Ming Dynasty: Moral blackmail? I, Emperor Chongzhen, have no morals!

Chapter 99 The Ming Dynasty is Sick

The following morning, a dozen eunuchs, lined up in a long queue, carrying a tray, hurried through the corridor under the leadership of Wang Chengen, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, and waited outside the Wuying Hall.

Upon closer inspection, the trays were filled with raw grain, which puzzled Wang Chengen. However, since the emperor had given the order, he had no choice but to carry it out.

Before long, the doors of the Wuying Hall slowly opened, emitting a dull creaking sound.

A young eunuch hurried out of the hall, approached Wang Chengen, and bowed respectfully: "His Majesty summons Eunuch Wang."

.

"Um."

Wang Chengen gave a soft reply and quickly walked into the palace alone. He saw the emperor washing his hair and bowed down, saying, "The things Your Majesty instructed me to prepare yesterday are all outside the palace."

"Have them bring it in."

"As you command."

Wang Chengen slowly rose and waved to the waiting crowd at the palace gate.

Upon seeing this, the eunuchs carrying trays quickly entered the hall one by one and lined up side by side.

When Zhu Jian saw the items being brought over, he went up to inspect them one by one. There were sorghum, soybeans, wheat, raw meat, sugar, salt, and other supplies.

Prosecutor Zhu pointed to the raw meat and asked, "What kind of meat is this?"

"Pork... pork..." Wang Chengen said with a troubled expression.

Pork is actually just pork. Because the emperor's surname was Zhu, Wang Chengen did not dare to say "pork" directly, as he wanted to avoid suspicion.

After thinking for a moment, Prosecutor Zhu tentatively asked, "Pork? Or pork?"

Wang Chengen nodded.

"Pork is pork, why 'pig meat'?" Prosecutor Zhu looked displeased. He didn't like playing games and didn't have many taboos.

"Yes."

Zhu Jian didn't make things difficult for his loyal friend any further and said, "Go to the Imperial Kitchen."

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Kitchen is filled with smoke. If someone dares to offend Your Majesty again, perhaps this servant should take over?" Wang Chengen said instinctively.

The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were all of noble status. How could they go to a place like the Imperial Kitchen, a place filled with the smoke of cooking? Moreover, the eunuchs in the Imperial Kitchen might never have seen the emperor in their entire lives. If the emperor really went there and something went wrong, they would be held responsible.

"No hindrance"

Seeing that he couldn't stop it, Wang Chengen secretly put his hands behind his back and beckoned to another eunuch, signaling him to hurry to the imperial kitchen to prepare and inform him of the news, lest something go wrong.

The young eunuch was quick-witted. Seeing Wang Chengen's gesture, he cautiously took two steps back, exited the door, and quickly ran around to the imperial kitchen.

Before long, Zhu Jian finished washing up, put on his black gauze hat, and walked towards the imperial kitchen accompanied by Wang Chengen and a group of eunuchs.

As they walked, Prosecutor Zhu asked, "Do you know the prices of these items?"

"Beans, wheat, and sorghum cost about two taels of silver per shi, raw meat costs forty taels per shi, salt costs one tael and five mace per shi, sugar cubes cost sixty taels per shi..." Wang Chengen explained the prices of these kinds of food in detail.

He also oversees the imperial kitchen, and these prices are the actual prices that fall into his hands. Previously, the purchasing eunuchs had inflated prices, but Wang Chengen took the opportunity of purging the palace eunuchs to clean up a group of them. Now, these purchasing prices are not inflated, and the profit has shifted to the weight.

The actual weight of five jin might become seven jin, or even more, at the purchasing office... After all, Wang Chengen couldn't personally supervise the weighing of every single item, so he mostly turned a blind eye to the discrepancies.

Zhu Jian was aware of these methods, but they were all minor matters. It was one thing for the eunuch to secretly take a little, but his salary was too low and often interrupted, and payments were not timely. If he killed them all and replaced them with another batch, it would be the same after a while. Killing people wouldn't solve the problem, as long as there were no fundamental issues.

