Late Tang

(Thanks to Nanyanghuo for the reward, thank you!)

The golden crow is falling to the west, and the sky is full of red clouds!

A total of 2 dragon boat races in the Dragon Boat Festival have ended. The top three finalists are the Songzhou Shipyard Dragon Boat Team of the leader of Bian Song’s richest man, Li Rang’s family, and the No.3 Dragon Boat Team of Songzhou Governor Zhang Rui’s family and No. .[-] Town [***] selects the front dragon boat team.

The game is over, but both sides of the Bianqu Canal are still crowded, and many girls who rarely come out once are watering each other and playing by the river in groups, and the water is warm.That silver bell-like laughter spread far and wide.

Since there are soldiers and horses from the town [***] stationed in Songzhou, and several troops from the town [***] are stationed on the outskirts of Songzhou, so the people in Songcheng are not in a hurry to return to the city.The Dragon Boat Festival is a rare occasion, especially for those unmarried women. Except for spring outings, autumn outings, and the Lantern Festival, ordinary unmarried women, especially those who are rich, rarely have these opportunities to relax.

The moon had already risen, and the people were a little tired, so Zhang Rui announced the results of the Dragon Boat Festival, and invited Li Jing and Li Rang to the stage together, and presented rewards to the three top three teams.In addition, there is also a good reward for the top ten.For the remaining teams, Zhang Rui also boldly announced the reward banquet.

From the river bank outside Songcheng to the center of Songcheng, a long night market has been set up, and lively lanterns have also begun to light up.Many onlookers gradually dispersed, discussing today's grand event of martial arts competition and dragon boat race, and rushing to visit the night market and watch the lanterns.

However, the officials of Songzhou and the subordinates of the town [***] were not in a hurry to go back. Today there was a big banquet on the bank of the river, rewarding not only the boatmen, but also the officers and men of the town [***]. , for those refugees who came nearby, Songzhou also arranged for porridge and vegetables.

The officials of Songzhou and those tyrants and rich men accompanied Li Jing and other town [***] generals to have a night banquet by the river.Even their family members were surrounded by gauze tents to participate in the banquet together.

Songzhou official circles are very flattering to Li Jing and others.Today's banquet was also set up to the highest standard, and even the best cooks were hurriedly invited from Luoyang and other places in the past few days.

The Bianqu River in May is very cool, and the breeze blows by, making people very comfortable.

Numerous big lanterns have already been hung high, bright as day.

On the shore surrounded by gauze tents, Li Jing sat at a table with Zhang Rui, Li Rang and other most prestigious Bo people in Songzhou. Although Li Jing was a guest, he was placed as the chief.Sitting down and watching a wonderful Hu Xuan Dance, these dancers are all orchids from the Western Regions, and they are all extremely beautiful.What's especially rare is that they are wearing veils as thin as onion's wings, with their entire beautiful waists exposed. The flat and graceful waists twist like water snakes with the music, which is really a feast for the eyes.

Before the end of the song, the invited chefs had already delivered the first famous dish.

It was a roasted whole lamb, golden all over, exuding a tempting aroma.

"Li Zhongshu, please try this delicacy, it's a shame!" The head chef, with a red face, a big face and a thick neck, introduced it with a smile.

Li Jing thought it was just a roasted whole lamb at first, but when the chef from Luoyang introduced it, Li Jing realized that he was a bit of a loser.According to reports, this dish actually eats goose.First, buy a big goose, use fire to remove the fire, remove the internal organs, then fill it with meat and glutinous rice, and mix it with five flavors.After finishing all this, instead of cooking directly, kill a sheep, remove its hair, clean it with fire, remove the stomach, then put the goose in the belly of the sheep, sew the sheep skin, and then grill it. Put it in the sheep, stitch it and roast it", once the mutton is cooked, immediately remove the mutton, take out the goose inside, hold it with your hands and eat it, but don’t eat the mutton, probably because the taste has penetrated into the goose meat, the name of this dish is now It sounds very foreign: "The muddy sheep died suddenly".

