Zhengde never thought that Zhou Chong's arrival would bring such a big surprise to himself, not only offering artillery and telescopes, two sharp weapons on the battlefield, but also corn and sweet potatoes, with these two high-yield crops, it can be predicted that in the next few decades, the Ming Dynasty will no longer have to worry about food shortage.

Thinking of this, Zhu Houzhao was also very excited, turned his head and saw that the roast sheep next to him was almost the same, and immediately ordered loudly: "Come on, hurry up and send my favorite roast sheep, I want to taste it with Zhou Chong!" ”

Zhou Chong was naturally very happy, he was able to impress Zhengde with the above things, and he was already thinking about how to put forward his requirements next, especially the matter of the Ming Dynasty's dispatch of troops, which was a major event that determined the entire maritime situation, and he couldn't be sloppy at all.

The little eunuch who was roasting meat next to him heard Zhengde's order, and immediately put the roasted golden lamb on a large plate, and then took out some spices to make sauce, what Zhou Zhong didn't expect was that he actually saw dogwood sauce from those seasonings, this thing he had eaten before, although it also had a spicy taste, but it couldn't be compared with the real chili.

"Your Majesty also likes to eat dogwood sauce?" When Zhou reopened his mouth to ask, he took this opportunity to send the remaining gifts with him, and then put forward his own few requests.

Zhu Houzhao was stunned for a moment when he heard Zhou Chong's question, and then said with a smile: "Yes, I like the spicy flavor of dogwood sauce very much, not only when eating barbecue, but also some dogwood sauce in some other dishes that I usually eat." ”

Zhou Zhong was immediately overjoyed when he heard this: "That's too coincidental, the grass people brought some chili sauce to His Majesty this time, which is made from a plant fruit called chili pepper. It is several times spicier than dogwood sauce. This plant is the same as corn and sweet potato. They were all produced on a continent in the far east, and were later brought to Europe and India by the Francophiles, and were brought back to the Ming Dynasty by the hands of the grass people! ”

"Oh? There's such a thing, take it up and let me see it! Zhengde was also very interested when he heard this, and at the same time, he was also a little interested in the continent of the extreme east that Zhou Chong said.

I saw Zhou Chong find out the chili sauce from the gift again and present it, originally the output of chili peppers this year was not much, plus Zhou Chong and Bang'er They also liked to eat it, so Zhou Chong only prepared a few for Zhengde. Each of them comes in eight large glass bottles, the mouth of which is sealed with a cork stopper, which looks like a can.

Zhou Zhong took out one of the bottles and opened the stopper, but these imported things could not be eaten directly by Zhu Houzhao, but had to be tried by someone trusted by the emperor, which was mainly for fear of being poisoned, and now Zhengde only had Gu Dayong and a little eunuch by his side, so this kind of thing naturally fell on his head.

I saw Gu Dayong digging out a spoonful of chili sauce with a silver spoon, and saw that the silver spoon did not change color, and was just about to put it in his mouth to taste. At this time, Zhou Zhong hurriedly reminded: "Father-in-law Gu be careful, this chili sauce is very spicy." The average person may not be able to stand it for the first time! ”

Hearing Zhou Chong's reminder, Gu Dayong smiled slightly and said: "Thank you Gongzi Zhou for reminding me, but Gongzi doesn't know, the Sprinkler family also likes to eat dogwood sauce, and this chili pepper is nothing." ”

Gu Dayong put a spoonful of chili sauce in his mouth as he spoke, but the smile on his face suddenly froze there, his originally white and fat face suddenly turned red, and the sweat on his forehead also gushed out. Then I saw that he couldn't care about any manners anymore, and he opened his mouth wide in embarrassment and shouted while inhaling cool air: "Spicy...... It's spicy! Fast...... Give me water! ”

Zhengde next to him saw Gu Dayong's embarrassed appearance, he was stunned for a moment, and then the heartless Ha Lu Ha Da smiled, fortunately, Zhou Zhong next to him had already prepared, and immediately handed the vinegar used for seasoning on the table to Gu Dayong and said: "Gu Gonggong quickly rinse his mouth with vinegar, so that it won't feel too spicy!" ”

The capsaicin in chili peppers is alkaline, so when the spicy can't stand it, you can neutralize it with something acidic, which can relieve the spicy taste very well. Gu Da poured vinegar hard with Yiyan, and then held it in his mouth for a while, and then he felt much better, but he still felt very uncomfortable in the place near his ears in his mouth.

"Ha Lu Ha Ha ~ , big use, big use, Zhou Chong has already reminded you, but you don't care, now you are suffering...... No, it should be spicy, haha~" Zhengde covered his stomach with a smile at this time, and pointed to Gu Dayong gloating.

