The Little Officials of the Song Dynasty

After many wars between the Zhenzong Dynasty of the Northern Song Dynasty and the Song and Liao Dynasties, the Chanyuan Alliance was concluded. The Great Song Dynasty would give the Liao State New Year's Coins every year. Since then, a peaceful model has been opened and economic and trade exchanges have been initiated.During the period when Empress Liu was in charge of the government behind the curtain, he also faithfully fulfilled the covenant.

It was after this that the exchanges between the two countries increased, so there was a relatively complete and standardized diplomatic etiquette.The more regular envoys are Zhengdan envoys and birthday envoys, the former celebrates New Year's Day, and the latter congratulates the emperor's birthday.

Because the two countries are adjacent to each other, and the fighting power of the Liao Kingdom is beyond the charts, they are treated better in the Song Dynasty. After they come, they will have a royal feast, and other countries will be arranged by the Privy Council.

And when various countries enter the territory of the Song Dynasty after a long journey, the imperial court will send escorts to accompany them to Bianjing along the way to ensure that there will be no accidents on the road.After entering Beijing, there are also embassy escorts to accompany the itinerary in Bianjing.

These accompanying people are all officials from the Privy Council Chamber or Honglu Temple. They accompany them all the way from arriving in Beijing a few days before New Year's Day to saying goodbye around the fifth day of the new year. To ensure the rigor of the whole process, no mistakes can be made.

Since reception is to be done, foreign languages ​​must not be bad. Both departments require officials to learn foreign languages. It is said that the most powerful ones can master five or six languages.

At the beginning, Zheng Ling was forced to learn Khitan, and almost went crazy.

Now Honglu Temple is short of people and is very busy, but they also know that Zheng Ling is basically a member of the painting academy, and they are afraid that he will pretend to be dead if they are called too much, so they send him to discuss the banquet dishes with Kaifeng Mansion.

For the banquet for the reception of envoys, all the dishes have to be confirmed by all departments.

It is already November now, and envoys from various countries will arrive one after another at the end of December. In fact, there is not much time left, and you still have a lot of things to do. For example, some post houses have been checked out a while ago and some parts need to be repaired. Now we are making arrangements Artisans, specially assigned to oversee repairs.

In fact, this post house will be collectively inspected twice a year, but it can't stand the accident.

On Zheng Ling's side, he has an acquaintance in Kaifeng Mansion, and everyone knows that the one who is closer to the Zheng family is actually his relative.Anyway, every time there is a new dish in Kaifeng Mansion, this guy will definitely be able to eat it immediately.

So, instead of watching him cry and howl every day in Honglu Temple, it is better to send him to meet Kaifeng Mansion.

Zheng Ling felt that he was freed from purgatory all of a sudden, so he went to look for Yunyan with a smile on his face.

Yun Yan was also very happy to come back. The Privy Council sent a foodie here, which is okay, but now I am afraid that the people who came from Honglu Temple will be forced. done!

Zheng Ling is basically Yan Geer saying that he is "good, good", and the foodie of the Privy Council is very honest. He is about 30 years old, and he is also a Jinshi. Yanhui hasn't decided on the menu yet, so I told him very sorry that it might take a few more days.

Gao Mingcheng said with a smile: "It's okay, you are busy with your work, I'm mainly here to eat in your cafeteria."

Yun Yan replied: "..."

Gao Mingcheng also told Yun Yanhui with a mysterious look: "You don't know, the ceremony room almost fought for this spot!"

"..." Yun Yan wiped away her sweat, "Well, I'll ask the kitchen to bring over the char siu... This one has already been made."

Gao Mingcheng actually knew about char siew, he probably heard what his colleague said, but he didn't understand the irony behind it, so he happily tried the char siew.

Yunyan called back to the kitchen to make two char siu dishes, one was honey sauce and the other was crispy skin.

Although both are char siu, they taste very different.

The "meatiness" of the honey sauce char siu is relatively heavy, fat and thin, smooth, tender and sweet, and has an excellent flavor.The crispy char siew is crunchy when bitten, and it has a melting feeling in the mouth. The salty taste is a little bit heavier, and it is more obvious sweet and salty.

The pork used in this char siu is bought from the Shaozhuyuan of Daxiangguo Temple. They raise pigs for meat all the year round, and the meat is of excellent quality.However, if it weren't for Yun Yanhui's own people, they wouldn't be able to buy pork. They are farming on a small scale.

At that time, there were not many ways to eat pork. In other words, the class of "shi" seldom eat pork. However, after making it into char siu, it is really refreshing. It's greasy and looks great.

Gao Mingcheng is a native of Bianjing, and he eats with smiles on his eyes.

It was also the first time for Zheng Ling to eat it, and it felt very good.

Yun Yan introduced: "One is honey sauce char siew, and the other is crispy char siew. I don't know whether to choose one of them or put both dishes on the menu? If I put them both, will it be too repetitive? "

Gao Mingcheng nodded, "That's right. It would not be good if both pork dishes were added. I think this crispy barbecued pork has a more unique flavor and is very distinctive. It's better to choose this one."

"Mmm, okay." Yun Yan wrote it down.

Gao Mingcheng took a mouthful of hot and sour bracken to relieve his tiredness, and said with a bowl, "Yun Xiaolang, I'm very worried now."

