Turning around Feitianyan, there is a large mountain basin with rivers, ditches and large tracts of paddy fields.
The solar terms in the mountains are later than those in the plains. The rice has already been harvested outside, but the rice fields here are just turning yellow and it will take a few more days to mature.
In the middle of the paddy field is a large village with neatly built houses. In the middle stands a huge earthen building, twice as big as the previous one. It looks almost as high as the Chaozhou city wall.
"This place is really nice." Seeing this, Lin Run couldn't help but praise: "Isn't Tao Yuanming's paradise just like this?"
"It's a pity that the Peach Blossom Spring is fake. How can such a small place accommodate hundreds of years of population growth?" Lin Zhengying shook his head and sighed, "Our clan moved here only 120 years ago. Now we have two villages and we work hard to cultivate the land, but we can only barely make a living. If there is a natural disaster, there will be famine."
As they were talking, they arrived at the entrance of Daliao Village and saw an exquisitely carved stone archway with four large characters "九牧传芳" written in a flamboyant style.
Seeing Zhao Hao staring at the memorial archway with great interest, Lin Run proudly introduced: "From my Lin family's great ancestor Bigan, the 46th generation is the first ancestor to enter Fujian, Jin'an County King Lu. From Lu, the 16th generation is Pi. In the 11th year of Tianbao in the Tang Dynasty, Pi was promoted to the position of Inspector of the Crown Prince and Deputy Governor of Suzhou. He was awarded the Purple Gold Fish Bag and Shang Zhuguo. After his death, he was given the title of Governor of Muzhou. Pi had nine sons, all of whom were governors of prefectures, so he was called 'Nine Dragons', also known as the Nine Pastoral Family, the former Nine Dragons. My ancestors used 'Nine Dragons Hall' as the hall name of this branch."
"Is that so? That's amazing." Young Master Zhao exclaimed with envy, "Since it's called the Front Nine Dragons, there must be the Back Nine Dragons, right?"
"That's right." Lin Run nodded and said, "The 25th generation after Duke Lu was Duke Qi, who also had nine sons, and all of them became governors of states, so they were called 'Duke Jiumu', and later Jiulong, Duke Jiumu of Song."
Zhao Hao suddenly realized why the store that sold a pair of men's pants every seven seconds was called Jiumuwang. I guess the boss's surname was also Lin.
The sound of firecrackers and gongs and drums interrupted Mr. Zhao's daydreaming. He looked carefully and found that he had arrived in front of the earth building.
The tribesmen who received the order took out the utensils they used to worship their ancestors during the New Year, and played music and danced vigorously to welcome the distinguished guests.
Zhao Hao originally thought that in this rural area, even if there were dragon and lion dances, they would just be performed for show. But he was surprised to see that his eyes were opened.
On the grain drying ground in front of the earth building, more than a hundred Hakka men formed two long red dragons. Another twenty men formed ten green lions, and under the command of the leader holding a ball, they danced swiftly to the drum beats. So many dragons and lions mixed together, but they coordinated tacitly and varied their movements without any confusion. They imitated the various postures of the lion vividly, and implied martial arts and formations in the performance, reflecting the combination of strength and beauty, rough and full of vitality.
The Hakka dragon and lion dance and the Chaozhou Yingge dance each have their own merits.
~~
After the performance ended, Lin Zhengying raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet, and then spoke loudly to them in dialect.
Mr. Zhao's eyes widened as he listened, and he asked Yue Yunpeng beside him, "What are they talking about?"
"I don't understand either. We Chaozhou people can understand Minnan dialect, but they speak Putian dialect, which is completely different." Yue Yunpeng looked helpless.
Mr. Zhao nodded and expressed his understanding. After all, Mr. Lu Xun once said that the furthest distance in the world is that we are both from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but I don’t understand what you are saying.
This statement is also completely applicable in the Minnan and Cantonese speaking areas.
Regarding the mysterious degree of these dialects that are difficult to crack, there is a joke in the market that during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Vietnam, in order to prevent the communication signals from being cracked by the U.S. military, the Chinese Volunteer Army asked many Chaozhou soldiers to use Chaozhou dialect as the communication language, and the effect was very good.
Zhao Hao has also seen similar jokes in Wenzhou dialect and Putian dialect. Anyway, it is just to highlight that his dialect is the most difficult to understand. I don't know what to be proud of.
It was still the guide, Old Fang, who translated for Mr. Zhao, saying that this was Lin Zhengying bragging to the tribesmen that they had a rich relative. The days of being proud were coming.
"Dream on." Yue Yunpeng curled his lips in dissatisfaction, but this place was considered an enemy area for him, so he dared not say this out loud.
After the Lin family members happily paid their respects to their great-uncle, Lin Run was led into the ancestral hall in the courtyard to burn incense to the ancestors of the Lin family.
Outsiders like Zhao Hao and Yue Yunpeng stayed outside the ancestral hall to drink tea. Young Master Zhao was not in a hurry to sit down. He looked up and walked around in the courtyard, looking around the interior of this Hakka walled house with great interest.
The entire compound is circular in shape, with four-story outer buildings and thousands of rooms, which serve as residences and warehouses for each family member.
Inside the enclosure is the traditional Han Chinese main hall, which is divided into three halls: upper, middle and lower. The lower hall is connected to the main door and is the entrance and exit of the enclosure. The middle hall is located in the center, the largest and most spacious, and is the place for family gatherings and welcoming guests. The upper hall is located at the innermost part and is the ancestral hall for worshipping ancestors and also the location of the clan school.
