Chapter 50: Paper mulberry bark to protect against cold
Bao Hong felt that he did not come back to the capital to report, but rather like a person sent out from his fiefdom in Leping County to pay tribute to the capital Luoyang.
But on second thought, although he had become a captain in Luoyang, there were many captains with better backgrounds than him. Compared with others, he did not have any advantage. How could he meet people like the Grand Marshal under normal circumstances?
Besides, he went to Leping to deliver Qiao Xuan's coffin, and returned only after supervising the completion of the temple. At most, he just played the role of running errands and delivering messages.
Since there is such a high-sounding reason, he would not be punished by Liu Hong just for giving Qiao Yan an inappropriate gift...right?
Starting from Leping and arriving in Luoyang, no matter how fast he walked and had already walked this section of the road, it was already November when he arrived in the capital.
Soon after entering the customs, snow started falling.
When we passed the North Mountain, the mountains that were green when we came here were now covered with white mist.
When you enter Luoyang City, you will see snow spreading over the roofs.
This was the state of the Little Ice Age at the end of the Han Dynasty.
Even in the Jiangnan region, where snow is rarely seen in meteorological records, it can snow for a month in winter, let alone the north.
Bao Hong still has a deep impression of the cold weather last year. The snow in the capital was three feet deep at that time, and a large number of houses in the city collapsed. If it were not for the consideration of the image under the emperor's feet, I am afraid that the repairs would not have been completed so quickly.
The power of this celestial phenomenon has not diminished in the slightest this year.
Bao Hong came from the direction of Beiguo where there were the fewest houses, and saw a very bleak scene, which made him shudder in his heart.
I don’t know how many people will freeze to death this winter.
If frost reduces production, I'm afraid next year will be difficult again.
When he left Leping, the mountain ditches reserved for planting yam next year had been completed, and winter wheat had also been planted on the flat land.
After completing the construction of the sacrificial temple and the yam warehouse, the black mountain bandits, under the instructions of Qiao Yan, began to build wintering houses in the area under the mountains outside the county town.
Although there was no distribution of land or houses for these Black Mountain bandit captives, many people had to be crammed into these wintering houses. The area of Leping was far less magnificent and gorgeous than Hanque, but for some reason, Bao Hong felt that Leping was more organized.
But now is not the time to think about that.
The length of the route for the funeral procession and the scale of the funeral procession with the three ministers carrying the yellow house and left flag meant that he, the bodyguard, had to meet the emperor in person on his return to the capital and explain the circumstances one by one.
He also had to calm down and go meet the emperor first, and at the same time deliver the box and memorial that Qiao Yan asked him to pass on to Liu Hong.
When Bao Hong stepped into the palace, he couldn't help feeling uneasy.
But he didn't know if it was because the charcoal fire was burning so vigorously in the palace, but when he suddenly came in from the cold environment outside, he felt his back getting warm, and his restlessness temporarily stopped.
He carefully raised his eyes towards Liu Hong, and handed the box and the memorial in his hand to Zhang Rang, who passed them to Liu Hong.
As it was not a formal audience, the emperor did not wear court robes, but sat at the head of the table wrapped in a fur coat.
Bao Hong didn’t know if it was his illusion, but he felt that the sickness on Liu Hong’s face became more serious with the arrival of winter.
Also, the blazing charcoal fire in the room cast an unhealthy red glow.
But he didn't dare to say this. Although everyone knew that the emperor of the Han Dynasty would not live long, he couldn't really say this in front of Liu Hong.
He could only bow his head in silence and wait for Liu Hong to speak first and ask, "What do you think of Mr. Qiao's temple?"
He replied, "The Marquis of Leping captured all the Black Mountain bandits two or three months ago and used them as laborers, which did not delay the autumn harvest for the people of Leping County. After the construction of the temple dedicated to Mr. Qiao was completed, Cai Bojie inscribed a character and erected a stele for the temple. In my opinion, this temple is simple and elegant, which can show your majesty's love for Mr. Qiao."
