Three Kingdoms: From Yinlin to Great Wei Xiongzhu

Chapter 126 The Eight Miracles of the Water Mirror in Xiangyang City, Fried Grasshoppers in Chenliu County

Xiangyang City, a post house.

The real Zhuge Liang was sitting in front of the window, holding the bamboo slips in his hand and reading the words on it word by word. This was a letter from his third younger brother Zhuge Jun.

Speaking of which, this was the first time I received a letter from my third brother after the brothers separated.

Zhuge Liang was full of joy, but when he saw the content above, Zhuge Liang's face was solemn and he was very surprised.

As he had expected before, Yanzhou did fall into chaos. Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou, Chenliu prefect Zhang Miao betrayed, Lu Bu led Bingzhou wolf cavalry to surprise Yanzhou, and Yuzhou governor Guo Gong fished in troubled waters.

The whole of Yanzhou seems to have a sense of sight that the tide has fallen.

But... But Brother Jun mentioned in his letter that all these crises were resolved by one person.

Lu Yu, Cao Cao's shogunate hero Lu Yu...

This was the first time Zhuge Liang had heard this name, and what shocked him more than this name was the fierce means behind this name to deal with the chaos in Yanzhou.

From setting up an ambush by Chen Liu, to stabilizing the situation, to rescuing Qingzhou soldiers, one by one...

It was as if he hadn't pounced on the prophet, and even, it was as if he had made a big net and was just waiting for Lu Bu to jump into it.

The entire chaos in Yanzhou came with turbulent waves and went away with calm and breezy clouds, without leaving any traces.

It is unbelievable, it is unbelievable, Zhuge Liang silently kept the name "Lu Yu" in his heart, as if...Di Jun's letter mentioned that he is not very old, only three years older than Zhuge Liang, but at such an age, it is so Is it too old to be scheming?

Zhuge Liang read Brother Jun's letter over and over again.

Among them, Lu Yu's explanation of "Hundred Craftsmanship" also made Zhuge Liang suddenly understand.

To be honest, Zhuge Liang is only 13 years old this year. After all, he is still young, and even a genius in the sky cannot cover everything.

At least... He didn't pay much attention to the item of "Hundred Works".

This is also related to the fact that the Zhuge family has made a fortune over the years, and Zhuge Liang has been pampered since he was a child...

Many "hundred crafts" are done by subordinates on their own initiative, and the most intuitive feeling for Zhuge Liang is that "hundred crafts" are useless and are made by subordinates.

But now I carefully read the third brother's letter, Lu Yu's thesis about Baigong, especially the sentence "the sky has time, the earth has spirit, the materials are beautiful, and the workmanship is ingenious", which suddenly made Zhuge Liang feel that the "Hundred Craftsmanship" Hiding university knowledge also made him have a strong curiosity about this subject.

"Lu Yu, what kind of son is he?"

After a long time, Zhuge Liang put down the bamboo slips in his hand and muttered to himself...

Of course, Zhuge Jun also specifically mentioned in the bamboo slips that Lu Yu and Miss Cai Yan took good care of him, as if a mentor treated his disciples with strict but full of care. Between the lines, Zhuge Liang could feel that the third brother was by their side, every day One day has benefited a lot both in terms of knowledge and experience.

In addition, Zhuge Liang automatically ignored another item mentioned by Zhuge Jun, asking him and his two sisters to go to Yanzhou.

Zhuge Liang is a very assertive person. Over the years, he has already planned his future. Apprenticeship to Mr. Shui Jing, who is well-known in Xiangyang City and has real talents, is the first step, and it is also a crucial step...

Zhuge Liang would never think that the path he planned would be inferior to the "adventure" that fell from the sky like Brother Jun's!
"Brother Jun, the situation in Yanzhou is stable, Mr. Lu and Mrs. Cai have taken good care of you, so you can rest assured as brothers."

Speaking of this, Zhuge Liang raised his eyes and looked towards the sky, his voice continued. "It's just that my brother still feels that even though Lu Yu has some talents, he is still too young after all. He is far inferior to Mr. Shui Jing, who is proficient in Qimen Eight Arrays and Five Elements Numerology...he can learn more skills."

