Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 695 Xu Jingqiu's Ordinary Life
Shanxi, Yangtou Mountain.

Xu Jingqiu, Zhang and their two sons have been staying in Yangtou Mountain for more than half a year. At first, Xu Jingqiu just thought that Zhu Shenzui asked them to hide there and didn't think much about anything else.

Although Yangtou Mountain is not as good as Pingyang or Luzhou Wei, it is not a bad place either. Not only do they have no worries about food and clothing, but it is also very safe. The centurions stationed in Yangtou Mountain are very respectful to Xu Jingqiu and her son. In addition, there is also an extremely elite army here, although it is not large in scale, which can fully ensure their safety.

But Xu Jingqiu didn't expect that things were far from as simple as she had guessed. Ever since Wang Jinwu came to Yangtou Mountain last time and told her what Zhu Shenzui was planning, Xu Jingqiu realized that her husband was planning to do something big.

This major event not only involves his own family, but also concerns the entire Ming Dynasty. If it is accomplished, it will be good, but if it fails, the consequences will be disastrous.

However, Xu Jingqiu was not panicked. As Zhu Shenzhui's wife, she knew her husband too well. Her husband was not an ordinary person. When he was just a poor member of the royal family, he could lead the entire Wangjia Village to sell private salt and shoulder the burden of supporting the family. In just a few years, Zhu Shenzhui's private salt business directly monopolized several trade routes. Xu Jingqiu certainly knew how risky it was to sell private salt. However, Zhu Shenzhui, who was not yet an adult at the time, could do this and even make the entire Wangjia Village willing to follow him wholeheartedly, which was enough to show his extraordinaryness.

Later, Zhu Shencui started his business step by step from selling private salt and founded Hengtong Trading Company. After establishing Hengtong, Zhu Shencui shifted his smuggling business from private salt to trade with the Mongols, and then used various means to subdue and recruit a large number of people, including the three Li Hu brothers of Yangtou Mountain and their subordinates.

Then Zhu Shenzhui took advantage of the relationship with Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch who was in the limelight at that time, and arranged for his uncle Wang Rong to be the commander of Luzhou Guard, and his brother-in-law Zhou Anmin became the head of Shanxi Jinyiwei. After that, he opened up border trade, conquered tribes in the grasslands, and annexed tribes. He single-handedly developed the Ashi Temur tribe, which was just an ordinary tribe at the time, into a huge tribe that controlled the entire Tumed grassland...

Xu Jingqiu had known some of these things for a long time, and some of them were told to her by Zhu Shenzhui one after another. Her husband was a man who could not bear loneliness, and he was not the kind of royal family member who lived in mediocrity. He had lofty ambitions and high aspirations. Xu Jingqiu had known that he would do great things one day, but she had never expected that Zhu Shenzhui's great deeds would not be on the grassland, but in the Ming Dynasty.

When Xu Jingqiu learned of Zhu Shenzhu's decision, she was surprised and shocked, but she soon regained her composure. In her opinion, husband and wife are one, and since her husband has made the decision and made arrangements in advance, the only thing she can do as a wife is to support him, or at least not hinder him.

Take good care of the two children and wait for the final result. Whether the result is good or bad, Xu Jingqiu is ready to accept it.

So after Wang Jinwu left, Xu Jingqiu continued to live his life as usual as if nothing had happened. On weekdays, he worked in the fields with the military households here, and taught the children carefully, urging them to study and practice martial arts.

But Xu Jingqiu didn't expect that her husband's great event would be accomplished like this. When news came from the outside world a month later that Zhu Shenzhui, a member of the Shanxi royal family, led his troops to clear the court and quell the national crisis, and directly led his army into the capital, thus controlling the center of the world, the entire Ming Dynasty was stunned by such a sudden change.

Afterwards, Zhu Shenzhui was promoted to the Prince of Jiaocheng, and took the position of the regent of the Ming Dynasty with the will of the emperor and the empress dowager, and actually took charge of the government, becoming the actual controller of the Ming Dynasty in name. When the news came, Xu Jingqiu was not as ecstatic as others imagined, and remained calm as usual, just nodded slightly and said "I know", and then went back to busying herself with housework as usual.

Li Hu, who was watching, was very impressed by Xu Jingqiu's attitude. In his opinion, this mistress was the only one in the world who could match Zhu Shenzhui. If an ordinary woman heard this news, she would be either overjoyed or clamor to go to the capital immediately. However, Xu Jingqiu acted as if she had heard something very ordinary. Not only did her expression not change, she was even too lazy to ask about the situation in the capital.

Does Xu Jingqiu really not care? The answer is of course not. Xu Jingqiu values ​​her husband more than anything else, and she understands why Zhu Shenzhui does all this. But now, no matter whether Zhu Shenzhui really becomes the regent or controls the government, in Xu Jingqiu's heart he is still her husband, and nothing can change that.

Moreover, Xu Jingqiu was familiar with history books and understood the risks better than ordinary people. Zhu Shenzhui seemed to have succeeded on the surface, but in fact, this was just the beginning. How could it be so easy to get success in the world? I don't know how many eyes were secretly staring at Zhu Shenzhui, and the many problems and pressures Zhu Shenzhui faced were also great. In this case, as a wife, Xu Jingqiu could only do one thing, that is, not to cause trouble to her husband and continue to stay in Yangtou Mountain until everything was settled.

