The group of people soon arrived outside the Mingde Gate. Pei Yuan suddenly sighed and felt a little sympathy for the emperor Shi Jingtang.

Luoyang is too dilapidated to be the capital, but how much better can Kaifeng be? It has also experienced many wars and been ravaged!

Especially in the battle of the Tang Dynasty to destroy the Liang Dynasty more than ten years ago, Kaifeng Prefecture bore the brunt and was wiped out by the Silver Spear Army, which made great contributions to the Tang Dynasty's destruction of the Liang Dynasty.

Then Emperor Zhuangzong Li Cunxu's Shatuo Ya'er Army became angry and pretended that no one had made any meritorious service, so they looted the area around Kaifeng again.

When Li Cunxu finally made Luoyang his capital, in addition to showing that he was the orthodox of the Tang Dynasty, Kaifeng was too badly damaged and could not assume the role of a capital city.

But he didn't expect that Luoyang could no longer be supported. After more than ten years of repairs in the Later Tang Dynasty, it was finally surpassed by Kaifeng, who had regained his health.

The palace where Shi Jingtang currently lives is the palace of the Zhu family of the Later Liang Dynasty. This palace was originally rebuilt on the office of the Xuanwu Jiedushi in the late Tang Dynasty and was short and small.

Although it is currently the only masonry building in Kaifeng, it is completely incomparable to a real palace.

After entering Mingde Gate, we walked a few steps and came to the outside of Daning Palace. This palace, which was rebuilt after the Xuanwu Jiedu Envoy Office, was called Jianchang Palace in Houliang.

Shi Jingtang renamed it Daning Palace two months ago. Even the Wende Palace, where the emperor originally rested when he went to court, was renamed Daning Palace.

Never in the past dynasties did Wende Hall have such a strange name, but Pei Yuan knew why.

Daning Daning, Shi Jingtang wants to find peace for himself!

"Officials of the Song Dynasty, the palace attendants in a certain palace are all in a hurry and have solemn expressions. Is it Ye City..."

The Song officials mentioned by Pei Yuan were the chamberlains Shi Jingtang brought to Kaifeng from Luoyang.

This man originally served Li Siyuan, Emperor Mingzong of the later Tang Dynasty. After Li Congke killed his adopted brother Li Conghou and a large number of his adopted father's descendants, he felt that the Song eunuch was an eyesore, so he sent him away.

After Shi Jingtang entered Luoyang, Eunuch Song took advantage of his old relationship with Shi Jingtang and fawned over him. Soon he became Shi Jingtang's close friend. He didn't have much power for the time being, but he was still well-informed.

During the questioning, Pei Yuan thrust a small jade pendant into Eunuch Song's hand. Eunuch Song looked straight into the distance, squeezed it quickly with his right hand, and then lifted it slightly, and the jade pendant quickly disappeared into the wide sleeves.

middle.

This was specially arranged by Zhang Zhao for Pei Yuan. In addition to its own value, a jade pendant can be exchanged for ten pounds of Hexi white sugar and one pound of rock sugar at any Sogdian shop in Kaifeng City that sells Hexi goods.

These two items are quite valuable hard currency in today's Central Plains. You can earn more than ten dollars by changing hands casually, not to mention that it costs nothing.

Eunuch Song looked at Pei Yuan with a smile and a little admiration.

"Shilang Pei had a clever plan. If Fan Yanguang from Yecheng had a disobedient heart, he has raised a banner to rebel in Yecheng. The rebels are coming south. The saint has been worried about this and has not had a good meal for several days."

As he said this, Eunuch Song let out a long sigh. It was obvious that Fan Yanguang's rebellion made him, a person who didn't know much about military matters, feel a bit scary.

This Fan Yanguang was no ordinary person. He was a fierce general who went to the battlefield with Li Siyuan, Emperor Mingzong of the later Tang Dynasty. Yecheng was the territory of the Tianxiong Army. The Jiedushi of the Tianxiong Army used to have a name, Wei Bo Jiedushi.

Although Wei Bo's Silver Spear Army had gone too far with military democratization and was repeatedly hit hard by successive emperors, it is now basically extinct.

But without military democratization, the combat effectiveness of Wei Bo Tianxiong's army is still very terrifying.

Moreover, they also have a big feud with the Hedong soldiers of Shi Jingtang's group. When it comes to fighting the Hedong soldiers, it is estimated that Wei Bo Tianxiong's army will be able to explode 200% of its combat effectiveness.