"Brother Jun, let's just wait and see, as a brother, I don't dare to be sure... If you go on this thorny road, you will definitely be better than you. Let's wait and see. I hope we can compete in ten years, and see our brothers , Whoever walks out is the right way, the right way!"

Speaking of this, Zhuge Liang intends to write a reply to Zhuge Jun...

But at this time.

"Kong Ming..." Zhuge Liang's sister Zhuge Ruoxue broke into the room. "It's been confirmed. In the future, Mr. Shui Jing, Sima Hui, will select eight of the students who are studying as closed disciples. The hermit Pang Degong near Xiangyang and the famous scholar Huang Chengyan will also come to help friends in the future."

"At wine shops and tea stalls, someone suggested that the reason why Mr. Shui Jing accepted eight disciples was a suggestion from an alchemist. The eight disciples are the so-called Eight Wonders of Shui Jing! I don't know if this rumor is true. Fake."

Zhuge Ruoxue narrated the information he had obtained, and it cost them a lot of food to obtain this information.

call…

Hearing this, Zhuge Liang exhaled softly and asked back. "Eldest sister, there are probably many descendants from aristocratic families among the candidates?"

"As Kong Ming said." Zhuge Ruoxue nodded. "It is true that there are many descendants of noble families. Liu Qi, the eldest son of Jingzhou Mu Liubiao, and the son of Pang Degong will all participate, as well as Pang Shiyuan, who is quite a talented young talent in the local area, and Shan Fu, who is known as a knight-errant swordsman... Listed, there are more than a hundred People can be said to be as strong as a cloud, and Kong Ming is sure to stand out from them..."

Are you sure?
Ha, Zhuge Liang smiled slightly. He only knew that Mr. Shui Jing didn't care for fame and wealth, and he definitely wouldn't make an exception to accept a student as a student just because of his family background. After all, he still had to compete for real talent...

And this time to recruit disciples, Mr. Shui Jing deliberately added an age limit, which must be under the age of the dancing elephant.

It's all up to now, and no one is absolutely sure, but...if he can't become one of the eight wonders of the water mirror, then the road ahead will be narrow!

Could it be that he really wants to return to Yanzhou in despair and join Brother Jun?
Although he thought so in his heart, Zhuge Liang was still calm on the surface. "Tomorrow there are so many young talents, haha, elder sister and second elder sister should keep their eyes open and choose carefully!"

This... All of a sudden, Zhuge Ruoxue's cheeks were flushed, when is this day, does Kong Ming still have the time to make fun of the two sisters?
Is this a well-thought-out plan?
...

...

Yanzhou, Chenliu County.

Today, Lu Yu took Zhuge Jun with him, and did not do anything else, just bought flax in the east market, cauliflower seeds in the west market, tea seeds in the south market, and red dates in the north market.

Before the drought came and the price of food had not risen, Lu Yu really wanted to stock up on a few warehouses, but the key problem was that if you wanted to buy, you simply didn't have that much to sell.

This is embarrassing. Last year, the food supply was already tight, and most of the food bought by Lao Cao with the money he earned from robbing the tomb was stored in Puyang City, which made the food in the market very tight. Everyone was waiting for today's bumper harvest in July.

It's just...the severe drought in April, the migratory locusts in June, and the bumper harvest in July, it's really a bit uncomfortable.

As for... the reason why Lu Yu bought these strange ingredients was because he wanted to refine oil, vegetable oil.

If you dig deeper, it is that Lu Yu wants to fry grasshoppers!Deep-fried grasshoppers for all!
Of course, it is not easy to achieve this step. Lu Yu thought, the locusts in Qizhou are at the end of June, so... April and May are the development period of locusts.

If you don't target them during the development period, it must be difficult to fight during the battle period?
It just so happens that the best way to target the development of locusts is not the one hundred thousand duck army, but the hundreds of thousands of people in the cities of Yanzhou and Xuzhou, who are much more powerful than the duck army.

