Chapter 967 963 [Second Prince]
Prince Hai expressed his desire to annex, but was rebuked by Zhao Han, saying that the Celestial Empire would not covet the territory of a vassal state.
When he returned to Zhongshan Temple, he soon received another reward.
Officials from Honglu Temple came to convey the order, saying that although the imperial court did not want to annex the vassal country, Prince Hai was commendable for his loyalty and was given a special reward of ten gold coins and one hundred silver coins.
Prince Hai held the gold and silver coins in his hand and pondered them carefully for a long time. He roughly understood what they meant, and then went to play happily.
A Yangtze River Navy ship came quickly from the lower reaches, and eleven soldiers landed one after another.
Judging by their clothes, they were navy reserve officers.
He was wearing a uniform of canvas and a navy hat, but the epaulettes were blank.
The second prince, Zhao Kuangyi, is about to turn twenty-one.
He first graduated from Huangcheng Middle School and then went to Jinling University for four years. Unsurprisingly, he failed to obtain a diploma. At this time, you can be crowned a king, or you can extend your studies for one year (after the adjustment of the policy, college students can repeat your studies for one year). After getting your diploma, you can take the imperial examination.
The royal family and clan have set the rules and there are no more than two choices. One is to get the title honestly, get a dead salary, and don't rebel, and the rest is up to you; the other is to pass the imperial examination and give up the title, but there is an upper limit to the level of an official, and you will never become an important cabinet minister.
Zhao Kuangyi wanted to try a third path. After dropping out of Jinling University, he went to Chongming Naval Academy.
This military academy was built on Chongming Island. Some officials suggested changing the name of Chongming Island. Zhao Han replied: "The Tang Dynasty had a saying of worshiping the Ming Dynasty. Did the people of the Tang Dynasty know that the Ming Dynasty would appear?"
Now, Zhao Kuangluo has successfully graduated and can serve as a naval officer while being a prince (the upper limit is that he cannot enter the Navy Governor's Mansion).
Eight of the people who returned to Nanjing with Zhao Kuangyi were his bodyguards, and the remaining two were classmates who returned home after graduation. They have been assigned work, and after the New Year, they will report to their respective ships.
"I didn't expect that this wealthy car has already reached Nanjing." Zhao Kuangyi rubbed his hands and exhaled. This winter was not bad, and there was no ice floating on the Yangtze River.
Classmate Cui Wenmao stamped his feet and said, "The weather is getting colder and colder. I haven't heard that the Yangtze River has frozen for several years in a row."
Classmate Wang Chongxi laughed and said: "What is this? I heard that more than a hundred years ago, the sea outside Chongming Island was frozen."
Zhao Kuangluo teased: "What are you afraid of, Cui Er? The Qiulong you will serve next year will be stationed in Malacca for a long time. The winter there is very warm. Don't be afraid of the cold, you can bask in the sun every day."
Cui Wenmao was speechless: "I would rather serve as a soldier in Guangzhou, Malacca is too far."
"Your Highness, why don't you go back to the palace first?" a guard reminded.
"Let's go shopping, I haven't been back to Beijing for a long time." Zhao Kuangyi had already gone wild and didn't want to go back to the Forbidden City to hold back.
As for these eight guards, although they accompanied the second prince to the naval school, they will no longer be responsible for protecting him as long as he officially enters service. You can continue to be a guard in Nanjing, or you can obey the arrangement and become an officer in the navy.
Zhao Kuanglui didn't even want to enter the city. He walked all the way from the dock to the base of the city wall, and wandered around along the city wall.
Walking to the northeast corner outside the city, Cui Wenmao covered his nose and said, "It stinks!"
Wang Chongxi became happy: "There must be a store that sells Jinling Double Smell. I haven't eaten it for a long time. Let's go and try it."
Jinling Double Stinky Pork Intestine and Stinky Tofu can be fried, boiled or steamed together. A negative makes a positive, a stinky smell makes it fragrant. It is a delicacy that belongs to the middle and lower class people.
Zhao Kuangluo became interested: "I've heard about Jinling's double smell for a long time, but I've never had it. I want to try it today."
Cui Wenmao came from a powerful family. He shook his head repeatedly: "Your Highness, it's better not to eat pig intestines... Hey, I lose my appetite just talking about it."
"Try it before we talk." Zhao Kuangluo said with a smile.
Everyone left looking for the smell, only to see many roadside stalls set up on the riverside outside the city. This place is quite remote, not only far away from the pier, but also far away from the city gates to the north and east. But judging from their standard appearance, these stalls have probably been renovated, and stall fees are required.
It was almost noon, and coolies kept coming in batches, and there were even people pulling rich cars over to eat.
"Isn't it Jinling's double smell?"
Wang Chongxi walked to a stall and saw a steaming big pot, simmering some kind of soup.
The soup noodles are full of red oily flowers, and there are some cheap spices floating around.
Several coolies sat around the table, and the strongest one shouted: "Old rules, two ounces of water and three bowls of white rice!"
Two ounces of water and three bowls of white rice are enough for one person.
If you don't eat so much, you won't be able to bear it as a hard worker.
Wang Chongxi was quite surprised: "Can a coolie even have enough money to eat three bowls of white rice?"
When the stall owner brought the food over, I realized that it was just a nice way of saying it.
There is indeed rice, but it is all yellow and black old rice. Most of it was old grain from official warehouses that could no longer be eaten, so it was taken out and sold to the people at a low price.
In addition to old rice, it is also mixed with chopped corn and cooked together to make rice.
As for those cooking methods, they are similar to Malatang and Maocai.
