Chapter 199 Chapter 199 Update.
"Foreigners are coming! Foreigners are coming on horses!"
After the Laba Festival, some families still have earthen altars in front of their houses for worshiping the Kitchen God. Tian's altar was made of earth brought back by her daughter from near Tongtian Terrace. It must be very effective, so she kept it.
At this moment, Tian was preparing a large double-collared jar for pickled vegetables at home. It had snowed heavily recently, so Xiaozhu's elementary school was on vacation, and Erfeng had finished her work at the government-run workshop.
The two sisters were idle at home that day. After helping Tian wash the pickled vegetables and picking up the sour pickles, they heard someone outside talking about foreigners.
Erfeng dropped the brush and ran out. She caught Pi'er coming in from the alley and asked:
"Look at you, you're so crazy, what foreigner?"
"Foreigners are foreigners, not Han Chinese. There are a lot of foreigners on the Wei River!"
Pi'er was Xiao Gu's child. He was wearing thick winter clothes, his face flushed from the cold. He would occasionally lick and suck the snot that ran down his mouth, then he ran away, swinging the bamboo sword in his hand and saying happily:
"Oh—let's go see the foreigners!"
"Let's go see the foreigners!"
Many children from the streets and alleys followed him to the bank of the Wei River, making a lot of noise, which made Erfeng very excited.
It was the year she first arrived in Chang'an that she saw a foreigner near the East Market in the city. He looked different from them, and she thought he was a sick person.
When Tian heard this, she knew she had no time to spare. She loved to join in the fun and gossip. So she stopped washing the pickled mustard greens and pulled off her sleeves, saying:
"Come on, let's go check on foreigners and see if they have two eyes, a nose and a mouth."
Sidou and the two servants were now running the Ping'an Restaurant, so only the mother and her two daughters were at home. They locked the door and went to the Wei River.
There were many men, women, old and young people standing on the bridge by the street to watch the excitement, and even the ice surface of the Wei River was crowded with people.
In the twelfth lunar month, the ice there was three or four feet thick, and there were many children sitting on a wooden board, being pulled by others to slide back and forth on it.
There were indeed many foreigners on the street, heading into the city.
Some of them had high noses, deep eyes, and big beards. Even their eyeballs were dark blue, like deep pools of water. They scared some Han children so much that they ran into the arms of adults, and some even cried out of fear.
"Hey, what country are you from?"
Erfeng pulled Tian and her sister to the front. She was very brave and asked the foreigner on the horse.
However, the foreigner with sunken eye sockets and strange clothes didn't know whether he understood Chinese or not. He looked down at her angrily, frightening her so much that she took a few steps back. Tian patted her chest and said:
"It's scary."
"They are from Dayuan. The one immediately above must be the envoy from Dayuan."
The people watching the excitement nearby said.
"Dayuan? What is that place? Old man, how do you know they are from Dayuan?"
"You can tell by just looking at the horses they ride; they are all top-quality horses."
The horses of the Dayuan people were tall, muscular, and had strong limbs.
Even more amazing were the two tall golden horses led by the Dayuan people. Their hair looked like a layer of luxurious gauze, and their bodies were sparkling with pearls. Some knowledgeable people saw it and said:
"That must be the Ferghana horse! They produce fine horses there. During my great-grandfather's generation, the then Marquis of Bowang visited Dayuan during his diplomatic mission to the Western Regions. It's said that agriculture and livestock were thriving there. After the Han Dynasty conquered it, it offered two precious Ferghana horses as tribute to our dynasty every year."
Ji Feng nodded after hearing this.
"What do the people of Dayuan eat and live like? Why do they look different from us?"
"That's right."
Tian also said that seeing so many foreigners, he was very excited.
"They all have two eyes, a nose, and a mouth, but they look different from us Han people. I heard those barbarians eat raw meat and drink raw blood, unlike us Central Plains people who know how to make fire and cook. But after eating all that, they look so weird?"
I don’t know where Tian heard it from, but this rumor was spread among the people in the market, and even elderly people like Liu Laogu believed so.
"I don't know about that. I have never been to Dayuan. I only know that it is in the Western Regions, far away from us." The old man said, twirling his beard.
The people on this street are all countries or tribes that came to pay tribute to the Han Dynasty, and the date just happened to be right.
Some of them look no different from the Han people in the Central Plains, but they dress differently. They wear thick felt hats, hold bone staffs, have symmetrical paintings on their faces, and are wrapped in animal skins.
"Where are you from? Are you from the Western Regions too?"
Ji Feng said curiously that when she passed a group of people, she would ask them where they came from.
Most of them ignored her advances, but this group of people wearing felt hats responded and told her in the awkward Guanzhong Chinese dialect:
"Not the Western Regions, but the East. We are Sushen people."
"Sushen?"
Ji Feng had never heard of such a place. He looked behind them and saw that their tribute included arrows made of elm wood and hunted wild animals, such as tigers, leopards, bears, gorillas and elk.
Ji Feng was so dazzled by it that he asked what kind of animal it was.
"God, it's not easy to hunt these beasts."
He was surprised and said, "I still remember when they went north to Youzhou, they heard that there was a tiger plague on the Guangyang Road in Handan, so they were so scared that they took a detour. But these people were able to imprison the tigers in cages and pay tribute to the Han Dynasty. It can be seen that they are very good at hunting.
