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Chapter 49 The Anecdote on the Dragon Chair 6
The emperor not only "show off" while eating, but also tested for drugs
Since the emperor is the Ninth Five-Year Supreme, the treatment he enjoys is naturally extraordinary. He wears a dragon robe, lives in a palace, rides in a chariot, and eats delicious food.When it comes to eating, the emperor eats differently from ordinary people. How the emperor eats, each dynasty has different meals, but basically, one purpose remains the same, that is, the emperor likes to "eat alone".

The emperor would eat alone at a special table. Although he was the only one eating, there were a lot of eunuchs and court ladies serving behind him.Because there were too many dishes, the table was full. If the emperor couldn't reach some dishes, the eunuchs would give the emperor dishes from a distance.

When the emperor eats, there will be people standing not far away to listen to the appreciation, such as favorite ministers, concubines, and princes.If the emperor is happy, he will reward these people with delicious food, and these people will eat it standing up at another table and say that it tastes great.

The food that the emperor ate every day is recorded. For example, in the "Qing Palace Archives", it is written that the emperor's daily ingredients are: 22 catties of plated meat, 5 catties of soup meat, 1 catty of lard, 2 sheep, 5 chickens, and 3 ducks , cabbage, spinach, coriander, celery, leeks, etc., a total of 19 catties, 60 radishes, 1 each of Baogua and wax gourd.6 catties each of kohlrabi and water spinach, 6 catties of green onions, 3 catties each of sauce and clear sauce, 2 catties of vinegar, 4 taels of Yuquan wine, 8 plates of pastry, 30 per plate, 50 cows, and each cow produces 2 milk per day jin, 12 cans of Yuquan water, 1 jin of emulsifiable oil, and 75 bags of tea.

There are other bits and pieces that add up to cost 50 taels of silver. If it catches up with the holidays, it will increase expenses, so it is normal for the emperor to eat tens of thousands of taels of silver a year.

This is also confirmed in the autobiography "My First Half of My Life" by Puyi, the last emperor of the Qing Dynasty. He wrote: "A team composed of dozens of well-dressed eunuchs carried seven dining tables, large and small, and held several tables. Ten vermilion lacquer boxes painted with golden dragons came straight to the Hall of Mental Cultivation. Entering the Ming Hall, they were taken over by the little eunuch who put on his sleeves, and set them up in Dongnuange. There is another table of hot pot, and there are three tables of dim sum, rice meal, and porridge, and a small table of pickled vegetables."

It can be seen how grand the emperor's meal is. The so-called "presentation" refers to the presentation of menus. The standard of the Qing Dynasty was that each meal had 120 dishes and three large tables should be set up.In addition, there are staple food, snacks, fruit and so on.The later emperors felt that it was too wasteful, so they gradually reduced the recipes. During the Xianfeng period, it was reduced to 32 dishes. silver.

The food is exquisite, so the tableware has to be even more exquisite, mainly gold and silverware, even ceramics, are of high quality and expensive to be served on the table.

In addition, there is another meaning of the emperor's meal presentation, which is to indicate the name of the dish and the name of the chef in front of the plate, so that if there is something wrong with the meal, it will be convenient to investigate.The emperor had to eat so many dishes every day, and the safety work must be done well. Therefore, in addition to indicating the source of the dishes, he also had to do a good job of defense. This requires strict requirements on the utensils that hold the dishes.

In the court of the Qing Dynasty, in addition to some gold wares, silver wares also accounted for a large proportion of the emperor's tableware.For example, on the third day of November in the 21st year of Qianlong (AD 1756), the tableware recorded in "The Bottom File of Gold, Silver and Jade Ware in the Imperial Dining Room" is as follows:

金羹匙1件、金匙1件、金叉子1件、金镶牙箸1双、银西洋热水锅2口、有盖银热锅23口、有盖小银热锅6口、无盖银热锅10口、银锅1口、银锅盖1个、银饭罐4件、有盖银桃子6件、银镟子4件、有盖银暖碗24件、银盖碗6件、银钟盖5件、银錾花碗盖2件、银匙2件、银羹匙13件、半边黑漆葫芦1个、内盛银碗6件、银桶1件、内盛金镶牙箸2双、银匙2件、乌木筷10双、高丽布3块、白纺丝1块、黑漆葫芦1个、内盛皮7寸碗2件、皮5寸碗2件、银镶里皮茶碗10件、银镶里5寸无分皮碗1件、银镶里罄口3寸6分皮碗9件、银镶里3寸皮碗22件、银镶里皮碟10件、银镶里皮套杯6件、皮3寸5分碟10件、汉玉镶嵌紫檀银羹匙、商丝银匙、商丝银叉子2件、商丝银筷2双、银镶里葫芦碗48件、银镶红彩漆碗16件。

It can be seen that most of the tableware used by Qianlong is silverware. This is mainly to prevent others from poisoning the food. In order to ensure food safety, the royal family generally adopts two methods. One is to let others taste it first. The errands are generally the part of the eunuch serving food, which is called "tasting food".

The other is to use silver to test for poison. A small silver medal will be hung outside the utensils containing food. When the food is served in front of the emperor, the eunuch will put this small silver medal into the soup for testing. It turns black, because silverware is very effective in testing poison, so the royal family often uses silverware for dishes, which is exactly the reason.

As the king of a country, the emperor must not make any mistakes in any action, so the three meals a day have become the top priority, and there must be no mistakes in any process.Ordinary people eat to fill their stomachs, but the emperor's meal is much more complicated.

(End of this chapter)