Yun Yan replied: "...What are you worried about?"

Gao Mingcheng: "At that time, the envoys of the Liao Kingdom will eat the imperial banquet, and the other envoys will eat the dishes of Kaifeng Mansion. What if the envoys of the Liao Kingdom think that other people eat better... This will affect the diplomatic relations between the two countries. !"

Yun Yan replied: "..."

Yun Yan was a little ashamed when she returned, isn't this all the idea of ​​your Privy Council?

Gao Mingcheng took another bite of the char siu, and said vaguely: "No, I'm going to warn the chef to make the dishes better."

Zheng Ling said quietly from the side: "It's useless, the number of roads of the imperial banquet is about the same every year, even if it is better, it will not be able to turn out the flowers. In fact, everyone's craftsmanship is not much different, even the imperial chef is better. Some, the point is that Kaifeng Mansion can innovate in the specifications, and the imperial kitchen has more restrictions."

"It makes sense..." Gao Mingcheng looked back at Yunyan regretfully, "I'm going to report to the superior when I get back, and I have to control the number of new dishes."

Yun Yan didn't expect to eat a barbecued pork for him to reduce his workload, and rubbed his head, "You can just be happy."

He had never seen someone who was rushing to reduce the workload for others.

But think about it, reducing his workload now is to reduce trouble later.Although it is still a matter of opinion whether the people of Liao Kingdom like the taste of the canteen in Kaifeng Mansion, but this possibility must be eliminated.

……

The affairs of Kaifeng Mansion are complicated, the affairs of Kaifeng Mansion are complicated, the affairs of Kaifeng Mansion are complicated, important things are said three times.

Therefore, as winter is approaching, what needs to be prepared is not only the reception work for the missions to Beijing, but also the social relief work.

It can be said that the Song Dynasty was full of disasters, and there were disasters almost every year.Moreover, according to Yun Yanhui's historical knowledge, the Song Dynasty was entering the third cold period in history at this time. There was news before that that there were no plum trees growing in the country to the north, let alone crops.

Almost every year, there are people who freeze to death, not only the poor, but even families who can eat and clothe themselves are in danger of freezing to death and frostbite.

But I have to say that the social welfare of the Song Dynasty is still very good. In addition to various government-run and private-run relief homes—for example, the Salesian where Zheng Ping once stayed, the imperial court will distribute supplies every winter, and the system is very complete.

As for the arrangements in the Gyeonggi area, Kaifeng Prefecture is undoubtedly in charge.

This year Kaifeng Mansion has had a bumper harvest because of Yun Yanhui's policy of increasing income and reducing expenditure. Given the determination at the beginning of the restructuring, it is natural that there is no objection to donating part of the proceeds to help the poor.

Relief activities of this kind often have to be united with local tyrants.

——Note that local tyrants usually refer to local monks and priests.

The monks have a broad base of people, and the Taoists are forcibly promoted by the court, and all of them are very rich.

Of course, on the surface, the government generally insists that they are volunteers...

Because Yunyan Huihang was in Tianqing Temple, and was familiar with various temples in Beijing, and had been an apprentice of the abbot of Daxiangguo Temple, so he had to take on two jobs, one was to plan the dishes for the reception banquet of the envoys, and the other was to join In the activities of connecting local tyrants to carry out relief.

Yun Yanhui had also come into contact with this job in Daxiangguo Temple before, so he was quite familiar with it, and the people he met were all acquaintances. Even if they were not, the other party must know him.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Yun Yanhui is basically a legendary figure in the religious circles of Bianjing now. Although he has not become a monk, he is recognized as one of his own.

The vegetables and fruits harvested by Kaifeng Mansion were also divided into batches and sent to various relief agencies. Among them, some prime minister fried dough sticks were prepared more thoughtfully. most authentic.

Yun Yanhui got used to being on the front line, so they distributed supplies together on the spot. After the imperial court's distribution, they distributed the Kaifeng government's private pockets, and the staff of Daxiangguo Temple were next to them, and they could chat from time to time.

The poor people who came to receive the supplies were very grateful. They did not expect to receive the prime minister’s fritters from Kaifeng Mansion. This was a surprise for them. Even if the secret recipe was spread out, they still could not buy the raw materials to make it due to their poverty.

An old woman even got down on her knees and saluted in the direction of Kaifeng Mansion. Yun Yanhui hurried to help her up and heard her muttering, "Thank you Mr. Bao, Mr. Bao is not old in age, he has many sons and grandchildren..."

Yun Yan replied: "??"

Yun Yan replied: "Mother-in-law! Master Bao is not married yet!"

The old lady opened her cloudy eyes with a look of surprise, and then said sadly: "Ah? Bao Xianggong is a good man, he is not married, he must have been delayed by political affairs!" She asked with concern, "Is there any clan adoptive brother?" The heir to Mr. Bao?"

When the people next to him heard Bao Zheng's name, they all came to ask with concern.

"Bao Xianggong loves the people like his son, so he has no descendants?"

"Brother, is Mr. Bao in good health?"

"...Wait," Yun Yanhui suddenly felt a little dizzy, and couldn't help but stop, "Did you misunderstand something, our Fu Zun is only in his 20s now!"

Granny: "Nonsense!"

Yun Yan replied: "..."