Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

The method of making Dongpo pork in the Song Dynasty seems to be relatively primitive.

Lu Tixue didn't fry the sugar, or even fry it in oil. He only lightly stir-fried the meat, then poured in rice wine and soy sauce and simmered it slowly. Of course, a little salt and seasonings such as ginger and green onions are also added.

When cooking, Lu Tixue became extremely serious. He didn't say a word of nonsense in his mouth and just watched the Dongpo pork slowly cooking.

Zhu Guoxiang asked his son: "Is there rock candy in the Song Dynasty?"

"Yes, it's called sugar frosting. The output is rare and extremely expensive." Ju Ming said.

In the late Northern Song Dynasty, sugarcane cultivation was extremely common, but there were only five rock sugar producing areas: Futang in Fujian, Siming in Zhejiang, Panyu in Guangdong, Suining in Sichuan, and Guanghan.

Among them, Suining rock sugar is of the highest quality and has the highest yield.

People are afraid of being famous, and pigs are afraid of being strong. In another ten years, Suining sugar farmers will be in bad luck.

Local officials presented rock sugar to Song Huizong, and Suining rock sugar was immediately listed as a tribute. More than 300 households that could produce high-quality rock sugar were required to pay thousands of kilograms of rock sugar as tribute every year. Coupled with the exploitation by officials and purchasers, Suining's rock sugar industry quickly declined, and more than half of the sugar sugar households went bankrupt and fled.

Zhu Guoxiang walked to Bai Zongwang: "Do you have any candies in your house?"

Bai Zongwang replied: "Only brown sugar."

"Where's the honey?" Zhu Guoxiang asked again.

Bai Zongwang said: "There are beekeepers in the villages further upstream, but my family doesn't have any ready-made beekeepers. We only send people to buy them when we need to eat."

Zhu Guoxiang said: "Give me a few pieces of brown sugar."

Bai Zongwang called his servant and quickly fetched the brown sugar.

Zhu Guoxiang took brown sugar and came behind Lu Tixue: "Tixue Rongzhen, my hometown also has this cooking method. The villagers call it Dongpo pork or braised pork. After adding sugar, it will be even sweeter."

"Oh?" Lu Tixue was quite surprised.

Zhu Guoxiang added: "The wealthy families use icing sugar, the small wealthy families use honey, and ordinary people use brown sugar. There is only brown sugar here, so you can try it to learn something."

Lu Tixue said: "You can give it a try."

There were many people eating meat today, so Lu Tixue made two pots and gave one pot to Zhu Guoxiang to put sugar in.

Estimating the weight, Zhu Guoxiang broke the brown sugar into pieces and sprinkled it evenly into the braised pork - brown sugar can't boil out caramel water, so he had to sprinkle it in for seasoning.

With a fellow cook, Lu Tixue finally stopped being silent: "Your Excellency, you are also good at cooking?"

"I know a few dishes, but I don't know much." Zhu Guoxiang answered honestly.

For a few years when he was young, he not only sent his son to live in the countryside, but the couple also lived in separate places due to work. Zhu Guoxiang occasionally cooks by himself. He learned how to cook braised pork from a Sichuan colleague.

Unfortunately, traveling back to the Song Dynasty, many Sichuan dishes cannot be cooked.

It's not a lack of pepper, but a lack of bean paste. Sichuan cuisine can be made without chili peppers, but it cannot be made without bean paste.

Lu Tixue stood in front of the stove and said: "When I came to Lizhou Road to serve as an official, the biggest impression was the spicy spicy soup. In the Central Plains, pepper is used to make soup, but in Sichuan and Shaanxi, Sichuan pepper is used instead. They are two different flavors. .”

"Cooking is like doing work. You should adapt to local conditions." Zhu Guoxiang already knows how to chat with Lu Tixue.

Lu Tixue was really happy: "This is a wonderful statement. The products in different places are different, so we cannot insist on the original flavor."

Zhu Guoxiang only knows a few special dishes and is not a cooking expert. He harvested it when it was good and immediately turned to agriculture: "The same is true for farming. The climate, water and soil are very different between the north and the south. The "Essential Art of Elevating the People" can be used in the north, but it will be greatly reduced in the south."

"It is true," Lu Tixue nodded and said, "Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, many new agricultural books have been compiled, especially those in the south. Your thirteen methods of interplanting can also be written into an article, together with the method of growing rice. Compile it into an agricultural book. When the book is compiled, I will find someone to print it."

