Chapter 83

This is not something Hong Tao guessed, but what Luo Youde told him. He originally wanted to invite Luo Youde to try his hotpot lamb, but ended up changing it to seafood instead.

Some people might say, "You're wrong! The Song Dynasty strictly prohibited the slaughter and private sale of oxen." Yes, the Song Dynasty did have this regulation, but regulations are one thing, and whether they were effectively enforced is another. According to the "Song Huiyao Jigao" and the "Song Da Zhaoling Ji," over the 300 years of the Song Dynasty, the emperor issued more than fifty edicts prohibiting the slaughter of oxen. If these edicts were truly effective, one would have been enough. Why issue over fifty? On average, one edict was issued every five to six years, and the content was the same. This indicates that the prohibition on eating beef in the Song Dynasty was never successfully enforced. It wasn't just a few people secretly eating it; it was widespread, to the point where it even required the emperor's personal attention.

Additionally, you can look at "Water Margin." It mentions eating beef multiple times, not just in the mountains but also in city restaurants, where it was ordered openly. In Chapter 38, Song Jiang, Dai Zong, and Li Kui go to the Pipa Tower in Jiangzhou to drink. When Li Kui asks for meat, the waiter looks down on him and says they only sell mutton, not beef. Li Kui gets angry and throws a plate at the waiter.

Why did Li Kui get so angry? Because the waiter was indirectly calling him a lower-class person. Beef was cheap and generally eaten by commoners, while mutton was expensive and generally eaten by the wealthy. This is like a commoner entering a high-end restaurant and being made to feel inferior by the server when ordering. Regardless of whether the service at the Pipa Tower was good or bad, it shows that beef was widely available in the Song Dynasty, while mutton was the high-end food.

According to Song Dynasty customs, the Winter Solstice was the most important festival of the year, more so than the Spring Festival. The Winter Solstice is the day with the shortest daylight and the longest night in the Northern Hemisphere, and the Song people had a tradition of celebrating the arrival of winter. On this day, the whole country took a holiday. From the emperor to the beggars, everyone put on new clothes, first to worship their ancestors, and then to have a big feast. After the meal, they could play to their heart's content, and they could gamble as much as they wanted without fear of the police, because the emperor had issued an edict allowing gambling for three days.

In Chinese festivals, both ancient and modern, each festival is associated with a specific food. Mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival, tangyuan for the Lantern Festival, zongzi for the Dragon Boat Festival, and dumplings for the Spring Festival. The Song people were no different. Each festival had its corresponding food, though the types of food were slightly different from later times. The Song people did not eat dumplings during the Spring Festival; they ate sliced noodle soup, which they called "bo tuo."

This custom can be found in a poem by Lu You, "Shou Shou Shu Shi" (Part 2), which describes the Spring Festival in the Song Dynasty: "After the midnight sacrifice, we share bo tuo, and at dawn, we replace the old door god with a new one." This means that after the New Year's Eve sacrifice to the ancestors, they shared bo tuo, and on the first day of the New Year, they replaced the old door god with a new one. In the poem's notes, Lu You specifically mentions: "On New Year's Day, soup noodles must be eaten, called winter dumplings or New Year's bo tuo." New Year's Day is the first day of the New Year, and soup noodles are bo tuo, meaning that the Song people ate sliced noodle soup on both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Despite the Southern Song Dynasty being relatively wealthy, why did they eat sliced noodle soup for the Spring Festival? This is related to the Song people's festival customs.

The Winter Solstice is in mid-November, and the Spring Festival is at the end of December. The two festivals are very close. For the Song people, the Winter Solstice was a major festival that required significant preparation, even if it meant borrowing money. Therefore, most ordinary families had already spent most of their savings by the Winter Solstice. Before they could recover, the Spring Festival arrived, and they could only make do with sliced noodle soup. This was true for ordinary people, but wealthy families still had a grand celebration, with no difference from the Winter Solstice.

What did the Song people eat on the Winter Solstice? Lu You mentioned "winter dumplings," which are actually dumplings! The Song people did not have the word "dumplings" and called them "dumplings." The Song Dynasty also had true dumplings, but they were called "guo tuo." Song Dynasty guo tuo were similar to modern dumplings, but they were not sealed and were much larger, like small buns. They were more like shumai. Guo tuo were not boiled in water but grilled on iron skewers. In later times, if you put them in a pan and fried them, they would be like pan-fried buns or potstickers, and if you steamed them, they would be like shumai.

