After arriving in Wuchang, the army entered the city to station, and Zhao Peng temporarily abolished the ban on alcohol in the army.

After spending the Lantern Festival in Wuchang, Zhao Peng and 20,000 Nanjing New Army, began to recruit new recruits near Wuchang. Because they were the Central Army of the Ming Dynasty, which was directly under His Majesty, and were well-fed, many young and strong people from nearby came to join the army enthusiastically. In just five days, more than 30,000 people were recruited.

At this moment, the imperial edict from the court also came out: the emperor appointed Ma Jinzhong as the Bon of Dingnan, Wang Yun as the Bon of Ningxi, Zhao Peng's Zhongyong Bo was promoted and named Zhongyong Hou.

The edict also stated that Zhao Peng asked someone to take Hou Fangyu and Huang Shu back to Nanjing to imprisonment, and then ordered Zhao Peng to lead Ma Jinzhong and others to quell the rebellion of King Gui.

The surrendered generals such as Xu Yuxian, Lu Guangzu and Chang Deng, as well as the 100,000 surrendered soldiers of the Zuo Family Army, will all be sent to Qiongzhou to mine.

After reading the imperial edict, Zhao Peng ordered the twelve Jinyiwei to escort Hou Fangyu and Huang Shu on board, and went downstream to Nanjing, and sent the two prisoners to the Jinyiwei to await trial. More than 10,000 new troops in Nanjing and 30,000 newly recruited soldiers in Huguang area. After the veterans returned to Nanjing, they would train the new soldiers.

Then, he ordered his 10,000 Nanjing New Army to go on a battle with Ma Jinzhong and Wang Yuncheng's 20,000 troops to set off, and first sailed southwest along the Yangtze River, and then arrived in Yuezhou, entering Dongting Lake, and then heading south along the Xiangjiang River.

Zhao Peng did not keep Li Xiangjun, but asked her to follow Wang Quan and the others to go back to Nanjing to recuperate first, and only took Zuo Xianmei and his daughter to follow him south to quell the rebellion of King Gui.

The fleet passed Yuezhou and entered the vast Dongting Lake. Looking out from the porthole, I saw an endless line of water and sky. The ships seemed to be sailing in the sea. The difference was that there were no strong winds and waves like the sea.

In the cabin, in the middle of Zhao Peng's cockpit, there was an orange-yellow copper hot pot on the table. There was a boiling hot steam in the middle of the hot pot, the charcoal fire at the bottom was burning, and the water in the pot was boiling.

Zuo Xianmei was sitting next to Zhao Peng. At this time, Zuo Xianmei was no longer as arrogant as she was and was completely obedient. In front of Zhao Peng, she was like a docile kitten, leaning her head on Zhao Peng's shoulder with her head tilted.

When Ma Jinzhong, Wang Yuncheng and others saw the two of them showing off their food without restraint, they not only did not feel displeased at all, but instead said with a smile: "Madam Marquis is so gentle and virtuous."

"Come on, brothers, come and taste the new dishes I invented." Zhao Peng greeted Ma Jinzhong and Wang Yuncheng.

The soup base in the hot pot was boiling, and red bubbles appeared. The heat coming out of the water surface floated into the nostrils of Ma Jinzhong and Wang Yuncheng. It felt a different fragrance and a bit spicy, but it was completely different from the dogwood they ate in the past.

"Come on, try it." Zhao Peng was the first to pick up a slice of mutton, first add raw eggs to the table and roll it in a seasoning bowl, so that the slices of mutton were stuck to egg white, then put the slices of mutton into the hot pot, rinse it a few times, and then put it into your mouth.

Ma Jinzhong also followed Zhao Peng's actions and poured a slice of mutton into his mouth. He only took a bite and praised him: "It's delicious! This is a delicious food I've never eaten before. Huguang, Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan people are delicious and spicy. Mo Jiang has lived in Wuchang for a while and loves spicy food. But this is the first time I have tasted this taste. It is much more fragrant than the spicy taste of dogwood, and the taste is much better in the mouth."

Zhao Peng has also eaten dogwood in this era. Before the large-scale planting of chili peppers in China, those who like spicy food in Sichuan, Huguang and Yunnan and Guizhou used dogwood as condiments, especially in Sichuan, which was humid, which used dogwood and pepper as spicy foods to remove the moisture in the body.

