Chapter 210 I am very ashamed to have made only a very small contribution (asking for monthly tickets)
"Sramana—come to get the food!"

A loud shout was heard from outside. When the Khitan Shamen heard the call, he was obviously a little restless.

"What's wrong? You look anxious?" Qibi Heli asked curiously.

Qibi Shamen exclaimed: "Oh, isn't Dengzhou's seafood popular recently? The kelp is cheap now. The village head went to Chang'an City to purchase it and distributed it after returning - I even paid a hundred yuan for it."

"What are you waiting for? Let's go now." Li Xiang said with a smile.

"Then I'll go out first." The Khitan monk walked out in a hurry.

"Let's go and take a look." Li Xiang said with a smile.

When he arrived at the door, Li Xiang saw the head of the village handing a large bundle of dried kelp and a few salted fish to the Khitan monk.

The Khitan monk took the kelp and smiled so hard that his eyebrows and eyes could not be seen.

He knew the taste of kelp. During the autumn harvest season, the villagers exchanged grain for money and went to the city. Seeing that kelp was cheap, they bought some and brought it back to try.

I originally planned to give it a try, but once I tried it, I couldn't forget it, it tasted so good.

"With these kelps, we don't have to go up the mountain to dig wild vegetables to eat." Khibi Shamen said with emotion.

"You are such a coward. Even if there is kelp, you still have to go up the mountain to dig wild vegetables!" The village head said with a fierce face: "Always think of the days when you have time, and don't wait until you have no time to think of the days when you have time. Do you understand this principle?"

The Khitan monk just laughed and nodded, not caring whether he understood or not.

"You are such a jerk, there is no point in talking to you." The village head raised his eyes and saw someone coming out: "Is there a guest in the house?"

"Yes, my brother." said the Khitan Shaman.

"Your brother?" The village head looked at the Khitan monk suspiciously and said, "You have a brother?"

This is not to say that the Khitan monk was hiding it, but mainly because the head of the village never asked about it.

Besides, the Khitan tribe was originally arranged because they had committed a crime, and it was also used as a pilot project. Of course, the relationship between Khitan Shamen and Khitan Heli could not be exposed.

If people knew that Khibi Shamen had a brother who was the General of the Right Guard, who would dare not give him face? How could this pilot project be carried out?

"Of course I have a brother, and he is in Chang'an City." Khitan Shamen said proudly.

Nowadays, whether it is the Hu people or the Han people, their respect for Li Shimin is unparalleled.

Qibi Shamen’s idea was very simple. My brother is at the service of His Majesty the Khan of Heaven. This is the supreme honor!
The village head took a look at the gorgeous carriage and said with emotion: "It seems that your brother is also a rich man. Why doesn't he help you? We are born of the same mother. He is doing business in Chang'an City?"

"Oh, that's not the case." Qibi Shamen scratched his head: "My brother is the general of the Right Guard."

"Oh, the Right Guard General..." The head nodded, then suddenly realized what was going on and asked in disbelief, "What did you say? The Right Guard General?"

"Yes, my name was Qibi Shamen before, and his name was Qibi Heli, but now they have Chinese names. My name is Chen Shamen, and his name is Li Heli." Qibi Shamen said innocently.

The old man rubbed his chest with his hand. It was a little hard for him to accept it for a while, and his eyes were full of horror.

He really didn't expect that this down-to-earth and hardworking young man from the Hu people was actually the younger brother of the General of the Right Guard.

"Father-in-law." Qibi Heli walked forward and greeted the head of the village.

"Greetings...Greetings, the general." The village head saluted in a panic.

Behind Qibi Heli, Ashina She'er and Zhishishili were trying hard to hold back their laughter and looked very tired.

"Don't be so polite, father-in-law. I would also like to thank you for taking care of my brother these days." Qibi Heli said with a smile.

The head of the village repeatedly said he dared not and did not dare to take any credit at all.

The Right Guard General was one of the Twelve Guard Generals, a position of the third rank, in charge of all government affairs, and the Yingyang Palace, and in charge of the palace guards, which was equivalent to the current group army commander...

He was just a small village head, so of course he was at a loss when he saw the General of the Right Guard.

Li Xiang was curious to see that the village head had a good relationship with the Khitan monk, so he planned to have a chat with the village head.

Zhishishili understood what was going on and went forward to talk to Qibi Heli, so Qibi Heli said, "Village head, this... um, the nobleman wants to talk to you."

