Chapter 717: Knowing astronomy from above and geography from below (continued)
The standard of eating these days is just like that.
Li Yunze, who comes from a family rich in gourmet food, naturally does everything himself.
First, he directly set up the grill and then processed the mutton himself.
Then he cut the mutton on the chopping board with his knife like the wind.
Lord Changping, who was holding the sword hilt on the side, was sweating profusely.
He really regretted it so much that he was so mad that he provoked such a lunatic.
Especially when Li Yunze waved the kitchen knife, his heart was in his throat.
If Li Yunze really backhanded Ying Zheng, who was watching on the sidelines, with a kitchen knife, then he, Lord Changping, would be considered alive.
The most terrifying thing about Daqin Law is not the torture, but the implication!
It was he, Lord Changping, who brought Li Yunze into Xianyang Palace, so he was the guarantor. Once something went wrong, he, the guarantor, would naturally suffer the same consequences.
He waited in a daze for a while, until a pungent fragrance came, which made him recover from his panic.
“It smells so good~~~”
If it's just barbecue, it will only have a slight meaty flavor at most.
In other words, the more fat, the better the flavor will be.
But after sprinkling the spices, it's different. It really adds fragrance.
Taking a brush and applying a layer of oil, it suddenly sizzled under the swaying light of the fire.
Then he took out chili powder, which was absolutely unavailable in this era, and sprinkled it on. The slightly spicy taste immediately made everyone in front of the hall sniffle involuntarily.
Considering that none of these people had tasted the power of chili powder, Li Yunze didn't sprinkle it much.
In a short time, a plate of barbecue was served on a clay plate with sizzling oil.
A fair-faced eunuch stepped forward, expressionlessly reached out and picked up a piece of roast lamb with his chopsticks.
This is a position in the palace that is specifically responsible for tasting poisons. It seems that you can eat delicious food, but in fact, you live in the fear of being poisoned at any time all day long.
He picked up a piece of barbecue and stuffed it into his mouth. The spicy taste directly stimulated his taste buds for a moment, making the eunuch cover his neck with one hand and his mouth with the other, and coughed violently.
He was coughing so hard, his face was red, his ears were red, he was leaning forward and back, and he looked as if he would lose his breath at any moment.
The swords of the Qin Army palace guards all around were all pointed at Li Yunze, and Lord Changping even exclaimed, "The poison is actually so strong?!"
Poisons these days are mainly extracted from toxic components of animals and plants, such as the venom of poisonous snakes, the extraction of highly toxic flowers and plants, etc.
There is no doubt that the toxicity of these animals and plants is very strong, but no matter how strong it is, it will not immediately start to take effect as soon as it is taken into the mouth. That is the effect that chemical synthesis can only have.
Ying Zheng, who was guarded by the palace guards behind him, looked at Li Yunze in confusion. He shouldn't have. If he really wanted to assassinate, why wait until this time?
Not far away, Li Si, who was watching the excitement and even thinking about whether he could have a bite of mutton, collapsed to the ground.
He originally saw that Li Yunze and he were from the same family (same surname), and thought of recognizing him as a brother, but unexpectedly... this was really a trick~~~
In the midst of tension and confusion, Li Yunze, whose expression remained unchanged, first raised his hand to pick up a piece of mutton, threw it directly into his mouth, and nodded with satisfaction after taking a few bites.
Then he wiped the grease from the corners of his mouth and said slowly, "Give him a glass of water."
Not long after the meeting, a young eunuch came running over carrying a clay pot.
The eunuch who tasted the poison seemed to have seen a savior. He grabbed the pottery pot and poured it directly into his mouth.
After pouring down most of the pot of water, the spicy and pungent smell in his mouth finally dissipated.
Seeing the eunuch gradually recovering, Ying Zheng simply walked over from behind the palace guards and asked curiously, "Why is this?"
"I wanted you to try it." Li Yunze responded simply, spreading his hands, "I didn't expect that people who have never eaten chili powder would react so violently."
"Chili powder?" Ying Zheng came up and smelled the roasted lamb. It was indeed spicy. "Is this also a spice?"
"That's right." Li Yunze classified chili pepper as a spice without hesitation, and said confidently, "This is a special spice that tastes great when eating barbecue."
Contrary to the imagined food shortage, the supply of meat during the Warring States Period was actually far greater than later generations imagined.
The reason is very simple. Most of the land in this era has not been developed.
They are either mountains and forests or lakes, and the owners of these places are the birds, beasts, and fish swimming in the water.
In this martial age, it was not difficult for a group of men to go into the mountains, forests and lakes with swords, guns, bows and arrows to get some meat.
The real difficulty lies in the lack of cooking techniques and ingredients to improve the taste.
In fact, even the most basic salt is very scarce.
Guan Zhong of Qi State relied on Haiyan and his sister...ahem, to make Qi State's financial resources grow by leaps and bounds and become the overlord.
Salt is a mineral, and in this era of low productivity, it is indeed a commodity in short supply.
However, in the industrial age, you can get as much as you want, and it is hard to imagine that there is still a need to rush to buy...
Friends who have eaten game all know that the meat of game is very chewy, and without enough oil, seasonings and cooking methods, it tastes like nothing.
Even if the sheep are specially raised for the enjoyment of the palace nobles, they cannot be said to be delicious without any assistance.
So Li Yunze thought of adding some ingredients to let these bumpkins have a taste of what is delicious. Unexpectedly, people of this era have never been exposed to it, and they will collapse as soon as they try it.
Li Yunze looked at the eunuch who was wiping away his tears and asked, "How does it taste?"
