“Minister Shen, what is this? Why is this pot of soup so bright red? Could it be blood?”
The Empress had crawled her way to today’s position, and the blood she had seen was no less than that of the feudal lords and generals guarding the border.
This bright red soup base was something she had never seen or heard of.
So subconsciously, she took what Shen Yu had brought as blood.
After all, in her mind, the only thing that could achieve such a bright red color was human blood.
But the smell was different from human blood.
The spicy and pungent odor filled her nasal cavity.
She only took a deep breath and coughed endlessly.
Yet this spicy and pungent taste made her somewhat… unable to stop!
“Cough… what exactly is this? Why does it taste like this?”
“Your Majesty, this is called hotpot. The soup base is my secret recipe.”
Shen Yu proudly began to explain what hotpot was.
The Empress was completely baffled.
Although she was widely experienced, she had never seen anything like what Shen Yu had brought.
In front of the eloquent Shen Yu, the Empress hesitated with her chopsticks, not knowing where to start, looking like a helpless child.
She had no idea how to handle it.
She could only hold the chopsticks and stare at Shen Yu expectantly, begging her to finish quickly.
“How do you eat this?”
The Empress moved to pick up a dried chili floating on the red soup, but Shen Yu directly stopped her.
“Your Majesty, you can’t eat that directly. I’m afraid you won’t be able to handle it. Let me show you first.”
As soon as Shen Yu finished speaking, Yin Qiu brought out several plates of mutton sliced as thin as cicada wings, some beef offal—tripe, leaf tripe, and other essential hotpot ingredients—along with tofu, vermicelli, and Chinese cabbage.
Shen Yu personally prepared a sesame sauce dish for the Empress and placed it in front of her.
The Empress looked at these flashy ingredients and was even more confused.
“Raw? Minister Shen, aren’t you deceiving me? How can I eat raw food? And what is this? It’s black. I’ve never seen it before.”
As the exalted Emperor, naturally she had never seen “filth” like beef offal, let alone eaten it.
Faced with the Empress’s pickiness, Shen Yu didn’t explain much.
She silently picked up a few slices of mutton and dipped them in the boiling pot.
The mutton, thin as cicada wings, was cooked the moment it entered the boiling pot, wrapped in spicy and fragrant red oil, then coated in sesame sauce.
Shen Yu had a deep understanding of eating hotpot.
She had mastered the heat of the mutton, the tenderness of the meat, and the amount of dipping sauce.
“Your Majesty, open wide.”
Shen Yu brought a chopstickful of steaming mutton to the Empress’s mouth.
The freshly cooked mutton slices, cooled to the perfect temperature by the sesame sauce but still hot and spicy, were at their best.
Although the Empress kept asking questions, when Shen Yu fed her, she honestly opened her mouth.
The mutton entered her mouth, and the Empress could no longer say a single word to refute Shen Yu.
“Does this hotpot suit Your Majesty’s taste?”
Shen Yu watched as the Empress’s lips visibly reddened, her soft vermilion lips slightly pursed, constantly sucking in cold air with a “hissing” sound.
“I… I want to try that black thing too. What is it?”
“That’s tripe. Your Majesty, don’t ask, just eat first.”
Shen Yu taught the Empress how to cook the tripe.
After learning, the Empress immediately became addicted to its crunchy texture.
She was already sweating profusely from the spiciness, but she couldn’t stop her chopsticks.
“So delicious. Minister Shen, this is really delicious. I have never eaten anything this good before.”
“How is it made? Teach my Imperial Kitchen? If you do, I will grant you anything.”
The Empress ate until her pretty face turned red.
During this time, Shen Yu hardly touched her chopsticks; the Empress almost finished all the ingredients by herself.
All the buttons on her ruqun were undone.
Shen Yu could even see the Empress’s lotus-colored bellyband through her sweat-soaked white inner garment, along with her creamy curves.
After eating, the Empress still seemed unsatisfied.
Although she was almost crying from the spiciness, her tearful, sweating gaze at Shen Yu clearly indicated she wanted more.
But she knew she had eaten a bit too much and was embarrassed to ask.
Yet her eyes clearly asked Shen Yu if there was any left.
“Yin Qiu, bring another serving for Your Majesty.”
“Half a serving, just half a serving. Hiss… I’ve eaten enough. It’s just that this hot, spicy flavor really pleases me. I just want to taste more.”
The Empress waved her hand repeatedly.
“Your Majesty, please drink some tea first. I’ll pack some base ingredients for you. These are all ready-made. After you return, tell the Imperial Kitchen to boil them with water, add a little salt, place a copper pot over a fire, and you can cook it yourself in the palace.”
In Shen Yu’s view, the Empress was really able to eat.
If she let her come every day to freeload, Shen Yu would not only feel uncomfortable but also couldn’t afford the expense.
“I never expected Minister Shen to be not only proficient in medicine but also an extraordinary cook. As the saying goes, skilled in both the hall and the kitchen, you are truly a pillar of the state. A great talent! A great talent!”
The Empress was unstinting in her praise, but Shen Yu had no mood to listen.