Zhu Guoxiang said happily: "Thank you for the lesson!"

Lu Tixue said with a smile: "Farming is the foundation of all industries, and it should be like this."

Zhu Guoxiang continued to peddle his agricultural science, and also applied the ancient world view: "All things are divided into yin and yang, and the same is true for plants. Whether crops or fruit trees, there are male and female flowers. Some are monoecious, some are dioecious, and they are driven by insects and wind. Yin and Yang copulate. When the butterflies and bees are dipped in the powder of male flowers, and then go to the female flowers to collect nectar, they can become pregnant and give birth to children. This is how food and fruits come."

"Is that so?" Lu Tixue's eyes lit up after hearing this.

Zhu Guoxiang said: "If the flowering period coincides with rainy weather, bees and butterflies will not come, and the production of grain and fruits will be reduced."

Lu Tixue combined his own experience and nodded: "That's true."

Zhu Guoxiang added: "At this time, artificial pollination can be done by making a brush to transfer pollen to the style, which can also enable male and female to have sex."

These words opened the door to a new world for Lu Tixue, and he wanted to study the problem of plant pollination immediately.

Most of the accompanying scholars felt so bored. Only two or three people were still standing in the kitchen, and the rest went outside to chat among themselves.

The fifth son of Lu Guanren, the richest man in Xixiang, was also there, named Lu Heng. He is the twelfth in the family, and is also called Lu Twelve Lang.

The scholar who was the first to answer the question was named Yu Dayuan. At this moment, he said angrily: "Twelve Masters, we are all famous scholars in this county, but we let a foreign boy get the limelight. Don't you think of some way to control him?"

Lu Heng said with a smile: "What can I do to control him? Even in the imperial examination, I failed twice in the examination. There is no point in trying to improve the examination. You have passed the examination, so you should be the one to control him."

Another scholar named Huang Sheng said: "This man claims to have mastered the Three Classics. I'm afraid his attainments in Confucian classics are extraordinary. You must not discuss Confucian classics with him. You must use poems to make things difficult for him!"

"Yes, just use poetry!" Yu Dayuan nodded.

Huang Sheng added: "Today's meal will definitely involve drinking. You can propose a drinking order, or you can compose poems on the spot to accompany the wine to cheer up. This will definitely teach this ignorant boy not to come to Taiwan! You can also let the disciples know that there are talented people in Xixiang County. .”

Yu Dayuan patted his chest and said, "Just write poems. I have brought many old works, which will come in handy."

"I brought it too." Huang Sheng smiled.

These guys wanted to show off in front of the Ti Xue Envoy, so they all brought poems. The old work must have been revised repeatedly. Even if Ju Ming was good at poetry, it would probably be difficult for him to create it on the spot.

Yu Dayuan immediately called all the scholars and went to a remote place to discuss quietly.

Lu Heng just squatted next to him and laughed. He was not very knowledgeable, and it was difficult for everyone to pass the examination. Moreover, one of his brothers has already won the Jinshi, and he is the son of the richest man, so why bother with such a thing?

He had already seen that Lu Tixue admired the Zhu family and his son quite a lot.

To prevent the Zhu family and his son from coming to Taiwan is to prevent Lu Tixue from coming to Taiwan!

Scholars should know such a simple truth. But those scholars were all determined to take the imperial examination and racked their brains to stand out in front of Ti Xue. They were so stupid that they lost their basic judgment.

The scholars were discussing how to make trouble, and the subordinate officials had already gone to dinner. They were so tired that they had to fill their stomachs quickly and be ready to be dispatched by the envoy at any time. This tixue goes crazy intermittently, and who knows what he will do next.

At around five o'clock in the afternoon, dinner finally started.

Three tables were set up in the Bai family's courtyard, with Lu Tixue, Xiang Zhixian, Professor Qian, Bai Zongwang, Zhu's father and son, Lu Heng and Yu Dayuan serving as the main tables. Bai Dalang, Bai Erlang and other scholars sat at the other two tables.

The two pots of Dongpo pork were all divided, and each person only got four pieces.

Zhu Guoxiang's twice-cooked pork is added with brown sugar, making it darker in color. Unfortunately, the caramel water was not boiled, so the color was not bright and red, and it did not look so pleasing to the eye.

Lu Tixue took a sip and immediately became happy: "With the sweet taste, it is indeed better to eat!"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "If there is icing sugar, you can boil caramel water and pour it into it during cooking. Not only will the aroma be rich, but the surface of the pork will also be bright in color, like red pearls."

