I am a temporary worker in Jinyiwei, how did I become a powerful official?

Chapter 10: Dog meat rolls three times, even gods can't stand

A poplar bed, two bamboo stools, a washstand, a copper basin, a large cabinet, and a wooden doghouse. These were all the furniture in the bedroom of the former head of the Imperial Horse Administration.

There was no brocade or silk in the wooden doghouse, only a pile of rags and a sheep bone stick for grinding teeth.

Lin Shisan didn't expect that Eunuch Gao, who had been in charge of the three camps for a long time, was so poor.

After the Gengxu Incident, Emperor Jiajing believed that the Tuanying had low combat effectiveness, so he abolished the Tuanying and restored the old system of the three major camps in the capital. The three major camps together had more than 100,000 people.

There were hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the Beijing camp, and they were all managed by the Imperial Horse Supervisor. Gao Zhong first managed the regiment camp for seven years, and then the Beijing camp for five years. Not to mention eating empty salaries and sucking blood from the soldiers. Even if he only collected the silver from the illegal fees, he could probably earn a mountain of silver.

But the furnishings in front of him didn't look like the bedroom of the former head of the Imperial Stables, but rather the humble room of a soldier in the Beijing camp.

Lin Shisan was surprised and asked, "Chen, Eunuch Chen, are you sure? Is this Old Man Gao's bedroom?"

Chen Ju seemed to have gotten used to the surprise of outsiders when they entered Gao Zhong's bedroom. He sighed, "My foster father was an honest official who advocated frugality. A few days ago, eunuchs Lu and Huang from the Imperial Household Department came to see him and couldn't stop wiping away tears when they entered his bedroom."

After saying that, Chen Ju walked to the doghouse and said, "This is Yan Qingci's doghouse."

Lin Shisan picked up the sheep bones for grinding teeth, and grabbed a handful of cotton wool and put them into his backpack: "These things are enough."

Chen Ju said, "Captain Lin, you must help my foster father find Yan Qingci. This Yewulong was given to him by an old friend. My foster father takes it for a walk every day."

After a while, Sun Yue came to the courtyard with his yellow dog "Mao'er".

Lin Shisan touched the cat's head, took out a sheep bone stick and some rags from his bag, and gave the "cat" an instruction: "Sniff."

The "cat" wagged its tail and sniffed.

Lin Shisan patted its back gently: "Search!"

The "cat" took four steps and ran out of the courtyard.

Lin Shisan, Sun Yue and Chen Ju followed him out immediately.

Every time the cat walked ten feet, he lowered his head and sniffed the ground. He was looking for the scent of Yewulong's "Yan Qingci".

The three followed "Maoer" out of Dawangba Hutong, passed Yangmeizhuxie Street, Shangtangdao Hutong, Xiatangdao Hutong, Tutangdao Hutong, and walked to the intersection of Gaoli Street.

The cat suddenly stopped moving, as if it had encountered something terrible, and knelt on its front legs without moving. After a moment, it began to tremble all over.

Chen Ju frowned: "What's going on? What happened to your yellow dog?"

Lin Shisan smiled bitterly: "Not surprising. Eunuch Chen, have you never heard of Gaoli Street?"

Chen Ju asked: "Gao Li Street? Is it where the Goryeo people gather? Just like the Tatar official camp where all the Mongols live."

Lin Shisan replied: "Wrong. Most of the people living in Gaoli Street are Han Chinese."

Chen Ju took a quick look and saw two rows of more than 20 restaurants on the street, all with sheep heads hanging at the door. On the signs were written words like "Xiangfu Mutton Shop", "Authentic Zhuqiao Mutton Soup" and so on.

Chen Ju asked: "There are many mutton restaurants on this street."

Lin Shisan said, "It's a sheep's head. It's dog meat."

Chen Ju became interested: "How do you say it?"

Lin Shisan talked to Chen Ju and told him the origin of Gaoli Street.

During the Yuan Dynasty, Han people were prohibited from raising dogs. If someone raised a dog, half of his property would be confiscated. Because the Mongols had lived in the grasslands for a long time, they regarded dogs as a weapon.

In the eyes of the Mongols, how could the Han people be worthy of owning weapons?
Since keeping dogs is not allowed, ordinary people naturally have no dog meat to eat.

