A conference ended on a final climax.

All the children who had cowpox stood on the stage collectively.

Hundreds of pairs of slightly nervous, curious, and excited eyes looked at the black head in the audience, some children couldn't help crying "wow", and some children didn't cry, but they peed their pants nervously, which became the handle of ridicule and ridicule by their peers and haircuts in the next few decades.

And this situation was soon changed.

Shouhan appeared on the stage again, giving bags of pastries and candies to each child, and more than a dozen soldiers behind him followed him with huge bamboo baskets. On the bamboo basket and the paper package of pastries and candies are clearly printed with the words "Daoxiang Village is ordered to be respected", and on the other side of the paper package, all kinds of products of Daoxiang Village are also printed in different categories, and cakes, snacks and candies are readily available.

Smelling the sweet fragrance emanating from the dim sum bag, the children's affection became stable, and Shouhan took a silver coin from the tray in the hands of his own soldiers, which was two circles larger than the silver dollars in circulation in the market, and handed it to a child standing at the head of the line.

This is a planted cowpox commemorative coin that the mint worked hard overnight. With silver one or two coins, mixed with other metals, the neat small seal engraved with the words "Nanzhong Cowpox Planting Commemoration", the back is "Chongzhen ten years in June, cowpox planted for the first time" and other words, a blooming lotus flower is carved lifelike.

Holding snacks and silver coins in their hands, the children happily walked off the high platform and showed off to their parents with commemorative coins. Unbeknownst to them, such a commemorative coin was hyped up decades later to the point where a commemorative coin could be exchanged for a thousand silver dollars. But there is still no market, for the simple reason that there is such a commemorative coin is a status symbol.

"Lao Tzu was the first to plant cowpox that year, and he also took over the snacks and commemorative coins from the lord!"

"What do you think?"

The people dispersed one after another, and only Huang Da's shopkeeper and his party remained on the school grounds. Several Jiangxi businessmen who accompanied them also left on their own after confessing their crimes.

Watching the rows of soldiers and civilians leave in a neat and orderly manner, and the venue where they were sitting was clean, and there was no garbage peel, food residues and other things, the etiquette and discipline of the military and civilians in Nanzhong reached an admirable level. On the other hand, Shouhan's ability to control the military and civilians of his subordinates is far from being comparable to those military generals in the interior.

Such military discipline. Change to the team of any military town in the mainland. I can't do it.

"Shouldn't we go back and discuss with the big boss, and also establish a relationship with the South China Army? You can't put the treasure leaking. Such a thought flashed through the mind of the shopkeeper Huang.

As a huge commercial group, the Jin merchants maintained good relations with the vassal kings, officials, generals, eunuchs, and scholars in various parts of the interior, which is on the surface. Privately. Take advantage of Zhangjiakou, a border trade market known as Dongkou. It also maintained close trade relations with the Mongols and Liaodong rebels. And that's not all. Because of the relationship between Datong Township, the Jin merchants and the Shaanxi Peasant Army Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai, who are currently galloping back and forth between the Jianghuai River and the Han Dynasty, as well as Lao Huihui and Ge Liyan, who are raising troops in the Dabie Mountains. Li Zicheng, who was preparing to enter Sichuan, maintained a good relationship.

However, for the Nanzhong Army, a military and political force that has risen rapidly for more than ten years, the Jin merchants found that they had almost no relationship that could be said to be on the table.

How can this be justified?!

If the Nanzhong Army gains momentum in the future, this great business opportunity, a lot of silver, no, it is silver as high as a mountain, wouldn't it be cheaper Fujian merchants, Jiangxi merchants and Guangdong barbarians? !

Looking at everyone's thoughtful faces, Huang Da's shopkeeper suddenly felt that this was not the place to talk about these things.

