"These two girls, they came so quickly, but why are they empty-handed?" The only old scholar in the village sat in front of the stove, looked up, smiled and waved them away, "Go, go, go home and get a basin or a bag."
The two girls stretched out their hands and fanned themselves hard, but the smell of smoke still made them cough.
"Uncle, what is going on?" Yingzi finally stopped coughing and asked.
The old scholar chuckled and said, "It's New Year's Eve, what do you want to give out? Give out noodles, give out pork, and eat dumplings!"
"How much is it?" Ah Tao's eyes widened and shone.
The old scholar raised his palm and said, "Five catties of noodles and ten catties of meat for each family."
"Every family, why not every person?" Ah Tao said playfully with a smile on her face, "I have a big family, so why don't I give more?"
"For families with more than five people, add one jin for each additional person." The old scholar stroked his beard and said, "and add two jins of meat."
Yingzi looked at Ah Tao and smiled, "If that's the case, the dumplings we made are more than enough to eat."
"Let's go home and get a basin!" A Tao pulled Yingzi and was about to go out.
The old scholar hurriedly called them to a halt, handed a note to the two girls, made a note in the book, and said, "Take your belongings and go directly to the back room to get the noodles and meat. You don't have to come to this room and get choked."
As he spoke, the old scholar took out his pipe and filled it with tobacco, which frightened the two girls so much that they ran away.
Not long after, Yingzi came back first. When she arrived at the back room, she saw Zhang Zhuzi cutting meat, then carefully weighing each piece and tying them up with hemp rope.
"I'm here." Zhang Zhuzi smiled and nodded when he saw Yingzi. He took the basin, weighed it, and put the noodles on it. He pointed at the pork tied with hemp rope and said, "Take your pick. There's no way to tell the fat from the lean, but the weight is pretty good."
Yingzi looked at it, picked out a piece with even fat and lean meat, and said with a smile: "This kind of meat is delicious when used to make dumplings. It's all oily when you bite it."
Zhang Zhuzi smiled and nodded, weighed the noodles and handed them to Yingzi.
Yingzi hesitated for a moment and said, "Brother Zhang, it's really troublesome to knead the dough and chop the meat by yourself during the New Year. My father said that if you have time, you can come to our house to eat dumplings."
Zhang Zhuzi was stunned for a moment, blinking at Yingzi, then turned around, took a piece of meat, handed it to Yingzi, and said with a silly smile, "Then you take my meat first. As for the noodles, I'll bring them over when I'm free."
Yingzi blinked her eyes and suddenly burst out laughing. She couldn't help but say, "Brother Zhang, is he born in the Year of the Pig? We dare not eat your meat!"
Zhang Zhuzi was stunned for a moment, and realized that what he said was ambiguous. He couldn't help but scratch his head and laugh.
"I'm leaving first." Yingzi stopped laughing, put down a piece of meat, and said, "Brother Zhang, please come over when you have time!"
Zhang Zhuzi nodded quickly, readily agreeing to escort Yingzi out of the house. When they reached the door, he suddenly remembered something and said, "The supply and marketing cooperative in Lushunbao has just opened. They're selling a lot of good goods."
Yingzi smiled and said, "I know that. I want to go and see it tomorrow!"
After a pause, the girl looked at Zhang Zhuzi and asked, "Brother Zhang, are you free tomorrow? It's more than ten miles away, and it's safer to walk with someone."
Zhang Zhuzi nodded vigorously and said, "I'll go too. I'll get my disability pension tomorrow!"
Yingzi smiled, turned around and walked out of the house.
………………
There was smoke in the room. Zhang Pan moved closer to the window and opened it a crack. Although it was a bit cold, he still felt that this was better.
Kong Youde smoked the tobacco with relish, feeling very satisfied and saying with emotion: "I didn't expect the court would even send this. This New Year is really comfortable!"
As he spoke, he looked up at Zhang Pan and said with a smile, "This is a good thing. It can refresh you, keep you warm, and help you forget your worries!"
China's tobacco history can be traced back to the third year of the Wanli reign, when tobacco was introduced from Luzon to coastal areas such as Fujian.
At first, people in the Ming Dynasty called it "Danbaigui" based on transliteration. Later, it was called Yanjiu. Because smoking it would give you a feeling of ecstasy, just like drinking alcohol, it was also called "Dry Wine".
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, tobacco was being grown on a large scale, and smoking became popular in the army. Because the climate in the south is humid, smoking can remove moisture, so many southern soldiers smoked.
Later, after the smoking habit was spread to the Northeast, it was developed into a new function of "keeping warm".
There are reasons why tobacco is popular in the military. For soldiers who are often under hard work, fatigue and pressure, smoking can relieve pain, relax and refresh their spirits.
Under the pressure of tension and fear of war, soldiers needed to use smoking to relax and comfort themselves, and this phenomenon continued until World War I and World War II.
Especially during World War II, the armies of many countries listed tobacco as an official military supply. Some soldiers even said that it didn't matter if they had bad food, but without cigarettes, they couldn't even fight.
Such things also happened in the history of the late Ming Dynasty.
Chongzhen once issued a ban on opium, but Hong Chengchou, the Minister of War who was fighting hard against the Later Jin in Liaodong at the time, reported to the emperor that "the soldiers in Liaodong are addicted to it as if it were their life", which led to the ban being aborted.
The reason why Chongzhen banned smoking was not because he realized that smoking was harmful to health, but because the increase in the area of tobacco cultivation affected the cultivation of grain and the country's fiscal revenue.
Zhu Youxiao had his own analysis and judgment on this. Compared with the casualties of the brutal war and the famine that lasted for decades, the harm of tobacco to people's health and the reduction in life expectancy could be simply ignored.
So, after deforestation that destroyed the environment and whale hunting that damaged the ecology, he was preparing to do something that would make him criticized - tobacco monopoly.
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