The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 1037 The Emperor's Day

Li Yan had not yet realized that the world belonged to the emperor; but now he had truly experienced that the emperor belonged to the world.

After hesitating for a while, Li Yan patiently continued to review it.

These memorials were submitted by the prefectures and six ministries, and had been processed by the Shangshu Province. They were all signed with Fang Xuanling's name. They were originally intended to be sent to the Zhongshu Province, but they thought that there had been a lot of changes in officials in the past few days.

Fang Xuanling had previously served as the Minister of the Secretariat, so he did not let Cen Wenben take charge of the matter.

Reviewing memorials is not only the emperor's power, but also his duty. It is also a necessary means to control power and stabilize the country. It cannot be avoided. Thinking of Fang Xuanling, an old man with white hair and beard, he can still perform his duties conscientiously.

As a young man full of energy, why should I be lazy?
Once you become an emperor, you must be responsible for the country and the people of the world.

Li Yan consoled himself with a few words and began to deal with the memorials calmly. Fortunately, he didn't need to make decisions on most of the matters, as the palace officials of the three ministries had already handled them. It was not so much that he was reviewing them.

It is more like understanding the operation of the court and learning how to govern. As long as you finish reading it, you can just sign the word "read" at the back with a red pen.

Time passes slowly, the sun sets and the moon rises.

Inside and outside the Chengqing Palace, tallow lamps were lit, and the imperial study was lit up as brightly as day. When Wang De came in to remind him that it was time for dinner, Li Yan put down his red brush, stood up, stretched, and loosened his stiff body.

I thought the food would be served soon, but Wang De gave me something similar to a memorial instead.

Li Yan was stunned and asked, "Wang De, whose memorial is this? It's so late and it's making me worry."

"Your Majesty, you misunderstood. This is your meal for tonight. Please take a look?" Wang De said with his head lowered.

"Ok?"

Li Yan then realized that he had encountered Li Shimin eating before, but he didn't know what the specific process of the emperor's meal was like? At noon today, he was angry and didn't eat, so he didn't encounter this step.

So I took it curiously, unfolded it, and was immediately stunned.

The list was filled with names of dishes. Li Yan took a quick look and saw nearly a hundred dishes. Could these be what he was going to eat tonight?
The emperor is too extravagant!

its not right?
I used to eat with Li Shimin often. Li Shimin always had two or three dishes for each meal. Only when he was dining with me would he have five or six dishes, which was not much. I had never seen Li Shimin eat nearly a hundred dishes in one meal.

Li Yan looked puzzled and asked in surprise: "Wang De, why are there so many? Are these all the dishes I'm going to make tonight?"

"Your Majesty, you only need to order a few from them!"

'call'

Li Yan breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out to be a recipe. That wasn’t much. After so many years, there were still not enough left!
"You scared me. I thought you prepared so many dishes at once?"

Li Yan said with a little displeasure: "But you should have brought it earlier. I'm hungry. If you make it now, I don't know when I can eat it."

"Your Majesty, these dishes have been prepared and are being placed in the side hall. As long as you order them, they will be served to you immediately without any delay." Wang De explained hurriedly.

"What? How could this be possible?" Li Yan said, and walked towards the side hall.

After turning a few corridors, I saw a hall with several huge vermilion lacquered tables. On them were various dishes, both meat and vegetarian, vegetables and soups. Next to them were staple foods such as bread, noodles and coarse millet.

There are nearly a hundred dishes, and the scale looks quite spectacular.

The palace was filled with eunuchs, palace maids, and sword-wielding guards in full helmet and armor, vigilantly guarding everything. Seeing the emperor coming, everyone knelt down and saluted: "Your Highness, long live the emperor!"

"Well, everyone stand up!" Li Yan waved his hand majestically. He wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't. With a complicated expression, he turned around and left.

Back in the imperial study, Li Yan asked with an unpleasant expression, "Wang De, please explain to me. Father didn't have such extravagant meals before. Did you change the rules without authorization in order to please me?"

Seeing that Li Yan had misunderstood, Wang De quickly knelt on the ground and explained: "Your Majesty, how dare I change the palace rules without authorization. Every rule in this palace is formulated by the Palace Department and the Internal Affairs Department, and is personally reviewed and approved by the emperor."

"I am just following the rules. The emperor used to do the same when he had meals."

After that, Wang De described it in detail, and Li Yan finally understood that everything the emperor wanted to eat was very important, with strict procedures and special people to check. Just for the dining, the safety protection was done to the extreme.

There were nine kitchens in the palace for the emperor to eat in Chengqing Hall.

For every meal, each kitchen prepared nine dishes, totaling eighty-one dishes. After they were ready, they were placed in the side hall waiting for the emperor to select them.