"Alright, alright! Others have a snack to eat, but we have nothing, so we should find a place to fill our stomachs before talking. Today is also the day of the tooth sacrifice, Meng invites, let's go find a restaurant to eat a meal! ”

(Meng is the accent of the Wutai area of Jinzhong, Shanxi, which means I, I, etc.) At that time, the Wutai people had a saying, the surname of the overseer was very much, and the surname of Meng and the overseer was door to door. Translated into Mandarin, I will have the last name of the Overseer, and I and the Overseer are door-to-door old neighbors. Overseer is the name of the old man of Shanxi for Yan Xishan. ）

People walk along the streets with the flow of people, and it is rare that there are no such things as trading, business, accounts, dealings, and dealings, and people are in the mood to observe the streets and the scene in the city.

Because of the convention, the people of the city seemed to be all present in the streets, and the bustling crowd walked along the wide, smooth and burnt ash road towards their destination.

Out of the instinct of a businessman, Huang Da's shopkeeper and his men and assistants used the eyes of a businessman to observe these rare people at close range. The farmers on the outskirts of the city, the craftsmen in the factories on the left, the men and clerks of several major merchants, and even more interested were the soldiers who wore summer military uniforms made of bamboo cloth and bamboo armor on the outside.

What is amazing is that the army and the people walk side by side, as long as the people are not mixed with the ranks of the soldiers, it is peaceful, the people will not be frightened because there are soldiers in armor on the side, and the soldiers will smile when they see the people on the side, and occasionally there are acquaintances, they will nod and say hello, in view of the military regulations, they can only nod their heads in the team.

The neat and orderly pace, the momentum of thousands of people like one person, and the neat and neat red narrow-sleeved breasted military uniform, the line is full of tiger and tiger. That kind of heroic posture of looking forward to self-pride, in stark contrast to the malaise of the Ming army elsewhere.

And these people are only patrol battalions in the city, responsible for patrolling, public security, firefighting, vigilance and other affairs in the city, and they are not the elite field divisions in the Nanzhong Army. Most of them are newly trained recruits, soldiers and horses who are drawn from all over the world to serve in various cities according to the standard of one armor and one soldier.

Huang Da's shopkeeper had seen troops returning from Guangdong outside the city, and the momentum of the division of a hundred battles had surprised him a lot. Compared with the soldiers and horses in Shanxi Town and Datong Town in his hometown, he has already been much stronger in terms of appearance and momentum, but when others told him that this was Liao Dongzhi's troops, who had just returned from Guangdong to Nanzhong for training, they only transferred some officers and commanders from all over the country to conduct a month's training according to the system of the Nanzhong Army.

"The real elite, that has to be said to be the soldiers of the four battalions!" That's what people in Nanzhong often say when they talk about their own army. That tone and expression made people feel as if they were praising their own children. This made Huang Da's shopkeeper even more surprised.

"Bandits are like combs, and soldiers are like grates. The servants are like knives and knives. This is the truth that is incomparably true from south to north. People who have swords and spears in their hands, no matter what kind of armor they wear, they all worship ghosts and gods. Where can you praise it?

The so-called four battalions are the four major battalions of Guard, Qilin, Phoenix, and Xuanwu. They are stationed at each key point. It acts as the god needle of the town.

This is the soldier who is responsible for the security patrol mission. and the newly attached army horses are all so elite, the four battalions of soldiers and horses, known as the main division, will be elite to what extent, Huang Da's shopkeeper can't imagine.

Never mind. If you can't think of it, don't think about him, now that people are in Nanzhong, there is always a chance to witness how elite the soldiers and horses of these four battalions are, how much is the difference between them and the local families, and which is stronger and weaker than the Bayala soldiers in Liaodong, and you will know at a glance when the time comes.

With his mind set up, he took a closer look at the scenery on the side of the road.

Due to the professional habits he has cultivated over the years, every time he goes to a city, Huang Da always observes the local prices first, such as the price of rice, cloth, oil, salt, meat, and then the price of various other commodities.

At that time, the Jin merchants made a fortune because of the opening of the Chinese law, and contracted the grain and grass needed by the nine sides to the Jin merchants, and the Jin merchants could exchange a small introduction (200 catties) of salt to the government after transporting the grain, not only in exchange for grain, but also in exchange for salt and silk, silver money, horses, etc., in short, it was because of the overall needs of the imperial court that there was a business group of Jin merchants.

