In the Ming Dynasty 1498, my restaurant connects two worlds.

Chapter 109 Zhu Houzhao's Lesson on People's Livelihood (Part 1)

The north wind was like a knife, howling through every street and alley of the capital.

It snowed again that night.

The snow in the twelfth month of the eleventh year of the Hongzhi reign seemed to come rather suddenly and without reason.

The snow covered the vast Forbidden City completely, but it couldn't stop the bustling atmosphere of life in and around the capital as the year drew to a close.

Inside the Wenhua Hall, the intense debate from the previous day regarding "investigating things to acquire knowledge" and "the people's livelihood and the foundation of the nation" still seemed to linger.

But yesterday's first "physics" enlightenment was very successful. Although my father has a science and engineering background and keeps a low profile, he is still able to establish himself in the Ming Dynasty.

Although Wang Shu, the Grand Tutor of the Crown Prince, was eventually persuaded by Song Xiaoyi with the principle that "one who wishes to govern his country must first regulate his family; one who wishes to regulate his family must first cultivate his personal character," his weathered face still bore an unyielding seriousness.

Today is the introductory course on "People's Livelihood Studies" arranged by Song Xiaoyi for Crown Prince Zhu Houzhao.

As yesterday, the carriage picked up the Crown Prince from the palace. After meeting Wang Shu at the Donghua Gate, their first stop was the Guanglu Temple, which was in charge of the royal meals.

Zhu Houzhao was dressed in a royal blue brocade robe today, with a black sable fur coat over it, and a warm hat on his head. His signature long hair was tied up, which made him look even more noble.

Guanglu Temple was only a stone's throw from Donghua Gate. Song Xiaoyi quickly stopped the carriage at the back gate of Guanglu Temple and guided everyone to get off.

Song Xiaoyi's mother, Shen Xiang, the Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, was a rare female official in this dynasty.

"This humble official, Shen Xiang, Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, greets His Highness the Crown Prince, Wang Taibao, and Eunuch Wei."

The newcomer was a woman of about forty years old, dressed in a scarlet official robe with a silver belt around her waist and a black gauze hat. This attire, befitting a fifth-rank official, did not appear out of place on her; on the contrary, it accentuated her upright posture, and her eyes and brows exuded a temperament that combined competence and gentleness.

"Aunt Shen!" Zhu Houzhao looked at Shen Xiang curiously, then at Song Xiaoyi beside him, his eyes full of surprise. "Aunt Shen greeted all of us, why did you omit Song Shi and Sizhilang?"

"Gu Lan greets Aunt Shen." Before Zhu Houzhao could finish speaking, Gu Qian bowed to Shen Xiang first.

"Mother." Song Xiaoyi stepped forward and bowed respectfully, then introduced her to Zhu Houzhao, "Your Highness, this Vice Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices is my mother. My brother Qian usually eats and lives at my house, so he should take the initiative to pay his respects to Mother."

Zhu Houzhao laughed heartily and said, "So Aunt Shen is Song Shi's mother."

Wang Shu stroked his beard, his stern face seemingly softening slightly. He said in a deep voice, "Minister Shen, today's matter concerns the Crown Prince's education. Have you arranged all the procedures for purchasing, storing, and preparing the food at the Guanglu Temple?"

"Please rest assured, Lord Wang." Shen Xiang stepped aside and gestured for them to follow. "Please come with me. Today is the twelfth lunar month, the busiest time for the palace to prepare for the New Year's banquet and sacrifices, and also the time when the ingredients are most readily available."

As the group passed through the ceremonial gate of the Guanglu Temple, they were greeted by a cacophony of noise, steam, and the aroma of various ingredients.

Sound, light, fragrance, and vapor are all part of the human experience.

There is no solemnity or grandeur of the main hall of the Forbidden City here, only bustling activity.

Dozens of huge iron pots were placed on the stove, and the cooks, shirtless, were stirring the ingredients with sweat pouring down their faces. The steam filled the air, enveloping the entire space in a hazy mist.

