"What do the people usually eat?" Xiong Huai asked.

The reason why I asked this was because in the great battle just now, Xiong Huai found that most of the military food of Chu was corn, and Xiong Huai had doubts in his heart at that time.

Coupled with the memory of his predecessor, he ate rice, but the focus of the court was corn.

This is not only the case in Chu, but also in other countries.

When Xiong Huai was in the barracks, he had a plan, and now it was time to implement it.

Qu Yuan replied: "It is fed on rice millet, followed by wheat and soybean. ”

Xiong Huai nodded, as the king of Chu, he also knew something about this situation.

In the state of Chu, the people in the Jianghan and Huaishui areas mainly planted corn, and when the Chu State developed the Dongting area, it was unusual, abandoning corn and planting rice, and now the surplus grain in Changsha is all rice.

The rations of the king of Chu were also finely selected rice from Changsha.

Therefore, for the state of Chu, the main grains are millet and rice.

Wheat and soybeans are just a supplement to the staple food.

As for why wheat and soybeans have not become people's staple food, it is because the current cooking method is steaming, wheat and beans are difficult to cook, even after mashing and cooking, the taste is also very poor.

Of course, a little different from the situation of the Chu State, soybeans in the northern countries, replacing the rice of the Chu State, became the existence second only to corn, and now it is becoming more and more important.

As for wheat...

If it weren't for the ancient black technology of winter wheat, once a famine occurs, wheat can be quickly replanted to avoid large-scale famine events, and I am afraid that the status of wheat will be even lower.

It is precisely because of the black technology of winter wheat that countries are calling on people to plant winter wheat, but the taste of wheat, coupled with the degree of drought tolerance, is not as good as corn, and it needs to be carefully cared for, resulting in difficult promotion, and it has always been a spare tire other than staple food.

As for the wheat from the spare tire, it has to rely on another innovation, that is, stone grinding.

"Xianqing, as far as the widow knows, now all the northern countries are feeding on millet mushrooms." Xiong Huai squinted his eyes and smiled.

Qu Yuan responded: "That's right, in the northern countries, they eat millet on the top and corn on the bottom. ”

"Wheat rice is a cheap thing!" Xiong Huai confirmed again.

Qu Yuan didn't know why, nodded and said: "That's right, if there is no famine and no food, the people of all countries will generally not eat wheat rice. ”

Xiong Huai asked, "Is there wheat powder in the world now?" ”

Qu Yuan shook his head, thought for a moment, and said, "You can mash the wheat with a mortar." ”

"Mash it with a mortar." Xiong Huai was stunned.

It's a viable stupid approach.

This method of scooping rice is definitely time-consuming and laborious, and it is difficult to see results, ordinary people will not do it at all, and the princes and nobles do not eat wheat rice at all.

But this approach has opened Xiong Huai's mind, one that weakens other countries.

"Xianqing later." Thinking of this, Xiong Huai said a word to Qu Yuan, and then looked at the Taiguan Cai He, who was still on the side, and said: "Cook a bowl of wheat rice, and then someone mash the wheat rice with a spoon, the more broken the better, the widow is of great use." ”

"Yui." Cai He responded.

After Cai He left, Xiong Huai said to Li Qiu: "Pass the order, let Gong Yin come to see the widow." ”

"Yui."

Then Xiong Huai remembered that the Mo family was also a famous craftsman, and continued: "Let the doctor come to see the widow even if he has teeth." ”

"Yui." Li Qiu saluted again.

After a while, Cai He came over with two attendants carrying plates.

One of them had a bowl of cooked wheat rice on his plate, and on the other, there were two bowls, one large and one small, with the large bowl containing grained wheat and the small bowl containing wheat flour.

Cai He saluted and said, "Your Majesty, the minister has brought wheat rice and mortar-made wheat rice. ”

Xiong Huai nodded and said, "Submit it." ”

The attendant placed three bowls in front of the king of Chu.

Xiong Huai first scooped out a mouthful of wheat rice with a spoon, and then sent it to his mouth.

Seeing this, Qu Yuan was shocked.

Is the king of Chu advocating wheat rice first?

But how could the wheat rice used for emergency use enter the mouth of the king of Chu, Qu Yuan immediately persuaded him: "King, my Chu country has no worries about food shortage, and there is no need for the king to be like this." ”

Xiong Huai shook his head and said, "It's okay, the widow just wants to taste it." ”

As he spoke, he put the wheat rice into his mouth

After the mouth, it is a little hard and rough, and compared to the soft and delicious rice, it cannot be compared to the heaven and the earth.

The wheat grains were chewed in the mouth for a long time before they were chewed.

After swallowing it, Xiong Huai sighed: "The wheat rice is indeed unpalatable, no wonder it is not recognized by the people." ”

Then, Xiong Huai crossed the small bowl of granular wheat, directly grabbed a handful of wheat flour with his hand, and pinched it with his hand, it felt good, it was already powdery, and it could be called flour.

Xiong Huai put down the flour and asked Cai He, "Taiguan, is this flour easy to obtain?" ”

"Flour?" Cai He was stunned, and the king of Chu invented a new term, calling wheat flour flour, is there a deep meaning in this?

Cai He replied while thinking: "King, it is not easy to obtain flour. The minister was worried that the king was in urgent need of flour, so he ordered nearly 30 people to scoop rice at the same time, and then selected some small grains of wheat, and ordered several people to grind them into powder with small mortars, and dedicated them to the king. ”

"Omortar?" Xiong Huai remembered the spare medicine mortar in the kitchen of the later family.

This stuff is used to crush into powder, and although the amount is small each time, it is indeed feasible.

Xiong Huai smiled: "Okay, if you can be anxious, this matter will be counted as your merit and ten gold." ”

Cai He was overjoyed when he heard this, and thanked him: "The minister thanks the king for the reward." ”

Seeing Cai He get up, Xiong Huai continued: "Send more people to continue to make flour, before the sun sets today, the widow wants twenty catties of flour." ”

"When the flour is ready, it is divided into 20 portions, each of which is mixed with a different proportion of water and then steamed."

Hearing that the King of Chu was going to make twenty catties of flour before the sun set, Cai He looked sad and said: "King, it is difficult to make flour, and the ministers have insufficient personnel in their hands, so I am afraid it will be difficult to complete the king's order before sunset." ”

Xiong Huai glanced at Cai He and said to Li Qiu: "Si Gong, transfer personnel from other places in the palace, and you must drive out twenty catties of flour." ”

"Yui." Li Qiu responded.

Seeing this, Qu Yuan's face was a little hesitant and said: "King, even if flour is far easier to eat than wheat rice, it is difficult to make, and I am afraid it will be extremely difficult to promote, and it will only be reduced to a luxury for nobles to eat." ”

Xiong Huai nodded and said, "The widow understands, that's why the Gong Yin and the doctor came." ”

Gong Yin Zhaoju was an official in charge of the construction of the project, and he had a large number of craftsmen in his hands.

And Doctor Shang is already the leader of Chu Mo, and the Mo family is also good at creating tools.

Qu Yuan understood that the king of Chu wanted to use the way to obtain flour easily from craftsmen.

Soon after, Zhao Ju and Ji Ya arrived.

After the ceremony.

Xiong Huai pointed to the flour and said, "Two virtuous people, today the widow got a new thing, which is this kind of flour, which is made from wheat and rice. ”

Zhao Ju and Ji Yan looked at the flour, each thinking about it, and for a while they didn't know what King Chu meant.