Through the Winter Solstice, Hong Tao learned several food names in the Song Dynasty: dumplings = dumplings, dumplings = guo tuo, sliced noodle soup = bo tuo, steamed buns = cooked cakes, baozi = steamed buns, noodles = suobing, and baked flatbreads = hubei. Hong Tao felt that if he went to a restaurant again, he wouldn't need to ask the waiter to show him each dish; he could order the correct food right away.

Adapting to local customs, on the Winter Solstice, Hong Tao also changed into his new clothes, a set of undyed cotton and linen casual wear! This was made by a tailor in Zhenzhou, and he had never worn it before. Now was the perfect time to show it off. Not only did he change his clothes and pants, but he also put on a leather belt and leather shoes. The only thing missing was a full-length mirror, so Hong Tao couldn't see the effect. If he had a walking stick in his hand, he would look like a gangster from the Shanghai of the Republican era. However, the Song people had never seen the Republican era or Shanghai, so they found Hong Tao's attire a bit strange but didn't think much of it, assuming that this was just how people dressed in his hometown.

Hong Tao felt that it wasn't enough for him to wear the new clothes, so he also encouraged Bozhu to wear a similar set. She no longer tied a cloth belt around her waist but wore a leather belt with carved patterns and a small leather pouch with a button to hold copper coins. She also wore leather sandals like Hong Tao's, and when she walked, she was hesitant to put her feet down, walking in a slightly awkward manner. She had probably never worn any shoes other than straw sandals in her life.

"Hmph! Disgracing the ancestors!" The old man Bo Fu still didn't indulge his heartless daughter and his cunning son-in-law. He criticized them whenever he saw something he didn't like, especially when he saw them wearing leather shoes. He knew he couldn't control Hong Tao anymore, but he still had to say his piece, whether they listened or not.

Actually, clothing is primarily for covering, warmth, and convenience, and then for aesthetics. In Hainan, there was no need to consider warmth, as it was always warm, and convenience was the only requirement. The original Danjia seven-eighths pants had no waistband and had to be tied with a cloth belt, which was hot and uncomfortable. With Hong Tao's pants with a waistband and leather belt, the younger Danjia men began to accept them, even secretly asking Hong Tao for a pair, willing to endure their fathers' scolding. As long as they said Hong Tao told them to wear them, the elders would tolerate it, as they couldn't do anything about Hong Tao's influence.

Gradually, more young Danjia men started wearing leather sandals. Once one person wore them, others quickly followed. When Chen Ming'en was also persuaded by Hong Tao to put on a pair of leather sandals, the elders began to accept this new trend. They tried them on and found that walking on gravel and dirt roads in leather sandals was indeed more comfortable than walking barefoot.

Karl was even more radical than Hong Tao. He didn't wear long pants but put on the large shorts Hong Tao planned to wear in the summer, exposing his hairy legs. The Danjia men were already used to his presence, but the Danjia women still instinctively avoided him when he approached. This troubled Karl, as he felt he was already polite and gentlemanly, yet still didn't earn the respect of the women.

"No, no, no, I have a beloved wife and children back home..." Karl denied it outright.

"It's hard to say. You're already dead. Your land and manor might be taken over by your cousins, along with your wife. Even if she falls in love with someone else, it wouldn't be morally wrong, as she would be a widow by law!" Hong Tao's words were extremely cruel, saying exactly what others didn't want to hear, and he enjoyed seeing them get angry.

"My wife wouldn't...!" Karl was already feeling very cold inside, but he resisted instinctively.

"Alright, let's assume your wife wouldn't! Now, let's talk about something serious. Does the Holy Roman Empire have crossbows as a weapon?" Hong Tao leaned in close to Karl and whispered.

"Crossbows! Those are only used by lowly peasants, an insult to knights!" Karl's eyes widened when he heard the word "crossbow," as if it was a great insult to him.

PS: Clicks, favorites, and recommendations! Throw them all at Hong Tao...

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