Jade is a product of Lingnan. It was already well-known in the Central Plains at this time. It complemented the white jade and was favored by the nobles' courts. Hei Fu did not need to explain, and those who could understand would understand naturally.
Yesterday, after eating the "Emerald White Jade Soup", Heifu showed Qin Shihuang how to order the tofu with brine in the newly built tofu shop beside the big well in Jimo City.
This is one of the fruits of farmers’ hard work in Jiaodong for half a year. The raw material is soybean, which is native to the Central Plains and has a long history. The yield of beans grown in Jiaodong is even higher than that of Central Plains beans. Guan Zhong introduced it from Shanrong four hundred years ago.
"Rong Shu" was a famous introduction of exotic species, along with "Winter Onions". What Heifu asked farmers to do in Jiaodong was actually similar to Guan Zhong's, only more sophisticated and complex.
In addition, under the promotion of Heifu and the Mohists, stone mills have become commonplace in Guanzhong, and all the conditions for preparing bean juice and tofu are complete. The rest is just that Heifu, through an "accidental" thing, made it for the farmers.
Open the door to a new world.
That was in autumn, and now it is mid-November. A few months have passed, and the tofu technology has been explored and matured.
Of course, it is natural that the process of preparing tofu caused sighs from the officials who had never seen this scene. Even Zhao Gao's younger brother, Lang Guan Zhao Cheng, suspected that the stuff produced in this way was poisonous.
Heifu's response was to drink a bowl of sweet tofu curd sprinkled with sugar in front of him. He wiped his mouth and found nothing happened. Zhao Cheng had no choice but to shut up. In the end, many ministers tried some and were delighted.
They range from sweet to salty.
Today, Heifu invited Qin Shihuang to visit the farm vegetable garden outside the city. This prosperous "Agricultural Science and Technology Park" in Jiaodong was named "Dazhai" by Heifu. He did not know why.
In Dazhai, Xu Sheng, the leader of the farmer's family, brought his disciples to visit Qin Shihuang and introduced him to him: "The common people dare to tell your majesty that ordinary vegetable gardens, from palaces in Xianyang in Guanzhong to frontier fortress military camps, mostly grow the following types.
"
Xu Sheng licked his fingers and counted them to the emperor one by one: "Kwai, leek, wild garlic, green onion, and hyacinth. These five vegetables can be seen everywhere. Among them, sunflower is sweet, leek is sour, hyacinth is salty, and sage is bitter.
, green onion..."
As for other mustard greens, celery, etc., they are mostly regional and not widely popular.
"It's just that once we enter late autumn..."
Xu Sheng pointed to the bare vegetable garden along the way and shook his head and said: "All five vegetables are perfect, except sunflower. If you plant them in June and July, you can pick them in the autumn. You can use salt to make pickled vegetables. If you plant them in August and September, they will be harvested in Mengchun."
It is picked in the middle of the month, so in the cold spring, the only fresh vegetable that can be eaten is sunflower. But in Jiaodong, the weather is cold, and most of the sunflower vegetables often freeze to death because they cannot survive the winter. I can’t even eat a few meals of the sunflower sprouts made in autumn...
…”
Because the yield of sunflower is so small, it is a drop in the bucket for the long winter in the north.
Even if sunflower is like this, once winter comes, other vegetables will not be edible.
Among the accompanying officials, no one asked the joke "Why not eat minced meat". The Qin Dynasty adhered to the principle that "the prime minister must be from the state, and the fierce general must be sent from the army." Even for a clan like Ziying,
Those who have been around at the grassroots level, even if they don’t know the season of vegetables, at least know that in the long winter, ordinary soldiers and people eat boring food:
For three months, the empire's millions of households and hundreds of thousands of soldiers could only rely on a little dry salty bean paste to feed their unpalatable corn rice every day. Some families were not prepared enough and the sauce was
After finishing eating, you can only eat with salt cubes. The worst thing is for people who can't even afford salt. Can you imagine a life of eating nothing every day and eating two meals of light rice with cold water...
At this time, neither the soldiers nor the people in the garrison dared to think about meat, but even if they had some vegetables to improve their meals, it would be a great luxury!
