[Comprehensive History] Clothes are all over the world

After visiting the Great Ming Prince from afar, Mu Bai and his party embarked on the road of travel again.

However, because they were going to touch the prince's security facilities, they didn't dare to go too far in order to avoid missing the big troops. The main places to visit were in Xi'an city.

After visiting the Big and Small Wild Goose Pagodas one after another, Mu Bai and his group changed their travel goal to "a trip to find food"

As the ancient capital of thirteen dynasties, the old city of Xi'an has its own unique taste, and the immigrants who have been relocated one after another have also brought different fireworks to this ancient city.

Because it is adjacent to the northwest, and because it is a transportation hub, you can eat delicacies from all over the world in Xi'an, and the most famous one is mutton.

Probably because of the richness of raw materials, in this land, mutton dishes are simply out of the question.Roast mutton is the basic, boiled mutton is an upgraded version, and there are also well-seasoned mutton and special-tasting mutton jelly, but the most authentic must be hand-caught mutton.

The owner of the hostel where Mu Bai and the others stayed was from Xianyang. When they heard that they wanted to try finger meat, he recommended a mom-and-pop shop located in the depths of an alley. , can only entertain one table of guests at a time, and it is said that there are long queues every day.

But perhaps because it just rained that day, Mu Bai and the others had no guests when they arrived, and the group happily picked up a leak.

The store claims that their mutton comes from Ningxia. The mutton is tender, and the smell is so light that it can be boiled without any problem. Of course, in order to make the meat taste more layered, the store still adds ginger slices and Chinese prickly ash for seasoning. of.

It must be said here that compared to the boldness when throwing mutton into the pot, when the store sprinkles pepper and ginger slices, it can be said to be sprinkled according to the number of grains.

At first, Mu Bai and the others thought it was for precise seasoning, and they admired the store's meticulousness, but later discovered that it was the store's reluctance to use seasonings!

This makes the four Yunnanese who were born in the main producing areas of pepper and ginger feel very incredible. In Yunnan, pepper and ginger can be said to be everywhere, especially ginger, which can live on the ground.

To put it bluntly, ginger is only a short distance away from becoming a weed in their place. If there are unfinished ginger heads, it is better to crush them than throw them anywhere, otherwise a small piece in spring will be a big clump in autumn. Especially unsightly.

After all, Zanthoxylum bungeanum is a small tree, and its growth rate is slower than the herbaceous ginger, but it is also a crop that can be seen everywhere in Yunnan, especially in northern Yunnan where Mubai’s hometown is located. Every summer, the air is full of the unique aroma of Zanthoxylum bungeanum .

Yunnan's prickly ash is quite famous. Every year in this season, villagers will go up the mountain to pick prickly ash and sell it to the merchants who bought it.However, this matter has nothing to do with Xiumang Village.

The pungent smell emitted by Zanthoxylum bungeanum is essentially to drive away natural enemies insects, so in the era without chemical preservatives, Zanthoxylum bungeanum first appeared on the stage as an insect repellent and aromatherapy product.

As for how people figured out that it's an excellent seasoning...well, it's probably a brainstorm by someone with a lot of money.

Therefore, Zanthoxylum bungeanum is also a product that Xiumang Village, whose main industry is silkworm breeding, avoids. After all, silkworm babies are actually insects.

In fact, for Xiumang Village, besides harming silkworms, Zanthoxylum bungeanum also has a very troublesome problem, that is, the sharp thorns of Zanthoxylum bungeanum are easy to scratch hands.

Silk reeling is an industry that has extremely high requirements on the hands. Not to mention scars on the hands, even flesh thorns are unacceptable, and pepper is easy to cause wounds to the pickers.

I don't know what happened to this plant on the way of evolution. The thorns on Zanthoxylum bungeanum are densely packed for defense, which is a little less than that of the delicious rose.

But what is more troublesome than roses is that Yunnan people can still avoid thorns and only pick the flower parts when picking flowers, but they can't avoid picking peppers at all.

Its thorns are extremely hard and can easily penetrate gloves, because the fruit of Zanthoxylum bungeanum is on the branches, and if it is pruned with scissors, it will affect the yield.Therefore, the only way to pick peppercorns is directly by hand.

To make matters worse, the aroma of pepper comes from its oil glands, and it only takes a few days from maturity to peak, which forces pepper farmers to speed up picking.Every year during the pepper picking season, the purchase volume of wound medicine will increase significantly.