"The taste of the north and the south, abundance and thrift! Banquets, big pots and small stir-fries, rice noodles are available! ”

A lively shouting woke up the shopkeeper Huang from his thoughts, and the people around him looked at him with inquiring eyes, "The shopkeeper, how about we have dinner here?" ”

Looking at the plaque hanging high at the entrance of the hall, "Taifeng Building, good mouthwash!" "Inside there was a bustle of people eating dinner, cups and plates were staggered, and there was an endless number of guessing orders. The aroma of pasta wafted out of the glass-enclosed kitchen, making these men who had grown up eating pasta a little unable to pull their legs.

In this way, a kitchen is separated by glass, so that people outside can see what kind of sanitary environment the kitchen is, which is also a model that has emerged in recent years.

In the glass compartment, several white case masters are skillfully kneading the dough in their hands, the dough is constantly changing shape in people's hands, and then it is kneaded into a mixture, and then sprinkled with oil and water in the dough at intervals, mixed with sesame seeds after rolling, sprinkled with salt and some other spices, and put it in the stove to bake.

"Let's go! I won't eat the white rice of Narausch today! Lao Tzu's brain hurts when he eats! ”

"It turns out that the big shopkeeper can't eat anymore? Let's see that the big shopkeeper is still full of happiness! A few stewards made a little joke with the shopkeeper Huang.

The group entered the restaurant, found a pavilion and sat down, and the guy who had already had a spirit trotted over with a water sign to greet him.

"Gentlemen, are you from the mainland? What kind of food and drink do you plan to use? ”

"Pick up your famous dishes in Taifeng Building and say a few things?"

A gentleman in charge glanced at this cousin with disdain, although he was dressed in a cyan muslin trouser gown and looked neat, with an apron around his waist and a clean and crisp wash, and a white towel on his shoulder, but he still didn't look down on this guy in Taifeng Building after many years of traveling south and north, and having seen countless stewards in the world.

"Where are we? I don't know if you are halal, if you are, we can't do it. In addition to the general dishes, the dishes we are good at are squirrel fish, fish-flavored shredded pork, kung pao chicken, spicy chicken, boiled pork slices, this dish is also divided into beef slices and pork slices, back to the pot meat, boiled fish, mapo tofu, and so on. These dishes were taught by the cooks who came out of the general's mansion themselves. If you don't know for a while, you might as well look at the name of the dish on this water sign first. ”

The cousin replied without humility or arrogance.

It is really good to be able to openly sell beef vegetables in public. It must be known that although there are beef sold in restaurants all over the Ming Dynasty, those who dare to write on the water sign and shout openly are the ones who are in charge of Huang Da have never seen them in the mainland. The Ming Law clearly stipulates that it is forbidden to slaughter ploughing cattle, and violators will be punished with rods.

"What's the wine?"

"We only sell soju here, if you plan to drink rice wine, we have to go out and buy it for you. But. The small one will give you a Jianyì, our food here is extremely spicy, with soju, that is the wine that a manly man should drink! ”

"What's the pasta?"

"Pasta?!" I heard a few customers ask about pasta. The cousin looked at the guests in front of him. "We don't produce wheat in Nanzhong. The white flour is made from wheat brought from Tianzhu. It's not cheap, if you're going to eat cornmeal, or both. It's much more cost-effective. ”

"Alright. This little brother, this money will be handed over to you, please help us raise it, beef to eat, chicken, duck and fish to eat, noodles to eat, the dishes and two noodles that you said from the general's mansion are also to be eaten, and the soju is in a jar. ”

The shopkeeper of Huang Da handed a few silver dollars to the cousin with a pleasant face.

"Six silver dollars on the guest locker of Renzi!"

With a hand towel on his hand, he took the money from the shopkeeper of Huang Da, and the hall man raised his voice and shouted loudly, and then the hall man who was all over the building followed suit.

After this shout, the cousin turned around and left to deposit the silver dollar at the door of the bookkeeper.

After a while, the same dish was sent up by the cousin, "Although it's not the New Year's Festival, you can't drink, but today I made an exception, everyone has worked hard these days, you can drink a little." Don't eat drunk and misbehave! ”

Looking at a small jar of soju brought by the cousin, smelling the faint aroma of wine in the mud seal, Wen Yan of the Huang Da shopkeeper greeted his fellow men.

