"What? Your Majesty invites me to eat pork in the Imperial Study tonight?"
Nangong Yiyu and Zhuo Yihang looked at each other, their eyes filled with despair.
"Replying to the two Prime Ministers, His Majesty has also invited the six ministers, the Emperor Emeritus, the Empress Dowager, and others, and said that only pork will be served tonight."
"Okay, we get it."
"I'll take my leave."
Not long after, Minister of Rites Xiao Yulou and Minister of Revenue You Xianzhi hurried to the Secretariat. Before they even sat down, they saw Minister of War Zhu Wei, Minister of Personnel Wen Siyuan and Minister of Punishment Guan Shanqian arriving hand in hand.
"Lord Zhuo, Lord Nangong, isn't this ridiculous, isn't this?" Minister of Rites Xiao Yulou spoke first. "I still remember that in February, Your Majesty did the vulgar thing of castrating a pig. I wrote a letter to remonstrate with him. I thought that after half a year, Your Majesty had forgotten about it. I didn't expect that today Your Majesty would actually treat us to that pork!"
"Your Majesty, you are looking down on me!"
"I believe that a scholar can be killed but not humiliated! Your Majesty treats me like a pig or a dog, so I can only regard Your Majesty as a tyrant. Today, I resolutely disobey your order! I will never eat that pork. Even if I don't hold this position, I will die for this!"
Zhuo Yixing laughed and said, "Sit down, sit down..."
"Do you think the same as Yulou?" The five ministers sat in front of Zhuo Yixing and Nangong Yiyu, and all nodded at this moment.
Zhuo Yixing stroked his beard and smiled heartily: "I'm afraid you may have misunderstood His Majesty's intention."
"What do you mean, Lord Zhuo?"
"Your Majesty once said that since we receive salaries from the court, we can naturally eat mutton several times a month. But what about the common people? They can't afford mutton! Your Majesty always has the common people in mind. Pork is cheap, and if the unpleasant smell could be removed, it would be a rare meat!"
"Think carefully, has Your Majesty ever done anything absurd since he ascended the throne?"
The five ministers thought about it and felt that apart from the fact that His Majesty had been thinking about how to renovate the Xuande Hall, he really had not done anything ridiculous. Could it be that we had misunderstood His Majesty?
"Your Majesty says that using castration can effectively remove the smell of pigs, turning them into a delicacy! It's inexpensive and delicious, suitable for ordinary people's tables. It's nutritious and can improve people's health. It's... a national treasure!"
"Your Majesty, inviting us to taste this pork is a gift, not a sign of treating us like pigs or dogs. These are pigs that Your Majesty personally castrated. They have grown up, and this is the first bite of meat you and I can enjoy. Tell me, how many people can enjoy such a divine grace?"
"Besides, Your Majesty has also invited the Emperor, the Empress, and all the Imperial Consorts. If this pork wasn't a treasure, would Your Majesty be so grand?"
Zhuo Yixing's words left the Minister of Rites Xiao Yulou speechless.
Yes, if this pig was of low quality, how could His Majesty invite the Emperor and the Empress to eat it?
What does my identity mean in front of them?
I misunderstood Your Majesty!
"Your humble servant... was wrong! I will apologize to Your Majesty later!"
"I'm asking for a blaming blunder. You'll all know how broad-minded His Majesty is. This is just a trivial matter, not worth mentioning. However... from now on, I hope you remember not to question His Majesty so easily!"
"Your humble servant will be taught!"
…
…
The emperor invited all officials above the rank of minister of six ministries to eat pork tonight, and the news quickly spread in the court.
"Pork? Why would Your Majesty want to eat that?"
"Have you noticed? Everything His Majesty does has a deeper meaning, so I think the pigs will probably turn over!"
"You mean pork will taste good?"
"Of course, haven't you heard that His Majesty personally castrated these pigs? Imperial pigs! What a blessing it is to have a bite of them!"
"Hey, it seems that what you said makes some sense, but I don't know when this emperor pig will be able to rule the world."
"Hey, there will be news tomorrow."
There will be news tomorrow, which is naturally because the adults have eaten tonight.
At this moment, the adults hadn't eaten pork yet. Fu Xiaoguan asked Liu Jin to slaughter a pig. "When slaughtering a pig, you must bleed it. Prepare some warm water in this basin and pour in some white salt to dissolve it. When you slaughter the pig, put the blood in this basin. It will coagulate after a while. This pig's blood is a good thing. It can clear the lungs..."
"Fuck! Go get two people to help Liu Jin hold down the pig! This thing even ran away..."
Liu Jin is also innocent. He has only killed a chicken in his life.
After struggling for half an hour, the pig died. Fu Xiaoguan thought it died in pain.
"Use boiling water to scald the pig hair..."
"Cut open the stomach and take out all the offal. Don't throw it away. It's good stuff!"
“…”
The officials from the three ministries gathered behind Fu Xiaoguan, listening with their ears perked up, only to find that there were so many things to pay attention to when it came to pigs - Your Majesty must have done a lot of research on pigs!
"Pig intestines are a great dish to go with wine, and the taste of stir-fried pig intestines is simply amazing!"
"The pig's heart is braised, the liver can be stir-fried or used in soup, and the pig's lungs... discard the lungs. Turn the pig's stomach inside out and wash it thoroughly. You need to use flour to wash it. It's good for the stomach..."
Nangong Yiyu, Zhuo and his group were confused. Even though His Majesty was a small landlord in Linjiang, he had never raised pigs or even slaughtered pigs. He probably had never even eaten a bite of pork. How did he know all this?
He spoke clearly and even listed the names of the dishes directly:
"I'd like to make twice-cooked pork with this pork belly, but unfortunately there's no fermented black bean paste. Forget it, I'll just steam it and make shao bai."
"I'll make this tenderloin into a dish of shredded pork in a Beijing sauce, and then make some sliced pork with wood ear mushrooms."
"This two-cut pork is used to make a cold white meat salad..."
"Pork ribs are a good thing. Let's make some steamed pork ribs with rice flour, and then stew a pot of lotus root and pork rib soup with some kelp..."
"I've scraped the inside of the pig's ears clean and made a cold dish."
It sounds delicious, but is this pork really delicious?
Nangong Yiyu felt hungry after hearing this. He looked up at the sky and saw that it was only the end of the afternoon.
The most nervous person among this group of people is Peng Fang, the Minister of Agriculture. This is the pig he raised with his own hands after spending half a year!
Twelve of them were castrated by him personally, following His Majesty's example!
If this pork is really delicious, he will become famous overnight. If it still has that fishy smell, all his work for the past six months will be in vain.
He was also one of the invited guests to taste the pork feast tonight, because His Majesty said that after they tasted it tonight, he could announce a policy to promote this pig-raising method tomorrow, and he, Peng Fang, would be the executor of this policy.
His Majesty also said that this thing can be improved, for example, by breeding pigs from the south with pigs from the north, it may be possible to cultivate a new breed that grows more meat and grows faster.
It sounds unbelievable, but if the pork is really delicious, Peng Fang feels that he must devote his entire life to this vigorous pig-raising movement.
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