Jade is the thing of Lingnan, at this time has been well-known in the Central Plains, and the white jade complements each other, the same is the favor of the noble court, the black man does not have to explain, can understand the nature of understanding.

Yesterday, after eating that meal of "Jade White Jade Soup", Heifu demonstrated to Qin Shi Huang the brine tofu that history is written in the book and there is no need to water again in the newly built tofu workshop by the big well in Jimo City.

This is one of the results of the farmer's tossing in Jiaodong for half a year, and the raw material is soybean, which is a native of the Central Plains and has a long history. The Jiaodong plant is higher than the yield of the Central Plains soybean bean, four hundred years ago Guan Zhong introduced the "Rong Shu" from Shanrong, which was a famous introduction of alien species, and the introduction of "winter onion" was also introduced. What Heifu asked the farmer to do in Jiaodong is actually similar to Guan Zhong, but it is more elaborate and complicated.

In addition, under the promotion of Heifu and the Mo family, in Guanzhong, stone grinding has become commonplace, and all the conditions for preparing bean juice tofu are complete. The rest is just that Hefu opened the door to a new world for the farmer through an "accidental" event.

It was autumn, and now it's mid-November, and a few months have passed, and the tofu craft has been well developed.

Of course, the process of preparing tofu caused a sigh from the ministers who had never seen this meeting. There is even Zhao Gao's younger brother, Langguan Zhao Cheng suspects that what comes out of this is poisonous.

Heifu's response was to drink a bowl of sweet tofu brain sprinkled with sugar in front of him, wipe his mouth, and nothing. Zhao Cheng had to shut up, and in the end, many ministers tried it, some liked sweet and some liked salty, and so on.

Today, Heifu invited Qin Shi Huang to visit the farmhouse vegetable garden outside the city, this thriving "agricultural science and technology park" in Jiaodong, named "Dazhai" by Heifu, and I don't know why.

In Dazhai, Xu Sheng, the leader of the farmer's family, took his disciples to meet Qin Shi Huang, and introduced him at the same time: "Xiaomin dares to speak up to Your Majesty, and the general vegetable garden, from the Xianyang Palace in Guanzhong to the Biansai military camp, is mostly planted with these things. ”

Xu Sheng snapped his fingers and counted them to the emperor one by one: "Kwai , leek, shallot, shallot, green onion, weed, these five dishes can be seen everywhere, among them, sunflower sweet, leek acid, salty herb, shallot, green onion bitter ......"

As for other mustard greens, celery, etc., most of them are regional and have not been widely popularized.

"Just once you enter late autumn......"

Xu Sheng pointed to the bare vegetable garden all the way and shook his head: "All five vegetables are absolute, but sunflower vegetables, which are planted in June and July, are picked in autumn and can be used to make salvae with salt." Those who plant in August and September go to the spring month to pick, so when the spring is cold, the only fresh vegetables that can be eaten are sunflowers. But in Jiaodong, the weather is cold, and most of the sunflower often freezes to death if it can't survive the winter, and the sunflower and weed made in autumn can't eat a few meals......"

Because the yield of sunflower is too small, it is a drop in the bucket for the long winter in the north.

Sunflower is still like this, and once the rest of the vegetables are in winter, they will not be eaten.

Among the accompanying ministers, no one asked the joke of "why not eat minced meat". The Qin Dynasty adhered to the principle that "the prime minister must start from the state department, and the fierce general must be sent to the army", even if it is a clan like Ziying, it is also mixed at the grassroots level, although it is not clear about the season of vegetables, but at least knows that in the long winter, the ordinary soldiers and the boring food of the people:

For three months, millions of households and hundreds of thousands of soldiers in the empire could only rely on a little dry salted bean paste every day to eat unpalatable corn. Some people are not prepared enough, and the sauce is finished, so they can only knock the salt cubes to eat, and the worst thing is the people who can't even afford to eat salt......

At this time, whether it is the soldiers of the garrison or the common people, meat is not daring to think, but even if you bring some vegetables to improve their food, it is a great luxury!