"That's good." Liu Hong said calmly, "This black mountain bandit is quite useful."
After defeating the Black Mountain bandits, Qiao Yan conspired with the three governors to defraud them of grain, and he reported the situation truthfully in the memorial to Liu Hong.
In the general amnesty after the change of the reign title to Zhongping, the sentence reduction for those who had participated in Yellow Turban activities was limited. She continued to confine people within her own territory, which could not be regarded as an usurpation of jurisdiction.
What's more, the three surrounding counties are particularly concerned about the whereabouts of these people, so keeping them in Leping is indeed an appropriate way of dealing with them.
However, in this way, Leping had an extra 9,000 people...
It has to be known that it was somewhat of a coincidence that Qiao Yan was granted the title of Wanhu. As the emperor, Liu Hong might not be happy to see the population in her territory grow.
But he could not tell Bao Hong about this subtle thought, so he just asked again: "I heard that the grandson of the general is still staying there?"
Earlier, around the beginning of August, people sent by the Taiwei Mansion arrived in Leping.
According to what Yang Ci said in the letter, after seeing the letter left by Yang Xiu, he wanted to take his grandson back immediately, but when he thought of Yang Xiu's performance in front of Dingzhong Temple because he wanted to compete with Qiao Yan, he thought it would be better to let him suffer a little.
So he simply asked his retainers to come back to Leping a month later.
The Yang family retainers who arrived in Leping were just before Qiao Yan eliminated the Black Mountain bandits, and Yang Xiu was still busy brewing wine at that time.
The young master of the Taiwei Mansion had to make wine when there were other things he could do. In the eyes of this envoy, he was really not doing his job properly!
In addition, there was a threat from outside, which made him want to knock Yang Xiu unconscious on the spot and take him away.
Even though it was later proved that Qiao Yan had the ability to root out bandits and made Yang Xiu change his job from brewing wine to "writing nursery rhymes", he still didn't feel much better about it.
But Yang Xiu was determined not to go back, and in order to prevent him from taking the people away, he even threatened directly that if he had a way to knock him out all the way to Luoyang, it would be fine, but if not, he would eventually find a chance to run back.
Bao Hong found it funny when he thought of the chaotic scene, but he couldn't show it, so he replied, "Young Master Yang probably wanted to play outside for two more years because he had never left Luoyang before."
"Then let him keep it." Liu Hong replied casually.
For some reason, Bao Hong felt that Liu Hong's tone was somewhat light-hearted when he said this, as if he was happy to see the future heir of Hongnong Yang family do such a rebellious thing.
But before his not-so-flexible mind could figure out what was going on, he saw Liu Hong reaching out for the box that Qiao Yan had given him.
He picked up his heart again.
He saw Liu Hong take out a small box from the rather plain box. There was a special wax seal around the box, and there seemed to be something else mixed in it.
When Liu Hong's attendants started to dismantle it, they found that its stickiness was stronger than that of ordinary wax seals.
But since it is a gift presented to the emperor, it is normal for it to be a little special.
But what was strange was that after opening the box, what was found inside was not any precious jewelry or jade items, but pieces of flower-shaped pastries.
It is written on the silk attached to the big box that this thing is made of yam, polygonatum, honey and millet, and needs to be re-steamed before eating.
Nowadays, the concept of rice cakes has indeed become a pastry in the south, but the snacks that are widely circulated in Luoyang are still more inclined to be embellishments on rice balls. The yam pastry sent by Qiao Yan was delicate in appearance, which made Liu Hong a little interested.
After being tested and steamed by the imperial kitchen, this light yellow pastry, which is placed on a green tray, is even more pleasing to the eye.
Liu Hong put one of the pieces into his mouth and found the pastry sweet, fragrant and glutinous, and even better than his favorite Hu Bing.
The taste of yam itself is a bit bland, but millet, which is the common small yellow rice in the north, adds a bit of sweetness after being ground into flour. Add the blending taste of honey, and it becomes what Liu Hong tastes at this moment.
