Recently, the weather has become hotter and hotter, and Aunt Fu and Aunt Xi in Mongolia have begun to hold the "Furi" Festival.

From the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Qin and Han dynasties, Furi was once one of the most important festivals in our country, which belonged to the imperial court and the people needed to hold sacrificial activities. In the ancients, the dog days of summer were regarded as a festival, often referred to as the "Fu Ri", and the Fu Sun Festival should roughly be counted from the first day of the first volt day. Dog days, roughly divided into the beginning, middle and end, a total of about 45 days.

"In June, the soup cake is called to avoid evil." Evil, sickness and filth also. Futian flies have many bacteria, unclean diet, and are prone to intestinal diseases, while "soup cakes" are boiled in boiling water and eaten while hot, which may be the least polluted food in ancient Futian, which will greatly reduce the occurrence of diseases. The patient has poor immunity, so of course he must eat the cleanest food.

Cake is a general term for ancient pasta in China, and pasta with soup is collectively referred to as soup cake. Soup cakes include today's noodles, noodles, dumplings, wontons, and rice balls. Most of the soup cakes in the pre-Qin period referred to noodles, which is why for thousands of years, noodles were often used in serving the meals of patients.

China's food culture can be described as broad and profound, with a long history, and it has been quite developed in the pre-Qin period. Confucius once said: "You don't get tired of eating, and you don't get tired of being fine." Lao Tzu even used cooking in the Tao Te Ching as a metaphor for governing the country: "Governing a big country is like cooking a small fresh."

Today is the first day of Furi, take a look at the food of the pre-Qin period:

The first dish: Qishan Zhenzi noodles, with the name of "Qishan", naturally comes from Guanzhong, and is a special noodle dish of the Qin people. It means "diced meat", but the noodles are also mixed with other ingredients: egg skin, radish, garlic sprouts, and so on. It has a long history and is said to have been spread since the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

The second course: Taihu Lake whole roasted fish. This dish comes from the state of Wu and is related to a famous assassination incident in the Spring and Autumn Period. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Wu Zixu wanted to help the prince of Wu to seize the throne, but the Wu princes at that time were well guarded and had no chance to attack. Wu Zixu found Zhuan Zhu and planned to assassinate him. He went to the Taihu Lake office, a famous chef at that time, to learn how to cook fish. Later, when Gongziguang invited Wu Wangyi to a banquet, he took the fish intestine sword hidden in the belly of the fish in the name of offering fish, and successfully assassinated Wu Wangyi in one fell swoop. This is the story of the famous "Assassin of the King" that has been passed down to future generations. And the fish that is made by the whole is called the whole roasted fish, and it has been passed down to the present.

The third course: Fish belly and mutton. This dish comes from the Qi country, and it is said that it was created by Yi Ya in the Spring and Autumn Period, and it is the famous chef who once cooked and presented Qi Huan Gong. Although his character was spurned by later generations, he was indeed a master in terms of cooking skills, and was even regarded as an ancestor by later generations of chefs. And this fish belly Tibetan mutton is made by using fish and mutton together, matching each other, and roasting. It is said that the word "fresh" is written as three "fish", and the fish is the most fresh, and the three "fish" are together, and its freshness can be imagined. As soon as the mutton in the belly of the fish is out, it is more delicious than the fish, and the writing of the word "fresh" has slowly become today's "fish" and "sheep".

Fourth course: Taigong red stewed chicken. This dish is also from the Qi country. Taigong naturally refers to Jiang Taigong Lu Shang. It is rumored that after King Wu conquered Shang, Jiang Taigong was named the monarch of Qi, and he led his men and horses to Yingqiu to build the capital. After a long journey on the road, the soldiers were exhausted and hungry. In the evening, they camped not far from the camp hill to rest, and prepared to rush to the camp hill the next day. His subordinates caught a few chickens, and Jiang Taigong stewed the chickens and the herbs he brought with him, but he didn't expect the aroma to be fragrant, and the soldiers were in great spirits after eating, so Jiang Taigong ordered the men and horses to hurry overnight. When the army arrived at Zishui at dawn, they saw that the people of Laiguo were also preparing to cross the river to Yingqiu. This Lai country was originally an ancient country of Dongyi, so he naturally did not want to let Jiang Taigong build a country at his doorstep. So the two sides opened their positions and prepared for a fight. Who is Taigong? The command of the battle was calm and calm, coupled with the auxiliary bonus of the stewed chicken, the soldiers were high-spirited, and the enemy was defeated in one fell swoop, and the state of Qi was established. Later, the soldiers named this dish "Taigong Red Braised Chicken", so that "Red Braised Chicken" spread in Qi Kingdom.

But in retrospect, Meng Yi felt that this dish was very suspicious! Isn't Taigong's herb adulterated with stimulants or something? Referring to the Battle of Muye in which King Wu fell, 45,000 Zhou people defeated 700,000 slave soldiers of King Wu...... It's scary to think about! In any case, Jiang Taigong Wen Taowu governed the country with a lot of martial arts, and he was good at everything, and even cooked at such a high level, he deserved to marry his wife at the age of seventy...... Ahem...... What a genius in the world!

The rest, such as fat beef tendons, stewed soft-shelled turtle, artillery lamb, vinegared swan meat, boiled wild duck pieces, fried crucian carp, stewed chickadee, etc., are not introduced one by one.

Today is Furi, and Meng Yi specially invited Mrs. Dong's mother and son to come to Mengfu for a banquet.

