Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 141 Sweet Potatoes
Lie on the ground, Zhu Cihong raised his face covered with black ashes, and smiled at Changping and Erya, who were squatting beside the fire and staring at the fire, revealing a mouthful of white teeth: "Wait a little longer to eat it! My father. Dad said, this thing is delicious when baked!"

There was an aroma from the fire piled up with firewood, and a few pieces of fresh sweet potatoes wrapped in yellow mud lay quietly in the fire. Sweet potatoes will do.

This is produced in more than ten acres of field in Huangzhuang.

Chongzhen specifically asked, and talked about the importance of sweet potatoes several times. Liu Chao is very concerned about these things. Every few days, he would go to the fields to check, and sternly told several farmers to take good care of these treasures. Just like serving your own wife.Under the watchful care of several farmers day and night and careful maintenance, the sweet potato seedlings are growing gratifyingly.

Zhu Cihong occasionally heard his father talk about sweet potatoes, and out of curiosity, he pestered Chongzhen for a long time. Chongzhen briefly described the appearance of sweet potato fruits and how to process them to make them delicious, and emphasized that roasted sweet potatoes are very delicious. food.

From then on, Zhu Cihong paid attention to this matter, and often went to Huangzhuang's sweet potato fields under various guises to check, hoping that the sweet potatoes would ripen one day earlier, and when they were ripe, he would give them to Erya to taste.

Regarding the education of Zhu Cihong and other children, in addition to the normal daily teaching of classics and history by the Imperial Academy's attendants and the attendants' lecturers, Chongzhen was more inclined to the multi-faceted education of later generations, rather than limited to the content of the scriptures.

Because the Ming Dynasty only passed on the Guozuo Proof for more than two hundred years, there are many fallacies in the ways and methods of the royal family teaching the prince, otherwise there would not be so many mediocre emperors.

Confucianism and history should be studied, but it should be more in contact with the outside world, rather than living in a deep palace, lacking sufficient understanding of the world that is changing every day.

For this reason, Chongzhen ignored the strong opposition of Zhan Shifu's officials, changed the daily lecture to two-day lecture, and encouraged several children to go out of the palace from time to time to see the wonderful world outside.

Zhan Shifu's right and left Zhan Shilu Shanji and Gong Tingxiang approached the cabinet and Queen Zhou successively, threatened to resign, and asked everyone to put pressure on the emperor to withdraw the order of speaking every two days.

But Chongzhen resolutely refused to listen, and even quarreled with Zhou Hou about this matter, which made Zhou Hou very angry, and did not see Chongzhen for several days in a row.

In the end, this incident alarmed Empress Yi'an. Under Zhang Yan's gentle persuasion, Chongzhen reluctantly agreed to resume the daily lectures, but insisted that he must rest for two days every five days. The reason was that the prince would have enough time to digest the knowledge he had learned. .

In the end, under the adjustment of Empress Yi'an, both sides reluctantly accepted this method. Lu and Gong secretly slandered and were very dissatisfied with Chongzhen.

Chongzhen didn't care about this, and the teacher was also trying to better pass on his knowledge to the prince, which was a sign of conscientiousness.

But Chongzhen believed that the crown prince and King Ding didn't intend to take the Jinshi exam, so what's the use of learning so many Four Books and Five Classics?
The prince will be the emperor in the future, so it is enough to understand it through the books. In the future, ruling the world will require more personal experience of life and knowledge of the sufferings of the people. The combination of theory and practice will be perfect, and practice will bring true knowledge.

Looking forward and looking forward to the end of August, Zhu Cihong heard from the farmers who waited on the fields that according to the knowledge that Eunuch Liu taught them from the book, the sweet potatoes were probably ripe.

On the morning of Xiumu, Zhou Hou went to Empress Yi'an early to find out what was going on.Zhu Cihong took the little eunuch Zhao Qin, changed into casual clothes and planned to sneak out of the palace to dig sweet potatoes in Huangzhuang.

Zhao Qin peeked out from the entrance of the main hall, but couldn't find Zhou Hou's figure, then he turned around and made a gesture, and Zhu Cihong sneaked up behind him.

Just as the two were about to leave the side hall of Kunning Palace, they happened to bump into Chang Ping who came from Concubine Li Shu of the West Palace.

Surrounded by several court ladies, Chang Ping suddenly saw Zhu Cihong in casual clothes, and immediately ran into the hall with a cheer: "Brother Prince! Where are you going to play, I want to go too!"

Zhu Cihong didn't want to take his sister with him.Changping is good everywhere, but his mouth is too fast.No matter what happened, as long as Chang Ping knew about it, everyone in the harem, from concubine Zhou Hou Tian to court ladies and eunuchs, would know about it.

Zhu Cihong rolled his eyes, bent over and smiled at Chang Ping: "I heard that Mr. Gong is in poor health, so I'm going to visit him at his home alone, Chang Ping is a good boy, how about going to play with your brother Ding Wang?"

Changping didn't listen to him.She knew that Zhu Cihong didn't like these gentlemen, and she often complained to her father, saying that they were too old-fashioned, and that she knew the professor's scriptures well, but she still had to recite them face to face every day.

She yelled loudly: "Brother Prince is lying! You must be out of the palace to dig sweet potatoes! Xiao Qinzi told me yesterday! If Brother Prince doesn't take me, I will tell mother! Hmph!"

