King Luhuang of the Ming Dynasty: My father, Ming Taizu

The more Qian Qianyi said this, the angrier Li Chungang became!
"You two are really loyal! Mr. Qian, Mr. Qian, we were admitted to university together!"

"You and Zhou Yanru are teaming up to deal with me, right? I, Li Chungang, am no pushover."

Li Chungang sneered, and a hint of murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

"This, this, this!"

Zhou Yanru was completely dumbfounded. He didn't understand what Zhou was saying at all. "Mr. Li, can you please explain it more clearly? Why are you beating around the bush and asking me if I have offended you?"

"Mr. Li, how do you address me? I, Minister Li, cannot bear the title of Lord Zhou!
Li Chungang sneered and waved his hand: "Mr. Zhou, Lord Zhou, you are right, I am not Mr. Li, I am just an ordinary person! Just a commoner!"

"I'm just an ordinary person, can you satisfy me?" Li Chungang said viciously.

Zhou Yanru raised his eyebrows, thinking: "Why is this? Mr. Li, have you been dismissed by His Majesty?"

Li Chungang was completely speechless.

At this moment, Li Chungang really wanted to curse!
He wanted to say something but didn't say it. It was obvious that Zhou Yanru was mocking him for being demoted.

Li Chungang said angrily: "Okay, then I will help you! Thanks to you!"

"No! Mr. Li, is this what you want me to say? I'm really wronged!"

Zhou Yanru shrugged. Although he was only in his forties, he was as innocent as a child.

"Yes, Mr. Li, this has nothing to do with Lord Zhou." Qian Qianyi echoed.

This made Li Chungang even more angry. These two people were already his own people, yet they still looked so innocent. How hateful!

"Alright! It's all right! Everyone can do it! Didn't I tell you that we are all in the same boat? If you touch me, don't blame me for being rude!"

Li Chungang said this coldly, then walked away.

Zhou Yanru and Qian Qianyi looked at each other and said nothing.

"Boss, what's going on?" Qian Qianyi said, "Mr. Li really makes me admire you. Why don't you just make it clear? You have to keep me in suspense. Playing guessing games is pointless!"

"I don't know! I don't know what Mr. Li is thinking! Zhou Yanru rubbed his head, as if he suddenly remembered something, "Little..., I remember that Mr. Li was called by His Majesty today!"

"But he was drunk this morning and messed up the job. I think His Majesty must be very angry!"

Qian Qianyi stroked his goatee and said, "So that's how it is. Mr. Li also has his own private affairs to deal with. He actually dared to push the responsibility onto you!"

Qian Qianyi was frightened by Li Chungang's threat and asked quickly, "Will Mr. Li bear a grudge against us because of this incident? Is he here to cause trouble?"

What a courage!
Zhou Yanru smiled calmly and said, "He doesn't have the guts! Do you think I don't know what kind of person Li Chungang is? He is just talking nonsense and bragging. He should know his own weight!"

After hearing Zhou Yanru's words, Qian Qianyi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Oh! You did something wrong, but you're trying to blame others! But, I've drunk too much and it's wasting too much time!"

Only after Qian Qianyi left did Zhou Yanru have the chess game put away.

As he expected, Li Chungang was indeed dismissed from his post, but this matter had nothing to do with him, and he had no responsibility, so he felt that he needed to expand his power.

Kunning Palace, Forbidden City.

Zhou Yanru straightened his clothes and bowed to Queen Zhou. Zhu Youjian once said that as long as he didn't go to court, Queen Zhou could do all the small things!
"I wonder why Lord Zhou is here?" Queen Zhou flipped through the memorials presented to her page by page, all of which were trivial matters.

Even so, Queen Zhou still did not dare to neglect.

"The Queen is indeed the Emperor's good wife, and is worthy of being Kant's good wife. With such dedication, the people of the Ming Dynasty will surely be grateful to you, grateful and moved to tears!"

