Mixed with salted fish in Hongwudang

Chapter 418 The grandson of the emperor is a good person, and the eunuchs around him are all incompetent!
Zhu Di was already frightened, but now that he suddenly heard the old man's words, he was even more frightened out of his wits.

But he was the leader of the army anyway, and he was used to seeing life and death on the battlefield, so he had already developed a thick skin, even if he was terrified to death, he didn't show the slightest bit on his face.

"Father!"

"My son has never lied to you at all!"

Listening to Zhu Di's distinction, Lao Zhu snorted coldly and stopped talking to him.

He didn't believe a word of Zhu Di's words, but he didn't intend to pursue it.

Of course, he really has nothing to pursue.

"Your eldest nephew said in the letter, let us give you a voice for him, and said that you have worked hard to defend the country, and that's how you persuaded the idle tribes of the Northern Yuan Dynasty not to dare to invade south!"

"what?"

Zhu Di was stunned when he heard this. Why did Zhu Yunxi mention himself in the letter to the old man?
Does this grandson know something?

I have been operating in Beiping Mansion and Shandong Province for many years, and the food channel is also opened through Lu Wang Mansion and Qi Wang Mansion. I am only responsible for private transactions with Liaodong Savages and Beiyuan Tribe, so I shouldn’t leak the news, right?
Seeing that Zhu Yunxi had traveled all the way, Zhu Xi still did not forget to greet Zhu Di, so he immediately asked sourly.

"Father, didn't the elder nephew mention me?"

Lao Zhu glanced at Zhu Wei, his eyelids drooping and he said.

"No!"

"You speak ill of him in our ears all day long, why does he mention you?"

"Father, why does this son-in-law speak ill of you? Isn't son-in-law afraid that my nephew will be misled by the masters around me?"

Now everyone has learned to be smart, and the fault they want to find Zhu Yunxi has always been overtaking in a curve, talking about the advisers around him.

For example, Gao Ming and others, as well as the batch of students from the Imperial College.

One is that these people are not high-ranking, and the other is that their foundation is too shallow, so there is no pressure to attack.

In a word, the grandson of the emperor is good, correct, smart, and upright, and it's all because of the treacherous ministers around him!
"Can you be so kind?"

Old Zhu glared at Zhu Xi in displeasure, and then looked at Zhu Di again.

"Fourth, are you sure you haven't done anything bad?"

At this time, Zhu Di had roughly guessed that the eldest nephew probably didn't mention the matter of reselling grain to the old man, so he had a good idea in his heart.

"no!"

"Why doesn't the father trust the son?"

"If the father doesn't believe it, you can send Jin Yiwei to raid the house of the son, and put the son in the Jinyiwei prison!"

Seeing Zhu Di's reaction like this, Lao Zhu doubted it.

"never mind!"

"Since you swear by it, let's just believe it."

"However, we have to let you know something in advance. Your eldest nephew suggested that Chang Sheng's Northern Expeditionary Army be stationed in Wanquandu Division to assist you in defending against Peking!"

"What?"

Zhu Di was immediately stunned when he heard this. Wanquandusi was only two days away from Beiping City. Once Zhu Yunxi wanted to do something to him, he could come to the city at any time.

It can be said that Zhu Yunxi's move is completely sending his second uncle to stare at him!

Once Chang Sheng is stationed in Beiping Mansion, his every move of the King of Yan will be under Chang Sheng's surveillance, and he will never even think about making private deals with the tribes in the north.

"Father, I'm afraid this is inappropriate?"

"If Chang Sheng moved to the Wanquan Capital Division, wouldn't Datong, Jinyang and other places be empty?"

"I hope my father will think twice, and everything will be based on the overall situation."

After hearing Zhu Di's words, Lao Zhu fell into hesitation. He was sensitively aware that Dasun's suggestion was tricky, and it was obviously aimed at his fourth uncle Zhu Di, just to monitor and restrict Zhu Di nearby.

