"Yes, yes, I can see the expressions on Jin and Hyun Bin's faces! They are really ugly!"
"Lord Muchuan is so majestic. This greatly enhances the prestige of our Tang Dynasty! I heard that Jin and Xuan Bin are well-known scholars in Goguryeo, but I didn't expect that they would also be defeated by Lord Muchuan."
For a time, all the civil and military officials were discussing, belittling Goguryeo and praising Muchuan.
Li Shimin understood the excitement of the officials, because Li Shimin himself was also very excited! He was as happy as a beast galloping, and he looked at Muchuan with more and more pity, as if looking at a rare treasure.
Unexpectedly, Muchuan's literary attainments were so high. The sentence "I will enter the wine" pushed the atmosphere of the palace to the top, impassioned and thought-provoking.
"Okay, okay, okay!"
Li Shimin shouted three good words, stood up from the throne, and waved his hand to signal to the old eunuch next to him.
The old eunuch had followed Li Shimin for many years. He was like a roundworm in Li Shimin's stomach. He knew what Li Shimin meant.
So with a calm voice, the old eunuch announced to the palace: "Mu Chuan, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, has meritorious service and will be rewarded!"
All of a sudden, all the civil and military officials looked at Muchuan, with complicated eyes, either envy, jealousy, or admiration.
Muchuan himself was half-closing his eyes with a drowsy expression. Yes, he had stayed up late. Now he just wanted to go back to the mansion and sleep. How could he understand what was going on?
Later, several ministers reminded him from the side, and Muchuan knew that the emperor was going to reward him.
Muchuan woke up and stepped forward to bow and thank him: "Long live my emperor, long live long live..."
"Let me think about what I want to reward you first."
Sitting on the dragon chair, Li Shimin rubbed his temples.
According to Li Shimin's idea, the simplest thing is to reward gold and silver.
It's just that Muchuan doesn't seem to like gold and silver treasures. When Li Shimin rewarded them last time, he found that Muchuan was not very happy.
Since gold and silver treasures are not enough, it is better to reward him with an official position! But Muchuan is already in the position of Minister of Household Affairs, which is a high-ranking official. If he is rewarded again, he will almost reach the official position of Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui and other veteran heroes.
In fact, at Muchuan's age, it is already very remarkable to be the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. There are already rumors in the court that Muchuan was promoted so quickly through some backdoor.
As the emperor, Li Shimin was in charge of the entire Tang Dynasty, so he could naturally hear those gossips. For this reason, he tried his best not to let Muchuan be promoted again, otherwise he was afraid that those old officials would have objections.
As a result, Li Shimin was stumped. Gold and silver were not enough, and promotions and promotions were not enough. What kind of reward should he give?
Of course Muchuan could see Li Shimin's distress, so he chuckled and said, "Your Majesty, why don't you reward me with a cook."
"cook?"
Li Shimin was shocked. It was unheard of to reward a cook.
All the civil and military officials in the palace were also surprised and couldn't understand why Muchuan would ask for such a reward.
Muchuan did not hide anything, patted his belly and explained: "My biggest hobby in my life is eating. However, I am not used to eating local food, so I want to find a cook to prepare meals for me."
"I see, it's very simple."
Li Shimin then waved to the old eunuch next to him and said that he would look for the most skilled cook from the imperial kitchen for Muchuan later.
However, Muchuan asked aloud: "Wait a minute, actually there are several requirements for this humble job as a cook..."
If he could find a cook casually, Muchuan would have already found him, so there would be no need to go through Li Shimin to find him.
The chef Muchuan needs must meet several conditions.
One is that you should not be too old, learn things quickly, and accept new things easily.
Second, the character must be good, and one must be patient, perseverant, careful, and loyal.
The third and most important point is that the cook must be literate and educated.
Hearing such conditions, not to mention all the civil and military officials, even Li Shimin was so shocked that he almost fell off the throne.
"Master Muchuan, what are the conditions?
This is basically recruiting a book boy, not a cook."
"Yes, it is impossible for ordinary cooks to be literate.
It’s impossible for a literate person to be a cook!”
"And it also requires that you not be too old?
All the royal chefs in the palace who are good at cooking are old, is it impossible for Mr. Muchuan to find one?"
The civil and military officials were discussing in secret voices, and they all got to the point.
The chef Muchuan wants to recruit is not an easy cook, one who is educated, has cooking skills and has good character.
However, culture and cooking skills are two points of conflict. In this chaotic world of the old society, how could anyone read poetry and books and still be a top-notch cook?
Li Shimin was also very troubled after hearing Muchuan's request. He thought Muchuan would just hire a cook to cook home-cooked meals, but he never thought there would be so many additional conditions.
"Mu Chuan, why don't you just hire a cook?
Why do you need to add so many conditions?”
Li Shimin asked puzzledly.
"Your Majesty, the chef I need is mainly for cooking the dishes of my hometown. If he is too old, it will not be easy for him to accept the dishes I teach.
As for why you need to be literate?
It’s because he has to be able to understand the recipes I wrote, and the cook himself has to be able to write his own recipes.”
Even though Muchuan gave an explanation, Li Shimin still didn't quite understand.
However, Li Shimin didn't need to know too much about trivial matters like this. He only needed to give instructions to the old eunuch next to him who was in charge of the palace's internal affairs.
"Takako, have you heard Muchuan's request?
Please note them all down and search for them slowly according to these requirements."
"Your Majesty, I obey."
The old eunuch said this.
The sun is high at noon, and the city of Chang'an is peaceful and prosperous.
In the city, there is a master wing of Fang's mansion. The room is gorgeous, with nanmu tables and chairs, jasper bead curtains, and the air is filled with a faint scent of flowers. This is Xin'er's room.
Xin'er herself was sitting on a round chair, and the sunlight filtered through the paper window and fell on her fair and delicate cheeks. She was wearing a plain peony dress, her hair was tied with a hosta, and she was graceful and graceful, just like a fairy who fell from heaven.
However, the little fairy herself seemed unhappy. She held a colorful star flower in both hands and gently picked off the petals of the star flower with her bare fingers.
"He's coming, he's not coming, he's coming, he's not coming..." Xin'er picked the petals and counted them. As the last petal fell off, her expression suddenly changed.
"He won't come...Is he really not coming? This idiot Muchuan!"
Xin'er said with a troubled expression.
It seemed that this was the second day of the cold war between her and Muchuan, but for some reason she had been missing him intensely since yesterday. His handsome and tall figure always appeared in her mind, and she couldn't get rid of it.
