"Yes." Zhao Ding was immediately surprised. "You actually knew that?"

Zhao Fen couldn't help but laugh again when he heard this: "It's simple to say, but Daddy is busy every day and doesn't know the situation here. But I go to the Imperial College, which is not far from here, so I know a little bit..."

"Then just say it directly, don't keep me in suspense."

"This is because the palace no longer eats mutton, and before the Jingkang Incident, the palace used 10,000 sheep every year..." Zhao Fen dared not keep his father in suspense, so he quickly answered. "Then may I ask, after the 10,000 sheep were taken for meat, the remaining sheep skins, sheep heads, and sheep offal would be more expensive, wouldn't it? And the palace is simple, and doesn't use that much mutton, so the sheep from Guanxi still have to come here, so the mutton is naturally cheaper, and it flows to the Cai River."

Zhao Ding came to his senses immediately and clapped his hands in emotion.

"Father, you don't know that there was a big incident in the palace because of this sheep's head and mutton..." Zhao Fen saw his father sighing and seemed to be interested, so he hurried to continue.

"What's the matter?" Zhao Ding was indeed curious.

"It was said that in early spring, although the emperor didn't like to eat mutton in large quantities, he occasionally wanted to drink mutton soup and mutton soup, so he asked Feng Erguan if there was a cook who could make mutton soup. As a result, Feng Erguan really found a cook who was good at making soup with sheep heads in the former Gao Taiwei's mansion and sent her to the palace... Who would have thought that the cook only used the little meat on the sheep's face to make mutton soup, and ended up using five sheep heads for three bowls of soup! Not only that, after using the sheep's head, she threw it on the ground and didn't allow others to use it. The other cooks in the palace who were tamed by the emperor to be simple picked it up and prepared to make soup, but she scolded them as "dogs"!"

Zhao Ding was stunned when he heard this, and Mrs. Zhao urged him, "What happened next?"

"Later, the palace maid reported the matter to the emperor. The emperor was stunned for a long time and then drove the cook out again. He also mocked himself as a worthless person... It is said that the Gao family's misfortune this time is more or less related to this cook!" Zhao Fen naturally explained the result to his mother.

Madam Zhao sighed and said nothing when she heard this. Prime Minister Zhao Yuanzhen also shook his head and said, "Everyone says that the old dreams in Tokyo are good, but I don't know whether it is a good dream or a bad dream... But the emperor has also experienced such prosperity, so why doesn't he dream of the old times?"

Mutton soup, sliced ​​sheep heads, and spun sheep skins began to be served one after another. The two tables next to them immediately became lively, and the children at her own table were chattering away, prompting Mrs. Zhao to quickly go and talk about it. But for some reason, Zhao Ding, who had been very interested today, suddenly lost his appetite.

Zhao Fen, on the other hand, came to his senses and couldn't help asking, "Dad, aren't you going to present the book to Uncle Meng?"

Zhao Ding continued to shake his head. "Meng Yue has been incompetent for half his life. He has always been a pretentious scholar, but he actually wrote a notebook that goes back to the basics. My father and he have been colleagues in Kaifeng Prefecture for many years. Now that he is rarely seen before his death, I can't deny him a way out. I will still present this "Dreams of the Capital" to him. I just feel sorry for the government's frugality."

"Meng Shishu is from the prime minister's family. He was much more wealthy than my father in Kaifeng. He could go to Caihe and Fanlou. If it weren't for the Jingkang Incident, I'm afraid he would have died drunk in this dream for the rest of his life." Zhao Fen could see that his father was touched by the book "Dongjing Menghualu" today. In addition, he really didn't like eating sheep's heads, so he was happy to chat with his father here. "But it was precisely because of this that the Jingkang Incident suddenly happened and he fled to Yangzhou with his clan. It was said that he encountered a chaotic world and suffered from war. He temporarily took refuge in the southeast, and then he missed the prosperity of Bianjing. When his feelings were deep, he could return to his original nature and write this book."

"You can say this, it shows that you have grown up. In my opinion, there is no need to rush to take the imperial examination. Just study the original knowledge for a few years. During this time, I can find a good marriage for you." Zhao Ding twirled his beard and was relieved when he heard this. "It will be convenient for you to take care of the family affairs for your father."

"It was all delayed in the past few years..." Mrs. Zhao, who was taking care of her children, suddenly interrupted.

"Speaking of the emperor's frugality..." Zhao Fen saw his mother interrupting, so he quickly smiled at his father. "When the dispute over the abuse of favors and privileges was going on a while ago, rumors were everywhere, and there were many absurd things in the Imperial Academy, saying that the emperor had actually been possessed by a demon in Mingdao Palace, otherwise he wouldn't have been so frugal if he had lived in the palace of Prince Kang in the past!"

"Shut up!" This was not a particularly serious rumor, and it was widely spread, so Zhao Ding waited until his son finished talking before he calmly scolded him. "The emperor fell into a well and lost his memory. Others don't know about it, but you don't. Why do you have to spread this absurd rumor? Besides, the emperor's frugality is not that simple. Just think about it, the palace used to need 10,000 sheep for meat a year. How much did it cost? The emperor saved all this, and even dug fish ponds and raised chickens and ducks to provide meat for himself. He also asked Concubine Pan to lead the palace maids to raise silkworms. Although it was just a pretense, it was enough to make himself invincible!"

"The emperor is indeed simple." Zhao Fen quickly responded with a serious expression, but immediately he continued to speak in a low voice. "I heard that the emperor later slowly remembered the old things?"

"That's probably right." Zhao Ding also sighed. "That's why I was wondering before... Why didn't the emperor appear in my dreams?"

"Why?"

"Perhaps he has another dream?" Zhao Ding shook his head slightly. "The emperor has publicly stated his intentions before... He wants to emulate Wei Wu and swallow Liaodong and then attack Donghai; he wants to conquer all nine provinces and erect a monument to record the meritorious officials; he wants to make the world prosperous and burn a memorial in Mingdao Palace."

"The people are no longer tired, and they can live a moderately prosperous life... The three things are actually just one of them." Zhao Fen replied casually. "It's just that we need to endure hardships and then destroy the Jin Dynasty and unify the country."

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