My eunuch godfather

Chapter 31 Dining at the Table

After the drills, Zhang Kun let the river workers return to camp to rest, and then had Xu Xin take charge of the hired cooks to prepare a meal.

On the way, the river workers ate rice and pancakes mixed with a lot of coarse grains, along with vegetable soup, which contained oil and meat but not much.

Zhang Kun was very satisfied with today's drill and decided to reward the river workers with a good meal:

Each person gets a bowl of braised pork, with no radishes or anything like that, just the pork, and the broth is simmered until thick and creamy.

White rice and steamed buns made without any grains, as well as stewed cabbage and tofu, are plentiful.

Without alcohol, Zhang Kun was worried that the river workers would get drunk and cause trouble.

In Zhang Kun's view, it is appropriate to provide the river workers with meat and fine grains from time to time, but not alcohol.

Moreover, after arriving in the capital and establishing the main camp for river engineering, Zhang Kun would set up canteens in the camp and at the construction site to sell wine and make money.

Chen Jizong and Zhou Zhong stayed at the temporary camp to oversee the river works.

Zhang Kun brought gifts to Zhang Ye's private residence and had dinner with his eunuch godfather.

Finally, we managed to sit at the same table.

The menu wasn't extensive, but the dishes were all exquisite. Zhang Kun had hired a highly skilled Shandong cuisine chef in Linqing.

"Sir, I never imagined that crabs would be cheaper than rice in the lower reaches of the Nine Rivers in Tianjin!"

Zhang Kun pointed to the crab roe braised tofu and said to Zhang Ye with a smile:

"The students tried it and felt that the taste was no less than that of Baiyangdian."

The most famous crabs in the world today are actually from Baiyangdian, while Yangcheng Lake is still competing with Taihu Lake and even West Lake.

It wasn't until the late Qing Dynasty, when Songjiang became the number one city in the country, that Yangcheng Lake began to dominate the world.

"It tastes good."

Zhang Ye tasted it with a spoon, nodded to Zhang Kun, and said, "We can send some to the palace."

He then picked up a piece of dried donkey meat from Hejian with his chopsticks, savored it for a moment, and exclaimed:

"It's so good, it tastes just like it did back then."

Besides the donkey meat from Hejian and the crab roe oil from Tianjin, the cold dishes also include jellyfish salad with cabbage from Shandong.

Other hot dishes include honey-glazed ham from Jinhua and roasted pork with fermented bean curd from Linqing.

And Shandong specialties include braised sea cucumber with pork knuckle, shrimp and cattail soup in milk broth, and braised fish slices in fermented rice wine.

The soup dish is old duck soup with dried bamboo shoots from Huzhou, and the fruits include golden thread dates from Cangzhou and candied kumquats from Ningbo.

After tasting a few dishes, Zhang Ye picked up his teacup, took a sip, and smiled at Zhang Kun, saying:

"Tell me about your experiences along the way?"

"student......"

Zhang Kun recounted his observations and experiences traveling south along the canal, highlighting the key points, to his eunuch godfather:

First, there was Tianjin, where many maritime merchants came from the sea to sell various goods from the south and even overseas.

Secondly, in Hejian, hundreds of bandits gathered and attacked the wedding procession.

Zhang Kun glossed over the conflict with the Guo family and the cooperation with the Sun family, the prefect, and the guerrillas.

It is said that the prefect reported Guo's moral failings, which led to the arrival of the Censor-in-Chief, who stripped Guo of his academic honors.

Thirdly, in Shandong, east of Linqing, the disaster has escalated to a point where it's worse than cannibalism.

Zhang Kun did not skip over the conflict with Qiu, the protector of the Prince of Lu's mansion, and told Zhang Ye most of the truth.

The lie lies in the fact that Zhang Kun said he went to the nunnery to see Protector Qiu, who then set up the Prince Lu's Mansion and forced the river work team to smuggle goods.

In this way, although Zhang Kun's actions were too extreme, the main responsibility lies with Protector Qiu.

"How did I teach you?!"

Hearing this, Zhang Ye frowned and reprimanded Zhang Kun:

"You must remain calm when things happen! If that Qiu guy uses the Lu Prince's Mansion to pressure you, you shouldn't overturn the table."

