The Spring Festival of the 16th year of Hongwu is the second year of the Ming military and civilians in Yunnan.

However, last year, when the Chinese New Year was in full swing, the army had just invaded Kunming, and most of Yunnan was still in the hands of the enemy, so the officers and soldiers could not celebrate the New Year with peace of mind.

So this year, Zhu Zhen gave a death order to the chief secretary of Buzheng to let the soldiers have a comfortable New Year.

In order to prepare New Year's goods for the soldiers, Pan Yuanming and Mei Sizu racked their brains and almost bought all the livestock in Kunming Bazi. Fortunately, when Tusi came to meet in Layueli, he prepared a lot of mountain goods in large carts and small carts. also paid tribute to a lot of pigs, cattle and sheep, and this was considered to be alive.

Since the day of the New Year, the city of Kunming has crackled with the sound of firecrackers.

The soldiers and civilians everywhere began to boil maltose seriously, mixed with yellow rice to make sugar melons, and sent the stove prince to heaven after the sacrifice.

The reason why I want to use sugar melon as a tribute is because this thing is also called 'glue tooth dumpling', and the viscosity is very high, and the king of the stove will stick to his mouth when he eats it, so that he will not make a small report when he sees the Jade Emperor......

In fact, when I was in the mainland, this was all a matter for the elderly and women in the family, especially the big soldiers in the barracks, who were too lazy to bother at all. But after coming to Yunnan, everyone became extremely solemn about the various rituals of the New Year's Festival.

Twenty-three sent the god of the stove, twenty-four began to sweep the house, twenty-five, make tofu, twenty-six, stew pork, twenty-seven, slaughter the chicken, twenty-eight, put the dough hair, twenty-nine paste the spring couplets, and Chinese New Year's Eve set off fireworks...... Every day has a different program, and this group of rough men all follow it meticulously and tirelessly.

Zhu Zhen was also very funny, and ordered the officials at all levels to spare no effort to cooperate with the military and people of the whole city, so as to make this year's operation prosperous and lively.

Because in addition to greatly soothing the homesickness of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, this is also the best Han culture baptism for the indigenous residents of Kunming.

The culture of the common people is in these clothing, food, housing, transportation, and New Year's customs. Your food, clothing, and housing are better than me, and you are more delicate than me in terms of food, clothing, and housing, and you are more lively than me during the New Year's holidays, and you have a sense of ceremony, and I will imitate you. It's been a long time.,Imperceptibly,Sinicization is complete.。

He asked his attendant eunuch, "Sanbao, do you think the Han Chinese New Year is interesting, or is it interesting for you to celebrate the New Year?" ”

The little eunuch with clear eyebrows smiled and said: "Of course, the year of the Han people is interesting, and the Han people are too good at living." A lot of things are small, I haven't seen or eaten them before. ”

"Oh?" Zhu Zhen asked with interest: "For example?" ”

"For example," ...... little eunuch tilted his head in thought. He was only twelve or thirteen years old, a native of Kunming, and his family was originally an official eunuch of the Yuan Dynasty, but his father died in battle last year, and he also became a prisoner of the Ming army. Along with all the captured boys, they were castrated and sent to serve in the palace.

So he still has some insight into things outside the palace, and after thinking for a while, he said: "For example, the tofu made in Twenty-five will not be made by Yunnan people in the past." They grind soybean milk without filtering, and put green vegetables on the slurry with slag to cook, which is called vegetable bean curd and slag waterlogging. ”

"The little ones never dreamed that the Han people could make beans into white, tender and delicious tofu, and they could also make soy milk, tofu brain, tofu skin, dried tofu, tofu milk, ......" Ma Sanbao said with a light in his eyes: "The little one loves tofu, and I can't get tired of eating it." ”

"Ugh." Zhu Zhen sighed slightly apologetically when he heard this: "You can only eat tofu in your life." ”

"If you can eat tofu for a lifetime, the small one is super satisfying." Ma Sanbao said happily: "The little auspicious star shines brightly, and I am happy to be able to follow the prince even if I can't eat tofu." ”

"Alas, why do you have the surname Ma and not Zheng......" Zhu Zhen sighed depressedly.

"The prince gave the small surname Zheng, and the younger one will be surnamed Zheng in the future." Ma Sanbao said hurriedly and obediently.

"Alas, it's late......" Zhu Zhensan sighed. Ma Sanbao was confused, and he didn't know why his surname was Zheng Wan now.

Because if his surname was Zheng, he wouldn't be talking about chickens here.

In fact, when Zhu Zhen was waiting to attack Yunnan at Shengjing Pass, he really thought that Zheng He, the famous eunuch of the Three Treasures, should be in Kunming at this time, and he was still a child with sound limbs.

Zhu Zhen sincerely wanted to help him keep his roots, and then train him well, so that he would become the commander of the Ming Dynasty in the future, and lead the invincible fleet to show off his might everywhere.

So he ordered Mu Ying to pay attention to a child named Zheng He after he invaded Kunming. But he didn't know more information, and even Zheng He was now seven or eight years old, fifteen or sixteen years old, so he could only let Mu Ying look for a needle in a haystack.

As a result, I didn't catch it......

When Zhu Zhen came to Kunming, Mu Ying replied that he didn't find the person he was looking for. This couldn't be more normal, so Zhu Zhen asked him to continue looking for it, without paying too much attention.

It wasn't until later that when Fu Youde was about to return to Beijing, when Fu Youde presented the list of prisoners, Zhu Zhen overheard him mention that in addition to the former Yuan princes on the list, there were also 500 castrated young children, and the prince was invited to send them to the palace together.

Previously, the source of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty was mainly the reemployment of eunuchs of all sizes in the former Yuan, such as Wu Eunuch, Wang Defa, and Hou Lixie...... Boss Zhu also uses fewer people, so it has always been enough.

However, as the princes grew up and opened their palaces, the demand for eunuchs also surged, and it was necessary to open up a new source of eunuchs - castration of juvenile captives was an important one.

"Bring the list of eunuchs!" Zhu Zhen's reaction after listening to the report startled Fu Youde.

Fu Youde hurriedly asked someone to take the list, Zhu Zhen looked through it carefully from beginning to end, and indeed did not find Zheng He's name, but saw a ...... named Ma Sanbao

Then he called the little eunuch and asked, this child's surname is Ma Minghe, and his nickname is Sanbao...... This is both 'harmony' and 'three treasures', and Zhu Zhen can basically be sure that he is the person he is looking for.

"Then why don't you tell them that your name is Ma He?" Zhu Zhen asked helplessly.

The little eunuch thought that he was going to cut off his own head, so he was directly frightened, knelt on the ground and trembled: "Because, because I feel ashamed to be a eunuch, I hide it." ”

"If you're not ashamed, maybe you won't have to take this knife." Zhu Zhen sighed and said, but he couldn't say for sure, after all, the person he was looking for was 'Zheng He', what was the matter with 'Ma He'? No matter how detailed Mu Ying is, it is difficult to connect these two names.

"Well, maybe that's fate. Some people are born to be generals, some people are born criminals, and you, my child, you are born to be a eunuch. He touched Ma He's head and comforted him, "But it doesn't matter, I will make you the greatest ...... of all time."

"What?" Ma Sanbaoba looked at the sixth child.

"Eunuch." Zhu Zhen said.

So after the beating, Zhu Zhen took him with him and made him his personal eunuch.

(End of chapter)