In the Xipu Palace where the Ming Emperor temporarily lived, a royal family banquet was eating to the fullest.

The emperor of the Zhu family fled from Beijing in a panic, and the original imperial dining room had long since dispersed. However, in the southeast, there is a rich sea, and when it comes to food and clothing, it is only better than the court in Beijing, so there is no need to worry about not having a good cook. The cooks who are now serving Chongzhen's father and son are provided by the two imperial princes of Zhou Tian and the five salt generals of Yangzhou (Jiang, Hu, Wang, Shen and Su Laomi) respectively.

Among them, those who served Chongzhen in Xipu were found by Zhou Kui and Tian Hongyu - these two relatives did not have any credit and hard work in the process of moving south, and now they are on the side. However, they are all southerners, Zhou Kui is from Suzhou, Tian Hongyu is from Yangzhou, and there are still some industries in Suzhou and Yangzhou, and the rich man can still be a rich man.

And Emperor Chongzhen was afraid of food poisoning, so he asked these two reliable imperial relatives to find cooks from Yangzhou and Suzhou to serve in the palace.

In addition, the internal officials who served in Xipu were not "eunuchs who conquered difficulties", but Lu Jiude and Pang Tianshou found them from Zhongdu and Nandu - as Zhu Cihong's power in the southeast became more and more stable, he also deliberately relaxed his control over Emperor Chongzhen, so that he could use a few eunuchs with cronies. lest he live in fear every day, and if he scares himself to death, it will not be good.

Zhu Cihong's own cook is the home chef of Yangzhou Wuyan General (mainly Jiang, Hu, Wang, and Shen Huibang Salt General). These five Yangzhou salts almost made a fortune on Zhu Cihong, but they didn't dare to get food poisoning to the prince!

The eunuchs who served in Dagongfang were mainly "eunuchs who overcame difficulties", and the number was not large, only more than 100 people.

In addition, there are also many female officials, old palace maids and ordinary servants in the Dagongfang - and now the internal official system of the Ming Dynasty is also being reformed. From the original large and complete, it has become less and fine. At least Zhu Cihong's internal service system in the East Palace is now taking the "Northern Song Dynasty Internal Service Route" with few but fine.

That is, while drastically reducing the number of chamberlains, we will take the route of elitism and bureaucracy. Under Zhu Cihong's hands, the eunuch was no longer a coolie, but a disabled official.

To this end, they must receive systematic practical and military training, and an inner school was also opened in the Dagongfang, which was jointly responsible for Tian Shuchen, the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Supervisor's Seal, Shi Su Ziwen, the right chief of the Generalissimo's Mansion, and Tang Ruowang, the Qintianjian of Qintian, and also invited many Confucian scholars and missionaries who had studied both China and the West as teachers.

The textbooks used were personally selected by Zhu Cihong. There are not only Confucian courses, but also military studies, Western studies, especially the mathematics courses are very advanced compared to this era!

The students studying in the inner school are not only the young and astute "eunuchs who overcome difficulties", but also the children of the heroes of overcoming difficulties and the best among the children of the clan.

At the same time as the eunuchs became elitist, the coolies in the palace naturally had to be handed over to the able-bodied miscellaneous servants and officials.

Therefore, in the Dagongfang where Zhu Cihong lived, there were many officials and miscellaneous servants. In addition, a group of female officials were recruited to operate with the old palace maids.

The cooks who were sent to Dagongfang by the salt merchants in Yangzhou were all officials. And the officials who serve in the system of Dagongfang and Generalissimo's Mansion can get a good salary, and they also have their own promotion channels.

Of course, the ascent path of the civil servant is not the same as that of the civil servant. The promotion channel of the officials is to act as a "trick officer", and the trick officer pays attention to the specialization, and unless he resigns, he cannot be transferred.

Today's royal family banquet was organized by the chefs of Xipu and Dagongfang, under the joint supervision of Huang Dabao and Lu Jiude. There is nothing big and greasy, just some delicious and light Huaiyang dishes. It looks bland, but it tastes extremely delicious.

When he was eight minutes full, Emperor Chongzhen put down the dishes and chopsticks, his eyes slowly swept over the hall, first looked at Zheng Zhilong, who was a little restrained, and then looked at Zhu Cihong, who was eating boiled eggs-this rebel must have done too much bad things, afraid that people would harm him, so he didn't eat the delicious food in front of him, so he let the cook he brought from Dagongfang cook a plate of boiled eggs to eat, and he was not afraid of choking to death......

"Brother Chun, are the boiled eggs here delicious?" Emperor Chongzhen asked with a smile.

"It's delicious, it's delicious!" Zhu Cihong nodded again and again, "It's all grass eggs, fragrant!" ”

What is a grass egg called? Looking down on chickens? Chongzhen said in his heart: The hens here are all golden chickens, not grass chickens!

"Then you can come to me often to eat eggs in the future." Emperor Chongzhen said with a smile.

"Thank you, Father."

Chongzhen glanced at Zheng Zhilong with a smile, and then asked Zhu Cihong: "Brother Chun, the daughter of the Zheng family is knowledgeable, dignified and steady, and she has the style of motherhood, and I and your queen mother like it very much...... It's better to make her a concubine! ”

For concubines?

Crown Princess?

Zheng Zhilong was still pretending to eat in small mouths - he actually likes to eat grass and eggs, but he was embarrassed to ask Zhu Cihong for it, so he had to eat less, in case it was not clean, it would not kill him. Now that I hear Emperor Chongzhen's words, where do I still have the heart to pretend to eat? immediately peeked at Zhu Cihong.

Zhu Cihong's face was slightly gloomy, and he immediately changed to a smiling face, and said with a smile: "Father, you forgot, we are still discussing marriage with Dongyu!" How can a son be canonized as a crown princess? ”

"I'm afraid it won't work out, right?" Emperor Chongzhen asked.

Zhu Cihong smiled: "It may not be impossible to succeed." Zukoffa sent a note a few days ago, saying that Dolgon had promised us to set up a council hall and a merchant hall on Haisha Island...... also said that the gift that Erchen gave to Dongor Gege, Gege liked it very much. Erchen thinks there is still hope for this! ”

"But the Tartars are cunning after all!" Emperor Chongzhen said, "They haven't stopped besieging Datong Mansion now, have they?" ”

"Nope." Zhu Cihong said, "According to the secret report from the Acting Prince's Mansion on December 25, Datong Mansion was surrounded by a large army led by King Azig of the Eastern Captives at the beginning of December.

However, Datong City has a lot of reserves, which can last at least a year, so the father doesn't have to worry too much. In addition, the Dai Fan had already established a royal palace in the Luliang Mountains, and even if Datong fell, the Dai Fan would be able to continue to hold on. ”

All right! You will let your brother attract the forces of the Tartars in the Luliang Mountains...... Emperor Chongzhen gritted his teeth and endured not to have a seizure, "In case Cijiong can't hold on in the Luliang Mountains, and the north and south are in trouble, will the matter of family discussion continue?" ”

Zhu Cihong smiled: "At that time, it will naturally be the whole people to resist the Qing Dynasty, how can there be any possibility of discussing peace and relatives?" ”

"Good!" Chongzhen looked at Zhu Cihong, "Then by then, who will be your crown princess?" ”

By then, she will not be the crown princess...... Zhu Cihong thought in his heart, didn't you, the emperor, just want to use the marriage of the crown prince to create friction between the Wu family and the Zheng family? Don't you know the truth of home and prosperity? Father, it's useless for you to do this!