Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang is considered to be the lowest emperor in Chinese history, before joining the rebel army, Zhu Yuanzhang worked as a cow herder, a monk, a beggar, he was in the early years of the people due to the embarrassment of life, got a lot of well-meaning people to help, there is such an old woman once used a bowl of soup to save Zhu Yuanzhang, and later After President Zhu became emperor, he repaid her for this soup.
This matter also has to start from Zhu Yuanzhang's as emperor, once he was infected with wind chill, he had always been a delicacy after he became emperor, and the taste of mountains and treasures and seas was continuous, at this time, he was infected with wind and cold but did not want to eat anything. The emperor did not think about eating, which was anxious to spoil the imperial kitchen, Zhu Yuanzhang did not think about tea and rice, at this time his haired wife Empress Ma asked him what he wanted to eat, but Zhu Yuanzhang only said that he wanted to drink soup, so what soup to drink? Zhu Yuanzhang replied to the pearl emerald white jade soup.
Why did Zhu Yuanzhang want to drink this pearl jade white jade soup? It turned out that there was also a person involved in his savior.
It turned out that in the fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1344), Zhu Yuanzhang's father and mother and eldest brother and third brother died of plague one after another, Zhu Yuanzhang and the second brother Zhu Zhongliu had no money to bury their parents and brothers, Zhu Yuanzhang went to find Liu De, a landlord who had rented a field for a lifetime, to borrow money to bury his parents, and he hoped that Liu De could see that his parents had planted land for him for a lifetime, and he borrowed money to borrow money to be buried on the side of his cattle.
Zhu Yuanzhang said that he was borrowing at that time, but in fact, he could not afford to repay the economic situation at that time, so the landlord Liu De could not lend it to Zhu Yuanzhang at all, and finally Liu Jizu, another landlord of Zhu Yuanzhang's neighbor in the same village, paid for the land to help Zhu Yuanzhang bury his parents and brother.
Liu Jizu's kindness was also well rewarded, and after Zhu Yuanzhang became emperor, although Liu Jizu had died, Zhu Yuanzhang posthumously awarded Liu Jizu the title of Marquis of Yihui, and let Liu Jizu's descendants inherit the title of Marquis of Yihui for generations, until the fall of the Ming Dynasty, and the title of Marquis of Yihui was abolished with the fall of the Ming Dynasty.
After Zhu Yuanzhang buried his parents and brother with the help of Liu Jizu, he was forced to separate from his second brother Zhu Zhongliu, and the two brothers left their hometown to go out to beg for food.
Later, Zhu Yuanzhang, in order to have a mouthful of food and had no choice but to get the Huangjue Temple to become a monk, the drought became more and more serious, and the temple soon cut off the grain, and the abbot had no choice but to let the disciples go out to make a relationship, in fact, it was called huayuan, which was actually to ask for food.
At that time, it was a drought, every household was short of grain, and no one was willing to give alms to others, so Zhu Yuanzhang often did not want to eat when he wanted food, and eating a meal in two or three days was already a blessing in misfortune for Zhu Yuanzhang.
One day Zhu Yuanzhang not only begged for food and did not come to eat, he was also infected with the wind and cold, the dizzy Zhu Yuanzhang held the bowl of rice and knocked on the door of a family in a daze, the owner of this family is a kind and widowed old woman, she saw That Zhu Yuanzhang was so pitiful, although she was not rich, there was not much surplus grain, she still used rotten vegetable leaves to add some leftover rice and steamed tofu to Zhu Yuanzhang a bowl of soup rice.
At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang was sick and hungry, so he couldn't help but swallow this bowl of steamed tofu soup rice to eat clean, it was strange to say, Zhu Yuanzhang had a spirit after eating, the wind and cold were also dispersed under the action of hot soup, Zhu Yuanzhang's spirit was invigorated, so he was grateful to this old woman.
