Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 1391 A Bowl of Lamb Noodle Soup
Just as Zhu Zhen was talking to each of them and persuading the nobles to die, Li Shanchang also came to the palace gate to ask for a meeting.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not meet him in the Wuying Hall or the Qianqing Palace, but had him carried to the Imperial Garden.

Li Shanchang sat in a sedan chair and passed through the rockery and trees, when he smelled the aroma of mutton soup.

When the sedan chair passed the rockery, he saw Boss Zhu sitting cross-legged on the grass basking in the sun.

There was a stove next to it, and several imperial chefs were busy, stewing mutton in a large pot, and frying lotus root clips in a small pot.

"Old Li, come sit over here." Zhu Yuanzhang greeted him with a smile, and then ordered: "Hurry up and go down, you are almost starving."

The cook quickly put the prepared noodles into the pot.

Not long after Li Shanchang sat down next to the emperor, Eunuch Wu brought up a low table and placed it steadily in front of the two of them.

On the low table were two bowls of hot mutton noodles and a plate of golden lotus root clips.

"Do you remember?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked Li Shanchang, while impatiently picking up a bowl and quickly putting it down. It was so hot that he pinched his earlobes with both hands.

Li Shanchang recalled with deep emotion: "Of course I won't forget it. Thirty-four years ago, when the emperor came to my house, I used this bowl of mutton noodles to treat you, as well as Xu Da, Tang He and others who came with the emperor."

"We really didn't have any good food back then. This bowl of noodles is so delicious." Boss Zhu picked up the chopsticks, picked up the noodles with them, and blew on them while recalling, "Yeah, that's the taste."

"I really shouldn't have cooked it so deliciously. As a result, a whole sheep and 40 kilograms of noodles were not enough for you to eat, so I had to fry two more pots of lotus root clips for you." Li Shanchang said with a wry smile:
"Back then, there was chaos and war, and the landlords had no surplus food. All the food rations in my house were reimbursed by your meal."

"Hahaha! All we wanted was to eat you out of money!" Zhu Yuanzhang laughed loudly and said, "If you don't join us, your whole family will starve!"

"I was wondering why you brought so many starving ghosts with you." Li Shanchang was speechless.

"Who told you to waste all my food?" Zhu Yuanzhang said proudly, "We can only say it's the same for each other."

"The ones in power really hold grudges." Li Shanchang said, feeling helpless and amused.

~~
Zhu Yuanzhang was talking about what happened after he left Haozhou to develop and conquered Chuzhou.

Chuzhou was the first big city he conquered, and he also obtained 20,000 dan of grain from the Yuan Dynasty Chuzhou warehouse. This was definitely a relief for the rebels who had been short of supplies since leaving Haozhou.

"We were so happy to get so much food. We thought that the brothers could have enough food to eat, and we could recruit soldiers and make the company bigger and stronger." Then Boss Zhu recalled:
"Then suddenly your old man showed up to ask for an audience. We heard that he was a scholar, and we were even happier. We thought that we finally had a talented person, so we immediately welcomed him with open arms."

"After just a few words, you told us to open the granaries and distribute the grain to the famine-stricken people in Chuzhou." Zhu Yuanzhang ate his noodles and said vaguely, "Tang and Zhou Dexing were not happy when they heard this and wanted to kill you, an old man with ulterior motives."

"I remember this, this old minister." Li Shanchang thought of it with fear and said, "Especially that black bastard Zhou Dexing, he chopped at me with a knife without saying a word. If Xu Da hadn't blocked it with a sword, this old minister would have confessed on the spot." "Actually, I wanted to kill you at that time, but I was mainly afraid that my reputation would be ruined and no scholar would dare to follow me in the future, so I let you go." Zhu Yuanzhang said as he took a sip of the soup, which was so delicious that he shook his head.

"In fact, it was only after I saw the people of Chuzhou starving that I had the courage to give it a try." Li Shanchang's eating manner was much more polite. He picked up noodles with chopsticks and said, "I never thought that the superiors would listen to my advice and distribute food to the people."

"I just did it in a rush. But the more I think about it, the more I feel I lost. So I must catch you and bring you back to work for us, otherwise the food will be wasted." Zhu Yuanzhang drank the last drop of soup while he was talking, and shouted, "Another bowl!"

"I got to be in power, distributed food, and won the hearts of the people. It's not a loss, right?" Li Shanchang said with a smile.

"How could we understand these things at that time? For us brothers, having enough food is the most important thing. People's hearts can't be eaten." Zhu Yuanzhang sighed:
"Later, when I saw the people of Chuzhou coming to join the army, I finally understood what the people's will was. Unfortunately, in the blink of an eye, the King of Chuyang was driven out of Haozhou City, and I could only hand over Chuzhou to him.

"In the early days of my career, I really worked for the Guo family." Li Shanchang barely managed to eat a mouthful of noodles, and it tasted very stinky. Not to mention lotus root clips, he was fourteen years older than Zhu Yuanzhang, and he could no longer eat such greasy food.

"Yes, that bastard Guo Tianxu not only stole our territory and troops, but also our people, right, Mr. Li?" Zhu Yuanzhang said as he glanced at Li Shanchang meaningfully, obviously thinking of the time when Guo Tianxu kidnapped him.

"Haha..." Li Shanchang smiled embarrassedly and said, "I didn't say hello to my superior at that time and just followed him. It was indeed wrong."

"We hated you so much at that time! Ah? You kept saying that you wanted to do great things with us! In the end, Guo Tianxu sent two beauties to kidnap you!" Zhu Yuanzhang blew his beard and glared, "Is it so difficult to prevent the beauty trap?"

"Alas, this is the only weakness of this old minister..." Li Shanchang hurriedly explained:

"Besides, I am not that superficial. I am just taking advantage of the situation and enjoying myself for now, but I am always loyal to my superiors in my heart."

As he said this, he reminded Zhu Yuanzhang, "Besides, didn't the old minister ask Cunyi to pass on the message to the superiors? I gained their trust and got into Guo Tianxu's inner circle. Otherwise, how could I fool him later? Go to Jiqing Road to bite the hard bone first?"

"Of course I know." Zhu Yuanzhang then smiled and said, "Otherwise, how could you be ranked first when we rewarded people for their contributions after conquering Jiqing Road? At that time, many brothers did not understand and said that this old pervert had no virtue or ability. We had to explain to them that you were not perverted, but were required by the mission."

"Later I found out that you are just a lustful person!" Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at Li Shanchang and laughed.

Li Shanchang also laughed until tears came out of his eyes.

Just when the atmosphere was at its best, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly said quietly: "It's a pity that you have changed and are no longer loyal to me like before. The only thing I cannot tolerate from you is disloyalty."

"Haha, that's not entirely true, my Lord. You have more requirements for me than just this one." Li Shanchang's smile turned cold, and he shook his head slowly, "It's like when we built Zhongdu City, we were a little hasty, and too many civilians died, but you pressed my face to the ground, burned my nephew, and tore my nephew to pieces!"

"So you instructed Li Cunyi to collude with Hu Weiyong to rebel against us?!" Zhu Yuanzhang asked coldly.

(End of this chapter)