Chapter 373 Banquet in Shangyu
Seeing Liu Feng leading the charge in the distance, with the armor behind him like a forest, and the cold light dazzling him, Wei Teng admired Wu Fan in his heart to the point of admiration.
As early as a few days ago, Wu Fan made a prediction.
There should be purple energy in Shangyu!
As a result, within a few days, Liu Feng announced that he was traveling to the county, and his first stop was Shangyu.
It's really amazing.
After seeing Jia Kui leading the army generals, county officials, and local nobles such as Wu Fan and Wei Teng, Liu Feng immediately dismounted and walked over surrounded by his guards led by Xu Chu. There are two relatively young faces in the bodyguard team, one is Lu Meng who has just turned 20, and the other is Ling Tong who has just turned ten.
After the Battle of Qiantang, Liu Feng took Ling Tong and Lu Meng as personal guards and followers, which made Ling Cao, Yuan Xiong, and Deng Dang very happy.
Now that Liu Feng is traveling, they naturally have to follow him.
"I will see you, General."
Jia Kui was the leader, and dozens of people behind him prostrated themselves.
Originally, Shangyu County alone had more than this number of powerful nobles, but now that Jia Kui's military academy and the county's magistrates, chief registrars and other officials were only included in this number, it can be seen that the local powerful nobles in Bei Kuaiji had lost their power. How big.
Wu Fan and Wei Teng also knelt on the ground. Wu Fan peeked at Liu Feng and felt that Liu Feng was full of heaven, broad-faced and thick-eared, and extremely heroic.
At this moment, Liu Feng turned his gaze, his eyes bright and restrained.
When the two sides locked eyes, Wu Fan was startled and quickly lowered his head.
"Liang Dao, why should this happen between you and me?"
Liu Feng pretended to be unhappy, but he personally stepped forward to help Jia Kui up.
Wu Fan, Wei Teng and other local nobles were all shocked, and Wu Fan and Wei Teng were even more delighted.
Because they took the initiative and handed over tens of thousands of acres of land to the county government, Jia Kui admired them very much and promoted them directly to the county government, with Wei Teng as the chief clerk and Wu Fan as the household secretary. He even entrusted the two of them with important responsibilities and participated in political affairs.
Wu Fan and Wei Teng also regarded Jia Kui as their benefactor and served them wholeheartedly.
At this time, seeing that Jia Kui had won Liu Feng's trust, it was no wonder that they were secretly happy.
Under Jia Kui's leadership, Liu Feng successfully settled in Shangyu County.
After Liu Feng settled in, the security of Shangyu County was taken over by Xu Chu, while Jia Kui had moved out of the county a day earlier and lived in the compound opposite the county.
"Didn't I say in my letter that you should not bother yourself?"
After entering the hall, Liu Feng reprimanded Jia Kui displeasedly and said, "Did I wrong you by asking you to live with me?"
Jia Kui was happy and undaunted. Although he lowered his head to apologize, he made it clear that he would come back next time.
Liu Feng could only smile and shake his head. After having been in contact with Jia Kui for a long time, he really started to doubt whether Jia Chong was his son.
The personalities of these two people are completely opposite, and the ending is really too dramatic.
As we all know, Jia Kui's loyalty to Cao Wei is unquestionable, even Cao Pi and Cao Rui, who do not like him, admit this.
But neither Cao Pi nor Cao Rui liked Jia Kui very much.
When Cao Cao died of illness, it was Jia Kui who stood up and risked his life to persuade Cao Zhang to give up the throne. However, Cao Pi respected Jia Kui more than being close to him and always kept Jia Kui out.
One characteristic of Cao Wei's regime is that under normal circumstances, the chief governors of the three war zones are the top foreign ministers, followed by the central government officials, and finally the foreign ministers.
In fact, before the decline of the Cao Wei clan, foreign ministers were not qualified to serve as governors of the three major war zones. With Sima Yi's ability, he would not have any chance to touch the three major wars before Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu, the second generation of Cao, died. The authority of the district governor.
