Chapter 1071 The Style of that Bowl

Did Liu Xie's words express his pity for the old farmers, or did he lament that Bingbei Pingyang was still so heavily taxed, or did he lament that the lives of grassroots farmers like Han Han were not easy?

Which one is more and which is less, Fei Qian doesn't know, but Fei Qian can't answer this question, and as for the old farmer, he is silent.

What do you say about Fei potential?

They say the world is a big place, but in fact, Your Majesty, do you have time to go and see everywhere by yourself?

It is said that the world is very poor. This is all due to the land ownership system. How about land reform?

It is said that the world is in chaos. If we don’t collect land rent, how can we get the money and food to compete with the princes everywhere?

In fact, in the final analysis, it is still a kind of exploitation, the exploitation of the proletarians by the possessors of the means of production and living, and the biggest possessor, or the nominal possessor, is your Majesty yourself. Otherwise, Your Majesty, you might as well just take matters into your own hands. Already?

This world is like the emperor's new clothes. If it is revealed, only ugliness will remain.

At the moment of embarrassment, perhaps the son of an old farmer came out of the village and said that he had prepared some food and wine to entertain the distinguished guests...

Naturally, there was no decent table in the village. I could only find a flat stone slab, put a few stones underneath, and then use this stone slab as a table.

Fei Qian looked at the four dishes on the table and was slightly silent.

One dish was boiled beans, which looked like red beans.

One dish is roasted leaves of some kind, but they are all mixed together, and you can only see a mass of black and green, and you can't tell which kind of leaves it is.

The first dish is steamed egg custard. There’s nothing to say about this. It’s just a simple matter of cracking eggs into a bowl, adding some water, beating them evenly, and then steaming them over water until they solidify.

One dish is boiled chicken. It must have been cooked too quickly. The hair on the chicken skin has not been completely removed. It is a little gray, a little white, and a little black. As for the reddish-brown blood residue that is cooked out, it is even more reluctant to part with it. It floats on the surface of the soup together with a little bit of it. Yellow chicken fat mixed together.

Liu Xie raised his head and looked at Fei Qian, his eyes filled with inquiry.

Fei Qian nodded, then cupped his hands towards the old farmer and said, "Thank you for your hospitality, husband. You're welcome."

The old farmer was obviously very happy about Fei Qian's rudeness. He laughed loudly and said repeatedly: "I don't dare to take it. I don't take it. I don't take good care of it. I don't take good care of it. Please, my dear, please..."

People in the Han Dynasty, whether alive or dead, were extremely good at saving face. This habit has been passed down even thousands of years later. No matter how embarrassed you are, you always have to entertain guests when they come. Even if you are trying to sell iron, you probably have to join in the effort. Although these dishes are simple, I am afraid that people in these villages may not be able to eat them during the New Year and holidays.

Liu Xie sat down, and when Fei Qian sat down, he tilted his body slightly, came to Fei Qian's side, and said in a very low voice: "Why?"

Fei Qian chuckled and said softly: "If you don't eat, they won't worry."

Although I told the old farmer just now that I just came to take a look, who would believe it? Therefore, to be on the safe side, the people in the village will definitely prepare some food. Even if they cannot supply all the soldiers, they must ensure that Fei Qian and Liu Xie, who are taking the lead, can eat. Otherwise, these people in the village will definitely be worried.

Eating such a meal not only showed that he was willing to give this face, but also confirmed that Fei Qian and his party did not have any ill intentions. Therefore, when Fei Qian expressed his acceptance, the old farmer smiled happily. This was the reason.

But this dish...

It can only be said to be purely natural.

More specifically, these foods contain almost no seasonings.

No oil, no peppercorns, no spices, no MSG, almost no salt. Well, maybe a little bit among the boiled beans and boiled chicken, but only a little...

Salt is also extremely precious in this era. Normally, among the two meals, only the morning meal has a little salt added, because it takes a day of work and a day of sweating. If there is no salt, it will be really difficult. No.

Of course, these salts are completely different from the salts of later generations. In Bingzhou, more is rock salt, which is a brown-black stone with a salty taste. It is not known how much sodium chloride, potassium chloride, sodium sulfate, or even sodium hydroxide this stone contains...

This kind of rock salt, or salt stones, cannot be kept in large quantities because it is expensive. Usually, most of them are wrapped in cloth by the hostess of the family and hidden in the cracks of the wall or the gaps between the beams and columns. Only what is needed is used. When the time came, he secretly took it out and rubbed it into the cauldron to produce some powder.

This was the state of ordinary people in the Han Dynasty.

