After rejecting the others, only Brother Zhang was left in the hall. It was impossible for Brother Zhang to kneel to the emperor, but the good thing about the Song Dynasty was that they did not kneel down in informal situations, especially Brother Zhang himself. He is just a scholar. There is no need to kneel down even when seeing the emperor unless there are special circumstances.
After all, how is it possible for him to kneel down? If not, just kill him. Then he will lock this world and come back with three million heavy armored combined troops to turn this place into a primitive society.
"You idiot, let me ask you, if it were you, how would you seize this throne?"
People are all the same. There is nothing to be anxious about. The most urgent thing here is to transform the orthodox dynasty from the Central Plains into a small and peaceful court in the south. Winning or losing is a trivial matter to the emperor. Seizing unification is a first-class event. In addition, Shandong was also occupied by the Liao people. Once the Kong family presided over the Taishan ceremony for the Liao people, everything would really be over.
Therefore, the old man Zhao Zhen is a little ill and wants to seek medical treatment urgently. He will ask questions when he sees someone. All the ministers in the dynasty say that it is education and enlightenment, but now they have all educated themselves in Lin'an City, and I am afraid it will be necessary to educate them again. He was forced to jump into the sea.
"Me?" Brother Zhang saw the old man asking himself, so he thought for a while: "I don't have any good ideas. After all, the two sides of the legal system are evenly matched, and the Liao Kingdom still has a slight advantage. If we have to fight for this unity, who is worse than any of us?" Don't ask for it, spend money to support someone who can't be conquered, and then destroy the Liao Dynasty first, and use the natural chasm of the Yangtze River to survive for a few years. When they take over the world, for the legal rule of the south, they must also recognize our Legal system.”
Fortunately, it was Renzong Zhao Zhen. If any emperor did not drag Brother Zhang out and fry him, he would be considered a famous emperor through the ages. Even Zhao Zhen was so angry that he was about to have a heart attack and pointed at Zhang Ge. Brother said: "You, you, you...you idiot! Ouch..."
"Official..."
The big eunuch rushed over to help Zhao Zhen soothe his chest, and after they were fussing for a while, when Zhao Zhen came over in one breath, he patted the dragon chair and scolded: "How can there be such a stupid person in the world like you?" Son, you are so angry with me, you are so angry with me..."
"Actually, there is no other way. Since ancient times, the north and the south have been fighting against each other. The north is strong and the south is weak. The east and west are fighting against each other. The west is strong and the east is weak. This place is both south and east, so the weak is actually quite weak. Over there are Liao, Xixia, Longyou Duhufu, Tubo, and a little further away are the Gaochang Uighurs. They all crawled out of places where it was difficult to survive. In comparison, other people fight to survive, but here they fight to fight for unification. For ordinary soldiers, To be honest, orthodoxy has nothing to do with them, but they still have to survive."
Hearing this, Zhao Zhen pursed his lips and said, "Then do we really have nothing to do?"
"It's not impossible. If you can kill half of the civil servants in the court, maybe you can still fight back."
As soon as these words came out, Zhao Zhen almost spat out a mouthful of blood. Hearing that this fool actually said such words, he didn't know whether to cry or laugh for a moment. He waved his hand: "Go, go, you Get out of here. I don’t want to see you idiot anymore.”
The eunuch also shook his head: "Let's go, the officials let you go, why are you still standing there?"
Brother Zhang turned around and walked out. Halfway through, he suddenly turned around and asked, "Can you take care of a meal? I'm still hungry today."
Zhao Zhen smacked his lips. He was originally depressed because he was driven to this place by the Liao people, but today he was so angry at this fool that his blood surged several times.
However, he was calm and waved helplessly: "Go, take him to eat."
When the eunuch took Brother Zhang to dinner, Zhao Zhen sat alone on the dragon chair and carefully considered what the idiot said just now. Although every sentence sounded rebellious, he felt that all his relatives were It comes wholesale, but if you really taste it carefully, it really has that smell.
After a while, the big eunuch came back. Zhao Zhen raised his eyelids and looked at him: "Take that idiot to eat?"
"When we got back to the official's house, he had already eaten. He thought the food in our dining hall was unpalatable. He also said it was no wonder that Her Highness the Princess couldn't eat. Anyone who ate this every day would be crazy."
"This fool!!! I..." Zhao Zhen raised his head: "I want to see what he is capable of. Go! Go and tell that guy that I will see his cooking skills today. I can tolerate it. He is talking nonsense in front of the palace, but if he can’t cook this meal, don’t blame me for sending him to corvee!”
"Yes...slave, go right away."
