Ming Dynasty: Traveling through the harem, Zhu Yuanzhang was dumbfounded

Chapter 178 Crazy Hu Weiyong
This chocolate looks very dark.

There is no corresponding item for any of the food that Zhu Yuanzhang imagined he could eat.

The first bite he took, he almost spit it out.

Fortunately, Zhu Yuanzhang was concerned about his reputation and would not embarrass himself in front of his son, so he forced himself to swallow the mouthful of chocolate despite the discomfort in his appetite.

A bitter and sticky feeling surged into his heart, making Zhu Yuanzhang very unhappy.

Even when his father opened his mouth, Zhu Biao could still see chocolate residue between his father's teeth.

After being reminded, Lao Zhu quickly rinsed his mouth with a cup of tea.

Gurgle gurgle~Puchi!

Lao Zhu spat out a mouthful of tea mixed with chocolate residue onto his face.

Then he threw the chocolate on the table with a look of disgust on his face and muttered:
“Bah, bah, bah!

Biaoer, the first three things are edible and taste good, but why is this thing so different?
Let alone eating it, even taking a few bites would be hard to swallow. It tastes so bitter, just like eating something pickled."

Just think about it, you have suffered a lot since childhood, but you have never experienced this kind of bitterness. It was within Zhu Biao's expectation that Zhu Yuanzhang would despise him like this.

The only surprise was that his father lost his composure in the end.

It's normal to think about it. It's amazing that the other party could swallow it. When I think about the indescribable expression on my face when I ate a small piece, compared with my father's big bite, he seems insignificant.

While Zhu Yuanzhang was wiping his mouth and looking at the chocolate, Zhu Biao patiently explained:
"The cocoa beans are fermented, dried, ground into powder, and finally processed into chocolate paste, which is then put into a mold and solidified overnight into this very easy-to-store chocolate bar.

I have also tried this chocolate without sugar. It tastes extremely bitter and is difficult for ordinary people to swallow.

But if you add a lot of sugar, the chocolate becomes extremely sweet.”

As he spoke, a handful of chocolates wrapped in oil paper appeared in Zhu Biao's hand.

Compared to the brick whose corner Zhu Yuanzhang had just gnawed, the piece of chocolate in Zhu Biao's hand was relatively light.

It is divided into nine small squares and can be separated with a slight break.

Zhu Biao picked up a piece and put it in his mouth without chewing. After a while, the chocolate melted naturally in his mouth.

Seeing that Zhu Biao had no reaction at all, Zhu Yuanzhang's first thought was that his son might be trying to trick him.
He asked tentatively:

"Biao'er, you don't feel anything at all?"

Zhu Biao smiled and said:
"Father, I have told you that as long as you add a lot of sugar, this chocolate will become extremely delicious. If you don't believe me, try a piece and you will know."

He raised his hand and pushed the chocolate wrapped in oil paper on the table in front of Zhu Yuanzhang.

"How can I be outdone by my son?"

Old Zhu was very happy when this idea came to his mind. He raised his hand, picked up a small chocolate and put it directly into his mouth.

He was different. He just wanted to eat it quickly, but the moment the chocolate touched his teeth, a touch of sweetness instantly came to his heart.

After tasting it carefully, Zhu Yuanzhang could clearly feel the sweetness of osmanthus honey in the chocolate.

Some time ago, osmanthus flowers fell. Zhu Xiongying and Empress Ma both liked to eat osmanthus cakes, so at this time every year, there would be a lot of osmanthus honey stored in the palace.

Zhu Biao personally instructed his servants on the chocolate-making process and produced chocolates of different sweetness flavors.

Chocolate with less than three spoonfuls of sugar added per pound is simply inedible. The piece that Zhu Yuanzhang just ate did not even have a spoonful of sugar added.

One hundred percent pure dark chocolate, not to mention Lao Zhu, even Yang Chen himself couldn't stand the taste.'

The piece of chocolate he was eating now was made with five spoonfuls of sugar added to every pound.

“Yes, this thing is really magical. It tastes like candy, but not so hard. It melts in your mouth and is slightly different from those sticky cakes.

But after eating, there are black spots on the teeth, which affects the appearance. You can’t eat it in public places.”

Picking up a mirror, Zhu Yuanzhang took a look at the dark chocolate stains on his teeth and couldn't help but sigh.

Zhu Biao also thought so.

“Father is right. Once you eat this dark chocolate, your teeth will turn black. The palace servants who made and tasted it thought it was poisonous. But in the end, it was proven that chocolate is not only non-toxic, but can also be used to make many delicious foods.

As soon as the food arrived, Yang Chen immediately prepared some special delicacies, which even surprised me. "

When he heard the word food, Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes lit up.