"It's spicy and pungent." The eunuch thought for a while and said, "But after the spicy taste is removed, the mouth is full of fragrance."
It’s okay, I know I’m telling the truth and I’m not talking nonsense.
Ying Zheng was also interested. It had been a long time since he had eaten in the afternoon, and he was also a little hungry.
After hearing this, regardless of Mr. Changping's objections and obstructions, he simply reached out and picked up a piece of mutton and took a bite carefully.
‘Hmm~~~’
Fortunately, I didn't dare to eat it. I endured it for a while and waited until the energy subsided. The feeling immediately changed.
The creamy texture, coupled with the addition of many spices, strongly stimulates the taste buds, making Ying Zheng, who has only enjoyed salt and sauce in the past, say it is delicious.
After eating a few pieces in one go, I finally couldn't bear the spicy taste, so I hurriedly drank the remaining half a bottle of water.
Ying Zheng drank up the water and breathed a sigh of relief after tasting it, "I just realized today that there is such delicious food in the world!"
Li Yunze gestured to the dumbfounded chef on the side, "Follow my previous process and continue to do it yourself. It's easier on you. This barbecue skill has been passed on to you."
The chef was so excited that he thanked Li Yunze profusely and expressed his intention to become his disciple.
These days, all the abilities of each family are hidden, and no one except the disciples can even think about it.
A person as generous as Li Yunze may only be a Confucian who advocates teaching without distinction...but Confucianism has to be taught before it can teach without distinction.
Li Yunze waved his hand and walked back to the main hall with Ying Zheng carrying the pottery plate. "This thing is best paired with wine. Da Qin's wine is very good."
Da Qin also had a ban on alcohol. After all, in an era of scarce productivity, there was never enough food.
But when it comes to the noble class, the prohibition on alcohol naturally has no effect.
The drinks in this era were all rice wine brewed from grains. Not only did it have many impurities, the color of the wine was green, and the alcohol content was very low, almost the same as beer.
It’s also suitable to eat barbecued meat with rice wine.
As a great king, Ying Zheng naturally has no shortage of drinks.
When the two sat down on both sides of the table again, the drinks were already placed on the table.
Ying Zheng, who had been attracted by Li Yunze's description, took the initiative to pour a bowl of wine for him. "Please sir, please explain to Zheng, how did the survivors of the Yin and Shang dynasties cross the vast ocean tens of thousands of miles away?"
"They didn't take the water route."
Li Yunze's finger landed on the northeast direction and drew an arc along the wooden ball. "They walked all the way along the seaside from here."
Ying Zheng's eyes followed Li Yunze's fingers and looked all the way over. He was immediately surprised, "You can actually walk there? Then I, Da Qin, can also walk there?"
"time."
Li Yunze shook his head, "They have been walking along this road for at least hundreds of years, and there was a continental ice bridge to cross here. As for Da Qin, can your Majesty arrange for people to walk for hundreds of years, passing through generations?"
Ying Zheng, who had a slightly impatient personality, immediately shook his head.
If it really takes hundreds of years to cross, then we might as well try our best to build a large ship and directly cross the vast ocean.
Ying Zheng's eyes once again fell on the long strip of America that almost ran from north to south. "This place..."
"The land here is fertile and the products are rich." Li Yunze understood what he meant. "And the local Yin Shang survivors are still in the primitive tribal period and use stones as their main weapons."
"Stone?!"
Ying Zheng was shocked, and after receiving confirmation from Li Yunze, he laughed.
If this is the case, as long as the tigers and wolves of Great Qin can pass by, then this place will be the world of Great Qin from now on.
Seeing that Ying Zheng was interested, Li Yunze was still adding bricks and mortar, "Please see, my king, from here to here, there are dense rivers and black soil everywhere. The fertility of the land is simply beyond imagination. As long as you sow seeds, you can grow food..."
There is only one reason for encouraging Ying Zheng in this way.
When future generations watch videos, there are always people who say that if Zulong knew how big the world is, he would definitely shout ‘Edit, it’s all Eidi!’ and then punch through the world to become the leader of the ball.
Li Yunze wanted to try to see if it was possible for Zulong to be a good player.
Cultivated land, fertile soil, food.
These are the things that people of this era cannot listen to the most.
Living in an environment where food is not enough and half-starved and half-full all year round, the desire for food is unimaginable by those in later generations who have sufficient supplies of materials.
If Li Yunze used rich minerals, abundant oil reserves, or even various novel crops to attract him, then the attraction to Ying Zheng would definitely not be as important as the highly productive land.
After all, apart from gold, silver and copper, the demand for minerals these days is actually very small, and the land of Middle-earth is enough to meet it, and it is even very wealthy.
As for oil, I have never heard of it, and there is no use for it once it is produced.
As for novel crops, I am not very interested. After all, the various crops in Middle Earth are already enough.
Even if you get a new one, before the industrial age, it is just the icing on the cake.
Only fertile soil has real attraction.
What Li Yunze didn't say was that although it was indeed fertile soil, at this time, like the other two large areas of black land, it was basically in the barbaric era.
The land is covered with forests, rivers, lakes and swamps, which requires a lot of manpower and material resources to cultivate.
Black soil is the foundation of a powerful country. The three countries with black soil are naturally the three most powerful countries in the world.
Ying Zheng stared at the wooden ball for a long time, and then he exhaled and said slowly, "Sir, you have already said the north, the south, and the east. Could you please help me, sir, to clear up my doubts about the west?"
Li Yunze nodded with a smile and stretched out his hand to spin the wooden ball half a circle.