Irina brought her whole family to visit Wu Huaiyu. They were a big family, and they were all blond, blue-eyed, with tall noses, deep eyes, facial features, and tall figures.
Irina's father, Phocas, had a Han named An Lu. When he wasn't selling wine in the West Market, he was still dressed like a Tang Dynasty man at home, wearing a soft-footed kimono, a tight-sleeved round-neck robe, and black leather.
Shoes, although his face looks ridiculous, from a distance he looks exactly like a Chinese from the Tang Dynasty.
Irina's mother, Gaia, is a Hu Ji who still has a charming charm. When she was young, she was also very good at Hu Xuan dance. She was once very famous in the fanfang in Liangzhou. Now she is the mother of five children.
Irina is her eldest daughter, and the beard skirt she wears still sets off her proud tall and slender figure.
"Hurry and get dragon paste wine to entertain An Dalang Wu Erlang." An Lu's Tang dialect did not sound a bit nonsense at all.
Gaia smiled and took a pot of wine and poured it into the cup. The color was as black as pure lacquer. This was the first time Huaiyu had seen wine of this color.
"Dragon paste wine?"
An Yuanshou smiled and said to Huaiyu: "Irina's parents seem to like you very much. This wine is very good. Although Sanlejiang wine is more famous in Chang'an, it is definitely not as good as this one."
"What's the origin?"
"This wine comes from the distant country of Wugeshan in the Western Regions. It is recorded in the Han Dynasty that it goes to Chang'an for 12,200 miles, and it takes sixty days to travel from the Anxi capital post. It takes more than a hundred days to reach Tiaozhi country.
Near the west sea, there is a big bird with eggs as big as an urn."
"Ugo's land is hot and humid, and there are many pig dragons in the country. The locals caught them and brewed them using a special process to make dragon paste wine. It can not only replenish qi and blood, but also nourish the heart and lungs, strengthen the bones and muscles, drive away dampness, and make the body light and prolong life."
Years are a rare good thing."
"This wine should be made in a golden pot or even better in a jade cup."
Huaiyu didn't know where Wugeshan Liguo was, but he understood a little better when he said that the wine was brewed with Zhupolong.
Pig Po Dragon. In ancient China, crocodiles were called Pig Po Dragons. No wonder the wine made from crocodiles is called Long Gao Liquor. I guess the original name was not that. After all, other countries except China probably don’t call crocodiles dragons.
It is not unusual to use meat to make wine. For example, the lamb wine that people in the Tang Dynasty also liked to drink was still the imperial wine. Ma Zhou, a good wine man, once told him about this kind of wine. Use a load of rice, soak it in pulp as usual, and make it tender and fertile.
Seven pounds of mutton, fourteen liang of Qu, and one pound of almonds, boil them together, mix them with the juice, and brew them together with one or two ounces of woody fragrance.
Others boil five kilograms of mutton and soak it in wine overnight, add ten pears, pound it together to get the juice and koji rice to make wine.
It’s basically a brewing process for rice wine, with tender fattened mutton added.
In later generations, Wu Huaiyu also saw a kind of wine in Guangdong, Yubingshao, which is brewed with fattened pork. It is said that rice is used to make wine first, and then the rice wine and pig fat are sealed together in a jar for preservation. It needs to be soaked for at least five years.
As mentioned above, the fat in the fatty meat will slowly dissolve into the wine, which can not only absorb impurities in the wine, but also give the wine a special fat aroma.
People who like to drink like it very much.
But many outsiders can't even take a sip.
The lamb wine of the Tang Dynasty could become the official wine of the palace and was even loved by the princes and nobles, which shows that this kind of meat wine had a great market in ancient times.
It’s not unusual for this Western vassal state to use crocodiles to make wine. What’s strange about him is how he makes the wine as dark as ink.
Generally, the best rice wine is amber, and some are as clear as water, while ordinary rice wine is turbid, white, and even has a lot of turbidity, and some are green because of many impurities. The ancients called green ant wine.
Already.
But I have never seen black rice wine.
It was obvious that An Yuanshou had drunk Cilong Gao Liquor many times before. He drank it as soon as he picked it up and enjoyed it very much.
