For ancient people, this idea of a king, a king, and a minister is deeply ingrained. Even if he is a feudal king, he is still a king. If he does not need to use a knife against the feudal king, he will definitely not use the knife.
King Zhu Zhishu of Shu, if it hadn't been for Ma Shiying's earnest persuasion, it would probably have been the turn of the Jin Yiwei commander Li Ruolian to appear.
But at this time, Ma Shiying said with a smile: "I have agreed to pay for the food!"
When Li Ruolian heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief, nodded and said, "That's it, everyone is fine!"
Imitating King Lu to find violations and slandering King Shu for rebellion. In fact, everyone in the world knows the truth of the matter, and they will also implement the current emperor's ruthlessness and greed for money. This is definitely not a good thing.
As a confidant of the current emperor and the executor of such things, Li Ruolian certainly did not want to do this.
Ma Shiying listened, nodded and said: "Your Majesty only gave two years to completely solve the problem of the chieftains in the southwest. Although it is easier for us in Shu, we still have to seize the time to work together with Sun Benbing to solve the Yunnan problem.
It’s time to train the new army!”
In Sichuan, the most famous and powerful toast is Shizhu toast.
However, the Shizhu chieftains actively responded to the national policy of the imperial court and were always very cooperative. Among them, the chieftain Ma Xianglin chose to become a military general, and his troops were reorganized into the new imperial army on the spot. This had a very strong deterrent effect on the Sichuan chieftains, thus affecting other chieftains.
choice.
Now that the King of Shu has given money and food, it can further speed up Sichuan's reform and training of the new army. Compared with Sun Chuanting's side, Ma Shiying's side is under less pressure.
As the commander of the Jinyi Guards, Li Ruolian naturally continued to stay in Shu and participated in the training of the new army. He was unable to return to the capital for the time being.
Naturally, he didn't know that at this time, the capital was once again experiencing a grand event, and it was also a food event, which made the capital seem particularly lively.
…………………………
After being reminded by Liu Weichao, Emperor Chongzhen finally held the first Ming Dynasty National Food Competition in the capital. This competition was divided into different flavors and different methods.
Sweet, spicy and other flavors, in these three categories, competitions are divided according to cooking techniques.
There are too many cooking techniques in later generations, there are twenty-six kinds in total: stir-fry, stir-fry, stir-fry, deep-fry, cook, pan-fry, stick, roast, stew, stew, steam, braising, boil, braising, braising, mixing, pickling, roasting,
Braised, frozen, shredded, honeyed, smoked, rolled, smoothed and baked.
The competition in the Ming Dynasty is not so complicated and is only divided into three categories: stir-fried, steamed and baked.
This time the food competition was also held outside the capital city. The imperial court had built a food street in advance, and all contestants competed here.
In the first five days, the people of the capital went to taste the food of each contestant. The food with the most likes, the top 500, entered the next round of the competition with judges appointed by the court.
Of course, as long as you enter the food court, you will need to pay an entrance fee.
As for the tickets, they are not expensive. For the same price as a meal in an ordinary restaurant, you can eat delicious food from all over the country. It is definitely a good deal.
But for the imperial court, the more people ate, that is, the more tickets were sold, the more money would be made, which in turn could subsidize the cost of hosting the food.
The judges appointed by the imperial court were selected from officials in Beijing who came from different places across the country.
In this way, the top 100 were selected before the competition began. This time the judges came from the Imperial Palace and the Royal Academy of Ming Dynasty.
In the palace, the maids and chamberlains of each palace serve as judges, and twenty dishes are selected. Then the owners of each palace, that is, the emperor's concubines, etc. make the selection and determine the three dishes that can be selected as the royal chef and become the palace chef.
New dishes inside.
At the Royal Academy of Ming Dynasty, fifty male and female students each participated in the selection and selected ten dishes to be selected as daily dishes at the Royal Academy of Ming Dynasty.
The winning dishes at each level will receive a certificate issued by the court. For example, a certificate of winning a certain stage of the gourmet competition.
Although it is just a certificate written on a piece of rice paper, it is something that the participating chefs (merchants) want very much. As long as you get a certificate, frame it and hang it in your lobby, it will be a good luck charm.
Good stuff!
Although, even if you don't make it to the final round, as long as you have such a certificate in one place, it will definitely be the most famous restaurant in the city!
Therefore, even if the ingredients for this food competition have to be prepared by each contestant, the large number of people participating makes it an absolute grand occasion.
During the period when this food competition was held, it was a rare event in the capital. The most popular topics were not politics, military affairs, court news, etc., but topics such as whether certain food was more delicious.
The food street here is really crowded.
Not to mention that the capital is a big city with a population of more than one million. Rich people from other places who like food also rush to the capital to participate in this food competition. Otherwise, even if they are rich, they will not be able to eat so much on weekdays.
gourmet food!