It is not an exaggeration to say that every pepper is bought by pepper farmers with sweat and wounds. Fortunately, the purchase price of pepper is very considerable, so pepper planting can be regarded as the "road to wealth" for many villages.

Of course, in Xiumang Village, the plant of Zanthoxylum bungeanum cannot be seen at all. When they want to eat Zanthoxylum bungeanum, the villagers have to go out with scissors and go a little way outside the village to pick wild Zanthoxylum bungeanum.

And the happiness of being native people is that they can eat fresh peppercorns.

Fresh pepper has a strong aroma and light numbness, which is very suitable for children's taste.

Therefore, Mu Bai never imagined that the seasoning that can be easily picked up by two in Yunnan can be sold at a sky-high price in Chang'an.

After hearing the merchants here tell him the price of the peppercorns, Mu Bai couldn't help but hold his chest and take a small breath. If he hadn't been sane, he might have gone back the same way to buy the peppercorns and then come back to sell them.

This is no longer a double or double profit, but a full tenfold increase!Even the ginger has been multiplied six or seven times.

It happened to be the pepper picking season when he left his hometown. If he had brought some, not too much, just one bag, he should be able to become a homeowner here by now, right?

"Being a businessman is really easy to make money..." Mu Bai clutched his heart, hugged his brother and was about to cry in remorse.

This remorse was not relieved until he ate the grilled mutton.

The strength of the local merchants staged what is called "making the best use of everything". The pepper and ginger used to remove the fishy smell were taken out, flattened and crushed after the mutton was cooked. After a stir-fry with salt and cumin, it became a perfect dish. Dips.

"A lot of cumin!" Mubai's eyes were shining, and he was very rare to the aroma of cumin.

The origin of cumin is in the Yilibali area. For the Central Plains, this is a real imported product. Due to its limited growth environment, apart from imports, it is only grown in a small number of areas in Gansu.

Due to the previous nomadic dynasty's love for cumin, this seasoning swept the whole land with its unique aroma in the Yuan Dynasty, which of course included Yunnan in the south.

There are a large number of nomads in Yunnan, and their demand for cumin led to the trade. However, after the Northern Yuan court was defeated by the Ming army and the king of Liang in Yunnan lost direct contact with the north, this spice was sold in Yunnan. sky-high price.

In Yunnan, today's cumin can be said to be a good hand to show off wealth.If someone uses cumin to entertain guests, they must have an outdoor barbecue to let the fragrance waft all over the place.

Now, it can be used as a dipping material casually here, and there are more peppers than pepper!

"We sell it very cheap here. One or two peppercorns can be exchanged for a catty of cumin." The shopkeeper smiled and served a few people with mutton soup and baked buns. "Please use it slowly."

Mu Bai no longer cares about mutton, so he calculated in his heart, one catty is equal to 16 taels, which is sixteen times, and then calculate the price of cumin in Yunnan...

"I don't want to take the exam anymore, why don't we become businessmen?" Halati, who also calculated the price difference, blurted out.His sincere words caused several people present to fall into silence.At this moment, even Mu Bai was caught in a fierce psychological struggle, but Atu stood up reluctantly under the temptation of profit, and grabbed the two friends, "You should all be sober, we are the only three in Yunnan." Candidates! I took a trip to the Central Plains, but I went back and said that I want to be a businessman, what is going on?"

"Mu Bai, didn't you say categorically before you left that we must work together so as not to embarrass Yunnan?"

"Halati, you swore before that you would show the candidates in the Central Plains the strength of our Yunnan, you two cheer up!"

Mu Xiaobai's eyes drifted away. Well, he actually doesn't have much attachment to scientific research. After all, his purpose is to promote Hanfu, and scientific research is just one of the means. In fact, thinking about it now, to achieve Funding is also very important for this purpose.

Okay, okay, don’t stare, don’t stare, he just got a little excited, it’s impossible to be a businessman, and the status of a businessman is the lowest among Daming citizens, even if he doesn’t care about it, he has to do it for him. Think about it Mr.

Abandoning literature to go into business or something, that can't be solved by sitting down and talking about it, it can hurt the muscles at the slightest, and break the bones at the worst.

Although the group gave up the pursuit of money under the urging of responsibility and honor, the huge profits of the spice trade still left a deep imprint on the hearts of this group of future backbones of the Ming Dynasty.

