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

Chapter 233 New Engine

In the fifteenth year of Hongwu, on the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, after the Lantern Festival.

The atmosphere of the new year and new beginnings still lingers in the Ming Dynasty. Although most people have returned to normal work, there are still many people who believe that this year is a special year.

To be precise, in the eyes of most people, they feel that the future is promising, and that the Ming Dynasty will surely develop to a level that they can hardly imagine. Sometimes, full of enthusiasm can make a country become stronger.

If the people of a country choose to lie down, it means that the country is not far from becoming a weak country.

At present, everyone in the Ming Dynasty can see with their own eyes that things are thriving, and many people are working hard to achieve freedom tomorrow.

After the Lantern Festival, there are still many tedious matters that need to be dealt with in the palace. For example, the palace maids need to clean the palace every day to keep it clean, and many people burn incense and pray.

There are similar traditions among the people, and without exception they are all for the purpose of living a better life in the new year.

The back garden of the palace.

Zhu Yuanzhang was walking here holding the hand of Empress Ma, and he suddenly looked up and pointed at the plum blossoms on the treetops.

"Girl, look how beautiful this flower is, let's pick it and put it on you!"

Zhu Yuanzhang, with a child's mind suddenly awakened, ran quickly to the underside of the branch, climbed up the tree in no time, and picked the most beautiful plum blossom.

He personally wore it between Empress Ma's hair.

Immediately, he straightened Queen Ma's shy posture and praised her without hesitation:
"Beautiful! So beautiful! Sister, you are as beautiful as before! I am crazy about you."

Empress Ma was still a woman after all, and naturally could not resist her husband's glib tongue, but she needed to maintain her own image, so she immediately put on an expression that showed she was unwilling to wear it and said:
"Alright, alright, stop saying these kinds of things to deceive little girls. Do you really think I'm still a teenager? Do you think I'll believe you just because you say a few words?"

"Look at what you said, sister! Didn't I say these two sentences to make you fall in love with me? If you also have feelings for me, how could you agree to my pursuit? Do you think so?"

Apart from other things, it is true that Zhu Yuanzhang was thick-skinned.

Whenever she thought about it, Empress Ma couldn't help but beat and scold Zhu Yuanzhang.

Of course, this beating and scolding is not a real fight, but a fun way for couples to get along with each other.

"By the way, girl? Why don't I see Xiongying? Didn't he say he was going to take Yunxun to see the flowers?"

After the two of them finished playing, Zhu Yuanzhang looked up and did not see Zhu Xiongying, who had invited them here in advance.

Queen Ma also looked around, trying to find where Zhu Xiongying was.

Soon after, a clever little head was seen poking out from the crescent gate. This cute little guy was Zhu Xiongying’s younger brother Zhu Yunhuan.

Today, Zhu Yunhuan has begun to show intelligence and talent that is no less than that of his brother.

He could walk before he was three years old, and he walked very steadily.

However, these were all dangerous behaviors in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes. He quickly trotted forward, picked up Zhu Yunhuan who was leaning against the wall, and poked his chin with his beard.

This caused Zhu Yunhuan to giggle continuously.

"Hahaha! Boy, how was your day today? Where did your brother go? Tell grandpa quickly." Zhu Yuanzhang loosened his grip slightly and asked the other party directly.

"Brother." Zhu Yunhuan's eyes rolled around and finally looked towards the back of the crescent gate.

"My brother is playing over there. Grandpa and grandma, Yunxun wants to tell you that my brother never plays with me. He says that I am too young and still a child. I cannot play with older kids."

These words made Queen Ma and others burst into laughter.

I never thought that Zhu Yunhuan would tell grandparents about it behind his brother's back.

After stopping, Zhu Yuanzhang pretended to be angry and swore to Zhu Yunhuan:

"Okay! Since my brother just said that to you, I'll go tell him later that this is wrong, okay?"

As soon as Zhu Yunhuan heard his grandparents speaking for him, he nodded quickly.

"Okay! Okay! My brother always plays with the microscope with my second brother and doesn't want to take me with him. I'm so unhappy!" Zhu Yunheng said, pouting.

Such a look was naturally extremely adorable in the eyes of the two old people.

Anyway, they are just children, and the two old people will like them no matter how they do it.

Not far away.

In a relatively spacious place, Zhu Yunwen, who was only eight years old, was an astonishing 1.4 meters tall!

Higher than a Japanese shogun.

This is all thanks to Yang Chen, who believes that children must have a basic intake of meat, eggs and milk.