When Zhu Cihong heard this, he straightened up and stared at Zhao Qin, and scolded: "When did Gu say that he was going to Huangzhuang? Little Qinzi, if you keep talking nonsense, you will be fined not to eat tonight!"

Zhao Qin next to him muttered aggrievedly: "The servant girl never said that you are going to Huangzhuang! The princess is cheating!"

Changping turned his head to one side, and said angrily, "I don't care! I will go wherever the prince's elder brother goes today! Father said that the elder brother should take good care of my younger sister! Prince, how dare you disobey father's words!"

"Who dare not listen to my words?" Following the words, Chongzhen in a bright yellow dragon robe appeared at the entrance of the hall with Li Erxi, looking at everyone in the hall with a smile.

"Father!" Chang Ping ran over with two small arms smiling coquettishly, Chong Zhen rushed forward to hug her, the court ladies and eunuchs hurriedly knelt down to salute, Chong Zhen waved them to get up.

"I just heard you say who is disobedient?" Chongzhen asked with a smile.

"Brother Prince doesn't take me to play! He doesn't listen to my father! My father said earlier that he would take care of me!" Chang Ping put his arms around Chongzhen and began to complain.

Chongzhen looked at Zhu Cihong and said with a smile: "Where are you going, bro? Didn't I tell you to take my sister with you whenever you leave the palace?"

Zhu Cihong bent down and bowed his hands to salute, and replied with a smile: "My father, the child was teasing her just now, every time I go out of the palace, the child takes her with me, how dare I forget my father's teachings!"

Chongzhen didn't ask any more questions, as children have their own unique way of getting along.

He hugged Changping and walked towards the main hall of Kunning Palace, and asked as he walked: "Why didn't your mother restrain you today? Could it be that you have changed your temper?"

Zhou Hou was very strict with several children, especially Zhu Cihong.He often scolded him, saying that he was already a prince, and he should behave like a prince in every word and deed, and he should not be as uneducated as the wild children outside.Zhu Cihong, Changping, and Zhu Cihuan were a little afraid of getting along with the queen mother, but they were much more relaxed when they were with Chongzhen.

Zhu Cihong clasped his hands and replied: "The queen mother went to Empress Yi'an. Today is the time for my son to take a bath. I heard that the sweet potatoes are about to ripen a few days ago, so my son wants to check it out."

Chongzhen stopped when he heard that Zhou Hou was not there, and asked Changping in his arms with a smile: "Does my good daughter also want to see the appearance of Sweet Potato?"

Changping vigorously nodded his head and replied: "Father hasn't brought Changping out of the palace for a long time! Father, why don't we go together! Changping wants to try the roasted sweet potatoes that Father said!"

Chongzhen nodded with a smile: "Okay! I haven't been out of the palace for a long time, let's go to Huangzhuang today!"

Chang Ping writhed happily in Chongzhen's arms, Zhu Cihong saw that his father was also going, so he would go directly to Huangzhuang from Xihuamen, and he would not be able to go to Beicheng.In desperation, he pretended to think of something, and said to himself: "I remember my father said that he wanted someone to bring Erya to play in the palace. It has been so long, it seems that my father has forgotten about it, alas! Maybe Erya has been looking forward to it!"

How could Chongzhen fail to understand his little thoughts, and laughed loudly: "How can I forget what I said? I'm going to change clothes, Li Erxi, you go to inform Cheng Qianli, and arrange for someone to go to Beicheng to pick up Erya, he knows place!"

After Chongzhen changed into casual clothes, he took his two children into a carriage, and under the escort of dozens of Jinyi guards, he left the Forbidden City, walked through the Xihua Gate and headed straight for Huangzhuang.

Since the East Factory was first built, Wang Chengen and Liu Chao, who were busy with the affairs of the East Factory all day long, were waiting outside Huangzhuang.

Chongzhen got out of the car with Zhu Cihong and Changping, and was surprised to see Wang Chengen also there.

Wang Chengen and Liu Chao knelt down and paid respects, Chongzhen ordered them to stand up, and said to Wang Chengen with a smile: "Brother, I haven't seen you for a while, why did you come to Huangzhuang today?"

Wang Chengen straightened up after bowing and saluting, with tears in his eyes: "If you go back to the emperor, I have been busy with things in the factory these days, and I haven't seen the emperor's family for a long time. I am very worried about it! Today I wanted to go The emperor has something to report, and when he learned from Li Erxi that the emperor is coming to Huangzhuang, this old slave will go ahead and welcome the emperor here!"

Chongzhen's heart warmed, and he said softly: "My companion has a heart! With you outside, I won't worry about being blinded by others! Dongchang is the most important weapon of the country, and I am most at ease in your hands!"

Wang Chengen turned his head slightly, quickly wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes with his sleeves, then faced Chongzhen with a forced smile and said, "Don't worry, the emperor! This old slave will do his best to repay the emperor's kindness, but anyone who is disloyal to the emperor will be punished." He is the enemy of the old slave!"

Chongzhen walked towards the villa, and said as he walked: "I understand what my big partner wants! Liu Chao, lead the way, and I will first see how the sweet potatoes are growing. This is an important matter related to the great Ming Dynasty!"

　Chongzhen said that Zhan Shifu had never had Zhanshi named Gong Tingxiang and Lu Shanji. Chongzhen said that there had never been a general named Wu Qun. Shouzhou defeated Gao Yingxiang, and Chongzhen said that the novel is not reportage.This is a novel, not Ming history.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)