Zhao Kuangyin's scientific interpretation of "red light around the room" when he was born.

It was the early night of March 16 in the second year of Emperor Mingzong of the Later Tang Dynasty, and Luoyang, the capital of the Later Tang Dynasty, was like a half-dead snake, coiling lifelessly in the quiet mountain col. The occasional dog barking or a doll's cry can be heard in the deep alleys, showing signs of life and adding to the dreary atmosphere.

Suddenly, someone shouted: "Look, it's on fire, it's on fire!"

"Really, it seems to be a horse camp!"

"Oops, it's getting bigger and bigger!"

......

In an instant, the sound of people opening doors, opening windows, running, dogs barking, and children's cries, mixed with the sound of crackling houses and burning explosions, resounded, breaking the silence of the first night.

The fire was a mansion in the Jiama camp, and the owner was called Zhao Hongyin, who was the commander of the former forbidden army in the Later Tang Palace.

Zhao Hongyin's ancestral residence in Zhuo County is the home of the eunuchs for generations. Zhao Hongyin's great-grandfather Zhao Jun served in the Tang Dynasty as Yongqing, Wen'an, and Youdu Ling; his grandfather Zhao Ting served as the Imperial Historian; and his father, Zhao Jing, successively served as the assassin of Yingzhou, Jizhou, and Zhuozhou.

Zhao Hongyin originally served under the banner of Wang Rong, the king of Zhao, and saw that the Jin king Li Cunmiao was stronger and stronger, so he fired Wang Rong squid, took refuge in Li Cunmiao, and helped him overthrow the Houliang founded by Zhu Wen, became the founding hero of the Later Tang Dynasty, and got the important position of the commander of the forbidden army in front of the palace.

"The guards of the Son of Heaven are to guard the Beijing Division, prepare for the conquest, and call the forbidden army." The commander of the forbidden army in front of the palace commanded the forbidden army and the horse army, which was equivalent to a military commander position under the commander-in-chief of the field army in later generations.

The emperors of the five generations were all warlords, and they seized the throne with the help of their own pro-army. "In this world, the son of heaven is the ear of the strong soldiers and strong horses!" Zhao Hongyin can be one of the commanders of the emperor's army, which shows the emperor's respect and trust in him.

What's more, the level of status and the size of the face are not completely determined by rank, and the prime minister's personal maids, the state and county officials, also have to be in trouble, and the emperor's little eunuch who carries the urinal may not dare to offend; the prefect's entourage and followers may also have more energy in personnel relations than the government officials and the government judges. Zhao Hongyin is in an important position, holding more than 20,000 elite horse troops, and he is a close person who often meets with the emperor, and his status and energy in the officialdom can be imagined.

Zhao Hongyin married his wife Du, who was the sister of Du Ergong. Du Shi once gave birth to a daughter, but died soon after, and later gave birth to another son, named "Kuangji", but before he was a year old, he died of illness.

As a high-ranking official, he has enough money and wealth, but he is not prosperous, and Zhao Hongyin is very anxious. Gao Xiang burned a few baskets, the Bodhisattva worshiped thousands of times, and finally looked forward to Du Shi being pregnant again, of course he attached great importance to it.

Since Du's pregnancy, Zhao Hongyin has been equipped with eight girls who will not leave the guards, even if they are relieved, some people will sit on the toilet. He still felt that it was not enough, so he was equipped with four kaki to sing and play the piano for the Du family, and two old mothers to chat and tell jokes for the Du family. In terms of food, he did his best, that is, out-of-season fruits and vegetables that could not be bought in the market, and he paid a lot of money to buy the borrowing order for planting in the greenhouse and storing in the ice cellar under the management of the field, and he never stopped.

In order to show his affection and make his wife eat comfortably, he often cooks by himself and learns to cook various strange dishes under the guidance of the chef. What air-dried chicken, drunken shrimp, dragon beard and phoenix feet, roast duck paws, live donkey meat, iron plate turtle, three squeaks, everything he has heard of and can find, no matter how difficult it is, he will do it.

Pregnancy begins in January, February begins with ointment, March begins with cells, April is formed, May is active, June muscles and bones are erect, hair is generated in July, viscera is in August, grain qi enters the stomach in September, and the gods are prepared in October. It will be produced at the end of the day.

Seeing that Du Shi was more than nine months pregnant, her belly was growing day by day, and she was about to give birth, Zhao Hongyin was even more careful.

