Firecrackers were blasting and bells were ringing. Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, dressed in a tunic, jade belt, and boots and robes, went to the Longchi of Funing Hall and burned incense in the temple to pray for a good harvest; then he went to Tianzhang Pavilion to drink and offer gifts.
, to make offerings to the ancestors; then return to Funing Hall to receive congratulations from the Queen, Crown Prince, Prince, Princess, County Madam, internal officials, and Ouchi.
After congratulations, we set off to Daqing Hall.
New Year's Day gatherings have always been held in grand celebrations.
The palace can accommodate tens of thousands of people. Four majestic warriors wearing armor stand in the corner of the palace, called the generals of the palace. The two corridors display chariots, books, and honor guards. The Ministry of War has a yellow flag guard of 5,000 people. From the palace gate
All the way to the main hall, Jin Wu's army stood inside and outside the main hall holding a large yellow flag, and ten cool umbrellas were lined up on the steps of the hall.
All the officials were already waiting outside the palace gate. They waited until the sky was dim, the stars were surrounding the building, the toads were playing, and the officials were calling, and then the palace servants came to open the palace gate. All officials entered the palace together.
city.
The people attending the New Year's Day meeting include officials from the Three Divisions, Three Dukes, Prime Ministers, Three Provinces, Xuanhui Academy, Hanlin Academy, Six Ministries, Yushitai, Secretary Ministry, Foreign Ministers and Deputy Directors, as well as people from all walks of life, as well as various countries and regions.
The feudal envoy.
All civil and military officials wore imperial robes, and when they were promoted, they wore white robes with green edges. Officials from various states brought local gifts. There were many New Year envoys from various countries, such as Xixia, Jiaozhou, and Huihe.
Khotan, Southern Barbarians, Five Tibetans, etc.
But there are missing a group of familiar faces, that is, the Daliao envoys. It is no longer possible to think of the Daliao envoys who wore golden crowns on their heads, with back eaves as long as large lotus leaves, narrow purple robes, and golden treads around their waists.
Appearing here, in just a few years, this big northern country has ended up like this, which makes people sigh.
The Jin Kingdom, which had recently emerged, was busy completely destroying the Liao Kingdom, and did not understand these etiquette, so they did not send anyone. However, it is said that their envoys are already on the way for Yan Yun's affairs. As for when they will arrive, they will not arrive.
And know it.
They all entered the congratulatory palace to wait in line. The chief music officer and other music officials stood inside and outside the palace. The door of the pavilion reminded the class. At this time, thousands of officials stood in line, the court ceremony was solemn, and the atmosphere was solemn. With the sound of clear stomping, the band played Qian'an music
, Song Huizong arrived in an imperial chariot, turned around the jade screen, and sat on the throne. But when he saw Song Huizong, he was wearing a crown and a red robe. He was very majestic, and his majesty as a king was unmistakable.
The hall was filled with smoke, creating a solemn scene.
Since Tong Guan, the privy envoy, had not returned from the expedition, this time Wang Fu alone led all the officials to wish the emperor a birthday. They performed a dance ceremony and knelt down many times. The imperial guards chanted loudly, making the sound like thunder. This was called going around the palace.
thunder.
Next, it was Brother Qiu's turn to appear. I saw that he had dressed up a lot today. He took a few steps forward and wished the emperor a long life on behalf of all the officials. His flattery was like a torrent of river water.
Song Huizong was very happy to hear it, with a smile on his face. After Brother Qiu finished flattering him, he stepped forward and announced his answer. It was nothing more than some hypocritical bullshit and should be treated as irony.
Everyone knelt down and danced again.
Music is played. The emperor descends from the throne, all officials and congratulatory envoys retire.
This is the end of the congratulatory ceremony, which is similar to the emperor's new clothes.
Next, Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty gave a banquet, which was held inside and outside the main hall. The prince, high-ranking officials, the third division commander, and the third prince were all seated in the hall, while the others sat in the corridor.
I saw traditional delicacies presented one after another. In terms of delicacies, the Song Dynasty was second, so no country dared to be first.
This is the moment that envoys from various countries and some local officials are most looking forward to. After waiting for so long, their stomachs have already growled with hunger. If they had not estimated their manners, they would have thrown off their arms and started eating. This is what it means to be a courtier.
It was so painful. Fortunately, Li Qi did not participate, otherwise, he would have started scolding his mother. At this time, Li Qi was eating abalone and ginseng porridge in the imperial kitchen, waiting for the Buddha to jump over the wall and come out. He was so unhappy.
During the dinner, the most talked about thing was Tianxia Wushuang. After all, there are many people here who have never drank Tianxia Wushuang.
I could only hear a person in the gallery exclaiming: "Tsk, tsk, this drink is unparalleled in the world."
Another person said: "It goes without saying, but do you know why this wine is called Unparalleled in the World?"
"Please enlighten me."
"Tianxia Wushuang means the word "unparalleled". The taste of this wine is ever-changing. When two two are put together, they can become a new wine, so it is called Tianxia Wushuang."
"That's it. I heard that the brewer who is unparalleled in the world is the chef with the golden sword who won the banquet from four countries."
"Exactly, and this person is still a famous person in front of the emperor. In less than a year, he has jumped from a cook to a fourth-rank official. This is the first time since the founding of the Song Dynasty."
"Is this person at the table?"
"I didn't see him just now. Maybe he was in the imperial kitchen. He now holds many positions. He is an official envoy, the deputy of the bodyguard Ma Duzhi, and the deputy general manager of the imperial kitchen."
"Then this man is truly extraordinary and his future is limitless."
"That's not necessarily true. I heard that he offended the Prime Minister."
