Naturally, Zhang Mingzhu would not let King Handong do such a thing, she pointed to Qi Zhiqing who was trembling in the corner and said, "Okay, since the prince said that he loves me the most, then you let this woman leave the mansion, I won't allow it." The prince has other women, not to mention that this woman is half as beautiful as me? The prince is really hungry, and everyone will bring everyone to the palace."

King Dong of Han took a look 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 fragrance, while Zhang Mingzhu was like a peony flower, truly beautiful. The country is beautiful and heavenly, gorgeous and unparalleled.

He originally wanted to coax Zhang Mingzhu to go back, and keep this beautiful little woman in the mansion, and spend some time with her in the future.

But now Zhang Mingzhu said so, even though this beautiful little woman looks good, compared with Mingzhu, she is indeed not as gorgeous as Mingzhu, and he prefers a gorgeous appearance.

That's all, it's not as good as Mingzhu's looks after all, as long as Mingzhu is willing to give him a good face, it doesn't matter to send this little woman away.

Seeing Zhang Mingzhu's angry appearance, the King of Han Dong went over to put his arms around her and coaxed her: "Okay, okay, Mingzhu don't want to be angry, this king just sent this little woman away, and Mingzhu will say whatever she wants in the future." , as long as Mingzhu is willing to give me a good face, apart from the concubine, only one of Mingzhu will be left in my house, is Mingzhu willing?"

Of course Zhang Mingzhu didn't want to, but she didn't want him to continue to harm other women, but she still sneered with a straight face: "Let's talk about it if the prince can really control himself, as long as the prince can control himself, I won't find other women in the future." When you come back, I will give you a good face."

"Everything depends on you, everything depends on you." Han Dongwang said, and called the guards outside, and asked the guards to send Qi Zhiqing to the back door of the palace.

Qi Zhiqing was originally huddled in the corner, she thought that she would not be able to escape this time, but she didn't expect a girl to rush in suddenly and save her.

She knew that this girl should be Duke Chongming's little granddaughter, Mingzhu.

She is a few years older than Zhang Mingzhu, the two knew each other when they were young, and met many times at the banquet in the capital, Zhang Mingzhu is indeed like a dazzling pearl, but such a dazzling pearl has fallen into this situation.

Of course she knew that Zhang Mingzhu just said these words on purpose to provoke King Han Dong and wanted to save her.

Before being sent away by the guards, Qi Zhiqing turned her head and glanced gratefully at Zhang Mingzhu who was standing under the verandah.

After being sent to the back door by the guards, Qi Zhiqing had already arranged her clothes and temple hair, she didn't linger for a moment, and trotted back to Taifu's residence.

When we got back to Taifu's mansion, only Mrs. Taifu was at home, and Taifu and Qi Zhiqing's husband were looking for her outside.

The two servant girls and the coachman fell nearby, and when they woke up, they were terrified when they couldn't see their own girls, and hurried back to Taifu's mansion to report to the head of the family, the Taifu, Taifu's wife and uncle were all terrified, The two men immediately sent everyone in the mansion to look for them. They didn't care about their reputation. They knew that fate was the most important thing. So even if they mobilized all the people in the mansion, outsiders would know about the trouble, and they didn't care. As long as they could Just bring him back alive.

It's just that they don't know who took Qi Zhiqing away.

The Taifu and the aunt were a little worried that it was the King of Handong's doing. The two had already passed by the King's Mansion of Handong. They walked through the main entrance. Qi Zhiqing was just sent out by the guards from the back door, so they didn't bump into each other.

When Mrs. Taifu saw her daughter, she burst into tears. Qi Zhiqing also cried bitterly while hugging her mother, and trembling all over, she told Mrs. Taifu what happened today.

"Mother, luckily Miss Zhang Si saved me. If Miss Zhang Si didn't come over suddenly, I, I'm afraid I would have been defiled and bumped to death."

Mrs. Taifu is also from a famous family. At this moment, she couldn't help holding her daughter and scolding King Handong for being inferior to a pig and dog. She scolded the Fu family for having a pair of heartless siblings.

