When Ma Xianglin heard this, he asked curiously: "Can this fruit be eaten?"
Kong Fang also said on the side: "Master Hou, can you eat these peppers?"
Zhong Jinwei stretched out his hand to pick a chili pepper, but when he saw that there seemed to be only a few plates of chili peppers, he was a little reluctant. He asked Ma Xianglin: "Do you Sichuan people like spicy food?"
When Ma Xianglin heard this, he laughed and said: "Yes, we like to eat spicy food. Every meal must have spicy food, so we can eat it comfortably."
"Then what's the seasoning for your spicy food?" Zhong Jinwei continued to ask with a smile.
"Sichuan peppercorns, and some people like mustard."
"Is it too spicy?"
"It's okay, but my mother always says that the peppercorns are not spicy enough and the mustard is too irritating. She is too satisfied with it. Now I have to put a lot of peppercorns in every meal." Ma Xianglin thought of the mountains of peppercorns at home. He felt that if he spoke out, it would be better.
Intimidated Hou Zhongxing.
"Okay, now you are in luck. I remember that this red pepper also has a name, called Chaotian pepper, which seems to be Sichuan." Zhong Jinwei stopped here. You can't say that Chaotian pepper is your Sichuan specialty. Now
There is no such thing in Sichuan.[
When Ma Xianglin and Kong Fang saw Zhongxing Hou suddenly stop talking, they felt a little strange, so they both stared at Zhong Jinwei.
"It is suitable for the taste of Sichuan people. This Chaotian pepper is very spicy, but it is not irritating to the brain. It is a good thing." Zhong Jinwei reluctantly picked up what he said before and said to Ma Xianglin.
When Ma Xianglin heard this, he immediately said with great joy: "Seriously?"
"Have I lied to you? It's just that there aren't many Chaotian peppers here, and I don't know where Fan Yongdou got them. He just used them as ornamental flowers." Zhong Jinwei laughed at Fan Yongdou in his heart, thinking that he couldn't do this.
In the Ming Dynasty, peppers were regarded as flowers.
In fact, what Zhong Jinwei didn't know was that this kind of pepper was originally introduced to Jiangsu and Zhejiang from overseas. People there also tasted it, but it didn't suit their taste, so it didn't spread.
The earliest book recording peppers that can be found in later generations is the health treatise "Eight Notes on Life" published by Gao Lian from Qiantang in the late Ming Dynasty in 1591. It mentions that peppers are thick with white flowers and the fruit looks like a bald pen.
, spicy taste, red color, very impressive.
It can be seen that at least Gao Lian tasted this pepper in the late Ming Dynasty, but Fan Yongdou only used it as a mascot to watch.
Of course Ma Xianglin believed what Zhongxing Hou said. He only added this sentence because he was excited. He walked around the plates of hot peppers several times, looked at the red "little pen", and was already thinking about it.
Give it to your mother, how happy she will be.
"You take one plate, and I'll take the rest. I'll give it to the court to cultivate more. This stuff has a lot of benefits." Zhong Jinwei said as he thought, this Chaotian pepper is spicy, Jianlu must not have it.
I've seen it before. Grinding it into chili powder and filling it in a hand grenade should be able to make up for the lack of power of black gunpowder.
But Zhong Jinwei also knows that this thing can only be used unexpectedly. If you use it too much, the effect will be greatly reduced if the cloth is wet and covered with your mouth and nose.
He imagined that every time Jianlu fought with the Ming army in the future, he would have to prevent the Ming army from giving them chili powder, and then every time he would cover his face and charge on the same masked horse, he thought it was very funny.
I couldn't help but laugh out loud.
When Ma Xianglin saw it, he thought that Zhongxing Hou also liked spicy food. Now he saw something he liked, so he was happy.
But Kong Fang secretly thought to himself, he is such a foodie, so happy to be like this.
After slandering Marquis Zhongxing in his mind, he felt much better, and then prepared to continue being a tour guide to introduce other places to Zhong Jinwei.
At this time, a white-pole soldier came over quickly, clasped his fists and reported: "Reporting to the Marquis, Yu Baihu has found the secret room, but there is a secret passage inside, and Baihu has led people to chase it in." [
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he thought that Fan Yongdou was really cunning, don't let him get away with him.
But now Fan Yongdou is digging into the tunnel. Who knows how long the tunnel is and where it leads to. It is very difficult to capture him. The most likely way is to rely on Yu Haijing to hunt him underground.
