My father Yongle, building a five-good family

Chapter 144 Compressed Bran Biscuits
Peng Er was so shocked by Zhu Gaoyu's rebuke that he immediately fell silent.

But in his heart, he still did not think highly of Zhu Gaoyu.

To be honest, Zhu Gaoyu is smart, but he is also childish... He is really childish.

In Peng Er's mind, Zhu Gaoyu was just a strange, strong and somewhat clever kid.

Without the interference from people around them, Zhu Gaoyu and his party concentrated on their journey and soon arrived near the village.

When Zhu Gaoyu first arrived near the earthen fort, the tenant farmers inside the fort were somewhat wary.

You know, just last night, the city of Peking was ablaze with flames and the sounds of gunpowder and muskets could be heard from time to time.

This scene made the tenant farmers in the earthen fort recall the days when they were refugees.

Especially when they saw a row of armored personal guards of Prince Yan, they became subconsciously on guard.

At this moment, someone suddenly caught a glimpse and saw the dwarf leading the group - Zhu Gaoyu.

At this moment, the tenant farmers who saw it became excited:

"Young Master?! You're back?!"

Zhu Gaoyu hasn't answered yet.

At this moment, someone heard the noise, and almost all the tenant farmers near the entrance of the earthen fort came running over.

There was a lot of noise and chatter among them.

"Young Master has returned to Peking. Does he still remember us?"

"Is he really coming? Oh, my mother has been talking about it for several days since she came to Peking. She is going to kill chickens and stew geese when the young master comes?"

As soon as this was said, someone followed up with a joke:

"Your goose can be killed. It's cold now, so it's perfect to stew it and eat it with pancakes. Last time I passed by your house, it chased me and took a big bite of my butt. What a murderer!"

"Haha, your butt is not still black and purple now, right?"

The tenants in the earthen fortress talked about it, but they didn't hesitate to do anything.

Some were making room, some were saying hello, and some were running towards the inside of the earthen fort, shouting from afar.

Zhu Gaoyu and Xiao Jixiang have become accustomed to this lively scene.

When I was in Datong, whenever Zhu Gaoyu appeared on the farm, this was the scene.

But for Peng Er and even the Prince of Yan's personal guards behind him, this scene was too rare.

Not to mention the rebellious Zhu Gaoxu, even Zhu Gaochi would not be so popular among the refugee tenants, let alone integrate into their group so easily.

Peng Er looked at the scene in front of him in a daze.

The King of Yan once recalled his childhood and said that he had lived in Fengyang and knew everything about the trivial matters of the people.

And now Zhu Gaoyu seems to be even better than his teacher.

Just as the tenants were greeting Zhu Gaoyu enthusiastically, Chen Gensheng, as the head of the village, trotted over to Zhu Gaoyu.

His eyes are very bright.

Perhaps it was because his life was better and he had hope in it, plus he was well fed and well-dressed, so his spirits became better and better, and even because he stayed at home during the winter, his skin turned from dark to wheat-colored.

Chen Gensheng had a calm expression, but when he saw Zhu Gaoyu, he couldn't hide his joy and said:
"Young Master, you're back!"

Zhu Gaoyu nodded:

"How are the bran, grains, and mountain products that I asked you to prepare in my previous letter?"

Although Chen Gensheng was happy, he did not forget his important business.

When he heard what Zhu Gaoyu said, he straightened his face and continued:

"Master, mountain products and wheat bran are both easy to find. There are mountains and forests nearby, and mountain products are not worth much. Things like sour dates, walnuts, hazelnuts, etc. are not in short supply."

"Not to mention wheat bran. Even wealthy families wouldn't feed their livestock with it. It's only when people can't afford food in times of disaster that they would use it as food."

"It's grains, wheat and the like, which are hard to get. But we have a long time to prepare, and with your support, we have stockpiled a lot in a short time."

Chen Gensheng said the last sentence sincerely.

In Datong, those who hoarded grain were all wealthy families, and behind them were Datong officials and even the King of Dai.

Food is the lifeblood of farmers.

Not to mention farmers, even if you are the emperor, you will be hungry if you don’t eat a meal.

If it weren't for the title of Prince of Dinghai behind this farm, even if they had money, they would not be able to keep all the grain they bought.

Zhu Gaoyu nodded.

His appearance attracted the attention of the people behind him.

Moreover, Zhu Gaoyu himself had not noticed it yet, and continued to talk to himself:

"Don't despise wheat bran. It helps digestion and fills your stomach. But it doesn't taste that good. It has a rough texture and scratches your throat."

When he said this, the tenant farmers who had been silently following Zhu Gaoyu's steps nodded in agreement.

Obviously, they have suffered this kind of pain before.

But the next moment, Zhu Gaoyu changed the subject.

"But the military rations we are going to make don't just contain wheat bran. They also contain soybeans, flour, walnuts, and oil, and are compacted by a grinding disc..."

Zhu Gaoyu was still talking nonstop.

