He also discussed the verdicts of some cases with officials from the Guangdong Qingli Division of the Ministry of Justice. This report was considered a success.

Before the next memorial came, the old emperor interrupted without hesitation: "When I built the palace in the past, I was in a hurry and built it by filling the lake. Therefore, the imperial city is low-lying and has serious waterlogging. However, the country was not rich before, so I could only increase drainage to reduce suffering. Now thirty-four years have passed, and I want to rebuild the palace, but I don't want to waste people's money. The Ministry of Works should calculate the cheapest modification cost and report it to me as soon as possible."

Even though he had mountains of gold and silver, the old emperor was still as frugal as ever.

After a pause, the old emperor said: "In addition to the imperial palace, there are also various palaces and courtyards. After twenty or thirty years, they are also in disrepair. Let's repair them together this time."

And he issued a target: "At least a few hundred thousand taels of silver less than the renovation cost calculated by the Ministry of Works in the tenth year of Tiantong. But no cutting corners can be allowed."

The Minister of Works felt that if he was not standing in the front row, he would have wanted to reach out and touch his hair to see if it was still on his head.

Your Majesty, this is a bit too much for the Ministry of Works.

【Wow!】

The sound of nature rang out.

[I thought no one could fulfill the old emperor's request! ]

Ministry of Industry: "!!!"

who!

who is it!

Xiao Baize, Xu Shentong, please, have mercy and save us!

Gao He was also shocked.

He quickly looked around secretly.

There is actually someone who can save more money than him?! He must see it for himself!

【Brother Jiaqian, it turns out to be you! 】

The people in the Ministry of Industry were at a loss.

Brother Jiaqian...who is that?

Gao He: ???

I?!

Although the village was poor and he was the only scholar in the village, he gritted his teeth and took charge of the construction of roads, bridges, canals, wells, and houses in the village. He helped the villagers save a lot of money and the things they built were sturdy - but can a rural mud house be the same as a royal palace!

Although he was well aware of all the ways the workers were lazy, cut corners, and used inferior materials, and he was able to supervise them so that they dared not slack off - but how could a rural mud house be the same as an imperial palace!

Although he knew how to bargain and had the nerve to do so, and could even get people to give him a few to more than ten kilograms of building materials after he had negotiated - but how could a rural mud house be the same as a palace!

Although he...

Forget it! Anyway! Xu Lang, you have caused me so much trouble!

But the old emperor didn't care.

The old emperor immediately turned his attention to Gao He.

This person could actually save him hundreds of thousands?

[Great, Brother Jiaqian, you submitted your plan half a month later and directly reduced the budget for the old emperor by one million silver coins. Hiss——and it's not a shoddy project.]

"?!"

How many?

million?!

The old emperor's gaze suddenly became burning.

Gao He was stunned for a moment.

Subconsciously, I expanded the demand tenfold or a hundredfold based on my previous experience in saving money, from the needs of the village to the needs of the palace, and thought about how much I could bargain for...

It seems... indeed... pretty much the same?

The author has something to say:

The old emperor still has his charm, and the young prince is young and lovely (Internet meme)

＊

There is such a story.

Yao Sui was a master of Yuan Dynasty literature. When he was 80 years old, he was bathing with his concubine. Yao Sui slept with her. After they slept, the concubine said: "You are so old. If you die in the future and I happen to be pregnant, what if your family suspects that I am having an affair? Can you leave some evidence so that I can save my life in the future?"

Yao Sui wrote a poem on his concubine's bellyband.

The poem goes like this: [I have encountered this spring for eighty years, and there will be no more spring after this one. Even if I cannot find support, I will still be the one sweeping the graves.]

Later, Yao Sui died, and his concubine happened to be pregnant. His family suspected that the concubine was having an affair, but the concubine took out the poem and dispelled their suspicions.

[These are not the most explosive ones. ]

[What is the most explosive thing? ]

【Yao Sui only lived to be 76 years old in history. 】

[Yes, this was not done by him, but by an old Confucian scholar whose name was not passed down at the end of the Song Dynasty. However, it was blamed on him, and most people believed that he was still disrespectful at the age of 80 and had sex with his concubine ()]

[One word, miserable ()]

＊

When the Wanshou Bridge was being built, Ming Dynasty minister Fei Yaonian said: If we discuss the details step by step, cite rites and etiquette, and everyone agrees with the emperor, and everyone gets their report, the cost can be saved by more than one million.

——"The Fei Family of Qianshan and Local Society in the Ming and Qing Dynasties"

[Translation: Fei Yaonian: I will build the Wanshou Bridge for you, which can save millions. (No cutting corners)]

(Purely personal translation, not comprehensive. The original text has been posted above the translation.)

＊

For specific ways to save money, please refer to He Shengrui:

He Shengrui called the roll at 5 a.m. every day and asked the laborers and craftsmen to bring back a 30-jin stone from the mountain. After a few days, the stones piled up into a mountain. He used these stones to build the ditch bank. It was originally estimated that it would cost 200,000 yuan to build with bricks, but after building with stones, the total cost was no more than 50,000 yuan.

He used 200,000 tiles from private kilns to renovate the shrine, saving the government more than 2,000 taels of silver.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard submitted a memorial requesting that the emperor's carriage and ceremonial guards be repaired when he went out, which would cost a total of 10,000 taels of silver... In the end, with less than 1,000 taels of silver, the emperor's carriage and ceremonial guards were already in good shape as new.

During the reconstruction of the Qianqing and Kunning Palaces in the 24th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, He Shengrui saved 900,000 taels of silver in the project. He neither bribed the eunuchs in power nor shared the money with the officials of the Ministry of Works. As a result, he was charged with "falsely reporting" labor and materials and was dismissed from office.

——"The World's Most Wonderful Book: A Complete Collection of Wisdom Books (Vernacular Translation)"

＊

[He Shengrui actually only built two palaces, but the text needs to take into account that the situation at the founding of the country is very different from that at the end of the dynasty. Under the founding emperor, no matter how greedy the subordinates are, they dare not report a budget of more than 1 or 2 million taels of silver (the old emperor can beat them to death), so I added various palaces and courtyards, like this. ]

＊

A new storm has emerged

——"Ultraman Tiga"

＊

Chapter 142 My precious sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn! You are finally back!

"Yeah."

The old emperor now looks at Gao He with increasing satisfaction, and feels from the bottom of his heart that his ranking of tenth in the second class of the palace examination was really too low!

This kind of talent should be selected as the top scholar!

The Minister of Revenue jumped up and said frantically, "Your Majesty! If there is someone who can save Your Majesty hundreds of thousands of taels, why not give this person to our Ministry of Revenue!"

Before the old emperor objected, the Minister of Industry's face turned extremely pale. He stepped forward to defend his own money-saving treasure: "Yuan Jin is harsh! You are dreaming!"

Doesn't their Ministry of Industry need to save money?

When you need copper, you have to give money to the eunuchs to withdraw it from the inner storehouse. If you don't pay, you can't get it. Or you can buy it from the copper merchants!

Timber also needs to be purchased from timber merchants, and it can be as simple as purchasing hundreds of thousands of large logs!

The workers and craftsmen should be paid, right?

Do you need to provide food and water to the mules and laborers who carry wood and stones for you?

If someone in the kiln makes tiles for you, it's impossible that they give them away for free, right? You have to pay for them, right?

Everything is about money! The Ministry of Revenue still wants to snatch people! Don't even think about it!

Xu Yanmiao: [Wow! They haven't even discovered Gao He yet, but they're already fighting over him. If they discover him, won't they just fight to decide who gets it?]

The Minister of Works was stunned for a moment, and suddenly gave the Minister of Revenue a friendly smile.

Come on, he doesn't mind a fight.

Before he followed the lord, he was the gatekeeper of the gambling house! Let's see if you, Yuan Jin, can beat him.

As the sunlight poured down, the friendly smile on the face of the Minister of Works seemed to carry a hint of subtle evil, and his eyes swept straight towards the face of the Minister of Revenue.

The Minister of Revenue sneered: "Why, you want to hit me? Hit me as much as you want, if you let go, I lose."

Anyway, we can't beat him to death.

——The Minister of Revenue showed his aggressive attitude.

The Minister of Works looked at the old emperor and said, "Your Majesty, it would be a waste if such a talent went to the Ministry of Revenue! Yuan Jinke is already stingy enough... and frugal enough. If one more goes, how will the other departments survive!"

When the time comes, you hand over a note, and they call back saying that the funding you applied for is too high, and that you can obviously save money in many ways. The method is given to you, but the relevant department has to worry about all the troubles themselves.

Old Emperor: "!!!"

He imagined the future when Gao He went to the Ministry of Revenue and all other departments cut their funding, and suddenly he felt that today's sunshine was much brighter.

He said calmly: "He is a natural talent for the Ministry of Revenue, so let him go to the Ministry of Revenue."

Minister of Revenue: ^_^

Minister of Industry: T^T

Other ministers: It doesn't matter, it's best if we can be together, but it doesn't matter if we are not in the same department, we can still borrow people from us!

Gao He's body stiffened.

He felt that many eyes were cast towards him, with admiration and hope, as if there was an invisible and indescribable weight pressing down on his shoulders.

——It is the responsibility and pressure that match the success.

In response, Gao He wanted to say, "Actually, I want to enter the Hanlin Academy."

This statement was later reported to the old emperor, who just smiled and wrote a letter to add the title of Hanlin Academy Reviewer to him.

He has always been very indulgent towards talented people.

＊

However, the court meeting has not yet ended, and the old emperor does not know Gao He's expectations.

The officials of the Hanlin Academy had no idea that they would soon have a new colleague.

Ji Sui's former adopted son looked a little strange.

He looked at the colleague who had kindly held him back earlier, and was greatly surprised: "Has it always been like this?"

The other party: "What?"

Ji Sui's former adopted son: "Whatever he says is what it is? No need to check it?"

The official said proudly: "Of course! Xu Lang has great magical powers."

Ji Sui, the former adopted son, immediately caught the name "Xu Lang".

And he immediately recalled... it seemed that the chief examiner of this examination was named Xu... "Xu Shentong?!"

It's him?!

The official nodded slightly: "Not bad."

And reminded him: "Xu Lang is Xiao Bai Ze!"

"A gentleman does not speak of strange things!"

"Your Majesty believes it."

The former adopted son changed his words without changing his expression: "Xu Lang has a pure temperament and a heavenly appearance. He must be the reincarnation of Bai Ze without a doubt!"

The official said: "You are quite clever."

The former adopted son bowed his head and smiled, and he did not see the official's compassionate look.

He is smart, but if he offends Lord Ji, he will soon fail in officialdom.

＊

A court meeting passed quickly.

The newlyweds also went from being nervous at the beginning to becoming...nervous.

How could they not jump? As soon as that mysterious voice opens its mouth, there will be someone who is ashamed to face others, such as the former father-in-law and son-in-law. Didn't you see that they were like wooden chickens during the whole court meeting, not saying a word and without any expression?

If that mysterious voice calls my name...

"hiss--"

Xu Yanmiao passed by a group of new officers and was confused when she heard a gasp.

[What happened? A sudden cold front? ]

He patted Gao He on the shoulder and said, "I just joined the Ministry of Industry and His Majesty has assigned me a big task. Good luck! If I do it well, I will definitely be remembered by His Majesty! Come on, treat us! I told you, I was on the bench for more than half a year, almost a year, before I was lucky enough to catch His Majesty's eye."

At the same time, I noticed: [Eh? Why are you all looking at me?]

The other new soldiers moved in unison, as if they had rehearsed it, and looked away again.

[Eh? Why did you turn your head again? Because I just looked up at them? ]

Gao He thought to himself: No, it's because I finally recognized the voice and discovered that the mysterious person was you.

[Could it be because of the "Xu Shentong" incident? Well, this is the only way to explain it.] Xu Yanmiao frowned slightly, a little distressed: [In the future, I should show up less in front of the new tribute students. Although they are just curious, it is still weird to be stared at.]

Gao He spoke at the right time, snapped the middle finger of his right hand, and said with a smile: "Okay, I'll treat you!"

...

"Is this what you call a treat?"

Xu Yanmiao squatted on the river bank, staring at Gao He silently.

——They could not leave immediately after the court session ended. They had to wait until their respective government offices were locked before leaving the palace together.

Gao He coughed, took off his long gown, and rolled up his sleeves: "It's cheaper to buy fish directly by the Luo River. I just became an official, and this month's salary has not been paid yet."

As he spoke, he fiddled with the iron stove, iron fork, and iron grill he brought with him, made a fire, and put the fish meat or a whole small fish on it to roast.

"Besides, you can eat barbecue here and listen to music for free!"

Gao He said confidently: "It's free!"

Xu Yanmiao silently raised her hand and pointed towards the river: "Is this the free song you mentioned?"

A large ship passed by on the river, and the sailors on board fiddled with the sails and sang in loud, rough voices. The sound was like thousands of horses running wild, rushing left and right. The entire Luo River seemed to have become a wide carriage, rising and falling with the roar of the mad horses, and the waves surging, as if they were about to rush straight into the sky.

Gao He coughed again: "Wild fun, cough, wild fun."

Xu Yanmiao glanced at him. When their eyes met, they couldn't help laughing at the same time.

This is indeed a different kind of treat.

[Well, lie down——]

Xu Yanmiao stretched lazily, walked to the river bank, looked at the sky, smelled the river breeze, and felt very relaxed.

He was looking at the sky. Gao He grilled fish while occasionally glancing at Xu Lang.

In just one court meeting, the image of Xu Lang in his mind had changed beyond all recognition.

When he first met Xu Yanmiao, his impression of him was that of a handsome young man who stood aside and didn't talk much, but had natural manners and a face as exquisite as fine porcelain.

(Highlight) Moreover, he and another person gave him a large sum of money, which was simply the God of Wealth descending to earth.

When they met for the second time, the other party patiently told him the things to pay attention to in the imperial examination and also wrote an imperial examination manual and printed it for all students.

At this time, Xu Lang was like the reincarnation of a bodhisattva, radiating the Buddha's light of salvation from his whole body.

When they met for the third time, Xu Lang turned into a demon in the eyes of the cheating candidates, with an iron face and excellent eyesight. Kill one if there is one, kill two if there are two!

A few days later, when everyone was having a morning meeting together, he understood...

It turns out that Xu Lang's true identity is that he is a fun-loving person who enjoys watching other people have fun!

Xu Yanmiao: "Why are your legs shaking?"

Gao He wiped the sweat from his forehead: "First day in court... um..."

Then I knew that there was such a powerful weapon as you in the court.

"......nervous."

"Don't be too nervous. According to my observation, except for a few individuals, everyone is relatively friendly, and the atmosphere in the court is not gloomy. Although sometimes there are fights, they are all for grabbing things, and sometimes it's just because of anger."

Xu Yanmiao puffed out his chest and imparted his experience to the new official like a reliable senior.

Gao He couldn't help laughing, and bowed: "Thank you, Minister Xu... Hmm? What is that?"

Xu Yanmiao turned her head subconsciously.

＊

In the Wuying Hall, the old emperor took out a mahogany box with great care from among the layers of tightly wrapped bundles. Traces of sealing mud were faintly visible at the knots, with one seal in the middle and two seals on each end.

"Put aside five letters..."

The old emperor smiled sincerely from the bottom of his heart.

The Daxia letter delivery system has different specifications. From light to heavy, they are: one letter by single horse, two letters by carriage, three letters by horse, four letters by express, and five letters by station.

To put it more clearly:

For trivial matters, a horse and a carriage will be enough.

Things that required a little more attention were delivered by a two-horse carriage.

But when it comes to urgent matters that cannot be neglected, the message should be delivered by a carriage pulled by four inferior horses.

Messages with fixed time limits, such as the emperor's edicts and imperial seals, were delivered by a carriage pulled by four medium-sized horses.

And those who can use five seals and four high-quality horses...well, basically it is either a critical juncture for the survival of the country or a major event of national martial law.

