Chapter 412 Sharpening the knife to the dining room
They set off from Tongzhou early in the morning and arrived in the capital before noon. Then they hurried straight to the palace and climbed a Long Live Mountain. After Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying chatted for a while about the past in the capital and the palace, they naturally felt hungry. So when the emperor said with a smile, he was ready.
We had lunch at the Wanshou Pavilion in the Longevity Mountain, and Zhang Shou breathed a sigh of relief.
If he was summoned before noon but did not eat, he would have to rely on the dried meat that Ah Liu always brought with him to satisfy his hunger on the way out of the palace. Of course, he could only eat it by hiding in the car, otherwise he would be seen by others.
There is really no demeanor left!
It’s just that when you eat on Wanshou Mountain, you have the scenery and the atmosphere, but the dishes and snacks that are put out in the food boxes with charcoal fire stored in the hidden compartments at this time look extremely beautiful, but the taste is...
...It was so ordinary that Zhang Shou couldn't help but think of some high-end restaurants with luxurious decoration, exquisite presentation, and considerate service...but only bad food!
And he controlled himself not to show an expression of disgust, but there were two people beside him who he had teased. After Ge Yong tasted a few casually, his frown never relaxed, and Zhu Ying
, even after tasting a piece of dim sum, he complained directly: "Why is the standard of the imperial dining room in the palace worse than before? The Queen Mother's small kitchen in Qingning Palace is obviously not bad!"
The emperor glanced at Zhu Ying, who reacted directly, Ge Yong, who was full of disgust, and Zhang Shou, who was calm and composed, and then looked at his two sons. He saw the third and fourth princes bowing their heads and taking a bite honestly.
, let alone complaining, just didn't say a word. At this moment, he asked his two young sons: "Sanlang, Shiro, do you think these dishes are delicious?"
The third prince and the fourth prince then raised their heads in confusion. They looked at each other and then answered in unison.
"tasty!"
"Unappetizing!"
As soon as the words came out, the two of them stared at each other in surprise again. The fourth prince shouted first: "Third brother, why are you telling lies with your eyes open? This dish is obviously terrible. Last time you complained to me that it was just a waste of food."
Lu Si is in charge of the imperial dining room, but the food in the imperial dining room is getting worse and worse! If it weren’t for the small kitchen in Qingning Palace, even the imperial grandmother wouldn’t be able to eat delicious food!”
He had the courage to lie about how delicious it was, but was exposed by his younger brother. The third prince suddenly turned red with embarrassment.
Seeing that the emperor's eyes were not angry when he looked at him, but seemed to encourage him to tell the truth, he mustered up the courage to say: "My father has taught me to be content with what I have. The teacher also said before that there are still people who cannot eat enough."
, so it just doesn’t taste good, so I just want to put up with it.”
He paused as he spoke, and then his voice became lighter as if he was guilty: "Furthermore, Father, you have been eating for so many years and have never said anything. I thought you didn't want others to think you were a picky eater.
…”
Hearing that the third prince actually said that it was because of the emperor's attitude, Zhang Shou finally couldn't help but laugh. Seeing the emperor shaking his head and sighing, he said, "Third prince, there is a difference between picky eaters and picky eaters.
.The Imperial Dining Room is under the jurisdiction of Guanglu Temple. It provides food and drink for the emperor and other people in the palace. The amount of money allocated every month to purchase ingredients is not a small amount."
"And the imperial chefs in the imperial dining room are also known as top experts. In this case, with high amounts of money, excellent ingredients, and top experts, the dishes and snacks produced in the end are not satisfactory. Do you think this is normal?"
The fourth prince was always a troublemaker, but without thinking, he jumped in front of the third prince and shouted: "Of course it's not normal!"
At this time, Zhang Shougang said with a half-smile: "Then, this is obviously a meal presented to the emperor, obviously he is paid a high salary to do the work, and it is obviously said that he has someone to buy the best ingredients, why is it not delicious?
"
Faced with this somewhat complicated problem, the fourth prince was suddenly at a loss. He racked his brains and thought hard for a long time before he said with some uncertainty: "They must think that the father is kind and will not hold people accountable..."
As the third brother said, because they thought my father wanted to be a wise king, they blatantly fooled him!"
With such an answer, the third prince was immediately surprised. He widened his eyes in disbelief and said, "Isn't that true? How could they be so bold... No, how could they be so bold! Fourth brother, you think of people too badly.
Already..."
Before the third prince could finish what he said, the emperor said slowly: "Actually, what Zhang Shou said and what Shiro said are mostly correct. Those emperors who lived deep in the inner palace in the past didn't know what the so-called "all the people support the emperor" meant.
It’s true, but both Ying Zong, who was once the vassal king, and Ruizong, my deceased father, all know about it.”
