The Struggle of the Reborn Prince

Chapter 32 Laba

"Second Master, this"

"What, is it hard for me to speak?" Zhao Tong asked unhappily when he saw that Zheng Fu was in a dilemma.

"Second Master, no, no, a piece of money can weigh eight or nine kilograms. I'm afraid they won't be able to carry twenty kilograms!" Zheng Fu explained hurriedly.

Zhao Tao suddenly realized that the money at that time was not RMB, but copper coins. One thousand copper coins weighed six grams, and twenty coins weighed 120 kilograms now. That was a big pile of stuff, and it was sold for three

There is more than a ton of Qianguan money, and I don't know how Lao Zheng got it back? "Then what do you think we should do?" He looked at the boys and asked for their opinions.

"Second Master, the chief steward is right. We really can't take such money. We all trust Second Master, so why not just deposit the money in the accounting room and we can use it as we please!" Zhao Yi stood up and said.

"Okay, okay, we all trust that the second master will not default on his debt, just follow what Zhao Yi said!" Others also echoed.

"Okay, I guarantee that you can get the money at any time, and you will never default on your debt!" Zhao Tong stretched out his little finger and hooked with them.

"Second Master, the lamb is roasted and ready to eat!" At this time, Zhao Xin took a piece of meat from the sheep's neck with a razor blade and handed it to Zhao Tao.

"Well, it's so delicious. Let's eat together. The meat won't taste good when it's roasted!" Zhao Ta tasted it and nodded. He looked at Zhao Xin again. How could this little guy understand the barbarian custom of cooking mutton neck meat?

Give it to the person with the highest status first.

"Oh" the boys cheered, sitting in a circle, waiting for Zhao Xin to cut the meat and give it to them. Zhao Xin seemed to be very proficient in it. The meat slices were moderately thick, and each piece of meat had a golden crispy skin.

"Old Zheng, why don't you go and do something?" Zhao Tong took a Hu cake that was roasted on the fire, cut it open, put in the barbecue, and suddenly found Zheng Fu still standing aside.

"Second Master, I haven't eaten yet, so I want to eat something together!" Zheng Fu licked his lips, swallowed his saliva and said with shining eyes.

"Haha, it seems you are greedy. Everyone squeezes in to make room for the chief steward to sit down!" Zhao Tao said with a laugh. Zheng Fu seemed to be really greedy and couldn't care less.

He sat down with Zhao Tong's head, rubbed his hands on his body, and went to cut the meat to eat. The two handymen who followed also found a place to sit down and started eating.

"Zhao Ren, where did you buy this sheep?" Zhao Tong asked while eating.

"Second Master, I bought it from the grass market, is there anything wrong?" Zhao Ren said, wiping the oil dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"This sheep must be a goat raised locally. The meat is a bit woody. If it is a sheep on the grassland, it will be tender and delicious when roasted and dripping with oil. It will be even more delicious than this!" Zhao Tong said.

"Second Master, it's not easy to eat sheep on the grassland. The sheep we buy from the farm every year are not enough for the palace and Beijing officials to get to our place!" Zheng Fu shook his head and said.

In the palace, "the imperial kitchen is forbidden to use mutton" and in principle "pork (pork) meat is not allowed", which means that the emperor only eats mutton and not pork. Pork is something eaten by the lower class and is not worthy of refinement. This leads to

What goes up has taken effect, and people have become "proud to eat mutton and ashamed of pork." They all eat mutton. The supply is tight. Because of the issue of origin, the sheep raised in the plains are naturally not as delicious as those raised on the grasslands. Otherwise, the hairy crabs today would not be as delicious.

It will be sold at sky-high prices. Good mutton needs to be imported, but there is a quota, and priority is given to the "well-connected" wealthy families. Ordinary people can only make do with some local sheep raised locally.

"What's the problem? When we grow up, we can recapture the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun, go to the grassland, and make it our place. There are cattle and sheep everywhere, and we can eat mutton at will!" Zhao Tong took Zhao Yan's hand.

He took a big bite of the mutton leg handed over by the letter and said.

"Okay, when the second master becomes the commander-in-chief of the expedition to the north, we will follow the second master to the grassland to grab sheep!" Zhao Yong said loudly, waving a sheep bone.

"Yes, let's all go and lay down the grassland so that we can eat mutton every day!" A group of people were all 'touched' by the beautiful life described by Zhao Tong.

Just after the winter solstice, Laba is here again in a blink of an eye. Legend has it that this day is the day when Buddha Sakyamuni drank a bowl of "groceries porridge" and became enlightened. In order to commemorate this important day, Buddhist temples have to give porridge and create good relationships.

As time goes by, the content of porridge has also become richer. In the Song Dynasty, most of the seven things were used to make porridge, including glutinous rice, walnuts, pine nuts, milk, mushrooms, persimmons, chestnuts, etc. It was called Qibao and five-flavor porridge, and it was also called Laba porridge. It was held in large temples

During the Buddha Bathing Ceremony, porridge is provided to monks and gifts to donors and nobles. Influenced by Buddhism, laypeople also began to imitate the temple and make Laba porridge.

Early that morning, breakfast became Laba porridge. As soon as they had eaten, Doctor Wang came and said, "Second Master, these are my newly combined Tiger Head Pill and Eight Gods Tusu, for everyone!" The old man said, taking the medicine bag from the medicine bag.

He took out several silk bags and respectfully presented one to Zhao Tong, and distributed the rest to Jian Xi, Gui Hua and others in the room.

