When Zhu Youxiao learned that the famous Xu Xiake was in Beijing, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he couldn't wait to meet this master immediately. Xu Xiake was regarded as a madman by ordinary people at that time, and his travelogue was just an essay of a traveler, but in the eyes of Zhu Youxiao, he was a god-like man, whether it was his experience or his writings, it was of immeasurable value for laying the road network. In addition, there is a very great mother behind this master, the history books record that Xu's mother is open-minded and reasonable, which can be described as "the wonder of the ancestors, and the people become it", this good story can be compared with Meng's mother's three moves.

At noon, Zhu Youxiao pressed his excitement and invited some old ministers to dine with him as usual, one was the firearms maniac Bi Maokang, and the other was Huang Wubu, who recommended Xu Hongzu. Since ancient times, the companion of the king is like a tiger, even if Zhu Youxiao has a gentle temperament and is a corporal of etiquette, but these people who have been in the sea for a long time know the truth of carefully sailing the ship of ten thousand years, and they have always been respectful and very restrained.

Zhu Youxiao saw that the two were too cautious, so he jokingly said:

"In the past, my diet was only four dishes and one soup, so I'm sorry to invite you Aiqing to eat. Now that the finances of the imperial court have improved, I use the pomp of these six dishes and one soup to entertain guests, you don't even use chopsticks, do you have to add another dish? ”

To say that the emperor is famous for his frugality has long been a well-known thing, but it is a different emotion to really experience it personally. The two old ministers knew that the little emperor was bent on the prosperity of the Ming Dynasty, and he did not hesitate to squeeze out the silver from between his teeth to raise funds for the six ministries, and the food was all the standard of the county officials.

Seeing that the two of them were out of order, Wang An deliberately coughed and said in a harmonious voice:

"The two elders don't have to worry, Long Live Lord Long is healthy, although the dishes are small, the amount of food is not reduced, and these vegetables are all cultivated by Long Live Lord himself, which shows the love for the two adults."

When the two heard Wang An's explanation, they immediately put away their tears and were about to kowtow to ask for guilt. Zhu Youxiao thought that it was so troublesome to eat, this Ming Dynasty etiquette was really annoying, and before the two of them could speak, they opened a letter from the past and read it.

"In order to build a large number of buildings, the imperial court looted people's wealth everywhere and forced the people to sell their wives and children. Due to successive natural disasters, there has been a tragic situation of cannibalism in many places, and even the soldiers who fought in the frontier had to go hungry. Even so, the palace is still extravagant and profligate, exhausting the people's anointed blood. His Majesty earnestly repented of his previous mistakes, changed the old ruts, recruited talents, and relieved the times of hardship, struck taxes and stopped donations, and rested with the people. ”

This letter is the archive of Huang Kezhang's death in the forty-fourth year of Wanli, and Zhu Youxiao has always put it on the bookcase, and he always has to read it again in his spare time. It's very comfortable to be an emperor, but it's hard to be a good emperor, and it takes ten years to become a Ming monarch. Zhu Youxiao used this to encourage himself to be diligent and thrifty, and not to be greedy for glory and wealth.

By the time he finished reading one of the paragraphs, Huang Kezhang was already dumbfounded, and he didn't know what the emperor's intentions were. Zhu Youxiao didn't plan to sell it to him, and said kindly:

"Huang Aiqing, you were once a confidant of Shenzong and Guangzong, and assisted me in ascending the throne, and insisted on being equal and in the middle of the three cases, and the two were not attached. I value your character very much, and I often read your book, and I feel that I have benefited a lot. ”

Huang Kezhang was very fluent when he heard the emperor read this book just now, not like the first time he read it, and he had already guessed seven or eight points. Listening to the emperor's own explanation, he suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and said:

"Your Majesty has been on the throne for three years, and the Ming Dynasty has already changed. Nowadays, all industries are thriving, the country is strong and the people are rich, and it has begun to appear as a prosperous era. The old minister thinks that he has his own fixed points, and his reputation is immortal, and he is only willing to follow the Ming Jun, and he is smeared with his liver and brain in order to rejuvenate my dynasty. ”

The justice he said was awe-inspiring, and Zhu Youxiao was also emotional, secretly thinking that this person had been up and down in the Huan Sea for more than 30 years, and had served as five of the six Shangshu, and was twice accepted as a minister of care, not forming a party or flattery, with a clean breeze on his sleeves, and conscientious. Now at the age of 73, he is still active in front-line posts, burning his own body for the country and the people, which can be called the important weapon of the country and the backbone of the nation.