But now he is even more curious why Dasun suddenly targeted Zhu Di and guarded against Zhu Di.

Could it be that the grandson found out what Zhu Di was doing in private, but he didn't dare to tell himself, for fear that he would be angry?
Old Zhu looked around for a week, looking at King Zhou whose eyes were rolling around, and King Yan who was drooping his head and didn't know what to think, and couldn't help but feel bored.

I gave birth to a bunch of things!
"Let Chang Sheng move to the defense for now!"

Lao Zhu struggled again and again, but decided to follow Dasun's suggestion and move Chang Sheng to the Wanquandu Division for garrison.

When Zhu Di heard this, he panicked on the spot, he didn't want to live under the nose of others!
"Father, once Datong fails, the entire hinterland of the Central Plains will become Hu Qi's horse farm!"

"Father, please think twice, don't lose the big because of the small!"

Seeing that Zhu Di was so nervous, Old Zhu became more certain of his guess.

"It's okay!"

"Zhu Gui is married, and he will go to Datong soon, with him and..."

When Lao Zhu said this, he suddenly thought that the third son Zhu Mian was still lying on the sick bed, and fell into sadness for a while.

"We will naturally send people who know the soldiers to assist, and we will definitely not let Datong lose!"

Seeing what his father said, Zhu Di could only retreat in resentment.Now he is basically sure that Zhu Yunxi knows about his crime, so he beat himself with it!

Zhangqiu Wangjiabao Village.

Wang Dali's family has been without cooking for three days, relying on grass roots and bark to satisfy their hunger.

Just when Wang Dali's starving eyes stared at him, his youngest son burst into tears.

"father……"

"I'm hungry... woo woo woo..."

When Wang Dali heard the words, he was breathless.

"If you're hungry, don't save yourself some energy, what's wrong with you!"

At this time Wang Dali's aunt Lin Xiuniang came into the house with a broken gong wild vegetable dumpling, and she was displeased when she heard Wang Dali's scolding.

"Why are you yelling at the child!"

"Why did I go blind, I married such a worthless guy like you, I can't even support my wife and children..."

Lin Xiuniang scolded her husband and hurriedly greeted her youngest son.

"baby!"

"Come and eat Tuan Tuan!"

When Wang Dali heard the word "Tuan Tuan", he hurriedly got up from the kang, jumped on it like a vicious dog, grabbed a vegetable dumpling and stuffed it into his mouth.

This sudden scene frightened their son Wang Ling to cry.

Seeing this, Lin Xiuniang was even more furious. She pushed her husband away and stuffed a vegetable dumpling into the hands of her youngest son.

"eat!"

The youngest son, Wang Ling, took the vegetable dumpling and ate it in big mouthfuls, forgetting the troubles just now.

On the contrary, after eating a few mouthfuls of leafy dumpling, Wang Dali couldn't help crying while holding on to the door frame.

"What kind of life are we living here!"

"I'm really useless, I'm trash, I might as well die, woo woo woo..."

Seeing her husband crying, Lin Xiuniang felt uncomfortable.

My husband is also hardworking, but he has worked so hard for a year to farm the land and harvest food. After paying the imperial grain and national tax, there is nothing left.

Even if I spin and embroider to subsidize my family, life has always been tight.

The two lived frugally, saved money to buy three acres of land, and rented another twenty acres from Wu Xiucai's family in the village.

I had hoped that this year's autumn harvest would be a good one, but I never expected that there would be a few light rains this year, and the land would not even be soaked. If there were a few grains and no harvest, it wouldn't count, and I owed Wu Xiucai's family [-] acres of land rent... …

"Father, it's not your fault, it's our fault that we don't have the life to make money!"

"Why don't you sell me, you two can still get two living money..."

When Wang Dali heard this, his eyes widened in anger.

"what do you mean?"

"Are you still thinking about Wu Xiucai's son!"

"You unruly bastard, I shouldn't have married you cheaply..."