So don't underestimate the vegetable basket, it is something related to people's livelihood. Once you find that the price of vegetables in the market has increased, people's lives will be difficult.
At this time, Heifu took Xu Sheng's words and said to Qin Shihuang: "But in Jiaodong, through the unremitting efforts of farmers, they found a vegetable that can be used in all seasons. It is more cold-resistant than sunflower, has a larger yield, and tastes better...
…”
Qin Shihuang understood: "This is the 'song' I ate the day before yesterday?"
"It's exactly the wisteria!"
Qin Shihuang was used to eating big fish and meat, so the occasional meal of "Emerald White Jade Soup" was quite novel.
And to be honest, under the cooking of the imperial chef, the pot of soup tastes very good, the tofu is tender and delicious, and the green water spinach is also very delicious. In terms of Qin Shihuang's taste, it is better than the water shield in Guanzhong, the sunflower seed in Bashu, celery, etc.
The dishes must be delicious.
After the imperial doctor Chen Wujiu and others tasted this dish, he thought that the cold and sweet taste of wucai could nourish the stomach, promote fluid production, clear away heat and detoxify, and even advised Qin Shihuang to eat more...
At this time, everyone happened to walk to a vegetable patch, where mallows and water spinach were planted.
It had just snowed last night, and in the snow-covered ground, the mallows next to them were already wilted, but the cabbage was still intact, because it was only planted in August or September.
It contains a bit of unmelted snow, but is still full of energy.
Xu Sheng said with a smile: "The reason why this thing is named Siong is because it does not wither in the winter, grows all year round, and has the characteristics of pine. Unlike other vegetables, Siong tastes especially delicious after being frosted."
With that said, the group of people went to the house next to the vegetable field and opened the cellar. There were many pieces of cabbage stored in it. Although its appearance was quite different from the Chinese cabbage of later generations: it was a loose leaf rather than a ball.
, and its size is far less than a cabbage weighing more than ten kilograms.
But this was already a scene that Heifu was familiar with. He had been to the northern countryside and had seen the scene of people growing cabbage in winter.
At the same time, Xu Sheng also lamented: "Although the ancients had eaten rice for a long time, this vegetable was only used as a wild vegetable in the past. People occasionally ate it to prepare for famine years. Fortunately, the Jiaodong County Sheriff reminded me that this vegetable was still intact in the cold winter, and it may be possible to try growing it.
We just found it and planted it. Unexpectedly, the tripe weed we got has thick and large leaves, a color like jade when mature, and a sweet taste that leaves no trace of water when we eat it. The taste is no less than sunflower!"
Although the body shape and taste still need to be improved, it is not easy to select better varieties from several wild species in less than a year.
Although farmers are professionals in farming, they do not have a modern scientific research system. They can only use Shen Nong's method of tasting hundreds of herbs, constantly accumulating experience, carefully finding non-toxic food maps among many plants, and then through continuous domestication and cultivation.
Cultivate, select the best from the best, and ultimately promote planting.
Heifu could only use his experience in his previous life in the countryside to casually mention some possible points: for example, mixing Chinese sativa and mustard, because they both seem to be from the "cruciferous" family and can be hybridized, which may repeatedly improve the quality.
, I hope that one day, I can cultivate Chinese cabbage for future generations...
Heifu did this not for his own appetite, nor to please the emperor's taste, nor to add dishes to the tables of dignitaries!
But I hope that in the long winter, in all the cold corners of the empire, the soldiers of Guizhou who can only chew dry rice can have a bowl of delicious cabbage soup, or the pickled cabbage that they never tire of...
Mencius said that chickens, dolphins, dogs and pigs are all animals in their proper time, and those in their seventies can eat meat...Heifu cannot guarantee this, but at least some new things that are easy to popularize will be appreciated by the emperor after drinking a bowl of them."
"Emerald Cabbage Soup" can add a little flavor to the ordinary people's lives.
Thinking of this, Hei Fu asked Qin Shihuang for his contribution to the farm: "Your Majesty, I have heard that in ancient times, people had diseases and unknown medicines and stones were used. Shennong's family began to taste the growth of grass and trees, and observed their cold, warm, flat, and hot properties to identify their king.
