Chapter 417 Jiajing sends another note
Among the many buildings in Xiyuan, there is one building that cannot be ignored. You can smell the mouth-watering fragrance when approaching this building.
This building complex is the imperial dining room.
Emperor Jiajing spent day and night cultivating immortality and refining elixirs. However, apart from giving himself immortal titles one after another that were too long to read in one breath, there was nothing about him that had anything to do with immortality. His body was mortal. Emperor Jiajing naturally could not survive by drinking wind and dew, and could not live without three meals a day, so the imperial dining room was a key part of Xiyuan.
The imperial dining room was originally located in the southeast of the Forbidden City. According to the Eight Trigrams of the Book of Changes, the east is wood and the south is fire. Wood also produces fire. The attribute of the imperial dining room is fire, so it is located in the southeast of the Forbidden City. However, after Emperor Jiajing took refuge in Xiyuan, the imperial dining room was moved from the Forbidden City to Xiyuan, and the direction was also in the southeast of Xiyuan.
The Imperial Dining Room in Xiyuan was mainly a kitchen that served Emperor Jiajing. Most of the most delicious delicacies in the world were produced here. Even though the Imperial Dining Room only served Emperor Jiajing alone, the scale of this Imperial Dining Room was not small. The imperial dining room is an independent hall with more than thirty rooms. There are more than 20 imperial chefs in the imperial dining room, these are the master chefs in charge of the dishes; there are also 50 kitchen servants, these are the little chefs who help the imperial kitchen. , responsible for picking vegetables, washing vegetables, cutting meat and noodles, etc. There are also 30 servants, who do some physical work, such as fetching water, carrying vegetables, etc. In addition to these people, there are more than 80 eunuchs in the imperial kitchen. The imperial cooks are not allowed to walk in Xiyuan. These eunuchs are responsible for serving food, and are specifically responsible for passing meals, accompanying waiters, sitting on watch, etc.
In fact, it has to be said that Emperor Jiajing was a frugal emperor in terms of food. The overall size of these personnel was more than a hundred fewer than that of his predecessors such as Zhengde, let alone compared with the later Manchu and Qing Dynasties. If compared with the Empress Dowager Cixi who would eat more than 100 dishes in later generations, Emperor Jiajing's diet can be described as simple.
It was already past noon, and the sunlight reflected colorful lights on the glazed tiles of the imperial dining room.
There were two eunuchs at the door of the imperial kitchen. They looked out anxiously at the door of the imperial kitchen, pacing back and forth holding Buddha dust in their hands, sighing softly one after another. The two of them have been waiting here for more than an hour, but they haven't seen the little eunuch who went to deliver the meal list return yet. They have already sent two little eunuchs to inquire about the news, and the news that came is only temporary.
"Your Majesty, I haven't eaten for two meals already. What will I do if my dragon body is starved to death?" A shorter eunuch who served as a diner sighed while pacing.
"No, our family is really worried. Could it be that we did something wrong in the imperial kitchen?" The other eunuch in charge of the kitchen was also equally anxious, and also worried about the injustice.
"What nonsense are you talking about? You were rewarded for your meal last night." The shorter eunuch who served as the dining room quickly waved the Buddha dust twice, as if he could get rid of the bad luck.
"Yes, yes, Eunuch Liu said yes." The other eunuch who served as the chief cook nodded repeatedly, feeling a little relieved.
It’s no wonder that he was worried at first. Emperor Jiajing can be said to be the emperor who was the most severe to eunuchs except Emperor Yuanzhang and Emperor Yongle. Emperor Jiajing looked down on eunuchs very much, and felt that eunuchs were only worthy of From cleaning the toilet to the toilet, if Emperor Jiajing found out that the eunuch made a mistake, he would be given a light punishment with a cane.
“I dare to ask my two father-in-laws, the menu hasn’t arrived yet, what are we going to cook?”
While the two were waiting, Liu Yuchu, the chef of the imperial dining room, came out and asked the two eunuchs standing at the door.