At this moment, Brother Zhang was eating steamed steamed buns. Because there was no white sugar, the steamed buns had a sour taste, and even the royal stuff wasn't necessarily that exquisite. No wonder Su Dongpo invented so many dishes in his life. I'm sorry. These guys eat really rough.
"That idiot!"
The eunuch outside shouted loudly: "The official said that since you dislike this palace meal, the official wants to see if you have any good ideas. The official also said that he can tolerate your misconduct in front of the palace, but If your food is not as good as your taciturnity, don’t blame him for dragging you into corvee service.”
Brother Zhang didn't answer immediately. He just stood up and walked around the kitchen with the steamed bun in his mouth. He looked at and touched all the dishes and seasonings. Then he said: "Although there are not many things, it is still enough. I will call you when it is ready."
"Hey...you idiot!"
"The world may be longer, so let's just have it as dinner then."
The great eunuch had no choice but to report what he said to Zhao Zhen. After hearing this, Zhao Zhen nodded: "Okay, I want to see what tricks he can come up with."
Due to the limitations of the times, there are not many seasonings here. For example, there is no MSG from the King of Umami, but chicken soup can be used instead. There is no oyster sauce either, but you can use fish bones and boiled glue instead. There is no sugar, but honey can be used instead. It's not spicy, but it can be replaced with horseradish, horseradish, and dogwood.
When Brother Zhang saw the things in the imperial dining room, he rolled up his sleeves and started to work. He immediately started to greet the little eunuchs in the imperial dining room and started to chop the old hen and clear water crucian carp into minced meat, and then continued Stew fish bones, chicken, duck, ham hooves and scallops, and the dish he is about to cook is the legendary boiled cabbage.
Fortunately, there are many things in the kitchen, so Brother Zhang can still have a lot of room to play.
Tonight’s menu is boiled cabbage, Jiang Shilang tofu, vinegar-pickled radish, mandarin fish with pine nuts, grilled wings with honey sauce, braised wild vegetables, minced meat pickles, and tea oil toads. The soup is sea rice and winter melon soup, and the staple food is green onions. Noodles mixed with oil, multi-grain steamed buns, rice and chowder with vegetables, and desserts include almond tofu curd and ginger juice with milk.
There is no mutton here that is commonly eaten by people in the Song Dynasty. Most of them have a light, fresh and sweet taste. Only the steamed dumplings and minced meat pickles are spicy, but the main purpose of this set of dishes is to appetizer and comfort.
Except for boiled cabbage, all other dishes are very fast, but this staple food needs to be slower. Noodles, steamed buns, etc. are all fine, but this rice is different. People in the Song Dynasty also eat rice, but they eat it in a different way. They like to cook rice porridge or steamed rice with water, and rarely eat steamed rice like Brother Zhang.
So it takes a little more trouble here, and he has to beat part of the rice into rice paste and mix it with glutinous rice to make steamed dumplings.
Ginger juice with milk uses buffalo milk. Song cannot eat beef. Buffaloes are used for plowing fields, but getting some buffalo milk is not a big problem. Ginger juice with milk is a typical Cantonese style dish. It's most likely their first time eating today.
His kitchen knife was chopping on the chopping board all afternoon. In the evening, the eunuch came again. He stood at the door with squinted eyes, watching the dishes of clear soup and watery things being placed on the table by this fool. But there was contempt in my heart.
"Are you ready? The officials are a little impatient to wait."
Brother Zhang hummed, and poured the soup from the last dish of boiled cabbage onto the cabbage. The cabbage slowly bloomed into a flower. The eunuch sighed and stretched his head over to look at him in surprise. The cooks in the room all had their eyes widened. After all, they had been busy all afternoon and were just waiting for this.
When the dishes were all ready, the eunuch hummed and pointed at the food on the table: "You eat some first, and I'll watch you eat."
Brother Zhang knew these bad habits, and he was not polite. He was hungry anyway, so he took a spoon and a bowl. He made some of each dish and made a big bowl. He sat there and slurped and ate like this. The wife was really greedy, and even the well-informed eunuch swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva.
After waiting for a while, seeing that the fool showed no signs of being poisoned, the eunuch raised his hand and asked someone to bring the things over.
At this moment, Emperor Renzong was sitting there with a headache. The current situation on the front line was really not optimistic. If the civil and military officials in the dynasty weren't so loyal, he would have to consider what that idiot said and kill half of them first.
"Guan family, the food is here."
"knew."
Seeing that Emperor Renzong did not move, the eunuch said softly: "This is all done by that idiot."
"Oh?" Emperor Renzong's only joy during this period was Brother Zhang. When he heard that the meal was cooked by this idiot, he recovered from his troubles.