"Why is it so extravagant today?" Tianji Pavilion Master Mrs. Dong said with some dissatisfaction.

"Madame, don't be surprised, the kid has suddenly seen a lot of things over the years, such as the inevitable sacrifice of his grandfather, the inevitable liquidation of Lü Buwei, the inevitable replacement of the Zhou Dynasty, etc." Meng Yi invited guests to dinner, of course, he expected that the Guigu Yimai advocated thrift and love the people, "So many things cannot be changed by one person or one family." ”

"It's all sincere, so you're going to just have fun in time?" Tianji Pavilion Master Dong's wife Liu Ye raised her eyebrows and continued to ask.

"No, no, in fact, food also reveals the rise and fall of the country, personal honor and disgrace." Meng Yi said slowly.

As the so-called "people take food as the sky", as early as the pre-Qin classic "Shangshu Hongfan", "food" was listed as the first of the "eight politics" of benefiting the people and governing the country. It can be seen that from ancient times to the present, the Chinese have been extremely particular and attach great importance to the matter of "eating". Although the ingredients in the pre-Qin period were not as diverse as they are today, the enthusiasm of the pre-Qin people in food research and development is by no means lost to today's people. "Chu Ci: Conjuring Spirits" lists many famous dishes of the pre-Qin period, such as fat beef tendons, stewed soft-shelled turtle, artillery lamb, vinegared swan meat, boiled wild duck pieces, fried crucian carp, stewed chickadee, etc.

There are so many famous delicacies, and naturally there was no shortage of foodies in the pre-Qin era. The senior foodies of the pre-Qin period wrote in "Lü's Spring and Autumn Period. In this chapter, he commented on the advantages and disadvantages of various rare ingredients, which mentioned: The best meat in the world is the lips of the orangutan, the paws of the badger, the tail of the burning bird, the wrist meat of this beast, the curved tail meat of the ox and the trunk of the elephant. And the best fish to eat is the bighead carp in Dongting, the oolitic fish in the East China Sea, and there is a fish in Lishui, a fish named turtle. There is also a fish called a ray in the water.

However, the most memorable delicacy in historical allusions is not the orangutan lips or the bighead carp of Dongting, but the bear's paw. Mencius once said, "Fish, I can do as I want; The bear's paw is also what I want, and I can't have both, and the one who gives up the fish and takes the bear's paw. "In addition to Mencius, there were really many people who loved to eat bear's paws in the pre-Qin era, the most famous of which was King Cheng of Chu. The story of King Chu Cheng and the bear's paw has to start with a satire of the Ming Dynasty, the poem: "Chu used to kill bears hard, and today the merchant revenge his uncle." Heaven sent Pan Chong as a rebel Fu, and he still wanted to eat bear feet. ”

Bear's paw, that is, bear's paw. It is said that after the death of King Chu Wen, his eldest son Xiong Jian succeeded to the throne. The nobles of Chu did not fully support him, and there was also a faction of people who supported the second son of King Wen of Chu, Gongzi Bao, who was later King Cheng of Chu. As a result, the state of Chu staged a change in Xuanwumen more than 2,000 years ago. King Cheng of Chu and his supporters seized the power of Chu by "killing the king". In the later years of King Chu Cheng, he overly favored his youngest son Gongzi and planned to change the crown prince. In order to ensure his position, Shang Chen, the eldest son of the crown prince, listened to the advice of his teacher Pan Chong and decided to follow his father's example. So, on a dark and windy night, he took his private guards from the prince's mansion to launch a mutiny to force the palace. King Chu Cheng, who was cornered by his son, knew that his limit was approaching, and he said to his son: "Let the people make a bear's paw for the lonely king." Wait for the lonely king to eat and then die. As a result, Shang Chen replied: "The bear's paw is difficult to cook." Why don't you go down to the Yellow Springs first? ”

Since then, there has been an allusion to the Chinese idiom dictionary that "bear's paws are difficult to cook". Although Shang Chen was reluctant to prepare bear paws for his dying father because he was in a hurry to succeed him, bear paws were indeed difficult to cook. Like King Chu Cheng in the south, the prince Jin Linggong in the north is also a glutton who loves to eat bear's paws. Once, Jin Linggong's cook did not stew the bear's paw and offered it, and Jin Linggong, who originally liked to eat bear's paw, was disappointed after eating a plate of medium-rare bear's paw. Jin Ling was so angry that he ordered the cook to be killed. Zhao Dun's cook and King Xu's cook also lost their lives because they didn't stew the bear's paws. It can be seen that the companion is like a tiger, the cook of the pre-Qin period is not good, the bear's paw is really not easy to stew, and the foodie can't afford to provoke it!

"In fact, being a courtier is not a delicacy on the king's table!" Meng Yi said helplessly, "Recently, King Qin has been appeasing the Meng family on the surface, but in fact, he is guarding against the Meng family everywhere, and I plan to do something I like to do." ”

"Like tracking down the mystery man?" Tianji Pavilion Master Madame Dong's expression finally eased.

"Yes, I call him, 'Dragon Slayer'!" Meng Yi admitted calmly, "I can't mobilize the black-clothed guards on a large scale. So I want to use the power of the Guigu lineage. ”

"Any clues? Don't let us look for a needle in a haystack! Dong Rou, a woman who has been tasting delicious food, was finally willing to put down the food in her hand and inserted the topic.

"Yes, in the last rebellion, there were some clues in Rong Di. I want you to help me find out the people of the Wu clan. Meng Yi pleaded.