unclear

Chapter 233 Poison!
In the Forbidden City, Cining Palace, the gray-haired Empress Dowager Wang Shurong of the West Palace sat at the throne. Although her eyes were gray, she had a bright smile on her face and she was in good spirits.

"Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager has promised to see it in person, and my mother will also watch it carefully. She will never be wronged. Don't worry!" Why is he so happy? After countless persuasion, the emperor finally agreed to choose the election. Concubine.

After more than seven years of marriage, the queen and her two chosen attendants had no heirs, which made her, the empress dowager, very depressed and anxious. She always felt that she had failed her ancestors, and even more so her son.

As for the reason, she really couldn't tell. She just instinctively thought that there was something wrong with the woman around the emperor.Since the queen cannot be changed at will, if there are more concubines, whoever cannot keep them all will become pregnant with dragon seeds.

"Well, don't worry, son, everything will be according to mother's arrangements. Let's eat first. This is new noodles sent from Changping Imperial Village, mixed with wheat flour. It's very strong."

Looking at the old face and eyes covered by cataracts across the table, Hong Tao felt sour.Although this woman does not belong to his biological mother in theory, she is actually enough to be called a mother.

If it weren't for her tenacious life in the cold palace and her thin body trying to protect her, no matter if she was raised by any concubine or queen, I would have died unexpectedly before adulthood, no matter how many high-tech technologies from later generations were installed in her head. There is no chance to practice the experience and experience.

Now she is worried all day long because she has no grandson. As the only son, she has the responsibility and obligation to help.Of course, there will still be no grandchildren or granddaughters, but bringing a few more concubines into the palace can give the birth mother some comfort.

"If the Queen Mother sees this and says that I have treated the Emperor badly, alas..."

When it came to eating, the Empress Dowager Nishinomiya could do nothing but shake her head and sigh.Her son has loved eating noodles since he was a child, and after he became the emperor, he became even more obsessed with it. He specially hired the imperial chef of Shangshan Supervisor to teach him how to make noodles step by step. He wanted to eat them all day long.

Although I quite like this kind of food that is not too chewy and easy to digest, as an emperor, there are rules for every meal. It is okay to change it slightly, but if it is completely overturned, it will attract criticism in the palace.

After all, the food arrangements in the palace are divided according to hierarchy, and the standard is the emperor's meal.If the emperor eats noodles all day long, while others often eat more than a dozen dishes with fish and meat, it would not be appropriate even if the emperor has no objection.

The Empress Dowager of the East Palace has mentioned this matter more than once. Unfortunately, her son is a model of a kind-faced and hard-hearted person. He is always kind to others on the surface, but he is very independent in his heart. He will not change easily. Even if he says it, it will be in vain. explain.

"Xilihulu... Tulu Tulu..." Sure enough, the emperor's expression did not change at all after hearing these complaints. He didn't say a word, as if he didn't hear anything. The only reply was the sound of swallowing noodles.It tastes so delicious, two bites is just half a bowl, and I don't waste time stuffing garlic cloves into my mouth.

In fact, Hong Tao has been very restrained. If he eats it open, this small bowl is basically one bite at a time, and it takes no more than ten seconds to eat and chew.It's best to change to a porcelain basin, fill most of the noodles, spread a layer of sauce, hold the cucumber and garlic cloves in your hands, and eat with the basin.

But there are strict rules in the palace, especially when dining with the emperor.Only those at the same table can touch the dish that the emperor's chopsticks have touched; when the emperor raises a glass to drink, others must drink with him; when the emperor puts down his bowl when he is full, others must stop eating immediately even if they are only half full. No one can be exempted, including elder.

In order to take care of his mother's appetite, Hong Tao had to slow down his eating speed several times and force the food to chew in his mouth for a while.As a result, the more I chewed, the less I lost my appetite. Half a bowl was enough for two bowls. Every time I ate with the empress dowagers of the two palaces, I had to eat more snacks when I went back. "Your Majesty, today's wheat noodles taste very similar to the cornmeal used to make porridge. It tastes delicious, but it comes from Nanyang?" After finally waiting for his mother to finish eating, Hong Tao couldn't leave immediately. He had to sit in front of Ruantan to accompany him. Talk for a while.

"Wheat flour and corn flour are the same thing. It is called fan wheat among the people and corn by my son. It is produced in the Americas thousands of miles away. The yield is average and the taste is average. My son sent people to cultivate it carefully in Huangzhuang, Shandong for several years. , the output is getting higher and higher, and the taste has also changed.

Fanmai can withstand droughts and floods, and can produce yields even on poorer soil.My son is planning to ask every state capital to try to plant more varieties. If successful, the people of the Ming Dynasty will be able to eat more in the future, and they will not go hungry even if there is a bad year. "

Fortunately, today's topic is not gossip about old sesame seeds and rotten millet in the palace. This made Hong Tao's conversation a little more interesting. He couldn't help but become a teacher again and gave his mother a big class on botany, from the afterlife of corn to this life. Let’s talk about specific applications.

"Of course it's good to have a full meal, but has the emperor sent some to the East Palace and Renshou Palace to taste?"

The Empress Dowager Wang was confused when she heard this. She couldn't tell what America was, and she couldn't understand why barley was easier to maintain and more productive than wheat. Her focus was not on these at all, but she was afraid that her son would be left out in the cold. The Empress Dowager and the Empress Dowager of the East Palace.

"Mom, don't worry, I sent it to you a long time ago, but...hey, what's wrong! Are the noodles too hard?"

Hong Tao did not favor one over the other. He personally sent a bag of cornmeal to the Empress Dowager of the East Palace and the Empress Dowager, and also asked Shangshan Supervisor to specially make sugar-coated steamed buns and cornmeal porridge.It's a pity that those two people didn't like the taste of cornmeal, so they only tasted it briefly.

But before he finished speaking, he suddenly noticed that his mother looked ugly, as if she was about to retching.I thought it was because I had eaten too much noodles and cornmeal was not easy to digest, so I didn’t ask the palace maid to wait on me, so I took the spittoon with my own hands and prepared to take it.

"...This, this...Wang Chengen, Wang Chengen, please tell the imperial doctor, the Empress Dowager..." The old lady did vomit, but after a few mouthfuls, she lay down on her back and fell into a coma.This frightened Hong Tao and he shouted outside at the top of his lungs.

"Long live my lord, long live my lord, I'm here...The Queen Mother, this is...what should I say to the imperial doctor?" Hearing the emperor's shrill voice, Wang Chengen rushed in from the outside and saw the pale face. The Empress Dowager of the West Palace also has some numbness.

"Huh... don't make any noise!" The little eunuch's confusion gave Hong Tao a wake-up call. He took a deep breath to calm down, then he got closer to the spittoon to look carefully, and then smelled vigorously.

"How many trustworthy people are there here?" After a moment, he raised his head and stared at the little eunuch with his eyes.

(End of this chapter)