When several dishes came to him, he stood up and took a look: "It's interesting. They all look like rural things, but they are thick and thin. Even though this boiled cabbage clear soup has little water, it looks good." , but looking at it also makes people lose their appetite.”
After saying that, he picked up a spoon and scooped out a spoonful of boiled cabbage soup. He thought it was a tasteless soup, but as soon as it entered his mouth, he was immediately opened. The degree of exposure in the child's body was indeed shocking for a long time.
After that, he took a few more sips and hissed: "It's weird. How come this clear cabbage soup has such a strong meaty flavor? It's weird."
He marveled at it, and then ate another crystal-clear Mijiaozi. When he entered his mouth, he felt the elasticity that was different from flour at first, then the slight bitterness of wild vegetables, then the brightness of shrimps, and finally the taste of horseradish and dogwood. It was spicy. Emperor Renzong was not good at eating spicy food, so his face turned red all of a sudden.
At this moment, the chief eunuch thought something had happened and hurriedly stepped forward. Just as he was about to help him, Zhao Zhen pushed him: "It's okay, it's just that it's spicy..."
He quickly picked up the moist and white stuff on the side and took a bite. Then he felt a fresh and sweet taste, and he hummed: "What is this?"
"That fool said it's called almond tofu."
"Okay, okay, this is good."
Not to mention, Zhao Zhen became more and more addicted to these dishes as he ate them. Zhao Zhen, who had been dealing with random bites for a long time because he was in a bad mood, today ate six of the multi-grain Wowotou buns, minced meat and pickled vegetables. I soaked up a bowl of rice with sea rice and winter melon soup, ate a small plate of noodles, and finally ate four colorful spicy dumplings.
But he was an old man after all. After eating, he sat there and panted: "This guy is indeed quite capable. No wonder he said that my dining room is not good. From this look, it is indeed not good. But I can't figure out what happened to this cabbage." It will be so delicious and full of meat flavor. And the white and tender tofu is so sweet."
Having said this, he slapped his forehead: "Go quickly, heat some up and bring it to my poor daughter. She hasn't had anything to eat in several days."
"Slave, let's do it now."
"Wait a minute, I'll go with you."
My dearly loved little daughter is dying. She hasn't had a normal meal for several days. She always feels full after just two bites and will vomit if she eats any more.
Today, even if a dead horse becomes a live doctor, maybe this idiot will actually be lucky enough to fool people.
Several meals were heated and delivered to the sick princess's boudoir. Zhao Zhen waited outside until the palace maid inside rushed out and said excitedly with tears in her eyes: "Guan family, eat... eat,... Your Highness the Princess ate."
Zhao Zhen didn't care about the imperial etiquette at this moment. He opened the curtain and walked in. He saw his daughter eating the spicy dumplings in small bites. It was so spicy that he burped and drank a bowl of the ginger-flavored dumplings. Milky dessert, followed by a big bowl of soup and a lot of rice.
This is not to say that people are like iron rice or steel. Although there is no medicine in this food, within just one stick of incense after eating the food, the princess's pale face actually turned red, and her energy level was obviously much better.
"Rong'er, are you still dizzy?"
"Much better, thank you Father for your concern..."
"If you still want to eat, just tell me." Zhao Zhen's eyes turned red: "Eat more, eat more, my dear Rong'er, you have suffered a lot these days, and it's all your fault for being useless. You are running around here and there, and you are not accustomed to the local environment... Sigh..."
"Father, please don't do this. My daughter feels uncomfortable after hearing this. Being able to receive the grace of her parents is already a blessing that Rong'er has cultivated for three lifetimes."
While he was talking, the eunuch suddenly walked in quickly from outside, leaned into Zhao Zhen's ear and said: "Guan family, that idiot said he cooked a meal for Her Royal Highness alone, and even had someone bring it over. .”
"Quick! Bring it here!"
After the things were brought over, Zhao Zhen found that there was only a plate of red and green radish peels and orange peels, which were sour and spicy, and a bowl of soup full of sour pepper flavor with egg drop, shredded tofu and coriander, and A large bowl of white rice with distinct grains.
"The idiot said, let Her Highness the Princess eat while she's there."
"Bubble!"
A bowl of soup rice that didn't fit on the table was completely eaten by the princess who couldn't eat. The spicy and sour orange peel and radish peel were paired with the delicious soup. The taste can't be said to be very good, but it is enjoyable. The princess, who already has a small appetite, ate until her belly bulged.
"The official... that fool is leaving!" The big eunuch ran in again at this moment: "He asked you if you wanted to kill him. If you don't kill him, he will leave."
(End of chapter)