Here in Nanjing, there is no feast without ducks. In the Ming Dynasty, the people at the bottom would eat ducks. Needless to say, pigs go into water. They have always been the favorite of the people.
In the two years when Zhao Han just took over Nanjing, the city consumed more than a thousand pigs every day. Now it consumes 4,000 pigs every day (including the Forbidden City), and about 300 people eat one pig every day.
This made Zhao Han very surprised. How did the author of "Tokyo Menghua Lu" calculate that Bianliang consumes tens of thousands of pigs every day?
At the same time, the first Portuguese book describing China calculated the daily food consumption of the city of Guangzhou at 5,000 to 6,000 pigs and 11,000 ducks. This data is also strange. Could it be that Nanjing during the Datong Dynasty was not as good as Guangzhou during the Jiajing Period?
No matter what, Nanjing has 4,000 pigs, thousands of ducks, hundreds of sheep and a small number of cattle every day. The animal offal resources are very rich.
Some people boil the excess fat from pig intestines into lard after repeated cleaning. This oil had a foul smell, but I couldn't bear to throw it away, so I added seasonings such as chili pepper and Sichuan peppercorns, mixed it together and cooked it into a soup base, then added various offal and stinky tofu to cook it together.
Okay, it still stinks, but this stuff is delicious. Heavy oil, spicy and cheap, it is very popular with the people at the bottom, especially those working on the docks.
But I saw the coolies holding large bowls of old rice and corn rice. They didn't eat the offal first, but poured the spicy soup into the bowls to mix with the rice. There is very little water in the two liang, and it is not enough to mix with three bowls of rice, but the soup is also flavorful, salty, spicy, and oily, which is very comfortable.
In the cold winter, a bowl of pork intestine stinky oil soup mixed with rice is enough to keep the coolies warm. Not to mention there are two ounces of offal, these are the essence, saved for the last bowl of rice.
The coolies hurriedly finished the three bowls of rice and licked the soup around the bowls clean.
"belch!"
A coolie let out a long burp, stood up, stretched his body, exhaled white air and said: "It's a comfortable day, and I have the strength to go to work!"
These few coolies left and hurried to work on the dock. Another group of coolies sat down again.
Cui Wenmao looked at the oil stains on the table, the dirty cauldron, the complex-colored soup, and smelled the strong stench in the air. He felt nauseous and said, "Your Highness, it's better not to eat this. I'll be afraid if you eat it." I'm going to have a stomachache."
Zhao Kuangluo smiled and said: "Why don't these coolies get upset after eating them? I see that they eat well, I'm afraid it tastes very good."
"Store, half a catty of offal and a bowl of rice per person is enough!" Wang Chongxi had already shouted.
The stall owners were a couple. Seeing that they were military officers, the proprietress said with a smile on her face: "Dear ladies, I'm really sorry. The tables are all full, even Maza is gone."
Wang Chongxi glanced around and saw many diners squatting to eat, so he smiled and said, "We are squatting too."
As soon as these words came out, the coolie next to him stood up and said: "Fellow military lords, you guys sit at the table while we squat."
"I'm so sorry," Wang Chongxi smiled and cupped his hands, "Thank you very much!"
Zhao Kuangluo said: "I'll treat them to their table."
The coolies who gave up the table were even happier and even borrowed rags to help Zhao Kuangyi clean the table.
Zhao Kuangluo asked: "Can you have some wine?"
The landlady said: "Those who come here for lunch have to work hard in the afternoon, and no one usually drinks..."
Zhao Kuangluo said to the guard beside him: "Go and buy a pot of wine. It doesn't matter whether it's good or bad. The sooner you buy it, the better."
A guard left quickly and trotted off to buy wine.
The rest all sat around the table. There were not enough benches, so they stood at the table. The guards also ate at the same table as the second prince.
Zhao Kuangluo fished into the soup, picked up a ball of duck intestines, and nodded repeatedly: "It smells bad, but it tastes good. It's just a little spicy."
It can't hide the taste without being spicy. The oil in the soup is all made from pig intestine oil.
Chili peppers used to be very expensive, but with the expansion of planting area, they are now a cheap condiment. In the early Ming Dynasty, pepper that was worth as much as gold could now be consumed by ordinary people.
But Wang Chongxi knew how to eat. He learned how to eat like a coolie, poured the soup into the rice, mixed it well, took a bite, and immediately smiled: "Good food!"
Cui Wenmao didn't want to eat offal, nor did he want to touch the soup. But he had to show respect to the second prince, so he picked up a mouthful of rice with chopsticks, chewed it twice and almost spit it out. Let’s not talk about old rice and crushed corn. The rice is not pounded clean and is still mixed with rice bran husks.
"Not delicious?" Zhao Kuangluo asked with a grin, the smile on his face full of malice.
"It's delicious, it's delicious!" Cui Wenmao swallowed it whole and quickly took two more bites into his mouth.
Zhao Kuangluo said: "What did the teacher at the naval school say? If you encounter a storm at sea and live in a desolate place without supplies, you will have to use everything to fill your stomach. If you are not used to eating bad food, don't become a navy."
Cui Wenmao said quickly: "What His Highness said is absolutely true."
Unfortunately, he comes from a wealthy family and his cultural classes were not very good, so his father threw him to the naval school. I have suffered enough for several years, and now I have to eat this kind of pig food.
The guard who bought the wine came back soon. Since the second prince required speed, he only bought a pot of ordinary wine.
"Come, come, come, celebrate our graduation!" Zhao Kuangluo raised his glass and shouted.
This second prince was pampered and raised in Nanjing. He completed military school in a few years and now he is full of recklessness. Eating and drinking, drinking bad wine, and chatting and laughing at roadside stalls.