Zuo Maogeng happily left the Qianqing Palace. At this time, he felt that he was the happiest Minister of Household Affairs in the history of the Ming Dynasty.

Thinking of the hard-working household ministers in the Chongzhen Dynasty, Zuo Maogeng felt extremely lucky.

He was afraid just thinking about how bad the Ming Dynasty would be if there was no crown prince to supervise the country.

Emperor Chongzhen is only about thirty-five years old this year. If he is in good health, there will be no problem in working for another twenty years.

For the millions of people of the Ming Dynasty, twenty years would be more than twenty years of suffering from hunger. The emergence of Emperor Shenwu was really a blessing for the millions of people of the Ming Dynasty!

Of course, Zuo Maogeng did not know that if the crown prince had not supervised the country, the Ming Dynasty would have perished in the 17th year of Chongzhen.

After leaving the Qianqing Palace, Zuo Maogeng saw an acquaintance in front of the door, Gao Wencai, the commander of the South Zhili Jinyi Guards.

Nanjing originally only had command of Qian affairs, and there was no Jinyiwei commander.

In order to completely control the south of the Yangtze River, Zhu Cihong set up Jinyiwei commanders in Nanjing, with Gao Wencai and Li Ruolian stationed in the north and south respectively.

When the two met, they didn't talk much and just smiled and smiled.

…

"sit down!"

After the meeting, Zhu Cixiang smiled and pointed to the brocade bench beside him. After thanking him politely, he sat down opposite Zhu Cixiang!

Zhu Cixi picked up the teacup and took a sip, then asked slowly:

"How have you been in Jiangnan recently? Do foreigners traveling to and from Ming Dynasty obey the rules?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, Jiangnan is very stable and the people live and work in peace and contentment. The foreigners have not done anything disrespectful to the Ming Dynasty, but..."

When Gao Wencai said this, he held back for a moment and seemed to hesitate to speak.

Zhu Cixiang frowned:

"If you have anything to say, just say it. You are my eyes and ears. You must speak truthfully in front of me."

"Follow the decree"

"Your Majesty, I would like to ask, if foreigners preaching in the Ming Dynasty, does it violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty? There is also the issue of tobacco and soil."

When Zhu Cixiang heard these two things, his face gradually turned cold.

He did know a bit about the foreign missionaries. Those people only believed in the Lord and not their ancestors. After joining Christianity, they no longer even wanted their ancestors. This was a tragedy.

But what problems can there be with tobacco now? The tobacco was exported by him. Could it be that the people of the Ming Dynasty in the south began to smoke tobacco?

"Gao Wencai, tell me, what happened to Yantu?"

Gao Wencai handed over his hand and reported back:

"Your Majesty, many gentry, wealthy people and princes and nobles are now in the habit of smoking tobacco. Opium dens have appeared in the south. I think this is not a good sign."

"What?"

Zhu Cixiang was shocked and jumped up from the dragon chair.

He knew that during the Eastern Capture period, the British not only used smoke and soil to drain China of a large amount of silver.

It has also caused most of the people to get lost in the illusion of smoke and soil and cannot extricate themselves, causing serious harm to our Chinese nation.

Zhu Cixiang did not expect that the problem of tobacco and soil had already occurred in the late Ming Dynasty. This thing was so harmful to China that in order to ban tobacco and soil, the Opium War even broke out.

It was also from that time that the Eastern Captive Regime and the foreign powers signed a series of humiliating treaties, causing China to suffer a century of humiliation.

Throughout the modern history of China, smoke and soil have occupied a certain important position.

Especially in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, tobacco began to slowly become popular in our country.

At that time, especially in some cities on the southeastern coast of the Qing Dynasty, almost every town had multiple opium dens.

In opium dens, you can often see ordinary people squatting everywhere or lying on couches puffing away smoke.

This product, which is made with very poor craftsmanship but is highly addictive, has had a very serious impact on the spiritual will of our nation over a long period of history.

It can be said that there are many continuous relationships between the demise of the Qing Dynasty and the tobacco industry.

In order to understand the relationship between Yantu and Ming Dynasty, Zhu Cixiang quietly exchanged a few words with the system:

"System, check for me to see if there is any smoke or dust in the late Ming Dynasty."

"Ding, the information has been placed in the system warehouse. There has been smoke and soil in China for a long time. They are all tribute items from the vassal state..."