"What countermeasures do you two have?" Zhong Jinwei consulted Ma Xianglin and Kong Fangdao with hope, hoping that they would have some ideas.
Kong Xiang clasped his fists at Zhong Jinwei and said, "Master Hou, please don't worry, the whole city of Zhangjiakou is under martial law. I hope that thief Fan can't escape from Master Hou's grasp."
"Yes, Mr. Hou, it is not easy to dig a tunnel without anyone noticing. Now that Zhangjiakou is so big, it is basically impossible for Fan Thief's tunnel to extend beyond Zhangjiakou." Ma Xianglin also commented.
Come up with your own opinion.
Zhong Jinwei felt a little relieved when he saw that they had no specific countermeasures, but at least their analysis made sense.
He said to Ma Xianglin and Kong Fang: "Let's go and see Thief Fan's secret room."
The soldiers who came to report the news led the way, and Zhong Jinwei and others followed them to Fan Yongdou's study.
But before they reached the study, a small flag belonging to Kong Fang caught up with them with a little breath. He knelt down on one knee and reported to Kong Fang: "Ao Lachi is making trouble, and thousands of households can't suppress it. I beg the guerrillas to speed up."
Send reinforcements."
When Zhong Jinwei heard this, he asked Kong Fang, "What Ao Lachi can't even suppress the army?"
Kong Fang smiled bitterly and replied to Zhong Jinwei: "Ao Lachi is the Mongolian side who manages the livestock traded in Zhangjiakou and maintains the Zhangjiakou horse market. Their remuneration is given by our Ming Dynasty."
"Oh, you took Ming Dynasty's money and still dared to cause trouble. You still made trouble when the army was under martial law. How brave you are!" Zhong Jinwei raised his eyebrows.
"The Marquis does not know that the imperial court has always treated them more favorably in order to allow them to manage the people coming to trade from Mongolia and reduce friction between the two sides. But relying on this, they are usually more arrogant and domineering, not to mention often
There are merchants who bully those who do business with them, and even our officials from the Ming Dynasty look down upon them, let alone us soldiers!"
Kong Fang took the opportunity to express his bitterness to Marquis Zhongxing. The soldiers stationed in Zhangjiakou were often bullied by the Mongols, and they had reported this many times.
Zhangjiakou garrison Zhao Zhensong often suppresses his own soldiers, and does not want to offend those Ao Lachi. If the scale is large and cannot be suppressed, he will report to the superiors and directly throw the hot potato to the superiors. It will be Kong Fang and others' turn to have a headache.
.
Civil officials looked down on military generals, let alone those big-headed soldiers. Military generals did not want things to get too big. If a dispute arose between the two clans and the horse market was closed down, the court might take action against them without impeachment by civilian officials. Therefore, Kong Fang and others have been
These Ao Lachi have a headache.
Zhong Jinwei had a general understanding of the situation, and immediately remembered some things that were often heard in later generations. At that time, he felt that he could not understand the different treatment.
In a country where the Han people are in power, it is unjustifiable not to mention harsh treatment of other ethnic groups. It is always okay to treat them equally. Under this premise, a nation cannot be preserved and is assimilated. This is also a historical necessity.
How many ethnic groups have disappeared in the long river of history. As long as they are not massacred and cannot survive, they can disappear naturally. Why should we continue to treat them preferentially? If we spoil them, in some places, that ethnic group
The thief is really arrogant. Anyway, whoever encounters this will feel aggrieved.
Of course, those who make policies will naturally not encounter such things as aggrieved. As a person from later generations, Zhong Jinwei has encountered such things. Now that he saw that such things happened in the Ming Dynasty, he made up his mind.
"These Ao Lachi are usually spoiled. This time we just take this opportunity to educate them. Let's go and lead the way." Zhong Jinwei raised his brows and said with a sinister look.
Kong Fang was secretly happy and said quickly: "Yes, yes, yes, Lord Marquis is wise and should teach them a lesson."
After saying that, as if he was afraid that Zhong Jinwei would regret it, he quickly led the way and went out first.
Ma Xianglin followed Zhong Jinwei and said to a white pole army leader behind him: "Gather the cavalry to protect the Marquis of Zhongxing."
He knew that there might be some conflicts there, so he arranged for the strongest cavalry in the Baigan Army to protect Zhong Jinwei.
At that moment, Kong Fang's men led the way, followed by Zhong Jinwei and three hundred white-poled cavalry troops, their horses hooves rumbling as they headed toward the scene of the conflict by the Qingshui River in the northwest.