He had received the letter early, opened it and read its contents, and issued a new decree, ordering the relevant cities to be placed under martial law.

"Qin Guan, you are finally back."

My beloved sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn! You are finally back!

＊

When Xu Yanmiao turned around, he saw a luxurious ship coming from the Luo River in the distance. It was two stories high and seemed to be full of people. He could faintly hear cheering, crying, and screaming coming from the river breeze.

The sails were folded down to the bottom of the mast and the boat stopped in the middle of the river.

Soon, they lowered a small boat, and a group of people boarded the boat first. The boat then sailed towards the shore, bobbing with the waves. In the blink of an eye, it was in front of them.

Xu Yanmiao saw them throw the anchor onto the beach, lower the wooden gangplank, and climb ashore along the gangplank.

The clothes of those people were tattered and old. After they got ashore, they went crazy. Some of them fell to the ground on purpose and hugged the river beach tightly. Some of them kept slapping their cheeks: "I'm back! I'm back!"

Some people were frantically tearing off their clothes, pulling their hair, crying bitterly, and their bodies were dirty like mountain monsters covered in creepy black hair.

Xu Yanmiao saw a familiar person on that boat——

Xie Luoshui, and also, General Qin Guan.

The last person to jump off the boat looked like a barbarian from a savage tribe—yellow-skinned, barefoot, almost naked, with only a piece of cloth wrapped around his waist to cover himself. He wore a collar with bird feathers around his neck and strings of pearls around his arms.

His eyes were clearly intact, but after coming ashore, he sniffed everywhere like a wild animal, as if he was using his sense of smell to observe his surroundings.

Xie Luoshui smiled and asked the barbarian: "How is it, is it skookum?"

The other nodded vigorously and clapped his hands together: "skookum! skookum!"

He stammered in a strange tone, "Da Xia! Xia!"

Then there was another series of local dialects, which seemed to be praises.

Xu Yanmiao: "..."

【hiss--】

Xu Yanmiao's eyes widened.

[Indy... Bah, I'm used to calling him that. I shouldn't call him that.]

But Xu Yanmiao didn't know what to call them for a moment. These natives didn't have a unified name at that time, but had their own names based on their respective tribes and ethnic groups.

I opened the system and looked up some gossip about this person.

Xu Yanmiao suddenly understood.

[Oh! From a Paraguayan tribe! That should be called Paraguayans. ]

[You guys are really good, you even brought back the locals. ]

The author has something to say:

The system of passing:

All those who are to ride on a carriage or set out on a carriage shall hold a wooden message of a foot and a half, and seal it with the seal of the Imperial Censor. The carriage shall be sealed with three seals. Three means three. On certain dates, the two ends shall be sealed, two seals at each end, for a total of four seals. The carriage shall be sealed with five seals, two at each end and one in the middle. The carriage with two horses shall be sealed twice, one seal for each horse.

--"law"

＊

Chengchuan → three envelopes, Zhichuan·Shichuan → five envelopes, Yanchuan → two envelopes, Shanma → one envelope.

——The Han Empire's Documentary Administration

＊

Four horses with high feet are called Zhichuan, four horses with middle feet are called Chichuan, and four horses with lower feet are called Chengchuan. One or two horses are called Yanchuan.

——Book of the Former Han Dynasty

(The Han Dynasty had three grades of horses: high-footed, medium-footed, and low-footed. High-footed horses were the best and fastest horses.)

＊

Washington apples are so much better than regular apples that they are shipped all over the country. They are "skookum," which is what Northwestern Indians call something that is really good—whether it's a girl or an apple.

——"World Geography Reader for American Elementary and Middle School Students"

＊

For example, although the American Indians have similar languages ​​and customs, they have not formed a unified nation. They are divided into many ethnic groups or tribes, each with its own name. Indians is just a name given to them by European colonialists. In fact, no Indian nation or tribe calls itself Indian. Since the ethnic group does not have a unified self-name, there is no change in the unified self-name.

——"On the History of the Wuji-Mohe Nationality"

＊

Paraguay is located in the south-central part of South America. Its name comes from the Paraguay River in the country. The Paraguay River divides the country into two parts from north to south. The east is hilly, swampy and wavy plains, and the west is part of the La Plata Plain. "Paraguay" means "a place with a big river or the source of sea water" in the Guarani language of the Indians. There is also a saying that Paraguay comes from the name of a local ancient Indian tribe or the name of a tribal chief.

——"Interesting Place Names from Around the World"

[I don't know if the people in the south-central Paraguayan region use the "skookum" used in the northwest, but I can't find their native word, so I'll use it in the article.]

＊

Chapter 143 There is no need to leave your name in history in this way

My family, who would have thought that my minister would bring back local natives for me when he returned from the sea!

——This is probably what the old emperor is thinking now.

But since they have come all the way here, China, as the host, naturally has to give them a serious reception.

"They eat stews, brew fruit wine, and prefer spicy food. In addition to wild animals, they usually eat cassava and fish."

Cassava is the name given to it by Xie Luoshui. It looks very much like sweet potato, but its color is like wood, so it is called cassava.

A lot of cassava was also brought back on the ship.

The old emperor nodded. So when the banquet started, the table was mostly filled with stews, but there were also dishes cooked in other ways, all in tasting sizes to prevent the Paraguayans from getting sick from the local climate.

When he even learned that the Paraguayans still sat on the ground to eat, he waved his hand and decided that the banquet would be held in the mountains. The emperor and his officials would all wear tight clothes and either sit on the ground or sit directly on the ground.

During this time, the Paraguayan kept speaking to Xie Luoshui, using a mixture of local dialect and Daxia official language, and gesticulating with his hands and feet, occasionally pointing at the old emperor. The old emperor just smiled and passed it by.

After a while, Xie Luoshui stood up and saluted the old emperor using the etiquette that the general taught her on the boat: "Your Majesty, Ilala said that Your Majesty is very strong and sturdy, even stronger than his chief Paraguay. He regrets that he is not in the tribe, otherwise he could hunt a fierce wild boar for Your Majesty and present it to Your Majesty."

The old emperor laughed, "It just so happens that there is a wild boar at the banquet! This warrior has traveled thousands of miles across the ocean to come to our Great Xia. He is truly heroic. Thank you, tell him that we also have a custom in Great Xia, which is to give a warrior a jar of wine and a pig leg to go with the wine. Ask him if he can eat it!"

Xie Luoshui also used gestures and stiff dialect to communicate with Yilala.

These words made Ilala very happy.

He wanted to eat the food raw, just like he did when hunting in the tribe. To move the hot gallbladder, to move the bloody liver, to drink the mother's milk mixed with blood, this is what a warrior should do!

However, what Daxia served was not a whole wild boar, but a wild boar leg.

——He originally thought that, although he was given a pig leg, he would be asked to tear the wild boar leg off the corpse himself and demonstrate his bravery in the blood.

Ilala was a little disappointed, but he soon remembered that whether it was "Xie", "Qin", or other Daxia people, after participating in their hunting, none of them liked to eat the prey raw, and they must take it back to the tribe to stew it.

This is probably what "Xie" meant by "seek common ground while reserving differences" in Daxia language.

"Xie" said, "seek common ground while reserving differences" means that not far from the Paraguayan tribe, there is also a tribe whose people have yellow skin like them and also use horses to measure wealth, but the people there will drink the contents of a dead horse's stomach when they are thirsty, but the Paraguayans will not do that.

——A long time ago, maybe as long as his mother's mother's time, it was heard that the Kwahadi tribe discovered a boat of people. They exchanged five or six turkeys for something called "fish hook" on the boat, and exchanged a pair of wild geese for something called "comb".

But later, the Quahadi tribe and the people on that boat became enemies. The tribe would capture and eat their enemies. So the people on that boat were gone.

However, the horses they brought with them became spoils of war and gradually spread from the Kwahadi tribe to other tribes. Some of them became wild horses and survived on the mainland.

He likes "Xie", "Qin" and these "Daxia people", so he is willing to eat wild boar legs like the "Daxia people" to prove that he is a warrior!

Ilala made a face at the wild boar leg, then sat down on the ground and took big bites of the pig leg meat.

He heard the Daxia people call him "good". "Xie" said that Daxia's "good" is the Paraguayan "skookum"

Ilala bit even harder!

He was even a little moved and awed.

You can tell at first glance that this leg is fresh!

In order to give him a leg, a pig has to be killed!

——The strength of Daxia is so terrifying!!!

＊

Xu Yanmiao really felt it was magical.

[I didn't expect that after Thanksgiving, I would be able to see such hospitable South American natives. ]

[Oh, I'm sorry, it seems like I told a hellish joke, may God forgive me. ]

The ministers kept looking back at Xu Lang.

Weird? Why did Xu Lang's words just now sound so sarcastic? Doesn't he like these natives?

If this is the case......

Qin Guan frowned and said "tsk", feeling annoyed that he had made things worse.

The Minister of Rites Hebi glanced at him and said with a smile, "Why think so much? At worst, we can just send it back."

Qin Guan thought so too and immediately relaxed. He then picked up the orange in the fruit basket in front of him, peeled it quickly, and fed it to the Minister of Rites: "Here! Eat an orange! You often feel dizzy and weak, eating more oranges will be good for you."

Then he smiled and said, "Can I stay at your place tonight?"

Minister of Rites: "..."

He looked at Qin Guan suspiciously for several times.

Did something just run over his face?

Unexpectedly, a voice came out from the side: "Year after year, I miss every year. Every year, the willows dance on the eaves..."

Many people looked over, and the Minister of Rites also turned his head subconsciously.

But it's Marquis Yongchang!

He read on slowly: "I can't express my feelings for the suburbs. I miss your beautiful face. I miss your beautiful face. I lingered on the day we met. Chang'e is before my eyes."

【Wow!!!】Xu Yanmiao's attention was immediately attracted.

[The Marquis and the Little Tea Girl!!!]

[Can the general tolerate this? ]

Of course not Qinguan!

Who are you talking about Chang'e! Who is in front of you?

He had a bad temper to begin with, and he was about to get up and hit someone.

[Fight him, fight him! Slap him in the face! Make him recite poetry to a married man! ]

Qin Guan: That's right!

The slap was about to be swung.

Then, he was pinched hard by the Minister of Rites.

Qin Guan: "..."

He immediately lowered his head in dejection.

[Eh? Why don't you fight anymore? Qin Guan! Are you still a man? ]

Minister of Rites: "..."

Could you please stop talking? I can't hold you back any longer!

Marquis Yongchang added fuel to the fire and smiled provocatively at Qin Guan.

Qin Guan: "!!!"

【！ ！ ！】

【Wow!】

Princess Xiangyang was very excited: "Provoke him!"

The old emperor who was watching the fun: "..."

Gao Shengxian! What's your business?

The prince felt slightly relieved: "I am not alone." Then he was glared at by his father and shut up silently.

But General Qin has already come to his senses.

He directly handed the orange to the Minister of Rites, who paused for a moment but still opened his mouth to eat. The general immediately looked at the Marquis of Yongchang with pride.

Before he could show off his power, he heard a hissing sound behind him. He turned around and saw that the Minister of Rites had a wrinkled face.

Qin Guan: "What's wrong!!!"

"acid."

Qin Guan looked down at the yellow navel orange and threw most of the remaining half into his mouth and chewed it.

"It is indeed a bit sour, but I ate it all, so nothing was wasted." As he said this, he poured honey water for the Minister of Rites.

The Minister of Rites nodded, somewhat happily: "That's good."

【Tsk tsk.】

Princess Xiangyang: "Tsk tsk."

[Eh? What is Gao Xiang saying? Wait... doesn't she know that the poem just now is popular in the capital recently, and it was actually written to her by that person named Lin Zhi? It seems that she doesn't know. I thought that although Lin Zhi didn't sign the name of the person he sent it to, the Jinyiwei could find out and give it to the old emperor, and the old emperor would tell his daughter. ]

Princess Xiangyang: "?!"

What did you say?!

Yongchang Hou was also stunned. Feeling the gazes coming from all directions, including the gazes from the little princess's father and brother that seemed to be able to roast meat, his tiger eyes suddenly filled with tears.

He had no idea there was such an article in it!

He simply couldn't stand Qin Guan and wanted to annoy him!

He didn't want to harm the princess' reputation!

The old emperor looked at Princess Xiangyang: "Xiangyang, you..."

Princess Xiangyang's body trembled, and she opened her mouth reflexively, and uttered a three-syllable "Ah~~~". The old emperor's scalp immediately tingled, and he smiled and waved his hand: "Get away."

"Okay! Thank you, Daddy!"

It turns out that the tricks taught by Xu Yanmiao are still effective!

Princess Xiangyang was about to stand up and walk over to Xu Yanmiao to discuss the confession poem with him, but she heard Xu Yanmiao's inner voice: [Hmm, I don't know how Xie Luoshui and the others brought the local natives back...]

——What a familiar jumping and distracted flavor.

Princess Xiangyang sat back down again, waiting for the next words.

【oh!】

[No wonder! That's why! ]

Xu Yanmiao read the system with great interest: [The natives of that continent worshipped the feathered serpent god, and the feathered serpent god was very similar to the totem snake worshipped by China.]

[So when the local people saw the Teng Snake totem on the bottles and jars that Xie Luoshui and her friends were carrying, they mistakenly thought that they shared the same faith and became particularly warm and friendly! ]

Qin Guan suddenly realized.

So this is ah!

He thought that the natives of this continent were naturally warm and hospitable.

[Wait a minute——]

[Hahahahahahaha——]

[In addition to the same totem, General Qin, you also made a lot of efforts! ]

These words really shocked Qin Guan.

Although he had been at sea for two years, he had not forgotten how much Xiao Bai Ze liked to gloat over others' misfortunes. He might have guessed wrong at other times - after all, Xu Lang's inner voice was not always frightening, but once Xu Lang laughed in his heart, it was definitely not a good thing!

But...what did he do?

Qin Guan was reminiscing frantically and didn't notice that the Minister of Rites was quietly moving his butt, trying to distance himself from him.

[It's so funny, a few natives said to you as soon as they saw you... Uh, I can't read this. Never mind! Anyway, you stupid general, you didn't even observe it carefully, and you assumed that this sentence meant something like "hello", and you even swore it to others. ]

[Aren't you afraid that this is an insult? ]

Qin Guan glanced at Xu Yanmiao and proudly puffed out his full chest muscles.

That certainly couldn't be an insult! How could he not have observed it!

Although he didn't know what Xu Yanmiao was saying, he observed every sentence carefully. For example, if there was a pronunciation he was not sure about, he would pay attention to what he was doing when others used this pronunciation to address him.

If he is doing different things or even nothing several times, and everyone smiles and says that pronunciation to him, then that pronunciation must be a compliment! Or a greeting!

[Although it is not an insult. ]

Qin Guan picked up another yellow navel orange and peeled it. He listened to his inner voice, his hands moving non-stop, neither happy nor angry, with the demeanor of a master.

Humph! He wanted to peel an orange for Xingcong (the official name of the Minister of Rites) without any peeling at all! Then he would taste the orange to see if it was sweet, and if so, he would give it to Xingcong.

[But what this sentence means is "Your pectoral muscles are huge" hahahahaha! ]

"Snapped--"

Qin Guan fell into a strange silence as he looked at the orange peel that fell to the ground after his hand shook.

【Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!】

[As a result, he said "Your chest muscles are huge" to every native he met in the tribe, and no one in the entire tribe had not heard him say this.]

[Sorry, no harm meant, but... this is gay harassment! Hahahahaha! ]

[Fortunately, Qin Guan didn't know about this! Otherwise, I would have been in big trouble! Hahahahaha! ]

Thanks, I'm already working on it.

Qin Guan peeled the orange expressionlessly and turned his head: "Eat..."

Qin Guan: "..."

Qin Guan: "...in a hurry?"

The general looked at his lover with a hurt face.

The Minister of Rites was very surprised: "Oh! Why are you sitting over there?"

