Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1867 Central Valley ([-])

"Xishan Road is more creditable, and there are more than a hundred houses on the side of the road. The wind and smoke do not change the customs of Lulong, and the dust is still mixed with the sand of the sea. Zhu Ban engraved the village to give food, and the green felt to pass the car of the nobles. The emperor's grace is one hundred. The desolate scene, the vulgar things are vaguely desired.” At the beginning of September 1682, Zhao Chuyan, the envoy of the Eastern Kingdom of Korea, and his party rode on a plain in the southern part of Chile’s central valley. I remembered this poem.

This is a poem written by Su Song when he was an envoy to the Liao Kingdom during the Xining period of the Northern Song Dynasty. It is called "Xishan Road". There are many shops, houses and wineries, which are very similar to the customs near Lulongsai in Tang Dynasty, without any change.There are wooden red signboards hanging at the entrance of those wineries to attract customers.

The diplomat who accompanied Zhao Chuyan was not of high rank, he was a cadre transferred from the army, and he had no education at all, so he couldn't understand what the envoy from the Korean kingdom was chanting, but he seemed to be chanting a paragraph And something with a rhythm—please forgive this poor guy, he has made great achievements on the battlefield but has nowhere to place him. In the end, he can only be transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Playing poetry is not his specialty .What's more, this time it was Zhao Chuyan's impromptu intention to visit Chile, and there was no one in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who was willing to accompany him to that remote corner, so it was his turn, and there was nothing he could do.

But he couldn't understand, but the deputy envoys and attendants who followed behind Zhao Chuyan understood.Most of them are scholars who have read poetry and books well, and everyone has fame and fame. Listening to Zhao Chuyan's poem reading at this moment, although he feels that it is somewhat in harmony with the surrounding scenery, there is always an indescribable strange smell.After thinking about it carefully, it seems to be satirizing the Dongguo people for not obeying the saints, not passing on famous teachings, and being immersed in Hu Feng for a long time, they are getting farther and farther away from the Chinese orthodoxy.At this moment, he, Zhao Chuyan, seemed to be transformed into Su Song, a courtier of the Song Dynasty who was sent to the Liao Kingdom. After entering the territory of the Liao Kingdom, he pointed at him in a condescending manner. That kind of cultural self-confidence made Zhao Chuyan mesmerized. , slightly smoothed the painful impact on my mind in recent months.

After Zhao Chuyan finished reading this poem, he seemed to be in a better mood. He turned the pier directly and headed for a small village not far ahead.

The village looks quite small, with about 100 households. Because it is close to the traffic arteries, some thoughtful villagers built a shed at the intersection, selling bacon, salted fish, pastries, etc., which are common on the east bank. Food, but also some home-brewed wine.Of course, if guests need tea by name, this small restaurant can also provide a variety of teas such as green tea, yerba mate, and white tea. At the same time, it also shows that the amount of tea imports on the east coast has grown to such an astonishing level that even small shops in the countryside sell tea, although this is only relatively low-grade brick tea produced in Ningbo.

At this time, everyone had been walking for half a day, and they were all hungry, so Zhao Chuyan proposed to sit in the small shop and have some water, and naturally everyone obeyed.Seeing so many people, the store owner was a little panicked for a while, and subconsciously wanted to pick up the spear leaning against the wooden wall to fend off the enemy, but when he saw that they were a group of well-dressed people, he relaxed again and smiled. He greeted his two nephews (also helpers) to the kitchen to inform his mother-in-law, making her feel that there is a big business coming to prepare drinks and food.

Zhao Chuyan doesn't like drinking, so he directly asked the servant Zhao Zhengda to come forward and ask the shopkeeper to serve tea directly, and the shopkeeper responded repeatedly.Drinking tea is indispensable in today's East Coast, whether it is in the daily life of ordinary people or high-level political life. It is also called the three major beverages of the East Coast along with coffee and wine.What's more, people on the east bank claim to be descended from the Miao people of the former Song Dynasty, and since the Song Dynasty, the trend of drinking tea in the Central Plains has intensified, so it is not surprising that people on the east bank love tea.

Moreover, in terms of eating habits, because the Pampa Plain and the Patagonian Terrace provide a large amount of cheap beef and mutton, and the offshore fishery resources are also very rich, people on the east coast eat a lot of fish and dairy products. There are also many people, so they drink tea to help digestion, so it is not uncommon for tea drinking culture to be popular in the north and south on the east coast.