It's like a pepper that started the era of great voyages in the original historical line, and now because of the little cumin and pepper, unexpected changes have taken place in the future of Ming Dynasty.

"Brother! This duck is delicious!" Mu Xiaowen was the only one present who was not moved by the profit margin of the trade. After taking a bite of the mutton dipped in seasoning, Mu Wen's entire face lit up. He quickly chewed it twice, swallowed the meat into his stomach with a "gudong", and then urged his brother to move his chopsticks.

There is only such a small amount of meat in a plate, and it will be robbed if you don't do it!

"Chew the meat before swallowing it." While criticizing his younger brother who was eating in a hurry, Mu Bai picked up a piece of mutton, dipped it in the precious dipping sauce, and stuffed it into his mouth.

Immediately, Mu Xiaobai's round eyes narrowed with happiness.

——Oh, it's really delicious.

Different from the soft and muscular Yunnan black sheep, this kind of lamb meat is plump and tender, and the meat is so crispy that it can be easily separated from the bone.

Although there is also no fishy smell, the Changan sheep has a hint of milky aroma, and the mutton is still fragrant when only the cooking method of boiling is used.

"Delicious!" Halati and Atu praised again and again, Atu also said that this was the best mutton he had eaten along the way.

For a person who was born in a major mutton producing area, this is already a high praise.

"This is a white sheep from Yanchi, Ningxia. I'm not boasting. In the entire Chang'an city, only my products are the most authentic. Others only dare to say that they are Ningxia sheep, and never dare to say that they are Yanchi sheep." Seeing them expressing their appreciation, the shopkeeper smiled.

"In Ningxia, the sheep in Yanchi are the best to eat, but the environment in that place is not good, the ground is full of salt, the food does not grow well, and there is not much pasture, so the sheep grazing there can only eat small beans, licorice and so on. The number of sheep can’t be raised, but the taste is really amazing.” The shopkeeper got excited and pulled up a chair to sit down and chat with Mu Bai and others.

"Su Wu shepherds sheep, do you know how to cut them?" Seeing several foreigners nodding, he smiled and pointed to the mutton on the plate, "It is said that it was put there at that time."

"I used to do fur business where I went to purchase, and the local herdsmen entertained me like this. They didn't even put any seasonings there, they just boiled it in water, cut it off with a knife, and delivered it to the mouth. It’s a mouthful of aroma. Hehe, I stayed there because of my stammer, and I even married a wife, my sheep is raised by my father-in-law, and my uncle sent it all the way.”

Mu Bai and his party suddenly showed shock. Is this for a piece of meat?

"Oh, food is the most important thing for the people. Of course, everyone should share the delicious food." The shopkeeper said very shyly.

Just as he was thinking this way, a woman dressed in ordinary Han clothing but with an exotic face came out from the back hall, holding a basin of bloody mutton in her hand.

Seeing the shopkeeper actually sitting at the guest table, the woman's beautiful eyes narrowed.

The shopkeeper didn't even dare to hesitate, jumped up immediately, went over to take the mutton happily, and said a few words to his daughter-in-law in a language that Mu Bai and others couldn't understand, in exchange for an angry look, he put the big pot Put it in the stock area.

Everyone looked at the woman's back, and then looked at the shopkeeper who just said "I'm here to bring high-quality varieties to the people in my hometown", and couldn't help but "噫".

Judging from his wife's appearance and the shopkeeper's attitude, it's hard to say what the causal relationship between mutton and his wife is.

The old shopkeeper blushed: "I was really in the fur business back then, don't you believe me... so, let me show you the big baby."

As he spoke, he took out a snow-white fur cloak from the room, and presented it in front of several people with a ostentatious expression: "Touch it, it's all wool, isn't the wool of our white sheep different from other wool?" ?”

Mubai touched it with his hands, indeed, it was soft to the touch, not to mention the longer fringes, the color of the wool was whiter than ordinary wool, and the plush part was also longer, it was extremely warm to the touch.The shopkeeper was particularly inadequate, so he simply stuffed the fur into Mu Bai's hand: "Look at its weight."

Seeing Mubai's surprised expression, he laughed: "Isn't it very light? This is the characteristic of Aries. The fur made of its fur is thick, but its weight is only [-]% of that of ordinary sheepskin. It is extremely light to wear. It is most suitable for wearing Children's wear... hey, I'm not asking you to buy this, I'm going to make a jacket for my wife, just to show you."

