It's spring in Cloud Mountain again. The clouds on the mountain cover the mist, all kinds of flowers in the valley open wantonly, colorful, its beautiful scenery is better than Penglai fairy mountain. Whenever the mountain breeze blows, the petals full of mountains and valleys will drift into the mountain stream with the wind, and go down the mountain stream, which really responds to the poetry of "the peach source is set in the depths, and the water floats and falls flowers". And this mountain stream is known as the Valley of Flowers by the world, and it has been passed down to this day.

The beautiful scenery of the Valley of Flowers provokes the gods in the sky to move their hearts, and they often come to the auspicious clouds.

One day, the South China Sea Guanyin Bodhisattva came to watch and praised: This is the place where Shennong's tea is obtained! She wanted to leave a memorial here. So, Guanyin Bodhisattva left a few fairy tea seeds on the top of the mountain and went back to the South China Sea. In this way, the Valley of Flowers has become a well-known tea mecca. The Valley of Flowers accompanies the farmhouse tea plantation, adding a bit of charm and legend to the thousand-year-old tea tree, and also injecting the charming fragrance and aroma like flowers.

Time flies, dynasties change. Although this flower valley is a small place name, it belongs to a tea-producing area and has become synonymous with the excellent quality of tea. Especially driven by the generations of farmers, the tea planting and tea making technology of Huagu is becoming more and more exquisite, and there are more and more tea farmers engaged in tea production. As a result, the capital sent a decree to let the state government pay tribute to the imperial court with the local tea of Huagu. This year, it was bitter for the tea farmers in Flower Valley!

China's tribute tea system began in the Tang Dynasty, and for ordinary tea farmers, it was undoubtedly a tight mantra.

In this way, Huagu tea farmers have no other way but to worship good tea. The order of the imperial court came down: every family should offer the best tea in the house, so that the government can taste and choose, if they are not satisfied, there is a possibility that the head will fall to the ground and the family will be ruined. Although the tea farmers offered the best tea, the government was still not satisfied, believing that the Huagu tea farmers deliberately hid it and did not take out the superb Huagu tea to pay tribute to the imperial court.

The death order has arrived: the deadline is five days, let the tea farmers offer the best Huagu tea to the government, otherwise, kill all the Huagu tea farmers! This trick is really insidious and vicious.

When this incident came out, it saddened all Huagu tea farmers, including farmers, of course. There is a tea farmer named Zhang Jingui, after returning home, he told his family about the government's five-day deadline and the dedication of the best tea, and the family was sad after hearing it. Because all the good tea in his house has been handed in.

Zhang Jingui has a daughter named Yulu, who is eighteen years old, beautiful and dignified, gentle and virtuous, extremely filial to her parents, and is about to get married. After listening to her father's words, Miss Yulu wanted to pick the best tea and share her father's worries. But how can you pick the best tea?

Miss Yulu thought about it, and thought of the legend of the immortal tea seeds, why not give it a try and see if there is really fairy tea?

If there is, it will save the whole village. So the Yulu girl went through a lot of hardships, climbed the cliff peak, picked up the fresh tea, treasured the buds and leaves close to her, and roasted them with the pure yin aroma of her girlish body. When I got home, my family was very happy. Immediately, his father's portable tea was handed over to the government, and the officials were overjoyed after seeing it. The Yulu family was able to solve the crisis, and the tea farmers were also freed from the sea of suffering.

This tea tree, a clump; This immortal tea, piece by piece, has such magical power, and at the same time, it is also endowed with sacrosanctity!

Known as the plant kingdom, Jingshan provided a large number of trade goods for the Ancient Tea Horse Road. Among them, tea occupies a large share. From the initial use of wild tea, "at the beginning of Xinjiang, the cliff and waterside, no self-cultivation", this belongs to the ancient wild tea tree species growth place, until the emergence of artificially cultivated tea trees, it can be said that after a long period of development, there is the prosperity of today's tea market.