So don't underestimate the vegetable basket, it's something related to people's livelihood. Once you find that the price of vegetables in the market has risen one day, the life of the people will not be easy.

At this time, Heifu took Xu Sheng's words and said to Qin Shi Huang: "But in Jiaodong, after the unremitting efforts of the farmers, they have found a vegetable that is compatible with all seasons, which is more cold-resistant, has a larger yield, and tastes better than sunflower vegetables......

Qin Shi Huang understood: "This is the 'woad' that I eclipsed the day before yesterday?"

"It's the weed!"

Qin Shi Huang is used to eating big fish and meat, and occasionally a meal of "jade and white jade soup" is quite fresh.

And to be honest, under the cooking of the imperial kitchen, the pot of soup tastes very good, the tofu is smooth and tender, and the green woad is also very delicious, as far as Qin Shi Huang's taste is concerned, it is more delicious than Guanzhong's Ulva cabbage, Bashu's sunflower, celery and other dishes.

After the imperial physician Chen Wuyi and others chose this dish to taste, they thought that the Chinese herb was slightly cold and sweet, and had the effects of nourishing the stomach and rejuvenating the body, clearing heat and detoxifying, and also persuaded Qin Shi Huang to eat more......

At this time, everyone happened to walk to a vegetable field, where winter sunflower and woad were planted respectively.

It snowed last night, and in the field that was already covered with snow, the hollyhock next to it had wilted, but the wead was still intact, because it was a new vegetable planted in August and September, and it was still immature, its color was pale blue-white, and there was a little unmelted snow on it, but it was still in good spirits.

Xu Sheng said with a smile: "The reason why this thing is named woad is because it does not wither in winter, it has four long days, and there is pine exercise, unlike other dishes, after frost, it tastes particularly delicious." ”

Saying that, the group went to the house next to the vegetable field and opened the cellar, which stored a lot of cabbage, although its appearance is still very different from the Chinese cabbage of later generations: it is a loose leaf rather than a ball, and the volume is far inferior to a Chinese cabbage of more than ten catties.

But this is already a familiar scene for Heifu, who has been to the northern countryside and seen the scene of ordinary people eating cabbage in winter.

At the same time, Xu Sheng also sighed: "Although the ancients ate woad early, but in the past, this vegetable was only used as wild vegetables, and the people occasionally ate to prepare for the famine year. I never thought that the tripe wead I got had thick leaves, and the color was like jade when it was ripe, and the taste was sweet, and the taste was no less than that of sunflower! ”

Although the body shape and taste still need to be improved, it is not easy to select the best varieties from several wild woads in less than a year.

Although the farmer is a professional farmer, but there is no modern scientific research system, they can only use the method of Shennong to taste a hundred herbs, continue to accumulate experience, in many plants, carefully find the non-toxic food map, and then through continuous domestication and cultivation, the best of the best, and finally promote planting.

Heifu can only use his experience in his rural hometown in his previous life to casually mention some possible points: for example, mixing woad with mustard greens, because they seem to be "cruciferous", can be crossed, so that the quality can be repeatedly improved, and one day, he can cultivate Chinese cabbage in later generations......

Heifu did not do this for his own appetite, nor for the sake of pleasing the emperor's taste, nor for adding dishes to the tables of dignitaries!

Instead, I hope that in the long winter, in the cold corners of the empire, the soldiers who can only chew dry rice can eat a bowl of delicious cabbage soup, or pickled cabbage that they never get tired of eating......

Mencius said that chickens, guineas, dogs, and animals can eat meat if they have no time, and the seventy can eat meat...... Heifu can't guarantee this, but at least, some new things that are easy to popularize, a bowl of "jade cabbage soup" that the emperor drank and applauded, can add a little flavor to the people's good life.