Qin Guan: "..."

What else could he do? He could only eat the orange himself.

——This time the orange was sweet and sour! He ate it all by himself! Ha!

Xu Yanmiao's voice continues.

【However. Fortunately, the locals don't think it is sexual harassment. 】

[It's so funny, they are so happy to be praised for their chest muscles! They also think that the people in Daxia are very nice and enthusiastic, and they are very straightforward when praising others! They like it! ]

The Great Xia Emperor and his ministers: No, no, no! We Chinese people value subtlety and will not immediately praise someone's chest muscles!

That was Qin Guan's personal behavior!

The general: "..."

I do not know either......

He turned around to see Ilala, who was still eating the pork leg with a very relaxed attitude, and it was obvious that she trusted him very much.

"..."

Whatever! Qin Guan gritted his teeth: Just praise the chest muscles! At least it's a lucky coincidence!

Ilala: "Qin?"

Qin Guan: "Nothing..."

The Minister of Rites smiled and said, "The general wants to say that your chest muscles are really beautiful."

Ilala was even happier when she heard Xie Luoshui's translation. However, Qin Guan saw the historian writing furiously and silently covered his face.

——Although he really wants to leave his name in history, there is no need to do it in this way!

＊

Xu Yanmiao didn't notice the movement over there. After laughing, he continued to focus on the system content.

[Speaking of which, Paraguayans also have a tradition of jade worship, which is similar to that of the Chinese! ]

[People from the two continents have so many similarities, it's quite a coincidence. 】

The old emperor nodded as well, and he called out, "Qin Qing!"

Qin Guan glanced at the emperor with his peripheral vision, and confirmed that the "Qin" was calling him, so he stepped forward and bowed, "Your Majesty."

The old emperor said: "The Chinese have always been fond of courtesy and reciprocity. The Paraguayan tribe has treated you with courtesy. We will continue to have dealings with you in the future. We must be polite. Do you remember what this tribe lacks? Bring some as gifts."

Qin Guan began to recall: "Your Majesty..."

[Anything is fine. Anyway, it is better than giving pillows and blankets used by smallpox patients as gifts to the natives.]

Qin Guan: "???"

Old Emperor: "???"

The whole court was filled with civil and military officials: "???"

Who would send something like this!!!

Judging from Xiao Bai Ze's tone... there are actually people who give these things to the local natives? !

Living in a country of etiquette, the Chinese people were shocked.

In China, even when two countries were at war, envoys from both countries would not intentionally bring anything contaminated with smallpox when they brought gifts to the door!

That's smallpox!!!

Even now, smallpox is still a terrifying thing. Even a miracle doctor can't cure it! If someone gets smallpox, they can only seal off the city and let them die!

[Oh, right! Damn it! How could I have forgotten to tell you how to prevent smallpox! ]

The ruler and ministers of Daxia: "?!"

What did you say?

What did you say!!!!

It was as if an electric current passed through his brain, and the old emperor jumped up. He was breathing rapidly and almost blacked out from standing up too quickly.

Prime Minister Dou even held his chest, gasped several times, shivered, took out a bottle of pills from his sleeve, and quickly poured out a pill and stuffed it into his mouth.

As for the other officials, they were already dizzy and their vision was filled with the words "leave a name in history".

This is to prevent smallpox!

Even if they were not the chief officers, being an adjutant would be enough to be recorded in history books!

The prince looked at Xu Yanmiao and took a deep breath.

How many good things does Xu Yanmiao have hidden? !

The author has something to say:

Xiao Xu: I haven't hidden it... I just can't remember it because I have read too much knowledge in modern times (whispering)

＊

This was something that excited the Indians. Perhaps it was a simple impulse, or a desire to show their children who they really were. They rode out again to the vast ocean-like prairie that the white man feared. They would kill the buffalo and eat it raw, pickling the bloody liver in the gall bladder and drinking the hot milk from the cow's (milk) mixed with the blood.

——"Empire of the Summer Moon: The Rise and Fall of Quanah Parker and the Comanche Indian Tribe (Oracle) [Restoring the Forty-Year Colonial War of the Whites against the Indian Tribes]"

＊

Now only one obstacle remained: the warlike, unintegrated Indian tribes that inhabited the Great Plains.

The most remote, primitive, and hostile of these was a tribe of Comanches called the Quahadi.

...

The Kwahati were the toughest, fiercest, most uncompromising of the tribe, and had long had a reputation as the most violent and belligerent people on the continent; if they were short of water, they would drink the contents of a dead horse's stomach, something not even the most hardened Texas Ranger would do. Even the other Comanches were afraid of them.

——"Empire of the Summer Moon: The Rise and Fall of Quanah Parker and the Comanche Indian Tribe (Oracle) [Restoring the Forty-Year Colonial War of the Whites against the Indian Tribes]"

＊

Many scholars have proposed that there are a lot of correspondences between American Indian civilization and East Asian civilization, especially between Olmec civilization and Shang civilization, Mayan civilization, Aztec civilization and Dongyi civilization (Tungus Shang). For example, the October solar calendar of the Yi people is exactly the same as the Mayan calendar in Mexico; the worship of the flying snake (flying dragon) of the Han people has exactly the same structure as the worship of the Feathered Serpent God of the American Indians; the two places have very similar jade worship traditions, and the unearthed cultural relics of the Olmec culture show significant Yin and Shang characteristics. The jade gui found in the Olmec culture in Mexico is very similar to the jade gui of the Tungus Shang; in addition, people can also see the hats and "Huban" used by Chinese Shang Dynasty officials in Olmec statues. This "notebook" used by Shang Dynasty officials when attending court seems to have become a sacrificial tool for Indian priests. In addition, in the counting symbols of the Mayans, people also see symbols similar to hexagrams and yao, which reflects the immature form of the Yi Gua in the Shang Dynasty.

——"The Ancient Chinese God System"

＊

The English had a hard time communicating with the Indians: Balor managed to figure out that the tribal elder's name was Granganimeo. He was also proud to learn that the surrounding village was called Wingandacoa. The name of the village was written into all government documents; it was months before the English learned that this extremely difficult to pronounce word - which the Indians kept repeating to Balor - actually meant "Your clothes are beautiful."

——The Age of Exploration

＊

The colonists from Europe initially wanted to convert the Indians to Christianity and make them slaves, but they failed, so they started killing people. The smallpox and other plagues brought by the Europeans became their great helpers in conquering the Indians. Plagues such as smallpox have existed in Europe for thousands of years, and Europeans have gained varying degrees of immunity, but the Indians have no immunity to these plagues and were soon completely defeated by the colonists' guns and smallpox. There are many records of the colonists' deliberate spread of smallpox to the Indians at that time: some colonists took the initiative to give pillows, blankets, etc. that had been contaminated by smallpox patients to the Indians as gifts, causing the plague to spread rapidly. The colonists gloated over the misfortune, believing that this was God's punishment for the pagans.

——《China fights the epidemic! 》

＊

According to Pigafetta's record: "The people in this place exchanged five or six turkeys for a knife or a fishhook, and a pair of wild geese for a comb. The fish exchanged for a small mirror or a pair of scissors was enough for ten people to eat... They exchanged five turkeys with me for an ace in the poker played in Italy." He also recorded the local Indians' custom of cannibalism: "Eating the flesh of their enemies is not because it tastes good, but a custom. They don't eat the captured people all at once, but eat them piece by piece. They chop people into pieces, dry them in the chimney, and cut off a small piece every day and eat it with their usual meals to remind themselves of their enemies.

——"Looking at History through Geography: The Age of Navigation"

＊

Chapter 144 If you can't make it, go back to school and get a meal card!

[Hmm? How can I properly hand over the method of preventing smallpox...]

[Like what is said in the novel, I found an ancient book...I wonder if it is possible?]

【I......】

The old emperor said: "Today's banquet ends here. Dou Qing, Qin Qing, and Xie Qing will stay to entertain the guests. The rest of you can stay or leave if you want."

[Eh? It's going to end so soon? ]

[Then can I go back and fake it now? ]

【Wuhu! 】

[For things like this, the sooner the better. What if it only takes half an hour? ]

After the old emperor left, Xu Yanmiao crouched down and carefully slipped away while everyone pretended not to see him.

[Tsk, as expected. Although the old emperor said that we could leave, many people didn't move. Fortunately, I had already found a way to sneak away.]

Ministers and Imperial Guards: We can't see it! We can't see it!

The next day, when Minister Xu was on duty in Wuying Palace, he presented an "old book" to Emperor Tiantong.

The Emperor: "...You mean, you found an old book that contains a cure for smallpox?"

Xu Yanmiao was horrified: "Your Majesty! It's to prevent smallpox!"

It's too exaggerated to say that he can cure smallpox. How can he have such ability?

The old emperor nodded and looked at the "old book" with a subtle expression.

He said that Xiao Bai Ze's fakery was too bad. It was obvious that it was artificially made. It was not even a little bit worse than what he had back then!

but......

The old emperor sighed and said, "There are actually methods to prevent smallpox in ancient books! I guess too much of China's essence has been lost in the war."

I just said this casually.

Xu Yanmiao: [Who said it wasn't true? In order to make it look real, I also used the system to find a lot of past cases. I didn't expect that as early as three hundred years ago, someone had already come up with the rare smallpox method! There was even the original cowpox method - although it was different from the Western cowpox method. In short, such an important thing was not passed down! What a pity...]

War is really destructive to civilization.

The old emperor was silent.

For some reason, I suddenly felt heavy-hearted.

He picked up the ancient medical book that Xu Yanmiao had obtained and read it carefully with an attitude of paying homage to his ancestors.

"Steaming rat meat, white buffalo lice, white pigeon meat, and centipedes in chicken eggs will keep you from getting smallpox for life..."

"Seal a pair of pigeon eggs in a bamboo tube, place them in the toilet and soak them in feces and urine for half a month, take them out, mix the egg white with three grams of cinnabar... You will never get pox, and if you do, it will be rare."

"Philadelphus can prevent smallpox..."

"Bathing children in a decoction made from pigeon feathers can alleviate the symptoms of smallpox."

"Bath in a decoction of rabbit heads can alleviate the symptoms of smallpox."

"Letting children roll in a piggy bank can alleviate the symptoms of smallpox."

"Take one white buffalo louse that has been infected with smallpox and mix it with rice flour to make a cake. Eat it with your child on an empty stomach and remove the foul feces. This will keep your child from getting smallpox for life."

"Dry seedling method...water seedling method...pox coat method...nose seedling method..."

There are actually hundreds of methods!

I really don't know what kind of risks our ancestors took to figure out a way to prevent smallpox when it was prevalent.

It was not until he turned to the end that the old emperor saw the method added by Xu Yanmiao: the cowpox method.

"...putting the pustules of the cow into the human body through the wound...this method is safer than the smallpox method and the infection is milder..."

Xu Yanmiao noticed that the expression on the old emperor's face became particularly complicated, and couldn't help asking: "Your Majesty, what's the problem?"

He is a little nervous.

Xu Yanmiao has always known that the world is not so black and white, and it does not mean that once a useful thing is brought out, it will definitely be promoted, even if it can save lives.

Some people may not believe that it can save lives.

Some people, due to their own interests, do not want this kind of life-saving thing to be promoted.

Some people just want stability and refuse to accept new things.

Even if you present the data - like when wheat was promoted, the imperial court told the world that the yield per mu of wheat was twice as high as that of millet... do you think farmers would immediately be grateful and eager to plant wheat?

No, the imperial court promoted it for four years, but only allowed some areas to switch to growing wheat.

The emperor at that time was a great ruler with great talent and strategy, and was posthumously named "Wu". But even so, it took hundreds of years for all the people in the Central Plains to accept and grow wheat.

Xu Yanmiao couldn't imagine that the imperial court was so slow in promoting the method. If the old emperor didn't believe in the cowpox method, how difficult it would be to spread it.

It might even be lost!

——In fact, if Xu Yanmiao had understood the cowpox method well at the beginning, he would know that in history, this method disappeared twice after being introduced to China.

The old emperor closed the book, was silent for a while, and said: "Putting the pustules of the cow into the human body through the wound, is this method..."

He paused, trying to be tactful: "Isn't this a little too miraculous? How can you put something from an animal into a human body?"

The old emperor looked at Xu Yanmiao again and sighed, "I trust you very much and can even issue an edict to promote it, but there will be many people who don't believe it - I was also a commoner, and they even spread the rumor that if you get vaccinated with cowpox, you will grow horns. It is very difficult to get people to be willing to get vaccinated with cowpox."

Especially... to put it bluntly, smallpox hasn't appeared yet and lives are not threatened. Who would be willing to try to put animal stuff into the human body?

When the old emperor said this, Xu Yanmiao was stunned: "But when smallpox appears, those who get it will definitely die!"

Vaccination can only prevent smallpox, not cure it!

All Xu Yanmiao got was the old emperor's silence and sadness in his eyes.

"..."

Xu Yanmiao bowed and said in a low voice: "I will take my leave first."

The old emperor was a little at a loss: "You... there will always be a way out when you reach the mountain. Don't let your imagination run wild. I will issue an edict first and ask officials to promote the cowpox treatment in all parts of Daxia. It will still be of some use."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

＊

Xu Lang entered Wuying Palace happily, but when he came out, he lowered his eyes and pursed his lips, seeming unhappy.

When the ministers received the news, they were shocked and confused.

"What's going on here?"

Didn't they go to talk about smallpox? Why was Xu Yanmiao so sad about such a good thing that would go down in history and save countless lives?

Some ministers selected several memorials and pretended to go to Wuying Palace to report on affairs. After arriving there, they pretended to see the ancient book on treating smallpox and borrowed it from the old emperor to take a look. After reading it, they immediately realized why Xiao Bai Ze was so sad.

"The cowpox method is indeed ..."

Cui Yi, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Revenue, was unusually serious: "Your Majesty, I request that other methods be implemented first. As for the cowpox method, you can proceed with it slowly."

Take it step by step, and first accept the relatively acceptable ones, such as white philtrum (urine scale), white pigeon eggs, etc.

...Although urine stains are not necessarily acceptable to people ()

The old emperor nodded: "Let's do this for now."

Even if it's not as effective as the cowpox method, it can still save lives.

＊

Half an hour later, the guard guarding the palace gate had a strange expression on his face: "Xu Lang, what are you doing?"

Xu Yanmiao sat on a horse-drawn wooden cart, surrounded by boxes of things.

He jumped off the carriage: "You guys check it out."

After the guards searched the box carefully, they let him go, but their expressions became even more strange.

Xu Yanmiao didn't pay any attention to this at all. He just sat back in the carriage and told the driver to keep moving forward.

——He was granted special permission by the emperor to drive in the palace.

When the carriage stopped in front of Wuying Palace, the old emperor was stunned: "What are you doing?"

Xu Yanmiao ordered the palace servants to help him move all the boxes in, and then said happily: "Your Majesty! I have come up with a good idea that can make people willingly get vaccinated... I mean, get the cowpox vaccination!"

The old emperor smiled: "Hmm? What's the solution?"

"Crash——"

Xu Yanmiao opened the box, and a box full of copper coins appeared in front of the old emperor. As Xu Lang opened the box, the copper coins rolled to the ground with a clinking sound.

The young man smiled and said, "Your Majesty! I have brought all the rewards Your Majesty has given me in the past, as well as the jewelry that the princess gave me before. I should have quite a bit of money."

The emperor was silent.

He looked at the young man and said without hesitation, his black eyes shining: "If everyone who comes to get vaccinated can get a reward of 300 coins, there will definitely be a lot of people coming!"

"I am willing to donate all my property except the house!"

Dimly, he seemed to be glowing.

But......

The old emperor thought sadly: "How many people can you save with this money?"

He thought so and asked the same question.

Then I heard Xu Lang's embarrassed voice: "I have spent too much money on food and clothing. Now I may only have enough to vaccinate 10,000 or 20,000 people."