Zhou Yanru looked at Queen Zhou's diligent appearance and praised her out of habit.

Empress Zhou withdrew her gaze from Zhou Yanru, and said gently:

"Lord Zhou, please don't be polite. You came here this time to ask for something, and I'll give you whatever you want!"

Zhou Yanru asked loudly: "Your Majesty, I heard that Your Majesty dismissed Li Chungang from his post today?"

"What happened? You want to speak for him?"

"No! Mr. Li is lazy and deserves to be fired. I can't speak for him."

"What is that?" Regnar was stunned.

"What I want to say is that the Ministry of Works is one of the six ministries of the Ming Dynasty and is responsible for a lot of things, so I think I should give the position of Minister of Works to someone else!"

"Oh?" Regner was stunned. Empress Zhou looked at Zhou Yanru with a sharp gaze: "So, what genius is Lord Zhou recommending?"

Zhou Yanru responded, "I mean to appoint people based on their merits. I am indeed a talent!"

"tell me!"

"The candidate I recommend is named Zhang Qishui. He is extremely talented in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and is good at both civil and military affairs. He is also good at governing a country! He is well-read and has served in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. He is a rare talent!"

Having said this, Zhou Yanru raised his head and looked at Queen Zhou, only to see that Queen Zhou was looking down at the memorial in her hand with an indifferent look.

Therefore, Zhou Yanru felt that his explanation was not enough, and continued:

"Zhang Qishui, born in a noble family, is honest and upright, never a corrupt official, upright and incorruptible, diligent, never lazy, and works together, never a corrupt official."

Queen Zhou suddenly asked, "What kind of relationship do you have with him?"

Zhou Yanru pondered for a moment and said, "My queen, I don't have much friendship with him. It's just that Zhang Qishui and I are from the same hometown. I am just considering the Ming Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty."

Queen Zhou opened her red lips slightly, and said with a smile:
"Thank you for your concern, Lord Zhou!"

"what do you think?"

Queen Zhou paused and put down the memorial in her hand. At this moment, she finally took Zhou Yanru's recommendation to heart:
"It's just that Lord Zhou is a step late. His Majesty has already made arrangements for this matter. The new Si Cheng will be him."

"Ah?" At this moment, Zhou Yanru felt like he was slapped in the face! What was going on?

Since you had already thought about it, why didn’t you tell me earlier? It makes me feel embarrassed!
"Huh? Doesn't Lord Zhou know?" Queen Zhou stood up and said seriously.

"This?" Everyone was stunned.

He felt that Li Chungang's explanation was not detailed enough.

Second, he was too impatient and should have asked other ministers before coming.

"Your Majesty, I really don't know! I am a subordinate who doesn't know the real thing!"

At this moment, Zhou Yanru wished he could find a hole to crawl into, it was too embarrassing.

Empress Zhou naturally would not convict Zhou Yanru for such a small matter. She smiled faintly and said, "Lord Zhou, don't think too much!"

"Lord Zhou served the court and the government with all his heart, and he worked until his death. He was wise and virtuous. I believe that if the people of the Ming Dynasty knew about this, they would also be moved by what Lord Zhou did!"

What Empress Zhou said were all the words that Zhou Yanru had said to her, but now they were applied to Zhou Yanru exactly as they were said.

The humiliation on Zhou Yanru's face became even more intense, and he wanted to leave immediately:

"Madam Zhou, what you said makes me ashamed. I am ashamed!"

"If you have nothing else to do, let me go first!"

After saying that, Zhou Yanru turned and left.

Empress Zhou did not stop them. After they left, she smiled softly. Zhu Youjian walked behind him.

In fact, he had long expected Zhou Yanru to come, and had also long expected Zhou Yanru to recommend him.

Therefore, he would go with the flow and make this matter a good play! This is interesting!

"Lord Zhou is so powerful! He wants to expand his power! Wei Zhongxian has fallen, and he wants to be the emperor!"