The low temperature environment that started in October, coupled with the semi-vacuum wax-sealed environment, made this not-too-long-distance transportation possible.
The damage to the taste caused by steaming twice is obviously not as good as Liu Hong’s novelty about new things.
Perhaps it was because tasting sweets would make people feel good, and coupled with the joke he had just seen about the Taiwei Mansion, when Liu Hong took the memorial written by Qiao Yan, he felt less unhappy than before.
When he read the words in the memorial clearly, he suppressed his emotion even deeper.
This performance...
Well, rather than a performance chart, it’s more like a record of her food research.
To put it in simple terms, Qiao Yan wrote that since she arrived at her fiefdom, she found that this place was very different from Yanzhou where she had lived before. For example, the yam she was going to try artificially cultivated would grow longer than those in Yanzhou.
Because of the special growing environment of Iron Stick Yam, its texture is more glutinous and solid than other similar yam. It would be a pity to use it only as a soup ingredient, so various kinds of pastries were born one after another.
In these few lines a rather childish study is fully expressed.
Liu Hong had recently read Qiao Yan's "The Feudal System of Provincial Governors". At this moment, he couldn't help feeling dazed by the comparison. No matter how he looked at it, he felt that the two articles did not seem to be written by the same person.
But thinking about Qiao Yan's age, I felt that there was no problem.
However, Qiao Yan's thoughts are much more thoughtful than those of other children of her age. She also said that when making this pastry, she used Dioscorea and Polygonatum, both of which are good medicines for replenishing deficiency and invigorating Qi. It's a pity that the disasters in recent years have caused a lot of reduction in their production in the mountains. Otherwise, they should be promoted to help people strengthen their bodies. Then she thought of what she had read in a book before, that there are usually major epidemics after major chaos, and Your Majesty should pay more attention to it.
Of course, before that, you as the king should take care of your health, so I offer this pastry to you.
The pandemic...
Liu Hong couldn't help but pinch his eyebrows.
There had only been a major epidemic in the fifth year of Guanghe. If it had not been for this outbreak, the Yellow Turban Sect would probably not have been able to get the final boost to its reputation.
But as Qiao Yan said, there is often a major epidemic after a war, and the Yellow Turban Rebellion in various places is bound to cause casualties. If any of these chaos is not properly handled, it will inevitably cause extremely serious consequences, and there is no guarantee that it will not happen again next year.
But what can he do? He had already ordered the eunuchs and the imperial envoys to go around and deliver medicine.
The reminders in this memorial are, after all, nothing more than empty talk.
He did not realize that because of this reminder about the epidemic, he temporarily put aside the matter of Qiao Yan sheltering the Black Mountain bandits.
He only thought that four major epidemics had occurred during his reign, and if a fifth one were to occur, it would inevitably be a troublesome matter.
Cai Yong had previously written memorials to the emperor about successive years of disasters and epidemics, arguing that the disasters occurred because those in power had not done a good job of selecting talented people and should not have used the power of eunuchs. But if it was true as he said, who should he use?
From this perspective, it might not be a bad thing for Cai Yong to stay in Leping. At least he would not be able to submit a memorial to himself. Even if he picked up a pen and wrote something, it would most likely not be spread in the capital.
In this mood of half annoyance and half relief, his eyes subconsciously moved away from the music sheet handed to him by Qiao Yan and fell on the wooden box beside him.
The wax-sealed box, plus the fact that it was not so easy to open after the wax seal was removed, made it quite interesting that the food inside, which would have spoiled within a few days, remained almost intact after being presented to him.
He pointed at the item and asked Bao Hong, "Can this be used to transport military rations and vegetables?"
As soon as he said this, Bao Hong showed an expression of shock that was almost uncontrollable.
Liu Hong might be thinking about improving the food for those soldiers. Eating dry food and baked cakes all the time is a bit monotonous, but -
"Your Majesty, this wax seal is really expensive, how can it be widely used?"
Why is it so rare to find scholars? The reason is that if one wants to read at night, he has to light lamps and candles, which is a considerable expense.