But he said happily: "I can save as many people as I can. I am not a savior. At least if smallpox breaks out now, these 20,000 people can survive well!"

As for if I run out of money or have a hard time living in the future, the worst that can happen is I can just go back to modern times.

He still has two hundred yuan in his meal card!

＊

The old emperor really wanted to describe to Xu Yanmiao that if smallpox broke out now, at least 80% of the people in the world - except for those 20,000 people - would blame you for not forcing them to be vaccinated with cowpox, and why they could not be one of those 20,000 people.

But when the words were on the tip of my tongue, I looked at those clear and bright eyes and had to swallow them back.

"Enough!" The old emperor knocked on Xu Yanmiao's forehead. When Xu Yanmiao stepped back and covered his head reflexively, he seemed quite impatient: "Take the money back. When will it be your turn in the court to use the money you will earn from marrying a wife to do something?"

Xu Yanmiao's eyes lit up: "Your Majesty?"

The old emperor tapped him on the forehead again, but his tone softened unconsciously: "There is still a lot of money in the treasury, and a lot of gold and silver have been mined from Japan, which is enough to lure the people to get vaccinated."

Xu Yanmiao was willing to use all his family property to promote this matter. This world belongs to his Gao family, and the dead people are all the people of his Gao family. If Gao Jianyi is reluctant to spend money, he is worse than a beast.

There are mountains of gold and silver in Japan. At worst, we can destroy a mountain of gold. Is that enough to vaccinate the people of the whole country?

This decision was greeted with Xu Yanmiao's enthusiastic cheers: "Your Majesty is wise!!!"

The old emperor accepted it all: "I am indeed wise, if I were not you would have lost your head by now."

Xu Yanmiao's eyes widened.

The old emperor grabbed the kettle on the table, gulped down several gulps of water directly from the spout, and then said earnestly: "You spend all your wealth to help the people. You are trying to win their hearts, do you know? If you were a suspicious emperor, he would not care about you..."

No matter whether you are dead or not, there are no secrets in the world.

"He doesn't care whether you can prevent smallpox or not. He will definitely kill you for the throne under his buttocks."

"But I..."

"I know you don't have this idea, but what about others?" The old emperor sighed, "Xu Yanmiao, I may not live for many years. I do believe that the crown prince is not a tyrant, but you are still young, only twenty years old. It is not impossible for you to welcome the crown prince's succession. No one knows what kind of person the person on the throne will be by then."

"Xu Yanmiao."

"You have to learn to protect yourself."

The author has something to say:

In the Song and Ming dynasties (960-1644), in addition to hundreds of records of using drugs for treatment, there are also many records of using rat meat, white water buffalo lice, white pigeon meat, centipedes in chicken eggs and steaming them, white pigeon eggs soaked in feces and urine for half a month and boiled, and white philtrum to prevent smallpox, etc., and pointed out that it has been tried and tested many times and has been effective for a lifetime. In addition, there are methods such as bathing children with white pigeon feathers, bathing with rabbit heads in decoction, and letting children roll in pig nests to alleviate the symptoms of smallpox, that is, the method of reducing smallpox. For example, when Li Shizhen wrote "Compendium of Materia Medica" to prevent smallpox with white water buffalo lice, he quoted the 15th century Tan Yeweng's recipe for pre-eliminating smallpox poison: "Use one white water buffalo lice per year old, mix it with rice flour to make cakes, and eat it with children on an empty stomach. Remove the bad feces, and you can avoid smallpox for life." Some scholars believe that white water buffalo lice may actually be cowpox scabs. Another recipe: use 49 white water buffalo lice. It is difficult to prove the academic value of these methods, but it is not difficult to understand that there is a chance of success if white buffalo lice that have been infected with smallpox are taken orally.

——A Brief History of Medical Exchanges between China and Foreign Countries

＊

To cure pox, use a pair of pigeon eggs, seal them in a bamboo tube and place them in a toilet. Take them out half a month later, mix the egg white with three qian of cinnabar, and make them into pills as big as mung beans. Take 30 pills each time, and drink three beans. Let children take this. The poison will come out through urine and feces, and pox will never come out. If it does come out, it will be rare.

——"Food and Materia Medica"

＊

During the long years of seeking to prevent smallpox, there is such a convincing story. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song (998-1022), several children of Prime Minister Wang Dan died of smallpox. Later, he had a son named Su in his old age. Wang Dan was very worried that his child would be harmed by smallpox again. He sought medical treatment everywhere to find a way to prevent and treat smallpox. Someone recommended a miracle doctor in Mount Emei, Sichuan, who could vaccinate against smallpox, and his success rate was 100%. Wang Dan invited this doctor to the capital a month later. After the doctor examined Wang Su's body, he vaccinated him the next day. The child had a fever on the 7th day, and scabs formed on the vaccination site 12 days later. Wang Su lived to be 67 years old and never contracted smallpox. Although this vivid example was recorded by Zhu Chungu, a smallpox expert who had successfully vaccinated the descendants of the royal family, hundreds of years later, and the Qing Dynasty's "Medical Golden Mirror" (1742) also followed this view, referring to Sun Simiao's method of inoculating pus and blood to prevent warts and boils, it is not unbelievable that the Emeishan miracle doctor who was more than 300 years later than Sun used smallpox pus to prevent smallpox. Therefore, our opinion that China had invented the use of smallpox vaccination to prevent smallpox in the early 12th century is basically tenable.

——A Brief History of Medical Exchanges between China and Foreign Countries

＊

On May 14, 1796, Jenner dripped lymph fluid extracted from cowpox pustules on the back of a person's hand into wounds about 2 cm long on each arm of a teenager. Not long after, the teenager showed symptoms of cowpox and fell ill. He recovered quickly and was implanted with smallpox virus, but his body did not react at all. As a result, Jenner was more convinced that cowpox could prevent smallpox. After that, Jenner continued to experiment on 23 people, wrote the results of the study into a paper and submitted it to the Royal Society of London, which was officially published in 1798. However, some religious and medical people opposed the cowpox method. Some people argued that it was a blasphemy to God to conquer the infectious disease that God sent to punish mankind. On the other hand, people were very disgusted with the fact that "cow pustules were put into the human body", and this disgust continued to spread, and there was even a rumor that vaccination with cowpox would turn you into a cow. At that time, the British still implemented the human pox method: preventing smallpox by inoculating the pustules of patients who had been infected with smallpox.

Because the cowpox method caused less infection and was safer than the human pox method, it was quickly promoted throughout the world despite numerous objections.

——"Ask about Learning: Simian Youth Academic Journal"

＊

Vaccination disappeared twice after it was first introduced to China, and both times it was brought back from Luconia (Luzon Island).

...

Why was the supply of the smallpox vaccine so frequently interrupted? As mentioned earlier, the technology at the time could not safely preserve the smallpox vaccine for a long time, and it could only be preserved and delivered by using human bacteria preservation methods. Therefore, within a certain period of time, if there were no smallpox vaccinators and living smallpox bacteria (smallpox serum), the smallpox vaccine would be interrupted. If smallpox did not continue to spread, people would pay less attention to smallpox, and the number of vaccinators would naturally decrease. In addition, deliberately fabricated rumors about vaccinators and superstition about smallpox itself (rumors that vaccinating cowpox into humans would leave residual poison) would also reduce the number of vaccinators. In particular, traditional Chinese smallpox vaccinators would lose their jobs due to the prevalence of the smallpox method, so they were even more resolutely opposed to the smallpox method.

——"Ask about Learning: Simian Youth Academic Journal"

＊

In addition, the Five Elements and Qi theory were also included in the Yindoulue. Europe once had the problem of how to explain the transplantation of pustules from cows into humans, and the same was true in China. In order to solve this problem, Qiu Hui proposed that cows belong to the earth element in the Five Elements, and the spleen among the five internal organs of the human body also belongs to the earth element, so the cow and the human spleen belong to the same Qi, refuting the common belief that cows and humans belong to different Qi.

——"Ask about Learning: Simian Youth Academic Journal"

＊

In 1810, the merchants Wu Bingjian, Pan Youdu and Lu Guanheng invested 3,000 taels of silver to provide free vaccination and reward the vaccine recipients (fruit money), which led to a steady stream of vaccine recipients. Free vaccination and the additional reward became the most important reason for the poor to participate in the vaccination. On the other hand, the cowpox vaccine was also preserved stably.

——"Ask about Learning: Simian Youth Academic Journal"

[By the way, when I thought of using money, I hadn't seen this yet ()]

[Sure enough, profit is always the first motivation. If you want to promote something, you can definitely promote it by spending money. ]

＊

Chapter 145 Today, Xie's Luoshui traveled overseas for two years and brought back the divine seed. Great achievement! Conferred the title of Marquis of Luo County

Cowpox is a mild form of smallpox that occurs in cows.

In order to implement the cowpox method, you need to find cows infected with smallpox. Fortunately, this is not difficult to find.

In addition, the old emperor also summoned famous doctors from all over the world to discuss how to prevent smallpox. The power of this matter... How to say it, one doctor is already over 80 years old, and his children are afraid that he will die from the long journey, so they want to refuse the government's request for him. The doctor said that he would have to be carried to the capital even if he has to!

All the doctors in the world: Get out of here! Today is your chance to bring honor to your family!

The former Princess of Jin, Mao Jiuzhou, also entered the palace and looked through the ancient book with other doctors to discuss the feasibility of treating human smallpox and cowpox.

The final conclusion of the discussion was: "Cowpox is indeed better than human pox, but cowpox cannot be randomly inoculated. Region, climate, time of year, and even the physical condition of the person providing the cowpox will affect the efficacy."

They cited the eastern Guangdong region as an example.

Guangdong is a low and humid place, and many people suffer from madness. If we get cowpox from such people and inject it into other people's bodies, it will cause great harm.

In response, Mao Jiuzhou suggested: "Don't rush to vaccinate, this ancient book needs to be improved."

Xu Yanmiao was sitting next to them and kept exclaiming in praise throughout the whole process.

[It turns out that we don't just need to infect humans with the smallpox pus from cows and then extract the vaccine! ]

[It turns out there are so many tricks. Fortunately, I didn't do it myself, otherwise I would have hurt others. ]

[Oh! We also need to consider the storage and transportation of the vaccine! Fortunately, it's good that professional matters really need to be handled by professionals! ]

Xu Yanmiao felt much more relieved now that this matter could be put on the agenda.

Now, there is another thing before him——

The old emperor summoned all the ministers to see the potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn brought back from America by the long-distance fleet!

＊

Qin Guan turned his head to glance at Xie Luoshui: "Are you nervous?"

Xie Luoshui pursed his lips and nodded.

After all, it concerns whether she can be granted a title of nobility.

Qin Guan decided to say something to divert her attention: "How is Xiaodong's tooth? What did Doctor Mao say?"

Xie Luoshui's face showed sadness: "It's already rotten, it can't be cured."

Two years of drifting at sea is never an easy experience, and everyone on the ship became sick to varying degrees.

The same is true for Xiao Dong mentioned by Qin Guan.

This person can no longer eat food with tendons and bones. He can only eat white rice with vegetables, tofu and the like, and those foods must be cooked very well. It is impossible for him to eat big fish and meat.

Even with Xie Luoshui's physique, she had suffered several serious illnesses on the ship, but she recovered quickly.

Qin Guan used his right fist to hit his left palm and said, "I have been with His Majesty for many years. He has always been clear about rewards and punishments. He will never let us down or let down the brothers on the ship."

Xie Luoshui also believed this.

The two of them looked up and saw His Majesty opening in public the box they had brought back to display the actual objects.

——As for the seeds, they are of course stored separately and cannot be taken out and exposed to the outside world at will.

The old emperor's hand, which was so steady as he bent the bow and drew the arrow, actually began to tremble.

The lid was opened, and the cloth was removed layer by layer, and he saw the corn first.

It was about as thick as a child's arm, and was wrapped in thick green skin. The old emperor took it out, peeled off layer after layer of green skin, and revealed the jade-like beads inside, which looked like a beautiful woman smiling with her teeth showing, and were shining.

When it was held up in front of everyone, these officials who controlled the core of the country were all speechless.

Not only because this thing called corn looks good, but also because Xie Luoshui said: "This thing can produce 180 kilograms per mu!"

——When they arrived in America, it was not long before harvest time. It was convenient for measurement.

The average yield per mu of staple food in Daxia is:

One hundred and twelve pounds of millet.

One hundred and twelve pounds of wheat.

Three hundred and fifty-three kilograms of rice.

Although rice has a high yield, it is too picky about the land. However, according to Xie Luoshui, corn can be grown in mountainous areas! In other words, it does not require high water resources and fertile soil!

——Of course, Xu Yanmiao had said this a long time ago, but they had to find a source for knowing this, right? They couldn't pretend to know more about the situation than Xie Luoshui, who had personally visited America.

The old emperor peeled aside three or five corns and took out potatoes from them. The potatoes were as big as apples.

Xie Luoshui shouted: "This plant produces 572 kilograms per mu!"

The old emperor took out the sweet potatoes again.

Xie Luoshui almost made his voice hoarse: "This thing, per mu yield -"

"Qian Jin!!!"

A thousand pounds!

Ten times as much as wheat and millet! Three times as much as rice!

＊

Corn, potatoes, and sweet potatoes were passed among these officials. They rubbed the dirt off the corn, broke open the leaves and carefully stroked the jade teeth on it; they held the potatoes carefully and gently sniffed the familiar scent dug from the ground; the sweet potatoes had been stored for more than half a year and had already sprouted and shriveled, like an old man's fingers, ugly and dry, but no one disliked them.

They held these things in their hands and couldn't help crying.

Crying for the famine, crying for the disaster years, crying for all the people who starved to death in the past.

No more hunger! No more hunger! No matter how poor we are, no one will starve to death!

She cried and then started laughing. It was a very ugly laugh with tears streaming down her cheeks.

But they want to laugh!

The old emperor held up the sweet potato in his hand and said, "From now on, natural disasters will no longer bring famine to Daxia!"

You say! How can it not be worth laughing at!!!

That day, cheers, applause and laughter resounded through the sky.

Only Ilala, a Native American, felt out of place and lonely.

He looked at these Daxia people in some confusion: Why did they suddenly start crying and laughing while holding the things they dug out from the ground?

Corn is the sun god, so he could understand crying and laughing while hugging Him, but why did the other two things cause such a big reaction in them?

＊

The reason why Ilala was invited to Daxia was naturally because Qin Guan and Xie Luoshui discussed it and decided to invite a native to teach them how to grow potatoes, corn and sweet potatoes.

In addition to planting, there are also issues such as storage and seed selection. If they rely on themselves to figure these out, it will take an unknown amount of time before they can be promoted.

Although they don't speak the same language, they can do it one by one and learn from each other!

For example, the Paraguayans have mastered a potato freeze-drying technology: wash the potatoes and freeze them, thaw them, squeeze out the water, and dry them outdoors. This way, the potatoes can be stored for a long time.

——They have used this method for at least two hundred years.

There was also the potato disease - they didn't know how to describe it specifically, they just knew there was a tribe that only grew one kind of potato, and that tribe starved to death.

There are hundreds of varieties of potatoes in America. Under the enthusiastic guidance of the Paraguayans, Xie Luoshui and others successfully selected more than ten varieties of potatoes and brought them back to China. They are all large in size.

"Thank you Luoshui!" The old emperor held a sweet potato in one hand and beckoned her to come forward with the other.

Xie Luoshui guessed something, his heart skipped a beat, and he was stunned for more than ten breaths before he came to his senses.

The old emperor was very patient about this.

He still looked at Xie Luoshui with a smile until Xie Luoshui came back to his senses and trotted to him.

The old emperor joked: "If you were not in front of me, you would almost turn over while running, right?"

Xie Luoshui said generously with a smile: "Your Majesty, Luoshui is indeed very excited."

The old emperor also laughed: "I should be excited."

"I will be rewarded with a title of nobility. I will keep my word."