"If we leave it alone, the Ming Dynasty will be in danger!"

As Zhu Youjian spoke, he put his arm around Madam Zhou's shoulders. Empress Zhou held Zhu Youjian's arm, and Zhu Youjian said again:
"But the Ming Dynasty is not ours, but ours! This is everyone's dream!"

The two of them were facing each other and could feel the warmth of each other's faces with their breath. Queen Zhou pressed Zhu Youjian on the table.

"Best regards, Your Majesty!"

"I can do better! Try it!"

……

Wei Zhongxian in a small courtyard on the outskirts of Beijing.

Compared with Zhu Youjian and his partner's joy, he was all alone at this time.

"What has that damn emperor been doing these days?" Wei Zhongxian stood in front of a pale yellow bronze mirror and stroked his long hair. He looked a little decadent in the mirror.

As he finished speaking, two strong men walked out of the mirror and stood behind Wei Zhongxian.

"Today, His Majesty is visiting the Imperial College again!"

"Imperial College?" Wei Zhongxian suddenly became interested. "Why do you want to enter the Imperial College?"

"It sounds like a lecture, a lesson!"

"What about the ruler's principles and the minister's principles, and what about the Confucian classics?"

The two looked at each other and one of them said, "No, we don't know what he is talking about, and we don't know what he is talking about!"

"I know what gravity is all about!"

As the two men were talking, they felt an incredible feeling. These two strong men ranked in the top five in the world actually stayed on the city wall for such a long time. This made them feel incredible.

Almost asleep.

Wei Zhongxian finished washing and combing his messy white hair, and smiled: "This emperor is still as irresponsible as ever!"

"Interesting! How could he be in the Imperial College? It's really incomprehensible! I thought he was an immortal."

Li Jiangang replied: "Yes, Immortal, His Majesty the Emperor returned to the palace at three quarters after noon, claiming that he wanted to cultivate to become an immortal!"

"Tell me, is this spiritual practice true?" Wei Zhongxian had a mysterious look on his face, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Li Jiangang thought about it, his face darkened, and he said, "I haven't heard of it either."

Wang Xianming said, “The rumors about cultivating immortals are half true and half false. No one knows whether the emperor is cultivating or not!”

"Practice? I want to practice too. I want to live a few more years!"

Wang Xianming continued, "I remember Zhu Youjian brought two Taoists with him. They are all here. Catch them for me! We can go and ask them." "These two Taoists are really good!"

"This..." Li Jiangang was about to say something but stopped. Wei Zhongxian stopped him:

"Forget it, let's put it aside for now. As long as I can kill Zhu Youjian, I can become the next emperor. Then, I can truly practice!"

Li Jiangang asked doubtfully, "Sir, when are you going to make your move?"

"Right away! Almost there!" Wei Zhongxian said.

"Tomorrow?" Wang Xianming and Li Jiangang understood instantly and said quickly, "Okay!"

The two left.

The woman came out and said, "Why are you doing this? If you kill Zhu Youjian, will everyone in the world listen to you? Dream on!"

She really couldn't understand why Wei Zhongxian was so interested in the throne and the emperor, which really surprised her.

"I accept?" He was slightly startled. Wei Zhongxian continued: "I never thought of becoming the emperor before, but then I thought, if I don't become the emperor, the emperor will regard me as the biggest threat, I must replace him!"

At this point, Wei Zhongxian seemed to have gone completely crazy. He turned around and looked at Keshi coldly: "I tell you! Killing Zhu Youjian is equivalent to killing my idea of ​​being the emperor! Wouldn't it be great for you to be the queen?"

"..."Ke Shi.

"But you are just a eunuch. How can you be the emperor and a eunuch emperor?" Ke Shi said this. She was very angry, like a shrew.

Wei Zhongxian's eyes were filled with murderous intent, his fists clenched, and he tried hard to suppress his anger: "Do you really think I'm a eunuch?"

"What do you mean?" Keshi was surprised and her eyes involuntarily fell on Wei Zhongxian's crotch.