However, the taste of dogwood is much worse than that of chili peppers. Its spicy taste is not as spicy as chili peppers. It does not have the aroma of chili peppers. It tastes much worse than chili peppers. It also has a very uncomfortable feeling to taste, and eating too much will cause nausea and nausea.

During the Ming Dynasty, chili peppers were just introduced to the Ming Dynasty. At first, they were planted as an ornamental plant. Later, people who like spicy food discovered the taste of chili peppers and used it as a condiment to replace dogwood. After they started to grow them on a large scale, people who like spicy food stopped eating dogwood. The tastes of the two spicy foods were indeed too different.

In fact, in addition to cooking, chili peppers have another important purpose, which is that chili peppers can also be used as weapons. Mix dried peppers with hay, tie them into grass balls, ignite them and throw them out with a trencher, which can have unexpected effects in battle.

In the original time and space, the large-scale planting of peppers took more than 30 nights. However, in this time and space, due to Zhao Peng's arrival, he accidentally discovered the ornamental plant of peppers, so he brought the seeds to the south. At this time, peppers had already begun to be planted in the Ming Dynasty. However, in this era, there were still not many people who knew that peppers were seasonings.

"Come on, you can try it too." Zhao Peng picked up a piece of mutton slices that had just been cooked and sent to Zuo Xianmei's mouth.

Zuo Xianmei opened her mouth and took a bite. She couldn't even close her mouth: "Wow, it's so spicy and hot, you're going to be so spicy!"

Ma Jinzhong said: "Miss Zuo, it's so cold, eat some steaming hot pot with spicy flavor, how warm it is. Look, I've eaten several slices of mutton, and it's warm and comfortable."

Zuo Xianmei took a few more bites, but she was not very spicy, so she picked up the water cup and drank several sips of water.

Seeing this, Zhao Peng said in his heart: If there is beer at this time, it would be perfect. By the way, beer is actually available in this era. After Western navigators boarded the ship, they would always bring a few barrels of beer on board. However, there was no refrigeration technology in this era, and the beer produced was very short. People who boarded the ship would drink the beer first within a few days, and then drink rum.

Western navigators love to drink rum, but there is actually nothing we can do about it. Because large wooden barrels are used to load fresh water on ships in this era, and sailing takes several months or even half a year. After a few days of storage, the water quality changes. The fresh water that has been placed in the barrel for a month has already smelled bad and is difficult to swallow, so I can only drink it with rum.

The steaming spicy hotpot is very suitable for the tastes of Ma Jinzhong and Wang Yuncheng. The two of them ate the table full of food like a wind and clouds.

The base soup of this spicy hot pot is made with fresh meat and bones, then dried chili is added to cook, and then the pork and mutton are sliced ​​into thin skins. When eating, it is eaten.

Zuo Xianmei gradually got used to the taste of chili. She ate several slices of mutton and ate some other things.

I ate the steaming hot pot and burned the rice wine. I ate the warm hot pot and suddenly the chill disappeared and my whole body became hot.

After drinking and eating, Ma Jinzhong and Wang Yuncheng left Zhao Peng's cockpit.

Zuo Xianmei did not leave Zhao Peng's cockpit. She drank a lot of rice wine, her face flushed when she drank, and she sat on the collapse in a coquettish manner, and refused to leave no matter how she said that.

Zhao Peng sent Ma Jinzhong and Wang Yuncheng away, returned to the cockpit, and sat down next to Zuo Xianmei. Zuo Xianmei also leaned on Zhao Peng's shoulder gentlely, and Zhao Peng took advantage of the opportunity to embrace her slender waist.

"Mr. Marquis, do you know the Xuzhou mutiny back then?" Zuo Xianmei asked softly with her eyes blurred.

"I know, it happened several years ago." Zhao Peng nodded.

"I and my brother were by my father's side and rebelled. My other brothers and sisters were killed by the rebels, and only my brother and sister were left with my father. Now my father is gone, and only my brother and I are left with each other for life. So I begged the Marquis to let my elder brother go. Now my elder brother is still alive, and I have nothing to worry about." Zuo Xianmei murmured.

Zuo Xianmei refused to leave, and Zhao Peng could only let her stay in his cabin. However, nothing happened to the two of them. They just lie down in their clothes and hug each other for a night.

Like Wu Xiaomei's principle, Zhao Peng did not dare to let them win the prize before getting married with Princess Kunxing, otherwise the princess would be unreasonable in terms of face.

Let’s talk about Zuo Menggeng. After going to Luoyang, he defected to Ajige.
Chapter completed!