Xie Luoshui clasped his fingers tightly in his palms, and even spoke with difficulty: "Your Majesty, thank you for your kindness!"

"Hahaha! Don't thank me yet. You don't even know what title you should be given!"

Emperor Tiantong laughed loudly. His face suddenly turned serious: "Xie Luoshui, come forward and listen to the order!"

Xie Luoshui's expression suddenly calmed down.

As if he had done it a thousand times before, he walked forward calmly and knelt down.

The emperor looked down at her and said, "Only those who have made contributions can be granted a title of nobility. Now Xie's Luoshui has traveled far overseas for two years and has brought back the divine seed. Great contribution! You will be granted the title of Luoxian County Marquis, with a fief of 500 households."

It was as if some sound was hitting her eardrums and heart, and every heartbeat seemed to be about to burst out of her throat.

For a moment, the expression on Xie Luoshui's face and the thoughts in his mind went blank.

She seemed unable to hear any other sounds and could only catch one sentence: "confer the title of Marquis of Luo County."

At this moment, she felt like a blade of grass in the wind, light and swaying, and she felt so helpless that she seemed like she could faint at any time.

Luo County was where she had lived since she was a child. The emperor granted her a title here so that she could return home in glory.

That's not enough.

She heard His Majesty's voice again.

"A new post of General Crossing the Sea shall be established, with a rank of seventh grade. I will specially confer upon you the title of General Crossing the Sea."

Xie Luoshui didn't say a word, but lowered his head and kowtowed heavily to the emperor.

The author has something to say:

Initially, cowpox vaccines were made from natural smallpox pus from cows and smallpox rashes from babies who had been vaccinated. However, due to the influence of region, climate, time and donors, vaccination could not be carried out in time, and the efficacy was reduced due to the uneven quality of the smallpox vaccines. Chinese doctors noticed this and found that "the terrain in eastern Guangdong is low and humid, and there are many leprosy (note: infectious diseases such as leprosy and syphilis). If the pus is mistakenly taken and passed on to healthy children, it will cause great harm."

——Vaccination and Its Exchanges between China and Foreign Countries

＊

Data from the Republic of China period can better reflect the yield per mu in the Qing Dynasty. During the Republic of China period, new varieties of corn and sweet potatoes were not widely promoted, and variety improvement was mainly based on rice and wheat. Corn and sweet potatoes were still grown by farmers in the past. Under the premise that the external production environment did not change significantly, the statistics of the Republic of China can fully reflect the general level of the Qing Dynasty. For example, after a simple calculation of Wu Baohua's statistics, it can be known that the yield per mu of corn is 180 catties and the yield per mu of sweet potato is 1,000 catties; Wu Chuanjun's is 209 catties of corn and 1,128 catties of sweet potato; Feng Hefa's is 161 catties of corn and 993 catties of sweet potato; all of them can represent the general yield per mu of corn and sweet potato in the Qing Dynasty.

——《Monetary and Financial Changes from the Perspective of Trade Evolution》

＊

According to statistics on potatoes in 32 counties in Gansu in 1936, 521,892 mu of potato were planted, with a yield of 2,986,059 dan, and an average yield of 572.2 jin per mu.

——Research on Rural Economic History: Focusing on the Upper Reaches of the Yellow River in Modern Times

[It is definitely not possible to use Gansu's average per-acre yield to represent the whole country, but I can't find the national potato per-acre yield]

＊

The Indians also invented a freeze-drying technology for potatoes: washing and freezing the potatoes, thawing them, stepping on them to squeeze out the water, and then drying them outdoors. This air-dried and dehydrated potato can be stored for a long time, no longer restricted by seasons, and can be used to cope with natural disasters and man-made disasters, and it also helps the kingdom's large-scale construction.

——The Story of Grain: Unraveling the Survival Code of Great Civilization

＊

There are hundreds of potato varieties in the Americas, but Ireland only planted a single variety called Lumper. When the disease broke out, there was no other alternative variety that could resist the disease. In the days without pesticides, the disease was bound to start again in the fields the next year. In 1845, the potato production in Ireland decreased by 1/3. In the second and third years, the disease continued to break out and intensified, and the potato harvest was almost a total failure.

——The Story of Grain: Unraveling the Survival Code of Great Civilization

＊

In the past, farmers liked to introduce potatoes from the north because the temperature in the north was lower, the seed potatoes were less likely to be infected with viruses, and the success rate of introduction was higher.

——The Story of Grain: Unraveling the Survival Code of Great Civilization

Chapter 146 After retiring, it's not too much for me to write some memoirs to record the embarrassing moments of my colleagues, right?

I want to be granted a title of nobility!

I will be granted a title of nobility!

I will be granted a title of nobility!

I was granted the title of Marquis!

Xie Luoshui was wearing her marquis's clothes and boots, walking in the main room with a loud noise.

Her father was happily shouting to the neighbors under the eaves, "Yes! My daughter! She was made a marquis! She even met the emperor! She had dinner with the emperor! The emperor gave Luoshui a big house, we will move there tomorrow! I've seen that house, wow, it's so bright!"

Her mother came over from outside in a hurry: "Luo Shui's father! Come and have a look, the piglets born by our sow are pooping white shit!"

"Oh my!" Father Xie jumped up and wanted to go out with Mother Xie. The neighbors laughed at them, "Your daughter is going to be a marquis, why is she still taking care of those two pigs?"

Mrs. Xie was stunned for a moment, and said in confusion: "Why don't you care? My sow has grown so big with great difficulty, it may have given birth to piglets. It gave birth to five or six piglets in half an hour! They are all money!"

"Hey! The emperor is giving money to you Luoshui!"

"Well, everyone knows that. Isn't it because we can't rest? Luo Shui said that the family's pigpen and vegetable garden will be moved to the backyard of the mansion. My baby's father and I can do whatever we want. The rules are for outsiders."

Xie Niang smiled so hard that her eyes narrowed, making the neighbors envious.

Who could have thought that an adopted girl could become the parents of a marquis? They picked up this girl, what a great luck!

Just then, someone came to the door and asked, "Excuse me, is Lord Xie here?"

The neighbors immediately responded enthusiastically: "Yes, yes, yes!"

"Luoshui girl, come out quickly!"

"Hey! Why are you still calling me Luoshui girl? You should call me Marquis! It's time to change your name! Thank you, Marquis! Someone is looking for you!"

Xie Luoshui came out in a hurry. When the man saw her, he handed over the invitation with a smile: "Seven days later is my master's eightieth birthday. Please come, Lord Marquis."

He took out another gift box and said, "Congratulations, my Lord, on your title of Marquis."

Xie Luoshui took a look at the signature on the invitation, which read "Dou". He took the gift box and expressed his gratitude, then said that he would definitely be there that night. Then the person who delivered the invitation left.

Xie Luoshui was left in distress: What should she give as a gift for the Prime Minister's 80th birthday?

＊

Xu Yanmiao was also worried: "Gao Xiang, do you know what your uncle likes?"

Princess Xiangyang said hesitantly, "I don't know either, but my mother told me that my uncle often practices calligraphy. I'll give him the ink that many people in the capital have bought recently. Should that be okay?"

"should......"

[But when this ink first came out, the Prime Minister asked his housekeeper to buy it back...]

Princess Xiangyang changed the subject: "But I don't know if this Uncle Mo has it in his house. I'll ask around later - I just thought of another idea! What do you think about me asking someone to draw a picture of my uncle's family? For an 80-year-old man, he should like to see his family happy and harmonious?"

Xu Yanmiao: "Is it enough to paint a picture every three days?"

Princess Xiangyang: "..."

[And it seems that the prince gave this as a gift. I have almost finished drawing it. ]

Princess Xiangyang began to consider the possibility of stealing her brother's portrait.

【Grass!】

【Hahahahahahaha! 】

[Prime Minister Dou, your youngest son is truly a talent, hahaha! ]

Princess Xiangyang's ears immediately pricked up.

Her little cousin, wasn't he the stupid idiot who used his anus to clamp gold, silver and jewels and sent them out to please the courtesan? What did he do?

Outside the door, Prime Minister Dou, who was passing by the Ministry of Personnel and planning to take a look at Xu Yanmiao, subconsciously wanted to find a stick to beat his son.

But I still tried to calm down.

Think of something nice. His son might not have the brains to think of a particularly irritating gift!

[What on earth was he thinking! He thought his father was 80 years old and might have difficulty walking, so he wanted to give his father a wheelchair on his 80th birthday? ? ? ]

puff--

Hold it in, don't laugh!

Princess Xiangyang pinched her palms tightly, and her confidence suddenly increased.

Then she doesn't have to worry about any gifts at all. No matter how outrageous the gift is, can it be more outrageous than a wheelchair!

There was a slight sound, and the two turned their heads and saw Prime Minister Dou pushing the door open.

The niece immediately looked at her uncle with pity.

Prime Minister Dou smiled back.

It's just the feeling of this smile...Princess Xiangyang thought about it and realized that when she went to visit her uncle that day, she should not only bring a gift for her uncle's 80th birthday, but also bring some medicine for her little cousin's falls and injuries.

Xu Yanmiao greeted him warmly: "Why is the Prime Minister here at the Ministry of Personnel?"

"I just retired to your majesty and returned home. Before I leave, I came to see how you are doing now."

Prime Minister Dou said it very naturally, but it surprised Xu Yanmiao and Princess Xiangyang: "Retire and return home?"

Princess Xiangyang was anxious: "Uncle! Did someone say something about you?"

For example, he is eighty years old and still refuses to leave the position of prime minister.

"You are still healthy, your ears and eyes are not deaf or blind, why are you going to retire and return home?"

Dou Qing smiled and said, "But I really don't have enough energy. Besides, I'm getting old and want to spend more time with my family. It's time for me to step down from this position."

And there was one thing he didn't say.

As long as Dou Qing sat on the position of prime minister, the younger generations in his family would not be able to hold high positions - no matter how powerful their family was, the emperor would not allow one family to monopolize high-ranking positions in the court.

It would be better for him to be sensible and step down from the position of Prime Minister. His brother-in-law will treat the Dou family with great honor.

After taking a look at Xiao Bai Ze, I felt a little sorry.

——I will never hear such interesting gossip again.

Prime Minister Dou smiled and winked at Xu Yanmiao: "I will soon leave the court. I wonder if I can read some interesting stories. It would be great if someone could give me a book with some bizarre stories in it."

Xu Lang burst into tears on the spot: [Wuwuwuwuwuwuwuwu! ]

【The Prime Minister is such a good man! 】

[Knowing that I'm poor and that I have a headache choosing gifts, he specially gave me some advice! ]

【I will definitely prepare this book well! 】

Prime Minister Dou smiled slightly.

Princess Xiangyang looked anxiously: Uncle! What about me? I——

[Well, Prime Minister Dou may be tired of ordinary anecdotes. ]

[I will look up some stories about our ancestors and say I found an ancient history book.]

[Since it's just Prime Minister Dou who's watching it, no one else knows about it, so it's not a big deal.]

Prime Minister Dou's smile froze.

No! Don't be so serious!

Just tell me about the excitement in the village or county! No need to mention the ancestors directly!

Prime Minister Dou coughed, as if he was just concerned about Xu Yanmiao's reminder: "There are some interesting stories in the book, don't worry too much, you..."

[The Prime Minister is so kind, he's even worried that I'm too distressed about this! ]

[I must be more attentive! ]

Prime Minister Dou: "Really..."

[Hey! I knew that my idea was right! I didn't expect that you, Prime Minister, would be this kind of Prime Minister. You started writing your memoirs two years ago and recorded so many embarrassing things about your colleagues. You're afraid that they won't be remembered forever, right?]

[It's so funny, a record of a 15-day fishing trip for a deputy censor...wait, it's already been updated. This time he fished for a month and didn't even catch a single fish fry, hahahaha! I didn't even know that! Not only did he write about the fact that he didn't catch any fish, he also wrote a comment saying that his children didn't know how to be filial, and couldn't they dive into the water and hook fish for their father. Hahahaha! So mischievous! ]

There were brief exclamations from the people around the Censor, who slammed his fist on the table and gnashed his teeth, "You old bitch..."

In fact, many officials write memoirs after retirement, which record many interesting stories, and many historical materials are found in them.

But it's better if you don't let anyone know. If they find out, you can't blame them for retaliating.

Wait! He wrote it too! You, Prime Minister Dou, are not so "innocent"!

[Oh, there's more...]

Prime Minister Dou thought of what was recorded in his memoirs and shuddered: "Ahem, Xu Yanmiao, I have something else to do, so I'll leave first."

He also took the plate of melon seeds on the table.

Xu Yanmiao: "Oh, okay, I'll see you off..."

"No, you are busy with your official duties, but my old arms and legs can still move."

After Prime Minister Dou left, Xu Yanmiao turned around and looked at Princess Xiangyang: "What's wrong with you?"

Princess Xiangyang patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief: "It's okay, it's just that my uncle is here, so I'm a little nervous."

Of course, this was said to fool Xu Yanmiao.

She was just thinking: Fortunately, I didn't ask my uncle to think of a gift, otherwise he might be tricked into giving her something like an ancient book of interesting stories... She doesn't have Xiao Bai Ze's own magical weapon to protect her!

After Xu Yanmiao knew that Princess Xiangyang was fine, she happily continued to swim in the ocean of gossip.

[Oh my! Prime Minister Dou, your memoirs also include the story of the youngest son of the Minister of War being slept with by the chieftain's wife for seven days. This is too immoral to remember... Hey! I didn't even notice that this matter was updated again! ]

[During those seven days, the chief's wife said every day that if you beat me, the agreement would end immediately. But the chief's wife was always better and carried the person into the house after the fight...]

[Wait! After seven days, the little boy passed away. The chief's wife is pregnant?! The baby is already seven months old?!]

Minister of War: What!!!

He's going to have grandchildren?!

[Oh wow! The chief was very happy and said he had never seen such a white girl.]

Minister of War: She's still my granddaughter!!!

[Tsk tsk, the Minister of War must be jealous to death. He has seven grandsons but not a single granddaughter. He is so worried that he has even started digging the ground at home recently. He thinks the feng shui of his house is bad.]

The Minister of War nodded vigorously: Yes, yes! ! !

Since they knew they had a granddaughter, they had to bring her back! She was their family's bloodline!

[It's so funny, this lady has already started looking for a family with the best teeth, who has not had cavities for decades, and who is also in good health, so that she can forcefully snatch a man for her granddaughter in a dozen years, and strive to make her grandchildren and great-grandchildren have white skin, good teeth, a strong physique, and arms that can run horses...]

[As for height, don't worry. No one in her family for three generations is shorter than 1.8 meters. The youngest son of the Minister of War is not short of height either.]

【hiss--】

【Isn't this just seed selection? 】

[However, it is true that this is actually possible to raise it. ]

[Generally speaking, it is difficult for children whose parents are not tall to be particularly tall. 】

[If both parents have a mouth full of cavities, the chances of their children getting cavities will be higher. ]

The pupils of the ruler and his ministers of Daxia trembled.

Is this possible?!

Should their marriage policy be adjusted?

Chapter 147: Don't look down on the old and poor!

Today's court changes——

Liu Yi, a lecturer at the Imperial Academy, asked his relative, the "Painter", one of the Four Talents of Wuzhong, to provide the birth and death dates of three generations of his ancestors, male and female. When he found out that all three generations died of illness between the ages of 40 and 60, he forcibly broke the contract and instead looked for other healthy young talents who would not die early for his granddaughter.

A certain censor sought a marriage for his grandson to a royal family girl. The grandson's excellent teeth were an advantage, so he stood out from a group of talented people and got the marriage because the girl's father suffered from toothache.

A newly minted scholar has become a hot target in the marriage market because his grandmother had five sons and one daughter but lived to be 85 years old in good health.

besides......