“Minister Shen, I actually have a few more matters to discuss with you this time.”
“I’ve been troubled by these issues for days. After much thought, among the court officials, only you can share my worries.”
After eating her fill, the Empress slowed down her eating pace.
While sipping tea, she told Shen Yu about the recent difficulties she faced.
“The foremost issue is the opening of maritime trade. I am determined to open the seas, but there is still some resistance in the court.”
The Empress put on a serious attitude.
She knew that on the issue of opening the seas, she could only talk to Shen Yu.
Even the learned Grand Academician of the Wenyuan Pavilion, the Ministers of the Six Ministries, or the Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet—none could compare to Shen Yu in vision.
They had grown used to comfort, losing even the interest to suppress the barbarians in the north and south, only thinking of fighting to the death in their familiar small plots.
But the Empress believed Shen Yu was different.
Her vision was extremely broad, and her words had provided the Empress with much inspiration.
What was the optimal solution to the empire’s current difficulties?
It was not reform, not making money, not expanding the imperial examinations, not amnesty, and not even high-yield crops.
Instead, it was as Shen Yu said: go out.
Let those court officials shift their greedy gazes to farther places, instead of reaching into the pockets of the empire’s already pitiful people.
“If I want to open the seas, by next spring, the court’s first treasure ships can set sail using the sea charts left by the former emperor.”
“Wait! Wait, hold on.”
Shen Yu put down her chopsticks and looked at the Empress with disbelief.
Not…
Your former emperor’s dynasty had sky-high technology?
Those oceangoing treasure ships, capable of withstanding ocean storms, with a displacement of at least one or two thousand tons, could set sail by next spring?
With such a tight schedule, could they build good ships?
What if the ships sank as soon as they went out to sea?
Then the entire plan to open the seas would be stillborn.
“Your Majesty, sending treasure ships to sea is no small matter. It should be carefully considered.”
“Minister Shen, you don’t know something.”
Seeing Shen Yu’s panicked expression, the Empress’s pride and satisfaction did not diminish.
“The court’s shipbuilding technology is very advanced. As early as the former emperor’s era, the cargo ships sailing along the empire’s coastline were built to oceangoing standards.”
Hearing this, Shen Yu remembered that when she first entered the Capital, she had been shocked by the towering cargo ships at the port.
She had even wondered if it was really cost-effective for the imperial merchants to use such large ships to transport goods.
The cost of building huge ships was obvious, and the goods they carried were just grain, medicine, silk, and such.
Large ships were troublesome to maintain, required a lot of manpower, couldn’t reach high speeds in coastal waters, had a high risk of running aground, and had a slow return on investment.
Were those imperial merchants all fools?
Now it seemed that as early as three generations of emperors ago, from the time they began to elevate the status of merchants, the first three emperors had never given up on the idea of opening the seas, and had already started laying the groundwork.
The court allowed coastal navigation but strictly regulated the size and carrying capacity of cargo ships.
These seemingly unnecessary designs had to be followed by the imperial merchants, which is why, after three generations, the Empress had the confidence to open the seas by spring.
But… each generation has its own goals.
Going back three generations, no matter how strong the emperor was, opening the seas couldn’t be done on a whim.
It was only by the Empress’s time that they barely had the right time and place.
Undeniably, three generations of state-level accumulation and planning had laid an excellent foundation for the Empress to open the seas.
Although it still felt a bit forced to open the seas now, the Empress couldn’t wait, and the empire couldn’t wait.
The empire urgently needed overseas resources to transfer the increasing pressure.
The Empress knew she couldn’t eradicate the empire’s accumulated ills.
This behavior was nothing more than a helpless expedient—adding water to flour, adding flour to water.
But having the chance to add water to flour and flour to water was still better than the dynasty’s collapse, the country’s ruin, and the people’s suffering.
The Empress was more worried that the increasingly powerful barbarians beyond the passes would invade the Central Plains, and that forces from overseas countries would gradually surpass the empire.
If she didn’t do something now, it would be even harder for future successors.
The empire could perish, dynasties could change, but the bloodline inherited from the ancestors must not change.
It must not be stolen by the barbarians beyond the passes or overseas countries.
The thoughts Shen Yu had instilled, intentionally or not, had completely changed the Empress’s mindset.
She no longer thought only of balancing the court and living out her life peacefully.
As long as the empire didn’t fall during her reign, history would rate her highly—after all, she was the only female emperor in history.
Before meeting Shen Yu, that was indeed what she thought.
She even had a bit of a small-farmer mentality, always thinking about how to leave more for her daughter, Xiao Yue.
But now… she intended to follow her ancestors’ example.
While the empire was still strong with soldiers and sturdy ships, she would do her utmost to prop up this collapsing empire.
“If you don’t believe me, Minister Shen, you can go to the Capital port and see. Those towering treasure ships are docked there. Though they’re nominally cargo ships, with a little modification by the craftsmen, they can carry the navy, mount cannons. The largest treasure ship has a displacement of over five thousand tons.”
“Five thousand tons?”
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