Another group passed by, saying they were Fuyu people. They wore sable furs and had beads hanging on their chests. The beads were round and shiny, bigger than the sour dates she ate at home, and Tian was fascinated by them.
It is said that the Fuyu people were good at catching pearls from the water, and they came to pay tribute with beautiful pearls.
"The fact that so many kingdoms and tribes have paid tribute this year is a testament to the Han Dynasty's prosperity and strength."
The old man twirled his beard and nodded. Ji Feng looked at it with great interest and said:
"It would be great if my sister was here too, so I could see so many unique people and things I've never seen before."
The old man heard that her elder sister worked as a cook in the Shaofu, and said:
"The Shaofu is close to Gao Street. These foreigners must have settled in the barbarian residences on Gao Street. Perhaps your sister can see it more clearly than we can here."
It's more than just looking. Because various countries came to pay tribute, the imperial family entertained foreign guests in the Minguang Hall. The dishes on the banquet were prepared by the Taiguan and Tangguan.
Because of this banquet, Ji Xu also added bamboo signs and was busy from morning to night. After the banquet, it was said that the foreign guests all stayed in the Barbarian Residence on Gao Street, not far from the Shaofu.
At night, after the office was lit, Tang Guanling gathered his staff and said:
"The envoys from various countries have all taken up residence at the Barbarian Residence. Just like last year, the imperial family has rewarded the envoys with gourmet officials and soup officials."
This is the privilege given to the envoys, allowing them to eat the delicacies prepared by the chefs of the Emperor's Chamber, the Taiguan and Tangguan, which means that the workload of the food officials has also increased.
Unlike the sacrifices at Ganquan Palace, where everyone was scrambling to attend, preparing meals for foreign guests seemed rather dull. Zhou Ping curled his lips, thinking:
Humph, who would like to serve those barbarians who don't know etiquette and laws?
Tang Guanling said:
"I have prepared bamboo sticks with the names of various countries written on them. The food officials with a rank of 200 koku will come to me and draw them. The one whose name is drawn will be responsible for the three meals a day of the envoys from that country.
"You must not shirk your responsibilities, slack off, or cause trouble. You have brought shame upon our dynasty. If something like last year happens again, I will remove him from his current position and never employ him again!"
"yes."
All the food officials in the courtyard agreed. The food officials with a rank of 200 stones, who were at the level of cooks and wine masters, were able to be in charge of a room.
In front of Tang Guanling was a bamboo couch and a wooden table. The old slave who served her brought up a bamboo tube filled with bamboo sticks with words on them.
As the cook of the bakery, Hua Shanren was the first to draw lots. She held up the bamboo tube, and the sound of the sticks shaking moved the hearts of the people below, especially her niece Zhou Ping, who muttered:
“No Dawan, no Dawan…”
"Hua Shan people, Sushen."
Until a bamboo stick fell to the ground, the old slave who was waiting for the stick saw it and said, Zhou Ping, Kong and Wu both breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, Ji Xu from the cake and bait room went to draw lots. Xiao Hulu and Tong'er watched intently. Although they were lowly kitchen servants, they had experienced the envoys' delicious soup last year and muttered to each other:
"Don't pick Dayuan, but don't pick Dayuan..."
Unexpectedly, I heard the old slave who was in charge of registration announce:
"Jishen is from Dayuan."
If Tang Guanling had not been here, they would have howled, and Zhou Ping would have laughed out loud. From a distance, he glanced at them, with a look of pride in his eyes that was hard to conceal.
You know, among those envoys, the envoys from Dayuan, a country that produces good horses, are the most difficult to serve.
Wang Huzi was demoted because of his drunken behavior and it was in Dayuan. At this time last year, Wang Huzi was still Tang Guancheng, the second in command after Tang Guanling.
Because of his rough character and the fact that he was drunk, he got into a conflict with the Dayuan envoy and even fought with him. As a result, he was demoted to a cook and later sent to the East Suburbs Asylum to cook for plague patients. He was extremely destitute and could never return to his previous official position.
Tang Guanling just said that something like what happened last year must not happen again, and he was referring to the Wang Huzi incident.
They don't want to end up like Wang Huzi, and they don't want to be drawn in Dayuan.
Later, each room drew lots, and Jia Jiu from the wine room drew Buyeo. As long as it was not Dayuan, they all looked happy.
After the crowd dispersed, Zhou Ping finally couldn't bear it anymore and said with a smile:
"Those who draw Dayuan are really lucky."
"Yes, think about Wang Huzi last year, he really went too far." said Kong Chef.
Ji Xu only came here in the second half of this year. Although he did not experience it personally, he just heard Xiao Hulu talk about what happened last year. He knew that Dayuan was a hot potato here. However, since he was chosen and it could not be changed, he might as well give it his best try.
At the official residence, the old servant was helping the elderly official Tang change his clothes and go to bed. He thought of the drawing of lots and said:
"It was that young cook who drew Dayuan. This is her first time experiencing this, and she has no subordinates. I'm afraid she won't be able to handle it."
Tang Guanling thought for a moment and said:
"I remember her. She was the one who invented the method of baking bread. She was not afraid of the dignitaries at the banquet in Ganquan Palace.
This time, it all depends on how they respond. It's been a year since Wang Huzi was demoted. The position of Tang Guancheng has been vacant for so long, it's time to recruit someone."
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