Of course, there is a major premise, that is, let them do things as happy as ducks, and treat locusts as delicacies.

As a foodie in his previous life, Lu Yu did a lot of research on the delicacies that have been passed down from China for thousands of years. For example... people in later generations simply regard locusts as a delicacy. , chicken essence, monosodium glutamate, and chili noodles can be eaten directly, and you wine tastes better.

According to the book "Edible Insects and Recipes", locusts contain 73.5% protein and 18 kinds of amino acids, with a total content of 20.3%.

In addition, locusts also contain vitamins B1, B2, E, A, carotene, rich multivitamins, four fatty acids and rich trace elements, which can not only satisfy their hunger, but also provide a great supplement!
It can even revive a sluggish man.

Lu Yu was relatively poor in his previous life. He often went to restaurants and could only order scrambled eggs with tomatoes. If he could eat a plate of fried locusts worth more than 70 yuan, it would be as happy as Chinese New Year.

It's just that people in this era still can't appreciate this kind of food and happiness.

In fact, it's very simple to say so much, Lu Yu thought, anyway, he can't stop the locusts from eating the crops, so the unbearable human can only eat the locusts to vent their hatred.

Of course, there is a big premise in this, not every type of locust can be eaten, the most commonly eaten types are Chinese rice locust and East Asian migratory locust...

Among them, the most delicious and plump one is the Chinese rice locust, with a bulging belly and a loud and pleasant cry, which is the kind in our Greater China rice fields.

Another thing to note is that if the locusts form a large-scale locust plague, they cannot be eaten. At this time, the locusts are in groups and are poisonous!

So...it's simple, since the "Seven States Locust" is at the end of June, then hundreds of thousands of people can catch Chinese rice locusts in April, May, and early and mid-June...

This thing reproduces fast and has high nutritional value. With the foodie attributes of the people of Greater China, it can be eaten as an endangered protected animal if it is not preserved.

Of course, if the common people are to spontaneously catch and feed on locusts...the traditional cooking method of the Han Dynasty, steaming, must be fried...this is the so-called deep-fried grasshopper!

And to achieve this, the first thing is to extract oil. The cost of animal oil is too high for the common people to accept, so the only option is to extract vegetable oil...

So today Lu Yu took Zhuge Jun to four markets, just to buy all the ingredients that can be squeezed out.

"Look, son, I have the best flax here..."

A peddler saw Lu Yu dressed in silk and satin, and thought he was a rich man, so he rushed to greet him warmly.

"I want it all...All packaged and sent to the Cai Mansion in the east of the city." Lu Yu waved his hand, and didn't even bother to ask the price...

Flax is sesame in the popular sense. It was introduced to the Central Plains by Zhang Qian on his mission to the Western Regions. This stuff is very oily, commonly known as sesame oil, and the amount of oil that can be squeezed out is very large. Lu Yu is very happy to charge more.

"Young master, I still have three carriages of rapeseed here..."

"The rapeseeds are very good, and they are all sent to the Cai Mansion. Also, if I can get the rapeseeds recently, I want as many as I can."

Lu Yu's tone was still very domineering, and even more domineering when he took out the money...

Any businessman likes such a guest, and they can't wait to kiss him.

Of course, rapeseed cannot be used to extract oil, but its flower seeds are an important material for extracting vegetable oil, and... there are many people who grow this thing, and the quantity is huge... In the "Qi Min Yao Shu" written by Jia Sixie in the Northern Wei Dynasty, it is more There is a special chapter, which records the method of mustard flower oil in detail!
In addition, Lu Yu bought all the red dates on the market and the tea seeds grown in the Jianghuai area, the former for jujube oil.

It is mentioned in the "Jujube Oil Method" in Volume [-] of "Qi Min Yao Shu": "July oil is made by pounding jujube fruit and applying it on silk. It is dry and looks like oil."

It can be seen that the brewing method of jujube oil is the simplest. Even some places in Dahan have created this genre, but it has not been popularized. The tea seed oil squeezed from the latter tea seeds has a strong tea fragrance, and the method is similar.