On this day, Zhao Hongyin hastily coped with an errand in the yazhong for a while, and then came back in a hurry, and heard that Du Shi wanted to eat the live fish he made, so he asked people to choose a Yellow River carp weighing more than two catties in the pool and cook it in the kitchen himself.

Deep-fried live carp should first be boiled in the oil pan and ready to be fried at any time; then the live carp should be quickly scaled, the two sides of the slanted knife flowers should be opened, rinsed with water, and then the lower part of the gills should be powdered; the fish head should be wet in cold water with a clean new towel and wrapped in the fish head; the fish head should be grasped with one hand, the fish tail should be pinched with the other hand, and fried in the oil pan; when the fish body is standing, the fish tail should be loosened, and then all the gills below the fish will be fried until the outside is crispy.

At the same time of frying fish, turn on the fire head, start the wok, leave the bottom oil; after heating, boil the sweet and sour sauce according to the ratio of two sugars and one vinegar; you can add a small amount of water to dilute it, and then thicken it with wet starch; add an appropriate amount of salt to make it achieve the appropriate taste of salty pressure sour, sour pressure sweet.

After frying the fish, remove the towel that wraps the fish head, and immediately pour sweet and sour sauce, and when the hot fish and hot sauce meet, it can be served immediately.

Because the carp's head is wrapped in a wet towel, only the body is immersed in a boiling oil pan to quickly fry and mature, and immediately served on the table to share the fish body, the poor fish head nerves are still there, the mouth is closed one by one, staring at you with watery eyes, as if you are crying sadly, telling helplessness, and questioning the value and meaning of life!

Rejoicing in the pain of one animal is why another animal, man, loves this dish so much!

The key point of making this dish is "fast", and the raw hands must think about the steps in advance and operate quickly, but Zhao Hongyin has a set of officialdom, and cooking dishes is a little clumsy. In order to please his wife, he actually wanted to show his attention to the child in his wife's womb, although he had cooked many times, but the cooking procedures of the dishes he cooked were not very strict in terms of timing. Although there was still a chef on the side to guide him this time, Zhao Hongyin did a similar job in the first few steps, but when he grabbed the head and tail of the fish, fried the fish body, wrapped the fish head with a wet towel, and went to fry the whole body of the fish again, he panicked.

He stood by the pot, the oil in the pot was reaching a high temperature, and the tumbling heat wave was rushing to his face, and the bottom of the fish's head was fried, and the heat spread to the fish's head, which was also very hot. The chef is skilled and well-nourished, grabbing the head of the fish and quickly dipping the body of the fish in boiling oil, without waiting for the fish to react, the body has been fried. And Zhao Hongyin felt that the boiling oil in the pot was hot, and he had already twisted his head and slumped over, and when he grabbed the fish head and soaked it in the boiling oil, his hands were burned and trembling, and the speed was of course much slower. The carp was still alive, and the moment its tail was dipped in boiling oil, the hot oil burst out with a vigorous flick, and when it touched the tongue of fire from the stove door, it was like an explosive explosion, and it caught fire.

The chef is experienced, and in an emergency, he flew up and grabbed the insulated cotton mattress on the steamed bun basket and wanted to cover it on the pot, but just turned around and shook it off, Zhao Hongyin was in pain in a panic, his hand trembled, and the fish "snapped" and smashed into the pot again, the hot oil splashed again, and the fire rose to the sky.

Zhao Hongyin's cooking skills are not good, but his martial arts are not low, and he reacts quickly when he is in danger. He jumped out of the window, and the poor cook and the two cooks had no time to run away, and were engulfed in flames.

Seeing the fire spreading downwind, Zhao Hongyin ordered the housekeeper to direct the firefighting, and ran straight to Du's room.

Du Shi was waiting for the braised live carp made by her husband, but the live carp did not wait, but waited for a fire to exclaim.

She saw the smoke billowing and the fire shining into the house through the cracks in the windows and doors, flickering and red, and she didn't ask if the fire there could burn herself, but panicked and ordered the girl to hurry up and get her out.

Those girls were already frightened and stupid, how could they have any opinions? After listening to the master's order, they dragged their arms and legs, and carried Du Shi to run out of the door.

As soon as the girls and ants pulled Du Shi to the door like grasshoppers, Du Shi felt a sharp pain in his abdomen, and shouted "Alas, sighs, yo".

The girl who had a solution saw Du Shi bleeding from her legs, and shouted: "Grandma is going to give birth!"

Du Shi was just over nine months pregnant, and more than 20 days away from the normal labor period, and the girl's cry brought panic to the house no less than the raging fire.

For more information, see the next episode: ichthyosis and jaundice.