Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1829, the hairy crab whose value has doubled
On the concrete road leading from Suzhou to Songhu, Emperor Hongzhi's convoy was driving slowly. Emperor Hongzhi admired every detail of the water town in the south of the Yangtze River with great interest.

Emperor Hongzhi, who grew up in the city of Beijing, has never even been to Beizhili. What he has seen is the customs and customs of the north. This is the first time he came to Jiangnan and saw the scenery of Jiangnan water town. Fresh.

"parking!"

Following the order of Emperor Hongzhi, the convoy pulled over and slowly parked.

Emperor Hongzhi got out of the car and looked at everything in front of him with great interest.

The land of water towns in the south of the Yangtze River is densely covered with river networks, criss-crossing, and a land of fish and rice. It has been a land of prosperity since ancient times.

It is autumn at this time, and the rice fields are golden. After a while, the rice will be harvested. I can see farmers busy in the fields, digging drainage ditches to drain the excess water from the rice fields. water, so that it is convenient for autumn harvest.

"My fellow, how is the harvest this year?"

Emperor Hongzhi came to a farmland and asked the busy farmers with a smile.

"If you go back to the nobleman, it's okay, it's okay~"

The farmer wished the old man to stop what he was doing, looked at Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin in front of him, and looked at the many servants around him, and said quickly and respectfully.

"Do you use machines to buy rice?"

Emperor Hongzhi pulled out an ear of rice, looked at it carefully and asked.

"There are mostly paddy fields in our south, and the fields are scattered and small, which is not suitable for machines. We basically still use sickles to purchase rice now."

I wish the old man replied.

"Wouldn't it be much slower to use a sickle?"

Emperor Hongzhi looked at the rice field in front of him, it seemed that it was really not suitable for large-scale use of machinery.

"That's something that can't be helped, so it's going to be slower."

"So, today's young people are all going to the city, and they don't want to farm anymore."

The old man said helplessly.

"Aren't the young people farming the land?"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi asked again for confirmation.

"That's right, who are the young people who will farm the land now?"

"This kind of land, you can't harvest much grain per mu, and you can't sell it for a little money. If you go to the city to work, you can have a few taels of silver a month, and you can't eat that much grain in a year."

"Besides, this kind of land is so hard, bent over, hunchbacked, tired to death, young people naturally don't want to farm."

The old man Zhu nodded and said.

"That's true, it's just that no one grows here, so what will everyone eat after this?"

Emperor Hongzhi nodded after listening, and then said worriedly.
"Hey, our Ming Dynasty doesn't have to worry about food now, there are plenty of places to grow food."

"Liaodong, Hezhong, Nanyang, Huangjinzhou, some of which are local crops."

"Now in our Jiangnan side, all the food has to be brought in from other places, and the food produced locally is no longer enough."

The old man Zhu smiled and said: "It means that we old men have nothing to do, and we eat the key grains by ourselves. Machines have been used in places where conditions permit. The efficiency is very high, and one person can plant a lot of land."

"Judging from your accents, it seems that you are all from the north. I heard that you in the north now use machines for farming, and one person can plant thousands of acres of land."

"Yes, there are many plains in the north, so more machines are used for farming."

"But Jiangnan has been a land of fish and rice since ancient times. It would be a pity if we didn't grow food."

After Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he also felt a little worried, the land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River, now the grain has to be imported from other places, this change is really too fast.

"What's the pity, if you don't make money from farming, there will be fewer people farming the land. When you make money from farming, more people will naturally farm the land."

The old man Zhu smiled and shook his head. At this moment, several big crabs came out of the rice field. When the old man saw it, he couldn't care less about chatting with Emperor Hongzhi, so he quickly caught them.

After catching it, he tied it up with weeds, and said while tying it: "The times are changing so fast. In the past, food was so precious. I wish I could plant all the land with rice."

"This crab, in the past, no one ate it at all. Only the poor would catch this crab and eat it."

"But now, these crabs are getting more and more expensive. These small crabs can now be sold for more than ten yuan each, which is enough to exchange for a few catties of rice."

When Liu Jin heard the old man Zhu's words, he immediately looked carefully at the crab in his hand.

Isn't this the famous hairy crab in later generations?

"This crab sells for more than ten yuan?"

Emperor Hongzhi widened his eyes slightly, and looked at the crab in his hand. The river head is not too big, and it can be sold for more than ten yuan a piece.