Tea is the national drink, originating from Shennong; The ancestor of tea is in Chushan, and the source of tea began in Jingchu. During the Western Han Dynasty, after Zhang Qian opened the Western Regions, exchanges between the East and the West became more and more frequent. The tea of Chu Di became famous at that time.

In ancient times, one of the routes of Jingshan tea merchants was to enter the area of Xiangyang by land, and then enter Chang'an, until the court; Another route is to take the Sichuan-Tibet line after entering Sichuan and Shu to carry out the tea and horse market. At the same time, tea was exchanged for horses and leather goods. In Nanyi County, there is also a modern route from the Fu River to Jiangling, from Jiangling to the Yangtze River to Hankou, by land to Mongolia, through the tea and horse market into Russia.

People on the Ancient Tea Horse Road can't do without tea all day, which is the driving force and lifeline that can maintain the tea and horse market for a long time. For example, the Tibetans have a saying that "if there is no tea for a day, you will be stagnant", and in Tibetan the pronunciation of "tea" is "jia", and there is an ancient Tibetan saying that "Jiacha fever, Jiaxia fever, Jiasuo fever", which is translated into Chinese as "tea is blood, tea is meat, and tea is life".

Whether it is Mongolia or Tibetans, in daily life, they need to consume high-calorie fat, tsamba, milk, ghee, especially beef and mutton is their staple food, but there are no vegetables, too much fat is not easy to decompose in the human body, and tea can not only decompose fat, but also prevent dryness. In the long-term nomadic life of the steppes, they created the habit of drinking butter tea on the plateau. This provides a native impetus for the continuous delivery of tea from the mainland to other places.

The so-called Ancient Tea Horse Road is actually a road from the tea production and distribution center to the sales area. Due to the mysterious channel, the channel that communicates tea production and tea consumption, the cultivation and production of tea in Chu has also entered a high stage of development.

For a long time, tea, like salt, was a strictly controlled official monopoly. From the first year of Emperor Suzong of Tang Dynasty to the first year of the reign of Emperor Suzong of the Tang Dynasty (756 AD) to the first year of the Qianyuan Dynasty, he drove the horse tea market in the Huifu region of Mongolia, creating a precedent for tea and horse trading. In the Ming Dynasty, the tea and horse policy became an important means of governing the border, and this policy continued until the thirteenth year of the Yongzheng Dynasty of the Qing Dynasty, when the government-run tea and horse trading system was terminated. Because of this, the imperial court sent a special army to Chu to collect tea, and then escorted it to the northwest to replace it with war horses, which is the world's unique "tea merchant army".

After the Tang Dynasty, Chu began to plant tea trees on a large scale, especially in Jingshan and Xiazhou: "The deep mountains and poor valleys all grow tea, and most of the mountain people take tea as their business." ”

After about half a year, Qin Yuhe returned from the southwest and finally appeared in the Yunwu Mountain Tea Workshop. It's like a mild southwesterly wind.

When Nonglu saw him, he was extremely excited and said, "Sir has worked hard, please take a seat!" ”

Knowing that Qin Yuhe was back, Wu Qing ran out of the backyard and greeted him warmly: "Please, please!" Then I went to make tea.

"It's been a long journey!" Qin Yuhe sighed with emotion.

On that day, after he took a long team of mules and horses out of Nanyi County, he walked along the rugged mountain roads, through primeval forests, climbed high mountains and deep valleys, and twisted and meandered along the rivers. No, I finally got home today.

"Please tell us about the strange things, so that we can open our eyes." Nonglu can't wait to know the outside world.

Qin Yuhe smiled all over his face and described: "I am stepping on two provinces with one foot, and the rooster cries and smells the three towns, and the customs and customs are different." ”

As soon as the words fell, the young man put a full pot of tea on the table, and the aroma was wafting.

"Sir has worked hard, please have tea!" Wu Qing poured his own unique "Chazu Tea" to show respect.

Qin Yuhe sniffed, took a sip and said, "What kind of tea are you?" "He's drinking it for the first time, of course he asks.

Wu Qing told him the name of the tea: "This is the tea ancestor tea for my family's own use." ”

Qin Yuhe first let out an "oh", and then said, "No wonder, the fragrance and taste are completely different." ”

"It's really different from the tea in the past, and the gentleman has a good character." Wu Qing praised.

