Chapter 1830, the hairy crabs whose worth has doubled
On the cement road from Suzhou to Songhu, Emperor Hongzhi's motorcade was driving slowly. Emperor Hongzhi admired every bit of the Jiangnan water town with great interest.
Emperor Hongzhi, who grew up in Beijing, had never been to Beizhili. All he saw were the customs and customs of the north. This was the first time he came to the south of the Yangtze River and saw the scenery of the water towns in the south of the Yangtze River.
Fresh.
"parking!"
Following Emperor Hongzhi's order, the motorcade pulled over and slowly parked.
Emperor Hongzhi got out of the car and looked at everything in front of him with interest.
The water town in the south of the Yangtze River is densely covered with rivers and criss-crossing it. It is a land of plenty and has been a prosperous land since ancient times.
It is autumn at this time, and the rice fields are golden. In a while, the rice will be harvested. You can see farmers busy in the fields, digging drainage ditches to drain away the excess in the rice fields.
of water, which facilitates the autumn harvest.
"Fellow, how is the harvest this year?"
Emperor Hongzhi came to a farmland and asked the busy farmers with a smile.
"As far as I'm concerned, noble man, it's okay, it's okay~"
The farmer wished the old man stopped what he was doing, looked at Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin in front of him, and then at the many servants following around him, and said hurriedly and respectfully.
"Do you use machines to buy rice?"
Emperor Hongzhi pulled out an ear of rice and looked at it carefully and asked.
"We have mostly paddy fields in the south, and the fields are scattered and small, so they are not suitable for using machines. We basically still use sickles to buy rice."
I wish the old man replied.
"Wouldn't it be much slower to use a scythe?"
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the rice fields in front of him. It seemed that it was really not suitable for large-scale use of machinery.
"That's something that can't be helped. The slower it is, the slower it will be."
"So, today's young people have all gone to the city and are no longer willing to farm."
Old man Zhu said helplessly.
“Aren’t young people farming anymore?”
Upon hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi asked again to confirm.
"Yes, who among the young people will farm the land now?"
"On this kind of land, you can't get much grain from one acre, and you can't sell it for much money. If you work in the city, you can only earn a few taels of silver a month, and you can't eat that much grain in a year."
"Besides, this kind of farming is so hard. You're bent over, hunched over, and exhausted. Naturally, young people don't want to farm."
Old man Zhu nodded and said.
"That's true, but no one is farming this land anymore. What will everyone eat from now on?"
Emperor Hongzhi nodded after hearing this, and then said worriedly.
"Oh, our Ming Dynasty doesn't have to worry about food now. There are plenty of places to grow food."
"Liaodong, Hezhong, Nanyang, Huanghuangzhou, there are many places where grain is grown."
"Now here in Jiangnan, all the food has to be shipped in from other places, and the locally produced food is no longer enough."
Old man Zhu smiled and said: "We old men have nothing to do and eat the key grains by ourselves. Machines have been used in places where conditions permit. The efficiency is very high. One person can plant a lot of land."
"Judging from your accent, it seems like you are all from the north. I heard that in the north, you now use machines to farm, and one person can farm thousands of acres of land."
"Yes, there are many plains in the north, so more machines are used for farming."
"But the south of the Yangtze River has been a land of fish and rice since ancient times. It would be a pity not to grow food here."
After hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi was a little confused for a moment. In the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, food is now imported from other places. This change is really too fast.
"What a pity. If you don't make money from farming, then naturally there will be fewer people farming. When you make money from farming, naturally more people will farm."
Old Man Zhu smiled and shook his head. At this moment, several big crabs emerged from the rice fields. When Old Man Zhu saw them, he no longer cared about chatting with Emperor Hongzhi and hurriedly caught them.
After catching it, he tied it up with weeds. While tying it up, he said, "Times are changing so fast. In the past, food was so precious. I wished I could plant rice on all the land."
"No one ate this crab in the past. Only poor people would catch this crab and eat it."
"But now, these crabs are getting more and more expensive. This small crab can now be sold for more than ten cents each, which is enough to exchange for several kilograms of rice."
When Liu Jin heard what Old Man Zhu said, he immediately looked carefully at the crab in his hand.
Isn't this the famous hairy crab in later generations?
"This crab sells for more than ten cents?"
Emperor Hongzhi widened his eyes slightly and looked at the crab in his hand. The river was not that big, but one could be sold for more than ten cents.