"Oh? Nothing? Why is Yang Chen busy eating instead of dealing with things from the future world in Zhenjiang Prefecture?"

Zhu Biao smiled and said:

"Father, you may not know that Yang Chen actually did not miss any of these two things in Zhenjiang Prefecture. Not only that, I also learned that the things he got from Zhenjiang Prefecture are even better. If you go there in person, you will definitely be shocked!"

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang expressed disbelief.

"Don't we know what this kid is capable of? What can he do?"

Zhu Biao smiled without saying anything and did not explain anything further.

Prime Minister's Residence.

Unlike the past when it was bustling with people, the area outside Hu Weiyong's mansion has now become very deserted.

This would have been a completely impossible scenario a few years ago. You have to know that there were at least hundreds of people in the entire Ming Dynasty who wanted to establish a relationship with Hu Weiyong.

But now, the huge prime minister's mansion is deserted, and the people passing by would rather stay away for fear of being implicated.

In a secret room deep inside the mansion.

Hu Weiyong, who seemed to be ten years older, looked up and stared at the letter in his hand.

Above are some words Li Shanchang wrote to him.

"Weiyong, your majesty's temper has never changed since the founding of the country. The person who can sit on this dragon throne must have a mind that is difficult for ordinary people to detect in order to be stable and long-lasting.

Countless people died and countless wars broke out in the Central Plains, but all those who were able to establish a dynasty, without exception, possessed a temperament that was difficult for ordinary people to understand.

When Liu Bang was in his forties, he was still watching dogs fighting at the village gate. In less than ten years, he was able to lead Xiao He, Fan Kuai, Cao Shen and others to defeat the tyrannical Qin Army and force the unrivaled hero Xiang Yu to death.

Everyone around him was a capable person, but only Liu Bang became the emperor. What do you think was the reason?
Is he loyal and righteous?
But don't forget that after Xiang Yu led 8,000 soldiers from Jiangdong and died on the battlefield, he also committed suicide. In terms of loyalty and righteousness, Liu Bang could not compare to Xiang Yu.

Compared with Liu Bang, I think Your Majesty is better.

Your Majesty is not only braver than Liu Bang, but his methods are far beyond the imagination of mortals like you and me.

Weiyong, I am old, and you are no longer young. His Majesty loves the prince, and he will not let anyone outshine him. In the future, the prince will succeed to the throne and become the second emperor of the Ming Dynasty. You and I must leave! Considering that you and I met in Dingyuan County and supported each other and solved each other's problems, I will give you a piece of advice.

Lose face to save life!"

Hiss!

Hu Weiyong tore the letter apart with his bare hands and threw it onto the burning stove next to him. He then took the lid to cover it and let the roll of paper burn to ashes in the flames.

The flames swaying aimlessly in the breeze were reflected in Hu Weiyong's cold eyes.

After an unknown amount of time, Hu Weiyong walked over to another place, waved his hand to call the fat butler over, and said in a cold and deep voice:

"Haven't the Imperial Censor Chen Ning and the Minister of Justice Tu Jie replied to my letter yet?"

Chen Ning and Tu Jie were both Hu Weiyong's closest partners when he was still the Secretariat. The two worked in the Censorate and could be said to be the most powerful people in charge of the Censorate.

Originally, this position should have been occupied by someone from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang faction, after all, Liu Bowen was originally serving as the Chief Censor.

Unfortunately, ever since Liu Bowen was killed by Hu Weiyong, the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Party lost its last support.

As his power weakened, the vacant position in the Censorate naturally fell into the hands of Hu Weiyong.

He personally arranged for Chen Ning and Tu Jie to enter.

Now that he was being punished by His Majesty, he wanted to know what happened in the court, so naturally he needed to find out through these two people.

Unfortunately, he didn't expect that he had just been put in solitary confinement, and this group of guys who had been humble before would show such an attitude.

As the saying goes, when a person leaves, the tea gets cold. He hasn't even left yet, but all the tea tables have been moved away. Don't they worry that he will come back?

Facing Hu Weiyong's question, the fat butler hesitated for a long time before he dared to say softly:

"In reply to your question, Master, Chen Ning and Tu Jie have clearly received the support from my subordinates, but they just stood by and ignored my call for help. This is the third time. I think they all think that Master, you can't get up."

Although the fat butler was careful enough and thought that his choice of words would not make the other party angry, he still underestimated Hu Weiyong's tolerance.

Whether it was the fat butler's words, the envelope from Li Shanchang, or the reactions of Chen Ning and Tu Jie, or even the indifference of others towards him.

In Hu Weiyong's view, this was all an act of betrayal!

The next second, Hu Weiyong, seemingly calm and composed, smashed the teacup in his hand to the ground.