Hearing that the General of the Right Guard called Li Xiang a noble man, the head of the village dared not neglect him.

It is a classic intangible cultural heritage. I don’t know who this person is, but I know that the General of the Right Guard called him a noble man.

Seeing that he was embarrassed, Li Xiang said amiably, "Don't worry, let's walk along the village and tell me about the things in the village."

"Since you have invited me, I dare not disobey your order." The head of the village said hurriedly.

The two walked along the country road, and Li Xiang naturally saw the dried kelp and salted fish that every household was preparing.

These are all produced in Dengzhou... Li Xiang felt a small sense of accomplishment in his heart.

The work in Dengzhou was not in vain. Not only did it help Dengzhou get rid of poverty and become rich, but it also spread Dengzhou's output to all parts of the country, benefiting the entire Tang Dynasty.

I am ashamed to say that I have only made a very small contribution.

Several other Hu families were also collecting kelp with the help of the people.

Looking at how they get along, it doesn't seem like there is any difference between the Hu and Han people. On the contrary, they are no different from ordinary Han people.

In other words, these "barbarians" have basically been assimilated. Being separated from their original ethnic groups and living in the territory of the Han people, the transformation is naturally quite fast.

If you don’t hurry, you’ll go hungry.

"It seems that you, Chenjiazhuang, get along very well with these Hu people?" Li Xiang stopped and asked.

"In reply to your words, at the beginning, we also thought that the Hu people were barbarians and beasts, unreasonable and impossible to get along with." The head of the village sighed and said, "For example, when these Hu people from the Qibi tribe first migrated to Songjiazhuang, we were very reluctant to accept them. After all, we had just fought a war with the Turks a few years ago, and we didn't know where these Hu people came from."

"But there was nothing we could do. The county forced us to accept it, so we had to hold our noses and get along with them. Later, we found out that these Hu people were not completely barbarians. In fact, they were just as flesh and blood as the people of the Tang Dynasty."

The village head sighed with some emotion: "In fact, these people also know how to be grateful. We usually help them, build houses, open up wasteland, and take care of crops. They don't know how to farm, but they rely on their strength to help the villagers with work. After a while, they became familiar with each other."

"They are quite straightforward and say whatever they want to say. When I was not familiar with them, I thought they were difficult to deal with and thought they might be unreasonable. But later, I found that they are actually quite likable after getting to know them for a long time."

"Haha, that's great." Li Xiang was also very happy about the grassland people's integration into the Tang Dynasty.

"Who says not?" The village head said with a smile, "For example, they rush to do the hard work of fetching water on weekdays. The old neighbor of Shamen's family has no children, but Shamen and his friends have been taking care of him and helping him fetch water and chop firewood. If they didn't respect the elderly so much, the villagers wouldn't have accepted them so quickly."

Finally, the village head said cunningly, "Sir, I know you can handle this. Can we discuss this? If there are more grassland people like the Qibi tribe, can we share the profits with a few more households in Chenjiazhuang?"

"Hahaha, you old man." Li Xiang smiled and pointed at him: "Okay, then I will agree to your request. Next time there is money, I will give some of the profits to your village."

"In that case, thank you very much!" said the head of the village happily.

Li Xiang could see that the village head just wanted to recruit some hardworking and diligent laborers...

While thinking about it, the head of the village sighed again: "Alas, the Han people and the Hu people are also enemies for generations. Think about how many people were harmed when the Five Hu people came south! Since then, we have been under the rule of the Hu people."

"Twenty years ago, when the Weishui incident happened, we really thought it was the end again! Fortunately, the current sage is wise and powerful. After a few years, he defeated the arrogant Turks and even captured the Khan to dance in the palace. I heard that the Khan danced quite flexibly."

Li Xiang: …

Well, you should be talking about the grassland dance king, Jie Li Khan Ashina Duobi.

Speaking of Ashina Duobi, Li Xiang felt a little sorry for him.

I have never seen Ashina Duobi perform the dance with my own eyes, so I always feel that my time-travel life is a little incomplete.

How about...capture a caliph and dance with him? I think the Umayyads are good dancing materials.

"Thanks to the saint, we can farm here in peace without worrying about being robbed." The village head sighed again: "In our hearts, the saint is like the sun, shining on us ordinary people."

