Rebirth of Wu Ba Spring and Autumn

Chapter 556
"Farmers in Lingnan still use stone farm tools?"

Looking at the stone shovel in his hand, Qingji couldn't help frowning.

Sun Li smiled awkwardly, and replied: "My lord, the agricultural tools in Lingnan are still in their most primitive form. But Quyuanli has been promoted to the six counties in Lingnan..."

"Bronze and iron farm tools are not uncommon in Lingnan, but I can't guarantee that they will only be used for farming."

When Sun Li said that, Qing Ji realized it.

At this time, Wu State was already a country with highly developed agriculture and commerce.

Thanks to the advent of Quyuanli, the continuous improvement of various agricultural tools, and Wu's policy of rewarding farming and warfare.

A large amount of barren land has been reclaimed to make the national treasury abundant, and the grain and grass are piled up like mountains, so that every family can have surplus grain and will no longer be attacked by hunger.

However, the situation of the six counties in Lingnan is special compared to other places in Wu.

Stone tools are one of the earliest production tools used by humans, and the Ouluo people in Baiyue have made stone shovels very early.

The main shape of this kind of shovel is two shoulders. There are two types of shoulders: flat and oblique. The body is flat and long. There are two types: straight waist and waist.

Because the ancestors of Ouluo were in awe of rice, sacrifices were held every year.

The big stone shovel was one of the tools used by the ancestors to dig ditches in the mud and plant rice, so it easily became one of the sacrifices.

In the Central Plains, there were stone shovels in the Neolithic Age, and bronze shovels in the Shang Dynasty.

At this time, the state of Wu had already begun to use iron shovels, the blades of which were generally convex and arc-shaped, and all of them were equipped with handles.

Because rebellions broke out in the six counties of Lingnan from time to time, the state of Wu did not dare to bring the advanced technology of smelting weapons to the south.

Wu Guo also strictly controlled the development of copper and iron mines, because he was afraid that if the Baiyue people had sharp weapons, they would become irreversible.

Qing Ji can still understand.

If this ban is lifted, the agriculture in the south of the Five Ridges will definitely usher in a big development.

……

Night falls.

After a day of patrolling various places in Longchuan County, Qingji stopped in a village for a while.

The hospitable Baiyue people offered Qingji their livestock, grain and rice, and various bacon and so on.

"My lord, please!"

"Please."

Qingji sat high on the main seat, and sitting on the left and right sides of the lower head were Sun Wu, Bo Tong, Wu Zixu and other officials.

Everyone followed the movement of Qingji, raised the wine bowls in their hands, covered their faces and drank the wine in one gulp.

Yueren's rice wine, mixed with fruit juice and wine, has a mellow taste, which makes people drink it upside down, which is very satisfying.

"Good wine."

Qingji couldn't help but sigh in admiration.

Then, Qingji picked up a piece of meat in the clay bowl with his chopsticks.

After putting it in his mouth and chewing it, Qingji couldn't help frowning, and almost didn't spit it out.

What kind of meat is this?

Not to mention the fishy smell, the meat quality is still poor, like lamb that has not been processed in any way, it is too fishy.

Bo Tong, who was sitting not far away, also ate a mouthful of the same meat as Qingji, and almost couldn't hold it back, and spit it out in one gulp.

Fortunately, Bo Tong knew that Qingji didn't like extravagance and waste, otherwise he couldn't help but vomit.

"This... what kind of meat is this?"

Bo Tong asked in a daze.

"This is pig meat."

"Swine meat?"

The so-called "pig" means "pig", so what Qingji and Bo Tong just ate was pork.

Only then did Qingji suddenly realize.

No wonder it was so unpalatable, it turned out to be the pork of this era!

A long time ago, Chinese people knew how to domesticate "horses, cows, sheep, pigs, dogs and chickens" to obtain meat, but different meats have different positions in the food system.

The emperor's food is too tight, and he has all the cattle, sheep and pigs.

The feudal lords eat cattle, the high officials eat sheep, the high officials eat pigs, the scholars eat broiled fish, and the common people eat vegetables.

It means that Zhou Tianzi can eat food sacrificed to heaven and earth, including beef, mutton and pork.

Princes can eat beef, and Qing can eat mutton.

Doctors can eat pork, scholars can eat fish, and ordinary people can only eat vegetables.

Of course, at this time, etiquette has already collapsed, and no matter whether the princes or scholar-bureaucrats, they no longer stick to the "etiquette" on the table.

It is not impossible to eat beef, as long as you can afford it, you can still eat it in the country of Wu where farming is already highly developed.

Do not break the law!
However, even Qingji, who is the king of a country, may not be able to eat beef a few times throughout the year.

Qingji also does not encourage Chinese people to eat beef.

Because as a farming civilization, the importance of farming cattle is self-evident.

In Wu State, killing cattle is a crime.

Unless it is a cow that died of old age or accidental death, it cannot be killed, otherwise it is breaking the law and will be sentenced.

Since the Zhou Dynasty, food has been determined according to the level of enfeoffment. It is not difficult to find that the status of pork is not as good as that of beef and mutton.

Because of its scarcity and deliciousness, beef and mutton have become the exclusive enjoyment of the top nobles, and pork has also occupied the tables of the lower nobles due to its meat attributes.

However, there are very few nobles who really eat pork.

Just like Su Dongpo's poem "Huangzhou's good pork is as cheap as dirt. The rich don't want to eat it, and the poor don't know how to cook it", which fully expresses the status of pork.

What is the reason?

The first is the limitation on the number of livestock.The raising of pigs is not on a large scale, and it cannot be compared with the large-scale raising of sheep in the livestock area of ​​the Loess Plateau.

But Wu State has fishing and hunting, and most of the people in the country eat seafood and fish.

The second is the backwardness of breeding and castration technology.

Pigs need to be castrated, which is called "castration". The principle is to change the character and meat quality of pigs through castration, which is convenient for breeding and increases the value of breeding.

Uncastrated pigs not only grow meat slowly, but also have thick meat, poor meat taste, and a fishy smell, which is unacceptable.

In an era when breeding and castration techniques were underdeveloped, pork naturally could not satisfy the nobility.

Generally speaking, the current pork is still unrefined.

"Your Majesty, these oysters taste good, Your Majesty can taste them."

Mrs. Sun Li, who was sitting next to Qingji, picked up a piece of oyster meat, put it in Qingji's bowl, and said with a sweet smile.

Oysters, that is, oysters, were actually eaten by Qingji.

In some living habits, Wu people are basically similar to Yue people.

Such as "like to eat clams"!
Many branches of the Yue nationality have the custom of eating fishy things such as "clams, snakes, fish, turtles, and clams".

These are all natural delicacies in the meals of Yue people living along the coast, and worms, snakes, clams are regarded as delicacies.

"Historical Records: Biographies of Huozhi" gives an incisive summary of the eating style of the southern Yue people: in the land of Chuyue, the land is vast and the population is sparse, and they eat rice, rice, soup and fish.

People in the southeast eat aquatic products, and fish, turtles, snails, and mussels are considered delicacies, and they don't feel their fishy smell.

Shellfish, like snakes, are symbols of "uncleanness" in the minds of the Central Plains people.

In fact, this is the difference in the living environment, food supply chain and food culture between the north and the south in ancient times.

The eating habits of an ethnic group are inseparable from their living environment and food chain supply. These shells and other animals are called "seafood" in modern terms...

(End of this chapter)