Irina filled a cup of dragon paste wine for Huaiyu, "Erlang, try it, this wine is very fragrant."
Huaiyu picked up the wine glass and took a sip, slowly letting the wine swirl on the tip of his tongue.
Not to mention, I didn’t taste the meaty smell at all. It tasted slightly sweet, even with a hint of soybean. After tasting it carefully, it was mellow, sweet, and thick, and I could even feel some medicinal, fruity, and meaty aromas.
, koji aroma, wine aroma, a mixture of various flavors, well blended together, but not complicated.
"In addition to pig dragon and rice, this dragon paste wine should also have a lot of spices and medicinal materials added, right?"
"Erlang is really amazing. You can taste the mystery with just one bite."
Irina's mother Gaia also praised her very much. She danced Hu dance in her early years, but later she couldn't dance anymore, so she became a wine seller and started a restaurant Hu. She also knew a lot about wine.
"Well, I'm not lying to you. This dragon paste wine is more delicious than lamb wine, and it even prolongs life." An Yuanshou said with a smile.
Huaiyu smiled slightly.
Medicinal wine.
In fact, anything involving health care, especially edible products, is bound to be somewhat boastful or even overshadowing.
But there are always people who believe this.
Of course, there are indeed benefits to drinking medicinal wine in moderation, but it is not as impressive as they say. But when they said this, Huaiyu thought that he could also make wine and sell it in the future?
You can even start a medicinal wine business. After all, you have a medicinal store like Qianjintang, which is getting more and more famous. It will open a branch soon. Then Qianjintang will sell medicinal wine, wouldn't it be a good time?
He is quite good at making medicinal wine. There are many medicinal wine recipes in traditional Chinese medicine.
Compared with this kind of wine made from meat and meat, Huaiyu is more confident.
While drinking dragon paste wine and chatting casually, Huaiyu was still somewhat interested in the so-called Ugo Mountain Li Country, so he discussed it with them in detail, analyzing where this country was while chatting.
An Yuanshou knew the geography of the Western Regions better than most people of the Tang Dynasty. After all, his ancestors migrated eastward from the Parthian Kingdom, and they had even been involved in the Silk Road trade.
Gaia made bilo and biscuits to go with the wine.
The Ugoshanli Kingdom was also called the Paite Kingdom in the Han Dynasty. After listening to it for a long time, Huaiyu almost figured out the location. It seemed to be in the eastern part of the Iranian Plateau. Ugoshanli and Paite, in fact, the names of these two countries are
A transliteration of two parts of geography, Ugoshanli is actually the transliteration of Alexander in the Han Dynasty, and Paite is the transliteration of the last word of Prodafusia.
It seems that during the Han Dynasty, a huge Parthian Empire was established in Central Asia. However, later when the Yuezhi moved westward, various tribes of Central Asian Cypriots were hit, and they all went south and broke into Parthian territory and occupied Sistan.
The Parthian emperor sent a great nobleman, Su Lin, to lead an army to suppress the Cypriots who invaded his northeast. After ten years of war, the Cypriots surrendered and Parthian regained the border. However, the great nobleman, Surin, also used his merits to seize Sistan.
The west is still under the rule of the Parthian Empire, and the east is under the rule of the Surin family, which nominally belongs to Parthia. The political center of the Surin family is in Sistan. In the Han Dynasty, the Sulin family is ruled by the Parthians and Parthians.
The eastern area where the Cypriots live together is called Ugoshanli Country.
However, the Ugoshan Li Kingdom was later annexed by the Kushan Empire established by the Yuezhi people.
To this day, it is ruled by the Sasanian dynasty of Persia.
The future generations should belong to Afghanistan.
The Ugoshan Li Kingdom is actually the city of Alexandria. The Tiaozhi Kingdom to the south is also in Afghanistan. It seems that these two places, when the Tang Dynasty flourished, and after the collapse of the Sassanid Dynasty in Persia, their unsuccessful emperors
He defected to the Tang Dynasty, and this place was incorporated into the Tang Dynasty and a Duhufu was established.
