As a corrupt official, Little Shenyang has a long history, but the clever Little Shenyang invented something. So far, everyone is using it. What is this?
As early as the Kangxi period, Emperor Kangxi held a grand banquet in the palace to live longer, that is, at least 1000 elderly people over 60 were invited to dinner, which was called "Thousand Banquets" in China.
Seeing that his grandfather had held such a grand banquet since he was a child, Qianlong also hoped to hold such a banquet to pray for his longevity. So in 1785, Qianlong held a "Thousand Banquets" which was larger than that in the reign of Kangxi. More than 3,000 old people attended the dinner, but unfortunately, the banquet was not very successful, because it was in winter and all the dishes were served.
The old people didn't enjoy themselves, and Qianlong felt humiliated and unhappy, so he decided to hold the same banquet at the same time the next year, but this time he gave it to Xiao Shenyang and ordered that the problem of food cooling too fast must be solved.
Xiao Shenyang fully understood Qianlong's demand for face and vanity, so he tried his best to make the banquet extremely grand and unique. Small Shenyang made preparations two months in advance, ordered the local government to report the local specialty food, chicken, duck, fish and rice noodles, and temporarily invited famous chefs to the palace to live in the palace for 24 hours. All kinds of materials are brought into the palace from all over the country, and the carriages at the main entrance come in and out. Xiao Shenyang did his best.
In view of the problem that dishes are easy to get cold, Xiao Shenyang decided to use hot pot for banquets, and reformed the old hot pot. A chimney was added in the middle of the pot, and a hole was opened under the pot, so charcoal could be added at any time and conveniently, and clear soup made of fresh meat was used as raw material. As soon as the banquet was opened, the old people were very satisfied with the food on the wine table and had a good social response. People praised the creativity and originality of the new hot pot one after another, and Ganlong especially praised the ability of Xiao Shenyang to handle affairs!
Later, the hot pot invented by Xiao Shenyang was widely used in the palace and gradually spread to the people. This kind of hot pot was later called "Little Shenyang Hot Pot" or "Manchu Hot Pot".