Half in the river wind, half in the clouds

Before the emergence of farming and animal husbandry, people mostly lived by hunting. Later, when the problem of food and clothing was solved, hunting became closely integrated with the military. In the Zhou Dynasty, hunting officially became a national ritual. The emperor hunted regularly throughout the year, which was called "spring search, summer seedling hunting, autumn hunting, and winter hunting", or to worship the ancestral temple or to deploy troops for training.

The Tang Dynasty followed the Zhou rituals, and successive emperors attached great importance to ancestral temple sacrifices. The ritual of hunting clearly stipulated that the best prey would be offered to the ancestral temple, the second best would be offered to guests, and the worst would be sent to the kitchen.

In addition, the royal family of the Tang Dynasty had hunting genes in their bones. The mothers of Emperor Gaozu, Emperor Taizong, and Emperor Gaozong were all Xianbei Hu people. Driven by the wars of conquest and martial spirit, hunting became a major hobby of the royal family of the Tang Dynasty and was brought to the extreme.

The scale of this autumn hunting event and the number of participants are rare.

Among the royal family members, except for the disabled Prince Shen Li Chengyi who was left behind to supervise the country, all the members of the Li Tang royal family came out in full force. Including the ministers, guards, warriors, palace maids and eunuchs who accompanied them, there were about 5,000 to 6,000 people.

This autumn hunt, the concubines and princesses of the harem, and the wives and daughters of the princes also followed. When a woman goes out, she will definitely bring a lot of things.

The procession of people, carriages, and baggage stretched for miles, creating a magnificent sight.

Jiang Feng was in the group of Princess Taiping. Fangcao had not been in good health since the last incident, and Princess Taiping sympathized with her and did not let her go with them.

Jiang Feng suddenly became a busy man. All the people below came to ask her about Princess Taiping's eating, drinking, defecating, clothing, living and traveling.

She was used to being lazy and had no experience in managing a household. Even if she had experience, three rooms with thatched roofs and earthen walls could not be compared with tall buildings and mansions.

I was very annoyed at the first one or two days, but slowly I figured out the trick.

Before arriving at Huashan Paddock, Jiang Feng called together the female officials from various departments of the Princess's Mansion for a short meeting while Princess Taiping was paying homage to the Emperor.

Although those female officials were respectful and polite to Jiang Feng on the surface, they did not treat her as their real master. As the well-known female officials of the princess's mansion, even the princess's daughters-in-law had to give them some face.

Jiang Feng naturally knew this too.

She also didn't want to establish any useless official authority among this group of female officials. It was just that she had finally come out for a "travel", and the opportunity was rare, so she really didn't want to tie herself down with trivial matters.

Help others and liberate yourself.

The meeting was held in Yueming's tent, which was also the place where the female officials reported and arranged their work during the trip.

Yueming is the third most important person after Fangcao and Qingchuan. Compared with those two, Yueming only knows how to do her job honestly. If you ask her to manage people, she neither wants to nor can she do so.

She was particularly afraid that Jiang Feng would just give up and not care about her, so she protected her in every way.

Seeing that everyone was present, Jiang Feng smiled and said, "You aunts have worked hard for half a day and should have taken a break at this time. But the queen happened to go to the emperor's place and Aunt Yueming and I are no longer needed to serve her, so I called you all here. I hope you will bear with me."

Everyone smiled and said, "How dare we? Miss, you are joking. It is our responsibility to take good care of the queen."

Seeing this, Jiang Feng said, "Okay. Since all the aunts think so, I will get straight to the point. When you are away from home, the princess must be more careful about her diet and daily life than when she is at home. The most important thing is this food."

Jiang Feng smiled at the female official of the Food Department and said, "Aunt, your diet arrangement was very good, but I thought that since autumn is dry and you are away from home, you should add more soup to the meals. You should also provide some drinks to reduce internal heat. This is a list of soups and drinks. I served them to the princess when she was at home and the feedback was good. This is the list for the seven days. The specific methods are written down and they are not difficult. Can you see if you can make them?"

The female official took the list and looked at it carefully for a while. She saw that it listed 14 kinds of soups and drinks, and the cooking methods were detailed. They were nutritionally balanced and not too complicated. She nodded and smiled and agreed: "I can do it."

Jiang Feng listened and smiled, "That's good. For other dishes and staple foods, please report the menu to me every seven days. Aunt knows the queen's taste better than I do, so I won't say much. The other important things are cleanliness and safety. Although there are conventions in the mansion, I have to add another layer of insurance when I go out. You must not miss any step. Aunt Yueming and I will conduct random inspections from time to time. If there is anything inappropriate..."

Jiang Feng hesitated for a while and said, "I am also a guest in the princess's mansion, so I shouldn't interfere. But Aunt Fangcao has entrusted me with such an important task, so I dare not be careless. I must be very careful with what I eat. If there is anything inappropriate and Aunt Yueming or I find out, I will have to explain it to the princess myself."

The female official's face changed when she heard this, but she still smiled and said, "Young lady, you don't believe us anymore."

Jiang Feng smiled and said: "Auntie, I feel so embarrassed when she said that. You are all old people that the princess has been using. Who am I to say whether I trust you or not? It's just my duty. Even though I know that Auntie can rest assured, I still have to do what I should do."

When the female official heard her say this, she said, "Young lady, you are too nervous. We also followed the princess on the spring hunt a few years ago. At that time, the Princess of Ji'an followed us, and there was no inspection or random check. Everything was fine, wasn't it?"

Jiang Feng knew that this female official would not easily listen to her orders.

Yueming wanted to help when she saw the female official refuted Jiang Feng, but then she changed her mind and realized that there was indeed no random inspection during the last spring parade. She didn't know how to help and could only look at Jiang Feng anxiously.

Jiang Feng was not in a hurry, and continued to smile: "Aunt, you are talking about the year when the late emperor ascended the throne, right? How old was the county princess at that time? She was at an age of innocence and naivety, how could she pay attention to these things! Now that the county princess has come with her, aunt can go and see how the county princess ensures food safety? She is pregnant, so she is only stricter than us, not looser. And that time, because a maid kept the beef for two days and served it on the third day, Aunt Fangcao was beaten and sent to the other garden. It can be seen that although the county princess was young at that time, she was looked after by Aunt Fangcao and Aunt Qingchuan everywhere. Now, one of the two aunts died in the line of duty, and the other is ill, so it is natural that the responsibility falls on us now."

The female official heard that Jiang Feng knew everything that happened in the past, and knew that he was well prepared, so she did not dare to be careless.

Seeing that she was no longer arrogant, Jiang Feng smiled and said, "I also know that aunt has always been prudent in doing things, and even the princess is very confident. I believe there will be no mistakes. As for the random inspection, aunt will just learn from you."

The female official saw that Jiang Feng was always at a disadvantage when speaking, but her intention was to show that there was no room for maneuver.

It not only makes people feel happy, but also makes you do what she says obediently.

At that moment, I had to smile and agree.