From then on, Zhu Biao began to prepare a special plan for his son.

In addition to reading at a fixed time every day, he also needs to maintain daily exercise. I won’t go into details about horse riding. The more important thing is to let Zhu Biao take in a certain level of nutrition.

There is no shortage of meat, milk, eggs and so on.

This resulted in his growth being much higher than other children of the same age.

There was another child next to Zhu Xiongying, who looked quite similar to him, but looked a little timid.

It took me half a day to muster up the courage to ask:

"Brother? What are you doing?"

He is Zhu Yunwen, the child that the entire Zhu family hates but cannot hate.

Ever since Lu's affair was exposed, Zhu Biao ordered that this woman be imprisoned in a corner of the Eastern Palace. Now Zhu Chong has been released, but she is still locked up.

As for Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Biao originally planned to ignore this child and let him fend for himself.

Just provide him with food and drink.

But when it came to the princes, Zhu Xiongying chose to take the initiative to persuade his father.

He didn't know why Lu was punished, but he understood his second brother.

Zhu Yunwen was not the main culprit for the unequal treatment he received in the Eastern Palace. He was still a child at the time.

Before passing away, Chang specifically instructed Zhu Xiongying to respect his elders, love his younger brothers, and set an example of a good brother.

If he denied the existence of Zhu Yunwen, he would be betraying his mother's instructions.

Finally, Zhu Yunwen was able to leave that cold place and was taken care of by a few people hired by Zhu Biao.

He was allowed to visit Lu once every fifteen days, but had to be under surveillance.

Fortunately, Zhu Yunwen was also clear-headed. Although Lu was his mother, he also understood that this mother did not really love him.

If Lu really loved Zhu Yunwen, she would not feed him sick food all the time, creating fake illnesses to attract Zhu Biao's attention. "Brother is studying a good thing, this thing is called a microscope, which can see the cell wall of onions." Zhu Xiongying answered Zhu Yunwen's curiosity while fiddling with the things in his hands.

Although Zhu Yunwen didn't know what onion cell wall was at this age, he knew that without any elders around, it would be right to follow his brother.

In just a few moments, Zhu Xiongying had set up a microscope device.

After applying the dye on the onion skin, Zhu Xiongying adjusted the focus position himself. The moment he saw the regular and neatly shaped cells, he quickly asked Zhu Yunwen to take a look.

The two of them had a lot of fun playing like this.

"Xiong Ying! What is our good grandson doing?"

Zhu Yuanzhang appeared from the door holding Zhu Yunhuan, who was less than three years old, and Empress Ma.

The two old people couldn't help but feel emotional when they saw their grandchildren having so much fun playing together. When people get older, they will understand that except life and death, everything else is trivial.

Just like now, we can reunite with our family and enjoy the happiness brought by our descendants in peace.

Isn’t this what Zhu Yuanzhang hoped for since he was a child?
The same was true for Empress Ma. She was in good health and not sick easily. She was happy to see her grandchildren comfort her.

A voice came from behind, and Zhu Xiongying turned around and saw his grandparents holding his stupid brother and walking not far from him.

At first he had a smile on his face, but when he saw his stupid brother's face, he somehow turned cold.

It’s not a conspiracy theory, Zhu Xiongying is just simply annoyed with his younger brother.

Especially in recent years, under his education, Zhu Yunhuan began to speak, walk and run. He seemed to have a hundred thousand questions, either asking him why the clouds float in the sky or why there are no stars during the day.

At first, Zhu Xiongying would answer patiently, but he couldn't stand being asked more than a hundred times in a month.

In the end, Zhu Xiongying even wondered whether this younger brother was born by his mother.
How come I am so smart and this guy is so stupid?

Wouldn't this affect his future plans?
"Xiongying, why didn't the Emperor see your father? Didn't we agree to have a meal together?"

Zhu Yuanzhang sat on the chair and stretched out his hand and waved it in front of the stunned Zhu Xiongying.

Zhu Xiongying came back to his senses and rolled his black and white eyes around before he answered loudly.

"Father, it seems that Father is not done with his work yet. He should be here soon."

"Hmm? Xiongying has grown up, and now he has learned to deceive grandpa." Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Queen Ma with a little doting. "Look at this child, he is so smart. I haven't seen Biaoer for a day, why doesn't even his grandson tell me the truth? Sister, tell me if there is something going on here."

"Ah! Grandpa can see this?" The bright light on Zhu Xiongying's face was immediately replaced by surprise and panic.