He stayed there for more than three months, and news from outside continued to come in, including a letter sent by Zhu Shenzhui to Xu Jingqiu.

In the letter, Zhu Shenzhui told Xu Jingqiu that it would be safer for them and their son to continue staying in Yangtou Mountain for the time being. After all, the safety here is completely guaranteed. If they go to the capital now, whether they stay in the capital or live in the palace, there will probably be unknown dangers.

Although Zhu Shencui was already the regent, he had not yet completely controlled the entire Ming Dynasty. Moreover, there were people both at the local and central levels who secretly opposed Zhu Shencui. Without ensuring that everything was safe, Zhu Shencui did not want to let the mother and son go to the capital immediately. Because once they arrived in the capital, those opponents who could not find a loophole to deal with Zhu Shencui might attack them, and Zhu Shencui was not absolutely sure of their safety.

In this situation, it would be most appropriate to continue staying in Yangtou Mountain. At least the safety here is absolutely no problem, and with the protection of Li Hu and others, even if there is chaos outside, this place is still a paradise and no accidents will happen.

After writing a letter to Zhu Shenzhui, Xu Jingqiu continued to live in Yangtou Mountain. After living here for a long time, she got used to it. Yangtou Mountain was beautiful and there were no outsiders. Both safety and privacy were guaranteed. The two children lived well here. They followed their mother and aunt to farm or practice martial arts and study every day. Isn't it more suitable for them than going to the world of the capital? On this day, Xu Jingqiu was arranging the dried sweet potatoes that were drying in the yard. This thing had been planted on Yangtou Mountain many years ago. At that time, Zhu Shenzhui was still smuggling salt. Once he passed by Yangtou Mountain, he happened to meet Li Hu and his gang who had just escaped from the mines in Shanxi. They became friends after a fight. Later, Zhu Shenzhui took them as his subordinates and settled them in Yangtou Mountain. He also sent them a lot of food and utensils, and took them to open up wasteland and cultivate land in Yangtou Mountain to be self-sufficient.

After that, after taking Zhaowuling, Zhu Shenzui used Yangtou Mountain and Zhaowuling as his important bases, and moved many military households who had lost their land and could not make a living from Luzhou Wei and other places, thus making these two areas a place for military settlement and training and stationing troops.

Zhu Shenzhu prepared for the rainy day and found many high-yield agricultural products that are suitable for cultivation in mountainous areas and poor land. Sweet potatoes are one of them. In addition to sweet potatoes, there are also potatoes and corn, but compared with the latter, the former is more convenient to cultivate and has a higher yield.

A few years ago, there was a severe drought in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, and the grain harvest was poor, and the same was true in Shanxi. However, places like Yangtou Mountain and Zhaowuling were not affected much because of the large-scale planting of crops such as sweet potatoes and years of savings, and they were even able to reserve a lot for their own use.

Although these crops are not as delicious as wheat, rice, and even slightly inferior to corn, the key is that they have high yields and can fill the stomach. Even if the taste is a little worse, what does it matter when many places even eat tree bark during disaster years?

Besides, after so many years of planting, people have figured out many ways to eat it, including ways to store it for a long time.

For example, when sweet potatoes are harvested, they can be roasted or boiled, or they can be cut into slices, dried, and stored as dried sweet potatoes.

Even sweet potato leaves are edible. Even if they are not eaten, they can be fed to pigs, sheep, cattle and other livestock. The same goes for potatoes. They can also be ground into powder like corn and eaten as a staple food. Some smart people have learned how to make these into vermicelli similar to noodles. Anyway, there are many ways to do it. Compared to many places in the Ming Dynasty where people are starving to death, there is still no shortage of food here, and people can live and work in peace and contentment. It is like heaven.

I was cleaning up with Zhang and chatting at the same time. While we were busy, there was a knock on the door.

"Who?"

"It's me! Li Hu!" Li Hu's voice came from outside the door.

"Come in, the door is not locked." Xu Jingqiu said.

With a creak, the door was pushed open and Li Hu walked in. Seeing Xu Jingqiu and Zhang, Li Hu bowed respectfully and called them "Princess and Madam."

"You guys chat, I'll go inside." Zhang said this, clapped her hands and turned to leave. After Zhang left, Li Hu stepped forward, took out a letter from his arms and handed it to him: "This is a letter from the prince to you."

"Thanks."

"This is what I should do." Li Hu handed the letter to Xu Jingqiu and replied respectfully.

Since Zhu Shenzhui was promoted to the Prince of Jiaocheng and served as the regent, Li Hu changed the name of Xu Jingqiu from his wife to "Princess". Although Zhu Shenzhui had not officially canonized Xu Jingqiu as a princess, even his ancestors, including his father and grandfather, did not posthumously confer the title. However, for Li Hu, regardless of whether she was canonized or not, since Xu Jingqiu was Zhu Shenzhui's legal wife and had two legitimate sons, she was a real princess, and it was only a matter of time before she was canonized, so it was only natural to change the name now.

At first, Xu Jingqiu was a little uncomfortable with the change of address, but after a few times, Li Hu and others refused to change their words, so she could only let them do as they pleased.

(End of this chapter)