Zhang Mingzhu would not allow the King of Handong to do such a thing. She pointed at Qi Zhiqing who was shaking in the corner and said, "Okay, since the prince said that he loves me the most, then you let this woman leave the palace. I will not allow the prince to have other women, especially if this woman is half as beautiful as me? The prince is really greedy and brings anyone into the palace."

King Handong glanced at Qi Zhiqing. Although Qi Zhiqing was also beautiful, compared with Zhang Mingzhu, Qi Zhiqing was like a white rose, fresh and elegant, exuding a faint fragrance, while Zhang Mingzhu was like a peony, truly a beauty of national beauty and unparalleled in beauty.

He originally wanted to coax Zhang Mingzhu back and then keep this beautiful young woman in the mansion and have fun with her in the future.

But now that Zhang Mingzhu said this, even though this beautiful young lady had a pretty face, compared to Mingzhu, she was indeed not as gorgeous as Mingzhu. He preferred gorgeous looks.

Forget it, forget it. After all, she is not as pretty as Mingzhu. As long as Mingzhu is willing to give him a good look, it doesn't matter if he sends this little woman away.

Seeing that Zhang Mingzhu was still angry, King Handong went over and hugged her and coaxed her, "Okay, okay, Mingzhu, don't be angry. I will send this little woman away. From now on, whatever Mingzhu says will be what she wants. As long as Mingzhu is willing to give me a good face, I will keep Mingzhu in this palace except for the princess. Are you willing?"

Zhang Mingzhu was of course unwilling, but she also didn't want him to continue to harm other women, but she still smiled with a stern face: "Let's talk about it first, Prince, if you can really control yourself. As long as you can control yourself and don't look for other women in the future, I will also be nice to you."

"All is up to you." King Handong said, calling the guards outside and asking them to take Qi Zhiqing to the back door of the palace.

Qi Zhiqing was hiding in a corner. She thought she would never be able to escape this time, but unexpectedly a girl suddenly rushed in and saved her.

She knew that this girl should be the granddaughter of Lord Chongming, Mingzhu.

She was a few years older than Zhang Mingzhu. They knew each other when they were children and had met each other many times at banquets in the capital. Zhang Mingzhu was indeed like a dazzling pearl, but such a dazzling pearl had fallen into such a situation.

Of course she knew that Zhang Mingzhu only said these words deliberately to provoke the King of Handong in order to save her.

Before being sent away by the guards, Qi Zhiqing turned around and looked gratefully at Zhang Mingzhu who was standing under the corridor.

When the guards sent her to the back door, Qi Zhiqing had already tidied her clothes and hair. Without lingering for a moment, she trotted back to the Grand Tutor's Mansion.

When they returned to the Taifu Mansion, only the Taifu's wife was at home, and the Taifu and Qi Zhiqing's husband were outside looking for her.

The two maids and the coachman collapsed nearby. When they came to, they were terrified when they couldn't find their daughter. They hurried back to the Tutor's Mansion to report to the head of the family. The Tutor, his wife, and his aunt were all terrified. The two men immediately sent everyone in the mansion out to look for her. They didn't care about reputation, knowing that life was the most important thing. So even if they mobilized everyone in the mansion and made a scene that was known to outsiders, they didn't care, as long as they could find the girl alive.

But they didn't know who kidnapped Qi Zhiqing.

The Grand Tutor and the aunt were a little worried that it was the King of Handong who did it, so they had already gone to the King of Handong's mansion. They went through the main gate, and Qi Zhiqing happened to be sent out from the back door by the guards, so she didn't see them.

When Madam Taifu saw her daughter, she burst into tears. Qi Zhiqing also hugged her mother and cried bitterly. Then, trembling all over, she told Madam Taifu about what had happened today.

"Mom, luckily Fourth Miss Zhang saved me. If Fourth Miss Zhang hadn't come over suddenly, I would have been defiled and killed."

The wife of the Grand Tutor was also from a prominent family. At this moment, she couldn't help but hold her daughter and scold the King of Handong, saying that he was worse than a pig or a dog, and that the Fu family had produced a pair of rotten-hearted siblings, and that the world would be ruined by them sooner or later.

Qi Zhiqing was worried that her mother would say something bad, so she covered her mother's mouth.

Mrs. Taifu knew that now was not the time to cry, so she called the maid in the house to go outside to look for the master and the aunt.

