"My family Cheng Xia Weng is also from Shu, and he has been talking to me about the bitter taste of his hometown for a long time."
After sitting in the attic, Ren Hong said.Kudi, this is the name of tea in Shu, Sima Xiangru also called it "Xing Qi".However, Xia Dingmao is from the southern part of Shu County, and insists on pronouncing it as "蔎" shè in his hometown dialect, and he is happy.Therefore, Ren Hong knew for a long time that Shu County had a tea industry, among which Wuyang County, Qianwei County, which was later Meishan, Sichuan Province, was the most famous.It's a pity that there is a huge Chang'an, and there is no place to sell it, it is said that it is because this thing is only eaten by Shu people, there is no market and profit, and it is only occasionally sent to Weiyang Palace as a special product by the magistrate as a tribute.In the summer, Ren Hong asked Lu Jiuyu to open an incense shop in the nine cities, and also sent someone to Shu County.When he returned to Chang'an from Hejian Kingdom, he heard that tea had been bought, so he immediately asked Xia Dingmao to demonstrate the method of eating tea for the Shu people.What Ren Hong didn't expect was that it was really "eating".Lao Xia was very happy to see the products of his hometown, so he cracked open the tea cakes from the south, put them in a clay pot and boiled them, and skimmed off the soup after cooking, leaving only the tea residue that had no taste, mixed it into corn rice, and brought it to Ren Hong.Ren Hong's face was full of question marks, and after some questioning, he confirmed that this is the way the poor people in Shu County eat tea: eat as wild vegetables.Xia Dingmao chewed tea leaves in his mouth and said to Ren Hong: "We poor men all boil the leaves for food, but the scholars in the city have another more troublesome way to eat. ”What a waste, Ren Hong finally chose to pour the soup discarded by Xia Dingmao into the rice, add a little salt and dried plums, and came to a bowl of hot chazuku.He has seen the way to eat poorly, and today he pulled Zhang Kuang and Wang Junfang over, but he wanted to see what would happen to the "rich food" of the scholars.Wang Junfang is obviously one of the veterans, and he took the initiative to distribute tea for everyone, explaining to them while operating."
Jingba picks the leaves to make cakes, and the old leaves are caked, and the rice paste comes out, and if you want to cook tea, you should first moxibustion.I only drink with people when I go back to Bazhong occasionally, but I rarely see them in Chang'an. ”But he saw that he broke the piece of tea cake that I don't know if it was a tea picker with his feet, put it on a small stove and roasted it until it was red, and only after it was a little brittle, then he smashed it into tea powder in the vessel, put it in a clay pot, and then poured boiling water, but asked again, "Is there green onion and ginger in the store?"
”Is this going to be a dish?
Ren Hong and Lu Jiu looked at each other, but Zhang Kuang was not surprised, saying that Shu Shi had to put these two things when he ate tea, and said with a little disdain: "Bitter porridge, if you don't add onion and ginger and other flavors, it is the generation of Lu Zuo who eats grass." ”Porridge porridge?
Ren Hong watched Wang Junfang put the chopped green onion and ginger into the rather elegant boiling tea pot, polluting it into the shape of an ordinary vegetable soup, and said a pity in his heart.This is not over, Wang Junfang also asked people to go to his store to fetch orange peel to add, the taste in the room became more and more strange, and finally served to Ren Hong reluctantly, it was a bowl of soup with a suspicious color, the fragrance of tea leaves, has long been covered by the strong smell of green onions, ginger and orange peel."
This soup can dispel dampness and sober up, Xi'an Hou, please!"
Ren Hong's throat moved, looking at the "tea porridge" in front of him, he had a complicated mood, because everyone was waiting for him to drink it first before he dared to raise it, so he tasted it, it didn't look like tea at all, and then put a chicken in it to make soup.Wang Junfang and Zhang Kuang praised the taste of their hometown, but Ren Hong only tasted two sips and then fell away, and at the same time understood why the world did not treat the primitive tea of the Shu people at all, and even despised it.More than a thousand years later, the fist product that has swept the world from China is still just a dark cuisine for the Shu people to entertain themselves.Although the way to eat is niche, but since it can be made into cakes and sold, the price is not cheap, because it is light and easy to transport, and can be stored for a long time in dry conditions, it has the characteristics of long-distance goods, and Ren Hong is most concerned about the planting situation and yield.Outsiders don't know, although Zhang Kuang also drinks tea, but he also knows it and doesn't know why, but Wang Junfang, a businessman, knows more.Wang Junfang has the heart to be friendly with Ren Hong, so he knows everything: "Dare to tell the prince, the bitter is widely distributed, growing between the mountains and tombs, Shu County, Guanghan, Ba County, Qianwei have, Yizhou County in the south has a big mountain name mourning prison, and there are many wild trees in the mountains." ”"Out of Ba County, the Jingzhou Thorn History Department is also occasionally distributed, such as Tuling County, Changsha State, and there are also some in Wudi, which the Wu people call tea."
