"Your Majesty, please tell me, is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince a bit..." Liu Xi hesitated.
He did not dare to say that Chen Changfeng sought medical treatment because of a sudden illness.
But anyway, Liu Xi has not heard of any successful case of making wine from sorghum rice.
Everyone knows that the wine made from sorghum is far less sweet than the wine made from rice, but Chen Changfeng insisted on having his own way.
Besides Chen Changfeng, the prince who valued his previous bet with the emperor, what other reason could there be?
The emperor did not speak, although he also hoped that Chen Changfeng had told him before that there was a new brewing method that could increase the financial revenue of the Ming Empire.
But the emperor also felt that sorghum rice wine was unreliable.
After getting up and leaving the dragon chair, the emperor stopped and looked at Liu Xi: "Let me go and see that boy."
Liu Xi nodded quickly and followed the emperor.
Before the two of them walked out of the study room, they saw the second prince walking up the steps.
"My son, I pay homage to my father. Is your father going out?" The second prince saluted immediately.
He originally came here to see the emperor, hoping that he and Yao Xiaoren could jointly take charge of the imperial examination work.
Unexpectedly, the emperor was about to go out.
"I just heard that the prince wants to use sorghum rice to make wine, so I'm going to take a look." The emperor explained casually.
The emperor still liked the second prince in his heart.
If not for the sudden rise of Chen Changfeng, the second prince would have been the most suitable candidate for heir apparent in the emperor's mind.
When the second prince heard the emperor's words, his eyes widened immediately.
After being stunned for a while, he suppressed a smile and said, "Father said that the sixth brother wants to use sorghum rice to make wine?"
"But as far as I know, Di Xi, the world's top brewing master, also said that there are thousands of wines in the world, but sorghum alone cannot make fine wine. What's wrong with Sixth Brother?" The second prince changed his tone.
There is a hint of joking in it.
The second prince calls Di Xi the most powerful brewing master in the world today.
You can be drunk for a thousand days, and you will be drunk for a thousand days after drinking.
Everyone in the world has heard of his name. Even he said that sorghum cannot produce fine wine. What Chen Changfeng did was clearly useless.
The emperor's face darkened.
Before, he was still looking forward to Chen Changfeng's so-called new wine-making method, and the future that Chen Changfeng described to him was indeed very bright.
Coupled with Chen Changfeng's stunning performances several times before, the emperor was also looking forward to it.
But now, knowing that Chen Changfeng wanted to use sorghum rice to make wine, the emperor couldn't help but become suspicious.
Now the second prince even used the words of Di Xi, the world's top brewing master, to prove that sorghum rice cannot make fine wine.
The emperor even lost his expectations for Chen Changfeng's previous depiction.
"Father, the sixth brother wants to come here just to give it a try. It's okay to let him go and have fun. Father is busy with state affairs, so it is better to rest in the palace." The second prince quickly persuaded the emperor to stay.
Chen Changfeng's lack of meeting with the emperor would naturally weaken his favor in the emperor's heart, which was something the second prince could not have wished for.
The emperor hesitated for a moment, and finally walked back to the upper study.
For the emperor, making wine with sorghum rice would never succeed!
…
The three days of song-making time passed quietly.
Tang Lin came again with the brewing craftsmen. Even though he didn't think sorghum could make fine wine, he still hoped to help Chen Changfeng.
"Prince, once the koji is finished, it can be fermented and then distilled." Tang Lin took the initiative to speak.
Chen Changfeng insisted on using sorghum rice to make wine and refused to listen to his own persuasion, so Tang Lin had no choice but to let it go.
Anyway, he speaks softly, so how can His Highness Chen Changfeng, the Crown Prince, listen to him?
Chen Changfeng smiled and signaled to the craftsmen that they could start.
However, the craftsmen discovered that it was different from the place they usually used to ferment food.
In front of them were three fermentation tanks about two meters wide. The fermentation tanks were fermentation tanks, but the things inside were all different.