"Isn't that right? These are hairy crabs, a specialty of our Jiangnan region. Now is the season when hairy crabs are at their most plentiful. Everyone in the city loves to eat them. We harvest as much as we can."
"Someone specializes in catching hairy crabs and selling them. They can make two or three taels of silver a day."
"Henhen, old man, I can't make as much money from selling crabs even though I'm farming now."
Old Man Zhu carefully put the crabs into a bamboo basket, and there were already several crabs inside.
"Look, this is my harvest today. It can be sold for more than 100 yuan. When there were more of these things, they were everywhere, but now they are getting less and less. There is not enough for the people in the city."
He proudly showed his harvest to Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin.
"What's the food for this crab?"
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the crab in front of him, thought about it and said.
"For this crab, the main thing is to eat the crab roe. The crab roe is extremely delicious and the crab meat is extremely sweet."
"Actually, it's not just crabs that have exploded in value now. The prices of all kinds of river seafood have also increased a lot. Even ordinary things like snails, how could anyone want them in the past."
"Nowadays, a pound of snails can be sold for several pennies, and they are still in the shell. It is said that people in the city eat whatever supper they want at night, and snails are one of the most popular supper."
"Well, I haven't even seen what this snail looks like."
After Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he immediately smiled and said.
"This is the snail~"
When Old Man Zhu heard this, he opened another basket and took out a few snails to show to Emperor Hongzhi. This man really had never even seen snails.
"Snails, eels, loaches, and crabs have all increased in price now. Things that no one wanted before are becoming more and more expensive. There are people who come here to buy them and then sell them to Songhu."
Zhu old man said to Emperor Hongzhi with his fingers.
"It seems that when we get to Songhu, we must buy these snails, eels, and crabs to see what they taste like. They are getting more and more expensive."
Emperor Hongzhi smiled and said to Liu Jin.
“It’s a must-try, it’s said to taste pretty good.”
Liu Jin also nodded and said, as a northerner, these things are naturally not available. After all, transportation conditions in ancient times were limited, and these things were not available in the north.
After chatting with the old man for a while, Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin continued to rush to Songhu.
In the evening, we finally arrived in Songhu.
Naturally, we had to go to the most famous Wangjiang Tower in Songhu for dinner. The dishes we ordered during the day were of course eels, crabs, snails, loaches and the like. At the same time, because Songhu is close to the sea, there are all kinds of food.
There are also many kinds of seafood. Liu Jin comes from a later generation, so he is naturally much more familiar with these, so he ordered a lot of seafood by the way.
"Hmm~"
"This crab is really good, and the crab roe is really amazing!"
Emperor Hongzhi tasted the crab roe of the hairy crab and immediately praised it. It will gain great fame in later generations. This hairy crab is definitely not a big deal, but the taste is really extremely delicious.
This Wangjiang Restaurant is the most famous restaurant in Songhu. The chef is the best at cooking these Jiangnan dishes. The crab meat and crab roe of the hairy crabs are carefully selected, and paired with rice and other ingredients to make a pot of crab rice.
The taste is truly outstanding.
"Well, it is indeed delicious!"
Liu Jin tasted it carefully and couldn't help but nod. When it comes to eating, Jiangnan people are the best. Of course, the Cantonese food of later generations is also very good. In contrast, Sichuan food is more spicy and numb. People who are not used to it will not
I like it so much, but Cantonese cuisine and Jiangnan cuisine focus more on the original flavor of the ingredients themselves, and there are many famous dishes.
“This eel is not bad~”
“The snails are also quite good, but a bit too spicy.”
Emperor Hongzhi tasted delicacies one after another. Along the way, it was only when he arrived in Jiangnan that he truly entered the kingdom of food. All kinds of delicacies were exquisite, beautiful and delicious.
In comparison, the quality of the palace chefs seems to be very average. The dishes they make are a little greasy and sweet, and you have no appetite at all if you eat too much.
"Your Majesty, Chang Chang's seafood tastes very good. The conch slices, steamed grouper, salt and pepper shrimp, and abalone slices are all very good."
Liu Jin smiled and nodded, and then recommended various seafood to Emperor Hongzhi. It was rare for Emperor Hongzhi to come out, so naturally he wanted to eat well, drink well, and be in good condition. Although everything was simple, eating in a restaurant was better