In short, the current marriage and love situation has changed a lot. Although marriage is based on interests, there is also room for maneuver besides interests, such as:

Your eldest son has a higher nose, and your second son has a flatter nose. I don't know whether my grandchildren are handsome or not, but no matter how handsome they are, they will look terrible with a flat nose. Why not change the marriage partner from the second son to the eldest son?

It's a marriage anyway, so who cares?

Xu Yanmiao was completely unaware of this.

He hasn't been looking for gossip about the Tiantong Dynasty recently, and all his energy has been focused on gossiping about other people's ancestors.

After the government office was locked the day before the holiday, he packed the "Book of Interesting Ancient Stories" with great care and boarded a horse-drawn carriage to Yiyang County.

Yes, it was not in the capital, but in Yiyang County. The Dou family was from Yiyang County.

It is 131 miles west of the capital.

Maybe because the journey was a bit far, I heard that the old emperor did not attend the birthday banquet, but just sent gifts.

Before Xu Yanmiao arrived, he met Liang Rui's carriage on the road, and they merged into one and continued forward.

When he arrived at the Dou Mansion, he saw many carriages parked in front of the mansion, but they were all people Xu Yanmiao didn't know.

Liang Rui does know him.

He pulled aside the curtain and pointed them out to Xu Yanmiao one by one.

"The man who came here on a strong horse, with silver and yellow hair on his left and a stick tied to his chest, is the retired Imperial Censor, Kong Ying, in the 17th year of Tiantong."

Xu Yanmiao looked over and saw a carriage with a silver and gold hood that was dazzling. An elderly man with a gray beard walked out of the carriage. His clothes were beautifully embroidered with brocade. Even the driver who got off the carriage before him and supported him was wearing soft-soled shoes made of silk and satin.

Xu Yanmiao: (⊙o⊙)

Make a sound that has never been seen before: [Wow——]

"The man wearing a marten coat and riding a horse with drooping earrings is Zhang You, the retired prefect in the seventh year of Tiantong."

Xu Yanmiao looked over again, and her pupils trembled.

A fat man got off the bus by stepping on a human stool.

In March, he was wearing a fur coat made of squirrel and mink. Not only that, his horse had a gold bridle, silver headdress, and even the horse's earrings were made of jade.

He has never used jade to make earrings!

Man is inferior to horse!!!

No, not only is he inferior to the horse, even the car given to him by the old emperor is not as luxurious as that.

Although the horses are good, the harnesses are ordinary without any gold or silver embellishments. The body of the carriage is made of only good wood to prevent it from being damaged too quickly. In any case, there will definitely be no leather-wrapped shafts or pearls and jade-decorated windows.

Xu Yanmiao was in a daze: "Are all these people so rich?"

Liang Rui picked up the teacup on the carriage, took a sip, and said calmly: "Maybe his family has some assets? But he dared to be so arrogant because he heard that His Majesty would not come. When he was an official in the past, he would never dare to decorate his own carriage like this."

Xu Yanmiao: "But Jinyiwei..."

Liang Rui smiled and said, "The Jinyiwei was established in the 32nd year of Tiantong. Even if they have heard of the name of Jinyiwei, they have never really seen it."

Xu Yanmiao nodded thoughtfully.

Liang Rui: "Besides, local people are naturally fierce and wild. They may be cautious in their words and deeds in official circles, but when they return to their hometowns, they will naturally be influenced by the customs."

Xu Yanmiao immediately pretended to listen attentively.

——This is knowledge that schools don't teach.

Liang Rui smiled and said, "The King of Han was born to the Empress Dowager, and he is a proud person, but he also suffered a great loss in the countryside."

Xu Yanmiao pricked up her ears and happily adjusted her sitting position, ready to listen to the gossip.

Liang Rui: "At that time, he was fifteen or sixteen years old. He went to his fiefdom and summoned his men to go out hunting. He did not hide his identity. However, when he left the city and entered the countryside, the villagers set a tripwire on the road and robbed his horses and money. Those people also knew that they were robbing the King of Han."

But so what.

Xia law forbids large-scale private fights, and there are still fights between the two villages from time to time. The township officials don't care at all. Even if someone dies, they just have to pay compensation.

"Fighting between villages and between clans is prohibited by law, but fighting still happens in the countryside, and this cannot be stopped by clean government."

"Some desperate criminals even dare to kill people for money."

"Killing people and burying bodies, highway robbery... In such a place, naturally, some retired officials will think, 'I am the local tyrant, it doesn't matter what I do.' They no longer have the keen sense of smell they had in the officialdom."

Xu Yanmiao suddenly realized: [Oh! So much talk... Isn't this just saying that the imperial power does not extend to the countryside! ]

"Gudong——"

As soon as he arrived here, Lian Hang, who was about to get off the carriage, rolled off.

Xu Yanmiao was shocked. She quickly opened the curtain and jumped out of the carriage: "Lian Lang, are you okay? Why are you crying?!"

Lian Hang got up and wiped his tears: "It hurts so much."

Why does it hurt? It's just that I was scared by you!

Can these five words "Imperial power does not extend to the countryside" be said casually?

Oh... he didn't say it... Never mind! Anyway, these five words definitely pierced your majesty's heart and pointed at the lifeblood of the dynasty. Once this sentence came out, many people would definitely die. Do you know that?

Xu Yanmiao didn't react at all.

——I'm used to saying this kind of thing on the Internet, and I don't think it's sharp at all.

Liang Rui sat in the carriage, muttering the five words "Imperial power does not go to the countryside".

"As expected of Bai Ze, who is well-informed, the summary goes straight to the point."

In comparison, the long list of examples and descriptions he just gave were a bit cumbersome.

Why are the people in the countryside so fierce? Why are there evil officials? Why are the people so badly oppressed by the government? These five words can tell the whole story.

Liang Rui could not help but repeat "Imperial power does not extend to the countryside" over and over again, as if he had found a treasure.

——Then, to put it another way, if we can find a way to bring imperial power down to the countryside, can we prevent the people from rebelling against the officials and allow the dynasty to last longer?

＊

Liang Rui wanted to think about it, but the carriage had already arrived at the door, and it would be impolite not to get off. So he got off the carriage and went in to sit down. Xu Yanmiao sat next to him.

According to the custom, people first enjoy singing, dancing and opera, and then the food is served at an auspicious time.

[Huh? So luxurious——]

The university students made unworldly noises.

[The meat on the pig's back is the most tender, and that meat dish is made entirely of pork back meat! ]

[Prime Minister Dou set up more than a dozen banquet tables, right? ]

[Hiss——How many pigs were killed? Will the remaining meat be thrown away?]

[In this crucian carp soup, only the belly meat is used? Because the belly meat is the most tender and has the least bones? ]

[Are you good at eating like this? ]

[And this Chinese cabbage, only the tender heart is eaten! ]

[Wow! There is another roast suckling pig in the back. This pig is specially raised with Poria cocos and Codonopsis pilosula! Her Majesty the Queen knows that her brother is so extravagant... Eh? Oh, it turns out that he didn't raise the pig himself, but bought it from the former prefect Zhang's house. ]

[Strange, Prime Minister Dou doesn't usually eat these, could it be that he's indulging himself for his 80th birthday?]

Liang Rui's eyes moved, he fiddled with the extraordinarily luxurious bowl on the table, turned his head to glance at the position of himself and Xu Yanmiao, and suddenly said: "Xu Lang, can we change seats? I feel a little upset today, and I may need to go in and out. Sitting in the innermost part is a bit..."

Xu Lang was very generous: "No problem! We can change it secretly now."

After changing, sitting in the innermost seat made it easier for Xu Lang to get distracted.

[Why is this fat Magistrate Zhang still trying to take other people's land? ]

Xu Yanmiao frowned, a hint of disgust appearing on his face.

[They are still robbing the people's land. How annoying. Now that you have discovered it, report it to the censor.]

Most of the officials in Beijing secretly glanced at the whole audience.

Who is it?

——Not everyone is like Liang Rui, who can name all the retired colleagues with whom he has had little interaction.

After a small number of Beijing officials met the people, they looked at the former prefect Zhang who was still smiling with sympathy in their eyes.

Enjoy your meal, this may be the last good meal you ever have.

You've been away from officialdom for a long time, but you came running over to celebrate the Prime Minister's 80th birthday and made such a conspicuous appearance. I can only say... you're unlucky.

Zhang Qian, the prefect: "???"

For some reason, he felt a little weird, as if someone was always secretly watching him.

He twisted his body uncomfortably, put on a warm smile, and tried to continue to exchange pleasantries with the official who had just been so enthusiastic about the greetings: "Your Excellency..."

Then, the official from Beijing suddenly touched his forehead very tenderly, as if he was drunk, and fell on the table.

Prefect Zhang was completely confused.

What's going on? Why does she suddenly look like she doesn't want to get involved with him any more?!

He tried to strike up a conversation with other people, but they either obviously avoided him or were very polite and distant.

Zhang Qian, the prefect: "???"

Is it because he has been away from the officialdom for too long? Why do they express such obvious resistance to unfamiliar officials?

Is it because he has retired? But things change over time, so aren't they worried that he might make a comeback?

Beijing officials: Yes, we are not worried.

The author has something to say:

I won't go into too much detail. In the 1980s and 1990s, there were a lot of car bandits and road robbers. Truckers were always worried about being robbed.

Some even forced the train to stop.

There are also "Zhejiang Bermuda" and "Ye County Ghost Gate"...

＊

Don't despise the poor in old age! (Internet meme)

＊

Nowadays, the rich have silver and yellow hairpins on their left sides, and tie their belts with a belt. The middle class have their horses' bridles painted with gold, and wear flying horses' ears.

——"Salt and Iron Discussion"

【Translation: Nowadays, the carriage hoods of common people and rich people are decorated with jade inlaid with silver and gold, the handles are tied with ropes into flower knots, and the shafts are wrapped with tan leather. The carriages of middle-class families have gold-inlaid and painted horse bits, horse girths decorated with pearls and jade, and the horses and carriage windows are decorated with pearls and jade.】

＊

Nowadays, the rich wear silver earrings, gold brocade, fur embroidery, and earrings. The middle class wear lacquer, silk, and painted clothes.

——"Salt and Iron Discussion"

[Translation: Nowadays, the rich use leather to make horse earrings, silver to make horse headdresses, gold to make glittering horse bridles, embroidered felt to make horse sweatproof cloths, thorny jade to make horse earrings, and Xianbei belts to make horse bellybands. The horses of the middle class are tied with painted leather ropes, and the harnesses are painted and dried in the sun.]

＊

Large-scale armed conflicts broke out in Longchuanzheng, Zheyuan, and Shengongqiao. The fight lasted for a total of one year and four months. During this period, both sides looted military warehouses, purchased weapons and ammunition, used modern weapons, and carried out five large-scale armed conflicts, killing 13 people, injuring more than 10 people, burning down 198 houses, and demolishing 63 houses; all 148 houses in Longchuanzheng Village, Xianju Township were burned to ashes and turned into ruins. According to incomplete statistics afterwards, this protracted clan fight caused a total direct economic loss of more than 1 million yuan.

——《Chinese Peasant City》

＊

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, especially the Qing Dynasty, armed fights between clans continued to occur in southern provinces such as Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Jiangxi where clan organizations were prevalent. These fights were particularly frequent in Zhangzhou and Quanzhou in Fujian and Huizhou and Chaozhou in Guangdong. The severity of clan fights in the south became a social problem at the time.

Clan fights in the south began in the Ming Dynasty. With the development of clan and gentry power in the later period, as well as the development of clan armed forces in the process of resisting Japanese pirates, and stimulated by the expansion of population, the social conditions for clan fights became more mature. Clan fights in the south frequently occurred in the Qing Dynasty.

During the reign of Emperor Kangxi, clan fights in Fujian and Guangdong were already common. During the reign of Emperor Yongzheng, the scale of the fights became even larger. Emperor Yongzheng once said: "In the Zhangzhou and Quanzhou areas of Fujian Province, the people are tough and brave, and the families with large clans often rely on their strong manpower to bully the poor. Occasionally, for minor reasons, they will gather together to fight with weapons, which will lead to major cases. When they are arrested by the government, they will flee and resist, and have no regard for the constitution."

——"Famous Chinese Temples: A Cultural Interpretation of Ancestor Worship"

＊

Chapter 148: Shock! The Emperor Openly Grabbed the Minister's Land!

[Tsk tsk, it turns out that Magistrate Zhang's ancestors were also rich and were the kings of Qi during the Seven Kingdoms War.]

[No, what a weird king, you have all the land as a king, yet you steal the garden of a minister to raise pigs?!]

[The flowers I just planted were directly eaten by the pigs!!!]

Beijing officials: Hahahaha hiccups——

How could there be such an emperor!

How could there be such an unlucky minister!

This may be the only emperor in history who robbed a minister's garden to raise pigs and the minister whose garden was robbed to raise pigs!

Historians: Writing furiously.jpg

＊

Prefect Zhang Qian decided to break the impasse.

Although he has retired, his descendants will still pursue official careers. If he allows himself to be alienated by the central government, he will simply be courting his own destruction.

How can he break the situation...

Former Prefect Zhang looked left and right, and his eyes were fixed on Xu Yanmiao.

Although he had never seen Xu Yanmiao, he had also heard that the emperor crowned his young attendant. And this attendant was also easy to recognize, he was the youngest and most beautiful one!

Being able to have the emperor make an exception and crown his subject is such a unique honor. I think other officials must respect him!

Is there anything easier than currying favor with the favored officials to get back into the imperial circle?

Prefect Zhang Qian picked up a glass of wine and walked over with a smile.

When I got closer, I heard the young favorite minister seeming to be very embarrassed and said to the official next to him: "Master Liang, please don't make fun of me. I am not well-informed. I just like to talk to merchants in the market and I accidentally knew about this."

Prefect Zhang Qian subconsciously stopped and pricked up his ears to listen.

Then I heard the other party say, "I heard that there is a tree called lemon tree overseas. The tree is full of light yellow fruits, like little suns. I was very curious."

Prefect Zhang was overjoyed. He knew this tree. He had one in his back garden! He bought it from a foreign merchant. It was so rare!

＊

Xu Yanmiao was trying to ask the knowledgeable Liang about the lemon tree when she suddenly heard a voice with a smile beside her: "I have seen this tree before. It blooms all year round and bears fruit in spring, summer and autumn?"

Xu Yanmiao put on a businesslike smile and looked at the person who came.

[I don't know either. I only know the lemons in the fruit bowl.]

But he still said: "That's right. Have you seen it?"

Prefect Zhang Qian smiled and said, "The flesh of the fruit tastes very sour, and its shape is not round like the sun, but rather somewhat similar to a pear."

Xu Yanmiao: "!!!!"

【lemon!】

[It must be a lemon! ]

[From now on, I will have lemonade, lemon chicken feet, and lemon chicken wings! Wuhu! ]

Prefect Zhang saw that the emperor's favorite seemed to like this tree very much, so he immediately said, "I wonder if it can be planted in the capital. I will bring a few pots of saplings to the capital in the future. If they can be planted, I will give you a few."

Xu Yanmiao smiled and said, "Thank you."

[But no need, isn't this taking bribes? When the censor impeaches you for stealing the people's land, and you have to pay compensation for the land and money, and you may go to jail, I will come to buy lemon trees from you... a reasonable and legal opportunity to pick up bargains! ]

It's a rare occasion for college students to tease each other.

Lian Hang, who was sitting next to him, quickly lowered his head.

Hold it in! Don't laugh! Laughing now is too abrupt!

Prefect Zhang's eyes lit up, and he continued, "I think you are also a person who loves plants and trees."

Xu Yanmiao smiled politely.

[Not really, I just love lemonade, lemon chicken feet, and lemon chicken wings.]

Prefect Zhang Qian: "Do you like peonies?"

"peony......"

[There are many lovely flowers on land and water, Jin... Wait, I don't have to take the college entrance examination, why am I still so conditioned? ]

[It's a sin, forget it now! I want to enjoy the happiness of lying down and being a salted fish! ]

Other officials: Hey, what is the college entrance examination?