Qi Zhiqing was worried that her mother's misfortune would come out of her mouth, so she covered her mother's mouth.

Mrs. Taifu knew that it was not the time to cry, so she called the mother-in-law to go outside to find the master and uncle.

In addition, this matter certainly cannot be left alone.

When the Grand Tutor and the uncle came back, she heard Qi Zhiqing's story about being robbed to the Eastern King of Han, and she was rescued by Zhang Mingzhu, but she didn't suffer any injuries.

The eyes of the two big men were still red, and Qi Zhiqing's husband hugged her and burst into tears, "Even if something happens to Zhiqing, she can't seek death, as long as she is alive, as long as you are alive, my father and mother will go to rescue her." Yours, as long as you live."

Qi Zhiqing also burst into tears.

Taifu Qi was unwilling to let the King of Han Dong go like this.

In the next few days, he went to find the girls who had been harmed by the King of Han Dong in the past few years, and asked them to write a confession for him.

Some girls are willing to write, and hope that the King of Han Dong will be punished, but some girls are afraid that their reputation will be ruined, so naturally they don't want to, and the Tai Tuo doesn't force it. There are more than a dozen girls who agree to write confessions, and of course there are their own daughters confession.

Although Qi Zhiqing was not seriously hurt, she was unwilling to let King Handong go and let him continue to harm other girls in the future. In order to save her, Miss Zhang Si was willing to do this, and she couldn't be a tortoise.

Even if it is known to the world, she doesn't care if she misunderstands her and spreads rumors about her, she just wants to avenge the murdered girls, and also to avenge Zhang Si girl. If King Handong can fall, maybe Zhang Si girl can too. was rescued.

Mrs. Qi took the collected confessions and went to the Summer Resort again. Unexpectedly, after reading the confessions, the Queen Mother asked if there was any other evidence to prove that King Handong had defiled them.

Naturally, there are some girls who have been defiled. They all remember the characteristics of King Handong, and they also wrote down the fact that there was a birthmark on the back.

But the queen mother said it was just a birthmark. The servants who served King Handong close to him knew that he had such a birthmark. Even if King Handong really had something to do with them, it was not normal to say that King Handong forced them. Men and women love, they are voluntary.

At this moment, Mrs. Qi's heart was completely cold.

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

He actually knows that the new emperor is a mediocre talent, and the government is almost always controlled by the queen mother. The queen mother has a heart to fight for power and has no means of governing a country. Judging from some of the political affairs that the Queen Mother has dealt with, Taifu Qi thinks that she is ruthless. It is hard to say whether the first emperor was poisoned by the First Prince or by the Queen Mother Fu. He also taught the First Prince and knew how the First Prince was. , but there is no evidence, and he can't determine who did it. Now he can see clearly that the first emperor had an accident, I am afraid it was the queen mother.

Even though he was suspicious of the queen mother before, he was worried about the people of this grand dynasty, and worried that if he left, the people didn't know what would happen, so he continued to stay in the court as an official.

It's just that at this moment, Mrs. Qi has nothing to hold on to, and he can't change anything by himself.

After he went back, the Queen Mother rewarded a lot of things, and Taifu Qi just looked at these rewards indifferently.

Mrs. Tai Fu also scolded the Queen Mother and King Handong badly.

At the end of summer, the queen mother returned to the capital from the summer resort with the new emperor and other ministers.

On the first day of the imperial court, Mrs. Qi resigned from the office in front of the civil and military officials, saying that he was too old and wanted to resign and return to the countryside to retire.

Taifu is indeed in his fifties and has two sons, but the two sons are not officials in the capital, but are trained as county magistrates outside.

Qi Zhiqing's story has spread all over the capital, so these civil and military officials in the court also know why Zhang Taifu resigned.

Some are not worthy of Mrs. Qi, and they are also dissatisfied with what the King of Handong and the Empress Dowager did, but the Empress Dowager was ruthless. They also saw some of the Queen Mother's methods. Although the Queen Mother did not deal with some troublesome and powerful ministers, but a few court persuasion Empress Dowager Jian and Emperor Sheng Yuan's most powerful courtier had an accident.

