Chongzhen was eating Chaos with an exquisite blue and white porcelain spoon while listening to Jin Yiwei's summary of yesterday's intelligence.
Chongzhen's rice is not big. In a small blue and white bowl, in addition to chicken soup, there are only a dozen small pieces of rice. In addition, there is a plate of two steamed eggs and a small beef and white radish patty that is only ten centimeters. The patties are fried on both sides.
It's golden and looks very attractive.
Vegetarian dishes include pickles, carrots cut into thin strips, lettuce leaves, cabbage hearts, cucumbers, etc. They are nutritious and delicious.
The people of the Ming Dynasty had very noble and elegant tastes in aesthetics. They liked blue and white porcelain, instead of painting the blue palace walls in bright red and making the porcelain in pastels like the later Manchu Qing Dynasty did.
Chongzhen's pork belly was made from one-foot-long large prawns chopped into pieces. It was very delicious. It was also the favorite of the three empresses in the harem.
"Well, Xinghe Supermarket has increased the supply of marine fish this year, which is a good thing." Chongzhen chewed the cucumber strips until they were crunchy. This was all brought to the palace by Yang Fan after he led the regiment to station in the palace.
Eating habits.
If the green onions dipped in soybean paste weren't too strong and overpowering, it would have become popular in the palace.
After listening to Jin Yiwei's report, Wang Chengen quickly put a little bit of each of the various seafood products that His Majesty asked him to send people to purchase.
Chongzhen looked at the legendary cheapest salted fish - mackerel and mackerel.
"Which one is the mackerel and which one is the mackerel?" Chongzhen looked confused. Are they exactly the same?
Wang Chengen quickly said: "Mackerel and Spanish mackerel are very easy to distinguish. In addition to body shape and pattern, the most intuitive way is to look at the fish's mouth. The upper and lower jaws of mackerel have no teeth, while the mackerel is full of sharp teeth."
"Well, there is indeed a difference." Chongzhen finally understood. "These are the two kinds of salted fish that people like the most, right? They are also the cheapest."
Chongzhen was still more concerned about people's livelihood, and famine was now serious in several northern provinces. Xinghe Supermarket could provide other sources of food, and the emperor still attached great importance to it. After all, the ocean would not be affected by falling temperatures and drought.
Wang Chengen said: "To answer your Majesty's question, there is actually a kind of fish that is cheaper. It only costs three pennies per pound, and it is also pickled with salt. It can be used as pickles."
"Three cents, so cheap." Chongzhen was a little surprised. Because of the severe drought, the cheapest grains cost more than ten cents per pound. "What kind of fish is it? It's so cheap."
"Your Majesty, it's shark meat. All the major restaurants in the capital have begun to sell shark fins. Nowadays, eating shark fins is a new fashion. Rich people like to order a bowl of it when eating. This shark fin is cut from the back of a shark."
"What kind of fish is this shark and why is it so cheap?"
"The largest of the sharks is the whale shark, also known as the whale shark, which is seven feet long and weighs 15,000 kilograms. The smaller ones are also five or six thousand kilograms. It is said that this fish has delicious shark fins, but its meat is relatively unpalatable. It uses its skin to urinate.
, the meat smells like urine.”
"The fishing boats that catch fish can sell them for a lot of money because the shark fins are precious. But the whole fish is worthless and is thrown away directly. Many businessmen can buy a six or seven thousand kilogram shark for only one hundred pennies, and they just throw the shark's parts away
The meat is cut into ten-pound pieces, then rubbed with sea salt, smoked with pine branches and air-dried. In this way, it can be kept without spoiling for a year or two, and there is basically no cost. Private salt on the beach is very cheap."
Chongzhen nodded and said: "I actually know that salted fish is so easy to sell because it is salty. People can't afford salt. In the past, they could only suffer. Now there is salted fish that everyone can afford. This is a good thing.
.”