Seeing that the cook skillfully took out the goose from the sheep belly while talking, wrapped it in a few lotus leaves and handed it to Li Jing, Li Jing was really stunned.There is still such a luxurious way to eat, but after taking a bite, the taste is really delicious.

"This Hunyang Shihu is a masterpiece. There are no more than ten people in the world who can make this authentic and delicious dish. This dish is worth [-] yuan in Luoyang, and it must be ordered in advance." Li Qilang probably has eaten it before. Quite a few, they are very familiar with this dish, it is said that this cook was invited by him.

Li Jing couldn't help being speechless, a sheep cost several thousand dollars at most, and although a goose was more expensive in the Tang Dynasty, it was only a few thousand dollars.But now, after such a combination of processing, it is actually asking for a hundred dollars.This thing is really unaffordable for ordinary people, and rich people don't care about the price.

Later, other famous chefs presented their signature dishes one after another. Among them was a dish called wild boar bream, which was said to be the food used by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty to entertain An Lushan. Mix it with japonica rice, add cornus officinalis and salt, seal it in the altar with mud and dry it for a month, cook it with garlic, ginger and vinegar to adjust the food.

There is also broiled geese and ducks, a barbaric food method created by Zhang Yizhi. The geese and ducks are placed in a large iron cage, a pot of charcoal fire is placed in the middle, and five-flavored sauces of various seasonings are placed around copper pots. Run, and thirsty to drink five-flavored juice.It can be eaten when it is baked until the feathers are completely removed and the flesh color turns red.Li Jing shook her head as she watched this dish, and didn't put down her chopsticks in the end.

There is also a dish called Niu Tau Bao, which takes a calf head with smooth skin and tender meat, burns it on the fire to remove the hair, and then scalds it with boiling water to remove the hair roots.Put wine, fermented soy beans, green onion, ginger in the pot, cook the beef head, peel off the meat and cut it into palm-sized pieces, season it with ghee, pepper, sour orange, etc., stuff it into a jar, and seal it with mud Hold the mouth of the urn.Finally, bury the meat urn in the firepit, and slowly heat it with weak firepower to bake out the flavor.

Li Jing had eaten a lot of beef, but it was the first time to eat beef head.But after trying a few chopsticks, the taste is really unique and delicious.

Among the various famous dishes, the only one Li Jing had eaten before was dried carp with cod.It is a famous dish left over from the Sui Dynasty. On a sea boat, carp is made, the skin and bones are removed, the lean meat is taken, cut into strands, dried in the sun for three or four days to make it extremely dry, and placed in a new white porcelain bottle without water, sealed with mud. After fifty or sixty days, it is still the same as fresh fish.When it's time to eat, take out the dried carp and wrap it in a cloth, put water in the urn, soak it for three quarters, drain the water with the cloth, put it on a plate, spread finely chopped fragrant leaves on it, mix well and serve immediately.Tastes like freshly caught fish.When he was at sea, Li Jing was lucky enough to meet a cook who could cook this dish. Once he ate it, he couldn't forget it. This dish has always been his favorite.

Afterwards, three kinds of soup were served, namely, the Ligong soup created by the famous Prime Minister Li Deyu. It was fried with precious jade, jewelry, realgar, cinnabar, and seashells. Each cup cost 3 yuan.And: the Baisui soup made of shepherd's purse is said to have the effect of prolonging life, so everyone loves to drink it.There is also a duck foot soup, which is a sunflower leaf soup made from sunflower leaves called duck feet in Tang Dynasty.

These three soups seem to be very simple, but it is said that only the three chefs invited taste the best.The price of each bowl of soup is more than [-] yuan, which really surprised Li Jing.

Even the rice served at the banquet was not ordinary white rice, but fine green rice.Use the branches and leaves of rhododendrons to mash the juice, soak the rice in it, steam it and then dry it in the sun. The rice turns blue. It is said to be a nourishing food, so it is loved by nobles.