Zhang Liao painted himself into a golden legend on the great emperor, but he was still crushed by the flesh-and-blood general Xiahou Dun.
Of course, in terms of qualifications and merits, Xiahou Dun is indeed qualified, and even Zhang Liao is convinced by him. But from a purely military perspective, Xiahou Dun could not compare to Zhang Liao's ability.
After Xiahou Dun returned to Luoyang, Zhang Liao felt even more aggrieved.
On the surface, he seemed to be favored by Cao Pi, but he still failed to correct Zhang Liao, and instead sent Cao Xiu to take over.
How can Cao Xiu be compared with Zhang Liao?
It can be seen that the value of the official position of governor of the three major war zones of Cao and Wei is far beyond the comparison of the three gongs and nine ministers.
If there is an official position that can surpass the Governor-General, it is probably only Cao Shuang, the general of Wei who was appointed during the abnormal period after Cao Rui's death. Even Sima Yi's official position at that time cannot be counted.
Because it was Sima Yi who was great, not his official position.
Jia Kui was both civil and military, and had the ability to support the dragon, but he could only be the lowest official from another state, and could not even join the Jiuqing. This shows how cold Cao Wei was towards Jia Kui.
There are clear records even in official history.
Cao Xiu had always been at odds with Jia Kui due to his personality. Cao Pi was once shocked by Jia Kui's ability and wanted to grant Jia Kui the Talisman Festival.
This was an extremely critical opportunity for Jia Kui, and this was also because the Cao Wei clan could no longer find candidates for the three theaters at that time.
At that time, Cao Xiu was located in the Hefei War Zone, Cao Zhen was located in the Guanzhong War Zone, and there was really no clan in the Jingzhou War Zone with enough ability and reputation to serve as the governor.
Cao Pi wanted to promote Jia Kui at that time, but was stopped by Cao Xiujin's slander, and finally left three words: "Emperor Nai Zhi".
Cao Pi's son Cao Rui was even more understanding. He only said "yes, yes, yes" to Jia Kui. Cao Rui was very satisfied and praised everything Jia Kui played, and then put it away.
Jia Kui has a grand strategy against Wu, which is very feasible and strategic. It is no exaggeration to say that once Cao Rui adopts this suggestion, Soochow's demise may be decades earlier.
The advantages brought by this strategic height, unless Lu Xun can achieve brilliant results like the Battle of Shiting every time, can Soochow be preserved. Otherwise, let alone defeat, even if he does not win enough, he will be destroyed. .
In the battle against Wu, Jia Kui was keenly aware of the disadvantage of Soochow's side, which was the middle road, which was the Lujiang area going south along the line of Dabie Mountain.
Cao Wei attacked the Jiangdong area of Soochow, and the elites of Soochow's Jingzhou theater could go down the river to reinforce Jiangdong and join forces to fight against the Northern Army. And if Cao Wei attacks the Jingzhou Theater in Soochow, then the elites from the Jiangdong Theater will be able to go up the Shuo River to reinforce the Jingzhou Theater in time.
Because of the existence of the Yangtze River, their reinforcements were extremely fast. On the contrary, Cao Wei's side was cut into two war zones by the Dabie Mountains. It was difficult to coordinate with each other and could only fight alone.
After Jia Kui discovered this, he immediately informed Cao Rui, hoping to build a canal in Yuzhou to connect the many rivers in Yuzhou with the Yangtze River. The price is that the canal is four hundred miles long and the project is very huge. This is one of the reasons why Cao Rui refused.
But Cao Rui ignored a very important point, that is, Jia Kui had already built a 200-mile canal in Yuzhou in just a few years.
With careful planning, it will only take five to ten years to complete this 400-mile river channel. Once this canal is opened to navigation, Cao Wei's Yuzhou Theater and Hefei Theater will be immediately connected.
