Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 1401 Home Visit
When Zhu Zhen and his entourage entered the town, it was already dark and there was no ceremonial procession. The military households did not realize that it was their prince who had arrived. They simply moved them to the side of the road and continued to do what they were doing.

Of course, the main reason was that they thought Lao Liu would go to Huoshaoba, south of Qianhu Suo, for inspection. They were all called up to Huoshaoba to help clean up and repair the dam in preparation for the inspection. That was why Li Jiuniang knew that Lao Liu was coming to Songmeng, so she went to the state capital to complain.

Captain Zhang led the prince and his entourage to the door of Yu Min's home, as he remembered it, but for a moment he was afraid to recognize it.

He had only come to Yu Min's wedding once, when she got married. He remembered that the boy lived in the first wooden house in the village at that time, so he had a deep impression of her. But the stilt house in front of him was gone, and it had been upgraded to a brick house with a yard.

Fearing that he had come to the wrong door, he quickly called a soldier who was watching the fun over and asked, "Is this Yu Min's house?"

"Yes. Captain Yu has been living here all the time." The military household replied hurriedly.

"Isn't his house a wooden house?" Captain Zhang asked casually.

"It was a wooden house originally, yes. But last year a new tiled house was built, and we helped to lay the walls and install the tiles," explained the military household.

~~
After several years of careful care, the original wasteland was turned into cultivated land. The military households also adopted the scientific farming method promoted by the province. To put it simply, they burned wood ash to make potassium fertilizer; crushed shell bone meal to make phosphorus fertilizer; and planted soybeans, black beans and other leguminous crops in winter to produce nitrogen fertilizer.

Coupled with timely irrigation and sufficient sunshine, the grain yield per mu increased from the initial dozens of kilograms to hundreds of kilograms. The military households not only solved the problem of food and clothing, but also had enough energy to arrange a better life.

With surplus grain, some people were able to leave agricultural production. Many immigrants who were originally craftsmen returned to their old jobs and started burning lime, bricks and tiles, and doing construction. They first rebuilt the government offices and warehouses of the guards into brick and tile houses.

With the advertising effect, the officers and military households with good living conditions began to think about upgrading their houses. They demolished their original wooden houses on stilts and built brick houses like those in their hometowns.

In the eyes of the Han people, brick and tile houses are truly good houses. They are not only sturdy and soundproof, warm in winter and cool in summer, but also moisture-proof. They are also durable and can be passed down through three generations. They are completely different from bamboo and wood houses or adobe houses.

So the reason why people don’t live in brick and tile houses is actually just one word - poverty.

So as long as they have the conditions, they will tighten their belts, build a big tiled house, plant fruits and vegetables in front of and behind the house, build a grape trellis in the yard, and plant two pomegranate trees. Suddenly, they feel that their life is complete, and the sense of happiness is absolutely incomparable...

~~
"Yes, this guy is doing really well." Captain Zhang came back happily and introduced him to Zhu Zhen: "When he first came to Yunnan, he was just a soldier. In just five years, he has already married and built a tiled house. People can't recognize him anymore."

"Haha, this is great news." Zhu Zhen smiled and ordered, "Knock on the door."

"Hey." Captain Zhang hurried forward and knocked on the door. After a while, the door opened and it was Yu Min who came out.

He held up a lantern and looked at Captain Zhang first and said, "Ah, Captain Zhang, what brings you here?"

"I'm just a guide. Look who's coming." Captain Zhang quickly stepped aside.

Yu Min took a closer look, and when he saw Zhu Zhen's face clearly, he immediately knelt down and said, "I pay my respects to Your Majesty! May Your Majesty live forever!"

"Oh? You know me?" Zhu Zhen couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes, I saw him several times during the Southern Expedition five years ago. Later, when I was accompanying the prince in the military hospital, I saw him up close once when the prince came to inspect." Yu Min replied hurriedly.

"Haha, really? You really have some impression of me when you put it that way." Zhu Zhen couldn't be more hypocritical and said, "Since we are old acquaintances, how about I come to your house and have a meal?" He pointed to the crowd of attendants behind him and said, "Of course, they can all take care of it themselves, so you don't have to worry about it."

"That's great! Your Highness, please come in." Yu Min quickly stepped aside to make way for him, and shouted to his wife, "Nuo, the prince is here, please kill the chickens and geese!"

"No need to bother," Zhu Zhen waved his hand and said with a smile, "When can we eat? I'll eat whatever you guys have for dinner. I don't have a big appetite..."

"Yes, yes." It was the first time for Yu Min to serve such an important figure. She did not dare to express herself freely and could only follow his orders.

After inviting the prince to take his seat, Yu Min served him a bowl of pickled vegetables and rolled tofu, and a bowl of rice mixed with miscellaneous grains. This was their family's dinner.

His mother was quick-witted. She thought, how can this be possible? She quickly heated up the pan with her daughter-in-law, fried bacon with soybeans, fried ham with cucumbers, fried eggs with green onions, and stewed a bowl of mushroom soup. In total, they had four dishes and one soup.

"Ah, Auntie, you're spending too much." Zhu Zhen said politely to Yu Min's mother who kept serving dishes: "I told you to eat whatever is available."

"What's the big deal? How can the prince only have one dish when he comes? Wouldn't that be embarrassing for the family?" Yu Min's mother wiped her hands on her apron and said with a smile, "The country folks' cooking is not good, so the prince can just have a couple of bites."

Zhu Zhen tasted a piece of each and praised them highly, "They are all delicious. Did you pickle these hams and bacon yourself?"

"No, only the pickles and eggs are from our own garden. Everything else is exchanged at the market." Yu Min's mother is very talkative. She introduced to Lao Liu: "There are all kinds of things at the market, such as oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, pickles, vegetable oil, tofu, rice noodles, and bait. Bacon, ham, pickled fish, dried chicken, mushrooms, etc. As long as there is food, you can exchange it for it."

"That's great." Zhu Zhen asked the old lady to sit down and asked kindly, "When did you come to Yunnan?"

Yu Min quickly moved a chair for his mother and asked her to sit next to the prince. His mother replied, "Your Highness, I came to join the eldest son with my youngest son two years ago."

"Are you used to living here?" Zhu Zhen asked again.

"I'm used to it." Yu Min's mother nodded and said, "I thought life here was difficult, but I didn't expect it to be so good. I have grandchildren to hold, and my daughter-in-law is very filial. What else is there to be dissatisfied about?"

"Oh, I see." Zhu Zhen deliberately asked Yu Min: "I see your wife is not Han Chinese? Did you marry her locally?"

"Yes." Yu Min nodded and said, "When I first arrived at the garrison, the higher-ups issued a death order, saying that those who were unmarried must get married before the autumn harvest, so my boss arranged this marriage for me."

"I guess so." Zhu Zhen smiled and nodded, "How is your life, Mr. Yimu Han?"

Yu Min scratched his head, thought for a while and said, "At the beginning, we couldn't communicate with each other, so we had to use gestures and guess, which was really inconvenient. But we got used to it over time."

As he said this, he looked at Nuo affectionately and said, "My wife is a good woman. In the past two years, I followed the Burmese Duke to the south to conquer Ava, and later we conquered Pegu. She took care of everything at home. She took care of the children, served my mother, planted so much land, and built a big tile house..."

Yu Min's eyes turned red as she spoke, and she choked up as she said, "I am so grateful to my superiors for forcing me to do this. Otherwise, I would never have found such a good woman."

(End of this chapter)