Zhu Youjian quietly looked at the information and suddenly realized it.

Tobacco has actually flowed into our country very early, and it was not new to the Qing Dynasty.

As early as when Zhang Qian was on his mission to the Western Regions, tobacco was spread to China through the "Silk Road".

During the Three Kingdoms period, Hua Tuo’s Ma Fei powder contained smoke and soil ingredients.

It can be said that tobacco has always existed along with the historical development of our country.

From this perspective, the history of tobacco can be said to be very long.

Especially during the Ming Dynasty, some small neighboring countries would even take the initiative to offer smoke and soil as tribute to the Celestial State.

For a long period of time, cigarettes were very popular among the royal family of the Ming Dynasty. Even some emperors at that time had some experience of smoking cigarettes.

During the thirty years when Emperor Wanli was not in court, he smoked opium in his own life.

Moreover, during the excavation of Dingling in the last century, experts tested the remains of Emperor Wanli and found morphine.

Even the emperors of the imperial dynasty at that time began to smoke tobacco, which shows that tobacco had a very strong control over the minds of people at that time.

Having said this, many people must have noticed a problem.

Since opium has been introduced into our country a long time ago, even the emperor took it during the Ming Dynasty.

So why didn't the smoke spread wildly in the land of the Ming Dynasty?

Why did it start to bloom everywhere after the Qing Dynasty and became the number one weapon to poison the people.

In fact, the reason for this is not a difficult mystery. The core reason has only one word, and that is "expensive"!

At that time, tobacco cultivation and production were not carried out locally, but required transportation from distant Europe to the East.

Such a large labor cost will naturally be added to its market value, so before the Ming Dynasty, tobacco and soil were not affordable for ordinary people.

Basically, it is the exclusive enjoyment of high-ranking officials and nobles. It is difficult for the common people to eat. It is naturally impossible for such valuable things to spread.

By the Qing Dynasty, the price of tobacco soil had dropped significantly, not because the quality of the tobacco soil had declined, but mainly because the British developed India as a new tobacco soil planting land.

The logistics costs and planting pressure are greatly reduced, so the price of the entire market will naturally come down.

If Britain had not grown tobacco in its colonies and then sold it to the Qing Dynasty, tobacco would not have become so widespread in the Qing Dynasty.

This news was really timely for Zhu Cixiang, and it also made Zhu Cixiang feel a little scared:

"Damn it, this thing must not be allowed to spread in the Ming Dynasty, otherwise the people will be in dire straits once they are full."

Zhu Cixiang was secretly surprised and immediately said to Gao Wencai:

"Once this kind of thing is discovered, you must report it to me immediately, otherwise the world will be in chaos. Find the source of the smoke and soil as soon as possible."

Seeing that the emperor's expression was very serious, Gao Wencai knew that he had neglected his duty and hurriedly apologized:

"My humble minister will die, please punish me."

Zhu Cixiang was a time traveler. Of course he knew the dangers of smoke. How could Gao Wencai know that? Zhu Cixiang did not blame him:

"Forget it, I won't do it next time."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I will take my leave."

Gao Wencai's loyalty is undoubted and he will never have second thoughts. The main reason is that he doesn't understand how powerful this thing is.

Gao Wencai withdrew from the Qianqing Palace, immediately ordered people to prepare for tomorrow's war, rested for one night, and then set off back to Jiangnan to investigate the source of the smoke.

Zhu Cixiang had something on his mind and wanted to solve it immediately. Otherwise, he would not be able to sleep at night, so he immediately shouted:

"Cao An, passed down the six ministries of the cabinet and the minister of Honglu Temple."

"Follow the decree"

The young eunuch immediately went to the cabinet, the six ministries and the ministers of Honglu Temple to meet him.

This is the first time for the Minister of Honglu Temple to enter the Qianqing Palace to see the emperor.

Emperor Shenwu had never summoned him, the little minister of Honglu Temple, before.

This is also related to the diplomatic situation in the late Ming Dynasty. At that time, there were not many vassal states in the Ming Dynasty.

There are so many problems at home, so how can we care about foreign affairs?

After receiving the emperor's oral instructions, officials from the Sixth Ministry of Cabinet and the Minister of Honglu Temple hurried to Qianqing Palace.

"Please wait and see His Majesty."

Zhu Cixiang nodded slightly:

"Everyone who loves me, I will give you a seat without any courtesy!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
To be continued...