Riding the wind of rebirth

"Once the Shimen Pass is closed, the Central Plains and the frontier will be isolated. During the Nanzhao rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, the Shimen Pass was closed for forty years, which protected the Bashu region from invasion."

"Later on, a passage was also opened between Zhaotong and Xichang, so the two roads no longer had to wait for Dali, but met here in advance. It was precisely because of this that the important transportation hub status of this place was highlighted."

"There are two roads, one to the north and one to the south. The southern route is much more difficult to travel than the northern route. The Five-Foot Road is not only treacherous but also very narrow. People often have to carry their loads on their left shoulder. For a long stretch of the road, it is impossible to switch shoulders, otherwise they may fall off the cliff and die. Therefore, it is also known as the 'Left-Shoulder Road'."

"Even so, the scale of the project was astonishing at the time. The Commentary on the Waterways Classic records that 'they carved out the mountains and opened up the valleys to connect the south, reaching Jianning, a distance of more than two thousand li. The mountain road was more than ten feet wide and three or four feet deep. The traces of the chisels are still visible.' When Li Daoyuan was investigating the ancient road, he found that many places were only possible by carving out mountain gorges more than ten meters deep in the mountains. The difficulty of the project can be imagined."

"Fortunately, after the roads were opened, they were continuously widened and expanded by successive dynasties. Now, both the southern and northern routes have been built into national highways, and both ancient roads have become important routes to Yunnan Province."

"Then why were they so determined to build these two roads back then?" Mai Xiaomiao still couldn't understand: "Logically speaking, ethnic minority areas need the resources from the Central Plains more, so they should have been more eager to build roads. Why was it the Central Plains dynasty that was so impatient?"

"Xiao Miao, you're incorporating the experiences you saw in Lianhe Town into your thinking, applying them to the present, right?"

"Yeah, Uncle Tu is so eager to build the road connecting Wazu Station, it feels just like Emperor Wu of Han."

"Hahaha... Uncle Tu would be so happy to hear you compare Emperor Wu of Han to him." Zhou Zhi laughed. "However, their thinking is different. Uncle Tu thinks that once the roads are open, things can be transported out as quickly as possible, while the rulers of the Central Plains dynasties are eager to open these two roads. In fact, their purpose is very simple - resources."

"Ah, I know, it's a mineral deposit, right?"

“Actually, it wasn’t mineral deposits at the beginning,” Zhou Zhi said. “During the Warring States period, one of the most important trades that attracted the people of Ba and Shu to the southwestern Yi region was the ‘Bo Tong’. In ancient times, the Bo people were known for their tall stature and strong strength, and they were often sold as slaves. They could be trained into very brave warriors, and historically, the records of this ethnic group have always been related to war.”

"The earliest record is in the Zhou Dynasty. The leader of the Bo people was enfeoffed as the 'Marquis of Bo' for his meritorious service in assisting King Wu in overthrowing King Zhou. During the Three Kingdoms period, he welcomed Zhuge Liang's army in Nanxi and was incorporated into Zhuge Liang's army, becoming a vital force in the campaign against Meng Huo. In the Song and Ming Dynasties, they rebelled and became independent, but were eventually conquered and wiped out by the dynasty."

"Therefore, during the Warring States period, the ancient road became a vital trade route for Shu merchants to travel in and out to buy and sell 'Bo Tong' (a type of shaman).

"By the Han Dynasty, the southwest region was famous for its iron mines in Taideng, salt mines in Yanyuan, and copper mines in Qiongdu Nanshan. These were all very important strategic resources in ancient times, so trade routes were constantly open. These resources were exchanged by merchants for silk and porcelain, and then flowed to the Central Plains."

"By the Qing Dynasty, the surface resources in this area had begun to dry up. However, the output of Yunnan copper once accounted for more than half of the Qing Dynasty's annual copper output, making the strategic position here even more important."

"Even during the Republic of China era, after the Nationalist government moved its capital to Chongqing, it designated this place as the next capital after Chongqing fell to the Japanese."

"Because of its strategic importance, it became a battleground for military strategists, so it was only natural that this city gate was built and destroyed repeatedly."