Lu Tixue lamented: "Ice sugar is not easy to come by, and the price is higher than gold and silver."

At this time, the technology for making rock sugar was still very primitive. It was originally a by-product of making granulated sugar (liquid brown sugar). Sugar households who have mastered the technology keep this secret. Take Suining, the most developed sugar industry, there are only more than 300 households that can make rock sugar. Moreover, the production process is time-consuming and takes more than a year.

When the new rock candy came on the market, it was sold out instantly and shipped to the Central Plains and Jiangnan for sale.

Lu Tixue lives in Hanzhong and cannot buy it even if he has money.

Although Yu Dayuan couldn't stand the Zhu family and his son, when he ate Dongpo pork with brown sugar, he waved his chopsticks and devoured it. So delicious!

Ju Ming had done enough in the afternoon and stopped fussing, munching on steamed mutton and drinking wine.

After eating a few mouthfuls, I heard someone at the next table say: "Today we are here to study, and all the scholars from Xixiang have arrived. It can be said to be a grand gathering. You might as well share your poems with wine to cheer up the fun."

"Poetry and wine add to the fun, it's really an elegant thing!" the scholars all agreed.

Lu Tixue just smiled. He had seen this kind of scene too many times.

Every time they visited a place for inspection, the scholars would be eager to perform. If any scholar is not popular in the local area and happens to be appreciated by Lu Tixue, he will definitely encounter difficulties from other scholars.

"I have a work, please tell me about it." Huang Sheng couldn't wait to take out the poem.

Lu Tixue finally spoke: "There is no need to bring out the old works. I will come up with a question and have students compose poems on the spot. Only in this way can I show my ability."

After saying these words, half of the scholars had expressions of embarrassment on their faces.

After the imperial examination abolished poetry and poetry, fewer scholars studied this subject, and the poetry talent of the scholars in the Song Dynasty seriously declined.

"Please help me come up with some questions." Lu Heng was the first to speak out. Anyway, he is already lying down, his knowledge is like a ghost, and he is happy to see many scholars suffer.

Lu Tixue had a narrow-minded personality and deliberately teased everyone. He thought hard for a while: "Since we are all scholars, we will take it as a topic to do academic research."

At this time, all the accompanying scholars were dumbfounded.

You can choose any topic, including mountains, rivers, fields, farmhouses, wine, meals, wind and moon, seasons...these are all acceptable, and everyone can write a poem.

But taking academic questions as a question is too abstract!

None of them were in the mood to eat, they were all scratching their heads and scratching their heads.

Lu Tixue held back his laughter and asked the Zhu family and his son, "Are you two together?"

Zhu Guoxiang said directly: "I am not proficient in poetry, and I am just making people laugh when I write it. As for the dog...it's okay."

Yu Dayuan couldn't hold it in himself, and he didn't want to make Zhu Ming feel better, so he immediately said: "Since my successful brother has mastered the Three Classics, he must also have great attainments in poetry. We are just going to ask for advice."

Ju Ming turned around and looked at the two tables next door. These guys were all looking at him, their expressions full of... gloating!

Putting down his chopsticks, Ju Ming pretended to be deep in thought, and suddenly recited: "The ancients spared no effort in their knowledge, and it is only when they are young that they can achieve success through hard work. What you see on paper will always be shallow, and you will definitely know that you have to practice it."

Zhu Guoxiang almost burst into laughter when he heard this poem.

It's so appropriate for the occasion. It not only fits the title perfectly, but also caters to Lu Tixue's academic thoughts. With a bit of self-effacement, he secretly went to flatter Lu Tixue!

In the courtyard, no one spoke, and it seemed a bit quiet.

Yu Dayuan held chopsticks in his hand and looked at Ju Ming stupidly.

(Thank you to Brother Hengfeng for the reward, and thank you to all your family members for your subscriptions and monthly votes.)

(What can I say about this book? The results are actually very good. The first order was 32,000 yuan in 24 hours. However, due to an error, many people came to watch the fun. I guess the first order was a bit high. Based on the second chapter, it should be 20,000 yuan. five.)

(Well, the program was very effective, and I found out that I am a marketing genius. Haha. At the same time, I would also like to thank the editor for giving a bunch of good recommendations, but Lao Wang was a bit sorry for the editor's painstaking efforts.)