"Mr. Wang is interested. Let's sit down and have a bowl of porridge together!" Zhao Tu thanked him, but he was still confused. What kind of medicine could the old man give him when he was not sick? He asked Dr. Wang to sit down and let the sweet-scented osmanthus serve him.

Bowl of porridge.

The old man was not polite and sat down to drink two bowls of porridge. During the conversation, Zhao Tong found out why the old man gave him medicine. It turned out that during the Song Dynasty, doctors had a custom of making medicine in La day, which was called La medicine, and it was also given to everyone.

To celebrate.

"Old doctor, the New Year is coming soon. It's time for you to go back to Beijing to celebrate the New Year. Would you like me to arrange for someone to send you off? Is the expense sufficient?" Zhao Tong finished his porridge, rinsed his mouth and sat down and asked.

"Your Majesty, I was just about to tell you this. I don't want to go back during the Chinese New Year. I want to stay at the mansion to celebrate the Chinese New Year!"

"Old doctor, you have been away from home for a year. You should go back to reunite and enjoy family happiness. Don't always hang around the house. If you don't have enough money, go to the housekeeper to get it!"

"Your Majesty, thanks to the grace of the Imperial Concubine, my eldest son has been selected as a medical scholar this year. He has joined the Medical Bureau and is regarded as having an official status. I have nothing to repay. I have already written to the Imperial Hospital requesting to be appointed as an official. I want to stay in the mansion and serve the prince wholeheartedly!

"The old man stood up and bowed.

"Oh!" Zhao Tong was moved in his heart. His mother really spared no effort for him. The old man also knew that he must repay his kindness. "Who else is there in the old doctor's family?" he asked again.

"We have an old wife, two concubines, and two unmarried young sons living with us at home. The older ones have already been separated!"

"Okay, then let the old doctor stay in the mansion, and the monthly salary will be doubled!" Zhao Tong thought for a moment and said, the old man happily bowed and left. He also understood that as long as he serves the prince well, the noble concubine in Beijing will take care of him.

My family and my eldest son's career will definitely be smooth sailing.

"Jianxi, please discuss with the chief steward to see who else in the house can't go home to celebrate the New Year. If they are willing to come, arrange for someone to bring their whole family to celebrate the New Year together. If they don't want to come, buy some New Year's items for them as gifts.

Come home!" Wang Taiyi left the door, Zhao Tong waved to Jianxi and ordered.

"Second Master, there are a lot of people there and a lot of expenses?" Jian Xi said after some calculation, he knew that the prince was a 'money addict'.

"You, don't be stingy when it comes to spending money. We have worked hard for a year, and we can't even go home, and we can't have a good New Year. Don't feel bad about the little money. This round trip, food and drink will be recorded in the government account.

, clean up all the houses in the outer courtyard, if that doesn’t work, why don’t we just take over a village, and arrange it there?” Zhao Tong said with a smile.

"Yes, I will do it right away. Everyone is so happy when they heard about it!" Jianxi said with a smile.

"Second Master, can you bring my parents here?" Guihua on the side listened carefully for a long time and asked carefully.

"What do you think? If you are not from the house, forget it!" Zhao Tong looked at her nervous look and teased her.

"I am from the house, who dares to say otherwise?" Osmanthus became anxious upon hearing this. She looked at the grinning prince and blushed, "Second Master knows how to bully others. I will write a letter to my parents right away!"

The little girl said coquettishly and went happily.

They had just finished cleaning up here, when Zhao Tong suddenly heard the sound of knocking wooden fish from outside, and could also vaguely hear the sound of reciting Buddhist scriptures. "Second Master, the monks must have come to change the vegetarian diet!" Seeing that Zhao Tong was not happy.

Answer, he hurriedly explained on the side.

"Let's go and see the excitement!" Zhao Tong frowned and said. He came in this era and didn't know much about anything else, but he learned a lesson about traditional Chinese festivals.

There were so many various festivals in ancient times, some of which were unheard of in the previous life. Take the winter solstice that just passed. Although it was celebrated, there was so much emphasis on it. It was just eating some dumplings, but now it is regarded as a holiday.

When a big festival comes, everyone wears new clothes, every family prepares wine and food, and worships ancestors. It is celebrated as a new year, which is called "Ya Sui". It is said that the emperor in the capital wants to worship the sky, dispatching thousands of people, and the scale is even bigger.

Zhao Tong and Jian Xi went through the hall and arrived at the door of the house. They saw several monks standing outside the door. They were all wearing brand new monk robes and red cassocks. A young and strong man in front of them was holding a copper Shaluo with a

Sitting upright is a Buddha statue carved from sandalwood, painted with shiny gold paint, holding flowers and smiling. It looks like it is worth a lot of money. Behind him are two monks holding wooden fish cloud boards, knocking on them and chanting sutras. The rest

Wearing a robe on his back, he looked like he was working as a coolie in exchange for alms.

"Second Master, you are here!" Seeing Zhao Tong coming, the two disciples saluted.

"We've been knocking for so long, why haven't they left yet? Did they not give me anything?" Jianxi asked.

"The third steward has given them a few liters of rice, but they didn't like it, so they refused to leave. They also wanted some money, so the third steward went back to get it!" Menzi replied.

"If they have the energy, let them knock. They are a bunch of parasites. Don't give them a penny!" Zhao Tong waved his hands and said disdainfully. These monks just chant sutras and chant Buddha every day and do not produce. The temples usually have a lot of land and employees.

The tenants were cultivating the land and collecting rent without having to pay taxes. They were not short of money at all. Now they were just trying to make money in a different way. Zhao Tong didn't bother to pay attention to them.