Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 412: Sharpening the Knife and Heading to the Kitchen
Starting from Tongzhou early in the morning, they arrived in the capital before noon, and then hurried straight to the palace and climbed Wansui Mountain. After Zhang Shou and Zhu Ying talked about the past of the capital and the palace, they naturally felt hungry. So when the emperor smiled and said that he had prepared lunch and they would eat in the Wanshou Pavilion in Wansui Mountain, Zhang Shou breathed a sigh of relief.
If he was summoned before noon but was not given food, he would have to eat the dried meat that Ah Liu always brought with him on the way out of the palace. Of course, he could only eat it in the car, otherwise he would be seen by others and his manners would be totally ruined!
It's just that, while dining on Wanshou Mountain offers both scenery and atmosphere, the dishes and snacks that were taken out of the food boxes with charcoal stored in the secret compartments looked extremely good, but the taste was... extremely ordinary, so much so that Zhang Shou couldn't help but think of some high-end restaurants with luxurious decoration, exquisite presentation, and attentive service... but the food was just not delicious!
He tried to control himself from showing his disgust, but there were two people beside him who had been spoiled by him. After tasting a few bites, Ge Yong's frown never relaxed, and Zhu Ying, after tasting a piece of dessert, complained directly: "Why is the standard of the imperial kitchen in the palace worse than before? The Queen Mother's Qingning Palace's small kitchen is obviously not bad!"
The emperor glanced at Zhu Ying, who reacted directly, Ge Yong, who looked disgusted, and Zhang Shou, who was calm and composed, and then looked at his two sons. The third and fourth princes were eating obediently, not to mention complaining, and they didn't say a word. At this moment, he asked his two young sons: "Sanlang, Silang, do you think these dishes are delicious?"
The Third and Fourth Princes looked up in bewilderment. They looked at each other and then answered in unison.
"tasty!"
“It’s not tasty!”
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, how can you lie with your eyes open? This dish is obviously terrible. Last time you complained to me that the Guanglu Temple is in charge of the imperial kitchen, but the food in the imperial kitchen is getting worse and worse! If it weren't for the small kitchen in Qingning Palace, even the Queen Mother couldn't eat delicious food!"
The Third Prince insisted that the food was delicious but was exposed by his own brother. He was so embarrassed that his face turned red.
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, "Father taught me to be content with what I have. Teacher also said before that there are still people in the world who cannot fill their stomachs. So it's just that it doesn't taste good, and I just want to bear with it."
He paused for a moment, then his voice softened as if he was feeling guilty: "Besides, Father, you have been eating this for so many years and never said anything. I thought you didn't want others to think you were a picky eater..."
Zhang Shou finally couldn't help laughing when he heard the Third Prince actually said that it was because of the Emperor's attitude. Seeing that the Emperor shook his head and sighed without saying anything, he said, "Third Prince, being picky about food and being picky about food are different. The Imperial Kitchen is under the jurisdiction of the Guanglu Temple. It provides food for the Emperor and other people in the palace. The monthly payment for purchasing ingredients is not a small amount."
"And the chef in the imperial kitchen is also known as a top expert. In this case, with a large amount of money, excellent ingredients, and a top expert, the dishes and snacks that are finally made are not satisfactory. Do you think this is normal?"
The fourth prince was always a troublemaker, and without thinking, he shouted before the third prince: "Of course it's not normal!"
At this time, Zhang Shou said with a half-smile: "Then, this is clearly a meal presented to the emperor, it is clearly a job with a high salary, and it is clearly said that someone specially bought the best ingredients, so why can't it taste good?"
Faced with this somewhat complicated question, the Fourth Prince was a little confused. He racked his brains and pondered for a long time before he said uncertainly: "They must think that the emperor is kind and will not pursue the responsibility... Just like what the third brother said, because they think the emperor wants to be a wise ruler, they blatantly fooled him!"
The Third Prince was greatly surprised by this answer. He stared with his eyes wide open in disbelief and said, "That's not possible, is it? How could they be so bold... No, how could they be so bold! Fourth brother, you think too badly of them..."
Before the Third Prince finished speaking, the Emperor said slowly, "In fact, what Zhang Shou said and what Si Lang said were both half right. The emperors who used to live in the inner palace didn't know what the so-called people supporting the emperor was all about, but Emperor Yingzong, who used to be a vassal king, and my deceased father Emperor Ruizong, all knew about it."