As a result, the traffic in and out of the capital was busy again, the hotels and inns in the capital were full, and everyone in the capital was smiling again.
Because Emperor Chongzhen had the experience of the Ming Dynasty Royal Academy of Sciences, he chose the venue for the food competition this time in an area that was originally a wasteland. The popularity generated by this food competition immediately caused the price of this piece of land to skyrocket.
However, Emperor Chongzhen, based on Liu Weichao's suggestion, did not intend to buy it, but instead made it a popular tourist destination in the capital, focusing on food, performances, and accommodation.
By this time, outside the capital city, there were already three and a half large areas of lively places without city wall protection.
Of these three and a half blocks, one is the new school district with the branch of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Ming Dynasty as its core, the second block is the transportation hub with the train station as its core, and the third block is this food area.
As for the remaining half, it is actually the breeding place for Wang Laowu, but it is naturally not as popular as the first three.
Although it is said that there are still Jianlu who have not been exterminated and the southwestern chieftains and bandits have not been pacified, but from the perspective of the capital, it is definitely prosperous!
In the center of the food street, there is a five-story single-family house that does not face the street, but you can see a panoramic view of the entire food street from the fifth floor. Because except for this house, all other houses are
Two floors.
This house is so special because it is the office of the government office that manages the food street. By the way, some dignitaries will come here to watch the grand event.
No, there are only a few people sitting on the fifth floor of this house, drinking tea and snacks while looking at the situation outside.
On the side, there are all burly men standing like javelins. Although they are in plain clothes, they are the kind that are not easy to mess with. In addition to wearing embroidered spring knives, they all have short handles.
Flintlock gun.
Needless to say, these people are all captains of the emperor's imperial army. The one who can be protected by them cannot be anyone else but Emperor Chongzhen.
That's right, Emperor Chongzhen was dressed in casual clothes, accompanied by Wang Cheng'en, the eunuch in charge of the ceremonial department, and came here with several members of the cabinet to observe the sentiments of the people.
Chief Assistant He Fengsheng looked at the hustle and bustle outside the window and was really moved.
In the past, not to mention that this place was a wasteland, even the area near the city wall was full of refugees. They were dressed in rags, crying for their fathers and mothers, and even bones freezing to death on the road were commonplace.
The imperial court was powerless and reluctantly gave out porridge, which meant that there were too many monks and too little porridge, and there was no way to change this.
Especially when the Jianlu invaders attacked, there were dead bodies everywhere outside the city. We had to wait for the Jianlu to retreat before cleaning up, and the stench could even drift into the capital city.
I originally thought that this was all I would see in this life.
Unexpectedly, in just a few years, there would be earth-shaking changes.
In this regard, He Fengsheng knew very well that although he was the chief minister of the Ming Dynasty, the one who changed everything was actually the emperor of the Ming Dynasty who was looking at the situation outside the window.
With this thought in his mind, his eyes could not help but stare at the sachet hanging on the emperor's chest.
Emperor Taizu is indeed the founding emperor who expelled the Tartars and established the Ming Dynasty. After becoming an immortal, he became much more powerful. Such a troubled time could actually turn into a prosperous era of Chongzhen in just a few years!
Thinking of this, He Fengsheng turned to look out the window again. He happened to see a boy with two braids pointing up to the sky. He took his mother's hand and pointed to a shop. He knew at a glance that he wanted to eat the delicious food inside. of.
On the other side, there is a child, riding on someone's neck, holding food in each hand, eating with a smile on his face;
There were also scholars, female relatives, etc., all walking around talking and laughing...
It’s really unimaginable!
Sighing all this, He Fengsheng turned to look at Emperor Chongzhen again, and made up his mind. In the remaining years, he must follow the emperor closely, so that he can gain both fame and fortune in creating an unprecedented prosperous age, and be famous for generations to come!
He thinks so, and so does everyone else.
Sometimes, words are far less convincing than facts. And this is why Emperor Chongzhen wanted to take them for a private visit incognito, to experience the great changes under his rule!
In addition, he also has another purpose, which is of course the most important purpose, which is to shoot a video for Liu Weichao. This matter can only be done by him coming in person.
After watching it himself and expressing some emotion, Emperor Chongzhen took out the mobile phone in the sachet, switched to the camera mode, and began to record the bustling scene of the Ming Dynasty Food Street. I believe this scene is far more beautiful than the Qingming River Scene. good!
Just as he finished recording the video, there was movement from the stairs. Wang Chengen walked over, took a piece of paper, and reported to Emperor Chongzhen: "Long live my Lord, Navy Commander Zheng Zhilong wants to come to Beijing to see you, saying that he has something important to say." Let’s start the matter face to face!”
This news was transmitted to Beijing using a new communication method, that is, the signal tower method. At this time, Zheng Zhilong had not yet logged in, and the news reached Emperor Chongzhen.