"Master Liu, our family is more anxious than you are, but today is different from the past. Your Majesty has not eaten for two meals, so you have to ask for permission before you can sit down. If the food is not to your taste, It's a small thing for us to be punished, but it's a big deal for the Holy Emperor to starve the dragon's body." The eunuch was also very anxious.
"Your Majesty has been fasting for half a month and has been a vegetarian for half a month. I need to take in some meat." Liu Yuchu said.
"My family understands what Mr. Liu said, but the meal list has not been sent back yet. Otherwise, Mr. Liu should prepare it according to the meal list you proposed." Eunuch Sishan thought for a while and said to Liu Yuchu said.
"That's the only way it can be." Liu Yuchu nodded, and was about to return to the imperial dining room to prepare the meal for the Holy Emperor.
At this moment, I suddenly heard the excited voice of another eunuch who was responsible for the dining room, "Hurry up, look at Xiao Dezi." The single little eunuch, Xiao Dezi ran very fast and ran over breathlessly, like a general who had won a great victory. He excitedly handed the meal list in his hand to the Secretary who was waiting at the door. In the hands of the eunuch.
The eunuch Sishan took the meal list and couldn't wait to read it. His face looked strange after reading it.
When Liu Yuchu saw the meal list, he understood why the two eunuchs had strange expressions. The meal list sent back was completely different from the one they submitted, and none of the dishes were the same.
Bamboo shoot braised pork, steamed fish head, braised eggplant, braised chicken, fish-flavored shredded pork, braised chicken legs, steamed crab (no salt), sweet and sour fish, spicy chicken wings.
The more Liu Yuchu looked at the menu, the more strange he felt. Generally speaking, these dishes were a bit unpalatable. He didn't know why the emperor suddenly wanted to eat these dishes.
However, I finally know what to do.
Liu Yuchu took the meal list and quickly returned to the imperial kitchen. He passed the menu in his hand to the chefs, and then the gourmet machine of the imperial kitchen began to move. The imperial chef is worthy of being an imperial chef, and the dishes on the menu were quickly presented in front of everyone one by one, all delicious and delicious.
There are nine dishes on the menu. For ordinary people, nine dishes in a meal must be a luxury, but for the emperor, it is still too few.
In order to enrich the delicacies of the Holy Emperor, the imperial chefs also prepared six additional dishes, and put together fifteen dishes, which were all delivered to the palace of Emperor Jiajing by the eunuch.
When Zhu Ping'an was organizing the tenth bookshelf, Zhang Siwei came again and said that another small note had been sent by the Holy Emperor. Hearing that another note had been sent from the Holy Emperor, Zhu Pingan put down the book in his hand and followed Zhang Siwei to the hall of the Hanlin Academy.
This time the person who came to deliver the note to Emperor Jiajing was a small Huangmen. It was Feng Bao, an acquaintance of Zhu Pingan, and it was no longer Huang Jin in the morning. Also, Huang Jin was a popular person around Emperor Jiajing and was the first to take charge of the East Factory. How could he have so much time to do errands.
When Zhu Ping'an entered the hall, he felt that the atmosphere in the hall was a bit strange. The Hanlin officials in the hall were all looking at him.
"Master Zhu, this is given to you by the Holy One." Feng Bao unfolded the small note in his hand and said to Zhu Ping'an.
Uh
For me?
No wonder the atmosphere in the hall is so strange, no wonder everyone is looking at me. It turns out that the Holy Spirit gave me a small piece of paper this time. When he first arrived, he received a small note from Emperor Jiajing, so it was no wonder that he let them do this. However, what kind of note did Emperor Jiajing send to him? He had just joined the job, and Zhu Pingan was very curious about the content of the note.
"I accept the order." Zhu Pingan knelt down and took the note.
After Zhu Ping'an took the note, he opened it. After reading the content of the small piece of paper, he felt a little dumbfounded, because there was only a simple sentence on it:
"Sweet and sour fish is better with rice. ."(End of this chapter)