Tea splashed everywhere and the glass teacup shattered into pieces. The servants around did not dare to react at all. They could only try not to make any noise and do their own things carefully.

"roll!"

Hu Weiyong's angry shout echoed around, and everyone trembled physically and mentally. The fat butler knew very well what the condition of his master was at the moment, so he quickly turned around and left, taking everyone with him and disappearing from the room.

In an instant, everyone disappeared and Hu Weiyong's anger gradually subsided.

In fact, he was still very angry. He was angry about why he had fallen into this situation.

Why would the Emperor, who trusted him so much some time ago, treat him like this?

Is it because he did something wrong? That shouldn't be the case. You know, although Zhou Shizhong is involved with him, and even has conflicts of interest.

But he was not so stupid as to use ordinary means to accept Zhou Shizhong's gift.

The reason why he is so wealthy is that he uses some shameful means, and these means are also very secretive and ordinary people cannot find out about them at all, normally.

Even if he had found out, with Zhou Shizhong's chain of evidence, he should not have fallen to this point. But why would Zhu Yuanzhang target him like this?

Hu Weiyong's eyes flashed with sharp light, looking directly at the debris on the ground that the servants had not had time to clean up just now, and his voice came out slowly and firmly:

"I know! It's Yang Chen! It's that little bastard Yang Chen!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Hu Weiyong's face was replaced by ferocity. His old face began to twist as if it had lost moisture, and his voice sounded as unwilling as a wild beast.

"Damn it! I knew I shouldn't have listened to Li Shanchang and approached this little bastard to test him.

In order to save his life, Zhou Shizhong betrayed me and let Yang Chen know some things that he shouldn't know. Otherwise, how could His Majesty suspect me to this extent!
Apart from him, I really can't imagine who else could betray me.

Yang Chen, ah Yang Chen! I really underestimated you. Not only do you want to be the only powerful official, you even set your sights on me!
Hahaha! What a pity, what a pity! You made a mistake. No matter how suspicious Your Majesty is of me, I, Hu Weiyong, am still the Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty. The Prime Minister of the Ming Dynasty can only be me, Hu Weiyong!
Although Your Majesty was a little disappointed in me for a while, I knew that without me, the Secretariat would be in chaos.

Chen Ning! Tu Jie! All of you wait for me, wait until I leave, wait until I regain the trust of His Majesty, and then you can settle all your old and new grudges with me one by one!"

Hu Weiyong was extremely confident. In his opinion, he was only exiled by Zhu Yuanzhang for a short period of time.

But he understood that after working with Zhu Yuanzhang for such a long time, there was no way the Ming court would be able to do without him. Both Chen Ning and Tu Jie were high-ranking officials in the Censorate.

The reason why they distanced themselves from him was either because Yang Chen said something in private, or because these two guys originally wanted to betray him.

But it doesn't matter. In Hu Weiyong's opinion, the time to escape from the predicament is not far away. By then.
Zhenjiang Prefecture.

The mansion where Yang Chen lives.

Compared with Zhenjiang Prefecture two months ago, the current Zhenjiang Prefecture has completely changed its appearance.

Let’s talk about the location of the city gate first. Originally, only a section of the road leading into the city gate was bluestone road.

Now the entire street is paved with cement-burned paper-permeable stone bricks.

In the past, when Zhenjiang Prefecture encountered heavy rain, the rainwater could not penetrate into the ground in time, causing water accumulation on the ground. It was really hard to imagine that the municipal engineering in Zhenjiang Prefecture, which had a population of more than 100,000, was extremely poor.

Yang Chen developed the poisonous salt mines in Ningming County, and subsequently developed many wilderness areas and built one industrial factory after another.

Some produce sulfuric acid, some make soap, and some make perfume. The industrial chains of these factories not only create many employment opportunities for the people, but also bring in a lot of extra income.

This instantly transformed Zhenjiang Prefecture from an ordinary prefecture into the richest prefecture around Nanjing City.

With these industrial chains, Zhenjiang Prefecture began to attract frustrated populations from the Jiangnan region.

As soon as the merchants found out that Cui was the president of the local Chamber of Commerce, they all began to look for him, hoping to obtain the sales rights for such high-profit commodities as perfume and soap in other places.

“Master, my father has been surrounded by that group of merchants, and they are just waiting for you to come.

If I don’t go over now, my father will probably be blocked by them and not allowed to leave.”

Cui Shulan's small face was full of anxiety. She stood beside Yang Chen's bed, wanting to go forward but not knowing what to do.

Hearing the other party's urgent voice, Yang Chen turned over and took a set of warm pajamas from the bedside hanger and put them on.

"What's the hurry? Let them wait outside. If you want to make money, you have to serve me!"

(End of this chapter)