"For example, tributes to the palace are never the best. Most of them are top-grade or even upper-middle-grade. On the contrary, gifts from local areas to please superiors are more troublesome. Because once the top treasures are presented to the palace, if the quality of tributes is different in the future, then the chief official will have to worry about being held accountable. But this is tolerable. I will not get angry because the tribute is not top-grade enough."
"However, they falsely reported expenses and made huge profits. Anyone can become the imperial chef, and they have been doing it openly for so many years. I have tolerated it for so many years, and I don't want to tolerate it anymore!"
"The food expenses of the imperial palace for twelve months a year is a huge number. If it is publicized, all the officials and common people in the world will secretly scold me for my extravagance. After all, those wealthy merchants who are famous for their extravagance can only lag behind me. However, Sanlang and Silang have been eating for many years, so you should know what I and you actually eat!"
"An egg that costs a few coins in the common people, or at most a dozen coins, costs dozens or even hundreds of coins in the palace...Oh, this is all thanks to Emperor Taizu, because he once cited a story about the emperor being deceived by a traitor and spending thirty strings of cash on an egg that cost only a few coins, so the people below dare not act so blatantly. And because I like to go out of the palace when I have nothing to do, those people have to be more restrained."
"If she really lived in the inner palace and ruled the country, then she would be living a simple life, but people could distort her into a dragon and a phoenix!"
At this point, the emperor paused, and then said nonchalantly: "So, today I invited you and Zhang Shou to eat the poor cooking of the imperial kitchen on purpose. Guanglu Temple is in charge of the imperial kitchen, and it has been sitting on the throne for so many years, it's time to clean it up. Otherwise, if I and the people in the palace continue to eat like this, I'm afraid we'll eat up all the money in the inner treasury."
The emperor emphasized the word "Neiku" on purpose. Seeing Zhang Shou's expression startled, he said earnestly, "You should know that every penny of the expensive and low-quality food I eat is paid for by Neiku."
As far as Zhang Shou knows, there was a certain distinction between the money in the national treasury and the inner treasury as early as the Han and Tang dynasties, but the so-called distinction was actually very vague. In the Song Dynasty, ministers openly asked the inner treasury to borrow money on the pretext that the national treasury was not enough, and the emperor had no choice but to agree. Of course, this kind of borrowing was not strictly valid, because most of the money in the inner treasury was also allocated from the annual taxes.
Because the royal family's assets were not enough to support the huge family expenses. Even if the emperors of the early Song Dynasty claimed to be frugal, in fact, how could the emperor's frugality be compared with the frugality of the misers in the people? What's the point of eating frugally? From serving to daily furnishings, what doesn't cost money?
Zhang Shou heard from Zhu Ying that Emperor Ruizong and Emperor Renzong, the emperor's grandfather, were both princes who were very good at farming and management, so they had a huge industry. The emperor's private property now included two merchant fleets, hundreds of shops in the best locations in Guangzhou and Ningbo, and contiguous farms. Therefore, since Emperor Ruizong ascended the throne, the inner treasury was separated from the national treasury.
Of course, this kind of thing was known to the Zhu family, Duke of Zhao, who were relatives of the royal family, the top ministers, interested officials and wealthy merchants, but ordinary people... of course didn't know.
The biggest reason why Emperor Ruizong separated the Inner Treasury from the National Treasury was that although the National 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 Revenue, and the Ministry of Revenue had the final say on the actual expenditure accounts.
Since Ruizong, the inner treasury was no longer under the control of the Ministry of Revenue, and the purse was in the hands of the emperor, and the person in charge of the purse was naturally the Silijian. Now, according to the emperor's tone, all the expenses of the imperial kitchen were allocated from the inner treasury to the Guanglu Temple.
However, although Zhu Ying had revealed this to him in private, Zhang Shou would never be so foolish as to tell it to the emperor. Therefore, he looked at Zhu Ying first, and then asked with a puzzled look on his face: "Aren't the money in the inner treasury and the money in 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 his head to look at her, she blinked innocently and said, "Of course they are different! The inner treasury is the inner treasury, and the national treasury is the national treasury. In addition to the tributes from foreign countries, the emperor will choose a part to honor the empress dowager or use for himself or reward others. The rest will be auctioned once a year, and the money will go into the national treasury on the spot."
