Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

"Wukong was very happy, and took a look at the treasure. There were two golden hoops at both ends, and a black iron section in the middle. There was a line of words engraved on it, called Ruyi Golden Cudgel. It weighed 13,500 kilograms! Bang... I’ll drink some water first.”

The next evening, before it got dark, the villagers began to gather.

Some people even came directly with their rice bowls in hand without even bothering to eat, for fear of missing some story.

Although it is now the busy farming period, it is not particularly busy yet.

It won’t be possible in a few days. Picking tea, planting millet or sorghum, harvesting rapeseed, transplanting rice seedlings, spring silkworms spinning cocoons... A series of farm work is waiting. There are things to do day and night. When you are free, you will fall asleep. How can you still have energy? Listen to the story?

Let's talk about today's talk about Sun Wukong forcing his way into the Dragon Palace, and all the villagers were dumbfounded.

That's the Dragon King!

Shen Yourong brought a bowl of tea and handed it to Ju Ming, who had a dry throat: "Da Lang, drink tea first."

Ju Ming took the drink and almost spit it out after just one sip.

It's bitter and astringent, and it's really unpalatable.

There were three types of tea in the Song Dynasty, namely Mingcha, Mocha and Waxeda.

Tea, also known as loose tea, is a popular drink. Not only does it look similar to tea leaves in later generations, it can also be poured directly into boiling water and drunk. But this thing is steamed, not fried, the astringency is not removed, and the taste is indescribable.

The real rich people in the Song Dynasty only drank powdered tea and wax tea. The process was complicated, the price was expensive, and they were fragrant and delicious.

Seeing Ju Ming's weird expression after drinking, Shen Yourong couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

The pretty widow might have misunderstood, thinking that the Zhu family and his son must have come from a wealthy background, so they were not used to drinking cheap loose tea. However, mocha and wax tea were too expensive, and Shen Yourong couldn't afford them, and even felt inferior because of them.

Inferiority means feeling that he is not worthy of Mr. Zhu.

Mr. Zhu was full of knowledge and well-informed. He had been rich in his early years, but she was just a country widow.

"Haha, this tea is very strong," Zhu Ming smiled and took another sip. "It felt too astringent at first, but after drinking it it becomes sweet and has a different flavor."

After hearing these words, Shen Yourong finally became happy, although she knew they were words of comfort.

Ju Ming continued to tell the story until Sun Wukong broke into the underworld angrily, forcibly asked for the book of life and death, and wiped out all the monkeys.

"If you want to know what happened next time, let's listen to the explanation!"

It was already very late and they had to get up to work tomorrow, but some villagers still refused to leave.

It was so shocking that Sun Wukong learned the skill of throwing the sky. He first subdued the Dragon King of the Four Seas, and then shocked the Ten Palaces of Yama. Not only had they never heard of such an approach, they had never even dared to think about it before.

There is also a button at the end, saying that the Dragon King went to court to complain and asked the Jade Emperor to make the decision.

How will the Jade Emperor deal with Sun Wukong?

The villagers were very itchy at this time, and they wished that Xiao Zhuxiucai would stay up all night to finish speaking.

"It's gone, it's gone, haha, let's talk tomorrow." Zhu Ming turned around and went back to his house to rest, leaving a group of villagers watching eagerly.

After everyone had dispersed, Grandma Yan brought tea and inquired privately: "Dalang, has Sun Wukong been captured by the Jade Emperor?"

Treating the audience equally, Ju Ming said: "The old lady will know tomorrow."

Grandma Yan was anxious, but she couldn't ask any more questions. She turned around and went back to her room, her mind filled with Journey to the West.

After a while, Zhu Guoxiang came in with a wooden bucket and said angrily: "Master Zhu, the foot-washing water is here. Please lift up your feet and wash them."

"Thank you, Dean Zhu." Zhu Ming smiled playfully.

Zhu Guoxiang admonished: "Next time, if we are too slow to wash our feet ourselves, Mrs. Shen will bring the water."

"I was too busy reading today and forgot about it for a moment." Zhu Ming explained.

Zhu Guoxiang couldn't help complaining: "When you talk about "Journey to the West", just talk about it directly. Why are you talking about it in such a mess? Just say that I went to sea to do business. You also said that I have been to the Daughter's Kingdom and that I met gods on the Penglai Island."

Ju Ming said seriously: "Improve your status as an elder. Firstly, it can dilute the scandal, and secondly, it can build momentum for your agricultural innovation. Your agricultural technologies, including sweet potatoes and corn, can be said to have been given by immortals. The villagers are ignorant, No matter how much you talk, it’s useless, they would rather believe in the teachings of immortals.”