Lin Xiuniang had good intentions and wanted to sell her body to save her husband and son's lives, but unexpectedly her husband humiliated her by bringing up her work as a maid in Wang Xiucai's family in the early years. She was so angry that she committed suicide on the spot.

"You...you humiliate people so much, I'm dead, eh..."

After Wang Dali scolded, he regretted it. Seeing that his mother-in-law and aunt were dying, he hurried forward to stop her.

While the two were pulling the cart, Wu Xiucai led an old woman in.

"Is Wang Dali at home?"

When Wang Dali heard it was Wu Xiucai's voice, he roared angrily.

"Not here!"

Wu Xiucai didn't care about this, and walked in with a smile.

"Xiu Niang is here too!"

"I'm here to discuss with you two, whether you can sell the three acres of land in your family?"

"If you sell it to me, I will not only give you food to survive, but also waive your land rent for this year!"

"What do you think?"

This is the typical situation of land annexation in ancient times.

Every year of catastrophe is a new round of land reshuffle.

The local gentry and landlords would buy land at a low price, turning a large number of self-cultivating farmers into tenants.

Then, they obtained fame through the imperial examination, thus obtaining the right to be exempted from corvee and taxation.

If this continues for decades or hundreds of years, the country's tax sources will become less and less, and its finances will gradually dry up.

It can be said that Wang Dali suffered a lot and spent a lot of time and energy in order to acquire the three acres of land.

His biggest dream is to buy twenty acres of land for his son before he dies!
He worked from dawn to dusk to clean up the land in the middle of the night, and he cleaned up the three acres of land of his family very well, and all of them were connected to the canal and turned into paddy fields.

Paddy fields are not uncommon in the south, but they are a rarity in the north. As long as they plant rice for a few years, even if their family can't get rid of poverty and become rich, at least they can live comfortably.

Therefore, Wang Dali attached great importance to the three acres of land, even if he was starving to death, he would not sell it cheaply.

"How much does Master Wu plan to pay for the land?"

"One tael of silver per mu!"

When Wang Dali heard the land price, he was so angry that he wanted to scold his mother.

Ordinary dry land costs eight taels of silver per mu, but this is a paddy field, so he only pays one tael of silver?
However, just when he wanted to curse, Wu Xiucai spoke again.

"Add three buckets of millet!"

"Three buckets of millet?"

Wang Dali's eyes lit up when he heard Three Dou Xiaomi.

If there were really three buckets of millet, the family could save some food and almost survive the famine.

However, just when Wang Dali was about to agree, Lin Xiuniang quit.

"no!"

"Those three acres of paddy fields can't be sold!"

"I'd rather sell myself than sell my baby's paddy fields!"

"Since you don't want to sell it, your whole family will die!"

Wu Xiucai left in a huff after leaving those words behind, and the old lady who was outside the back door stumbled in.

"Ms. Lin, is it true that you just said that you want to sell yourself?"

"of course it's true!"

Lin Xiuniang didn't want her son to have such a hard life in the future, so she would rather sell herself than let her son have a field to live by.

"Aunt Zhang has a good buyer?"

"Yo!"

"I really let Mrs. Lin talk. Now that the emperor's grandson is choosing concubines and court ladies in Shandong, the county magistrate has spoken. As long as there are unmarried daughters in the family, they are not allowed to get married..."

"Tian Juren's family in the county has also released word that they want to buy a hundred women for the emperor's grandson, so as to make a good future for their son who is an official in the capital!"

Lin Xiuniang's pretty face blushed when she heard this, while Wang Dali beside her was furious, and at the same time secretly hated that she had no baby girl and missed a good thing for nothing.

"Excuse me, Aunt Zhang, I don't have a baby girl..."

Hearing this, Aunt Zhang stepped forward and grabbed Lin Xiuniang's hand and smiled.

"Ouch!"

"Although you don't have a baby girl in your family, can't you dress up like a girl?"

"I... can I do it?"

"Hi!"

"We are only so big in Shandong, where to go to gather a hundred thousand girls, don't we have to drag people around to make up the number?"