"Thank you for your kindness!"

In the daily management system of Jin merchants, there are requirements such as not drinking, gambling, and prostitution. But that's just for the guys at the bottom, and the people at the top are just as prostitute.

"Turn back, your dish! Potato roasted brisket! ”

"Boiled pork slices!"

"Kung Pao Chicken!"

"Squirrel Guiyu!"

One by one, the dishes were served by the cousin with the name of the dish.

It's okay to roast beef with potatoes, although I haven't seen potatoes before, but I have eaten a lot of beef. What stunned everyone was that the pot of boiled meat slices was called boiled, but the huge porcelain basin was full of oil!

"Little brother, is the dish wrong? We want boiled pork slices, why is all vegetable oil in this pot? ”

The shopkeeper motioned to the steward to ask the cousin who served the food.

The corners of the man's mouth moved slightly, and he seemed to be a little disdainful, but out of professional habits, he still politely explained to Huang Da's shopkeeper and others: "I don't know the rank, this so-called boiled dish, called boiled, is actually made of oil. If you don't believe it, please look at the table next door, boiled fish, and it is made of a pot of vegetable oil! ”

I glanced into the pavilion next door, and sure enough, it was a huge vegetable basin made of lily porcelain, shining from the thin wall of the basin. Looking down from the mouth of the basin, it is most of the pot of yellow and clear vegetable oil that exudes the fragrance of oil.

After watching this scene, I couldn't help but secretly slander in the steward's heart, "It's really extravagant to the extreme!" That's a lot of vegetable oil! In our hometown in Shanxi, I'm afraid it's enough for ordinary people to eat for half a year! ”

But envy and envy, the steward did not have the slightest appetite for the tender ski-white fish fillets in the oil basin, and in Shanxi recipes, the highest level of noodles is the so-called eight dishes and eight bowls.

Pay attention to eight cold dishes and eight hot dishes, eight cold dishes have four meat and four vegetables, and eight bowls are mostly meat-based, Qi County and even Jinzhong region in the middle and late Qing Dynasty, eight dishes are: kelp, ocean rice, its dry, foreign flour, sliced meat, shredded chicken meat, elbow flowers, crystal hooves, eight bowls are: roast meat, big meat, hooves, fried meat, crispy meat, layer meat, roasted sweet potatoes, meatballs

What problems did you find?

That's right! There is no fish in the highest standard of Shanxi cuisine, but there is a story in it. It is said that the fish in this section of the Yellow River that flowed through Shanxi in ancient times were of poor quality, so the people of Shanxi at that time did not eat fish, which may be a fact or an ancient rumor. However, Shanxi, which is located inland and relatively arid, is naturally not so interested in aquatic products, especially fish. Because I'm not interested, I don't eat fish. There is a saying that ridicules Shanxi people, "Lao Xi'er eats fish with his hands", which means that Shanxi people will not spit out the thorns when they eat fish, and they must first pick the thorns in the fish meat with their hands.

"I think when I first came out of the students' minds, I made a monthly payment, went to the beef shop opened by Pingyao people to cut five cents of sauce beef, and took a small bite in the mouth What is fat but not greasy, thin but not firewood, this bite is all in the mouth!"

After taking a bite of potato roast beef and tasting the soft and fragrant glutinous beef, the shopkeeper Huang couldn't help but tell the young guys about the past.

"Later, I was promoted, and I had more money per month, so when I could eat beef, I accompanied it with a mouthful of rice wine from Changshengyuan, which was purely made of millet and millet when I drank it in my mouth."

"The big shopkeeper, this potato, Shanghai Xu Xiangguo also promoted it in the north back then, but the yield was too low, and farmers were unwilling to plant it. I don't want it to be so delicious in this Nanzhong. ”

A few people drank and ate food, and they couldn't stop tasting the dishes and wines, which was quite pleasant.

While he was talking, there was a burst of laughter at the door, and a group of people came in.

Seeing this group of people coming in, the shopkeeper Huang couldn't help but let out a "hmm", and the color on his face changed. (To be continued......)