"For example, the tributes brought to the palace will never be the best. Most of them are top-grade, or even medium-grade. However, it would be more troublesome to give local gifts to please the superiors. Because once the top treasures are brought to the palace as tribute,
Here, if the quality of the tributes is different in the future, then the chief minister will have to worry about being held accountable. But this is tolerated, and I will not get angry just because the tributes are not top-notch."
"However, by falsely reporting expenses and making wanton profits, cats and dogs can all become royal chefs, and they have been doing it openly for so many years. I have been using things of that quality to fool people. I have endured it for so many years, but I don't want to endure it anymore!"
"The royal palace's food and beverage expenses for twelve months a year are a huge number. If it were publicized, all the officials and people in the world would secretly scold me for being extravagant. After all, those wealthy businessmen who are famous for their extravagance would be
We can only look back in disbelief. However, you guys, Saburo and Shiro, have been eating for many years, so you should know what I and you actually ate!"
"In the folk, a few cents is enough to pay for an egg worth more than ten cents. When you get to the palace, it costs dozens of cents, hundreds of cents... Oh, this is all thanks to Emperor Taizu, because he once said that the emperor was deceived by a traitor, and how many times did he pay for it?
It’s a story that eggs cost thirty guans each, so I don’t dare to be so blatant, and because I like to leave the palace when I have nothing to do, those people have to restrain themselves.”
"If you really live deep in the inner palace and rule the world from the top, you will be a simple person, and you can be distorted into a dragon, a liver, and a phoenix!"
At this point, the emperor paused suddenly, and then said nonchalantly: "So, today I invited you and Zhang Shou to eat these poor dishes from the imperial dining room on purpose. Guanglu Temple is in charge of the imperial dining room, and the corpses have been eating vegetarian meals for so many years.
It’s time to put things in order. Otherwise, if I and the people in the palace continue to eat like this, I’m afraid the inner treasury will be depleted.”
The emperor specially emphasized the word "nei treasury". Seeing Zhang Shou's expression startled, he said earnestly: "You know, every penny of the high-quality and high-priced food I eat is paid for by the inner treasury."
.”
As far as Zhang Shou knew, there was a certain distinction between the money in the national treasury and the internal treasury as early as the Han and Tang Dynasties, but the so-called division was actually very blurry. In the Song Dynasty, ministers even openly used the excuse that the national treasury was not enough to ask internal treasury money.
The emperor could only agree to borrow money from the treasury. Of course, this kind of borrowing was not strictly valid, because most of the money from the treasury was additionally allocated from annual taxes.
Because with the little property of the royal family, it is actually impossible to maintain the huge family expenses. Even if the emperors in the early Song Dynasty claimed to be frugal, in fact, it was the same. How can the frugality of the emperor be compared with the frugality of the folk? No matter how frugal you eat,
What's the use? From services to living furnishings, what don't you need to spend money on?
Zhang Shou heard from Zhu Ying that Emperor Ruizhong and Emperor Renzong, who were the emperor's grandfathers, were both vassal kings who were very good at farming, so their industries were huge. Now the emperor's private property includes two
The merchant fleet, hundreds of shops in the best locations in Guangzhou and Ningbo, and contiguous farms, so from the time Ruizhong ascended the throne, the inner treasury was separated from the national treasury.
Of course, the Duke of Zhao and the Zhu family, who are relatives of the royal family, know about this kind of thing, the top ministers know about it, the dedicated officials and wealthy businessmen know about it, and ordinary people... of course they don't know about it.
The biggest reason why Emperor Ruizong separated the inner treasury and the state treasury was because although the treasury claimed to allocate huge sums of money to the inner treasury every year for the expenses of the emperor's large family, in fact the inner treasury was managed by the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the real expenses were
The accounting department also has the final say on the accounting books.
Since Ruizong, the inner treasury is no longer under the control of the Ministry of Household Affairs. The money bag is in the hands of the emperor, and the person who is in charge of the money bag is naturally the Supervisor of Ceremonies. Now, listening to the emperor's tone, all the expenses of the imperial kitchen belong to the inner treasury.
Allocated to Guanglu Temple.
However, Zhu Ying revealed this to him in private, but Zhang Shou would never tell it in front of the emperor. Therefore, at this moment, he looked at Zhu Ying first, and then asked with doubts on his face: "
Aren’t the money from the internal treasury and the money from the national treasury the same thing?”
If Zhang Shou hadn't glanced at her first, Zhu Ying would have been exposed. When the emperor turned to look at her, she blinked innocently and said, "Of course it's different! The inner treasury is the inner treasury, and the national treasury is the national treasury.
In addition to those tributes from foreign countries, the emperor will select some to honor the Queen Mother or for personal use or reward others, and the rest will be auctioned once a year, and the money will be put into the national treasury."