Besides, this matter certainly cannot be left alone.

When the Grand Tutor and the aunt came back, they listened to Qi Zhiqing's account of how the King of Handong was abducted and how she was rescued by Zhang Mingzhu, and she was not hurt.

The two grown men's eyes turned red. Qi Zhiqing's husband even hugged her and burst into tears. "Zhiqing, even if something happens, you can't commit suicide. As long as you are alive, it's fine. As long as you are alive, my father, mother and I will save you. As long as you are alive, it's fine."

Qi Zhiqing also burst into tears.

Taifu Qi was also unwilling to let King Handong off like this.

A few days later, he went to find the girls who had been harmed by the King of Handong in recent years and asked them to write a confession and hand it to him.

Some girls were willing to write and hoped that King Handong would be punished, but some girls were afraid that their reputation would be ruined, so they were naturally unwilling to do so. The Taifu did not force them, and among them there were more than a dozen girls who agreed to write confessions, including, of course, the confession of his own daughter.

Although Qi Zhiqing suffered no substantial harm, she was unwilling to let the King of Handong go and allow him to continue to harm other girls in the future. Miss Zhang Si was willing to do this to save her, so she could not be a coward.

Even if the world knew about it and misunderstood her as not innocent and spread rumors about her, she didn't care. She just wanted to avenge the girls who were murdered and also avenge the fourth girl Zhang. If the King of Handong could be overthrown, maybe the fourth girl Zhang could also be rescued.

Imperial Tutor Qi took the collected confessions and went back to the Summer Resort. Unexpectedly, after reading them, the Queen Mother actually asked whether there was any other evidence besides these confessions to prove that the King of Handong had defiled them.

Of course there were. Those girls who were defiled all remembered the characteristics of the King of Handong and even wrote down the birthmark on his back.

But the Queen Mother said it was just a birthmark, and all the servants who served King Handong knew that he had such a birthmark. Even if King Handong really had something with them, how could they say that King Handong forced them? Wasn't it normal love between a man and a woman, and they did it voluntarily?

At this moment, Master Qi's heart turned completely cold.

He knew that even in the face of these confessions and evidence, the Queen Mother would not punish the King of Handong.

In fact, he also knew that the new emperor was a mediocre person, and the empress dowager was in control of the government affairs on weekdays. The empress dowager had only a desire to fight for power, but had no means to govern a country. She came to this position just for pleasure. Judging from some of the government affairs handled by the empress dowager, Taifu Qi felt that she was cruel. It was hard to say whether the late emperor was poisoned by the eldest prince or by the empress dowager Fu. He had also taught the eldest prince and knew what kind of person he was, but without evidence, he could not determine who did it. Now he saw clearly that the empress dowager was probably responsible for the late emperor's accident.

Even though Cheng had doubted the Queen Mother before, he was also worried about the people of this great dynasty. He was worried that if he left, who knows what would happen to the people, so he continued to stay in the court as an official.

But at this moment, Master Qi no longer wanted to hold on to anything, and he alone could not change anything.

After he returned, the empress dowager gave him many gifts, but Master Qi just looked at them indifferently.

The wife of the Grand Tutor also scolded the Queen Mother and the King of Handong.

At the end of summer, the empress dowager, the new emperor and a group of ministers returned to the capital from the summer resort.

On the first day of court, Taifu Qi resigned from his post in front of all the civil and military officials, saying that he was old and wanted to resign and return to his hometown to retire.

The Grand Tutor was indeed already in his fifties and had two sons, but the two sons were not serving as officials in the capital, but were instead gaining experience as county magistrates outside the capital.

Qi Zhiqing's affairs had spread throughout the capital, so the civil and military officials in the court also knew why Master Zhang wanted to resign.

Some people felt sorry for Taifu Qi and were dissatisfied with what King Handong and the Queen Mother had done, but the Queen Mother was ruthless and they had seen some of her methods. Although the Queen Mother did not openly punish some of the noisy and powerful ministers, several of the most powerful courtiers who advised the Queen Mother and Emperor Sheng Yuan in the court had gotten into trouble.

It's called admonition, but in fact it's almost like scolding someone, and the words are rather harsh, but it's also hoped that the Queen Mother can think more about the people of the world.

It was a coincidence that these people died of illness one after another. One of them died of heart failure while attending court.