When he said this, the few people who had been alerted by the sales just now felt a little bit more.People are probably like this, not being able to buy is always the most intriguing thing. When they heard that it was not for sale, it aroused everyone's desire to buy it.

After touching the fur one after another, Ah Tu, who was quite insightful in this regard, immediately became enthusiastic, and he came forward to chat with the shopkeeper.

In the end, the shopkeeper who was so entangled brought them two small pieces of leather: "It's not that I don't want to, it's just that our leather is purchased by a special person. If you want it, I can give it to you." The name of my shop, if you give me my name, you will be able to get my leather. But it is good to say, my leather is expensive to buy, and it is not cheap after tanning, so you have to be mentally prepared."

When Ah Tu heard this, a look of joy appeared on his face.He was the one who was most afraid of the cold along the way. He immediately copied down the address and name of the shop, and wanted to drag Halati straight over.

However, Mu Bai grabbed them in time and asked them to go together after eating, otherwise, if these two people with half-bottles of Chinese language were left to go out, I don’t know what would happen.

"This is the skin of a lamb, it's what's left from the previous skin." The shopkeeper glanced at the empty necks of the two children, and said, "It's not very interesting for adults to use this skin. If you want it, I'll give it a try." Go make a scarf for the two of you, so that no trace of cold wind can get in after you wear it."

Mubai's eyes lit up when he felt sorry for his younger brother, but after considering the cost of the next journey and the price of the leather, he hesitated for a while, stood up and said shyly: "Thank you for the store's kindness, I'm actually not very afraid of the cold, if you don't bother, Could you please make one for my brother?"

Mu Wen immediately raised his face from the oily flesh and said loudly: "Wen'er is not afraid of the cold, Wen'er has a small stove, give it to brother!"

Seeing the affectionate appearance of the two little brothers, the shopkeeper couldn't help showing a smile. He hurriedly appeased the two little brothers who were giving in to each other and said that he didn't want money: "The leather is a special person's monopoly. According to the contract, I can't sell it. I can only use it myself or It's a gift. These two pieces of leather were cut by a nobleman of mine. This is of little use to adults. You two are just children, and you can barely make up a scarf. This thing is destined for you. So you take it."

"If you feel uncomfortable...hehe..." The shopkeeper showed a shy smile and rubbed his hands, "Can I trouble you with one thing..."

Two days later, Brother Mubai, who was riding on a pony, had two milky white scarves around his neck.

The hair on the new scarf is soft, windproof and warm, but because the fur is white, the skin of the two children is particularly dark.

Even Atu, who is also from Yunnan, looked at them and couldn't complain. He endured it, turned his face away, and said, "Fortunately, I bought a vest, and it doesn't look so dark when I wear it."

Mu Xiaowen, who loves beauty, immediately exploded. In order to appease his unhappy younger brother, Mu Bai said a lot of compliments against his conscience, but this time the blow was really big, and Mu Wen was particularly difficult to coax. When it was poor, the big troops began to move.

This troop for the prince's security was composed of more than a dozen commercial houses, nearly a hundred mules and horses, and even more than 30 carriages. The scene can be described as mighty.If it weren't for the time for the prince to travel before the New Year's Eve, most of the caravans would have entered the rest period, and there would only be more people.

However, considering that the convoy's destination is an economically developed capital, their small force will add many people along the way if nothing unexpected happens.

In order to ensure safety and avoid accidents during the journey, the prince specially sent someone to adjust the following personnel, and the goods were rearranged according to the weight, which disrupted most of the caravans.

Mubai's light cavalry team, mainly composed of people and horses, was pulled to the front of the team, while the caravan with heavy cargo was pulled to the back, so as to ensure the speed of the team and the safety of the personnel when going up and down the slope.

It may be because there are children in their team, or it may be to take care that they are all candidates. During the break, Mu Bai and the others were given hot water cooked by the soldiers.

It's such a blessing to be able to drink hot water from time to time in winter!

Mu Xiaobai, who was successfully eroded by the sugar-coated shells, was really curious about the prince, but it was a pity that they were located an entire guard unit away from the prince's car, and the tall soldiers perfectly blocked the short-legged brother line of sight.

Because of this, the younger brothers didn't notice that in the car ahead, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince who got out of the car and rode from time to time was wearing a wool cloak that was very similar in color to their scarves.