"Hahaha, you only think about the good?" Li Xiang asked with a smile: "It is said that we should always be prepared for the worst."

"That's right. We thought so at the beginning." The village head said again: "We are afraid that there will be no successor to the sage, and that the emperors after him will no longer love the people like the sage, and no longer have the same literary and military strategies as the sage."

"But now it's different. I heard that the court has conferred the title of Crown Prince to the Prince of Hengshan. His Royal Highness is as wise and powerful as a saint, and he cares about us ordinary people. Tell me, how can we not be happy? The good days are still to come!"

"What do you mean?" Li Xiang asked with a smile. It is always a pleasure to be praised by others, not to mention that the voice of the head of the village also represents the true thoughts of the people.

"Your Excellency, think about it. Our Royal Highness the Crown Prince spent only one year in Dengzhou to turn a barren land into a fertile land of fish and rice. We even brought cheap sea salt, cheap sea vegetables, and cheap salted fish into the inland areas, so that the poor people like us can have some vegetables and fish." The head of the village had bright eyes. "We can sell the food we grow in a year in the city for money, and we can buy a lot of sea vegetables and even salted fish. In the past, we could not eat a bite of meat all year round, but now we can even eat it once a month. Even though it is salted fish, it is a good thing that was hard to eat before."

"Are the dishes you usually have not enough to eat?" Li Xiang asked again.

"Your Excellency does not understand the suffering of the people, and of course you do not know the difficulties of the common people." The head of the village sighed and said, "There are only a few dishes on the table at ordinary times. There is not enough food in the fields to grow, so who would have the energy to grow some vegetables? At most, they can only grow some beans, or go to the mountains to dig some wild vegetables to eat."

"Now that we have seaweed, we have a new dish on the table. I heard that seaweed can be used to prevent goiter in the Western Regions. This good thing only costs five cents to buy a large bundle. It is also durable in storage. When eating, just soak it in water and it tastes extremely delicious. Isn't this a great merit?"

The so-called douhuo is the leaves of soybeans.

The ancients usually cut this thing up and ate it as a dish. It was very simple and concise...

Li Xiang had never expected that the Han people, who had always been famous for growing vegetables, would also suffer from a lack of vegetables to eat in this era.

Although the Han people have always been a nation with a talent for growing vegetables, they have always been short of vegetables from ancient times until recently.

What did people usually eat in ancient times? They all had their own independent names, such as sunflower, leek, 藿, iris, scallion, water chestnut, 葑, fei, cabbage, 烏, moss, mustard, 莼, and shepherd's purse. They sound grand, but in fact, very few people eat them now. For example, water chestnut is rarely eaten now.

As for the common dishes nowadays, those with the word "Hu" are either selected by Zhang Qian or introduced into my country during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and basically all come from the Western Regions; those with the word "Fan" are carefully selected by Zheng He, and generally come from the sea, because at that time they were called "foreign countries"; those with the word "Xi" and "Yang" were introduced after the middle of the Qing Dynasty, because at that time they were called "foreigners" and "the West", so they were called "broccoli" and "onion".

But it is understandable. If it weren't for the vegetable basket project in later generations, we might have to stock up on cabbage and potatoes in the winter before traveling through time.

During the time when Li Xiang lived, the country launched the Vegetable Basket Project. Generation after generation of scientific researchers devoted their entire lives to research and solve the problem of food for the people, resulting in the current wide variety of rich vegetables.

As for the issue of eating meat, it is not that meat is expensive and people cannot afford it. It is more because the breeding has not formed a large scale, and there is little meat on the market, so people cannot buy it even if they want to.

Dengzhou's salted fish has alleviated the market demand for meat to a certain extent.

Every month or so, the villagers can buy some salted fish to satisfy their hunger and improve their lives.

The citizens of Chang'an have a lot of spare money and are the main force of salted fish consumption.

"Alas, people's livelihood, people's livelihood..." Li Xiang looked ahead with deep eyes and muttered to himself.

"I heard that when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was in Dengzhou, he promised to let the people of Dengzhou drink meat soup." The head of the village said with some longing: "I heard from the merchants over there that we are so envious. Now that the Crown Prince is the Jingzhao Yin, I wonder how long it will take for us common people to drink meat soup."

"There will be." Li Xiang patted the village head with his hand and said firmly: "There will be salted fish, there will be broth, and everything will be there."

(Ah…sleep)
(End of this chapter)