In the afternoon, Emperor Chongzhen issued an order to dine with the queen and the crown prince in the palace back garden, and Empress Zhou and Zhu Cihong were very happy.

Zhu Cihong remembered very well that when he grew so big, he would not dine with the emperor Lao Tzu and the empress more than ten times.

The royal rules of the feudal system are very strict, and the family has almost no opportunity to dine together at other times of the year except for the New Year, let alone gather all the concubines, princes, and princesses for a dinner, which is more difficult than landing on the moon.

Emperor Chongzhen changed into an emperor's regular dress with a plate collar and narrow sleeves in the Kunning Palace, embroidered with a gold plate dragon pattern on the front and back and shoulders, but there were several conspicuous patches on this dragon robe.

Emperor Chongzhen has always been frugal, only dressed a little decently in front of his ministers, and when he returned to the harem, he changed into an old dragon robe full of patches.

He was only twenty-five years old now, but he looked like he was in his forties, his temples were growing more and more gray, and his face was usually abnormally pale, but now he was excited, and his face was back to its normal blood color.

In the evening, the sultry atmosphere of the palace garden has dissipated, and there is a coolness everywhere, and occasionally some unknown birds are chirping.

Under the arrangement of the Shang Diet Supervisor, a table of meals has been set up in the Wanchun Pavilion of the Palace Garden.

Zhu Cihong saw that there were only six side dishes on the table, all of them were vegetarian dishes, and the rice was also brown rice, which made him frown a little and said, "Why does the Shang Diet Supervisor only put these meals?" ”

The eunuch of Shangshan's palm seal was slightly stunned when he heard this, and then immediately knelt down, a little at a loss.

Chongzhen and Queen Zhou saw each other, their faces were slightly embarrassed, and Chongzhen said to the eunuch of Shangshan: "Let the imperial dining room add a fried shrimp and make it according to the prince's taste." ”

"Slave obeys!" The eunuch of Shang Shan's palm print hurriedly retreated.

When Wang Chengen saw it, he immediately stepped forward and whispered to Zhu Cihong: "Your Royal Highness, on weekdays, the emperor and the mother only eat two small dishes, but when His Royal Highness arrives today, the emperor has made an exception to use six dishes.......

Zhu Cihong was stunned when he heard this, his eyes widened, and he pointed to the meal on the table and said, "Father, queen mother, and queen mother eat this on weekdays?" ”

Wang Chengen's eyes suddenly turned red, and he choked up: "In recent years, natural disasters have continued in various places, and the treasury is empty, and after the Fengyang Emperor's Mausoleum was destroyed last year, the emperor began to reduce his diet and withdraw from his pleasures, and did not eat meat, in order to show that he shared the ......joys and hardships with the soldiers of the world."

Wang Chengen said: "The queen is also extraordinarily economical, cutting most of the unnecessary expenses, even if it is a festival, the minister orders the women to enter the court to congratulate, and the reward given by the mother is completely in accordance with the rules of etiquette, never indiscriminately." ”

Zhu Cihong was puzzled, why did his monthly diet in Zhongcui Palace still have eighteen catties of pork, four chickens, and two geese, and they have not been reduced in the slightest over the years?

Wang Chengen couldn't help but shed tears as he spoke, and he continued: "The emperor and the mother are merciful, only reduce their own use, and the rest of the palaces are according to the previous amount, especially His Royal Highness's Zhongcui Palace, the emperor is strict, when His Royal Highness is growing his body, it will only increase, not decrease......."

Zhu Cihong was stunned, he always thought that this kind of frugal life only existed in civilian families, but he didn't expect it to appear in the dignified Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Cihong's face gradually appeared with a choked look of emotion, and said: "Father and Queen Mother treat themselves so badly, and the hearts of the sons and daughters are like knives!" ”

He really regretted that the dignity of a country, the Ming Emperor, actually lived such a hard life.

When he was in later generations, he originally thought that the emperor of the Ming Dynasty ate very chic in terms of meals, and when he was tired and sleepy, he drank Dongpeng special drink, but he really couldn't come to Gensnicker.

Sometimes if you are tired of eating the imperial meal, you can also ask the eunuch to go to the imperial city to order a takeout, if you are afraid that the queen mother and the queen will know and blame, you can note that the delivery person can send it directly to the south wall of Donghua Gate, and let the eunuch of the imperial horse eunuch go over the wall to get it.......

Not to mention anything else, Emperor Wanli twenty years ago, that life was really moisturizing.

According to the "Bao Ri Tang Miscellaneous Notes", there are more than 50 kinds of royal ingredients in January of the 39th year of Wanli (1611), including 32 kinds of materials used in the imperial diet.

Including 150 catties of pork, 10 catties of donkey meat, 5 geese, 33 chickens, 60 quails, 10 pigeons, 5 catties of lavender, 55 chickens, and so on.

Emperor Wanli ate on weekdays, only one noodle has five kinds of six categories, such as eight treasure steamed buns, chrysanthemum cakes, red agate tea food, etc., and nearly forty kinds of meat, such as lychee pork, jade silk belly lungs, brocade wrapped chicken, etc., not to mention soups, vegetables and fruits, it is simply dazzling.

These amounts are enough for the current Chongzhen Emperor to eat for a year without repeating the same.

Compared with Emperor Wanli, his mother Empress Dowager Li's meal is richer than the imperial meal, only a lot more, and Wanli's wife Empress Dowager enjoys half of Empress Dowager Li's share.

And these ingredients can only be regarded as a small head, in addition to the above-mentioned daily meals during the Wanli years, there are three days into one, six days into one, all kinds of bells and whistles. Taking Empress Dowager Li as an example, on the third day of each month, there are 20 pigs, 20 sheep, and 150 catties of tempeh......

