Rise From the Humble

Among the many building complexes in Xiyuan, there is one building complex 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 practiced immortality and refining elixirs day and night. However, apart from giving himself immortal titles one after another, which were too long to read in one breath, there was nothing remotely related to immortality in his body. Emperor Jiajing, who was born in a mortal body, naturally could not rely on drinking. Living in the wind, drinking and dew is inseparable from three meals a day, so the imperial dining room is the 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 less than that of his predecessors such as Zhengde, let alone compared with later generations of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. Compared with Empress Dowager Cixi who cooked more than 100 dishes, 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 standing 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 two meals already. What will I do if my dragon body is starved to death?" A shorter eunuch in charge of the dining room 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 food hurriedly waved the Buddha dust twice, as if he could get rid of bad luck.

"Yes, that's what Mr. Liu said." The other eunuch in charge of the dining room nodded repeatedly, feeling a little relieved.

It's no wonder that he was worried at first. Emperor Jiajing could 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 qualified to clean toilets and toilets. , if Emperor Jiajing discovers that the eunuch has made a mistake, a beating with a stick will be light.

"May I ask you two father-in-laws, the menu hasn't arrived yet, what are you 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 what you cook is not in line with His Majesty's taste, we will be punished. , It’s a big deal that the Holy Emperor starved the dragon’s body.” The eunuch in charge of the dining room 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 some meat." Liu Yuchu said.

"Our 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." The eunuch who served as the dining room thought for a while and said to Liu Yuchu.

"That's all we can do." Liu Yuchu nodded, and was about to return to the imperial kitchen to prepare the meal for the Holy Emperor.

At this moment, I suddenly heard the excited voice of another eunuch who served as the chief cook, "Hurry, look, Xiao Dezi is back."

The little Dezi mentioned by the eunuch serving the meal was the little eunuch they sent to deliver the meal list. The little Dezi ran very fast, out of breath and ran over, as excited as a general who had won a great battle. He solemnly handed the menu in his hand to the eunuch waiting at the door.

The eunuch who served the meal took the meal list and couldn't wait to read it. After reading it, his face looked a little strange.

When Liu Yuchu saw the meal list, he realized 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.

Braised pork with bamboo shoots, 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 dining room, passed the menu in his hand to the chefs, and then the gourmet food machine of the imperial dining room 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 a total of 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, making up a total of fifteen dishes, which were all delivered to the palace where Emperor Jiajing was staying 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 on an errand was a little 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, and the 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 Pingan.

Well

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 Emperor gave him 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.

"Your Majesty, 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 contents of the small piece of paper, he couldn't laugh or cry, because there was only a simple sentence on it:

“Sweet and sour fish goes well with rice.”