As the saying goes, if dog meat is rolled three times, even gods cannot stand still. The Koreans are good at cooking dog meat. The decree issued by the Yuan court prohibited Han people from raising dogs, but it did not prohibit Koreans from raising dogs. The rich Han people wanted to eat dog meat to satisfy their cravings, so they had to find Koreans. Therefore, the Koreans in Yuan Dadu started the business of raising, killing and stewing dogs. In order not to attract attention, they hung sheep heads outside the store and called themselves mutton restaurants.

In this dynasty, Xu Da, the King of Zhongshan, recaptured Dadu without a single drop of blood and renamed it Beiping. The ban on raising dogs was lifted, and dog meat restaurants began to pop up in Beiping.

Because Korean dog meat is very famous, the street with the most dog meat restaurants was simply renamed "Korean Street".

After Lin Shisan finished explaining, Chen Ju said, "So there is such a story."

Then he pointed to the street and said, "There is a big stick hanging next to each sheep's head. What does this mean?"

Lin Shisan smiled bitterly and said, "This matter is all due to the famous doctor Li Shizhen."

Chen Ju asked: "Oh? What do you mean?"

Lin Shisan explained it to Chen Ju again.

It turns out that the famous doctor Li Shizhen wrote a medical book in which he listed the various benefits of eating dog meat, such as calming the five internal organs, strengthening the body's energy, and curing the five kinds of fatigue and seven kinds of injuries.

But Li Shizhen added a few words in it: "When eating dog food, you must not remove blood. If you do, it will reduce the strength and will not benefit people."

When the dog meat restaurants heard about this, they changed their method of slaughtering dogs from butchering with knives to beating with sticks.

After beating the dog to death with a stick, they had to dump it out because dogs are born under the earth sign and people were afraid that the dead dog would lie on the ground and bite people.

The big stick is hung next to the sheep's head to show diners that the dogs in this restaurant are always killed by beating them with a stick without draining the blood, and the dog meat sold is in accordance with medical principles and beneficial to the body and mind.

After Lin Shisan finished telling all this, Chen Ju said, "No wonder your yellow dog trembled all over when it came here."

Sun Yue said from the side: "It's bad. Did Gao Lao's Ye Wu Long get stolen by a dog thief and sold to Gaoli Street to be made into dog meat?"

Chen Ju said angrily: "I want to see the dog alive or dead! If that's the case, you have to find the dog thief. I will cut him into pieces!"

Lin Shisan said, "Eunuch Chen, please be patient. Once the clue reaches Gaoli Street, the method of using a dog to find another dog will not work. Even the bravest dog in the world will be scared into a pile of mud if it enters Gaoli Street. Sun Yue, take the cat back to Gouqibo Hutong."

Sun Yue nodded and began to compose a poem: "Disciple will obey the master's order."

After Sun Yue led the "cat" away, Chen Ju asked: "What should we do next?"

Lin Shisan said, "I have an acquaintance in Gaoli Street. He should be eating breakfast and drinking wine in Qinfangzhai right now. He should be able to help us."

Qinfangzhai is the most popular dog meat restaurant on Gaoli Street.

Lin Shisan led Chen Ju in. As soon as they entered the door, they smelled the refreshing aroma of dog meat.

Clay pots were placed on the table, with dog meat stewed over charcoal fire underneath, bubbling with tempting hot steam.

The diners ate the dog meat while it was still hot from the clay pot.

Among the diners were both rough men and scholars. They ate the dog meat and praised it highly: "If you roll the dog meat three times, even gods can't stand still! Eat, eat, eat!"

"Dog meat is good for strengthening the body. After eating this, I will be able to take care of Xiao Cuixian at Yihonglou tonight. Hehehe."

"It's fat and lean, tender and juicy, and has a long aftertaste. It's wonderful. Please enjoy it, Brother Xu."

Chen Ju looked at the big piece of dog meat steaming in the pot and couldn't help swallowing his saliva. If he hadn't been on a mission to accompany Lin Shisan to find the dog, he would have wanted to sit down and order a pot of dog meat to taste the saltiness.

Sharp-eyed Lin Shisan looked around at the diners in the hall and saw the person he was looking for: "Master Hong, you are here as expected."

(End of this chapter)