During the Wanli period, the monthly food consumption in the palace reached 12,000 taels of silver, with an average of more than 420 taels per day.

At that time, one tael of silver could buy two stone of rice, which was more than 370 catties, and according to the price of two five cents a pound of rice in later generations, it was estimated that more than 10 million soft girls would be spent every month inside and outside the palace during the Wanli period.

Think about Emperor Chongzhen, who also lives in the same place and sleeps in the same bed twenty years later, this treatment has changed from an emperor to a beggar, Chongzhen is now reluctant to even eat meat!

Seeing Zhu Cihong's regretful expression, Emperor Chongzhen just waved his hand and said: "Now that the country is in difficulty, I don't take the lead in frugality, how can the country turn around?" ”

He looked at Zhu Cihong, and suddenly smiled: "I heard that the emperor has a way to make money, I don't know if I can teach the godfather?" ”

Zhu Cihong pondered for a long time, and said: "Erchen went out this time and seized the bad materials and money of the slaves and thieves, most of which were hoarded in Xincheng. ”

Chongzhen looked at Zhu Cihong seriously, and said after a while: "I heard that you have taken in a lot of refugees from Gyeonggi, if the Gyeonggi Jiannu rebellion and these refugees suffer, you can keep those materials for disaster relief, if you put them in the household department and then send them down, it is estimated that it will be a lot back." ”

Listening to the meaning of the words, Emperor Lao Tzu knows about the corruption of officials? So why not do it?

Zhu Cihong said: "The son is willing to investigate and punish corruption for His Majesty the Emperor!" ”

Chongzhen shook his head, without saying a word, and motioned for Zhu Cihong and Empress Zhou to sit down and eat together.

He has been the emperor for ten years, how can he not know about the corruption of officials and nobles, but those huge interest groups are very terrifying, and any action against them by the imperial court will cause a strong backlash and even shake the foundation of the country.

Who said that the emperor could do whatever he wanted? Only when he is in the game can he understand the difficulties in this, every step he takes, he has to face the siege and pressure from all sides, which overwhelms him.

When Chongzhen took over the Ming Dynasty, it was already a mess, and various interest groups were intertwined, gradually devouring this originally prosperous empire.

The first thing he discovered was that the Donglin Party, which was the most powerful, in order to deal with the Donglin Party, he put Wen Tiren, the remnant of the eunuch party, into the position of the first assistant, and used Wen Tiren to suppress the Donglin Party.

Wen Tiren did not disgrace his mission, and basically left no piece of armor killed by the Donglin Party in the entire court, and died to death, degraded officials, and removed from office, and even Qian Qianyi, the leader of the Donglin Party, was imprisoned and eaten.

Wen Tiren wanted to kill Qian Qianyi many times, but Chongzhen was not allowed, if the Donglin Party was completely solved, and the eunuch party led by Wen Tiren would become bigger again, how would he deal with it?

Only by retaining the Donglin Party, when Wen Tiren's party is big and disobedient, and then using the Donglin Party to suppress it, this is the so-called imperial balancing technique.

It's just that Emperor Chongzhen didn't accept the words and deeds of his predecessors since he was a child, and his understanding of the Tao is still shallow, so he can't use this imperial technique as he wants to achieve his political goals.

In order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, Chongzhen cultivated the crown prince Zhu Cihong since he was a child, hoping that he could master this imperial technique as early as possible, so that he could ascend the throne in the future and strategize above the court, not as hard as he is now.

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Over the years, I don't know where the self-media remarks came from, completely dumping the pot of the fall of the Ming Dynasty on Chongzhen, and this view is still popular.

The demise of a dynasty requires a comprehensive analysis from the political, economic, military and other perspectives, and it is simply nonsense to let an emperor carry the pot.

Some people will say that Chongzhen blindly commanded the war, was played with by Wenchen and applauded, and did not understand the art of balance, and the carpenter emperor of the Apocalypse was stronger than him, which would not lead to the destruction of the country.

If Chongzhen doesn't know how to play the art of balance, can he be the emperor for seventeen years? And with real power in your hands? (Not like Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty)

If you have friends with these ideas, it is recommended to check the historical materials, check the political, economic, and military conditions when Chongzhen took over the Ming Dynasty, and then check the natural disasters during the Chongzhen period, and see how many natural disasters there were during the Chongzhen period, what level they were, and how many times more than during the Apocalypse, I mean how many times, not how many times.

I'm not a Ming fan, and I'm not a fan of Chongzhen, there's no need to wash him, and even before that, I didn't even know who the Emperor of the Apocalypse was, just because I saw a post that explained that the fall of the dynasty was caused by Chongzhen's faint monarch, so I checked the information of the Ming Dynasty and slowly liked the Ming Dynasty.

The study of history should be based on historical materials, digging deep into the actual situation, the situation of the chicken at the end of the Ming Dynasty, especially the issue of land annexation, what Qin Emperor and Han Wu could not be saved, they could only be reversed and restarted, Chongzhen as an emperor must be responsible, but let him carry this pot, he is really not qualified to carry it.

Don't take the standards of Tang Taizong and Ming Chengzu to ask Chongzhen, he is just a young prince who was inexplicably put on the throne at the age of 17, just an emperor with average qualifications, and he doesn't have such anti-heaven means to turn the tide, if this is also a faint monarch, then I have nothing to say.

Any scholar with a bit of status would not let Chongzhen carry the pot of the fall of the Ming Dynasty, because that is the insight of primary school students.

Personally, I think it's okay for me to have three views, but if someone really can't accept it, then I can't help it......