About half of the tea consumed on the east coast is produced in the Ningshao area, and the rest is produced in the areas controlled by King Lu in the south and west of Zhejiang, some are purchased from the Zheng family in Fujian, and some are smuggled from merchants in the Qing Dynasty. In short, they are all from mainland China, except for a very small part of the tea grown on the cloud-shrouded Xuanwu Plateau in the north of Hejian.

The tea that the store served to Zhao Chuyan was Wuyi green tea bought from Fujian—it was also the type of tea purchased by the Dutch and the British in China in the largest quantity. It will be bad.The transferred cadre from the East Bank who accompanied the North Koreans did not order green tea, but ordered a pot of milk tea, and then invited several guards to drink with him.This kind of milk tea is made from rough and cheap brick tea with salt and milk. Except for tea leaves, they happen to be very abundant in the east coast, so they are also relatively popular.

But this custom of drinking milk tea, in Zhao Chuyan's opinion, is even more ridiculous, it's a complete barbarian!Which of the Huns, Xianbei, Khitans, and Mongols doesn't drink milk tea?How many people in the Central Plains drink milk tea?People from the Eastern Kingdom falsely called Huaxia, but they didn't expect to acquire this kind of Hu style. It's really sad and deplorable.It is even more ridiculous to hear that this custom of drinking milk tea was originally passed down from some aristocratic families in the Eastern Kingdom. They still have the nerve to call themselves Miao descendants of the Song Dynasty?Who are you kidding?

Zhao Chuyan secretly slandered the Hu customs of the people from the east bank in this room, but the people from the east bank in the other room ate very happily and didn't realize it.Or, even if they found that Zhao Chuyan was very disdainful, so what, is the opinion of an envoy from a slave country very important?Is it worth all the fuss about it?There are so many cattle and sheep in the country, so dairy products are naturally very rich and cheap. The milk of horses, cows, and sheep is made into cheese, which is rich in nutrition and easy to preserve. What's wrong with you?

No, there will be seven or eight people from the East Coast sitting around the two Eight Immortals tables. After drinking the milk tea, the store will serve eight more bowls of milk porridge.This kind of milk porridge is also a traditional food on the east coast. It is made from common wild vegetables in the countryside plus horse, cow, and goat milk. It is the cheapest and has a tangy aroma, which is very popular among ordinary people.Especially in the Hejian area where rice production is high, people often eat milk porridge in the morning and evening, especially after the official propaganda that eating more dairy products can strengthen children's constitution and height, it became more popular.

After Zhao Chuyan drank a cup of tea, a nephew of the shop carefully brought out a plate of dim sum, which had two colors of food, namely honey cake and sponge cake, which were somewhat similar to those of the Central Plains, but different, and also Know where it came from.Zhao Chuyan picked up a piece with chopsticks and tasted it, and found that the ingredients were quite good, which surprised him very much.He is an old foodie, so he can tell that the sponge cake is made of glutinous rice flour after soaking pine nuts and walnuts in honey, and a lot of sucrose is added to the glutinous rice flour, so the taste is quite good.

This kind of cognition made him even more silent, because a small rural place on the east coast uses so many materials to process all kinds of delicious food, and it can be sold, which in itself explains a lot of problems .In North Korea, this kind of sponge cake or honey cake (simplified version of sponge cake without pine nuts and walnuts) is not impossible to see, but it is more common in the homes of the two classes of nobles, and middle-aged people can eat some occasionally, but it is definitely not the norm. So very precious.But what's going on on the East Coast?The comparison is obvious why this small shop in the countryside can always stock these ingredients that are not cheap in Zhao Chuyan's view, and it is obvious that there are people who usually consume them.

North Korea is still too poor!And not only North Korea, it seems that China is also poorer!Looking at the notes and travel notes of the predecessors when they went to China, even in Beijing, the most benign place at the foot of the emperor, it is impossible to be as rich as the East Coast. This may be the "productivity" that people in the East often talk about. "The gap!Zhao Chuyan thought silently.

Disdain is disdain, but the gap still needs to be faced up to!At this point, Zhao Chuyan didn't want to be that ridiculous shrinking turtle.