"Some ministers wrote to me before, asking me to ban salted fish in supermarkets. Because these fish meats contain too much salt, which affects the interests of salt merchants. But I thought about it again and again and felt that I still can't listen to them. When the Ming Dynasty was founded, the salt tax was
There were 16 million taels per year, but now there are less than 400,000 taels. I can’t collect this money anyway. It’s better to give the people something easier.”
Wang Chengen said quickly: "Your Majesty is so kind and always thinks about these little people."
Chongzhen picked up some steamed salted fish with a kuaizi and put it into his mouth. He chewed it and almost spit it out. It was fishy and had a strange smell, and was extremely unpalatable.
He quickly drank some water and swallowed it forcefully.
However, it is very salty. Yang Fan's factory does put enough salt. He knows that Yang Fan's people built a salt field on the beach and use the sun to dry the salt, which is much cheaper than boiling salt.
In fact, this is also a private affair. It’s just that the nobles all meddle in the affair and no one is pursuing it.
"Oh, the seafood I eat every day is so delicious. I didn't expect the cheapest salted fish to taste like this."
"Your Majesty, the common people below have no chance to eat meat. They are already very satisfied with this kind of raw salted fish. Besides, this kind of sea fish is cheap. The reason why they eat a lot is because it has not been processed. If you make it
If it tastes good, the price will go up, and ordinary people will not be able to afford it."
Chongzhen nodded in his mind, there was nothing that could be done about it. Canned fish is delicious, but fried and spiced, it is definitely not cheap. The canned boxes outside are still made of tinplate. Daming iron is not cheap. This is clear.
Not for the poor.
Chongzhen asked: "How much fish can we provide in a day now?"
Wang Chengen knew that the emperor was most worried about this year's disaster and was eager to find new sources of food. This food must also be cheap and able to be transported over long distances without spoiling.
"Your Majesty, Uncle Dingyuan's Beitangkou seafood warehouse can supply the capital with 3,000 ten-pound tinplate cans every day. Frozen fish and live fish, about 2,000 jins. Currently, salted fish can only supply 10,000 jins per day."
Chongzhen calculated that this output could be absorbed by the capital city. It would be good if one-third could be transported to various places in Northern Zhili.
"Can't we increase production? This production seems to be a lot, but it is far from enough to solve the famine in the North."
"I heard that the limit has been reached. There are currently only 13 trawlers in operation. There are still 50 boats under construction. It is estimated that they will be launched at the end of March. In the second half of the year, it is said that the output can quadruple. From the fishery trading company
People say that to really increase production on a large scale, we have to wait until large fishing boats powered by steam engines are built. When that happens, two boats can trawl a net and catch more than 100,000 kilograms of fish at a time."
Chongzhen sighed. It seemed that distant water could not quench his thirst. Chongzhen drank the wonton soup and then asked: "Where are Uncle Dingyuan and Zhang Shize?"
The Jinyi Guardsman quickly replied: "A few days ago, the Beijing camp rushed to Zhangjiakou. Because Zhangjiakou was attacked by Tuxietu Khan's tribe, the Zhangjiakou fortress fell. The army went to rescue. After regaining the fort, they rested in Zhangjiakou for two days.
.We are currently marching on the grassland. We estimate that we will reach Jining City today."
Chongzhen said to himself: "After Jining, we will reach Guihua City. There are also a small number of Tumut garrison in Jining. The war has begun. I don't know how many casualties the Beijing camp will have."
He only had this little capital, but he knew that soldiers and horses could not be trained without going to the battlefield. He understood this truth from Yang Fan's experience. Soldiers must be rushed to the battlefield. Actual combat is the best way to train troops.
At this time, Yang Fan and Zhang Size had arrived at Jining City. This was the only fortified city of the Tumut people in the east. There were three thousand people guarding it.
This will be the first battle in the Beijing camp.
These former waste snacks trained by Yang Fan are finally about to accept the test of the battlefield.
Looking at the city wall made of blue stones. This super small city is less than half of Zhangjiakou Fort. Yang Fan waved his hand and said: "Set up camp and have a good rest. We will attack the city tomorrow morning."