At the same time, Fan Yanguang was also related to Li Congke, the late Emperor of the Tang Dynasty who died by self-immolation at Xuanwu Tower in Luoyang a few months ago. His daughter married Li Congke's crown prince Li Chongmei and became his princess.

During the self-immolation in Xuanwu Tower, Fan Yanguang's daughter and son-in-law died together, and they had long hated Shi Jingtang in their hearts. Once the rebellion is successful, will all those who are close to Shi Jingtang still be able to enjoy good juice?

....

In the Daning Palace, Shi Jingtang was relatively calm. At least from his face, there was no trace of any nervousness or anxiety at all.

However, Pei Yuan still felt something unusual, because Sang Weihan, who usually looked at him with a picky nose and eyes, not only did not have a horse face, but also made an exception and managed a smile.

"The minister presented Hexi delicacies a few days ago. I finally have some free time today, so I invited the minister and Sang Xiang to enjoy it together."

Shi Jingtang smiled and said to Pei Yuan. It must be said that his appearance as a courteous and virtuous corporal was indeed somewhat like that of a master.

The so-called offering of delicacies has always been a way for vassals to express respect for the emperor of the Central Plains.

Of course, presenting delicacies does not mean preparing the food and presenting it to the emperor, but sending the ingredients, cooking methods and even the cook to the palace, and then the cook will prepare the food and present it to the emperor under the supervision of the emperor's confidants.

The delicacies presented by Pei Yuan on behalf of Zhang Zhao are actually very simple. One dish is Anxi cheese lamb chops. This is the recipe of Anxi, which is quite different from the lamb chops in the Central Plains.

One dish is braised pork with rock sugar. This is Zhang Zhao’s new creation. It is actually sweet Dongpo pork.

Historically, it was invented by Su Dongpo, a delicious old fat man, and its improvements were made by famous chefs in the past. It was only fully developed in the late Qing Dynasty.

Finally, there is a drink, salty milk tea and sweet tea made with Hexi brick tea and butter.

You see, Zhang Zhao said he was offering delicacies to the emperor, but Zhang Zhao actually wanted to take over the emperor's golden sign and open up sales for Hexi's three major specialties, white sugar, rock sugar and tea bricks.

Among them, white sugar and rock sugar are intended to open up sales to wealthy people in the Central Plains, while tea bricks are intended to open up sales to Khitan and other northern nomads from Shi Jingtang.

After all, according to Shi Jingtang's status as the emperor, Lord Yelu Deguang would send him various gifts from the Central Plains every year. Zhang Zhao hoped that from the tens of thousands of gifts every year, Chazhuan would follow him northward as the protagonist.

At this time, the meal-sharing system was still adopted, and the rules between monarchs and ministers were not as big as in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The three of them cooked more casually, and the food was divided in advance and served by the servants.

Shi Jingtang first tasted the salty milk tea, which was not much different from the butter tea of ​​later generations.

For ordinary people, the taste is a bit strange when it comes to drinking it. Ghee is a taste that requires constant exposure to get used to.

But Shi Jingtang was born in Shatuo, and his ancestors may even be Sogdians, so he was very accustomed to this taste. After drinking it for several times, Pei Yuan felt a little tired, but Shi Jingtang didn't think so at all.

"I heard that this tea brick was made by Zhang Junzhang himself? Yes! It tastes very good, and the tea brick is also easy to preserve.

The taste of this milk tea is much better than that of boiled tea soup, but the quality of the tea leaves is a little worse." Shi Jingtang commented while drinking.

The tea soup at this time is really a soup. In addition to the tea leaves, coarse salt, mutton fat, pepper, nutmeg, ginger, garlic, orange peel, corneum, etc. must be added. The taste can kill someone!

What Zhang Zhao made was called milk tea. In fact, compared with the current tea soup, the butter tea was simply refreshing and salty or sweet.

Although Pei Yuan didn't like it, Sang Weihan still had to admit that the tea bricks, milk tea and sweet tea in Hexi were indeed better than the tea soup and not so boring.

"How can the bitter cold land in the Hexi frontier compare to China? Hexi tea bricks are just sold to barbarians everywhere, but if some famous Chinese tea can be made, they may be sold to the nobles of the Liao Dynasty!"

A smile appeared on Shi Jingtang's face, and he quickly understood what Pei Yuan meant.

That is, good tea leaves can be used to make high-quality tea bricks and sent to Yelu Deguang and other Khitan nobles. Pei Yuan did not say it directly because he was concerned about his face.

