Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 798

In the west market inside the Houzai Gate of Luoyang, there is a butcher Zhang who kills pigs in the meat market.

With a long back and waist, he is extremely burly and strong, especially on one face, with a beard and beard.

With thick lips, bulbous nose, reddish hair, leopard head and eyes, he looks very mighty and has a bit of a mustache.

Meeting each other on the first day of junior high school can always make people's hearts tremble.

The Wei army had already attacked Xiyuan outside Luoyang City. Although Hanjiacang City was still in the hands of Wang Shichong, the prime minister refused to distribute grain to the people, but only supplied his army and horses, so the people's lives became more and more difficult.

The West Market, South Market, and North Market have long since ceased to be prosperous in the past, not to mention the grain market, which has long been priced but no market, and even the meat market, which has few people.

Some butchers then resorted to the idea of ​​human flesh, or bought people captured from outside the city to slaughter and sell meat, or directly sold the corpses dug from mass graves outside the city as mutton.

The people in Luoyang city are also well aware, calling this kind of mutton as two-legged sheep.

But Butcher Zhang only sells pork.

I don't know where his pork comes from, but he sells a pig every day.And it is slaughtered directly in front of the stall in the market. People who kill pigs must have helpers, some who pull the pig's ears, some pull the pig's hooves, and some lift the buttocks. In and out with a white knife.

But Butcher Zhang is different. He kills pigs by himself, and he doesn't need help.

Every morning, his slaughter of pigs always attracts many people to watch.

He entered the city almost every day at the hour of the morning drum and came to Xishi. He carried a bamboo basket with a pig hook on his shoulder, and in it were his things for killing pigs, including sharp knives, butcher knives, and scrapers. Hair scraper, etc.

While picking up the basket, he drove the pigs.

That pig is always amazing, regardless of whether it is a white pig or a black pig, he doesn't tie it with a rope, but just drives behind, and the pig walks ahead obediently, neither leaning nor leaning.

When he arrived at his stall, he took out a small wooden hammer from the basket. The hammer was not too big. Then he held the hammer in one hand and touched the pig's head with the other. Take the hammer and drop it.

The hammer hit the pig's head, and it didn't take much effort, but the pig straightened up all of a sudden, and then fell straight to the ground.

At this time, Butcher Zhang took the sharp knife out of the basket, put the knife in, and the pig's blood came out without screaming or howling.Zhang Tuzi hooked a large wooden basin and put it underneath, so all the pig's blood went into the wooden basin.

After the blood dries up, Butcher Zhang cuts a small hole in the pig's trotter, and blows air into the hole with his mouth. After a while, the pig swells up and becomes round.

Here, there will be a woman in Zhang's shop, pouring freshly boiled hot water into a big wooden bucket.Then Zhang Tu directly held the pig by his arm, lifted the wooden basin filled with boiling water, and started pouring water on the pig with a ladle.

The dense water vapor is permeating, and there will always be many people who stop and watch in amazement.

While it was hot, Butcher Zhang would tear off the bristles on the pig's neck and back and put them in another basket. not cheap.This bristle brush is very hard and easy to use.

After pulling the bristles, you need to scrape off the pig hairs that have just been soaked in hot water with a latte scraper while it is hot.

Zhang Tuzi shaves very well, and his technique is very skillful. Once he shaves, no matter whether he is a white pig or a black pig, the white and clean pig skin will be exposed, and it will not be scratched at all.

After a while, the pig's hair was all shaved off. At this time, Butcher Zhang moved the pig to a shelf, pinned the pig's trotter shell, took the butcher's knife, and chopped off four pig's trotters from the knee to the top to bundle with straw. At one point, the trotters were for regular customers of the restaurant.

Then use a knife to cut a circle around the junction of the pig's head and neck, twist the two ears, and the whole pig's head will be removed. This pig's head is also reserved for regular customers.

Every time he took off the pig's head, he would help the customer to split the head open and take out the unwanted dirt from the pig's head, so the pig's head became two flat faces with squinted eyes, as if they were still looking at Zhang Butcher laugh.

Next, Butcher Zhang started selling meat.

He also sells meat in a special way.

It's not like other butchers, who open up the pig's belly, spread the two pieces of meat on the chopping board, and sell it to others with the belt and bone and some intestines.

Butcher Zhang sells meat, but he only sells meat, not bones or miscellaneous goods.

His butcher's knife is only used for chopping pigs' heads.

When selling meat, he had a sharp knife in his hand.

Everyone lined up to buy meat, and he held the sharp knife in his hand and cut it three or two times, and a piece of meat came down, no matter whether you want fat, thin, streaky, front blade, or hip. Yes, cut wherever you want.

In addition, Zhang Tuzi also has a characteristic of selling meat. He cuts as much as you want, and he cuts off as much as you want.

Before long, the meat will be sold out.

Then there was a complete pig skeleton with no head and no legs left, and the whiteness was very complete. In addition, the pork belly, pork liver, pig heart, pig intestines, lard fat, pig blood, pig heart, and lungs were all left.

No matter how much other people want to buy it, Zhang Tuzi just ignores it.

Butcher Zhang would give these things to the woman in his shop. The woman would help boil the pig's blood in the morning, and after the pigs were slaughtered, she would start selling breakfast.

