Logically speaking, each yamen only provides lunch for those who are in charge. However, there are several civil and military officials whose family members are not in Wuchang City, and they often eat dinner in the official kitchen. Fortunately, the proportion of officials is very small, and the cooks in the official office will also provide them with lunch.
When cooking, the expenses are paid to the public.
Zhang Ning planned to take a day off when he went back tomorrow and not come to the official office. He had dinner with several civil servants and military generals, and took Xu Wenjun to sit with him.
It is relatively rare for women to dine together on such occasions, but everyone knows Xu Wenjun, the granddaughter of the old Xu. There is a reasonable reason for this kind of thing, and a few people treat it as Zhang Ning and treat them privately with a special
It is also the case that friends treat each other and people treat guests as family members.
Although this era is bound by etiquette, the presence of women can always increase the interest of men, and the same principle applies to ancient and modern times. Today, everyone talks more obviously, all kinds of anecdotes come one after another, and laugh from time to time at the dinner table. Xu Wenjun, on the other hand, seems to have
She is very low-key and speaks very little. She has no airs at all and everyone likes her very much.
There is a dish on the table, which is Huguang smoked bacon. This dish is Zhang Ning's favorite dish. The texture of the meat is clear and the fat color is crystal clear. It seems that it is not the same thing as pork. It is soft in the mouth with the aroma of rosy meat. He
He thought it was delicious and gave Xu Wenjun a piece. Wenjun's face turned slightly red and he looked up at the others, looking a little embarrassed.
Chen Gai saw this and said hurriedly: "Speaking of this bacon, I remember a funny thing."
Just now, the civil servants were telling jokes and anecdotes, but he was not very good at telling them. Now it seemed that he finally had a story to tell. While everyone was eating, they turned to look at him with a smile, also wanting to hear what was funny.
Chen Gai put down his chopsticks and touched his forehead: "That was a few years ago. General Wei wasn't called General yet. Let's just call him Wei Bin. He sent me out to deliver something. There were places on the road where there were no roads in front of the village or behind.
I went to the store, so I carried a bag of rice and went on the road. One day I came across a mountain village and stopped at a house. The old woman in the house said that I had given some rice
Copper coins, I had to cook bacon for dinner in the evening. The bacon was hung high on the wall. Seeing that the old woman had difficulty with her legs and feet, I went to help get the meat. Unexpectedly, as soon as I took it off, I found something moving in the bacon. I reached out and dug it out, guess what?
What is it... such a big maggot, hahahaha!" Chen Gai exaggeratedly stretched out his index finger to show the size of the maggot.
Everyone looked at each other in shock.
Chen Gaishang didn't know it, so he laughed and said: "The old woman said, it's okay. If you dig out the maggots, you can still eat the meat."
Xu Wenjun had just put the bacon that Zhang Ning had put into her bowl into her mouth. Her throat squirmed when she heard this, and her face looked extremely embarrassed. After a while, she carefully covered it with her sleeves and spit the meat into the bowl.
.
After a while, she whispered: "I'm full, please take your time."
…
Returning to the Chu Palace the next day, Zhang Ning treated the matter as a joke and told Zhou Niang again, but it was Chen Gai who made the joke.
Tuesday's mother smiled and said: "Poor Xiao Xu, he must be disgusted after eating."
Zhang Ning chatted with Er Niang in broad daylight, but she wanted to find an opportunity for him to write a letter to Zhou Mengxiong, so that Zhou Mengxiong would be more willing to accept the Six-Ministry Reform and accept demoted officials into official positions. As long as he acts with emotion and reason, and works for the overall situation
I thought it would be possible to let Zhou Mengxiong and others put aside their old grudges and win over the bureaucrats and scholars of the Xuande Dynasty.
Since there is a marriage, he believes that Tuesday's mother can play a positive role in the situation at this time. As for the Yao family, Zhang Ning also plans to mainly persuade Yao Ji. Monk Yao has always listened to his sister's words.
It is obvious that the woman does not have much political stance and is very unstable. It is much easier to persuade Zhou Mengxiong than to talk to Zhou Mengxiong.
However, Zhang Ning did not leave immediately after Tuesday's mother agreed. After all, home is not an official battlefield. It is not good to leave just after achieving the goal. This will lack a little family warmth; it is like leaving in bed or turning around.
Sleeping was a bad idea. So he continued to stay in his mother's room on Tuesday.
Tuesday's mother can't play the piano, sing, dance, or play chess, and her thoughts are very conservative, just like most serious women. No wonder many literati in the officialdom leave their spoiled wives at home and love to visit brothels and restaurants.
Of course they are all good-natured women, but those promiscuous women are obviously much more open and free.
The two of them only chatted about each other. After a while, Zhou Zui's mother came over with a cloth ruler to measure her body size, "I see that you usually only have two sets of clothes to change, and I have some free time now, so I will make you a new set of clothes."
"
Zhang Ning was sitting there playing with flint and steel, then turned around and said casually: "We are not short of food and clothing now, so why bother to spend so much time making the clothes ourselves?" "It's different, even the richest women in the world have to learn needlework.
, and besides, I made it myself..." Tuesday's mother chuckled, "Will it be warmer?"
Zhang Ning responded: "Let's make underwear, close-fitting, so I can miss you even when I don't see you."
Anyway, sweet words don’t cost money.