In addition to this, Li Jing also has a deep memory of a kind of pastry called gourd head.It is said that this is a kind of pastry created by Sun Simiao, a famous doctor in the early Tang Dynasty. The pork belly and intestines are filled with starch, minced meat, and seasoned with pepper, fennel, cinnamon and other seasonings. It is delicious and has the effect of strengthening the body.It is said that the gourd heads served today are still wild boar belly and wild boar intestines.It is said that wild boar belly has the effect of health care for the stomach, so this miscellaneous cake looks ordinary, but it is very precious, a small piece is worth thousands of dollars.

During the banquet, the officials of Songzhou and the leading figures in Songzhou called their families, wives, sons and daughters to meet Li Jing.Although under normal circumstances, the families of nobles and gentry pay more attention to etiquette, and the family members do not see outsiders.However, Li Jing was no ordinary guest. He was a celebrity in front of the emperor, and a frontier minister who wore the seal of the commander of the three towns.Already ranked among the three males at a young age, the figure is Lingyan Pavilion.

Many people have some small ideas, hoping that Li Jing can accept their son and follow Li Jing for a future.Some people even simply thought that if their daughter could attract Li Jing, even if Li Jing already had a wife, it wouldn't matter if she was the sixth or seventh wife.

For the Songzhou family members who came to visit, Li Jing was very polite, and they all smiled and praised a few words, and bestowed swords, pens and ink on those young masters, and those wives gave silk, satin, perfume, etc. I gave some jadeware, perfume and other things, which is very polite.Everyone who attracted was very happy and the atmosphere was warm.

Zhang Rui didn't expect this to happen at first, even if he didn't want to at this time, he had to let his wife and daughter come out to meet Li Jing.

Mrs. Wang brought Zhang Hui together to see the ceremony. Mrs. Wang was well-mannered and elegant, wearing a long-sleeved shirt, wearing a ponytail, a step rock on her hair, and light makeup on her face. She was a very beautiful woman. Zhang Hui is very similar.She is more like Zhang Hui's sister, a young woman in her 20s, exuding elegance and mature charm all the time.

Zhang Hui stood behind Mrs. Wang, and when Li Jing stood in front of her and smiled at her, she felt her throat tighten. They hadn't seen each other since the last time they met in the garden.She felt that she had escaped like that that day, which might have left him with many misunderstandings.She wanted to say that she didn't mean to blame him.

When she saw Li Jing tonight, she felt that thousands of words could not describe her feelings.Because today's Li Jing really moved her heart, he was wearing a colorful silk armor, and the thin silk armor showed Li Jing's slender and fit body. A golden unicorn jade belt, and a purple gold hair crown on his head, his hair is black and shiny.Looking at her, Zhang Hui couldn't help trembling slightly, Xia Fei's cheeks.

Li Jing gave Zhang Hui a bronze mirror inlaid with gemstones, a jade pendant, and a box of sixteen exquisitely packaged perfumes.

Zhang Hui stepped forward to accept the gift, while Li Jing took advantage of no one's attention, she gently stroked those slender hands with her fingers, which was extremely smooth.Zhang Hui's face became more and more red, she raised her head and gave him a look, then lowered her head and quickly handed a small thing to Li Jing's hand.

After Zhang Hui's mother and daughter thanked Li and left, Li Jing found a chance to secretly look at his hand, but it turned out to be a small note.When I opened it, it read: "The head of the willow on the moon, after dusk!"

Looking at the line of beautiful small characters on it, Li Jing couldn't help but smile, this little girl is really interesting.Last time he said that he bullied her, but now only a few days later, he was so bold that he took the initiative to slip a note to him and ask him out for a private meeting.

After reading the small note several times, Li Jing finally confirmed that Zhang Hui should really ask him out.It is estimated that the time will be the head of the willow tree on the moon. As for the location, it should be the old place of the back garden of Zhang's mansion.

There is an appointment with a beauty, so Li Jing is naturally excited and wants to go.At first, Li Jing really didn't have too many other ideas.But now, he really liked the little girl Zhang Hui somewhat.Such a daring little girl invited her out, how could she live up to her good intentions today.

For the next banquet, Li Jing was a little absent-minded! (To be continued.)