As we all know, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty were very concerned about their own diet. Although the emperors lived a carefree life of food and clothing, they could know what they wanted to eat, but their diet would have some restrictions. For example, some wild game in the folk is not something that the emperor can eat casually.
Although Jin Yong's martial arts novels mainly depict martial arts, they have more or less historical facts. For example, the description of the diet of the Kangxi Emperor Ji Taihou in the novel "Deer Ding" is closer to historical facts. In the novel, a food called the Poria Flower Carved Pig appears. The raw materials for this food are extremely valuable. In the original work, it was described as follows: This is the secret method of trumpet ancestors, selecting a good breed of meat pig, after weaning, it will feed poria, ginseng, berries and other tonics, feed in addition to the tonic, it will only taste eggs, drink it and give it to drink flower carving wine... Before he could finish speaking, all the eunuchs laughed and said, "Where is there such a method of feeding pigs?" Wouldn't it cost a few hundred taels of silver to feed a fattening pig? Boss Qian said: "The cost is naturally not small, the most difficult thing is this painstaking effort and kung fu." ”
After Wei Xiaobao heard this food, his heart was very happy. He advocated dedicating this dish to the emperor, but was rejected by the little eunuch. This made Wei Xiaobao a little embarrassed. Obviously, you can seduce the emperor. Why was he rejected by the little eunuch? There are mainly the following factors.
First of all, we can see that the cost of raising this pig is very high, although the emperor is on a whim. If one day the emperor wants to eat this kind of food, and it happens that the piglets have not yet fully grown, it will force these eunuchs to have no way out, and eventually they will have to hang themselves. Therefore, when Wei Xiaobao advocated letting the emperor taste this dish, the eunuchs could only politely refuse, after all, it was still important to save their own lives.
In fact, not only this dish of pork, including all the usual fresh fruits and vegetables can not be casually tasted by the empress dowager and the emperor. Because the agricultural technology of the Qing Dynasty was not developed enough. There are some ingredients that are vegetables, fruits and vegetables, which are grown seasonally. For example, like winter shoots, there are some broad beans, they are grown according to the season. If the emperor eats, the feeling of eating is very good, if he is on a whim one day, he wants to eat winter shoots in the summer. The eunuch became powerless, and at this time his life was in danger. The "Deer Ding" describes it like this: "Offering vegetables and vegetables that have been spent in the past, it is absolutely dare not." However, some fruits and vegetables that are only available in one or two months of the year cannot be offered. If the emperor can eat well, winter shoots in the summer, and fresh broad beans in the winter, everyone has to hang themselves again. ”