Although it is all over the southern hilly areas, it can really become an industry, and it has begun to be cultivated and planted artificially, only one in Wuyang County, Qianwei County, and the rest of the places are still mainly picking wild tea in the mountains, because eating tea is only a niche preference in the four counties of Shudi, and there is no supply if there is no demand, taking into account the sparse population in the south, the farming area is concentrated in a few plains, and it has not yet advanced to the famous tea areas such as Wuyi Mountain in the later generations.After some inquiry, Ren Hong couldn't help but be disappointed, he thought after learning from Zhao Chongguo, the later Yuan and Ming dynasties, the Central Plains tea has been planted on a large scale, and the Tibetan people because of their eating habits, non-tea does not disappear, the heat of barley, non-tea is incomprehensible, but the plateau does not produce tea, so tea has become a rigid demand.The tea and horse trade became a sharp weapon for the Central Plains Dynasty to restrain the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, not only allowing the Central Plains to ask for some peace, but also to obtain a large amount of tea tax.This method may be able to be used in the Han Dynasty in advance?
But the embarrassing thing is that the tea industry of the Han Dynasty has just sprouted, and the tea of Wuyang County is only enough for the scholars of Shu County to eat as a strange luxury, where is it enough to export to Qiangzhong?
It seems that the "tea and horse trade" he planned, even if it can be carried out between Qiangzhong and Shudi, is only a trickle of scale.What's even more troublesome is that ten years of trees, a hundred years of people, and the growth cycle of tea trees has its own, even if it can convince the imperial court to promote, it will take many years to see results."
None of the things in this world are easy, except for tea, I have to think of other ways."
Ren Hong glanced at the strange-colored "tea porridge" and decided to take all the tea he bought home, rather than eat a few more meals of tea and rice, rather than let these Bashu people be so violent.And after Lu Jiuyu waited for Ren Hong to leave, Han Dangdang, who had gone out before, came back angrily, his face was full of bruises, and after knocking on the door, he hung the ring head knife placed in the incense shop on his body and wanted to go out.Lu Jiuyu hurriedly stopped him: "Han Feilong, didn't the prince say that you are not allowed to walk in the city with a knife, what are you doing!"
Do you want to go out and kill people?
”Han Dangdang was so angry that he had to be angry: "I don't know which thief actually stole all the money on Naigong's body, causing me to lose someone in Nulu, and I am angry!"
If I catch him, I will tear him alive!
”Over there, Ren Hong returned to Shangguanli, asked people to put the remaining tea cakes into the kitchen, and walked around the courtyard by himself, but he didn't see Yaoguang."
Where's Shaojun?"
Xia Dingmao came over to report: "Gentleman, the young monarch went to the emperor's great-grandson's house, and the emperor's great-grandson's wife is about to be born!"
”Ren Hong was stunned for a moment, counting the days, Xu Pingjun was indeed pregnant for almost ten months: "Didn't the emperor's great-grandson say a few days ago that the doctor only gave birth in October?"
”"How can this kind of thing be accurate, maybe it's because of the tire gas, I heard that it hurts for a while."
Xia Dingmao is well-informed and knows that this kind of thing is extremely deviant, and the situation that the mother and child cannot survive often happens, and the probability of the child dying after giving birth is also two or three out of ten.Ren Hong has been busy preparing to go to the post of captain of Huqiang for the past few days, and he can't take care of the affairs at home, so he learned the news at this time, and he didn't react for a while: "At this time, it is an experienced woman who should go, Yaoguang has never given birth, what kind of excitement are you going to have?"
”Xi'an Hou looked down on his wife too much.Xia Dingmao said with a smile: "The old man also thinks so, but Mrs. said that the prince has always been kind to the emperor's great-grandson, and she also likes Xu Pingjun's obedience. ”"What's more, she has seen Mrs.
Feng deliver babies in Wusun, and she has also personally delivered horses, cows, sheep, etc., which may be able to help."
PS: The second chapter is in the evening.