The Queen’s car actually did not go north along the Yongji Canal.
Tiande Army Envoy Cai Songyang reported that Wang Rong had assembled a large army and wanted to attack Jizhou. The vanguard of his cavalry rushed to the vicinity of Yongji Canal and it was not safe. Therefore, he advised the queen to change the route and take Bozhou to Cangjing and then go north.
The Tianxiong Army heard this and cursed loudly, almost wanting to settle accounts with the Tiande Army.
However, Zhe Fangmai still listened to the advice and changed the route to the east.
On March 11, the fifth year of Jianji (905), the army arrived in Ande County, Texas, and stayed for one day.
After sending Wei Xun, the governor of Dezhou, Zhe Fangmei met the palace official Su who came with the holy order, and then accepted the "gift" given to her by Shao Shude.
"This is..." Zhe Fangxiao opened the first piece and was stunned for a moment.
"Queen, regarding this thing, the sage has a virtuous message..." Palace official Su's face turned red.
"Say." Zhe Fang Ai probably guessed it, and her face was a little red.
"I really love your wife, please protect her." Su said bravely.
Zhe Fangmiao was silent for a while, then suddenly smiled.
Yue Niang and Cuckoo Niang were peeping from the side.
Along the way, the Queen sometimes smiled, at them and at the officials, but it was obvious that they were all perfunctory fake smiles. This was the first time they had seen this smile, and it was joy from the bottom of her heart.
, the queen at this time is extremely beautiful.
Zhe Fangmai took the gift, waved, and went to the inner room to change, surrounded by the palace people.
Su Shi breathed a sigh of relief.
This gift, named "bra" by the saint, was made of baleen, brocade, and colored threads by Shaofu craftsmen.
As for the origin of whale baleen, there is a story. To put it simply, at the beginning of winter last year, for some reason, a giant whale stranded on the coast near Wudi.
The whale was still alive when the villagers discovered it. Because the imperial court had previously issued a reward, they reported it to the government. Soon, Wei Xun, the governor of Dezhou, rushed over with two hundred state soldiers.
Question: What should you do if you find a stranded whale? Do you need to treat it quickly to get it out of danger and return to the sea?
Answer: Wei Xun, the governor of Dezhou, was overjoyed and reported to the saint. After the saint learned about it, he made a prompt decision and appointed Wang Yong, the supervisor of the Shaofu, as the imperial envoy. He led more than 100 officials and craftsmen from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Sinong Temple, and the Shaofu to Wudi, taking them with him
His top instructions were to slaughter and process them on the spot.
The master of Wudi County was urgently mobilized to help the imperial envoy with more than a thousand people - at this point, the story of the whale had spread north and south, and became a topic of conversation for many people after dinner.
Wang Yong, the supervisor of the Shaofu, while supervising officials and people to do things, carefully read the sage's highest instructions.
At this time, he learned that whales mainly live in the cold seas of the extreme south and extreme north. The water temperature there is cold, but there are many fish and shrimps, so whales often move there. When winter comes, the sea water
When the ice gradually freezes, the whales will leave and swim south to enter warmer waters to feed.
In fact, people along the coast can see whales at sea from time to time, and occasionally they can see whales that are unlucky enough to be stranded on the beach. But this is the first time that such an effort has been made.
The imperial envoys worked all winter at Wudi Seaside.
The final results were more than 50,000 kilograms of meat, nearly 12,000 kilograms of oil, more than 5,000 kilograms of whale bones, and more than 3,000 kilograms of whale skin. These are the main results.
It can be seen from these results that the whale was dismantled quite thoroughly.
The masters even sawed off the whale bones in sections, and then put them into a large pot to cook the oil. The whale bones that had been boiled in oil were not wasted. They were calcined and crushed into powder. They were collected and handed over to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Huangzhuang treatment in Yangxin County, Prefecture.
The imperial estate has just been opened, and a large-scale wild fruit forest has been enclosed as an orchard. These whale bone powder will be used as fertilizer in the orchards and farmland in the future to see how the effect is - the "Supreme Instructions" said that calcined whale bone powder
It is a very good phosphate fertilizer. The amount of more than 5,000 kilograms is very large. It can fertilize at least one hectare of farmland.
No one needs to teach you the functions of whale oil. The craftsmen of Shaofu at least know several uses.
The first way is to eat it. Eating it directly is very nutritious, but no one would waste it like this.
The second is to light a lamp. The palace will reserve a considerable portion as lamp oil, and then take out a portion to make candles. The saint intends to use it as a treasure and reward it to his ministers.
The third way is to make it into cream. No one does this yet, it’s too wasteful.
Beyond the cognitive scope of the Shaofu craftsmen, there are actually two uses.
One is to make soap, but no one knows how.
The second is as a high-grade lubricant. Whale oil and seal oil are both high-quality lubricants. They are useful at this time, but not very useful. We can think of ways to do this in the future.
Of course, craftsmen are well aware of the use of whale skin.
In fact, they have already started processing. They first store it in salt for a period of time, and when they return to Beiping Prefecture, they will soak it in water to restore it to its fresh leather state. The next step is the same as degreasing wool and leather, soaking it in alkaline water (using salt lakes)
Soda ash obtained), then use a knife to scrape off the remaining fat, residual meat and other substances on the inner surface of the skin, then remove and shave, press oil, clean, repeat several times...
