After Yin Pobai took down a piece of meat, his blade rose and fell, slicing the cured meat into neat squares.
Slice after slice, glistening with oil.
The fat had turned a completely translucent gold, lustrous as amber, and above that amber lay lean meat with a faint purplish hue.
Zi Shou continued, "Bring the gui bowls. Let all my ministers share in the feast!"
Gui were the forerunners of bowls.
A Eunuch held out the bowls while Yin Pobai filled them with slices of cured meat.
Even he, a member of the Royal Guards who ate more than most every day, could barely restrain himself. One look told him this cured meat would be delicious!
What a pleasure it would be paired with that wine from earlier!
The Pool of Wine and Forest of Meat...
The straightforward military officers were already salivating just from hearing how it was made. They all thought that if victory earned them a feast in the Pool of Wine and Forest of Meat, they would gladly go into battle and kill enemies every single day!
The civil officials, however, were less optimistic.
Curing meat required a truly enormous quantity of salt, so much that even the feudal lords would consider it extravagant. Only an emperor would be willing to spend that much.
It was simply too wasteful.
Yang Ren, who had been rather lightheaded, had now calmed down. He remonstrated, "Your Majesty, this forest cost a great deal. My current salary would suffice to clothe my entire family in brocade and feed them delicacies, yet I have not done so. I wear only coarse cloth and eat wild fruit."
"It is human nature that moving from frugality to extravagance is easy, while moving from extravagance to frugality is hard. Can my current salary last