Saying that it is persuasion is actually similar to cursing.

These people died of illness one after another. It was a coincidence that one of them died of heart failure when he was directly in court.

Therefore, at this moment, many people did not dare to speak out for Zhang Taifu. Only Lord Censor and several other officials kept persuading Emperor Sheng Yuan to punish King Han Dong.

The new emperor just pretended that he didn't hear it. Seeing the Taifu resignation, he held back two sentences. Finally, seeing that the Taifu was determined, he agreed.

When Taifu Qi returned to Taifu's mansion, he began to ask people to pack up their belongings and prepare to return home.

As for some of the servants of the Taifu's residence, they all returned the deeds of betrayal to them, and also gave them some money to let them go out and establish their own businesses.

Before the Taifu took the family out of the capital, Zhang Mingzhu found out that he contacted Qi Zhiqing and asked her to meet in the private room of Jixiang Building.

Zhang Mingzhu can also leave the palace on weekdays. She has been forcibly married to King Handong by the Queen Mother. Even if she runs back to her parents' home, it is useless. Unless King Handong dies, or King Handong gives her a letter of divorce, what else can be done? It was useless. If she really ran away, she was also worried that King Handong and the Queen Mother would embarrass the family.

Qi Zhiqing met with Zhang Mingzhu.

She thanked Zhang Mingzhu.

These days, many people in the capital already know about her. Ordinary people may not have heard much about her, but the dignitaries and nobles in the capital must have known about her. She said that she was not defiled by King Handong, but was plundered by King Handong. The girls who went to the palace, how could they come out innocently, everyone didn't believe it, but they didn't say anything ugly, they just sympathized with her.

Qi Zhiqing didn't care much anymore, it seemed that it was really no big deal, just like her husband said, even if she was really defiled and her body was not clean, she would have to die. It was the King of Handong who should die, not her.

Zhang Mingzhu waved her hand, her expression still a little indifferent, she said: "I have a letter, please 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 a long time, and was about to leave.

Qi Zhiqing hesitated, looked at Zhang Mingzhu's back and said, "Miss Zhang, there is hope only when you are alive." She could see that Zhang Mingzhu was dead.

Zhang Mingzhu paused, of course she knew, but so what? She has been like this all her life. Even if King Shu ascends the throne, King Handong will also die. What is the difference between her life and her previous life?

Zhang Mingzhu left.

Qi Zhiqing also took the letter back to Taifu's mansion and handed it to his father, "Father, this is the letter that the fourth lady of the Zhang family gave to me, saying that I would give it to you."

Mrs. Qi took the letter, opened it and saw the contents on it, and his expression became solemn.

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

Taifu does have some ideas, but it's not at that time yet.

During the drought in Zhongzhou last year, although Emperor Sheng Yuan and the Empress Dowager procrastinated at first, they managed to relieve the disaster in the end. Now the people's life is relatively stable. If there is an uprising, the world will be in chaos. this step.

But he felt that according to what the Queen Mother did, the world would still be in chaos, but sooner or later, perhaps some preparations could be made in advance.

However, he always thought that the king was living an ordinary life in the border town, and that the king was not very good, and he was embarrassed. Now it seems that this is not the case?

How did Zhang Mingzhu know? Not only that, but what shocked Taifu Qi even more was that Zhang Mingzhu even told her directly in the letter that King Shu had the edict that the first emperor made the eldest prince as the crown prince, but before the edict was announced to the world, the empress dowager poisoned the first emperor.

Could such a secret matter be investigated by Duke Chongming?

That's right, Duke Chongming's favorite little granddaughter has been robbed. He is also a person who can't rub the sand in his eyes. He will definitely not easily let go of the Queen Mother and King Handong, so he has other ideas, and then he pursues King Shu. with these things, right?

That being the case, after he leaves with his family, let's contact the vertical king before making plans.

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

Although Qi Zhiqing had no accident in this life, the Grand Master still resigned. wonder if the Grand Master will revolt after he leaves.

If there is an uprising, Fu Taifu's family will not end well in the end, so it is better to assist the king, who has an edict in his hand, which is justifiable to crusade against the demon queen and the faint.