In short, there is no essential difference from traditional leather tanning.
The tanned whale skin is about two to three millimeters thick and can be used as leather armor, which has excellent protective capabilities.
It can also be made into water bags, raincoats, rain boots, etc. Whale skin rain boots have excellent waterproof performance and will not deform or break in extremely cold environments. It is a very high-quality leather. A piece of whale leather can cost one, two, or even two thousand.
A pair of rain boots is no problem.
There are only so many uses that the Shaofu craftsmen know, but the content of the "Supreme Directive" is quite "outrageous": The first thing is to ask if there is whale baleen. If there is, it can be made into a bra. Its function and shape are as follows... If there is
For the rest, make some more skirts, the shapes are as follows...
Of course, Shao Shude did not write everything in because he knew that the technical level at this time was limited.
For example, the utilization of whale viscera - whale liver and some viscera can be made into cod liver oil.
The guts of whales are very rich in vitamin A and vitamin D. The cod liver oil preparations made from them can be used as nutritional supplements and even medicines. They are of great value to young children who need to supplement these vitamins. And the vitamins in whale guts
Some special parts, such as the thymus, pituitary gland, thyroid gland, etc., can be used to make medicine, because more than twenty hormones can be extracted from these.
However, without the corresponding technical level, everything was in vain. Shao Sheng asked people to take the internal organs back to see if they could be eaten.
Oh, and can't forget the tail fin and intestines.
The tail fin of the whale is extremely large and the meat is delicious. People from the Ministry of Internal Affairs have taken it away. The imperial chef followed the "Supreme Instructions" and cut it into thin strips according to the texture of the meat. Then it was scalded several times in hot water and left until it was cooked.
After cooling, add some seasonings and mix to make a cold dish.
The intestines were given to Sinong Temple. The saint happily drew the shape of a whale intestine sleeve and asked Sinong Temple to put it on the animal's vagina, then massage it... and collect it.
Theoretically speaking, although the success rate of this method of artificial insemination is a little lower, it can still greatly speed up the breeding process - everyone knows it.
Looking at it this way, this poor fin whale has really been dismantled to pieces, and its entire body has been used, with not much wasted.
Compare this to the sea hunting of whales by Europeans in the Middle Ages. The Bilbao people got off the big ship, took a canoe to approach the lazy and slowly swimming whale, killed it with a spear, and left after cutting off the blubber.
, leaving the carcass of the whale floating on the sea.
What an unforgivable waste!
Zhe Fangmei quickly put on her bra and changed into another skirt.
Yue Niang, Juan Niang, Su Shi and others looked at it carefully. Well, it seems to be much taller and taller. It looks really good with the gorgeous phoenix skirt.
Zhe Fang Ai was slightly uncomfortable with it. But when she thought that her husband had specially made it for him, she immediately became happy and refused to take it off again.
"Queen, the royal chef is waiting outside and has brought some dried meat and shark's fins..." Su reminded her again.
"Let's eat together." Zhe Fang Ai said happily: "This thing is valuable because it is rare. It is not available on land."
Su Shi hurried out to give orders.
Yueniang and Juan Niang looked at each other, and they could both see that the queen was in a very good mood. The official family was really good at pleasing women, and their ability to please women was truly unparalleled. The wild women around the official family were also really good.
Fortunately, the Queen probably won't argue with them.
The imperial chef quickly brought the dishes and paired them with some wine.
Several women were flattered and sat together with the queen, chatting and laughing until evening.
When it was getting dark, whale oil candles were lit.
The flame is particularly bright, much better than ordinary candles. There is not much odor, and it seems to be very resistant to burning. I heard that Shi Chong from Jin Dynasty liked to use this kind of candle. It was very luxurious. I don't know where he got it.
"I just heard what you said, and I realized that the big fish is full of treasures." Zhe Fangmai looked at the bright candlelight and sighed: "One of them can be of such use by chance. More than 50,000 kilograms of meat is as high as a mountain.
If we can catch dozens of them in a year, it would be really..."
"Queen, why don't you talk to Your Majesty and send the Ping navy to hunt whales?" Yueniang suggested.
Zhe Fangmai glanced at her, her smile disappeared, and she said earnestly: "This matter is somewhat involved. You are the daughter-in-law of the Tian family, and your every move is watched. Going out to sea to hunt whales is not easy! Do you know where the whales are? At sea.
The wind and waves are ruthless. If you go out to sea for dozens of days and still fail to find a whale, but you are in danger, the boat capsizes and people die, outsiders say it is all the fault of the Tian family. At that time, the censor Qingliu will be impeached, and the saint will also be very upset.
"
"Mom, I know you are wrong." Yueniang said hurriedly.
Zhe Fangmai nodded, the matter was revealed, and then smiled and said: "There are still some whale baleen, Yue Niang, Juan Niang, you can share some, and you can find a skilled craftsman to make them. You can also share some whale oil candles."
, but I don’t need many here.”
"Yes." The two agreed in surprise.
"Don't forget Concubine Zhao's share." Zhe Fang Ai warned again.
"Yes." Yueniang had long wanted to give some to her husband's mother-in-law, but when she saw the queen's permission, she happily agreed.