“It’s better this way,” Mai Xiaomiao said. “It’s best if everyone can enjoy a peaceful life.”

"Yes, it would be even better if the ancient city could be restored someday," Zhou Zhi said.

The two chatted as they walked, and before they knew it, it was noon. Zhou Zhi saw a shop that was doing very well, so he and Mai Xiaomiao went inside.

The shop sells fast food, so customers don't have to wait. The food they order can be served as soon as they sit down. The owner is quite clever to only make these few items. This is a snack shop that Zhou Zhi loved in his previous life. Every time he came to the city, he would stop here to sit for a while. The shop mainly serves three kinds of food, one cold, one warm, and one hot: cold rice noodles, rice rolls, and oil tea.

There are several types of jelly, namely mung bean jelly, pea jelly, and rice jelly.

There are several ways to eat it, namely, spiral jelly, finely chopped jelly, and wide jelly.

Xuanzi liangfen is made by swishing a large piece of liangfen with a tool similar to a scraper to get a handful of liangfen that looks like vermicelli; Xiqie liangfen is made by first slicing the liangfen into slices and then cutting them into strips; while Kuan liangfen is made by scraping thin and wide slices of liangfen with a scraper.

Different combinations will produce different tastes, and the seasonings are also quite complex, including salt, MSG, chicken essence, ginger water, garlic water, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, Sichuan peppercorn oil, sesame oil, sesame paste, millet chili, chili oil, white sugar, etc. After mixing well, it is served.

Even though it's early winter, almost every diner has a bowl or even several bowls of cold noodles on their table. As they enjoy their meal, beads of sweat appear on their foreheads and noses, their cheeks are flushed, and their hair is damp. Faced with the temptation of the cold noodles, they can't resist the urge to shoo! shoo!

This shows just how popular this time-honored brand of jelly noodles is.

There's another shop next door that makes guokui (a type of flatbread). Their beef guokui paired with this shop's liangfen (cold mung bean jelly) is a popular lunch combination for many diners.

Xichang rice noodle rolls are very famous. They are similar to the rice noodle rolls in Cantonese cuisine, but the rice skin is thicker and chewier.

Grind the soaked rice into rice paste using a stone mill. Then, use a spoon to evenly pour the rice paste onto the steamer rack in the boiling water. Cover the steamer rack and remove it when you see steam coming out. Set it aside for later use.

In addition to the ingredients used for jelly noodles, the seasonings include soybean flour, crushed peanuts, pickled mustard greens, pickled vegetables, crispy soybeans, kelp strips, fried noodle strips, houttuynia cordata, sweet bean sauce, wood ear fungus, and minced meat. Sprinkle them evenly on the rice noodles, roll them up with a thin bamboo stick, cut them into several sections, and you're done.

Compared to the hot rice noodle rolls of Guangdong, Xichang rice noodle rolls have a unique "Sichuan spicy" flavor.

The oil tea that is usually served with rice noodles and rice rolls is completely different from the butter tea that people in Liangshan drink as milk tea, and it is also very different from the oil tea in the north.

Speaking of this stuff, Zhou Zhi is quite skilled at its main ingredient, rice paste, which is essential for mounting calligraphy and paintings.

This type of oil tea uses a soft and sticky rice paste as a base, then adds salt, fried peanuts, Sichuan peppercorn oil, and sesame oil in the middle, and finally sprinkles loose and crispy fried dough twists on top, piled into a cone shape.

The fried dough twists here are as thin as toothpicks, with pointed ends, and are golden brown all over. Compared with the fried dough twists made from noodles in other places, they are crispier and sweeter, with a very different texture and flavor. This is one of the shop's specialties.

By the time Zhou Zhi returned with two servings of guokui from the shop next door, Mai Xiaomiao was already quietly eating them, with fine beads of sweat on her nose. When she saw Zhou Zhi coming over, she wiped her mouth with a tissue and said, "The chili oil here smells so good!"

"Xichang folk rhyme, make cold noodles, add extra salt and chili..." Zhou Zhi laughed, "This is also an old folk rhyme from Xichang. The reputation of a cold noodle shop depends on its red chili oil." (End of this chapter)