All in all, Lu Yu spent a lot of money today, looting the flax, rapeseed, red dates, and tea seeds that can be seen in the market...ah no, he bought them all.

Very proud, inhumane.

Zhuge Jun and his boys were stunned. Can you buy things like this?Don't ask the quantity, don't ask the price, just buy them all?

The most important thing is that when you pay, you don't even need to ask for change for the five baht money in a bag!

Zhuge Jun felt that there was some deviation in his outlook on life. In his impression, the richer people tend to be the more stingy. The so-called money is all stingy!

As the richest man in Xuzhou, the Zhuge family has a deep understanding of this...

He is very economical, his second brother, eldest brother, and uncle are very economical...

But Lu Yu seemed to have a grudge against money, and he would not be happy if he didn't spend it!

Of course, Zhuge Jun doesn't understand...

Lu Yu is also very distressed now, he is poor and only has money left, and a large pile of gold, silver and jewelry dangles in the mansion all day long, making his eyes hurt.

The point is, don't look at these gold and silver jewels are very popular now, but in fact... Wait for the severe drought and locust plague generals, this thing can't buy a few grains, it's just paper...

Audience masters who often play mahjong know that the first to win is paper, and the last to win is money.

Besides, even if there is a shortage of money, there is Cheng Yu's gold-touching team, and there are more than 200 worthless sons of Prince Jing of Zhongshan.

Not short of money, not short of money at all, now throwing a lot of money is like sprinkling water.

Seeing the end, Zhuge Jun couldn't help asking: "Master Lu, how much money does our family... have?"

Well... Lu Yu thought for a while and answered truthfully. "It's probably enough to buy all the houses in Chenliu County. If they don't keep them all, they can get richer!"

Uh...Zhuge Jun was in a daze for a moment. He felt that his Zhuge family was quite rich, but it seemed...compared with Lu Yu, one was in the sky and the other was in the ground.

It's no wonder that Zhuge's family is doing serious business, while Lu Yu is doing dishonest business without capital and huge profits.

"Then...Master Lu, why do we buy so many strange grains, and these grains...do not seem to be easy to satisfy our hunger."

According to Zhuge Jun's idea, even if you are storing grain, you should stockpile "five grains" - rice, millet, millet, wheat, and bean.

It's not that these are bad, these things are not durable for storage!

"Haha..." Seeing Zhuge Jun's silly and innocent eyes, Lu Yu couldn't help laughing, and immediately reached out and knocked on his forehead. "Kong Ming, Kong Ming, why don't you just say that you are not enlightened, reading dead books, dead books are useless!"

"What is said on paper is always shallow. I know that this matter has to be practiced... I will tell you later, how do we store the flax, rapeseed, tea seeds, and red dates we purchased?"

Thinking of squeezing the oil, Lu Yu suddenly missed the taste of those fried vegetables...

He felt that when he came to the big man, the thing he was most sorry for was his crotch... the most sorry thing was his tongue.

Can a dish cooked without oil be called a dish?
The so-called cooking method of the big man-steaming, from now on, take it away, take it away, and go away!
Stir frying over high heat, deep frying and pan frying are the kingly way in the cooking world!
...

...

Jingzhou, Xiangyang City.

Countless sycamore trees are like beautiful girls standing in the fields, holding bunches of gray-brown buds on the top of the trees, looking forward to the "spring breeze", a dreamer who gathers less and leaves more.

Mr. Shui Jing's Sima Hui's villa is in the countryside outside Xiangyang City. Zhuge Liang and his two sisters, Zhuge Ruoxue and Zhuge Ruolan, walked all the way, and they only felt relaxed and happy here.

At this time, the front of the villa was already full of students who came to apprentice.

Seeing this scene, Zhuge Liang raised his spirits. He knew that an entrance examination that could determine the future of these talents was about to begin.

Disciple of Mr. Shui Jing, a rumored alchemist, the future Shui Jing Eight Wonders...

It's really fascinating!
...

...

　Chapter 1 is late, but don't worry, there are three more chapters today.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)