Zhu Guoxiang thought about it carefully and nodded and said: "That's right, it's more convenient to do things this way."

Zhu Ming suddenly asked: "Have you drank the tea that Madam Shen made?"

"After drinking it, I can tolerate the bitterness, but I can't stand the astringency if it's too strong." Zhu Guoxiang commented.

Ju Ming asked: "Does your agricultural college have a tea major?"

"There is a tea system." Zhu Guoxiang said.

Ju Ming asked: "How much do you know about Song Cha?"

"I don't know much about it. I only talked about it with my colleagues," Zhu Guoxiang recalled carefully. "Steamed tea was eliminated in the Ming Dynasty. In order to earn foreign exchange from exports, New China re-introduced the steamed tea method, which was mainly exported to Japan, the former Soviet Union and Russia. Due to the market The scale is too small, and steamed tea has never been popular in China.”

Ju Ming said: "I'm embarrassed to ask Madam Shen if all Song tea tastes like this. But from the description in ancient books, it seems that Song tea has a refreshing fragrance without adding sugar."

Zhu Guoxiang happened to know: "It is caused by technical reasons. Modern tea steaming technology has been revolutionized and scientific methods have been used to greatly reduce the astringency. Song tea does not have this level. The tea department of our college has participated in technological innovation. At that time, I was still I’m just an associate professor. I heard from colleagues that Song tea is also divided into grades. The low-grade tea is this kind of loose tea, which is sold to ordinary people for drinking. The high-grade tea has complicated processes and the price has increased exponentially, and it can completely remove the astringency."

Ju Ming pondered: "In other words, the replacement of steamed tea with fried tea is a process for tea to become more popular. Tea without astringent taste has become cheaper and easier to make, and is no longer a special product for wealthy people."

"Fried tea can also save labor when picking tea." Zhu Guoxiang added.

Ju Ming asked: "The tea picking process is also different?"

Zhu Guoxiang said: "The tea-making process is different. In the Song Dynasty, tea picking should be completed before nine o'clock in the morning. What is needed is that the tea buds are wet with dew. Later, tea picking would only start at nine o'clock, because tea with dew should be fried during the frying process. It will burn the tips. As a result, the tea picking time of Song Cha will be shorter and more tea pickers will be needed."

Zhu Ming clapped his hands fiercely: "I figured it out. Why do Song poems describe tea-picking scenes where hundreds or even thousands of people are often dispatched together? In the Hanzhong Mountain area, due to the escape of the lower-level tea farmers, there is a shortage of tea-picking manpower, and some tea farm owners have to Downsize, or even abandon the tea mountains because they cannot afford heavy taxes.”

Zhu Guoxiang only knew this about Song Cha. After all, he was not a professional.

In fact, there are more detailed differences. For example, when picking steamed tea, you use your nails to pinch it, while when picking fried tea, you use your fingers to break it.

The top tea leaves of the Song Dynasty must be picked before the sun rises.

After the sun rises to nine o'clock, the later the time goes, the lower the quality of the tea. The tea leaves picked at eight or nine o'clock can only be used to make cheap loose tea and cannot enter the tea cups of rich families.

Therefore, tea picking should be done one by one according to time.

Before the sun rises, hurry up and pick the best tea buds. The second batch of slightly inferior tea can also be used to make mid- to high-grade tea. The third batch picks the worst and makes loose tea and sells it to the people.

Ju Ming had an idea in his mind that there might be many deserted tea mountains in the Han River Basin.

Once you have established a firm foothold and have money and connections, you can then occupy those unowned tea mountains. Then, the tea-frying process will be developed, not to mention replacing high-end tea, but at least it will be able to conquer the loose tea market.

"Dean Zhu, do you know how to make tea?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhu Guoxiang shook his head: "I don't understand."

Ju Ming said: "I have only watched tea-fried videos, which were posted by Internet celebrities. I still remember the general process, but I don't know the secrets at all. I don't know the ingredients, heat, and time. I have to slowly figure it out on my own. "

"Let's plant the land first," Zhu Guoxiang said. "Even if we have tea mountains, there won't be that many tea workers. The population in the mountainous areas is too small."

Ju Ming said: "The war in Shaanxi has started, and a large number of people have fled to the Hanzhong area. Unfortunately, we have to wait too long. There are still more than ten years. We might as well innovate agriculture and increase food production to increase the population."

Now that we have decided to use Hanzhong as our base, tea must be taken seriously.

This thing is a strategic material. Not only can you get ample funds, but you can also use it to exchange war horses with ethnic minorities.