The breakfast she cooks is very characteristic. There are noodles boiled with pig blood and pig intestines, and there are also soups made from pig bones plus pork heart and lungs and other pork offal.

Sprinkle chopped green onion in the soup, or add some garlic sprouts, the taste is extremely delicious, especially the oil flowers floating on it, people passing by can't help but take a long breath of aroma and swallow their saliva.Many people couldn't help but stop and come in to eat a bowl or two.

Zhang Tuzi sells meat, because the meat he sells is not of the same bone, so he always sells it at a higher price.

Surprisingly, the business has always been very good. It was surprisingly good in the past. Many people advised him to kill a few more pigs, but Zhang Tuzi still only killed one pig every day.

But now that there is a food shortage in Luoyang, Zhang Tu is still able to feed a pig every day, which is surprising.

Many big families in Luoyang City want to buy more or even round his meat, but Zhang Tuzi always smiles and refuses to agree. He still gives priority to supplying his regular customers every day, and only sells the rest to the stall. Customers queuing up in front are all limited to buying less than five catties per person per day.

West Market is getting more and more depressed.

But Zhang Tuzi's stall was still the same, and the business was booming.

The price of his pork has also risen a lot. In the past, rich people were unwilling to eat pork, but now, it is good to eat pork. It is better than two-legged sheep, so many government offices also come to buy it. There are some big family officials who send people to buy, but no matter who comes, they still have to follow his rules.

Even so, Zhang Tuzi's stall was not smashed by anyone, and the business remained the same every day, and there were always a lot of people queuing up every day.

Even after many people bought the meat, they always sat down and waited for the woman to cook a bowl of pork red large intestine powder, or a bowl of pork bone and pork miscellaneous soup with soaked pancakes.

Whenever the pigs were slaughtered and the meat was sold, Zhang Tuzi also put on an apron and began to help the woman wipe the table. The guests who came were always familiar. After serving the pancakes, he would habitually tell everyone Chat for a while.

No matter whether he is a servant of the general's mansion or a subordinate official in the yamen, Zhang Tuzi can always chat.

The surname of Liu who is in charge of purchasing the kitchen in Pei Renji’s house, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, is also a big and three thick man. He has a bold personality, and he doesn’t put on airs every time he comes. Heart and lung soup.

The frequent guests would always laugh at him, saying that he must have embezzled the money for the vegetables again.

Lao Liu has never been annoyed, sitting there chatting with everyone.

After Lao Liu bought the meat today, he ordered a bowl of noodles and a bowl of soup as usual.

"Old Liu, help me lift this shelf to the back." Zhang Tuzi called him.

Then Lao Liu got up, and the two of them carried a shelf to the small courtyard behind the shop. When there was no one around, the bearded Zhang Tu said, "Little General Pei has been conferred by the emperor as the prefect of Xingyang. 4000 people from the division guard him and lead an elite team to Luoyang to meet him, how is Pei Shangshu's preparations going?"

Old Liu nodded.

"When Mr. Xiao Lang comes, the number of victories will increase greatly. My husband was recently taken over by Wang Shichong and given the post of minister of the Ministry of Rites. However, my husband has many old departments in the army, and now he has contacted many people. , as long as he raises his arms and calls, he can still respond to all calls."

"What is Wang Shichong doing recently?"

Old Liu said, "What else can I do? I'm still defending against Li Mi, but now that Luoyang's outskirts have been lost one after another, Wang Shichong's successive defeats are almost unbearable. It is said that he wants to become emperor."

"Proclaim the emperor? Will the soldiers and civilians of Luoyang support him?"

Old Liu smiled and said, "Wang Shichong is capable, but he is by no means a real dragon emperor. In fact, Lu Chuyuanwen and the others are plotting now. Wang Shichong has already discovered some of it. My husband said that he seems to be planning a counterattack."

Zhang Tuzi tugged at his beard.

"It's okay, people like Lu Chuyuan and Wendu are actually just pulled out by our pro-military captain's mansion to confuse the eyes and muddy the water. Now that Wang Shichong has noticed it, that's even better. You can go back and tell Pei Shangshu to let him report on Lu Chu to Wang Shichong Waiting for others, in exchange for Wang Shichong's trust."

"Is this okay?" Lao Liu asked.

He was Pei Renji's old subordinate. He had retired from the army because he had been injured before. Now, on the surface, he was buying from Pei Renji's residence, but in fact he had been in secret contact with the Duwei's residence of the Great Qin's pro-army.

"If you can gain Wang Shichong's trust, even a little bit of trust will be of great help to the next thing. As for people like Lu Chuyuan Wendu, they are not good birds, so it doesn't matter."

The bearded man said indifferently.

"Okay, I'll pass the news on to Mr. Lang when I go back."

Lao Liu and Zhang Tuzi walked out of the backyard talking and laughing together, at this time the woman also made Lao Liu's soup powder.

"Wow, it's still as fragrant as ever." Lao Liu sat down, sucked his nose, and said in admiration, attracting all the old customers around him to drink in unison.

"I hope this shop can stay open forever, even if the price goes up, I still want to eat here."

"Yeah, I'm afraid that one day I won't be able to eat it suddenly."

(End of this chapter)