Therefore, at this moment, many people did not dare to speak up for Master Zhang. Only Lord Yushi and several other officials kept advising Emperor Sheng Yuan to punish King Handong.

The new emperor pretended not to hear it. When he saw that the Taifu was resigning, he tried to persuade him to stay. Finally, seeing that the Taifu was determined, he agreed.

After returning to the Taifu Mansion, Taifu Qi began to have people pack up their belongings and prepare to return home.

As for the servants in the Taifu Mansion, their indentures were returned to them, and some money was given to them, allowing them to go out and start their own businesses.

Before the Grand Tutor left the capital with his family, Zhang Mingzhu found out and tried to contact Qi Zhiqing and asked her to meet him in a private room in Jixiang Tower.

Zhang Mingzhu could leave the palace on weekdays. She had been forced by the Queen Mother to marry the King of Handong with an imperial edict. It would be useless even if she ran back to her parents' home, unless the King of Handong died or gave her a letter of divorce. If she really ran away, she was worried that the King of Handong and the Queen Mother would make things difficult for her family.

Qi Zhiqing met Zhang Mingzhu.

She thanked Zhang Mingzhu.

In recent days, many people in the capital have known about her story. Ordinary people may not have heard much about it, but the dignitaries and royal families in the capital must have known about it. She said that she was not defiled by the King of Handong, but how could the girls who were abducted to the palace by the King of Handong come out with a clean record? Everyone did not believe her, but no one said anything bad to her. They just felt very sympathetic towards her.

Qi Zhiqing didn't care much anymore, as if it was really no big deal. Just like what her husband said, even if her body was really defiled and she was not innocent, she had to die. It was the King of Handong who should die, not her.

Zhang Mingzhu waved her hands, her expression still a little cold, and she said: "I have a letter. Please ask Madam Qi to give it to your father. He will know after reading it."

Qi Zhiqing took the letter and nodded. Zhang Mingzhu didn't plan to sit for long and prepared to leave.

Qi Zhiqing hesitated for a moment, looked at Zhang Mingzhu's back and said, "Madam Zhang, there is hope only if you are alive." She could see that Zhang Mingzhu looked lifeless.

Zhang Mingzhu paused. Of course she knew, but what about that? Her life had already been like this. Even if King Shu ascended the throne and King Handong died, what difference would it make from her previous life?

Zhang Mingzhu left.

Qi Zhiqing also brought the letter back to the Taifu Mansion and handed it to her father, "Dad, this is the letter that the fourth daughter of the Zhang family gave me, asking me to give it to you."

When Master Qi took the letter, opened it, and read its contents, his expression became solemn.

In this letter, Zhang Mingzhu told him that if he had any other ideas, he could go find King Shu.

The Grand Tutor does have some ideas, but the time has not come yet.

Last year, when Zhongzhou was hit by a drought, Emperor Sheng Yuan and the Empress Dowager dragged their feet at first, but they finally provided disaster relief. Now the people are living a relatively stable life. If they really wanted to revolt, the world would be in chaos. He was unwilling to take this step unless he had no other choice.

But he felt that if the Queen Mother continued to do what she did, the world would still be in chaos. However, it was a matter of time, so perhaps some preparations could be made in advance.

However, he had always thought that King Shu was living an ordinary life in the border town, and that King Shu was in poor health and could not handle such a heavy responsibility. Now it seems that this is not the case.

How did Zhang Mingzhu know this? Not only that, but what shocked Imperial Tutor Qi was that Zhang Mingzhu even told her directly in the letter that Prince Shu had the imperial edict from the previous emperor to make the eldest prince the crown prince, but the empress dowager poisoned the previous emperor before the edict was announced to the world.

Could it be that such a secret matter was discovered by the Chongming Public Investigation?

That's right. Duke Chongming's most beloved granddaughter was snatched away. He is a person who cannot tolerate any grain of sand in his eyes. He will definitely not let the Queen Mother and the King of Handong go easily. That's why he had other ideas and then traced back to the King Shu and these things, right?

In this case, after he leaves with his family, we should contact King Shu first and then make plans.

Zhang Mingzhu knew Taifu as a person and knew that he was dedicated to the people and was a good official.

Although nothing happened to Qi Zhiqing in this life, the Grand Tutor still resigned. I wonder if there will be an uprising after the Grand Tutor leaves.