Yes, you were in the right and defeated the other side, and even the Prince of Lu's mansion couldn't do anything about you.

But you've gained another enemy, one that the Prince Lu's Mansion can never be eliminated!

His throat was dry from talking, so he picked up his teacup and drank it all in one gulp, then continued to lecture Zhang Kun:

"Also, do you think I can't guess how you do things in Hejian?"

You have the guts to fight against overwhelming odds and defeat hundreds of bandits, and you even have the guts to be an enemy of the Guo family!

They simply think they've handled things well and want to keep it from me!

Upon hearing this, Zhang Kun immediately knelt down and kowtowed to his eunuch godfather, admitting his mistake, "This student was wrong!"

"Kun'er, I know you're capable, but I sent you out on this mission so you could develop a more mature and composed temperament!"

Looking at Zhang Kun kneeling on the ground, Zhang Ye's tone softened, and he changed his form of address:

"If you dare to act like this now, who will you offend when you rise to a higher position in the future?"

"There are so many powerful figures in the capital, how many can you afford to offend?"

"Godfather is right!"

Upon hearing Zhang Ye change his form of address, Zhang Kun also changed his form of address, saying:

"Your son deserves to die! Having gained power, he became arrogant and caused so much trouble for his godfather!"

It certainly caused a lot of trouble, but the benefits outweighed the problems:

The 8000 taels of silver confiscated from the nunnery, along with a pile of antiques and jewelry, the latter amounting to several thousand taels, were also seized.

With 5000 well-trained river workers, earning tens of thousands of taels of silver through the dredging of the nine city gates and moats would not be a problem.

In addition, the business of tampons is indeed promising. Zhang Ye has already become addicted to it and smokes at least two or three coins a day.

Suppress his official position and let him do business for a few years first.

Let him develop a more composed temperament before promoting him.

Thinking of this, Zhang Ye raised his hand to let Zhang Kun get up, "Get up and eat, the chef you hired is quite good."

Zhang Kun stood up and sat back down, then said respectfully to Zhang Ye, "Since Godfather likes it, let him stay here."

"Never mind, let's talk about the river works camp instead."

Zhang Ye waved his hand and asked Zhang Kun, "When is the earliest we can start work?"

"Within ten days,"

Zhang Kun took out the newly written project proposal, which included a basic version of the "engineering drawings" he had drawn. Pointing to the drawings, he said:

"I plan to build a large camp in Nanxiawa, Xuannanfang, to house the river workers and their families."

"What is this type of house called?"

Looking at the house design on the blueprints, Zhang Ye asked with some curiosity.

"The simple enclosed house is a modified version of a style found in Guangdong..."

Hakka walled houses in Guangdong and other places are castle-like courtyards that can accommodate 30 to 40 families.

Inside, each household has its own residence, with the gates all opening towards the center of the courtyard, where all families share an open space and houses.

The back wall of each house also serves as the outer wall of the courtyard. Made of rammed earth, bamboo strips, and other materials, it is much stronger than ordinary rammed earth walls.

If the builders are rich, they can even surpass many city walls!

Of course, Zhang Kun had to consider time and cost, so he wouldn't repair it that sturdily; he would save money wherever possible.

Moreover, since the building is so sturdy, the Ministry of War, Shuntian Prefecture, and other government departments might come knocking.

Ask me, what are your intentions in building a castle in the capital?

Zhang Kun mainly felt that this system was beneficial for both organizing and controlling river works.

Once the gate is closed, it can even be used as a prison.

"...A canteen, a bathhouse, and a market will be built inside the camp to collect wages for the river works."

Since food similar to that in a canteen or bathhouse already existed in the world, Zhang Ye had no trouble understanding it.

What Zhang Kun didn't tell Zhang Ye was that the camp would also build hourly rooms.

There are hours in this world, "because the sun moves to the left of the equator, and every fifteen degrees is one hour."

However, clocks were not widely used, so the traditional Chinese calendar, or hourly calendar, was still the primary system.

The hourly room was used by river workers without families to trade with washerwomen.

"You've thought of everything very thoroughly, covering all aspects."

After reviewing Zhang Kun's new project proposal, Zhang Ye couldn't help but praise him:

"When it comes to overseeing the dredging of the nine gates and moat, no one can compare to you!"