According to the "Palace Notes", the cases of Cixi and Guangxu are as follows: 50 Jin of pork (pork elbow), one pig, one sheep and two chickens and ducks each; Two liters of new fine rice, one and a half liters of purple rice, three liters of glutinous rice, three kilograms of glutinous rice flour, fifteen kilograms of white flour, one kilogram of buckwheat flour, one kilogram of wheat flour, three-in-one pea flour (about four and a half) and five spoonfuls of sesame seeds (about two or two dollars); Two pounds of sugar, one hundred and twenty-five dollars, eight ounces of pot sugar and eight ounces of honey; Walnut kernel 42, pine nut kernel 22; Twenty-eight eggs, four ounces of medlar, eight ounces of dried dates ... fifteen pounds of fresh vegetables. There are also some delicacies such as bird's nest, shark's fin, sea cucumber and tremella.

Network mapping

With such a large supply every day, how much does this case cost? I can't chase it.

The entertainment industry was developed in Song Dynasty. In "The Water Margin", Li Shishi flourished in Goulan, Kaifeng, and his godmother was gorgeous; Yan Poxi, once mixed in the entertainment circle of the capital, has articles comparable to the current beauty writers; Bai Xiuying, CEO of Yuncheng International Entertainment Club, sings and dances lightly, has a good face and a good voice.

All three of them are geisha, with all the elements of musicians, singers, women, critics, socialites .... It is certainly pleasing to have a good appearance, or even some feelings, and not to hold it.

In Kaifeng in the Northern Song Dynasty, there were nearly 10,000 romantic workshops with high taxes. In Lin 'an in the Southern Song Dynasty, there were many courtesans in Washe, not to mention official prostitutes, but to name private prostitutes, such as Suzhou Qian Sanjie, Wen Ji Xi Xi, Drum Plate Zhu Yijie, Daughter-in-law Zhu San, Ten Big Hu pities, Wuzhou Zhang Qijie, barbarian king Erjie, Daluo Qiu Sanjie, Yimang Poplar Sanma, Old Sima Ernian, Mounted Chen Sanman and Zhang Sanniang.

Qin Chun's Biography of Tan Yige said that * * * Tan Yige had the title of "Poetry Wine" on his name tattoo. Yan Rui, a prostitute in Taizhou in the Southern Song Dynasty, wrote poems in seven steps.

Network mapping

Nie Shengqiong, a famous prostitute in the Northern Song Dynasty, happened to meet Li Zhiwen, a classmate who was working in Kaifeng, and fell in love at first sight, becoming each other's hearts. After a happy time, Lao Li patted * * to go home. Xiao Nie bought a farewell dinner at Lianhua Building and drank too much. Xiao Nie was reluctant and sad, and sang "I have no plan to stay in the spring, but I have no plan to go with you", which was quite touching. Lao Li was moved and stayed for several months.

But I still have to go. A few days later, on the way, the courier gave him a love letter from Xiao Nie: "Jade flowers are sad out of Fengcheng, and Liu Qingqing is downstairs in Lotus. Respect the former and sing the sun, and then take the fifth journey. If you seek a good dream, it is difficult to achieve it. Who knows my feelings at this time? Tears in front of the pillow, rain in front of the curtain, dripping through a window. " Lao Li hid the love letter in the box. When I get home, I don't want to be found by my wife. Lao Li took the initiative to explain that his wife was very tolerant, and he bought Xiao Nie from the dowry, so that the talented little three became a second wife. (See "Green Mud Lotus")

The best geisha in the Song Dynasty was Miss Liu E.. Xiao Liu was originally a child of Gao Qian, but she was forced to bend over to the teaching workshop because of her poor family, but she was not a sex worker. Xiao Liu is handsome, talented, alert, playing and singing, all of which are a piece of cake. As a drum player in Kaifeng City, the rattle can play with flowers, so it is said that she is the originator of Playing Flower Drum. At that time, a man named Zhao Yuankan took her as his concubine and solved the problem of food and clothing. More than ten years later, Zhao Yuankan changed his name to Zhao Heng, climbed to the throne of the emperor, namely Song Zhenzong, and conferred the title of Princess Jr. Later, Xiao Liu, a clever girl, made a successful transition from a delicate and poor Huajian geisha to a queen.

N years later, a drama "Civet cats for princes" was born. The protagonist is the vicious "Empress Liu", and the prototype is the delicate Liu E.

Network mapping

A textual research, it is difficult to calculate, then see the big picture from the small, look at the price of eggs. Li Baojia's Notes on the South Pavilion said that Emperor Guangxu ate four eggs for breakfast, and the price of the imperial dining room was 34 taels of silver, with an average consumption of eight and a half ounces of silver for each egg. At that time, the market price was about two pence for an egg, that is, one or two ounces of silver could buy 500 pieces. In other words, the price of eggs in the imperial kitchen is more than 4,000 times the market price! It is no exaggeration to call it "cow-priced egg". It can be seen that the 28 eggs listed in the example will cost more than 200 taels of silver.

The goods listed in this example are mostly for exclusive use, with high quality and expensive price, which is reasonable; The problem is that it is thousands of times higher than the market price, which is very abnormal. There are roughly two secrets: first, the Ministry of Internal Affairs has money and doesn't care, and the royal money is not spent. Besides, no matter how much money you spend on handling goods for the queen mother and the emperor, others are not good at gossiping. Secondly, it is customary in the palace that every link of procurement has advantages, that is, taking kickbacks from it. Up and down the interior office, you make a fortune by reporting flowers.

According to the price of eggs, it is conservatively estimated that the daily food expenses of the Queen Mother and the Emperor are not less than 12,000 yuan. Moreover, the palace manager and the chief eunuch also eat a case. For example, Zhang Lande, the head manager of the Empress Dowager Longyu, has 40 dishes per meal. During the Guangxu period, there were 168 palace officials and eunuchs. How much money do they eat in a day?