The emperor chose a few dishes from the list that Wang De had brought up earlier. Previously, Li Shimin had always chosen two or three dishes. After the emperor had chosen the dishes, Wang De was in charge of preparing them in person, and they were served in front of the emperor in front of everyone.

On the spot, the poison had to be tested with a silver needle in front of the emperor, and the eunuch had to taste it himself. After multiple checks, only after confirming that it was correct could the emperor eat it. Li Yan then realized that when he had dinner with Li Shimin before, he had randomly selected from the 81 dishes.

"This is too troublesome!" Li Yan frowned.

Wang De said nonchalantly, "Your Majesty is worth a fortune, and your life is related to the well-being of tens of millions of people. No matter how cautious you are, it is not too much. There are countless treacherous officials and villains in this world who want to harm the emperor."

"This is done only to prevent others from following the emperor's dining experience to bribe the eunuchs and assassinate the emperor."

Li Yan thought for a moment and had to admit that this was necessary because the emperor was the brain and heart of a country.

Not every emperor is as systematic as he is and is not afraid of conspiracy.

Most people are mortals. Once the emperor is poisoned, the whole country will be in danger. We must be extra careful. The emperor temporarily selected two or three dishes from a dish. Even if someone else poisoned every dish, it is impossible to poison every dish.

There are nine kitchens and nine passages that do not intersect each other, providing eighty-one dishes. The probability of the emperor choosing one is extremely low, not to mention that two of the dishes have to be tested for poison in front of the emperor.

The safety of dining is guaranteed to the greatest extent.

Li Yan wanted to make some suggestions, but think about it, rules are rules, and the methods that have been passed down for thousands of years must have their purpose. It is easy to abolish it, but it is extremely difficult to establish it again. Besides, the emperors of later generations will also need it!

Afterwards, Li Yan didn't say anything else. He selected three and gave them to Wang De.

After a while, three dishes that were no longer hot were placed in front of them after going through the last two procedures. Li Yan chatted with Wang De while eating.

"Wang De, what about the other dishes? You won't throw them away, right?"

Wang De smiled and said, "How could that be possible? Your Majesty, don't worry. After the emperor has selected the dishes, they will be sent to the maids, eunuchs and guards on duty in Chengqing Palace. Not a single cent will be wasted."

"Ok!"

Li Yan nodded, it was pretty much what he thought.

If someone poisoned the food, the servants would definitely be able to taste it, which would provide an extra layer of insurance for the emperor's safety.

I think, if someone wanted to poison the emperor, they would give up after seeing such a strict procedure!

Wang De saw that Li Yan was in a good mood, and reminded him: "Your Majesty must be more careful in the future. Apart from the things in Chengqing Palace, you can rest assured that you can't easily take food and water from outside, so as to avoid being ambushed."

"Oh, Wang De, has our father ever encountered any accidents with his meals before?" Li Yan asked curiously.

"of course."

Li Yan originally thought that most people would never try such a rigorous procedure.

Who would have thought that Wang De would actually say solemnly: "During the twenty years that the emperor has been in power, he has encountered a total of nineteen accidents, all of which were caused by poisoning the food. Each time, it caused a bloody storm in the Taiji Palace, and countless eunuchs were replaced."

"So, I dare not be careless at all, Xiaoxing is on the right track!"

豁.
Almost once a year, Li Yan shrank his neck. It seemed that he had underestimated the disaster that would come with the throne!
Next, Wang De informed Li Yan of some matters that the emperor needed to pay attention to, such as not letting outsiders know about traveling in advance, and the more sudden the better; in addition, when visiting concubines in the harem or important officials in the court, one should not eat or drink easily.

Of course, most ministers would not, let alone dare to, hand these things to the emperor, as this would be like presenting all nine clans to the emperor.

If something happens, the whole family won’t be enough to be killed, so the ministers don’t want to cause trouble.

Not to mention, Li Yan really learned a lot of emperor's secrets and survival rules from Wang De, the know-it-all.

At the end, Wang De said tentatively: "Your Majesty, I have served in this palace for twenty years and have come up with a truth. Please forgive me for my rudeness."

"Wang De, you used to serve our father as his personal eunuch."

Li Yan said casually: "Speaking of which, whether it is the concubines in the harem, the important officials in the court, or even us princes and heirs, the emperor has never spent as much time with you. You are master and servant in name, but in reality you are old friends."

"I believe that you and my father have a deep relationship."

"In fact, when I was the crown prince, I was grateful to you. Because you were being filial to our father on behalf of us children. You took care of our father's food, clothing, daily life, and even making the tent and covering the quilt at night. I am grateful to you from the bottom of my heart."

"Now, you have to serve me again."

"You are always with me from morning till night, and I have never treated you as a slave, but as an elder. If you were in an ordinary family, you would be worthy of being called Uncle Wang. Just say whatever you want to say!"

(End of this chapter)