The consequences would be unimaginable. He's not really brainless. No matter what, he has to protect his fiefdom and the people. He doesn't want a change of dynasty.
No one expected that Prince Cheng would have such awareness. Even the Emperor was surprised when he learned that Prince Cheng was training the navy to resist the Japanese pirates. Although he did have such expectations, he did not hold out much hope.
When Prince Cheng actually took up arms and led troops into battle, how could he not be surprised and delighted? So, another 10,000 men were assigned to Prince Cheng for his command.
There is no financial support. The south is prosperous and has plenty of grain. If Prince Cheng is short of money or grain, he can seek assistance from the various prefectures in the south. This is an order issued by the emperor.
Since the year before last, Prince Cheng has been personally involved in the anti-Japanese war with all his heart and soul. Of course, he suffered many defeats, but he became more courageous with each setback and finally won one or two victories. This time, he won a great victory.
When Xingxing found out, she admired him and told Zhu Lin that she would give the antidote to Prince Cheng and stop tormenting him. She said that she had gotten her revenge for the time when he and his mother released the Gu worms and poisonous snakes to harm her, and that it was time to let go of her anger.
Of course, the main reason is that Prince Cheng has performed well. He has been fighting hard against the Japanese pirates for the past two years, and Consort Duan has not caused any more trouble. At present, Prince Cheng is fighting against the Japanese pirates. In the face of national righteousness, it is not good to harm him anymore, so let's let him go.
Xingxing is now thirteen, which is considered a young woman. She is tall, about the same height as other seventeen or eighteen-year-old girls, but she has a slender frame and her features are becoming more and more delicate. Although she is tall, she has a playful and cheerful personality and still looks like a child.
However, when it comes to serious matters, she is very calm and patient. In recent years, Emperor Taikang's health has not been very good. Although he takes various tonics, his health is still poor. Every year he catches a cold and then lies in bed for ten days to half a month.
When the emperor was ill, Xingxing would stay by his side and read memorials to him. After listening, Emperor Taikang would ask for her opinion. If she didn't understand something, Xingxing wouldn't give her opinion and would simply say that she didn't know and couldn't make a conclusion. If she could handle something, she wouldn't hide her thoughts and would express them.
Emperor Taikang would listen carefully to Xingxing's opinions, and if he thought they were reasonable, he would adopt them. If it was a question she didn't understand, the emperor would break it down for her one by one and patiently teach her. Over the years, Xingxing gradually learned more and more about court affairs.
However, she had no other thoughts. When Emperor Taikang was feeling well, she would run out of the palace to play. The restaurants opened by Zhou Erfu and Zhou Sifu had now doubled in size. In the past two years, with the support of various noble ladies, they had earned a lot of money, so they bought the two shops next door and then knocked down the wall to expand the shops.
A year ago, Zhou Erfu and Zhou Sifu started making bayberry wine and mulberry wine. The bayberries and mulberries were grown on Xingxing's estate. Speaking of growing bayberries and mulberries, Xingxing really put a lot of effort into it.
Back then, Zhou Laoda and his wife accompanied Dafu and Sanfu back to Nanyang Prefecture to take the provincial examination. Sanfu passed and even ranked first, while Dafu failed. Dafu was very depressed for a while because of this.
Later, Xingxing wrote to ask Zhou Laoda and his wife to help find bayberry and mulberry seedlings to transport to their village in Beijing for planting. She also sent some people to Yegou Village to help.
There's no need to search for saplings anywhere; they're right here in the orchard. Every year, fruit trees fall to the ground and take root, and the saplings that sprout the following year can be dug up along with the soil, placed in ceramic pots, and then transported to the capital by horse-drawn carriage.
This time, Zhou Laoda and Zhao Guihua did not go to the capital again. Instead, they sent Zhou Dafu and Zhou Sanfu to escort the fruit seedlings to the capital. Erfu, Sifu, and Wufu stayed in the capital. Since the three of them did not participate in the imperial examination, they did not go back together at that time.
The saplings were successfully delivered to the village, but they didn't bear fruit after being planted, which worried Xingxing a lot. Later, she hired an experienced fruit farmer to take care of them, and the bayberry and mulberry trees finally began to flower and bear fruit in the second year.
However, the first year's harvest was small and the fruit was poorly grown. Not only were they small, but they were also sour and astringent, making them extremely unpalatable.
However, being as frugal as Xingxing was, she couldn't bear to throw away the fruit. Instead, she had it made into dried fruit, coated with sugar, and it tasted quite good.
This year, thanks to the fruit farmers' careful care, the fruit trees have finally borne good fruit. However, the timing is somewhat different from that in the south. The climate in the north is cold, so the flowering time of the bayberries and mulberries is later, which in turn delays the fruiting time.
In the south, bayberries and mulberries are already ripe in May and June, and if they are not picked, they will fall to the ground and be out of season. In the north, however, they only start to bear fruit in May and June, and they are not out of season until around July or August.
There's no need to worry about the timing of the fruit bearing; as long as it produces good fruit for winemaking, that's fine. Erfu and Sifu both remember the steps and processes of winemaking. Even if they don't, Dafu and Sanfu will.
After brewing the fruit wine, Erfu and Sifu began to learn how to make braised pork with bayberries and mulberries. After several attempts, they were able to make them taste authentic, and the ladies who tasted them praised them highly.
Both types of fruit wine and both types of braised meat were very popular. If the noble ladies initially came to consume the food to please the eldest princess, they genuinely fell in love with the food at Jin Fu Restaurant after the fruit wine and braised meat were introduced.
With Xingxing's investment, Erfu and Sifu opened another restaurant. Xingxing bought the restaurant, and once Erfu and Sifu opened it, Xingxing wouldn't have to worry about anything else; he could just wait to get his share of the profits.
Everyone else is fine, but Dafu is still the same as before, unable to cheer up. Sanfu topped the list in the exam, but he failed miserably. The difference in his heart was too great, and he got stuck in a rut, unable to recover even after two years.
Xingxing often tries to comfort Zhou Dafu, hoping he will cheer up and stop being discouraged, but Zhou Dafu is so engrossed in his own world that he won't listen to her advice.
Later, Zhu Lin forcibly took Zhou Dafu away and dumped him in a small village some distance from the capital. It was already winter, and the day after Zhou Dafu was dumped in that village, heavy snow blocked the roads, and he was trapped there.
Zhu Lin spoke with the village chief and lent Zhou Dafu two thatched huts, leaving him some food, clothes, and quilts so he could stay there and calm down over the winter, hoping he would come to his senses when the snow melted next year.
You know, this guy is really strange. Before, whether in Nanyang Prefecture or the capital, Zhou Dafu always had people around him who cared about him and advised him, afraid that he might do something rash. He was also immersed in this atmosphere and couldn't extricate himself.
But after being abandoned in that remote village, no one was around to comfort him or care for him. He only had two dilapidated thatched huts to live in, and not much food. He couldn't eat too much each day, or he wouldn't last until next spring.
Seeing the harsh environment he was in, Zhou Dafu suddenly realized that he couldn't just sit and wait for things to get worse. There wasn't much firewood in the thatched hut, and if he didn't light a fire, he would freeze into an ice sculpture all day long. He had to go out and find some firewood.
The freezing weather didn't deter Zhou Dafu. He braved the wind and snow to climb the mountain to chop firewood, and even occasionally managed to hunt a roe deer. He spent his days on the road to survival, leaving behind all the sentimentality and despondency that came with failing the exam.
Isn't this drastic change laughable? Da Fu's personality is truly something else.
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