If they start an uprising, Taifu Fu and his family will not have a good end in the end. It would be better for them to assist Prince Shu. Prince Shu has the imperial edict in his hand, which will give him a legitimate reason to attack the evil queen and the tyrant.

As for whether or not to expose some of her own secrets, she doesn't really care. What's the point of living her life over again?

When Prince Shu returns, she plans to continue living in the nunnery with the princess for the rest of her life.

…

In the Marquis Dechang's Mansion, Xu Qinhui was waiting for Qi Zhiqing to be defiled by the King of Handong, waiting for Grand Tutor Qi to retire and return home, waiting for Grand Tutor Qi to start an uprising.

But in mid-May, the day Qi Zhiqing had the accident, she originally thought that she would receive news of Qi Zhiqing's death the next day. However, the next day, her father told her that the King of Handong had abducted the daughter of the Taifu family who had married and returned to her parents' home and brought her back to the palace, but finally released her.

Xu Qinhui was stunned.

She didn't understand why even Qi Zhiqing was different from her previous life and survived, even though she had been abducted to the Handong Palace. Could it be that she just wanted to survive, even if she had to endure humiliation?

Fortunately, Master Qi returned home with his entire family and left the capital.

Xu Qinhui always feels that many things are different from what happened in her previous life.

She also began to get anxious, not knowing whether she should go look for King Shu or not, and whether King Shu could ever be brought back to the capital in this lifetime.

…

The weather was getting colder every day, and autumn had already arrived. Xu Qinyu invited an embroiderer from the city to come to Xu's house to make some winter clothes for her family.

In addition, the potatoes and sweet potatoes in the fields are about to mature. This is what the people in the southwest are most concerned about. They always go to the government office to ask when they can dig up the grain in the fields.

The prefect also attached great importance to potatoes and sweet potatoes, and asked officers and soldiers who knew how to grow them to go to the fields to watch over them every day.

Just when it seemed that the excavation would begin in a day or two, a secret letter suddenly came from the capital. When Governor Zhu read it, his face suddenly turned dark.

The Queen Mother said that because of the disaster relief, the treasury was empty, so this year's grain tax would be directly reduced to 5%, and the same applies to commercial tax, and the prefect could post a notice to implement it.

The original tax on food was 3% of the total food, which was already quite heavy. After paying the tax, the remaining food was just enough to provide food for the hungry.

Some tenants, because they rented the land, had to pay the grain tax to the court and then the rent. The remaining food was better, but they could barely get by. Those with many children could not even afford a full meal, and every meal was watery. Now they directly take 50% of the tenth, and after paying some rent, the remaining food might not be enough for them to eat even watery food every day...

The prefect was so angry that he scolded the empress dowager and Emperor Sheng Yuan harshly, saying that they were truly incompetent and incompetent.

But he had to carry it out. When the notice was posted, all the people were stunned. Some even started crying. "They want to take half of the grain tax. How can we ordinary people live? Do you want to force us to death? Damn God, you bastard God, you might as well just kill us with a bolt of lightning."

"That's right. We rent the land. After paying taxes and rent, we don't even have enough to feed ourselves. What's the point of living like this?"

"And we don't know how the new food will turn out. If it doesn't turn out well, we'll have no way to make a living."

Many people had tears in their eyes, but that was an edict from the emperor, and they couldn't resist even if they wanted to.

All businesses also received the notice.

Xu Qinyu also knew that commercial tax was actually lighter than grain tax. She used to pay 20%, but now she has to pay 50% directly.

This means that the restaurant's monthly profit has been reduced by almost half.

Xu Qinyu felt a little distressed. The hotel now makes a stable profit of 60,000 to 70,000 taels of silver per month. Now she has to pay 50% tax, which means only about 40,000 taels of silver are left. In fact, it is not bad, because her hotel is considered to be high-end, and the food and other services there are not cheap. However, some small restaurants and small vendors sell cheaply, and paying 50% tax is already very high, and it is difficult to support the family.

Xu Qinyu did not expect that Emperor Sheng Yuan and the Empress Dowager would say that the treasury was empty after providing disaster relief, and suddenly the family was taxed at such a heavy amount, which would really force many people to death.

Fortunately, half of the land in the southwest is planted with potatoes and sweet potatoes this year, otherwise we might not even be able to have enough food and clothing.