Xu Yanmiao continued to smile politely: "Peony is the national fragrance, so of course I like it."

Prefect Zhang Qian also smiled, speaking in a gentle and sincere tone: "I am a little abrupt. I was very happy to hear that you also like flowers and plants. As the saying goes, it is difficult to find a soulmate in the vast sea of ​​people. If I could attend the flower show with you and enjoy the peonies, wouldn't it be a great pleasure in life? If you don't mind, I wonder if you would be willing to fulfill my long-cherished wish and travel with me on the fifth day of April, so that we can enjoy the beauty of peonies together?"

He added: "I have a double-headed peony, which I will send to the capital for the meeting."

Xu Yanmiao continued to smile politely: "If I have the chance, I really want to see this double-headed peony."

[I have no interest in double-headed peonies. I prefer double-yolk salted duck eggs.]

"puff--"

The deputy commander of the Central Army couldn't help but burst out laughing, and immediately lowered his head to eat a mouthful of hot tofu, pretending that nothing had happened.

The retired official beside him asked calmly: "What happy thing did you see?"

The deputy commander of the Central Army said casually, "Oh, I remembered the opera we just sang. I was amused by the lyrics."

Retired official: "?"

But the scene just now was a complete tragedy!

＊

Prefect Zhang Qian naturally sensed Xu Yanmiao's politeness, but this made him feel at ease.

If the favorite minister can be approached easily, he will still suspect fraud.

Just keep catering to their preferences.

"Since you like exotic green plants, have you ever heard of a kind of flower that grows melons when the flower falls? Unfortunately, the melons are extremely bitter and cannot be eaten. However, the bitterest melons are actually grown from the most elegant flowers. The flowers are very pleasing to the eye and are pink and yellow in color..."

Xu Yanmiao at the back didn't really listen. Her eyes lit up.

【Momordica charantia!】

【Stuffed bitter melon! Bitter melon fried egg! Bitter melon chicken soup! Bitter melon coconut milk! 】

"There is another kind of green plant that is very interesting. According to the Hu people, it is called 'stink bug'. Before it matures, the smell emitted by its stems and leaves is like the stink of insects, but when it matures, it smells like fennel."

【coriander!】

Xu Yanmiao happened to know this knowledge. He couldn't find coriander when he was making hot pot seasoning. It turned out that it hadn't been introduced yet.

[No! It turned out that it had been introduced a long time ago, but it had always been planted in other people's private gardens and had never spread! ]

[Damn it! ]

[How can we eat hot pot without coriander! These people are so evil! Do you think that coriander looks like an ornamental plant? ]

"There is a tree in the garden, its..."

【Wow!】

[There is actually a Sal tree! The seeds of this thing seem to be able to cure some disease? ]

"There is another tree in another courtyard, and its..."

【coconut???】

[Great! I'll have coconut milk to drink from now on! ]

Prefect Zhang Qian carefully observed Xu Yanmiao's expression and could clearly feel that the other party became more serious and happier the more he listened.

Prefect Zhang Qian smiled slightly.

Other Beijing officials: "..."

Just by looking at the expression on this man's face, they knew that he must feel that he was very successful in trying to please others.

——It was indeed quite successful. There were many rare green plants. They all wanted to see them. But Xiao Bai Ze... well... he preferred to eat.

Cough cough.

As the former prefect Zhang was talking, he sat down.

After talking for a long time, someone sat down next to him.

Prefect Zhang was halfway through his speech when he could only turn his head - the other party was too close to him. "Excuse me, this person?"

The man who squeezed next to him was dressed in civilian clothes, tall and strong, holding a potato with the skin peeled off.

He smiled enthusiastically: "I think your garden is quite nice."

Xu Yanmiao's eyes widened.

Liang Rui's hand shook, and the piece of jellyfish skin he was picking up with chopsticks fell onto the table with a "pop".

Lian Hang turned his head to look at the plaque with white characters on a lacquered background on the wall, as if the couplet written on it was an eternal absolute.

From other seats, there were sounds of coughing, falling food, and spraying water.

Prefect Zhang looked at him and asked, "Who are you?"

The man laughed heartily: "Haha, my name is Gao Tiezhu. I followed my master in to have a free meal."

So former prefect Zhang restrained his awkward smile, frowned, and did not respond.

The other party continued to ask in a very familiar manner: "Are those strange plants you mentioned really in your garden?"

Prefect Zhang Qian had a blank expression on his face: "Of course."

Xu Yanmiao: "..."

[Old Emperor, you are not attracted to your minister... No, your former minister's garden, are you? ]

[Even though I haven't seen you many times and I don't recognize you now, you can't do this. ]

The other Beijing officials covered their faces silently.

Your Majesty, can we please have some shame?

The old emperor spoke in a deafening voice: "Come to think of it, you, a high-ranking official, have quite a few overseas plants in your garden. So other officials shouldn't have much of a difference, right?"

Other Beijing officials: "???"

Wait, what do you want to do?!

Old Emperor: It's nothing. I just want to use your garden to raise pigs for my Gao family.

"Snapped--"

The historian paused and dripped thick ink onto the words that just recorded the king seizing the minister's garden.

The author has something to say:

When King Hui ascended the throne, he took the garden of the state of Bi and made it his own game field. The palace of Bianbo was close to the royal palace, so the king took it. The king seized the land of Ziqin Zhugui and Zhanfu, and collected the salary of the cook. Therefore, Biguo, Bianbo, Shisu, Zhanfu, and Ziqin Zhugui rebelled, and the Su family

——Zuo Zhuan

【Translation: When King Hui of Zhou succeeded to the throne, he seized the vegetable garden of the state of Bi to raise his own livestock. King Hui of Zhou also seized the residence of Bian Bo, which was close to the royal palace. King Hui of Zhou forcibly seized the land of Ziqin Zhugui and Zhanfu, and also took back the salary of Shi Su, the chef. As a result, the state of Bi, Bian Bo, Shi Su, Zhanfu, and Ziqin Zhugui rebelled and relied on the Su family. 】

＊

Lemons were not introduced until the Qing Dynasty (along with coffee):

Coffee seeds are waiting to be planted in the mulberry garden, and lemon trees are seen in the forest

——"A Poem of Thanks for the Gift of Fifty Pears from the Governor of Bingzhou"

＊

There are many lovely flowers on land and water.

——On the Love of Lotus

＊

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum), also known as coriander, is an annual or biennial herb of the Oenanthaceae family. It is native to the Mediterranean coast, West Asia and North Africa. The English name "Coriander" comes from the Greek, meaning "bug", because before the seeds of coriander are immature, the smell of the stems and leaves is generally unpleasant like the smell of beetles. When the fruit is ripe, it turns into a spicy aroma similar to fennel.

——《Taste of China: The Natural History of Spices and Seasonings》

Chapter 149 There is murderous intent!!!

Which emperor would want to seize his minister's garden?

Oh, it's my home!

Officials in Beijing all put on masks of pain.

What else can we do? We can't just cut the emperor's neck with a knife. Anyway, it's just some gardens, so we can just give them away!

But anyway, Xu Yanmiao was very grateful to the old emperor.

——He doesn't have a garden at home.

But he was indeed bothered by the former prefect!

But ever since the old emperor had grabbed the former prefect and asked him about the details of his garden, the former prefect immediately found an excuse to leave Xu Yanmiao, and he could be said to have fled in panic.

Gao Tiezhu slowly rolled up the potato and curled his lips: "Why are you running? Can you really get away?"

other people:"......"

Gao Tiezhu turned his head and stared at the next official, smiling: "This senior official..."

The other person happened to be a Beijing official, who shuddered on the spot: "Not big!"

Seeing that His Majesty's expression became dangerous, other local officials and retired officials became suspicious and hurried to patch up. With a serious face and awe-inspiring righteousness, "Everyone knows that Your Majesty advocates frugality, and the upper class should follow suit. The vegetables I usually eat are all grown by myself, I eat in earthenware, wear short clothes and worn shoes, and even my wife entertains guests in her clothes. How can I have the leisure and money to tend the garden!"

[That's right...]

[But what does your doing have to do with the old emperor? Isn't it because you are allergic to silk and can't bear to see the whole family suffer alone, so you require the whole family to wear coarse linen shoes? ]

Daxia monarch and ministers: →_→

The Beijing official turned his head silently.

ah--

The windows of the Prime Minister's house are actually covered with paper!

[Besides, because of her fame, she initially just stopped wearing silk clothes, and later she tearfully replaced the white porcelain bowls in her home with earthenware, and tearfully opened a vegetable garden in her backyard.]

Daxia monarch and ministers: →_→

The official continued to stare at the window.

oh--

It turns out that the prime minister's windows are papered with white hemp paper! It's quite cheap!

[It's so funny. He originally wanted to give his children a good life by having them, and to adjust his own living conditions appropriately. But his children were fooled one by one, and they all wanted to be the pioneers of frugality. Hahahahahahaha. Every time he said "I want to do good for you", he was pushed back. Hahahahaha! ]

[Both children are extremely proud of themselves for not being extravagant! ]

The ruler and ministers of Daxia: "Tsk tsk."

The official from the capital seemed not to hear anything and just kept staring at the window of Prime Minister Dou's house.

Um--

The big red window decorations on top are also very beautiful!

＊

Prefect Zhang Qian sat back in his original seat in disgrace. But he was not the only one who wanted to please the favored minister!

The Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, who retired in the eleventh year of Tiantong, looked at the former prefect Zhang with disdain.

He joked with his friend: "Humph, seeing that guy came back with a frustrated look on his face, I guess he failed to win the favor of Xu Lang. I knew that with Zhang Zhuxian's shallow knowledge, how could he understand Xu Lang's preferences. I have to go."

The friend was surprised: "I have heard that this minister is very self-disciplined and hard to please. Do you... know what he likes?"

The former Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War gave a mysterious smile.

"Just look at mine."

Still a little drunk, he got up and went over there.

In his opinion, this young minister still has the mind of a teenager and loves to watch the fun. Zhang Zuxian doesn't even understand this and is in a hurry to arrange for the young man to do elegant activities such as reciting poems, composing couplets, tasting tea and appreciating flowers... Don't you think about the fact that your own pampered child doesn't like these boring things, let alone Minister Xu, who was crowned by the emperor and enjoyed unparalleled honors throughout the ages.

When it comes to how to play, how to make noise, and how to describe interesting stories in the city, you have to look to Yu Shouzhong!

＊

Minister Yu had only seen Emperor Tiantong when he was in his thirties or forties and in his prime, but had never seen the old emperor in his sixties. In addition, the other party had just turned around to talk to other "beloved ministers" about the garden. Minister Yu glanced at the person sitting there and felt that the back of the person looked familiar, but he did not think much about it - he was only focused on the young and promising Minister Xu.

He had prepared in his mind how to flatter and please her, and when he spoke he spoke fluently, leaving Xu Yanmiao stunned.

[This person's compliments are quite nice. ]

Xu Yanmiao was very distressed: [But it seems that you use too many allusions... Damn it, although I have been cramming various allusions some time ago, but you use eight allusions in one sentence. Am I here to chat or to review my Chinese lesson? ]

Liang Rui saw that Yu Qian hadn't realized that there was something wrong with the communication, so he coughed and said, "Your Excellency, are you here for something?"

Save Xiao Bai Ze in Chinese class.jpg

Minister Yuqian smiled and praised Xu Yanmiao again - the kind that uses eight allusions in one sentence, and then he said slowly: "I yearn for it, so I came to visit you."

Xu Yanmiao: "..."

[It hurts so much.]

【I want to pee QAQ】

Yu Qian, the former minister, accidentally pulled out his ultimate weapon in time: "Xu Lang has become famous at such a young age. I wonder who is his mentor?"

Xu Yanmiao flipped through the memories of his original body and paused before speaking.

【Help!】

[What do you call your deceased parents? Your deceased father or mother?]

Liang Rui coughed and asked in a low voice, "But what's the problem?"

Xu Yanmiao also whispered about her troubles.

Liang Rui: "When alive, they are called father, mother, and wife. When dead, they are called father, mother-in-law, and concubine."

[Ah! I memorized this! I just couldn't remember it for a moment!]

[Master Liang, you are such a good person! ]

[That's right! I'm stupid. Doesn't the idiom "like losing one's parents" explain everything? ]

Xu Yanmiao looked at Yu Qian, the former minister, and said, "My family is poor and I don't have a teacher. In the past, I was taught by my father and mother, but later... I learned by myself."

Yu Qian, the former minister: "Xu Lang is self-taught, but he is quite a rare talent."

He sighed again, "When I was young, I studied in the clan middle school, but unfortunately I met the wrong person. The teacher liked Long Yang's affairs, which made many students in the school lose interest in learning. They were only worried about this person's actions in secret. I was full of blood and vitality, and it was suitable for getting up early to study for a few years, but because of this person who came to lift our quilts early in the morning with dirty eyes, we had to return home in a hurry, spending several hours going back and forth every day."

The other officials who were listening attentively remained silent.

If you can meet a good teacher, it is naturally a blessing in your life, but if you meet a teacher who is not worthy of being a teacher, it is simply a nightmare for students.

【？ ？ ？】

[Morally assaulting students?!]

[This teacher is too much! ]

The ruler and ministers of Daxia: Yes, yes!

[I must expose him! ]

Daxia's ruler and ministers: Yes! Expose him!

【I--】

【Eh?】

[Why can't I find this gossip? Is it because I used the wrong keywords? ]

Xu Yanmiao thought about it and tried to inquire: "With such a bad teacher, have you ever thought of suing the authorities?"

Yu Qian, the former minister, shook his head and said, "How can we sue the officials without evidence?"

Xu Yanmiao hesitated and asked carefully: "Is it just the lifting of the quilt in the morning? Is it... I mean, are there more obvious actions, or victims?"

Minister Yu's eyes lit up, and he immediately felt that the opportunity had come.

Then he smiled and said, "It's all over."

He added: "There really were no victims. He was very... cautious. Now that I think about it, I think I can look at him like a sly person performing a trick."

Xu Yanmiao didn't know how to respond for a moment. It seemed that it was not appropriate to complain bitterly about the teacher, nor was it appropriate to criticize the teacher fiercely. But he couldn't just ask him to say, "Come on, tell me what fun the teacher brought us."

[So how did it develop into such a close relationship? ]

College students are confused.

However, Yu Qian was still pleased with himself for bringing Xu Yanmiao an interesting thing——

"He deliberately lifted the students' blankets, but he acted like a decent woman. Every time other teachers and students invited him to take a bath, he blushed and refused."

【Ah! I found it! 】

Xu Yanmiao was very happy one second, but the next second she felt like a hamster with its neck strangled, and even her melon seeds fell out.

[Wait, I don't have a good relationship with Long Yang?! ]

[Besides, no other students think he has a preference for Longyang...]

[Also, the teacher doesn't take a bath with others because he has athlete's foot!!!]

Xu Yanmiao's inner voice was deafening.

The ruler and ministers of Daxia: "!!!"

Oh no!

The old emperor no longer dragged the ministers to ask about the garden, but listened attentively to Xu Yanmiao's thoughts.

——This development is much more exciting!

Come and let me hear how this person came to think that the teacher was a good match for him?

＊

Xu Yanmiao pondered over the former Minister Yu for a long time before she finally came up with a word: [I understand. Could this former Minister Yu be suffering from paranoia?]

Minister Yu Qian didn't even realize that he was being stared at by a crowd of people with sympathetic and excited eyes.

——If he could hear Xu Yanmiao's inner voice, he would never continue speaking happily, thinking that he had finally hit the spot for Xu Lang.

Lian Hang poked at the two taels of meat on his plate and smiled: "But it doesn't make much difference."

Isn't Xu Lang in a good mood now?

Even his mood became more interesting.

——It may not be the kind of excitement that Minister Yuqian wants.