Thinking of this, Heifu asked Qin Shi Huang for the farmer's family and said: "Your Majesty, the minister heard that in ancient times, the people had diseases, unknown medicine stones, the first plants and trees of the Shennong clan, observed its cold, warm, peaceful, and hot nature, distinguished its king, minister, Zuo, and made it righteous, and encountered seventy poisons in one day, and the gods turned into them, so they made a document to treat the people, and the medical Tao began from this." ”

"Today, the farmer Xu Sheng and others also tasted a hundred herbs, chose woad vegetables and planted them, and wrote down the cultivation process of each attempt on paper one by one, so that the disciples could follow suit. If he can make this dish available to every household one day, it will be a great good government! ”

"It is indeed good governance."

Qin Shi Huang bowed his head, and at the request of Heifu, he gave Xu Sheng and the peasant disciples a reward and a knight and land, but after Xu Sheng's disciples thanked him, he said: "Your Majesty, the old man has something to do!" ”

Although Xu Sheng had the bad deeds of supporting Lü Buwei and escaping from Guanzhong, it was in the past, Qin Shihuang was kind to him, and said: "But it doesn't hurt to say it." ”

Xu Sheng confessed and talked about a past incident......

"Your Majesty, in the past, Confucius's disciple Fan Chi asked for a study. Confucius said, I am not as good as an old peasant. Please learn as a nursery. Confucius also said, I am not as good as the old garden. ”

After Fan Chi went out, Confucius said to the rest of the disciples, villain, Fan Chi also! If you give a good gift, the people will not dare to be disrespectful, and if you are good and righteous, the people will not dare to disobey; If you have a good letter, the people will not dare to be ruthless. If this is the case, then the people of the four corners will come to the country as swaddling children and carry their sons, so why should they learn the crops themselves? ”

Confucius believed that he trained his students, not so that they could grow crops and vegetables in the future, but to become an official in politics and to be a meat eater.

Confucianism also believes that where do people in higher positions need to learn to grow crops, vegetables, and the like? As long as we pay attention to courtesy, righteousness, and faith, it is enough!

In short, Confucian education has never been for the purpose of cultivating laborers, but for cultivating laborers.

But the peasant family happened to take the opposite path to them, and there is even a legend: the founder of the peasant family is a disciple of Confucius, the "villain" Fan Chi who was despised by him!

It is no wonder that the peasant family was once despised and belittled by Mencius and other Confucian masters, and they couldn't even squeeze into the Jixia School Palace, so they could only find a way out in the weak Teng State and go to the distant Qin State to find opportunities......

Xu Sheng glanced at Heifu, and Heifu's eyes were full of encouragement.

Heifu told Xu Sheng that, just like the peasant chapters in "Lü's Spring and Autumn Period", they should write down this process of "tasting a hundred herbs", teach their disciples, and at the same time let the world know......

"Cang Liao knows etiquette, and knows honor and disgrace when he has enough food and clothing! The matter of the farm is not the way of the villain, but like Confucian poetry, books, rituals and music, it is a university question related to people's livelihood! ”

This was an encouragement that Xu Sheng had never received, so he plucked up the courage and asked Qin Shi Huang to say:

"Your Majesty, the way of the villain despised by Confucianism is the practical learning of my Great Qin, which is the great fortune of the farmer and the great fortune of the world. The old man dared to ask His Majesty to let the 'villain' who wanted to learn from the farm like Fan Chi learn from us as a disciple. After completing his studies, he can be a field official, and for His Majesty to spread the solar term farming, composting and manure technology, and promoting woad vegetables and other things......"

Qin Shi Huang and the ministers were stunned, and at this time, Heifu also immediately stood up and said:

"That's right, Your Majesty, just as the prime minister said when he was in Linzi that day, when he was talking about repairing books and history. Today, it has been decided, the decree is issued, the people are in charge of the family, the peasants and workers, and the scholars are to study the decree to dispel the ban. There is already the study of laws and regulations in public schools, but in addition to this, there should also be the study of workers and peasants! So that these useful learnings, so that wead, tofu, can be spread all over the world, Ze is the head! Let those who think about the past and the present see that what Shennong does, Daqin can do, and it is better than in ancient times! ”