As for the firearms maniac Bi Maokang, although he is a Frankenstein, after all, he is also soaked in ink, and his EQ and IQ are first-class. He saw that Huang Kezhang was deeply respected by the emperor, and knew that it was no accident that he was able to eat here, so he took the opportunity to say:

"Your Majesty, the minister has also read a book by Huang Shangshu."

Seeing that he was so knowledgeable, Zhu Youxiao nodded and gestured to continue, only to hear Bi Maokang say:

In the second year of the Apocalypse, Huang Shangshu was transferred to the cabinet to be responsible for the assistant Jingying Rongzheng, and he recruited Western craftsmen with his ministers to cast a total of 28 Luzon bronze gates. Later, Huang Shangshu repeatedly discussed with his ministers to recruit Western craftsmen and trained warriors, constantly innovate artillery, and train professional gunners. ”

Speaking of these Luzon cannons, the most classic is that during the defense of Yizhou, more than a dozen heavy artillery killed more than 700 Jianyu and two generals in a salvo, which frightened the Eight Banners soldiers and no longer dared to assemble and charge. Later, when the army of the Dzungar Khanate was encircled and suppressed in the Western Regions, the royal army was already uniformly equipped with firing rifles and miniaturized Franc machine guns, which made the cavalry's bows and arrows useless.

This shows that the era of firearms has arrived, and relying on hand-to-hand combat has become outdated. Gunpowder can not only be used to make fireworks, but also become a weapon to defend the country. The compass can not only be used to read feng shui, but also to guide ships to dominate the oceans.

Looking at these trendy people of the times who kept gathering around him, Zhu Youxiao secretly rejoiced, he thought that the officials of the Ming Dynasty were pedantic and outdated, and they were all smeared by those people with ulterior motives in the Manchu Dynasty. At least the Ming generation did not pay tribute, did not lose an inch of land, and did not sign an unequal treaty.

After thinking about it, Zhu Youxiao decided to crown Huang Kezhang as the Taifu, second only to Sun Chengzong's status as the Taifu, and gave him the title "Anbang Guben", which was made into a gold plaque and hung on the lintel of the Huangfu. For this honor, Jingshi has long discussed a lot, and some think that the little emperor is too emotional and unprincipled; Some think that the emperor took a fancy to Huang Kezhang's granddaughter, which made Luo Skirt blind. Even the people in the Huang Mansion were sincerely afraid, and they closed their doors for several days, for fear of extraneous branches.

Seeing that the impeachment of himself was full of bookcases, Zhu Youxiao thought to himself that nerds are really hypocritical, the goal of the Chinese nation is the sea of stars, and to realize this dream, we need the help of a pragmatic and diligent person like Huang Kezhang. The heavy reward of Huang Kezhang is by no means impulsive, let alone for his own selfish interests, but driven by the situation in the Age of Discovery. At this time, the Chinese civilization had lost its absolute leading position, and if it continued to close itself off from the country, it would be tantamount to abandoning its martial arts, and I am afraid that the shame of the Opium War would be repeated in the future.

On the day of receiving the plaque, Huang Kezhang set up two tables of simple meals in the main hall to symbolically entertain the colleagues who came to congratulate him. There were six dishes and one soup on the table, three cups of rice wine, and everyone thought he was too high, so they shook their heads, but in fact, this was all due to the influence of the emperor. In addition, Huang Kezhang has a decent life, he does not accept gifts and does not let his children do business, and the whole family depends on his income to make a living, although he will not starve and freeze, but it will never be fine clothes and food. In order to help Huang Kezhang "get rid of poverty" as soon as possible, Zhu Youxiao took 10,000 taels of silver from Zhang Yan, which was a congratulatory gift to him.

At sunset, the Huangfu has returned to its former calm, and two red lanterns are hung on both sides of the gate.

At this time, the street was deserted, and there were three brocade clothes standing under the shadow of the lamp, and not far away were several teams of feather forests. One of the teenagers pressed the knocker and knocked three times, and then heard the porter inside answer:

"It's late at night, my master doesn't see guests, sometimes please come back tomorrow!"

"Come and congratulate Lord Huang!" The boy deliberately shouted loudly.

The porter didn't even bother to open the door, and said inside:

"Our master has been busy all day, and he fell asleep before it was dark, and he specially instructed the small ones not to open the door at will, so as not to disturb the lord's rest."

The young man who knocked on the door was Cao Huachun, and after eating the closed door, he reluctantly ran to Zhu Youxiao and muttered a few words, and then took Zhu Youxiao's jade pendant to negotiate with the porter again. After a while, the main gate and side doors of the Huang Mansion opened, and the old and young families knelt left and right and shouted long live.