As for whether or not to expose some of her own things, she doesn't care much. Even if she lives again in this life, what's the use?

When King Shu comes back, she plans to go to the nunnery with the princess to spend the rest of her life.

...

In the Marquis of Dechang, Xu Qinhui was waiting for Qi Zhiqing to be defiled by the King of Handong, waiting for Taifu Qi to return home, waiting for Taifu Qi to revolt.

But in the middle of May, on the day of Qi Zhiqing's accident, she thought that she would be able to wait for the news of Qi Zhiqing's death the next day, but the next day, her father told her that the king of Handong had brought back the youngest daughter of the Taifu's family who had married back to her mother's family. But in the end they let them go.

Xu Qinhui was stunned.

She didn't understand why even Qi Zhiqing was different from her previous life. She survived, and she had already been taken to the Handong Palace. Could it be that she just wanted to live, even if she was humiliated?

But fortunately, Mrs. Qi still brought the whole family back home and left the capital.

Xu Qinhui always felt that many things were different from what happened in her previous life.

She also began to get anxious, not knowing whether to go to find King Shu, and whether King Shu could kill him back to the capital in his life.

...

It was getting colder every day, and it was already autumn. Xu Qinyu invited Xiu Niang from the city to come over to Xu Ji's house, planning to make a few sets of winter clothes for the family.

In addition, the potatoes and sweet potatoes in the field look ripe, and this is what the people in the southwest are most concerned about. They always go to the yamen to ask when the grain in the field can be dug.

The prefect also attached great importance to potatoes and sweet potatoes, and asked officers and soldiers who could plant them to go to the fields to watch them every day.

Seeing that the digging could start in a day or two, the capital suddenly rushed to send a secret letter. After Zhu Taishou read it, his face turned dark all of a sudden.

The queen mother said that because of the disaster relief, the national treasury was empty, so this year's grain tax was directly drawn to five, and the same was true for commercial tax, so the prefect could post a notice to implement it.

Originally, the tax on grain was three out of ten, which was already considered a bit heavy. After the tax was paid, the remaining grain was basically enough for food and clothing.

Some tenants, because the land is rented, in addition to the grain tax paid to the court, the remaining grain is better after paying the rent, so they can barely survive. There are many children in the family, and they can’t even afford a full meal. Every meal is thin, and now it’s ten to five, and some rent is handed over, and the remaining food may not be enough to drink every day...

The eunuch was so angry that he scolded the empress dowager and emperor Sheng Yuan severely, it was really stupid.

But he had to implement it. When the poster was posted, all the people were dumbfounded, and some burst into tears, "This food tax is half, how do we ordinary people live, do you want to force us to death? God of smell, God of thieves, why not just kill us with a lightning bolt."

"No, our family still rents the land. After paying the tax, and then paying the rent, the rest can't even take care of food and clothing. What's the point of living?"

"I don't know how the new grain will be harvested. If the harvest is not good, there will be no way to survive."

Many people's eyes were red, but it was an edict from the emperor, and they couldn't resist if they wanted to.

And all businesses have also received notices.

Xu Qinyu also knows that the commercial tax is actually lighter than the grain tax, and the tax is 20%, and now it has to pay 50%.

It means that the monthly profit of the restaurant is basically reduced by almost half.

Xu Qinyu felt a little distressed. Now the restaurant has a stable monthly profit of 60,000 to 70,000 taels of silver, and now it has to pay 50% of the tax, so there are only about 40,000 taels of silver left, which is actually not bad, because Her restaurant is considered to be a high-end route. The food and other services in it are not cheap, but some small restaurants and small vendors sell them cheaply. The 50% tax is already very high, and it is difficult to support a family.

Xu Qinyu didn't expect Emperor Sheng Yuan and the Empress Dowager to help the disaster, saying that the national treasury was empty, and suddenly the family tax was still so heavy, which would really drive many people to death.

Fortunately, half of the land in the Southwest has been planted with potatoes and sweet potatoes this year, otherwise I am afraid that we will not be able to take care of food and clothing.