Qin Yuhe tasted the tea with his heart, and after a while, he did not hesitate to praise: "The bud is like a sharp sword, white like hair, slender and soft, elegant and slightly extended, sweet and refreshing, shengjin quenches thirst, and has a long aftertaste, this is a masterpiece!" ”

Wu Qing further explained: "This tea is used to worship the ancestral tea tree, and it is generally not drunk. Today, Mr. returned safely, is our distinguished guest, this road is full of danger, hard work, so please Mr. reward! ”

When Qin Yuhe heard this, he felt supreme honor: "This is the blessing of the tea ancestor." ”

Nonglu was still very curious, so he asked Qin Yuhe to talk about what he had seen and heard along the way.

Qin Yuhe opened his mouth and came: "When the bell rings in the mountains, the horse gang comes, and if you want to wade through the raging and roaring rivers and climb the towering snow peaks, it is very daring for people to experience." ”

"It's really not easy!" Nong Lu said.

Qin Yuhe said another sentence of the popular slip in the horse gang: "It's two or three, and the snow covers the mountain; Four, five, six, drenched and crying; Seven, eight, nine, slightly easier to go; Ten winter wax, learn to climb dogs. ”

"It's really difficult!" Wu Qing said.

They hadn't seen each other for a long time, and there were endless topics to talk about, more about tea. Subsequently, Qin Yuhe said a true thing that Nonglu and Wu Qing had never heard of.

It is said that the son-in-law of a relative of the emperor was beheaded by the emperor for selling tea. Not only that, because of the rich and mellow taste of tea in the mainland, and the quantity is cheap, it is deeply loved by Tibetan lamas. So much so that when the Tibetan lamas returned to Tibet as tribute, they refused to accept the southwest black tea as a reward from the imperial court, and made a detour to Huguang to buy tea, which was illegal at that time. As a result, it invisibly contributed to the rise of the private tea industry, which directly affected the tea and horse trade on the border of the imperial court, and even triggered a war.

Hearing this, the husband and wife of the farmer broke out in a cold sweat, they didn't expect that they would have to take such a big risk in selling tea, and they felt a little scared when they thought about it. They were speechless for a while, and they didn't know what to say. I only feel that Qin Yuhe is more like a heroic character.

At this time, Qin Yuhe said to the key point: "Some local governments also set up relevant cards, which do not allow the smuggling and sale of illicit tea and salt, otherwise you will have to eat a lawsuit, and you will be killed!" ”

"How's that to be?" The farm is not without worries.

"Tea sellers and salt sellers played hide-and-seek with officers and soldiers, and walked the barren mountains and mountains that were inaccessible to people." He smiled and said, "It's just miserable." After speaking, he looked helpless.

Nong Lu seemed to feel a little distressed for Qin Yuhe: "Sir, this trip is really hard!" ”

"This time, Mr. has suffered a lot, please accept the little girl!" Wu Qing hurriedly gave Qin Yuhe a blow.

Qin Yuhe said very easily, "It's okay." Then he was a little funny: "No, we'll meet again in a flash." ”

In a word, it made everyone laugh.

The tea road is long, some are experiences, some have become stories, and some have been branded as legends.

From now on, Nonglu and Qin Yuhe will work together with one heart and one mind, and gradually build a piece of the tea market. They sell nearly 10,000 quintals of tea every year, and there are more varieties, the tea market is bigger, and the business is also hot.

Every time the tea season arrives, the farm invites local or strong farmers from the surrounding areas to transport it to the wharf of the Fuhe River, three miles away, through Jiangling, to Hankou, and even to distant Russia, or through the ancient tea horse road into Sichuan, Shu and Tibet, realizing the tea to the four seas.

Yunwu camellia, from the Tang Dynasty or earlier spontaneous planting of camellia, after ups and downs of development, gradually used tea as a currency to trade tea and horses with Tibet, Mongolia and other places, making Chudi's "Tianxin tea" famous all over the world.