The first fermentation tank was paved with stones, and the second fermentation tank was filled with soil. They had seen these before.
But this last fermentation tank is made of white square bricks all around and underneath. However, these bricks are relatively thin and are not the same as the bricks on the city wall.
"What is this, so weird?" a craftsman whispered.
"I don't know, but no matter what, we will do whatever the prince says." Someone next to him replied.
"But can this brick paving be fermented?"
"Is fermentation good?"
"Sorghum rice is not good at fermentation and fermentation. It tastes sour and tastes worse than horse urine!"
"Ah? Have you really drank horse urine?"
"screw you!"
The craftsmen whispered, but they kept working, and soon the koji was thrown into the fermentation tank.
They cannot leave today.
Fermentation requires temperature control, which requires them to observe it at all times.
Tang Lin also felt that Chen Changfeng's fermentation tank was strange, but he didn't ask much. Anyway, sorghum rice wine making was impossible to succeed.
No matter what method Chen Changfeng used, it didn't work.
After the fermentation is completed, Chen Changfeng understands when he can't smell any wine aroma!
"Your Highness, I'll take my leave first!" Tang Lin said nothing more to Chen Changfeng and just said goodbye.
Chen Changfeng didn't stop him, he just nodded with a smile.
Tang Lin took two steps, then looked back at Chen Changfeng who was standing next to the fermentation tank, and shook his head helplessly.
I thought that His Highness the Crown Prince Chen Changfeng was in a critical situation, yet he still had time to spend on these useless things!
Tang Lin was quite disappointed and walked out of the East Palace quickly.
…
In two days' time, the first imperial examination of the Ming Empire will be held.
The imperial examination is divided into literary examination and martial arts examination.
The emperor agreed to the second prince's request as deputy examiner, which inevitably made people think too much.
Shizi Street in the capital city of Ming Dynasty is a new street named by the emperor himself.
The people living here are all scholars who participated in the Spring Festival.
"Brother Zhang, I heard that you were the best in academics in Jiangling. I have a couplet here and would like to ask Brother Zhang for advice." In a restaurant on Shizi Street, Zhang Juzheng was drinking.
Suddenly a young scholar came next to him and asked him to read the second couplet.
Zhang Juzheng smiled slightly. He became famous at a young age, and he was very confident in his poems and songs.
Among the many talented people in Jiangling City, none of them could rival him.
Even talented people from other places came to challenge him.
But there is still no one who can match it.
Zhang Juzheng felt that the man in front of him was just a mantis trying to use his arms as a chariot.
"Just tell me." Zhang Juzheng didn't even raise his head.
The visitor frowned slightly, thinking that he was also a talented person from his hometown, yet he was so despised.
"This is my first couplet, which makes me feel uneasy in my heart." The visitor said his first couplet casually.
As soon as this couplet came out, the expressions of everyone watching changed.
"This is breaking up the couplets. I feel uneasy and uneasy at the bottom of my heart." Someone whispered.
"Secondly, it can be formed into the word 'uneasy'." A scholar on the side frowned.
"Finally, the whole sentence is logical. My heart is up and down, which represents my inner uneasiness." Another person spoke, with a look of embarrassment on his face.
"There are more than 100,000 characters in the world, but less than 3,000 are commonly used by people. You can imagine how difficult it is to meet the above three characteristics at the same time to form a second line."
The others shook their heads, this couplet was not so right.
They also had many second lines in their minds, but they all found it difficult to put them together neatly.
"How is Brother Zhang?"
"Can you think of a second line?" When the visitor heard everyone's embarrassing words, he couldn't show any pride on his face.
So many people can't stand up to each other, how can Zhang Juzhen stand up to him?
So what if Zhang Juzhen’s reputation is high?
If you can't even match a second line, it's just a false name!
Zhang Juzhen raised his head, glanced at the person in front of him, thought about it for a moment, and said casually: "My second line is about people on the left and people on the right. It's difficult to help them."