"Hehe, of course I don't, but I do know a way to restore yang energy!" After saying that, Wei Zhongxian waved his hand, and a Taoist priest walked out behind him. He had white hair and yellow teeth, a crazy expression, and dull eyes.

You Yun, who are you?

Ke Shi was puzzled: "You..."

Wei Zhongxian smiled and said, "I didn't intend to tell you this, but now that things have come to this, I have no choice but to tell you."

After a pause, Wei Zhongxian's eyes flashed with yearning:

"Really? I want to practice and restore my Yang energy. We can be a perfect couple, a couple that everyone will envy. Isn't that great?"

Ke Shi was a little flustered. She received so much information at once that she had no time to respond. She turned around and left.

You Yun looked at Wei Zhongxian with awe on his face: "Eunuch Wei!"

"Go! Take me in quickly. When I have mastered martial arts, Zhu Youjian will be mine. I will be the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and you will be my general!"

……

Ke Shi sat alone in the room, feeling that Wei Zhongxian was becoming more and more dangerous and more and more absurd.

How ambitious does it take to achieve this?
Maybe no one knows, but even if they know, there is nothing they can do.

This is the situation. Sometimes, you have no choice but to accept it!
Late at night, Zhu Youjian and Queen Zhou went from being a couple to a formal couple.

"Your Majesty, how is the Imperial College going?"

"That's great! What else can I do? This is the only way!"

When Zhu Youjian said this, his tone was full of joy.

"Practice, I am not a scholar, and the teachers in the Imperial College do not agree with my philosophy, which makes me very uncomfortable!"

"I have done this before. Education is a gradual process. Your Majesty, please rest assured!"

"I don't! Wei Zhongxian is what I'm most worried about!"

"Wei Zhongxian?" Queen Zhou was stunned.

Zhu Youjian stood in front of the window, looking outside, and said:
"He is a huge threat to me! If I don't eliminate him, I will be unable to sleep or eat!"

Empress Zhou also went in and, following Zhu Youjian's instructions, investigated Wei Zhongxian and said, "Your Majesty, Wei Zhongxian is indeed a scourge. Wei Zhongxian has many accomplices in the court, and many wealthy businessmen in the Ming Dynasty have inextricable ties with Wei Zhongxian!"

"I knew that these rich people would cause us trouble sooner or later."

Zhu Youjian understood that according to historical records, there were many wealthy businessmen in the Ming Dynasty, but these wealthy businessmen were very proud of themselves and it was extremely difficult to get them to pay taxes!

In fact, during the Chongzhen period, taxes on merchants were not high, generally ranging from 21 to 31. Every time Chongzhen Zhu Youjian wanted to increase taxes, he would be strongly protested by the wealthy and merchants. This brought a heavy economic burden to Chongzhen and caused Zhu Youjian's Ming Dynasty to completely collapse.

Zhu Youjian had experienced similar things before. There were floods in the south and famine in the north. Zhu Youjian needed to raise funds, but none of these wealthy businessmen were willing to help.

It can be seen from Chen Zhibao's report that although these wealthy businessmen contributed to his plan, the results were not as good as he imagined.

If these wealthy businessmen continued to stir up trouble, they would be in even greater trouble. Wei Zhongxian knew the relationships between these businessmen very well, and they were definitely a huge threat to them.

Empress Zhou looked at Zhu Youjian, who was concentrating, and asked, "Your Majesty?"

"This is too much! It's outrageous!" In fact, Zhu Youjian also received a new task.

"You want me to cook myself?" Zhu Youjian was stunned when he saw this scene.

This system is too unreliable. What are you busy with every day? Can't you just follow the plot?

"This is given to you by the system. If you don't accept it, your mission will be delayed. By then, you will have to wait for several more days!"

The system asked in a tone that only Zhu Youjian could hear.

"Okay!" Zhu Youjian responded, and soon he said, "So, you want me to do this? How much is the reward?"