But Chen Gensheng, who was two steps behind, suddenly widened his eyes.

Collecting things like bran and wheat... for military rations?

But shouldn’t the military rations of the Ming Dynasty’s Northern Army be things like fried rice and corn?
When did it become so complicated? Not only Chen Gensheng thought so, even Peng Er was confused.

He followed them all the way, and halfway through, he finally couldn't hold back any longer and asked:
"Your Highness, our military rations are quite good, why do we have to do this..."

Peng Er himself didn't even notice it.

Since entering this farm on the outskirts of the city, he has seen the attitude of the tenants towards Zhu Gaoyu, the prosperous scene in the farm, and heard the plan mentioned by Zhu Gaoyu...

Peng Er started to talk back from time to time in the beginning, but gradually he changed to not getting angry even when he had doubts in his heart, but asking questions humbly.

The change in attitude is quite significant.

Among the people present, only Zhu Gaoyu and himself did not notice it.

People like Xiao Jixiang and other bodyguards turned their heads and silently glanced at Peng Er.

Zhu Gaoyu’s personality wasn’t particularly bad.

If Peng Er spoke nicely, he would be happy to answer questions and show off his knowledge at the same time.

So he said:

"The rations of our Ming Northern Army are usually fried rice. Although this food is easy to store and not easily affected by moisture, it tastes average and has a single nutritional component..."

"Nutrients?"

Peng Er muttered.

I don’t know what Zhu Gaoyu’s head looks like.

There are always some strange words coming out of his mouth.

The strange thing is that as soon as this word came out, Peng Er somehow combined it with the context and understood its meaning.

But he was still a little confused:
"When you are away from home, marching and fighting, it is difficult to have peace of mind. Being able to eat enough is already good enough. Your Highness, you do all this just for the nutritional value, what's the point?"

After saying that, Xiao Jixiang secretly glanced at Peng Er again.

Wow, Peng Er even used the word "you" while speaking.

How could Peng Er now look like the troublemaker he was at the beginning?

Zhu Gaoyu was in high spirits and started talking directly:

"I used to listen to my father and Sanbao talk about marching and fighting. I often heard that people who eat military rations for a long time will have symptoms such as edema, bleeding gums, and skin congestion."

"Later, I asked the doctor in the Prince of Yan's Palace in Peking. The doctor once said that the proportion of soybeans in military rations was small, which was likely to affect kidney yang."

"As the saying goes, 'If the kidney yang is insufficient, it cannot warm and transform the fluid, and the fluid overflows the skin, which can also cause edema'"

"It is precisely because the raw materials in the military rations are too simple that various symptoms appear. The edema mentioned earlier is one of them."

"When I was in Yingtian Prefecture, I thought about the issue of military rations for a long time, and then I asked Gensheng to collect wheat bran, flour, soybeans, hazelnuts, walnuts and other mountain products."

After hearing this, everything became clear.

When Peng Er looked at Zhu Gaoyu again, he still looked like a child, but in his eyes, his figure suddenly grew taller.

Let alone anything else, just Zhu Gaoyu's dedication to research is hard to match even for adults.

The personal guards of Prince Yan and others behind him looked at each other in bewilderment, and saw astonishment in each other's eyes.

……

While talking.

Zhu Gaoyu had already arrived at a mill in the earthen fortress.

After preliminary processing, the wheat has been threshed, passed through the millstone, and screened into flour.

Talking about the mountains of flour, the old man in the village showed a look of emotion and distress:

"The animals on the farm have to work hard to grind this flour."

After hearing this, Peng Er looked at the old man in front of him and couldn't help but think of his father.

If my father were still alive, he would probably be the same age as this old man.

So he couldn't help but comfort her:
"It's better for animals to be a little tired than for humans to get sick from exhaustion."

After hearing this, the old man not only did not feel happy, but he sighed heavily again.

Now it was Peng Er's turn to be puzzled.

Isn't that what he meant?

Zhu Gaoyu raised his head and saw Peng Er's silly look, and he wanted to sigh.

When I grow up, will I become as stupid as Peng Er?
If that's the case, he would rather not grow up...

"Take good care of the animals on the farm. These days, it's hard to say which is more valuable, animals or people."

"A yellow cowboy means half of the family fortune."

"These farm animals are very humane."

If Zhu Gaochi said this, it would mean he loved his people like his own children.

But the more Zhu Gaoyu said this, the more awkward it sounded.

These are not words that a child would say.

As expected, before anyone else could say anything, Zhu Gaoyu silently added:
"These are what Grandfather Huang said to me when he was still alive. He told me at that time that when he was a child, his greatest wish was to have an old yellow cow and ten acres of land. That would be the best life ever."

Speaking of this, Zhu Gaoyu couldn't help but think of Zhu Yuanzhang, and his mood became a little depressed.

Seeing this, Chen Gensheng moved his lips and finally said dryly:
"Young Master, life will always get better if you look forward."

Six thousand today. Two more chapters, see you all tomorrow, muah!


(End of this chapter)