, the minister, the assistant, made the righteousness, encountered seventy poisons in one day, the spirit transformed it, and then wrote it down in writing to treat the people, and the way of medicine began from then on."
"Today, farmer Xu Sheng and others also tasted hundreds of herbs, selected and planted weeds, and wrote down the cultivation process of each attempt on paper so that their disciples can imitate them. If every household can eat this vegetable in the future,
It’s also a great example of good governance!”
"It is indeed good governance."
Qin Shihuang nodded, and at Hei Fu's request, he gave Xu Sheng and his farm disciples rewards, titles and land. However, after Xu Sheng's disciples thanked him, he said, "Your Majesty, I have something to report!"
Although Xu Sheng had a bad record of supporting Lu Buwei and escaping from Guanzhong, that was in the past. Qin Shihuang was still kind to him, nodding and saying: "It doesn't matter."
Xu Sheng confessed and talked about a past event...
"Your Majesty, in the past, Fan Chi, a disciple of Confucius, asked him to learn how to farm. Confucius said, I am not as good as an old farmer. He asked me to learn how to farm. Confucius also said, I am not as good as an old farmer."
"After Fan Chi went out, Confucius said to the other disciples, What a villain, Fan Chi! If you are good at etiquette, the people will not dare to be disrespectful; if you are good at righteousness, the people will not dare to disobey; if you are good at faith, then the people will not dare to be disrespectful.
.If this is the case, the people from all over the world will arrive here carrying their sons in swaddling clothes. Why should they learn to farm in person?"
Confucius believed that he trained his students not so that they could grow crops and vegetables in the future, but to become officials and meat eaters. As long as they became officials, everything would be solved.
Confucianism also believes that people in higher positions do not need to learn knowledge such as growing crops and vegetables? As long as they pay attention to etiquette, righteousness, and trustworthiness, it is enough!
In short, Confucian education has never been to cultivate workers, but to cultivate hard workers.
But the farmer's family happened to take the completely opposite path to them. There is even a legend that the founder of the farmer's family was Fan Chi, a disciple of Confucius, the "little man" whom he despised!
It’s no wonder that the peasant family was once despised and belittled by Mencius and other Confucian masters. They couldn’t even squeeze into the Jixia Academy. They could only find a way out in the weak Teng State and go to the distant Qin State to find opportunities...
Xu Sheng glanced at Hei Fu, and Hei Fu's eyes were full of encouragement.
Heifu told Xu Sheng that just like the peasant chapters in "Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals", they should write down this process of "tasting hundreds of herbs" to teach their disciples, and at the same time let the world know...
"You can know the etiquette if you have a stable warehouse, and you can know the honor and disgrace if you have enough food and clothing! The affairs of the farm are not the way of a villain, but just like Confucian poetry, etiquette and music, it is a university question related to people's livelihood!"
This was the encouragement Xu Sheng had never received, so he mustered up the courage and asked Qin Shihuang:
"Your Majesty, the way of the villain, which is despised by the Confucian scholars, is actually the practical learning of our great Qin Dynasty. This is a great blessing for the farmers and the world. I dare to ask your Majesty to make people like Fan Chi want to learn in the farm.
He is a 'little man', and as a disciple, he will learn from us. After completing his studies, he can become a field official and help His Majesty spread the solar terms and agricultural times, the techniques of composting and retting, as well as the promotion of water spinach and other products..."
Qin Shihuang and all the ministers were stunned. At this time, Heifu also stood up immediately and said:
"That's right, Your Majesty, just as the Prime Minister said when we were discussing the compilation of books and history in Linzi that day. Today, the government has decided that the law will be issued. The common people will be in charge of agriculture and industry, and the scholars will study the law and eliminate prohibitions. There is already a study of law in the public schools.
, However, in addition to this, we should also establish the learning of workers and peasants! Let these useful learnings, such as cabbage and tofu, be spread all over the world and benefit Guizhou! Let those who regard the past as different from the present have a look at what Shen Nong did.
Da Qin can do the same thing, and do it better than in ancient times!"