Zhu Ying had never mentioned the auction of tribute 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, so he immediately explained in detail the differences between the inner treasury and the national treasury.
Ge Yong certainly knew about this, but the Third and Fourth Princes had no idea. So, the two young kids listened with their eyes wide open, but they still became more and more confused. After all, even if a child is very talented, it definitely does not mean that he can figure out such a subtle difference.
Zhang Shouze reviewed the old stories that Zhu Ying had told him based on the emperor's words, and pondered in his heart. He felt that it was a little abnormal that the emperor told him during the meal that he wanted to chop the imperial kitchen and Guanglu Temple with a knife.
He is not an imperial teacher like Ge Yong, nor is he an official of the six ministries, the Censorate or the Six Ministries. What's the point of talking to him about such things?
He didn't believe that the emperor had always treated Zhu Ying as a half-daughter, so now he treated him as a son-in-law and chatted with him. How could an emperor have so much free time? Even if he was a real son-in-law, the emperor would not have the time to receive him like this.
As he was thinking, he suddenly had an idea. He immediately looked up at the emperor and asked thoughtfully, "I remember hearing from Lu Sanlang that some of the students in Jiuzhang Hall were interning at the Ministry of Revenue in addition to Wang Zongxian and the Ministry of Revenue?"
Zhu Ying was not stupid, she just didn't like to use her brain. But when Zhang Shou said this, she suddenly understood. She slapped the table and stood up and said, "So your Majesty had planned this all along. You sent them to check the accounts? Your Majesty, you are so cunning!"
Chu Kuan had been standing quietly by the side. Although he did not expect that the emperor would reveal the whole thing to Zhang Shou as if nothing had happened, and at the same time tear off the light veil to the third and fourth princes, he did know that the emperor planned to use the students of Jiuzhang Hall, most of whom had no background and were extremely sensitive to numbers, to check the background of Guanglu Temple.
Therefore, he pretended not to see Zhu Ying's behavior that was obviously against etiquette. Not only him, but the guards around him all reacted with an expression that said I didn't see it, I didn't hear it.
When the emperor heard Zhu Ying calling him cunning, he couldn't help but laugh. He then proudly drank the wine in the glass in one breath, and then said slowly: "Yingying, you just realized how cunning I am? If I hadn't made a plan in advance, how could I have insisted on reopening Jiuzhang Hall last year? Of course, meeting a talent like Zhang Shou is a pleasant surprise."
Since the emperor had already acknowledged it, Zhang Shou smiled and raised his glass, saying, "Should I say thank you for your trust, Your Majesty?"
Raising his hand to signal Zhang Shou to drink, the emperor said with a smile: "I believe in the vision of both the teacher and Yingying. And after watching your lectures and what you did with that group of students, I believe in you even more. But even so, I didn't expect that you didn't compete with your future brother-in-law in Cangzhou, but complemented each other."
He poured himself a glass with some regret, shrugged and said, "I thought you would have a fight. Even Zhu Erlang was beyond my expectation. I thought Yingying's elder brother would be so angry when he saw his younger brother that he would beat him up."
"It can be said that for anyone who is close to you, the changes are really huge."
Before Zhu Ying could complain, the emperor drank it all again, then looked at Zhang Shou with a sharp gaze and said with interest: "So, I want to give you a task. Not only this time, but also in the future, the accounts of the inner treasury will be handed over to you, the Jiuzhangtang, to review. How do you think?"
Is this treating Jiuzhangtang as an accounting firm or something? Zhang Shou didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He wanted to say that this was actually a waste of talent and not in line with his major. However , when he thought about the fact that the development of mathematics in Europe was actually due to the need for accounting and auditing by the aristocracy, and that most of the students in Jiuzhangtang nowadays came from humble backgrounds, no one would refuse this path to success, so he felt it was difficult to refuse.
After a brief consideration, he replied, "Thanks to the emperor's trust, I will select students who are proficient in accounting. However, if such people are needed in the future, I think it is necessary to open two additional courses in accounting and auditing in Jiuzhang Hall."
At this point, Zhang Shou couldn't help but sigh in his heart. You know, he had some exposure to accounting and auditing, but that was limited to a superficial understanding. Some elective courses were actually just muddled. It's not an exaggeration to say that they were all learned from the physical education teacher. For these two courses, he really had to provide Ge Yong with the principles and ideas. He would die if he was asked to compile textbooks!