Right now, the grain in the fields has not been confiscated, and the people in the southwest don't know it yet, and they are in a panic right now.

But the people in the southwest still have food and potatoes. This year's harvest is good. Even after paying such a heavy tax, the rest should be barely enough to eat. But the people in other states and cities do not grow high-yielding potatoes and sweet potatoes, so what should they do?

Xu Qinyu couldn't help sighing. Historically, the increase in taxes by those in power in many dynasties was the first step to force the people to rebel.

I don't know what will happen next.

Also, even if the national treasury is empty, it is not the reason for the disaster relief, but the people in power are greedy for pleasure and build a luxurious palace, which leads to the emptiness of the national treasury.

They have unrestrained enjoyment and use the money from the treasury. Even if the tax is 50%, the tax they receive again will be consumed quickly. What will happen then?

Moreover, the national treasury is so empty, and even a little bit of natural and man-made disasters, ordinary people really can only wait to die.

Xu Qinyu didn't know what to do in the future. No matter what, she didn't want the war to happen. The war would cause the people to live in dire straits, and the lives would be devastated, causing countless deaths and injuries.

After two days, the crops in the field were finally able to be excavated.

But there are still not many smiling faces on the faces of many people. They are all worried and worried about taxation. They just start digging potatoes and sweet potatoes in the field, waiting to dig out the first one. Looking at the series of grains below, they are a little stunned.

Those potatoes are about the size of an adult man's fist, but some are very small. The sweet potatoes are all about the same size, but they are just long and thin strips. When the potatoes and sweet potatoes were dug out, the people were shocked.

According to a rough estimate, there is indeed a harvest of about three thousand catties per mu of land.

It wasn't until they looked at the baskets of grain that the people in the southwest realized that the prefect really wouldn't lie to them, and finally smiled.

The prefect also posted a notice to everyone about the eating of these two kinds of grains.

Sweet potatoes and potatoes can indeed be used as staple foods, but they are too simple. You can also eat other foods on weekdays. You can cook porridge with beans and eat steamed rice with beans. You can also cook and steam them separately as staple foods. Cooking, some simple recipes are also talked about.

Xu Qinyu's 300-acre field, in addition to the grain tax paid, the tenants handed in a lot of potatoes and sweet potatoes, she didn't sell them all, and transported them all to the restaurant, adding a lot of new dishes to the restaurant.

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

As for sweet potatoes, there are many ways to make them, shredded sweet potatoes, sweet potato glutinous rice cakes, sweet potatoes are sweets, and there are so many of them that they are made sweet, and they can also be made into various desserts. Suddenly, there are too many Xuji restaurants. Less vegetables and desserts.

Potatoes and sweet potatoes are delicious, and they are eaten fresh, so many customers order them.

The tomatoes, peppers, and onions grown by some ordinary people have gradually matured one after another, and Xu Qinyu brought back a lot.

Now that autumn is coming, there are pots in restaurants and restaurants, except for the special mutton pot, naturally there are tomato pot and spicy hot pot. The spicy hot pot has no butter, and the fragrance is much less, but Xu Qinyu boiled it with a big stick bone The soup base is cooked with spicy and various aniseed ingredients and lard, and the taste is also excellent.

The spiciness of chili is much more spicy than cornel. Even if it is slightly spicy, cornel is much more spicy.

But as long as they have eaten it once, there is almost no one who does not love this spicy hot pot and tomato pot.

The bottom of Xu Qinyu's tomato pot is also very rich. When eating tomato hot pot, you can drink the soup first before boiling the vegetables.

You can cut a little cress, add some meat cubes made by Xu Qinyu herself, put the boiled tomato soup in a bowl with chopped celery and meat cubes, and finally sprinkle a little chopped green onion, such a bowl of tomato soup That's it, the soup tastes thick, sweet and sour appetizing, with the crunchy sweetness of celery, and the rich aroma of meat when chewed, the taste is very rich.

Most people find it difficult to choose between the two pot bottoms, so they order the combined pot bottoms.

Therefore, even with the increase in taxes, Xu Ji's business has not been greatly affected.