In addition to promising to repay the old woman in the future, Zhu Yuanzhang also asked her what the name of this bowl of soup rice was, and the old woman said in her heart what was the name of a bowl of steamed tofu soup rice, and she was also happy in pain, so she said a pearl emerald white jade soup in passing. Pearls are those rice grains, jadeite is green vegetable leaves, and white jade is naturally steamed tofu, so the old woman made up a dish name for Zhu Yuanzhang.
After that, Zhu Yuanzhang defected to the Red Turban Army and gradually became the leader of the Red Turban Army, and later Zhu Yuanzhang defeated the rebel leaders such as Chen Youyi and Zhang Shicheng and the Yuan Dynasty government, and finally unified the whole country and established the Ming Dynasty.
After Zhu Yuanzhang unified the world, due to the fact that the state affairs were every day, Zhu Yuanzhang quickly forgot about the old woman's life-saving grace to himself, at this time Zhu Yuanzhang was infected with wind and cold, tea and rice did not think, he suddenly remembered that there was an old woman who had once saved his life, and the bowl of pearl emerald white jade soup that made him taste endlessly.
So Zhu Yuanzhang said the name of the pearl jade white jade soup, this name made the imperial kitchens stunned, did not hear this dish, but the emperor said that he had to do ah, so a royal chef according to the name of the dish zhu Yuanzhang said, really used pearls, jade and white jade into the soup, made a bowl of pearl jade white jade soup for Zhu Yuanzhang.
But Zhu Yuanzhang took a sip and knew that it was not right, and he threw up. After that, the cooks did not know how to make this bowl of pearl jade white jade soup for the emperor, and Zhu Yuanzhang remembered that he had to send someone to look for the old woman, one was to repay the old woman's life-saving grace to himself, and the other was that he hoped that the old woman would make himself the bowl of pearl jade white jade soup again.
This old woman also has a good person and a good reward, she did not wait for Zhu Yuanzhang to find her like Liu Jizu had died, Zhu Yuanzhang sent someone to find her when she was still alive, so she was taken to the palace to take Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Yuanzhang first asked the old woman, "Does the old man remember me?" ”
After so many years, the old woman naturally couldn't remember who Zhu Yuanzhang was, so she was dazed and had to say, "Aren't you the current emperor?" ”
Zhu Yuanzhang first laughed, and then helped the old woman recall the events of that year, this time the old woman can be regarded as remembering, she never expected that the beggar monk she kindly rescued at that time actually became the current emperor.
Zhu Yuanzhang first thanked the old woman for her life-saving grace, and then proposed to the old woman that he wanted to eat the pearl jade white jade soup she made that year.
This time the old woman can be embarrassed, of course, she knows that it was all stuff stewed out of the rotten vegetable leaves of the tofu, and now Zhu Yuanzhang is the emperor, the daily mountain treasures and seafood, how can you still eat these things, so the old woman replied with a smile: "Now is not the past, the old body can no longer make the pearl emerald tofu soup of the year." ”
Zhu Yuanzhang did not believe it, he thought that the old woman was modest with him, he insisted that the old woman was a folk master of cooking, so he repeatedly begged the old woman to make him a bowl of pearl jade white jade soup.
The old woman could not help Zhu Yuanzhang, so she had to promise to make him another bowl, but the old woman said the ugly words in front, she said: "The old body has not done this craft for many years, I am afraid it is difficult to eat, the emperor can not blame the old body for not doing well." ”
Zhu Yuanzhang hurriedly said: "You are always my savior, I dare to blame you for not eating well, although you do it, good or not delicious to make it, I just want to find the taste of that year." ”
So the old woman smiled and went to the imperial dining room to help Zhu Yuanzhang make this bowl of pearl emerald white jade soup.
When the old woman arrived at the imperial dining room, she instructed the imperial cooks to find some steamed tofu and rotten vegetable leaves and leftovers to come out, and the imperial cooks were stunned when they heard the old woman's request, but the people were the emperor's life-saving benefactors, and the emperor ordered them to cook in the imperial dining room, and they did not dare to refute it, so they had to prepare these ingredients according to the old woman's request.