So time travel is not fun at all. Time travel is risky, so be careful when jumping off a building. If Fei Qian hadn't been considered a branch of the noble clan at the beginning, he would have had some financial support. If he had arrived at the home of an ordinary farmer, I am afraid that either Fei Qian would go crazy, or the farmer would go crazy...

But for Fei Qian, these are no longer big problems.

Following the army in the north and south, although it is definitely different from the big-headed soldiers, sometimes you can still open a small stove every day, and you have to mix it in the same pot with the guards around you. Naturally, it is impossible to eat and drink all the time. It's very delicate, like rough cut-throat wheat grains, bitter and sour wild vegetables, half-cooked beans, and pieces of meat that are burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. Fei Qian has eaten them all.

Therefore, although the food was simple, it was nothing to Fei Qian. However, looking at Liu Xie's slightly frowning brows, Fei Qian suddenly felt a little bit of uncontrollable bad taste in his heart, and smiled to the side. Looking at it, the real old farmer who was sitting next to him said: "Old man, do you have any stick paste? Let's have a bowl..."

"Ah?" The old farmer was stunned, "My lord, you... you want to stick it to a stick? That..."

Fei Qian smiled and said, "My husband, you must have some, just bring a bowl."

The old farmer opened his eyes wide, then looked at Fei Qian's expression carefully to make sure that Fei Qian was not joking, so he called a villager and asked him to get a bowl of "pole paste".

Fei Qian is not sure whether "ganpa" is "gan", "liver", or some other word. Even the farmers who eat pole paste are not sure. Perhaps only those who are professional in plants will know what the specific scientific names of these edible wild vegetables growing near the water are.

This wild vegetable by the water looks a bit like duckweed, but not exactly like it. Because it grows vigorously in summer, it is often harvested by farmers as a food supplement, and even becomes a main ingredient in summer.

Because there is a thick ring of rough fibrous tissue in the middle of the stem of this plant, it cannot be eaten directly, so most people smash it with stones or wooden sticks, remove the fibrous tissue, and add a little Beans, or millet, or worse, add some wheat bran and the like, and cook them into a paste, so it is called "stick paste".

Not long after, someone brought out a wooden bowl from the village, and inside the wooden bowl was the so-called rod paste. Although the sound of this stick paste is closer to sweet, it is not sweet at all. It can even be said that the taste is similar to drinking mud soup.

The stick paste is green. If you just look at the appearance, it should be similar to the spinach soup or jasper soup of later generations. It is pure green and has no variegation at all. Even if there is, it is generally the same. What lies within the sand and gravel at the bottom cannot be seen on the surface.

But as soon as you get closer, a muddy smell will hit you. This earthy fishy smell is like standing on the edge of a green ditch in summer, and then under the steaming sun, it is like a light green force coming from the respiratory tract and from the exposed skin, The feeling of desperately penetrating in, drilling in.

As soon as the rod paste was placed on the stone slab, Liu Xie smelled the smell and couldn't help but frown deeply and turned his head away slightly in disgust. Although the dishes just now are not very good, compared with this bowl of so-called stick paste, it is a world of difference.

"...This is what my husband eats every day..." Fei Qian pointed to the stick paste and said, and then pointed to the few simple dishes on the stone plate, "And these... are used to entertain guests. They themselves are afraid I only eat some during the Chinese New Year..."

Fei Qian said, picked up the stick paste, and then looked at Liu Xie: "How about it? Do you want to try some?"

Don’t you want to understand the life of Han farmers?

That farmer in Dahan can prepare four dishes every day and still have boiled chicken?

In this season, in this lean time, who among the real farmers is not looking around for some wild vegetables that can replace food, mixed with various rice bran and wheat bran, and then eagerly waiting for the crops to grow taller and waiting for the arrival of autumn?

This green mud-like thing is really the food for farmers today.

According to Liu Xie's age, this time should be regarded as the rebellious period of later generations. When the second disease occurred, even God dared to use a knife to chop him. However, Fei Qian did not see such signs in Liu Xie. .

Maybe I started experiencing the ups and downs of life too early, so the rebellious phase subsided? Or is it that people in the Han Dynasty developed earlier and the rebellious period was over? Or maybe the individual understands that rebellious behavior cannot bring any benefits at all, so he has suppressed it on a spiritual level?

Liu Xie hesitated, then gritted his teeth. Although his face was still twisted to one side, he nodded.