He hadn't heard of any food safety issues during this period, which was fine. "I remember that pork was about five taels per shi in the first year of Chongzhen's reign?" Zhu Jian had this impression in his mind, but he wasn't sure if he remembered it wrong, so he asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jian frowned even more deeply. This meant that prices had skyrocketed, and there were problems with the supply and demand of goods and currency in the Ming Dynasty.

If this problem is allowed to continue, no amount of silver will help.

Originally, a shi (a unit of dry measure) of pork cost five liang (a unit of weight), but now it costs fifty liang, a tenfold increase. Military pay was seven qian (a unit of currency), and border troops paid one liang and two qian, but now it has risen to one liang and five qian. In terms of purchasing power, military pay has not only not increased, but has actually decreased.

Based on this purchasing power, no amount of silver in the Ming Dynasty would be enough to pay the army's expenses. In the end, everyone would die. If all the silver in Jiangnan and all the vassal kings were taken out and poured into the market, the death would be even faster. Pork that is currently fifty taels per shi (a unit of dry measure) could very well become one hundred taels, two hundred taels... and the prices of staple foods such as beans, wheat, and sorghum would also increase several times over.

As Zhu Jian walked, he pondered for a while and soon arrived at the Imperial Kitchen. Seeing a group of cooks already kneeling at the door, he had no choice but to put the matter aside and said, "Get up, all of you."

"I have come here to do something."

"Your Majesty, we thank you," the crowd said in unison.

The cooks in the Imperial Kitchen were not eunuchs; they were all from respectable families and could only work in the Imperial Kitchen. It was the officials, supervisors, managers, messengers, and inspectors of the Imperial Kitchen who were eunuchs, so they all referred to themselves as "lowly people."

Zhu Jian slowly walked into the house, where rows of large pots came into view.

"Grind the grains on the tray into powder, mix in white sugar, and press them into hard cakes, the smaller the better, without making them visible." Is it possible to do this?

Before he could finish speaking, the cooks exchanged bewildered glances. Then, a man who appeared to be in charge stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said, "According to His Majesty's words, the taste and texture may not be very good."

Zhu Jian nodded. As expected of the palace's head chef, he knew the result as soon as he heard it. But he didn't come here to make gourmet food: "Just eat something that will keep you full and give you energy."

The chef was relieved to hear this. If he had made something that didn't taste good, he might have been punished. Now that the emperor only asked that it be small in size and filling, it was much easier to handle.

The others breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward to take the tray from the eunuch, busily getting to work.

The head chef, after thinking for a moment, thought that following the mooncake recipe might be even better, and said, "I think we could mix in some rendered pork fat..."

Before he could finish speaking, the chef felt a chill run down his spine. Turning around, he saw Wang Chengen's piercing eyes staring at him. He immediately realized he had said the wrong thing. Zhu You... Zhu You...

He hurriedly knelt down, his face deathly pale, his body trembling uncontrollably: "Your Majesty, I... I..."

Zhu Jian was taken aback, not yet noticing the problem. He turned his head and saw Wang Chengen staring at the cook, then suddenly realized what was wrong. He waved his hand and said with a smile, "Don't scare him. He's talking about food, not calling for me."

"Don't be afraid, get up and continue."

The chef slowly stood up, but his previous state of mind was gone.

"My lord, I'd like to mix some oil into it, following the mooncake recipe, pressing it down, baking it dry. One type has more sugar, the other has salt and dried meat shreds, which will be more filling..."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jian suddenly realized, "Oh right, how come I didn't think of that? These are all incredibly filling foods!" He said, "Okay, okay, okay, make a few as you said."

"Anyone who can offer suggestions for improvement should be rewarded." After saying that, Zhu Jian subconsciously reached into his sleeve pocket, only to find it empty. He looked down and saw that he had nothing on him except a hat on his head.

He couldn't give him the emperor's hat either, then looked at Wang Chengen and saw a small jade pendant on Wang Chengen's waist, so he reached out and pulled it off: "This is a reward for you..."

"6

"I'll get you a replacement jade pendant later."

"This servant wouldn't dare; everything I own belongs to His Majesty..."

""

Upon receiving the ornament, the cook immediately kowtowed and bowed, saying, "Thank you, Your Majesty, thank you, Your Majesty."

"Alright, you can continue doing this. When you're done, have someone send a copy to the Wuying Hall."

"As you command."

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