Of course, Zhao Chuyan's thinking is a bit exaggerated, because not all the country shops on the east coast will be like this shop in a village in Wangdu Township, Boling County.Even on the east coast, honey is not a cheap thing, and it is impossible for ordinary people to consume it as a daily food, not to mention that the production of pine nuts and walnut kernels is not as abundant as public food.The reason why this store is like this is just because it is close to a major traffic artery, and soldiers, engineers, technicians, and officials come and go from time to time.These people have stronger spending power and higher grades, so this store only prepares these ingredients, and most of them are aimed at these high-end consumers.As for ordinary consumers, their consumption level is obviously at the level of those guys who are eating milk porridge and steamed buns, although this seems to be quite high for Zhao Chuyan.

While everyone was eating tea and porridge, a transport team passed by the roadside, and a lean man came up to the small shop on horseback, and then yelled in a rough voice, telling the shopkeeper to quickly make a few baskets of easy-to-carry food and bring them out. , it was inconvenient for them to stay, and they had to speed up their journey north.The shopkeeper rushed out after hearing the words, and after negotiating with the man, they decided to order four large baskets of cooking cakes, mustard cakes, meat cakes, and steamed buns.

Cooking cakes, hummus cakes, and steamed buns (beef stuffing) are all ready-made, and can be put into baskets directly, while meat oil cakes need to be deep-fried in a pan, so men have to wait a while.The man didn't think it was disobedient, at this time the transportation team had already left, the man and a few followers who came to buy dry food together asked for a table, ordered some food and devoured it.

Zhao Chuyan found that they ordered a lot of things, and they were not cheap, including pine nut sugar porridge, glutinous rice cakes, and stuffed steamed buns—somewhat similar to the famous Kaifeng soup dumplings in the former Song Dynasty——Dangyang pancakes, lung-filling oil cakes and wontons.Zhao Chuyan felt that these people should be Tolerances, who belonged to the middle class in North Korea, and their income could not be considered low, but it was definitely not high, and they should not be able to afford these things.

At this time, he was already numb, and he no longer cared about the chatting and laughing of these "middlemen" on the east bank, eating and drinking tea, and concentrated on dealing with the muffin in front of him.At the same time, he also had a vague idea in his mind, that is, after returning to the country, he would complain to the king and demand innovation.Of course, this kind of innovation does not mean throwing away or even destroying their traditional culture like the Dongguo people. They are too utilitarian and impetuous. Although the country is rich and the people are strong, Zhao Chuyan does not approve of this model.

His ideal model is still based on the famous Confucianism, supplemented by the application of some new technologies to improve that—well, social productivity and increase the wealth of the country on a large scale.But this kind of overall increase in social wealth is not endless. Zhao Chuyan felt that at least those businessmen covered in money should not be made to look like dogs in the Eastern Dynasty. The social order must still be controlled by the Confucian gentry and the two classes of nobles. In his hands, this kind of idyllic life in a state of high productivity is the most favored by Zhao Chuyan, and he believes that other people also agree with this-our ancestors have made great contributions to the shelter, and he himself is suffering. After studying poetry and books for so many years, how can those businessmen and lowly craftsmen who don't know the etiquette suddenly come to power?This is absolutely not allowed to happen!

Of course, Zhao Chuyan didn't think carefully about whether his idea could be realized, or whether it was a castle in the sky.He doesn't have this kind of awareness yet, even though he has been around the east coast for so long, but he hasn't lived, studied, and understood it for ten or eight years, how much deep understanding can he have?It is worthwhile to have the current idea of ​​using new technologies to improve social productivity, and we should not ask too much.

As for his ideal feudal social life in the new pastoral pastoral, what will develop in the Joseon Kingdom, whether it can be sustained, or whether it will be abandoned halfway, it is hard to say.In short, everything depends on the follow-up development. No one is omnipotent, and it is impossible to predict what will happen decades later.

Half an hour later, everyone was almost finished eating.Zhao Chuyan was somewhat accountable, but thinking of his not-so-abundant financial situation, he silently gave up and let the fellow diplomats on the East Coast pay the bills—the North Korean mission’s funds from selling medicinal materials, furs, and special products had almost been consumed. Well, Zhao Chuyan has even started to write brush calligraphy for the nobles of the Eastern Kingdom recently in order to get a refill fee. This is an elegant thing in the eyes of literati, and Zhao is not too embarrassing to stop doing it.

Afterwards, the people who packed up left the small shop and continued to go northward towards the Jie River (Bueno River).

(End of this chapter)