Fei Qian raised his eyebrows. He didn't expect that Liu Xie was really willing to try this bowl of green mud soup. However, Fei Qian did not continue to say anything or ask again for confirmation, so he pulled the bowl in front of Liu Xie. , scooped some with a small wooden spoon and put it into the bowl, and then pushed the wooden bowl back to Liu Xie.

This kind of behavior is probably what Fei Qian can do at this time. Although there are not many of Liu Xie's attendants, bodyguards, etc., there are still some, but most of these people are still in Chang'an and did not come with Liu Xie, but the two who survived are over there in the camp. Prepare a place for Liu Xie to sleep, and the queen also needs someone to take care of her, so there are no eunuchs following Liu Xie for the time being...

It's just for the time being. No matter who it is, whether it's Shao or Zhao Wen, the first thing they do when they return to Chang'an is to rush all the eunuchs and guards who originally belonged to Liu Xie in Changle Palace to Pingyang. Maybe these people are already on the way now.

But now, Fei Qian is the only one taking care of Liu Xie. Although this behavior is somewhat rude, it reveals a sense of ease and casualness.

After Fei Qian scooped some out of Liu Xie's bowl, he raised the remaining half of the bowl of rod paste, signaled to Liu Xie, and poured it into his mouth without borrowing any tools.

The green stick paste is thick, bitter, and fishy. When it slides in the mouth, it feels like swallowing the corpses of countless dead flies, or drinking green stagnant water full of duckweed. This taste It will make the mouth, tongue and throat instinctively resist, and these human tissues and organs will try their best to create a very strong feeling of nausea and vomiting. People who eat this stick paste are either like Fei Qian, that is, they are interacting with their own tissues. The organs are fighting against each other, and they finish eating the rod paste before the feeling of vomiting reaches the red line, or like the old farmers, they gradually become numb and accustomed day after day, year after year, and the tissues and organs of the body no longer have the ability to function. Any resistance, silently accept...

Fei Qian poured all the stick paste into his throat without even chewing it, and then gestured towards Liu Xie with the almost empty wooden bowl. This thing is just like drinking Chinese medicine, well, it's even worse than Chinese medicine. You can't stop in the middle, you have to drink it in one sip, otherwise you will easily lose the courage to take a second sip.

Liu Xie picked up the bowl, picked up the wooden spoon, hesitated for a long time, finally took a spoonful, and then put it in his mouth...

"evil……"

Liu Xie couldn't restrain the resistance of his digestive tissues and organs, so he just put the rod paste into his mouth and spit it out in one gulp.

"Get some water!" Fei Qian waved back and handed the water bag to Liu Xie.

"Evil...evil..." Liu Xie took the water bag, gargled and vomited, finally getting rid of the nausea, panting, looking at the small half bowl of rod paste, as if avoiding snakes and scorpions.

"My lord... Oh my lord, I, this, that..." The old farmer was so frightened that his originally dark face turned pale. He couldn't speak clearly, and he didn't know how to position his hands and feet.

Fei Qian waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, I'll be fine. It's okay... How many bowls of this stick of paste can one person eat in one meal? Are there any other ingredients?"

The old farmer replied: "The noble man was joking and eating a few bowls... In the current season, the noble man knows how to farm mulberry trees. Where are the other ingredients, just these stick paste... One meal can barely feed one person. The bowl is pretty good..."

Fei Qian nodded, then faced Liu Xie, was silent for a while, and said: "Only men who work in the fields can eat such things every day, and one meal can only be a bowl. If it is a wife or a child, most of them will eat less." Half...a day's work, just these two bowls of stick paste, nothing else..."

This is the food for the farmers of the Han Dynasty, and this is the life of the people of the Han Dynasty. Fei Qian looked at Liu Xie and said silently in his heart, welcome to the real world.

Liu Xie looked at Fei Qian, then at the pole, then at the old farmer, then turned to look at the cultivated field in the distance, silent...

"Come here, bring me the millet!" Fei Qian said as he held his hands towards the old farmer, "Thank you for the hospitality, father-in-law! When we came, we were disturbed a lot, and we made up for it with this millet..."

The old farmer waved his hands repeatedly and said: "No, no! It's already a sin if you fail to entertain the distinguished guests. How can you accept the guest's things again? If this spreads out, you will be a bad person... You must not do it." …”

Fei Qian motioned to the guard to put down the corn bag, and then said: "I don't have to refuse... If you really compare it, this bowl of stick paste cannot be said to be more valuable than the corn in this area..."

After saying that, Fei Qian took Liu Xie and the group embarked on the return journey, leaving behind a confused old farmer who stared blankly at the remaining stick paste and the bag of corn. He murmured: "How can this rod of paste... be more valuable than corn?"