Qiao Yan had the conditions to melt the wax and use it as a seal, so Liu Hong could certainly do it too. However, in this kind of situation where saving money is required, it sounds very impractical.
Qiao Yan had no idea that Liu Hong would actually ask a question that sounded quite like "Why not eat meat porridge?". With Cheng Li and Xi Zhicai helping her figure out what to say in the memorial, she felt that she could basically minimize the impact of sheltering the Black Mountain bandits.
She had already been busy with the next stage of things during the autumn harvest season. Now it was a critical moment and she didn't have the extra energy to care about Liu Hong's reaction.
It was snowing in the capital, and inevitably Leping County also showed signs of cooling down a while ago.
Even though the environment surrounded by mountains can somewhat block the wind and make the temperature seem warmer, it cannot change the indiscriminate attacks during the Little Ice Age.
The severe cold is a deadly weapon that is no less harmful than a major epidemic.
Even though there is a large amount of food stored in the warehouse in Leping, and the Black Mountain Labor Reform Team has prepared firewood in the county, it is still an indisputable fact that there is a shortage of cold-proof supplies.
Apart from the small amount of cotton that appeared in the imperial court robes as recorded, the planting and weaving of cotton were far from being popularized in the Central Plains in this era. Even if she knew that this thing had a very good effect in keeping out the cold, she obviously could not create it out of thin air.
It was obviously not a suitable decision to rashly say that we should go south to look for something when transportation was not convenient and many people at that time thought that the south was a barbaric land.
Cotton is obviously an excluded option.
The next thing Qiao Yan thought of was the fluff of chickens and ducks.
But just think about it, in the face of food famine, where would there be extra food to domesticate chickens and ducks? Even if there was any, it would obviously not be enough to make cold-proof clothing.
Qiao Yan had a terrible headache.
You have to know that now is not the time to use charcoal fire for heating. Physical protection against cold is the primary means.
It was at this time that she heard an interesting news from Lu Yuan.
She said that since Cai Lun improved the papermaking technique, most people still use bamboo slips because paper is not easy to preserve. However, servants in the family who have the conditions to use paper, if they cannot afford winter fur coats, will often use the discarded paper of the master's family as filling in the cloth to keep warm.
Paper is thin and light, so using paper to keep warm sounds a bit ridiculous, but for people who have limited means of keeping warm today, it is also an option.
You should know that the materials used in the improved papermaking technology are mostly cheap, and it is undoubtedly feasible for those who urgently need to add an extra layer of life-saving material.
After those people took the lead, people in the public also tried to perform similar operations to keep warm.
Or maybe this can't be called paper, it's more like a superposition of bark fibers.
After realizing this option, Qiao Yan immediately ordered people to find a tree called Paper Mulberry in the mountains.
This is also a plant that grows in Shanxi. It is impossible that there is not even a mulberry forest in such a huge Taihang Mountains.
Why look for paper mulberry trees?
Because the bark of this tree has a very high fiber content, it is enough to meet the need for cold protection. This is why paper fur coats made from mulberry bark appeared in later generations.
Qiao Yan's current conditions do not allow him to make mulberry paper, but there is undoubtedly room for improvement in pressing the mulberry bark fibers into the required layer for clothing to get through the winter.
Even more fortunately, the Black Mountain bandits who had been active in the Taihang Mountains not only told her the location of the nearest mulberry tree, but also brought back two additional items for her when they mined the bark.
One is the Polygonatum sibiricum added to the yam pastry.
One thing was the sap of the paper mulberry tree, which had the properties of glue, and was added by Qiao Yan to the wax seal of the wooden box.
When Bao Hong arrived in the capital, the first rough version of mulberry leather jacket in Leping was produced.
Cai Zhaoji, who was still young and could speak without restraint, looked at Qiao Yan's delighted expression as he held the mulberry fur coat in his hands, and asked a soul-searching question in a low voice: "So, the gift that Marquis Qiao gave to Your Majesty... isn't it——"
"Isn't it just a scrap?"
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