Empress Dowager Cixi once ate 300 watermelons at a time, a luxury habit that is difficult for anyone to accept

Queen Mother Cixi in history is a name very familiar with luxury and waste. She has a habit of eating watermelon that is difficult for anyone to accept. Moreover, more than half of the Qing Dynasty's national treasury was spent by her.

Those who have read "Dream of the Red Chamber" will probably feel fascinated by the delicious dishes in it. Although people only read the words and cannot enjoy the taste of the food, just reading the elaborate cooking methods of each dish makes them feel dizzy. All kinds of delicious dishes are placed on the same dining table, sometimes those dishes are just side dishes to add flavor and not the main dish. Indeed, ordinary modern people like us cannot understand the way of life of ancient aristocrats.

When it comes to the luxury of ancient aristocrats, many people will immediately think of Empress Dowager Cixi. Because, more than half of the Qing Dynasty's national treasury was spent by her. So normally, what is Queen Mother Tu Hi's dining life like? In fact, she is very picky when it comes to eating, the nutritional value or taste of the food are secondary, the grand appearance is the main focus, she must cover the entire dining table.

It is known that for a Cixi meal, there must be more than 100 dishes on the table. Of those more than 100 dishes, of course she will not eat them all, but will only choose a few dishes that look satisfactory and eat a few bites. The remaining dishes, if you are in a good mood, will be rewarded to the people below, but if you are in a normal mood, you will throw them all away. Such a wasteful way of eating and drinking costs hundreds of taels of silver in terms of money alone. Furthermore, Cixi is also very picky in terms of culinary preparation, not only eating the best things, but the chef must also be the best chef, the types of dishes must be diverse, not duplicated.

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Famous chefs from all over the Qing Dynasty at that time had headaches every day when faced with all kinds of expensive foods. In addition to the usual three meals a day, Tu Hi also wants to eat breakfast, fruits, and cakes. For example, when eating watermelon, everyone likes to cut the watermelon in half, then use a spoon to eat the intestines. Almost everyone will eat the red part of the melon. But Tu Hi was different, she only ate one piece of melon in the middle of the melon, which was also the sweetest part, all the other parts were left out and did not eat.

Every time they ate watermelon, the eunuchs had to carry dozens of melons next to them, because Tu Hi only ate one piece, and after eating this melon, he switched to another melon. Just like that, tens of thousands of melons have been wasted all summer. Such a luxurious life caused the Qing dynasty's treasury to run out. It was very difficult for the Beiyang Fleet to accumulate some budget, but as a result, they bought weapons of poor quality that could not have been worse. Not to mention the fact that Cixi also used the national treasury to build lavish gardens and mausoleums for herself.

Behind such waste of wealth and national treasury are people in the lower strata of society who are exploited. Furthermore, China at that time was still being divided and oppressed by imperialist countries, and its national treasury was increasingly exhausted.

Of the kings who have made great contributions in Chinese history, is there anyone who is not frugal and does not care about people's lives? Coming to Tu Hi, he didn't care, neglected, and brutally exploited the people, only wanting to enjoy all the glory and wealth in the world alone. In the end, the Qing Dynasty was destroyed, her luxurious mausoleum was stolen, all the money and wealth that she could not take away was scrounged by others, all that remained were words. scolding and cursing from later generations and history.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Emperor could be said to be just a decoration, the real power was in the hands of Empress Dowager Cixi. While the common people struggled in poverty, Queen Mother Tu Hi always lived a life full of luxury and luxury, beyond people's imagination.

As we know, when Emperor Kangxi held a banquet to celebrate his 66th birthday, there were a total of 108 dishes, called Manhan Toan Xi, held for 3 full days with 6 parties. These dishes are simply a celebration of life, not held every day.

But when Empress Dowager Cixi was in power, Manchu Han could not "satisfy" her status. Therefore, Empress Dowager Cixi ordered the installation of a Tay Thien Room (Western-style dining room). In this room, there is only 1 waiter and more than 100 dishes. Moreover, every day we have to do the same.

Of course, Empress Dowager Cixi couldn't eat all of those foods. Most of the time she only tasted each dish once, and there were even a few dishes she never touched. All are seen as displaying the power of Empress Dowager Cixi.

Every day it's like that, to the point where the chef (chef) of Tay Thien Phong can't stand it anymore and doesn't want to waste any more food. Therefore, while cooking, the chefs secretly arrange the dishes in a special way, arranging the food with just a thin layer on top. Because Empress Dowager Cixi only ate a little bit of each dish and didn't even eat many dishes at all, she didn't detect this change.

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