So the old woman reverted the pearl jade white jade soup to Zhu Yuanzhang according to the practice of that year, and after making it, she personally served it to Zhu Yuanzhang to drink.
Zhu Yuanzhang took a sip and spit it out, and he said disgustingly: "What a smell of swill water." ”
The old woman smiled slightly and said, "The emperor was a begging monk, and he hadn't eaten a full meal for three or five days, even if he really gave you swill water to eat, you would also feel that it was a delicacy in the world, not to mention a leftover risotto." Now that the emperor is enjoying the taste of the mountains and the sea every day, how can he still eat the leftover risotto? ”
The old woman's words made Zhu Yuanzhang instantly understand the truth, and Zhu Yuanzhang made up his mind to pay attention to thrift, so Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the imperial dining room, and in the future, he only needed to taste the same, and there was no need to pursue luxury ingredients.
An imperial chef surnamed Liu in the imperial dining room has always been good at cooking delicious dishes with ordinary ingredients, and he is also a simple person, so he heard that Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the imperial dining room to be diligent and frugal with ingredients, and he was very supportive.
At the same time, Liu Yu Chef also thought that Zhu Yuanzhang had never eaten the pearl jade white jade soup he had in mind, Liu Yu Chef knew the bowl of pearl jade white jade soup cooked by the old woman with those ingredients, so Liu Yu Chef in order to satisfy Zhu Yuanzhang's idea of drinking this bowl of soup, he used fish balls instead of pearls, green vegetables instead of jade, tofu instead of white jade, and then boiled broth with pork bones, adding three ingredients to it, so that the three ordinary ingredients were turned into pearl jade white jade soup by Liu Royal Kitchen.
After Zhu Yuanzhang drank this bowl of pearl jade white jade soup, although he did not find the original feeling and taste, but the craftsmanship of this Liu Royal Chef was already very superb, and the ingredients were relatively simple, so Zhu Yuanzhang was very satisfied, and ordered liu Royal Chef to be rewarded.
After Liu Yu chef retired, he passed on the craft of this pearl jade white jade soup to Zhu Yuanzhang's father and fellow villagers in Fengyang's hometown, so Zhu Yuanzhang's Fengyang hometown has always been circulating the practice of this pearl jade white jade soup.
And the old woman who saved Zhu Yuanzhang at that time, because she had no children and no daughters and was widowed, lonely and lonely, so Zhu Yuanzhang could not bear to let her return to the people, so she was enshrined by Zhu Yuanzhang as a nursing mother in the palace, and later Zhu Yuanzhang has been in the palace to give her a pension.
This is also considered to be the old woman's good deeds, the original gift of a soup, Zhu Yuanzhang remembered in his heart, the old widow who was originally lonely and helpless, but finally in the palace was sent to the end by the emperor's pension.
The old woman's words to him made him feel a lot, and after that, Zhu Yuanzhang advocated thriftiness in the palace, so he formed the thrifty style of the court in the early Ming Dynasty.
Although history has commented that Zhu Yuanzhang was cruel to the heroes and wantonly criticized the heroes, Zhu Yuanzhang was still very grateful to those who had helped himself in his own times of suffering.
Zhu Yuanzhang called the empress dowager, and the second brother-in-law Li Zhen was made the Marquis of En, although Zhu Yuanzhang's second sister Zhu Fonu died young at the age of 36, but Zhu Yuanzhang always respected Li Zhen like a father, and Li Zhen's son Li Wenzhong was also promoted and reused by Zhu Yuanzhang, becoming one of the founding heroes of the Ming Dynasty and was awarded the title of Duke of Cao. When Li Zhen died, Zhu Yuanzhang was even more grief-stricken, and personally went to send a funeral to his second brother-in-law Li Zhen.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang is a more grateful emperor, like Liu Jizu, Li Zhen and the old woman who has a soup for him have all received his retribution, and there are not many emperors like Zhu Yuanzhang in history who know how to repay the favor.