"Don't worry, the candidate to be the princess has been decided long ago, you just entered the palace to serve as a maid..."

"Tian Juren said that as long as he is willing to sell himself, each person will give three buckets of rice!"

"Three buckets of rice..."

When Lin Xiuniang heard that she could exchange three buckets of rice, she immediately agreed.

"If I can exchange three buckets of rice, I will sell myself to Tian Juren..."

"Then let's make an agreement. I'll call someone to deliver rice to you. You go back to the city with us and wait to be seen by the nobles in the palace!"

"If you can be favored by the nobles in the palace, Tian Juren will give you three buckets of rice back!"

Not long after, Zhang Ma ran in with a bag of millet on her shoulders, left the millet behind and asked Wang Dali to press her fingerprints on the contract of sale.

Wang Dali looked at his mother-in-law with tears in his eyes, and finally, under the repeated urging of his mother-in-law, he gritted his teeth and pressed his fingerprints.

"Xiu Niang, I'm sorry for you, woo woo woo..."

Lin Xiuniang was heartbroken at the thought of being separated from her son.

"I'm not willing to..."

"You two have a good time, you must treat my son well, if you dare to sell my son, I will never let you go, woo woo woo..."

Lin Xiuniang burst into tears, and followed Madam Zhang to the county town in Shang Tianju's carriage, leaving only Wang Dali and Wang Ling, the father and son, to spend their days guarding Sandou Xiaomi.

In order to support his son, Wang Dali went to the mountains to dig wild vegetables every day, then mixed them with millet and steamed wild vegetable dumplings for his son.

For more than half a month in this way, there are still two buckets of millet left at home.

It's just that he himself became thinner and thinner from hunger, and his face became more sallow.

He knew why, it was only because he left rice to his son, and wanted his son to live on rice.

However, after a long time, his body couldn't hold it anymore.

When his eyes were dimmed from hunger, he suddenly saw a woman walking in the door, a very familiar woman.

"Xiu Niang?"

"vigorously!"

"Xiu Niang, is it really you?"

"It's me!"

Xiu Niang dropped the bag in her hand, embraced her husband and son and wept.

When he saw her husband's pale and emaciated face from hunger, he knew what kind of life his husband had been living during this period of time.

"vigorously!"

"We'll have a better life in the future!"

"The food I brought back this time is enough for us to survive the famine!"

Lin Xiuniang pulled the rice bag and shook it vigorously in front of her husband.Wang Dali reached into the rice bag, grabbed a handful of rice and greedily put it into his mouth.

"fragrant!"

"Real southern rice, our family also ate it when the year was good..."

"Xiu Niang, what did you do with the rice?"

When Lin Xiuniang heard her husband's questioning like this, her face suddenly showed reverence.

"This is rice from the emperor's grandson!"

"The rice brought by the emperor's grandson from the south will be distributed to every household in the county!"

"It will be sent to our village in two days!"

"Emperor grandson?"

During this period of time, Wang Dali cursed the emperor's grandson every day, because the emperor's grandson took away his most precious woman.

"Isn't the emperor's grandson a pervert? If you want to recruit [-] court ladies into the palace, how can you still give you food?"

"I don't know either..."

"I just heard people say that the grandson of the emperor never said that he wanted to recruit [-] court ladies. It was all the eunuchs around him who falsely passed the imperial decree to ruin his old man's reputation!"

"It is said that the grandson of the emperor had already chopped off the big eunuch, and hung his head on the city gate, so that the people passing by could throw stones at him!"

Wang Dali exclaimed when he heard this.

"what!"

"It doesn't mean that the emperor's grandson is a good person, but the eunuchs around him are not doing human affairs?"

"No way!"

"The grandson of the emperor is a very good person!"

　Zhu Yunxi is here to wish you all New Year's greetings, la la la
　　On this day of saying goodbye to the old and ushering in the new, I wish you all the best in counting your money and getting promoted to the ceiling.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)