"Isn't that right? This is a specialty hairy crab in our Jiangnan area. Now this season is officially the fattest season for hairy crabs. Everyone in the city loves to eat them. You can charge as much as you can."

"Someone catches this hairy crab and sells it. They can sell it for two or three taels of silver a day."

"Here, old man, I haven't even earned as much money from selling crabs in farming now."

The old man Zhu carefully put the crabs into a bamboo basket, and there were already several crabs in it.

"Let's take a look, this is my harvest today. It can be sold for more than 100 yuan. When there were a lot of these things, they were everywhere, but now they are getting less and less, and they are not enough for the people in the city to eat."

He also proudly showed his harvest to Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin.

"What does this crab eat?"

Emperor Hongzhi looked at the crab in front of him, thought for a while and said.

"This crab, the main thing is to eat the crab roe. The crab roe is extremely delicious, and the crab meat is extremely sweet."

"Actually, not only is the price of this crab exploding, but the prices of all kinds of freshwater fish have also increased a lot. Even ordinary things like snails, no one wanted them in the past."

"Nowadays a catty of snails can be sold for several pennies, and they are still in the shell. It is said that what people in the city eat for supper at night, and snails are one of the most popular suppers now."

"That's right, I haven't even seen what this snail looks like."

After hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi immediately said with a smile.

"This is the snail~"

After the old man heard this, he opened another basket and took out some snails for Emperor Hongzhi to see.

"Snails, rice field eels, loach, and crabs have all increased in price now. Things that no one wanted before are becoming more and more expensive. Some people come here to buy them and sell them to Songhu."

The old man Zhu said to Emperor Hongzhi with his fingers.

"It seems that when we arrive in Songhu, we must grow these snails, rice field eels, and crabs. Let's see what it's like, and it's getting more and more expensive."

Emperor Hongzhi smiled and said to Liu Jin.

"It is a must to taste, it is said that the taste is quite good."

Liu Jin also nodded and said, as a northerner, these things are naturally not available. After all, the transportation conditions in ancient times were limited, and there were no such things in the north.

After chatting with the old man for a while, Emperor Hongzhi and Liu Jin continued to rush to Songhu.

At night, I finally arrived in Songhu.

Dinner is naturally settled at Wangjianglou, the most famous place in Songhu. Naturally, the dishes we order during the day are rice field eels, crabs, snails, loaches, etc. There are also a lot of seafood. Liu Jin is from later generations, so he is naturally more familiar with these, and he ordered a lot of seafood along the way.

"Hmm~"

"This crab is really good, and this crab roe is absolutely amazing!"

Emperor Hongzhi tasted the crab roe of the hairy crab, and immediately praised it greatly. It was able to gain great fame in later generations. This hairy crab is definitely not covered, but the taste is really extremely delicious.

This Wangjianglou is the most famous restaurant in Songhu. The chef is best at making these Jiangnan dishes. The crab meat and crab roe of the hairy crabs are carefully picked out, and a pot of crab rice made with rice is served. The taste is really unique.

"Well, it's really delicious!"

Liu Jin tasted it carefully, and couldn't help but nod his head. When it comes to eating, Jiangnan people are the best at it. Of course, the Cantonese cuisine of later generations is also very good. In contrast, Sichuan cuisine is more spicy and numb. People who are not used to it do not I like it too much, but Cantonese cuisine and Jiangnan cuisine are more focused on the original taste of the ingredients themselves, and there are more famous dishes.

“This rice field eel is also good~”

"Escargot is pretty good, but it's too spicy."

Emperor Hongzhi savored delicious delicacies one after another. After traveling all the way, he truly entered the kingdom of gourmet food when he arrived in the south of the Yangtze River. All kinds of delicacies are exquisite, beautiful and delicious.

In contrast, the level of the palace chefs seems to be very average, the dishes they make are a bit greasy and sweet, and they have no appetite if they eat too much.

"Your Majesty, Changchang's seafood tastes very good. The conch slices, steamed grouper, salt and pepper shrimp, and abalone slices are all very good."

Liu Jin nodded with a smile, and immediately recommended all kinds of seafood to Emperor Hongzhi. This is a rare time for Emperor Hongzhi to come out. Naturally, he wants to eat well, drink well, and be healthy. Although everything is simple, eat in restaurants. , Can eat a few silver.

PS: Do you like to eat eels, crabs, and snails?

(End of this chapter)