Zhu Ying had never mentioned the matter of auctioning tributes before, so Zhang Shou's surprised expression this time was genuine.
When the emperor saw Zhang Shou's surprised expression, he thought that Zhang Shou really knew nothing about it, so he immediately explained in detail the difference between the inner treasury and the national treasury.
Of course, Ge Yong knew about this kind of thing, but the third and fourth princes had no knowledge of it. So, the two young guys' eyes widened when they heard it, but they still became more and more confused. After all, even if
Just because a kid has a lot of talent, it definitely doesn't mean he can figure out this subtle difference.
While Zhang Shouze was reviewing the old things Zhu Ying told him based on the emperor's words, he pondered in his heart. He only felt that the emperor told him about cutting the knife to the imperial kitchen and Guanglu Temple during the meal, which seemed a bit inappropriate.
normal.
He is not an imperial master like Ge Yong, nor is he a follower of the Six Ministries, or an official of the Imperial Academy or the Six Sections Gallery. What is the use of talking to him about this kind of thing?
He didn't believe that the emperor had always regarded Zhu Ying as half a daughter, so now he regarded him as a son-in-law, chatting about everyday things. How could an emperor have so much free time? Even if he was a real consort, the emperor had no time to receive her like this.
As he was thinking about it, something suddenly moved in his mind. He immediately raised his head to look at the emperor and asked thoughtfully: "I remember hearing Lu Sanlang say before that the students of Jiuzhangtang have recently done internships with Wang Zongxian and the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Besides, there are also interns at Guanglu Temple?"
Zhu Ying is not stupid, but she has never been very willing to use her brain. But when Zhang Shou said this, she suddenly realized it. She slapped the table and stood up and said: "It turns out that your Majesty has a premeditated plan. You are sending them to check the accounts."
Wait? Your Majesty, you are too cunning!"
Chu Kuan had been standing by quietly. Although he did not expect that the emperor would reveal the whole matter to Zhang Shouruo and tear off the light veil to the third and fourth princes, he did know for a long time that the emperor planned to
We used the students at Jiuzhangtang, most of whom had no background and were extremely sensitive to numbers, to check out the foundation of Guanglu Temple.
Therefore, he just pretended not to notice Zhu Ying's behavior that was obviously unethical. Not only him, but also the guards around him all had "I didn't see and I didn't hear" expressions.
When the emperor heard Zhu Ying saying that he was cunning, he couldn't help laughing. Then he drank the wine in one go and said slowly: "Yingying, do you know that I am cunning? If you didn't have a plan in advance.
, why did I advocate the reopening of Jiuzhangtang last year? Of course, it would be an unexpected surprise to meet a talent like Zhang Shou."
Now that the emperor has acknowledged it, Zhang Shou smiled and raised his glass: "Should I say, thank you for your trust?"
He raised his hand to signal Zhang Shou to drink, and the emperor said with a smile: "I believe in the vision of the teacher and Yingying. And after seeing the class you taught and what you did with that group of students, I believe even more."
You have no doubts. But even so, I never expected that you would not compete with your future uncle-in-law in Cangzhou, but rather complement each other."
As he spoke, he poured himself a cup with some regret, shrugged and said, "I thought you were going to have a fight. Even Zhu Erlang was beyond my expectation. I thought Yingying and his elder brother saw him.
This younger brother will definitely be so angry that he will be beaten up."
"It can be said that for anyone who is close to you, this change is really too big."
Before Zhu Ying could get angry, the emperor drank it down again. Then he looked at Zhang Shou with bright eyes and said with great interest: "So, I want to give you a task. Not only this time, but also the accounts of the inner treasury in the future."
How about leaving it all to your Jiuzhangtang to judge?"
Is this treating Jiuzhangtang as an accounting firm or what? Zhang Shou was dumbfounded. He wanted to say that this was actually overqualified and unprofessional. However, when he thought of the development of mathematics in Europe, it was actually because the nobles needed accounting and auditing, and now Jiuzhangtang is in need of accounting and auditing.
Most of the students in Zhangtang came from Weihan, and probably no one would refuse this road to heaven, so he felt that it was difficult for him to refuse.
So after thinking about it roughly, he responded: "Thanks to the emperor's trust, I will select talents who are proficient in accounting among the students. However, if such people continue to be needed in the future, I think it is necessary to open another one in Jiuzhangtang."
Accounting and auditing courses.”
Having said this, Zhang Shou couldn't help but sigh in his heart. You know, he had some experience with accounting and auditing, but he only had a superficial understanding of it. Some of the elective courses were actually mixed up with the physical education teacher.
It’s not too much to learn too much. He can really only rely on him to provide principles and ideas to Ge Yong for these two courses. He will die if he is asked to compile teaching materials!