A giant bird with branches and eggs as big as an urn, isn't it an ostrich? As for the dragon paste wine, it is probably brewed by the crocodile.
"Is this wine sold from the Western Regions?"
"Well, some people in the Central Plains are trying to imitate Persian Sanlejiang, Longgao wine and Gaochang wine, but after brewing, the taste is very different. Therefore, the top-grade Hu wine sold in various Hu shops are all made from thousands of miles away.
It’s sold from the Western Regions and is guaranteed to be authentic, but the price is also very expensive.”
Huaiyu nodded.
Wine is a very mysterious thing. It not only requires a formula. In addition to raw materials such as rice, the most important thing is the water, temperature and humidity of a place and other major environmental influences.
Sometimes they may be separated by a river, but the wines brewed by two wineries with the same recipes and the same masters are very different in taste.
From selling wine in Persia to the Tang Dynasty, it was a long way, so you can see how much the cost increased.
But many people in Chang'an cannot stand this one.
The gentry, literati and officials of the Tang Dynasty liked to visit barbarians, just like modern people like to go to bars. It was fashionable and exciting. It was very enjoyable to drink, watch dance and listen to music.
"Slave, let's dance the song Tuozhi for Alang."
Irina's mother Gaia played the drum for her daughter, and her father Anlu also played the piano to accompany her. Irina put on a five-color embroidered toga, a hat with a golden bell on her head, and a silver belt around her waist.
Dance to the sound of harps and drums,
Its dance postures are rich in changes, vigorous and lively, and graceful and pretty.
The dance sleeves sometimes drooped, sometimes rolled up, and the fast and complicated dance steps caused the bells on her soft and slender waist to make a crisp sound.
After dancing, she also made a deep waist movement, showing off her flexibility.
The drum beats and the dancing postures made Huaiyu feel like he was performing an exotic belly dance.
It’s really mesmerizing to watch, music, dance, painting and other artistic things can always transcend race and tradition.
Beautiful people make dancing even more beautiful.
An Yuanshou quietly watched Wu Huaiyu, and saw that he admired him very much. He was so fascinated that he felt very proud. An excellent Sogdian businessman must not only be able to sweet talk, but also be able to do what he likes. Wu Huaiyu was young and well-born.
Generally speaking, it seems right to give him a sword, a famous horse and a beautiful woman.
After drinking a pot of dragon paste wine, An Yuanshou stood up.
"It's getting late, so I'll say goodbye and go back."
Wu Huaiyu stood up to see him off.
"Erlang, please don't send it away. Enjoy this Orchid. I'll be on duty the day after tomorrow. See you soon."
Irina directly took Huaiyu's arm and leaned against him, "Alang, please drink a few more drinks with Alang."
Looking at the green-eyed orch, Huaiyu, who was half-drunk and slightly smoked, couldn't help but become distraught.
"While I'm happy, make any requests now," Huaiyu said directly.
Irina held his arm tightly and rubbed against him, "The Nu family came to Chang'an, and Ye Niang wanted to open a wine shop of her own. Now Wu Lang has helped us achieve this wish. Both Nu and Ye Niang are extremely grateful.
Wu Lang."
Huaiyu was a little surprised.
It turned out that An Yuanshou not only gave Irina's family a large concubine gift on behalf of Wu Huaiyu, he even transferred a barbarian wine shop to her parents, saying that Wu Huaiyu had paid for it.
This was done very thoughtfully and generously.
Huaiyu smiled and didn't explain anything. An Yuanshou handled the matter and paid for it, but he accepted the favor. He also knew very well that this was not love for no reason, but an exchange of interests.
.
An Yuanshou was so generous because Wu Huaiyu's uncle was the warrior Xun, the newly appointed governor and governor of Liangzhou. This Hu Ji, his foreign residence, and the small wine shop in West Market should be regarded as Wu Huaiyu's intermediary fees.
"Whenever the wine shop opens, I will go and support it."
"Okay, let me dance for Erlang again!" Irina pulled Huaiyu back with great enthusiasm.
On that day, Wu Huaiyu stayed at Yankangfang Villa.
If you eat the marrow and know the taste, you will be happy and not miss Shu!