Pei Yuan glanced at Sang Weihan and saw that Sang Weihan wanted to speak, so he quickly spoke before Sang Weihan could speak.

"Now that we've had milk tea, I'd like to invite everyone to try Hexi Braised Pork with Rock Sugar. This is a dish invented by Zhang Sikong. Hexi is poor, but this dish is very rich!"

Sang Weihan was blocked and could only lower his head and continue drinking tea, but he was thinking in his heart. Since this tea brick, milk tea, and sweet tea are suitable for people in the northern grasslands to drink and are conducive to preservation, the production method must be made in Hexi.

Just hand it over.

Shi Jingtang hadn't thought of this yet. When he heard Pei Yuan's strong recommendation, he gently opened the lid of the clay pot with rock sugar braised pork in front of him. Suddenly, a meaty aroma mixed with a rich sweetness spurted out from the pot.

.

"It's actually pork meat?"

Shi Jingtang was surprised. He didn't expect that this delicacy from Hexi was actually pork.

Although pork was relatively popular at this time, the upper classes did not eat it much.

This is because pork was considered a cheap meat in ancient times. First of all, the breeding environment was relatively poor, and it was far less clean than the sheep grazing on the hillside.

This makes pork more susceptible to various parasites. If you don't pay attention to the meat being thoroughly cooked, you can make people sick.

In addition, the pig castration technology at this time was not yet mature, and it was often the case that pigs could not survive after being chopped.

This is very deadly. It is difficult to feed the meat if it is minced. The meat smells like urine if it is not minced.

Moreover, if pigs are not estrused, the interval between estrus is relatively short. Once they are in estrus, they will lose weight, become unable to be contained, and sometimes even hurt people. Therefore, pork has never been able to become a stable and reliable supply of meat.

"Hey! Why is the pork so fat?" Sang Weihan also opened the lid of the braised pork with rock sugar, and his eyes were attracted by the thick fat of the braised pork.

Fat is a good thing in this era. Three pounds of ordinary lean meat can’t buy one pound of fat.

"If I go back to Sang Xiang, this pork meat is taken from the black pig that is unique to Hexi. The meat is plump and plump. It is most suitable for braised pork. It also has no fishy smell. Please try it with Sang Xiang!"

Pei Yuan looked at the surprised eyes of the two people and said with some pride. When he first came into contact with Zhang Zhao, he was also so stunned that he almost thought that Zhang Zhao had come from some kind of immortal.

How is it possible in this world that there are children from aristocratic families who can lead troops to fight, understand how to be a king, make tea bricks, milk tea and braised pork, and finally castrate pigs?

Why does Zhang Zhao know how to cut a pig? In fact, he doesn’t know how to do it, but he knows how to do it!

Because before time travel, he often followed some weird UP owners on the Shushu video site, including a weirdo who specialized in sterilizing wild boars in areas where wild boars were infested.

Therefore, although he has never done it in practice, he knows how to do it. After sterilizing the knife, he directly catches the piglet, pinches the penis with the balls, cuts an opening, and then squeezes the balls out directly.

that is.

No anesthesia is needed, and there won't even be much blood. Just pay attention to disinfecting the knife and do a little suturing.

So under his guidance, after hundreds of innocent piglets were killed and maimed, the pig-raising craftsmanship in Liangzhou area advanced rapidly, and there were even pig-raising craftsmen who specialized in making a living from living pigs.

However, currently we can only breed boars, and we are still accumulating experience in the more complicated craft of breeding sows.

Since Pei Yuan said that this was Hexi black pig, Shi Jingtang no longer cared about it being pork meat.

He stretched out his kuaizi and gently pinched it, then put a piece of rock sugar braised pork wrapped in red sugar liquid into his mouth.

Immediately, the emperor's eyes lit up. The braised pork in his mouth was alternately fat and lean. The lean meat was not as rough as ordinary pork. Instead, it was slightly soft when chewed and had a very good taste.

Not to mention the fat, it was soft, like a ripe red apricot, and melted away with just a sip.

The plump fat exploded in the mouth, a satisfying feeling of fat that could only be obtained by creatures at the top of the food chain, flooding the mouth from the inside out.

Taking advantage of this explosive fat flavor and taking a sip again, the sweetness brought by the orange-red syrup instantly filled the entire mouth.

This kind of sweetness is completely incomparable to the dull sweetness of ordinary brown sugar. This is a rich sweetness that is completely different from honey.
To be continued...