As a result, Soochow immediately passively opened a new Yuzhou front. With the Yuzhou front, Soochow's Jiangdong and Jingzhou theaters were immediately separated and could no longer reinforce each other as before.
Cao Wei's Yuzhou front was like an artificial Dabie Mountain, which cut off the linkage of the Yangtze River, making it impossible for the two theaters in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in Soochow to look at each other, and could no longer maneuver their troops as they pleased.
In contrast, Cao Wei's three war zones became interconnected, which was a god-level strategy that killed three birds with one stone. As a result, Cao Rui's attitude towards this matter was just three words: "The emperor is kind", and then nothing happened.
What you said is very good and right. Don't say it next time.
After praising Jia Kui, Cao Rui spent a lot of money, silk and weapons to support Cao Xiu in the Battle of Shiting.
In this battle, Cao Xiu's army was not wiped out, all thanks to Jia Kui's thousands of miles of reinforcements.
As a result, after he got out of trouble, he shamelessly blamed Jia Kui for his lack of reinforcements. He even humiliated Jia Kui on the spot and asked him to help him pick up the guard of honor. He complained directly to Cao Rui and even impeached the other party.
In the end, Cao Rui chose to reconcile with Xini, and the consequence of the reconciliation was that Jia Kui was angered to death by Cao Xiu, while Cao Xiu was so embarrassed by Cao Rui that he died of a sore attack.
Compared with Jia Kui, Jia Chong was only loyal to two people. One was Sima Shi. His ability and means overwhelmed Jia Chong in all aspects, forcing Jia Chong not to be disloyal.
The other was Guo Huai's niece, who also crushed Jia Chong in every possible way and killed Jia Chong's two sons. However, he was determined to retaliate, but he didn't even dare to fart, and even secretly hid in the hut when he was sad. .
The most amazing thing is that these two sons were both biological children of Guo Huai's niece, and they both starved to death because their wet nurse was killed.
As for Sima Zhao and Sima Yan, they were deceived by Jia Chong countless times. Apart from killing Cao Mao in formation, they really couldn't find any other sign of loyalty.
After communicating with Jia Kui about government affairs, Liu Feng took a rest.
Jia Kui was fine. Wu Fan and Wei Teng were quite disappointed. They originally wanted to take the opportunity to show off in front of Liu Feng in order to win Liu Feng's attention.
Wu Fan and Wei Teng's disappointment was so obvious that even Jia Kui could see it clearly.
Originally, Jia Kui didn't bother to pay attention to them because of his personality, but now the two of them have really helped Jia Kui a lot, and they are also very dedicated to their work.
After thinking for a while, Jia Kui decided to appease them.
"You don't have to be like this. Zhengnan is a fair man, with clear rewards and punishments."
Jia Kui said to Wu Fan and Wei Teng: "I have already reported the achievements of you two to conquer the south. How can a man do things just for fame and fortune?"
Wu Fan and Wei Teng have also gotten to know Jia Kui's character these days, especially Wu Fan, who has a better understanding of each other.
He immediately gave Wei Teng a wink, and all bowed down and said: "The words of the county magistrate are thought-provoking, but we are shallow."
Jia Kui nodded with satisfaction, turned and left.
"Brother Wen Ze, this..."
As soon as Jia Kui left, Wei Teng looked at Wu Fan with an ugly expression.
Wu Fan pondered for a moment and said resolutely: "Brother Zhou Lin, we have no way out. Besides, I just secretly observed Zheng Nanfa, and he is a very noble person. Besides..."
Wei Teng's eyes lit up and he couldn't help but ask: "Besides what?"
Wu Fan showed a smile: "Besides, in our county now, besides Yu Zhongxiang and He Gongmiao, who else is as famous as Brother Zhou Lin? Mr. Jia County is a close and beloved general in Zhengnan. From today's perspective, Moreover, we are highly regarded by Zhengnan. We have gained the trust of Lord Jia, so are we still afraid that we will not have the chance to enter the Eye of Zhengnan?”