The Court of Imperial Sacrifices could essentially be considered a "pre-prepared food factory," differing from the Imperial Kitchen in that it focused on "rites" rather than "food preparation."

taste".

"Firstly, this area was primarily responsible for official banquets such as national ceremonies, sacrifices, court assemblies, visits by vassal kings to the capital, and imperial examination banquets (such as the Qionglin Banquet);"

Secondly, this area is also responsible for the procurement, preparation, storage, and distribution of ingredients such as wine, meat, rice, noodles, and fruit.

"Thirdly, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices was also responsible for formulating etiquette rules such as banquet specifications, use of utensils, and seating arrangements, but it did not directly cook the daily meals for the imperial palace."

Shen Xiang led the group to a huge warehouse.

Inside the warehouse, sacks were piled high with flour, rice, and baskets of dried fruit and spices.

"Your Highness, please look," Shen Xiang said to Zhu Houzhao, pointing to the sacks. "This sack of top-quality white flour costs twenty wen per jin on the market, but after it reaches the Guanglu Temple, it has to go through layers of transshipment, sorting, storage, and losses before it reaches the Imperial Kitchen's chopping board, where it will be converted to thirty wen. And this is just on ordinary days."

Zhu Houzhao listened intently. Pointing to a basket of shriveled dried lychees, he asked curiously, "I tasted these dried lychees when they were sent from Lingnan in the summer; they were exceptionally delicious. How much does the price differ between dried and fresh lychees?"

"Your Highness is unaware of the truth," Shen Xiang sighed, his eyes becoming profound. "Fresh lychees change color in one day, lose their fragrance in two days, and lose their flavor in three days. They are transported from Lingnan to the capital by fast horses, with people resting and horses not. The post stations along the way suffer losses, horses die from exhaustion, and people fall ill from exhaustion."

"A rider gallops through the dust, bringing smiles to the imperial concubine's face, but no one knows it's lychees that have arrived." The manpower and resources required to bring just one lychee into the palace, if converted into silver, would be equivalent to a year's worth of grain for an ordinary farmer.

Zhu Houzhao's expression hardened slightly. He had never imagined that a single dish could come at such a price.

"Then... what about the meat?" Zhu Houzhao pointed to the pigs and sheep being slaughtered on the other side.

"Your Highness, these pigs and sheep are mostly purchased from farmers in the suburbs of the capital. A fat pig is raised by a farmer for more than half a year before being sold to a government office, which then sells it to the Court of Imperial Sacrifices. With the added exploitation in between, the farmer gets one-third, the government gets three-thirds, and after it enters the palace, the government takes five-fifths."

"Then why doesn't the Court of Imperial Sacrifices buy directly from farmers?"

Zhu Houzhao's question is also the question Song Xiaoyi wants to ask right now.

Since arriving in Beijing, my mother has been very busy, and I haven't spoken more than a few words to her when we meet. The purchasing rules here seem quite different from those of modern times. According to modern standards, getting goods directly from the source without middlemen would be cheaper, wouldn't it?

"If the Court of Imperial Sacrifices were to purchase directly from farmers, firstly, it would need to invest more than ten times the manpower and spend more money; secondly, purchasing ingredients directly from farmers would require the Court of Imperial Sacrifices to conduct tests and toxicity checks, which would be a complicated process and not worth the cost."

"The county government was responsible for the quality of the ingredients in these tedious intermediate tasks that were handed over to the county government. The tax revenue generated during this process supported many civil servants, such as the Five City Garrison and the City Patrol."

'

"So that's how it is..." Zhu Houzhao muttered to himself. He walked to a large wooden basin where pig offal was being washed. Looking at the intestines churning in the murky water, a distinctive fishy smell wafted over, and he subconsciously wrinkled his nose.

"Why don't we see these pig offal being eaten in the palace?"

Shen Xiang shook his head: "The food in the palace is exquisite. These offal dishes are usually not used by the Imperial Kitchen. Therefore, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices usually gives them to the lower-level officials as rewards."

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