The place where Zhao Hao and his companions were was the central hall. When they looked up, they could see the round blue sky, so it was also called the "sky dome". Looking at the high walls around, it was hard not to feel depressed. But this was already the place with the best view inside the enclosure. For the convenience of defense, the windows of all the rooms were facing inwards. There were only a few firing holes on the outer wall of the enclosure, which was enough for ventilation inside the building, but the lighting was hard to describe.
At this time, the corridors of the courtyard houses were full of curious Hakka people. The previous alarm had not been lifted, and they were still unable to go out to work. The men put away their bows and arrows and muskets, and came out to lie on the railings, pointing and talking about what happened today. Women with their heads wrapped in blue cloth gathered together with their children, enjoying this rare leisure time.
Zhao Hao didn't see many elderly people because the average life expectancy of Hakka people was less than 40 years old, so apart from the old patriarch Lin Zhengying, there were almost no elderly people to be seen.
~~
At this time, Lin Yichen brought tea.
Young Master Zhao was indeed thirsty, so he took the drink and drank it without caring whether it tasted good or not.
Who knew that after taking two sips, he showed a look of surprise and said to Yue Yunpeng beside him: "Try it, it tastes really good."
"Oh, really?" Yue Yunpeng was a little skeptical. What good things could a Hakka person have? But for Mr. Zhao's sake, he still picked up the teacup and tasted it.
After tasting it, he couldn't help but praise it highly: "It has a rich aroma, soothing the throat and a sweet aftertaste, with a hint of floral and fruity aroma. Mm, it really has a unique mountain flavor."
"Really? What's the name of this tea?" Mr. Zhao felt like he had tasted this tea somewhere before.
"The wild tea on Phoenix Mountain doesn't have a name." Lin Yichen smiled and replied, "Young Master, if you like it, I'll pick it for you every year in the future."
"I like it. I like it very much." Zhao Hao took two more sips and looked at the orange-yellow soup, which was clear and bright. There seemed to be a golden circle on the inner wall of the tea bowl. He couldn't help but feel more familiar with it and asked Lin Yichen to bring some dry tea leaves.
Lin Yichen quickly brought the tea can, and Zhao Hao took out a few leaves and put them in his hand for a closer look. The tea leaves were thick, straight and large, with bright yellow leaves and red edges. The biggest feature was that the front of the tea leaves had many pointed tips, and the tip of the leaves drooped like a bird's beak.
Zhao Hao suddenly realized and slapped his thigh and said, "Isn't this the Phoenix Narcissus?"
"Phoenix Narcissus, what a good name." At this time, Lin Run came out of the ancestral hall accompanied by Lin Zhengying. Hearing what Zhao Hao said, he smiled and said, "It is said that even the best wine will not bloom in a deep alley. The best tea will not bloom in a deep forest. This mountain tea will surely be famous and its value will double after being named by Mr. Zhao."
Seeing that Lin Zhengying hadn't reacted yet, Lin Run smiled at him and said, "Aren't you worried about the hardship of your people's livelihood? Why don't you quickly cling to the God of Wealth?"
"Mr. Zhao?" Lin Zhengyi looked at Zhao Hao in disbelief. He was so young that it was hard to believe.
"Yes, even the province will have to rely on him for support in the future." Lin Run smiled and sat down next to Zhao Hao. "If you can partner with him to sell tea, you can make much more money than farming."
Lin Zhengying was actually a little confused, but since his uncle said so, he just did it. He quickly asked Mr. Zhao for help.
"How many tea trees are there in your Phoenix Mountain?" Zhao Hao had no choice but to ask with a smile.
In fact, tea only entered the European market during the Wanli period. Currently, it only has a market in the Asian region around the Ming Dynasty. Compared with silk and porcelain, the profit is not very high.
However, since the great man, Mr. Zhao, had come from heaven, he would naturally promote tea to the world in advance. He planned to spend twenty years to add the name of tea to the list of highly profitable foreign trade products.
At present, let alone green teas such as Phoenix Narcissus, even Zhengshan Xiaozhong black tea, which will be very popular in Europe in the future, is still very immature. There is still a long way to go to form a complete industrial chain like porcelain and silk.
It is always a good idea to start building the industrial base as early as possible.
When he learned that there were as many as 10,000 to 20,000 such wild tea trees on Phoenix Mountain, he was finally completely moved.
Well, it is necessary for Chaozhou Agricultural College to set up a site on Phoenix Mountain to start variety selection and breeding, so that wild tea can be cultivated artificially as soon as possible. And select excellent individual plants and cultivate them separately to obtain the top grade of Phoenix Narcissus - Phoenix Dancong...
We have to invent a set of tea culture to add to the background. For example, the emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty fled here and almost died of heatstroke. He drank Phoenix tea, and see what happened? It was cured!
The price of Phoenix Dancong tea has to be hyped up. Well, the best tea has to be picked by virgins, and it has to be placed on the chests of the tea pickers and "initially baked" using the girl's body temperature. In this way, those old perverts... delete them, and replace them with scholars and upper-class people who will be willing to donate generously.
At the same time, it is not enough for you to drink it yourself, you also have to let Wang Mengzhu drink it, Xu Wei drink it, Li Zhi drink it, father-in-law drink it, and the emperor drink it. It would be best if it could become a tribute tea, and then ask them to write poems to praise it. In this way, it should not take many years for this tea to be famous all over the world...