"Oh? Then we'd better not mention it, lest the walls have ears."
"Yes Yes Yes."
.
At this time, Zuo Boqing suddenly came up with a group of maidservants, and saw that each of them was holding a dark gray jar. Song Huizong knew at a glance that it was the Buddha jumping over the wall, and said repeatedly: "Come, come
Come on, dear friends, you must have a good taste of this dish."
Some people who didn't know it were very curious when they saw that the emperor liked this dish so much.
It's a pity that not everyone can eat this Buddha Jumping Over the Wall, it's only served on about ten tables. The people in the corridor are simply not qualified to do so.
I saw the maid opened the lid of the jar and then opened the top lotus leaf. Immediately, a strong aroma of wine came to my face and went straight into my heart and spleen. The aroma left the hall and drifted along the corridor. It was really
Fragrance spreads everywhere.
When the nobles heard this, they couldn't help but salivate. They stuck their heads out and looked into the palace. They saw the maidservants pouring out bowls of thick brown soup from the altar. They also heard Cai Jing say: "This soup is thick but not greasy."
, it’s truly a masterpiece.”
"What Aiqing said is true." Song Huizong laughed and asked Zuo Boqing: "Boqing, why is this Buddha Jumping Over the Wall so fragrant? It's even more delicious than what I ate last time."
Zuo Boqing replied: "Returning to the emperor, this Buddha Jumps Over the Wall contains abalone, scallops, razor clams, and turtle skirts. There are twenty-four kinds of materials in total, six more than last time. In addition, this jar is used to hold vegetables.
They are all jars filled with fine rice wine, so the aroma will be even stronger."
When everyone heard that this dish contained twenty-four kinds of ingredients, they were stunned.
"That's it." Song Huizong nodded and said, "By the way, why didn't Li Qi come?"
Zuo Boqing nodded respectfully and replied: "To answer the question to the Emperor, the official Yanshi is still making cakes at this time, and he will probably be here soon."
Song Huizong nodded slightly, without asking any more questions, stretched out his hand and said: "My dear friends, please share this Buddha Jumping over the Wall with me."
After Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty moved his chopsticks, the others started to move one after another. When eating, they could feel the aroma of wine mixed with various aromas. The aroma was pleasant, rotten but not rotten, and the aftertaste was endless.
Since the Buddha jumped over the wall, everyone has turned a blind eye to those traditional dishes, because this Buddha jumped over the wall has almost all kinds of delicacies, especially the two-headed abalone, razor clam, and turtle skirt.
Wu Min suddenly said: "The taste of this dish is excellent, but why is the name of this dish called Buddha Jumps Over the Wall? Is there any mystery in it?"
Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty became interested. He was in high spirits and explained to everyone the origin of the Buddha jumping over the wall.
After listening to this, everyone nodded frequently, feeling that it was not an exaggeration to say that this fragrance could induce the monk to return to secular life.
Li Bangyan suddenly said: "I heard that the Buddha Jumping over the Wall is only ranked second in Zuixianju. The dish that ranks first is called 'Wuxian', but no one has tasted it so far."
Some officials who had just arrived in Beijing couldn't help but exclaimed.
Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty laughed and said: "This 'no form' is not simple. The price is enough to scare people away."
"Price?"
Li Bangyan smiled and said: "The price of this 'no form' is priceless."
Priceless? Everyone was even more puzzled. Why would you sell it if it was priceless? No one could afford it anyway.
At this moment, there was another commotion outside.
"Look, the guy with short hair is the Golden Knife Chef King."
"This hair is really strange."
.
I saw two young eunuchs pushing this wooden cart and following Li Qi to the door of the main hall. Because the wooden cart was covered by a big cover, no one knew what was inside.
The three of them saluted Song Huizong.
"No gift." Song Huizong said with a smile: "Li Qi, what is on the car is the birthday cake."
Birthday cake? Why should I make a birthday cake? No one has a birthday. Li Qi shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, this is the cream cake specially prepared by Wei Chen for this New Year's Day meeting. It's called 'Thousands of Mountains Snow'."
With that said, he opened the cover.
Everyone gasped.
I saw five "big mountains" connected together under the cover. The "mountains" are all covered with white snow, and underneath they are green, like emeralds, crystal clear. From a distance, they look like towering green peaks, endless and imposing.
Majestic.
Song Huizong was surprised and said: "Is this a cake? Why is it completely different from what I have seen before?"
Li Qi saluted and said: "When I returned to the emperor, Weichen first asked Academician Zhang to help Weichen draw a picture of the mountains. Then Weichen divided the picture of the mountains into several parts, and then made a mold according to the drawing and placed the cake on it.
Put it into the mold like an oven, and after baking, take it out, put the pieces of cake together with butter, cream and pulp as shown in the picture, and you will make this Thousand Mountains Snow. Moreover, this cake also combines three
A kind of flavor, which is mixed with candied fruits, nuts and fresh fruits."
Why is it that the dishes cooked by the Golden Knife Chef always make people wonder? When everyone heard it, they couldn't help but think of the "sun and moon compete for glory, swallowing mountains and rivers" cooked by Li Qi last time. The two are similar but have the same purpose.
Song Huizong laughed, glanced at Zhang Zeduan, and said: "Zhengdao, if you are cooking, you have a unique advantage."
Zhang Zeduan saluted and said: "Your Majesty, thank you for your reward. In fact, it is not difficult to draw a picture of these mountains, but it is really difficult to make food like this. I think I can't do it. I'm afraid that the whole world can't do it."
Only Guan Yanshi can do it."
Song Huizong laughed and said, "Send it to me."
ps: Please give me a monthly pass, period recommendation