Chapter 50: Drinking to the Heart
When Li Ke saw this, he didn't blame Fang Jun for being rude. He stretched out his chopsticks and picked up a piece of mutton, dipped it in the sauce, put it in his mouth and bit it lightly... he almost burned his tongue!
But the deliciousness of the mutton and the spiciness of the sauce formed a perfect taste. Li Ke blew a few mouthfuls of cool air, couldn't wait to put it in his mouth, and chewed it carefully.
Then his eyes widened and he praised: "It's really delicious!"
After he finished speaking, he found that no one agreed. His Royal Highness, King Wu, who had always been flattered, felt a little uncomfortable. He glanced around and saw that the other three people threw away their arms to pick up vegetables and eat meat. They were sweating profusely. How could they have the time to pay attention to him?
Li Ke laughed and let go of the prince's majesty. He snatched a piece of meat from Fang Jun with a pair of chopsticks and shouted: "You dare to compete with me for meat, are you tired of living?"
Fang Jun looked at Li Ke speechlessly, so depressed!
Do you have to show off your prestige as a prince just to have a meal? I despise it, it’s too low...
How can hot pot be served without alcohol?
Fang Jun waved and shouted: "Serve the wine!"
Then a maid came up with a ceramic wine jar, placed it on the table, and bowed down.
Fang Jun looked up and saw that it was not Qiao'er. He felt slightly relieved for some reason. If Nizi looked at Li Ke a few more times, she might not be able to sleep at night...
After patting open the mud seal on the mouth of the urn, Fang Jun took the wine urn and poured a full bowl for everyone.
The wine is clear and the color is like Nanxuan green bamboo. When poured into the cup, there are white bubbles. Although the color is like bamboo leaves, it is not the kind of turbid wine in the Tang poem "Green Ant New Fermented Wine", but the Xinfeng Wine, a specialty of Xinfeng. .
It is said that Liu Bang, the great ancestor of the Han Dynasty, was born in Fengli. He later raised an army, killed Qin and destroyed Xiang, established the Han Dynasty, and respected his father as the Supreme Emperor. The Emperor missed the scenery of his hometown in Chang'an City, so Liu Bang ordered the craftsman Hu Kuan to build the city in the style of his hometown Fengli. It was named Xinfeng, which means the newly moved Fengxiang.
After Xinfeng was built, the Emperor still wanted to drink wine from his hometown, so Liu Bang moved the winemakers from his hometown here. From then on, Xinfeng's fine wine became famous all over the world.
Several people's tongues were numb from the spicy taste, and when they smelled the faint smell of alcohol, they drank it in one gulp without saying a few polite words.
The liquor in the Tang Dynasty was limited by the brewing process, and the alcohol content was generally not high. Baijiu with a temperature of 50 or 60 degrees was distilled. This kind of technology was only developed during the Song and Yuan Dynasties, but it was definitely not available in the Tang Dynasty.
Since time travel, Fang Jun hasn't drank much. He went to a brothel to drink wine and feel the wine and beauties of the Tang Dynasty, but he was so angry that he didn't drink a sip of the wine.
I picked up the wine bowl and took a sip. The Xinfeng wine was soft in the mouth and the clear soup was not watery. It was probably not as strong as beer. I smacked my lips and tasted it. It was actually a little sweet...
Fortunately, Fang Jun was not a real novice and didn’t slam the table and say this was fake wine mixed with sugar...
The highest alcohol content of wine in the Tang Dynasty did not exceed 20 degrees. Most of the brewing grains that reacted with the koji were saccharified, and only a small amount could continue to liquefy after saccharification. Therefore, the main taste of the wine in the Tang Dynasty was sweet, not spicy. ?
Fang Jun suddenly realized, no wonder he kept writing "hundreds of poems about drinking wine". Drinking this kind of wine usually tests not the liver function, but the stomach capacity...
He felt that the alcohol content of this wine was a bit low, but the taste was actually pretty good. He was wondering if he could study the distillation process and make an authentic liquor to make some money? I was picking up vegetables and pouring wine at the same time. It was only when my stomach swelled that I realized that I had drank half the jar without realizing it.
He is also a drinker even with low-alcohol alcohol. Even though Fang Jun was "alcohol tested" in his previous life, but after traveling through time and changing his body, he still couldn't adapt to it for a while. His head was dizzy and he was a bit drunk.