At this time, Zhu Youxiao had already taken off his cloak, dressed in a gorgeous dragon robe, holding the hilt of the sword in his left hand, and scooping up Huang Kezhang with his right hand and saying:

"Taifu excuse me, I came to visit you at night to congratulate you, and secondly, to visit your mansion by the way."

Huang Kezhang got up and hurriedly walked in front to lead the way, and behind the screen, there was a small courtyard, with flowers, fruits, and trees in good order. Zhu Youxiao stopped in the courtyard to watch, and Huang Kezhang said politely:

"I don't know that Your Majesty came to the cold house in person, the old minister couldn't meet him from afar, and he almost blocked the drive, I am really scared, I hope Your Majesty will atone for his sins."

After listening to Huang Kezhang's chatter, Zhu Youxiao had lost his interest in watching, walked straight into the main room, and began to look at the furnishings in the hall again. The furniture and displays are not expensive and old, but they don't look too shabby because they are properly placed and cleaned.

There was a table of eight immortals temporarily placed on the west side, the food on the table had not yet started, it turned out that the Huang Mansion was preparing for dinner, Zhu Youxiao pointed to the food and said:

"The Taishi has always been poor, and I know it, but why don't you add a few more hard dishes to the happy event today?"

Huang Kezhang saw that the emperor looked happy, and his words revealed concern, and he choked up and said:

"Isn't Your Majesty also six dishes and one soup every day, and the old minister doesn't dare to trespass."

Zhu Youxiao saw that everyone else was still standing outside the door, and Huang Kezhang was a well-mannered person, so he really didn't want to talk about these red tapes, so he waved everyone into the house, took out the silver ticket of 10,000 taels from his arms, and said:

"This is a little bit of the queen's heart, you take it, it just so happens that I am also a little hungry, you add a pair of dishes and chopsticks, let's talk while eating."

Huang Kezhang saw that Zhu Youxiao did not treat himself as an outsider, and knew that the drunkard did not mean to drink, so he hurriedly ordered the family to gather around the table. Zhu Youxiao saw the old man seated, pretended to be calm and raised his glass and said:

"Today's events reminded me of the situation in Xiong's Mansion, but at that time, Governor Xiong didn't know that I had already made a private agreement with Concubine Yue for life. Now I think that I should be an invisible prodigal son, which makes the officials talk a lot, so I decided to come after dark to say goodbye, and use this cup of rice wine to wish Taifu a long life. ”

Hearing the emperor's self-deprecation, the emotions of the people in the Huang Mansion slowly relaxed, and they all raised their glasses to drink together, put down the wine glass and Huang Kezhang said:

"Your Majesty Corporal Lixian is well-known to the world, and the good story with Concubine Yue is even more well-known. I didn't expect that the old minister also had this honor tonight, and he also received such a heavy gift, which is really a blessing for three lives. ”

Zhu Youxiao thought to himself that this Huang Wubu was really an old fox, this was to use the matter of the moon to talk to his granddaughter, and the language was not leaking. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but look up at the beautiful girl opposite, and saw that she was as quiet as a virgin, with affection in her veins. The two looked at each other in a panic, the girl's cheeks immediately turned red, bowed her head to cover her shame, Zhu Youxiao also secretly complained bitterly, and hurriedly changed the topic and said:

"You don't need to thank me, the silver ticket was given by the queen, and I just borrowed flowers to offer Buddha."

After hearing this, Huang Kezhang wanted to return the jade pendant, but just as he was about to speak, he saw Zhu Youxiao wave his hand and say:

"You keep it for me, maybe I'll come back one day to get it."

After speaking, he touched his stomach, got up and walked out. Before going out, he looked back at each other again, one was affectionate, the other was reluctant, and the two were happy and envious of others.

Everyone sees such a scene, and each has its own plans. After leaving the Huang Mansion, Yu Dingbian lay down on the dragon chariot and said softly:

"Long live the lord, the person sitting opposite is called Huang Mengxuan, the only granddaughter of Lord Huang, and she has always regarded it as a pearl in her palm. The minister heard that this woman is beautiful, born in a prestigious family, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting are not a problem, at the age of thirteen she can sing and dance, not only outstanding literary talent, but also proficient in the tea ceremony, known as the first talented woman in Beijing. ”

In fact, Zhu Youxiao had met her a few times a few times, but he didn't tell her identity, but now that he heard her name, he secretly said in his heart:

"Mengxuan, what a name, no wonder every time I see her, I have a feeling of hollow valley orchid."