＊

Yu Qian, the former minister, recalled what happened at the beginning and tried to make it clear: "Also, he sneaked into the rouge shop more than once to try rouge. It's nothing for a grown man to put on rouge and powder, but he went secretly. When asked, he denied it flatly, saying that he didn't like to put on powder to embellish his face. It's really ridiculous."

【Well......】

Xu Yanmiao began to sympathize with the teacher.

[You are about to take the provincial examination. People are afraid that you will not do well in the exam. They work on their lesson plans until midnight before going to bed. They get up at four o'clock to brush their teeth, wash their faces and eat breakfast. They rush to the dormitory at five o'clock to wake you up to study. You have dark circles under your eyes. In order to cover them up, you can only use powder to cover them up, and use rouge to make your complexion look better. People also suspect that you like to be a playboy. ]

[How miserable...]

Yeah, that's miserable.

The rulers and ministers of Daxia all nodded in unison.

The ministers in particular felt the same way.

Every day at midnight - Xu Yanmiao sometimes mixed it up and said that they had already figured it out, midnight is Zizheng, and four o'clock is Yinshi 5ke. One hour is roughly "two o'clock".

Sleeping only two hours a day is really not a bearable schedule.

Yu Qian, the former minister, was talking excitedly: "Also, he is a grown man, but he still likes to eat cakes, especially the kind of cakes that are particularly sweet. Generally, only the rabbit gods like to eat sweet things..."

Xu Yanmiao started counting subconsciously.

[Ah? This is a stereotype, right?]

[The deputy commander of the Central Army likes to use sweet bean sauce when roasting lamb ribs. ]

[Liang's favorite rice is the sweet and fragrant Kaifeng rice.]

[Prime Minister Dou secretly ate the five-spice cake without telling his family.]

[Ah! And the Minister of War! Not only does he love to eat candy, he sometimes eats it secretly in the court.]

[Even the old emperor likes to eat sweet-scented osmanthus cake and jujube paste cake! ]

[Could it be that they——]

The person being named: "?!"

No!

Not happening!!!

Minister Yu's heart skipped a beat.

Strange, why does it feel murderous? !

The author has something to say:

When alive, they are called father, mother, and wife. When dead, they are called father, mother-in-law, and concubine.

——"Book of Rites"

Chapter 150 broke the news!

Minister Yu looked left and right but couldn't see the problem.

"Maybe it's just my illusion."

He looked at Xu Yanmiao again, and was about to speak with a confident smile, but when he saw the expression on Xu Yanmiao's face, his smile froze.

Why did he feel... that Xu Lang's gaze towards him seemed to have become much colder?

＊

Xu Yanmiao was indeed very disgusted with the fact that former Minister Yu used this matter as a topic of conversation.

[What kind of person is this! The teacher has done his duty very well, but this person is not grateful and even spreads rumors everywhere.]

[Sweets? I just like—eh? I don't like sweets? ]

Xu Yanmiao's eyes flickered slightly.

The virtual hand transformed by thought was dragging the progress bar eagerly.

【I'll just take a look! 】

[Hahahahahahaha——]

【hahahahahahahaha--】

Laughter suddenly broke out, and the rulers and ministers of Daxia started to imagine things like crazy.

"He doesn't like sweets but he still buys them. Could it be that he is using them to pursue the female elders of Yu Shilang, such as his own mother - now he should actually call that Master Daddy?!"

'Or maybe, Master collected sweets to please someone, and that person was also what Yu Shilang wanted to please. Yu Shilang was a step late and has been upset, but I don't know who was a step ahead of him? '

"No, no, no, I think it's..."

[The teacher bought sweets to reward students. The students in your class made trouble in class and acted like a fool after class. The provincial examination questions that he carefully studied for you were thrown aside. He got upset when he saw you. Of course, he never enjoyed the treatment of feeding you sweets! ]

[But other classes can get cakes and candied fruits from the teacher every day! ]

[Just you, Yu Qianshilang and your group——]

[This is truly the worst class I have ever taught! ]

"Puff——"

Lian Hang lowered his head and laughed, biting his lips hard to prevent himself from laughing out loud.

Just a pair of shoulders shaking.

Sorry, sorry, he didn't want to laugh, but a story of "love and hatred" and "revenge" suddenly turned into a teaching assistant story of "rewarding my favorite student with a candy". The contrast was too great and he couldn't control himself.

Does Minister Yuqian know that he is not liked by the teacher? Hahahahahaha——

＊

Minister Yuqian didn't know.

But he knew that his shoulder was held down by a strong hand.

Turning his head, he saw the deputy commander of the Central Army smiling grimly: "Just now I heard that you think a man who eats sweets is a rabbit god?"

【Oh my! 】

【Retribution in this life! 】

Yu Qian looked at the deputy commander of the Central Army in horror and tried to argue: "I just..."

Then, I felt as if my feet were dangling in the air.

Yu Qian's pupils trembled: "You! What do you want to do!"

The deputy commander of the Central Army said nothing, relying on his own height and strength, and directly carried Yu Qian away. Yu Qian struggled, and his outer robe half slipped and dragged on the ground, like a very funny rat tail.

Along the way, wherever he passed by, the officials from the capital would silently cover their eyes.

——Especially those who love sweets.

"How miserable!"

The Minister of War sighed and adjusted his sitting position.

Well, this makes it convenient to see outside through the window, and watching the warriors fighting each other is really relaxing.

What's wrong with liking sweets!

snort!

＊

Not long after former Minister Yu was dragged out, the protagonist, Prime Minister Dou, finally entered the scene.

Now it was getting dark, and pine oil torches were lit outside, as if to illuminate the garden as if it were daytime.

The 80-year-old man picked up his bowl and ate with a smile, greeting people while eating. He could even call out the names of many of his retired colleagues.

"Su Ziguang, have you been swimming recently? Are you too lazy to go? How can this be? Aren't you afraid that your old cold legs will kill you!"

"Come here, move the light closer so that our Fifth Scholar can see the food on the table clearly - you Fifth Scholar, why do you insist on doing it yourself? Just let the servants serve you!"

"Lü Huangque, why aren't you chattering at this banquet? Hahaha, yes, I'm getting old - but the chicken tongue soup you mentioned is really good. I drink a bowl of it every morning. It's a pity that I'm old and my teeth can't chew meat anymore, so I have to throw away the chicken."

[Eh? Is there? ]

Prime Minister Dou calmly cut the soft meat dumplings in his bowl, pretending that he was deaf.

——The emperor's grace is so great that he has not yet removed his position and seal. He will not be completely removed from office until after his 80th birthday.

Everyone who was called by Prime Minister Dou bowed in return without haste, and some even chatted with each other, making the scene quite lively.

While Prime Minister Dou was calling the roll, some strong men came in, cleared a space in the middle of the hall, and started putting some objects there.

——You can tell at a glance that it was arranged in advance.

After Prime Minister Dou called out the names of all the people present, everything was set up. A sheep was led up and its three legs were tied. Then, a strong man came in with a knife and bowed to all the officials.

The others hadn't realized what was wrong yet, and they still asked with a smile: "What is the Prime Minister doing? Is there something else going on now--"

The last word broke out at a very fast speed.

Because the warrior cut the sheep's throat with one knife, and then cut a cut on the hind leg of the sheep that was not tied up. The leg kicked and struggled, blood flowed down, and the whole place was filled with a fishy smell.

After the sheep was bled, it died. Then a wooden stick was poked into the hole, the blowing hole was torn open, and the sheep's leg was held in the hand, and the mouth was facing the blowing hole and blowing hard.

The dead sheep quickly swelled up and kicked its four hooves towards the sky.

Many officials were so frightened that they subconsciously took two steps back.

What are you doing?

Even Xu Yanmiao turned his head subconsciously, with an expression of pity on his face.

Only Prime Minister Dou was still eating the meat paste, and he smiled and said, "Why did you make room for it? What's the hurry? We have just started skinning the sheep, and the mutton will have to wait a while before it can be cut onto your plates."

As Prime Minister Dou spoke, the warrior turned the sharp knife in his hand over, held it upside down, and poked it hard at the lower part of the sheep's chest, making a half-foot long cut. Then he drew the knife aside and picked up the two front legs of the sheep with both hands.

Start from the front legs, to the neck, to the shoulders.

Then the hind legs, the hips, and the tail.

The sheepskin was peeled off like a piece of clothing, with a "squeak" sound. The whole process took less than a quarter of an hour, and it was done in one go.

Many of the guests looked pale, and some even stood up and ran to a corner, holding a spittoon and began to vomit.

The Fifth Former Scholar, who was mocked by Prime Minister Dou as the Fifth Stubborn Donkey, stood up suddenly, his eyes fixed on the subject: "Dou Shanbai, what are you crazy about!"

Prime Minister Dou raised his neck and laughed: "Fifth Stubborn Donkey, don't you like this? I thought you - or many people here - would be very happy to see this skill."

If the Fifth Former Scholar could have always heard Xu Yanmiao's inner voice, he would probably have to repeat a sentence he learned from him at this moment -

are you crazy!!!

Just then, the door slammed shut.

Many people's hearts also skipped a beat.

The fifth former scholar wanted to stand on the windowsill and look down at Prime Minister Dou, wanting to see him from head to toe to see whether this man was real or fake.

Even though it wasn't like that, his face was full of excitement: "Dou Shanbai, what on earth do you want to do?"

Prime Minister Dou didn't even look at him, but looked at Lu Huangque and smiled: "Is this chicken tongue soup delicious?"

Lv Huangque covered his stomach, his face pale. He couldn't express his anger to Prime Minister Dou, because he was the one who vomited when facing the sheepskin peeling scene.

The blood and flesh in his stomach seemed to be rising up his esophagus, so he had no energy to answer Prime Minister Dou.

Prime Minister Dou continued to talk to himself, "It is indeed delicious. How can a bowl of soup contain only one chicken tongue? You killed more than a dozen chickens, and your family can't eat that much. You, Lu Huangque, will not share meat with the untouchables. You would not give your family's things to outsiders, even if you pour them into the ditch to fill them with soil."

Prime Minister Dou sighed, "One bowl of chicken tongue soup a day. How many chickens do you kill in a month? The stinking ditch in the backyard must be piled up into a small hill."

Lu Huangque had vomited frequently before, and now his palms were full of sweat, which he covered with wet and sticky sweat on his clothes.

He stared at Prime Minister Dou, surprise and disbelief in his eyes: "Just because of this, you use sheepskin to disgust me?!"

He also wanted to shout: "Dou Shanbai! Are you sick?"

Prime Minister Dou looked at the fifth former scholar again and said, "You stubborn ass, why are you so angry? Your eyesight is not good and you can't see the blood."

The fifth former scholar laughed angrily: "My eyesight is not bad, not my nose. After my eyes became bad, my nose became better. Just now, they almost sent me away!"

Prime Minister Dou: "Then why didn't they just send you away?"

The fifth former scholar was stunned: "What?" After thinking for a moment, he asked hesitantly: "Prime Minister, when did we become enemies?"

Prime Minister Dou seemed to glance at him and said slowly, "You have poor eyesight but you still ride a horse. Not long after you retired, you rode your horse into other people's fields."

The fifth former scholar: "?"

"Just for such a small matter, you deliberately disgust me?"

"Dou Shanbai! Are you sick?"

——Huh? I seem to have heard this somewhere before?

Seeing that Prime Minister Dou's eyes were already on him, Su Ziguang interrupted him and said, "Prime Minister, for the sake of our past friendship, please tell me what you want to do."

The dead sheep was still swollen and its limbs were standing upside down. The smell of blood filled every inch of the air in the room. The torch reflected on the window paper. Prime Minister Dou did not hide it: "Of course, I will report what you did to His Majesty."

A group of retired officials: "???"

"Are you really crazy?!"

For something like this, what's the harm in reporting it?

Lü Huangque taunted: "You, Dou Shanbai, don't think you are a righteous army, do you? What are you going to punish us for? Whipping? I eat more than a dozen chicken tongues every day, what law do I violate?"

Prime Minister Dou: "This is indeed not a big deal, but you must have done more than this. Although I don't know what you have done in the local area, someone will know it."

When these words were spoken, many retired officials were shocked.

What do you mean someone will know?

The officials in Beijing were already glancing vaguely at someone sitting at the table.

Prime Minister Dou was also looking at him.

And that person was in a daze.

＊

Prime Minister Dou knew that the man was not in a daze, he was activating a magic weapon.

"Xu Yanmiao..."

Prime Minister Dou murmured the name, and the blood in his body seemed to be rushing.

Before Xu Yanmiao came, he had never thought of doing such a thing. Yes, most officials would become local tyrants after retiring, but what did this have to do with him - as if he didn't need to retire.

Why didn't anyone tell the emperor?

Because the emperor did not retire, but the officials did! If we tell the emperor how ridiculous the lives of officials are after retirement, and what strategies the emperor has come up with to avoid such things, what should the officials who have not yet retired do?

I finally retire, and I won't live for many more years. Why can't I even have some fun?

But it's different now. Bai Ze may be paying attention to your family anytime and anywhere. What if someone in your family does something big that involves the entire clan... hehe.

It would be better to just put yourself in danger and then survive.

He gave his "old friends" a big gift package for going to prison, and then other officials - mainly his Dou family - naturally did not dare to hope to become local tyrants after retiring.

As he thought about it, a smile unconsciously appeared on Prime Minister Dou's lips.

He started living a deliberately extravagant life two months ago, and repeatedly wrote letters to retired officials to describe his extravagant behavior. As for this 80th birthday, he held a grand celebration and even spread the rumor that he did not invite Your Majesty.

——Why didn't you invite me? Of course, it's because I also want to enjoy the music.

Then, he sent letters to invite these retired officials to come and pay their respects, and accompanied the letters with the menu. When they saw the prime minister who was about to retire, the banquet included food from all over the world, from the most northern Liao sea cucumber to the most southern scallops and abalone, from the most precious shark tendons to the most exotic phoenix fetuses, from 300 roasted lamb tongues and roasted deer tongues to a whole goose without bones...

Tableware is also made of seven treasures (gold, silver, glass, crystal, jade, red pearls, and amber).

Who, seeing this, would not think that Dou Qing was one of their kind?

Who would have thought that this was an exquisitely crafted trap?

They came with their gorgeous clothes, luxurious horse gear, and exquisite carriages, attracting the curiosity and attention of the mythical beasts.

Pile after pile, item after item, link after link, link after link.

Prime Minister Dou stroked his beard with some pride.

How about it, you're still as good as ever, right?

[What the hell?! ]

[These people touched the public land that the old emperor specially prepared and rented to the landless poor?! ]

[One person took more than 1,000 hectares?! ]

【After taking it, rent it out to the poor at high rent? 】

Prime Minister Dou's hand trembled, and he pulled his beard and gasped again.

He originally thought that these people would just rob the land and secretly collect taxes, but how dare they even take public land?

"Knock that guy out quick!!!"

Some officials even screamed and lost their temper.

Prime Minister, why are you borrowing such a magical tool? This is going to blow the roof off the world!!!

Help--

The author has something to say:

First, tie up the two front hooves of the sheep to be slaughtered, forcing the sheep to lie on its back steadily. Then use a sharp knife to cut a half-foot long incision along the lower part of its chest. Then use the right hand to grab its front limbs, and put the left hand into the opened wound to tear the diaphragm, find its aorta, and after accurate judgment, tear the aorta off by hand. This is a crucial step. If you can't find the artery and cut its branches, the sheep will not die. The second step is to peel the sheepskin. First, use chopsticks to connect the broken ends, and then start peeling the sheepskin, starting from the front legs, to the neck, to the shoulders; then start from the hind legs, to the buttocks, to the tail; follow this order, you can peel off a very complete sheepskin. After peeling, the shepherd is accustomed to putting a whole sheep on the sheepskin. The whole process of killing the sheep takes no more than 10 to 15 minutes.

——《Changes in Nomadic Culture in Inner Mongolia》

[This book is quite good, and it introduces the cultural customs of Inner Mongolia very well]

＊