"How about ten Huanglong Pills? Isn't this a piece of cake?"

Its tone became more real, not only did it no longer have that machine-like feeling, but even its breathing became clearer.

"What's your majesty's order?"

"Let's have a barbecue!" Gong Yuze said, and then left with some anticipation.

"Barbecue?" A low sound came out of Zhu Youjian's mouth.

"???" Queen Zhou was confused and asked, "Your Majesty, do you have any solution?"

"Nonsense! It's a small matter!" Zhu Youjian said confidently, "I'm still worried about one thing!"

"What?" Regnar asked in confusion.

"I'm already very hungry, but I'm tired of the delicacies in this palace!"

"Then I will ask the chef in the imperial kitchen to prepare some delicious dishes!"

Zhu Youjian smiled and waved his hand: "No, no, no! Today, I will cook for you myself!"

Zhu Youjian asked Wang Chengen to take Xiao Yuyan to the imperial kitchen and bring up beef, pork, duck and mutton.

Zhu Youjian couldn't find any good sticks, so he asked Wang Chengen to sharpen the chopsticks.

In the end, Zhu Youjian set up the barbecue stall at a construction site in the Forbidden City.

"Your Majesty, what are you doing? Do you want to roast it?" Empress Zhang had no idea what this thing was, nor did she know that her emperor had just given a name and started discussing Wei Zhongxian and roasting meat again.

Why is it different from before?

Zhu Youjian had become accustomed to this nonsensical way of speaking, and he started bragging along with Queen Zhou.

"Queen, you don't understand. My cooking skills are the best in the world. This is how I make barbecue. The skewers are delicious, the barbecue is fragrant, and the roast duck is a little old, but it's delicious!"

“And this skewer of steak, served with charcoal and pepper, is a delicacy that is rarely seen in the world!”

“Isn’t it delicious?”

Queen Zhou was slightly stunned, watching Zhu Youjian doing his job skillfully. He first washed the pork in the imperial kitchen, then threaded it one by one, and then put it on the grill.

Is there any red sprinkles?

At this time, an enticing aroma emanated from the skewers.

Wang Chengen and Xiao Yuyan couldn't help swallowing their saliva, which was no exaggeration.

Zhu Youjian first handed a bamboo stick to Empress Zhou. Fearing that she would not know how to use it, he demonstrated it to her.

The skewer is held in one bite, the roast meat is put into the mouth, and when it is bitten down, the gravy splashes and the aroma overflows.

Queen Zhou swallowed her saliva and was still a little hesitant. After all, she was the queen of the Ming Dynasty, and it was the first time for her to eat so roughly.

This is too rude and not in line with his status.

"Eat!" Wang Chengen swallowed his saliva and Zhu Youjian said. Xiao Yuyan beside him was drooling.

"Since Your Majesty doesn't want to drink, I will drink for you!"

Little Swift said that the fragrance was so delicious that she could hardly bear it.

She was just a maid, so how could she care about etiquette?

Encouraged by everyone, Queen Zhou didn't think much about it and followed Zhu Youjian to bite the food.

"Wow!" he exclaimed.

The roast meat rolls in your mouth and the gravy splashes everywhere.

“It’s such a delicious delicacy!”

Queen Zhou praised her repeatedly, and naturally her evaluation of her was extremely high.

Seeing Wang Chengen and Xiao Yuyan's reactions, Zhu Youjian didn't care about the huge difference in their cultivation and divided the barbecue between them.

In fact, four hundred years later, Zhu Youjian and others ate in the 618th Unit in this way. It was a wonderful memory.

“As expected of you, you are the God of Cooking! Is this possible? Queen Zhou said as she changed all the rouge on her lips to red, smeared some oil on them, and looked very happy.

"Your Majesty! God of Cooking! I love it!"

The little swift exclaimed in admiration.

"Yes, yes!" Wang Chengen also agreed. (End of this chapter)