After Wei Teng heard this, he thought deeply for a moment and felt that what Wu Fan said made sense.
So, he nodded heavily: "Then according to Brother Wenze's words, what should we do now?"
Wu Fan chuckled and said: "Just wait and see!"
Wu Fan and Wei Teng had a very upright attitude and were very patient.
However, Liu Feng did not keep them waiting for long. On the fifth day after arriving in Shangyu, he held a banquet in the county house to entertain Wu Fan, Wei Teng and other powerful Shangyu nobles.
Everyone happily went to the banquet and immediately discovered some differences.
In this banquet, in addition to the regular dishes, there were also many special dishes.
These dishes are bright and golden, fragrant and appetizing.
On the table, there are two small cups on the left and right, which contain white crystals, which are snow salt and frosting sugar as condiments.
The powerful nobles in Kuaiji behaved like rustics, feeling that they had tasted such delicious food for the first time in their lives.
It’s no wonder that they perform like this. Today’s table salt relies entirely on natural high-quality mineral salt to achieve a salty and fresh taste, with little bitterness.
Most table salt is actually yellow-brown bitter salt.
Not to mention sugar, sweetness is the delicacy that all humans strive for, and China is extremely lucky, because there are no sugar crops in the Central Plains, but it happened to have the only two sugar-producing crops very early.
During the reign of King Xuan of the Western Zhou Dynasty, sugarcane was introduced from India to Indochina, and then entered southern China via Jiaozhi. Another major crop, sugar beet, was introduced to northwest China via the Silk Road from the Arabian Peninsula via Persia during the Wei and Jin Dynasties in the 5th century AD, and began to expand to the Central Plains and the South.
In ancient China, beets were called "忝菜", also known as Junda vegetables, flame vegetables, etc.
In the 6th century AD, Tao Hongjing, a native of the Liang Dynasty in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, wrote "Bielu of Famous Doctors". It was recorded in "Bielu of Famous Doctors" that "the taste of beetroot is sweet and bitter, and it is very cold. It strengthens heat and relieves wind-heat poison." It can be seen that at that time, beets had been used in the Yangtze and Yellow River basins. People use it as medicine to treat diseases or as a vegetable.
With beets and sugar cane, two crops that can produce sugar, China has never been short of sugar, but it lacks sugar production methods and filtering technology.
Liu Feng planted a lot of sugar cane and sugar beets in Guangling County in southern Xuzhou, effectively increasing sugar production. Now that Jiangdong has been occupied, it is time to use these delicacies to harvest the stock wealth of Jiangdong's wealthy families.
"What do you think of today's luncheon? Are you satisfied?"
At the end of the banquet, everyone was very happy. After hearing Liu Feng's question, they all praised him in unison.
Wu Fan tentatively said: "Today's food is unique. It is actually the first time Fan has tasted it in his life. I dare to ask Zheng Nan where he got the chef."
Liu Feng glanced at Wu Fan. This man really knew how to talk. No wonder he made the emperor look so comfortable in the original time and space. He almost got the title of a marquis just by relying on his divination skills. He almost even decided on the title.
Liu Feng replied with a smile: "I made it when I had nothing to do."
Wu Fan, Wei Teng and others were all surprised. Before the Song Dynasty, the Chinese people's diet was actually very simple, with very few delicacies and only three main categories of condiments, namely salt, wine and plums.
It was not until the Wei, Jin, Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms periods that sauces began to be used on a large scale to assist seasoning.
Even in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, the diet was an order of magnitude worse than that of the weak Song Dynasty.
One of the important gaps is the explosion in edible oil production.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, even the aristocratic class could not eat fat regularly, and there were no serious iron pots, so there was no such thing as cooking.
What Liu Feng entertained everyone this time was Xuzhou’s new flagship product—edible oil.
(End of chapter)