Queen Ma covered her mouth and giggled.

"Xiong Ying, don't underestimate your grandfather. After all, he's a man who has seen a lot of the world. He's just a smart guy. You're still too young."

"So where did your father go? I haven't seen him much since yesterday."

After Zhu Yuanzhang's repeated questioning, Zhu Xiongying sighed and took out a wax-sealed letter from his arms.

"Hey~ I told my father, Grandpa Huang, you are so smart, how could I possibly hide it from you? Well, this is the letter my father left for Grandpa Huang. He said that Grandpa Huang would definitely understand once he opened it."

They both couldn't help but frown, not understanding what this was.

This was not Zhu Yuanzhang's fault, but because he had ignored any court affairs for two years.

Therefore, no matter what Zhu Biao wanted to do, he would not report to him. As of now, the court knew who the real "emperor" was.

Zhu Yuanzhang opened the sealed envelope and read the contents inside.

After he finished reading it, his first reaction was anger, but then he felt helpless.

"Hey! Girl! Biao'er ran away! This bastard actually took a boat to Southeast Asia with Lao Er and that bastard Yang Chen!
Since yesterday, Biaoer has taken the train to Zhenjiang Prefecture. Now the two of them are probably near Hainan Island, preparing to sail into the Nanyang area!"

Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely worried in every move he made.

Even a little angry.

Seeing this, Empress Ma quickly snatched the letter from Zhu Yuanzhang and read the contents carefully.

When she saw the last word, Empress Ma couldn't help but frown.

"How come Yang Chen took Biao'er and Chuan'er away? Who will work for the court?"

Both of them were very unhappy with Yang Chen's unauthorized behavior, but Zhu Xiongying spoke up at this time:
"Grandpa and grandma, my father has told me to tell you that this time he is going to measure the world himself. If, as the future successor of the Ming Dynasty, he does not even know what the situation is like in the land outside the Central Plains, then how should he govern the world?

The teacher said that without investigation, one has no right to speak, so my father wanted to follow the teacher to see the outside world.

But don't worry, Grandpa Huang, my father has already said that if the journey goes smoothly, they will be able to return to Ming Dynasty from the Pacific Ocean in less than a year."

Zhu Xiongying's face was full of relaxation, and he didn't add any more words.

He said that he would also do such a great thing in the future, and he must measure the world himself to know how to treat this new world, otherwise it would be like playing hide-and-seek with his eyes closed.

"This little bastard! It's fine if Biao'er left, but why did he follow her? Isn't he worried that something unexpected might happen in Zhenjiang Mansion?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was very unhappy about Yang Chen's departure, because it was self-evident how important this guy was.

"Grandpa Emperor, don't worry. My teacher also told me that Zhenjiang Prefecture has been arranged by him. Now that the productivity of Ming Dynasty has reached its peak, we must take a year to absorb and digest the benefits of these years. If we don't consolidate ourselves, Zhenjiang Prefecture will definitely go astray in the future."

Zhu Xiongying said everything Yang Chen had told him.

Several months ago, he had made an agreement with Zhu Xiongying that as long as he could successfully complete this mission, when he grew up, Yang Chen would let him fulfill his dream.

Travel around the world in a hot air balloon and be a free person.

"Zhongba, Biao'er left without saying goodbye this time. Tell me honestly, did you know about this a long time ago?" Queen Ma folded the envelope neatly, put it away, looked at her husband and asked.

On this point, Zhu Yuanzhang did not deny it and nodded.

"Yes, Biao'er has looked a lot like me since he was young, how could I not know what he is thinking.

A while ago, I realized that there must be some unspeakable secret between Biao'er and Yang Chen, so I sent Mao Xiang to investigate."

Speaking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang even smiled.

"They really think we know nothing, but little do they know that Mao Xiang has already sent people to investigate clearly. This guy forged a steam engine for the ship in advance, allowing the ship to sail on the sea even without using sails.

We had thought it through at the beginning. If this ship was not good, we would never let Biaoer on board no matter what. Whatever he wanted to do would not affect Biaoer. But we never expected that this ship was so advanced.

Not only cruise ships are equipped with these things, but even warships are equipped with them.

So we sent someone to inform Wu Zhen stationed in the Hainan Army Guard, telling him that there was no need to stop Biao'er from doing anything he wanted, and to let these young people go out and try their luck. "

After learning the whole story, Empress Ma's original worries disappeared. After all, Zhu Yuanzhang's advance action would definitely be foolproof.

(End of this chapter)