Gu Da swallowed the vinegar in his mouth, and then wiped the sweat on his forehead and said with a bitter smile: "It's all because the slave doesn't know the good heart, and he didn't take Zhou Gongzi's reminder to heart, this chili almost paid for the slave's old life." ”

When Gu Dayong said this, he suddenly paused, and said with a smile on his face: "But this chili pepper is indeed much spicier than dogwood sauce, and after it is spicy, it makes people feel endless, and even has a feeling of appetite, it is really a rare seasoning treasure!" ”

In fact, there is no need for Gu Dayong to praise, as long as people with eyes can see from his performance just now, the chili pepper sent by Zhou Chong must be much spicier than the dogwood sauce, so Zhengde was also a little impatient to taste it at this time, and it turned out that the chili sauce was really spicy, but for people who like to eat spicy, the spicier the better, so Zhu Houzhao immediately put a lot of chili peppers in his sauce, and then picked up a knife and cut off a piece of barbecue meat and dipped it in the sauce and put it in his mouth, and his face immediately showed a very enjoyable expression.

Anyone who likes to eat chili peppers knows that as long as they eat something spicy, they will keep eating until their stomach can't fit it, and then they will have to stop. Zhu Houzhao in front of Zhou Chong's eyes is like this, he did not feel uncomfortable eating chili peppers for the first time, but the more he ate, the happier he became, and most of the roasted lamb entered his stomach.

When Zhu Houzhao was full, Zhou Zhong took the opportunity to send other gifts, among which the MSG made of sea rice noodles also made Zhu Houzhao very interested, but now his stomach really can't eat, so he has to wait until next time to try again.

However, when Zhou Zhong took out the glass mirror, Zhu Houzhao, who was holding his stomach, stood up excitedly again, holding the mirror with both hands and looking left and right, looking stinky and beautiful, it is estimated that he has grown so big, and it is the first time to see his appearance so clearly.

The gifts were finished, and the banquet was almost over, when Gu Dayong took the little eunuch to clean up the table, and then sent a pot of tea, Emperor Zhengde and Zhou Chong sat opposite each other, chatting while tasting tea, in which Emperor Zhengde was very interested in the origin of corn and peppers, that is, the continent of the extreme east in Zhou Chong's mouth, so he asked many questions about there.

Zhou Zhong rarely saw that Emperor Zhengde was interested in overseas affairs, and while introducing the situation in the Americas, he had been organizing language in his heart, intending to tell his plan to borrow troops.

But at this moment, I suddenly heard Emperor Zhengde ask: "By the way, I heard that there are also envoys sent by the Wa Kingdom who entered Beijing with you this time, and you also agreed to some conditions from the other party, what is going on?" ”

Hearing that Masato first asked about Ashikaga Kazuki, Zhou Zhong had to temporarily dispel the matter of borrowing troops, and immediately opened his mouth to talk about the current situation of the Wa Kingdom, and at the same time there was a relationship between Ashikaga Kazuki and himself, and finally concluded: "Your Majesty, now the Wa civil strife is endless, and the majesty of the Ashikaga shogunate is lost, and they want to seek the opportunity to make a comeback, so they want to see His Majesty through the grass people, hoping to re-establish the majesty of the shogunate with the help of the power of the Ming Dynasty!" ”

After listening to Zhou Chong's words, Zhengde also showed a contemplative look on his face, and after a long time, he spoke: "The civil strife in the Japanese is not my business, and when Taizu was in power, the Japanese state had a lot of disrespect to my Ming dynasty, so today's war in the Japanese country is also their retribution for my disrespectful Ming at the beginning." ”

Zhengde paused at this point, and then said: "In addition, my Ming Dynasty seems to be strong now, but in fact, it is also full of crises, and the treasury is even more empty, and there is no silver to help that Ashikaga general, not to mention that I have no leisure to take care of their domestic affairs, but since Zhou Zhong has promised to help them introduce them, then I will meet the envoy of the Japanese country, and then refuse them in person!" ”

For Zhengde didn't have the heart to take care of the affairs of the country, Zhou Chong was not surprised by this, and after hearing that the other party looked at his face, he actually saw Ashikaga Yihui them again, which made Zhou Chong also very grateful, and bowed down again to thank him.

However, after Zhou Chong's thanks, I saw that he hesitated for a moment, and finally spoke: "Your Majesty, for the affairs of the Japanese country, the grass people have some thoughts of their own, I don't know whether to talk about it or not?" ”

"Oh? What do you think, tell me what you think? When Zhengde heard Zhou Chong's words, he asked with a very interested expression on his face.

"Your Majesty, just now Your Majesty you mentioned Emperor Taizu, the grass people remember that the Wa Kingdom angered Taizu several times, making Taizu scold it as a country inferior to beasts, and after the civil strife in the Wa, countless Wa countries went to sea as pirates, causing the Ming Dynasty coastal areas to continue to rebel, and later the implementation of the sea ban was better. Therefore, for the Wa Kingdom, the grass people thought that if there were conditions, they could make their civil strife worse, so that when the population of the Wa Kingdom was greatly reduced due to war, we would not have to worry about the historical Wa Rebellion! ”

Zhou Zhong said with a smile at this time, although he knew that Emperor Zhengde did not want to meddle in the affairs of the Wa Kingdom, but he wanted to take this opportunity to meddle in the political situation of the Wa Kingdom, so he wanted to try to persuade Emperor Masantoku to give Ashikaga Kazuki and them some nominal support, and then he would also meddle in the affairs of the Wa Kingdom in a proper manner. (To be continued......)