At this time, Li Ke also put down the wine bowl, took a long breath, and sighed: "Try to drink Xinfeng wine, and persuade people on the balcony... This Xinfeng wine is really the best wine, with endless aftertaste, and it is really delicious when paired with hot pot spicy sauce." Delicious food in the world! ”
Uncle Cen Wen drank more elegantly. He slowly moistened the wine bowl and said, "Your Highness, this poem was written by Emperor Yuan of the Liang Dynasty, right? Cao Mengde said, 'How can only Du Kang relieve worries?' In my opinion, this Xinfeng Wine can also relieve worries. ”
When you have enough food and wine, you can talk a lot.
Li Ke's handsome face was stained red by the alcohol, and he sighed softly and said: "Being drunk will relieve a thousand worries, but waking up will make you even more sad..."
His words were full of frustration and anger.
Uncle Cen Wen smiled bitterly, remained silent, and drank slowly.
Li Siwen, a very nervous guy, turned a deaf ear to what was said during the dinner. He ate and drank without even raising his head while snoring.
Fang Jun could understand Li Ke's mood.
He was born into a noble family of the Emperor, and was extremely intelligent and talented. Naturally, he was proud and arrogant, and must have some ambitions in his mind.
It's a pity that fate lamented that he was only ranked third. The position of holding the world in hand and guiding the country is always hopeless. Anyone would be a little unwilling.
After finally leaving the cabinet and setting up a government, the governor An Sui Wen Mian restored the military affairs of the five states and was appointed the governor of Anzhou. Just as he was about to show his father what he had done, he was impeached by the censor and dismissed from office and returned to Beijing.
Caught up in this snowstorm, he was ordered by the emperor to patrol Xinfeng counties. Seeing countless people dying of cold and hunger without food and clothing, how could Li Ke remain indifferent?
This Xinfeng is at the foot of the sky, the land of Kinki, which tightly controls the passage from the Wei River to Chang'an from the Kanto lands. Wealth is concentrated, so most of the major families have branches here, and their influence is intertwined and extremely complicated.
Is the new rich or not? It is indeed very F. From the county to the Weishui River, there are many shops, row upon row of docks, and luxury houses and compounds are located next to each other. The wealth level is definitely among the top three in Guanzhong.
However, the taxes Xinfeng collects every year are at the bottom of the Guanzhong counties.
The reason is that most of the hugely profitable industries in the county are monopolized by major families. These families are either qualified for tax exemption or refuse to pay taxes because of their high position and power.
When Li Ke first arrived here, he was ambitious and wanted to do something big to solve the plight of the victims.
However, the county's finances had already been overdrawn due to the snowstorm and were on the verge of bankruptcy. The only way to raise money and food was to raise donations. However, he went door to door and talked nonsense, but he did not raise much money in food. This was all given by others in the name of the prince's boss. ……
Seeing the vigorous efforts of King Wei Li Tai to deal with the disaster, his own side was really struggling. How could Li Ke not be depressed?
If you say that Li Ke is not as good as Li Tai, you won't admit it even if you beat him to death!
Li Ke took a sip of wine and sighed, which made Fang Jun depressed...
"So what? Your Highness is troubled?" Fang Jun doesn't care about government affairs. Those things have nothing to do with him. The obsession with climbing up in his previous life has long since disappeared. His biggest wish in this life is to be a happy little landowner.
Li Ke looked at Fang Jun and said to himself that he didn't know if he was really stupid or pretending to be stupid, but seeing that he was carefree and carefree all day long, doing whatever he wanted and hitting whoever he wanted, it didn't matter. A kind of happiness.
Then he slowly spoke out his thoughts.
Uncle Cen Wen smiled bitterly and said: "Although he is a new official, the big families in this city don't take him seriously at all. Looking at the refugees and victims outside the city, Mo feels as if he is burning inside and out, but There is nothing we can do, there is nothing we can do!”
It was originally hoped that His Highness King Wu's personal visit to Xinfeng would scare the wealthy families into donating some money and food for disaster relief, but who knew that His Highness came and those families also donated, but such a small amount of money and food was not enough to stuff the teeth of the victims. !
These locusts lying on the empire's body and sucking blood have no humanity at all. They only have interests in their eyes. They are simply hateful and hateful to the extreme!
Fang Jun finally understood. He scratched his dizzy head, thought for a while, and said, "There is a way..."
Li Ke almost spit out the wine he drank in his mouth, and smiled bitterly in his heart: Pull him down, your second roommate is a good fighter, I want you to come up with a solution? Haha...Uncle Cen Wen was also speechless. Your second roommate has no brain at all, okay?
(End of chapter)