After a while, Tuesday's mother asked curiously: "What are you doing with that thing?"
If what Zhang Ning was doing at this time was seen by a scholar-official, he would definitely be despised, because in the eyes of a gentleman, someone who likes to play with such gadgets is obviously a sign of lack of ambition. He is thinking about the main source of fire in this era with great interest.
Tools: flint and fire sickle.
Chinese characters are very magical. As long as you think of the golden word next to the word sickle, you will know that the fire sickle is a kind of metal. The thing in Zhang Ning's hand is probably a piece of steel made by repeated forging, with an arc shape at the bottom; use it to make a flint
Sparks can be generated by friction with just one stroke. Flint is a kind of stone. The one in front of him is carefully processed and has grooves for easy operation. Zhang Ning held it in front of the window and observed carefully, guessing that its material may be mainly quartz, which is very
solid stone.
In addition to the main tools, the fire sickle and the flint, the fire is also equipped with two other things: tinder and the touch lamp. The tinder is made from the young leaves of mugwort, which are dried and crushed. When wrapped around the fire sickle, green smoke can be drawn;
Then put it on the touch lamp and it will light up. As for the touch lamp,
Lamps act as "catalysts". It is said that in the past, paper tubes of hay or the like were used as catalysts. Be careful to blow them when touching tinder. However, gunpowder has been widely used in the Ming Dynasty. Gunpowder is used directly and it ignites as soon as it is touched. There is no need for blowing technology.
Life is also convenient.
Seeing that Zhang Ning was concentrating on playing with such boring things, Tuesday's mother responded to her words, and complained faintly: "How much more interesting are the things that make fire than me?"
It was precisely because of Zhang Ning's sweet words that she expressed her inner dissatisfaction; just like the more pampered someone is, the easier it is to be willful.
Zhang Ning hurriedly turned around and took her hand, asked her to sit on his knees, and explained, "Do you know the firearms used in the military?"
Because of his intimate gestures, Tuesday's mother deliberately said angrily: "I have heard a little bit, but as a woman, I naturally will not play with such a dangerous weapon."
Zhang Ning said patiently: "The matchlock we currently use uses a mechanism to hit the lit match against the gunpowder. As soon as the gunpowder hits the fire, boom! It explodes." He also made movements with his hands as he spoke.
He suddenly raised his hand upwards and said "Boom!" which was a bit funny. When Zhou Zui's mother saw this, she didn't pay attention and burst into laughter.
He said seriously again: "But there are too many disadvantages in starting a fire with a match rope. For example, what should I do if it suddenly goes out on the spot? A group of enemy soldiers are rushing over with bright weapons dozens of steps away, but I only have a fire rope in my hand that cannot be ignited.
Stick, if you think about it, you will definitely curse God in your heart.
.Especially in foggy weather or when the air has just rained and the air is humid, a little fire on the match rope can be easily extinguished. Also, if you encounter a night battle, it will be pitch black and the match rope will be lit. There will definitely be bright spots.
Our people are like living targets for the enemy's archers to point out their targets."
"If the ignition mechanism can be improved, like this flint, which uses steel plates to rub flint to ignite fire, many problems will be solved and the rate of fire of the firearm can be increased."
Tuesday's mother listened attentively, and because Zhang Ning spoke clearly, she seemed to understand. If someone else were to talk to her about this topic, she would definitely not be interested, but because it was Zhang Ning who said it, she was very interested.
Willing to listen.
At this time, there was a look of admiration in her eyes, as if she thought her husband was very powerful.
Women are born to worship the strong opposite sex, and they only like tall and muscular men in appearance. Therefore, although the so-called weak and handsome young man is cute, he may not necessarily win the heart of a woman; in addition, like Tuesday
A relatively smart and rational girl like my mother is still
More emphasis is placed on inner strength. In ancient times, inner strength could be expressed through the body. However, since the Song and Ming Dynasties, the status of literati has risen, and literati have become stronger in society. Talented men are undoubtedly more likely to be favored by women. The popularity of stories about talented men and beautiful women is
Such a background.
At first, Zhou Yi's mother quickly accepted Zhang Ning, a stranger she had never met, as her husband because she had heard that he was very talented. If it were another person, even if she was forced to do so, it would be difficult for her to accept it.
However, after she was exposed to the huge benefits of her military technical talents, her ideas were easily changed in her teenage years. Gradually, she began to look down on the kind of literati who were only good at articles, and began to favor people like Zhang Ning who were really talented and practical.
Ability. Her father Zhou Mengxiong once said at home that Zhang Ning's success in launching an army largely relied on new firearms technology.
Zhang Ning sighed slightly: "Life is so busy in this world, and it is only at this time that we can stop for a moment in tranquility and think about some details that are easily overlooked."
Tuesday's mother looked up at his face and said casually: "The husband should hurry up and send someone to make firearms that use flints to start fires. Fire sickles and flints can be found everywhere. If someone in the court thought of making it first, we would not be in a disadvantageous situation.
What?"
Zhang Ning smiled confidently and said: "It seems difficult for the world to give birth to such a genius for no reason... The imperial government and the government can only follow my footsteps and chase after me. Wait until they find new things, then they can imitate them and mass-produce them. At least after they discover them,
It has been a year and a half, but before that they could only use outdated weapons to fight against new things; just like how they used bows, arrows and spears to fight against matchlock guns in several battles before."