Right now the grain in the fields has not been harvested yet, and the people in the southwest are still unaware of the situation and are in a panic.

But the people in the southwest still have grain and potatoes. The harvest is good this year, and even if they pay such heavy taxes, the surplus should be enough for them to eat. But what should the people in other states do since they don’t grow high-yield potatoes and sweet potatoes?

Xu Qinyu couldn't help but sigh. Throughout history, the rulers of many dynasties increased taxes, which was the first step to force the people to rebel.

I don’t know what will happen in the future.

Furthermore, even if the national treasury was empty, it was not because of the disaster relief, but because those in power were greedy for pleasure and built luxurious palaces, which led to the empty treasury.

They indulge in pleasure without restraint and use the money from the national treasury. Even if the tax is reduced to 50%, the additional taxes received will soon be consumed. What will happen then?

Moreover, the national treasury is so empty, and if there is a little natural disaster or man-made disaster, ordinary people can only wait for death.

Xu Qinyu didn't know what to do in the future. No matter what, she didn't want war to happen. War would make people's lives miserable, and there would be countless deaths and injuries.

After two days, the crops in the fields could finally be dug.

But many people still did not have smiling faces. They were all worried about taxes. However, they started digging potatoes and sweet potatoes in the fields, waiting to dig out the first one. Looking at the series of grains below, they were a little stunned.

Each of those potatoes was the size of an adult man's fist, but some were very small. The sweet potatoes were also about the same size, but in the form of long thin strips. Some of the sweet potatoes were particularly large, weighing up to one or two pounds. When baskets of potatoes and sweet potatoes were dug out, the people were stunned.

According to a rough estimate, each mu of land does yield about 3,000 kilograms of harvest.

It was not until they saw the baskets of food that the people in the southwest realized that the governor would never lie to them, and they finally smiled.

The governor also posted notices to inform everyone about the two kinds of food.

Sweet potatoes and potatoes can indeed be used as staple foods, but they are too monotonous. You can also eat other grains on a daily basis. You can cook them with beans to make porridge, steam them to make rice, or cook and steam them separately to be the staple food. You can even use them to make dishes. Some simple recipes are also mentioned.

Xu Qinyu had three hundred acres of land. In addition to the grain tax, she also received a lot of potatoes and sweet potatoes from her tenants. She did not sell them but transported them all to the restaurant, and added many new dishes to the restaurant.

Potato breakfast pancakes, as well as hot and sour potato shreds, pepper and salt potato cubes, minced meat and mashed potatoes, potato stewed with pork ribs and other dishes.

As for sweet potatoes, there are many ways to cook them, such as sweet potato shreds and sweet potato glutinous rice cakes. Sweet potatoes are a sweet food, and all of the dishes they are made with are sweet. They can also be made into various desserts. In a short period of time, Xu's Restaurant had many more dishes and desserts.

The potatoes and sweet potatoes taste good, and they are fresh, so many customers order them.

The tomatoes, peppers and onions that were planted by ordinary people were also gradually maturing, and Xu Qinyu harvested a lot of them.

Now that autumn has arrived, restaurants and wine shops have started cooking. In addition to the unique mutton hotpot, there are of course tomato hotpot and spicy hotpot. The spicy hotpot does not contain butter and is less fragrant, but the soup base made by Xu Qinyu with pork bones, plus spicy flavor, various spices and lard, tastes great.

The spiciness of chili pepper is much hotter and more positive than that of dogwood. Even if it is slightly spicy, dogwood is much spicier.

But almost everyone who has eaten it once will fall in love with this spicy hot pot and tomato hot pot.

The tomato hot pot soup base cooked by Xu Qinyu is also very rich. When eating tomato hot pot, you can drink the soup first and then boil the vegetables.

You can cut some water celery into pieces, add some diced meat made by Qinyu herself, pour the boiled tomato soup into a bowl with chopped celery and diced meat, and finally sprinkle some chopped green onions. This way, a bowl of tomato soup is ready. The soup is thick, sweet and sour, and it is appetizing. It also has the crispness and sweetness of celery, and the rich fragrance of the diced meat when chewed. It has a very rich taste.

Most people couldn't decide between the two soup bases, so they ordered a combination of the two.

Therefore, even though taxes were increased, Xu Kee's business was not greatly affected.