Diqin Designer

Chapter 301 Food Diplomacy
Looking at the slender hand in front of him, it was really slender, but a little dark. After thinking about it, Gan Yu smiled and stood up to hold the hand. It was just an invitation to dance, so why shouldn't he dare to accept it?
Seeing Gan Yu holding the girl's hand and accepting her invitation to dance, the local people burst into cheers, as if they had witnessed something very happy.

Following this girl's lead, other local girls also began to invite others, even the soldiers in armor.

The soldiers looked at Gan Yu, waiting for him to make a decision. Gan Yu smiled and said, "Why are you looking at me? If you are invited, accept it if you are willing to go, and stay if you are not willing."

Although he said so, what Gan Yu meant was that not everyone could go dancing, and someone had to stay behind in case of an emergency.

The soldiers understood Gan Yu's meaning tacitly. Some of them accepted the local girl's invitation to dance, while others refused.

The local girl who failed to invite the Qin soldiers was not disappointed, and soon found a dance partner among the local people. Under the light of the bonfire, she danced to the music played by the local people.

On the other side, in a patch of grass a few hundred meters away from the village, ten Qin scouts were lurking.

Seeing the firelight, listening to the cheerful music, and smelling the barbecue aroma coming from the wind, one person couldn't help swallowing his saliva and said, "These guys are eating and drinking well, but we have to... How do you say that?"

There was a lot of sourness in his tone, but of course, he was just joking and he wasn't really being sour.

Gan Yu and others are risking their lives by approaching this foreign village. What if the foreign village is very dangerous? They might die there. What's there to be jealous about?
Someone next to him asked, "You mean sleeping in the open air?"

The man nodded and said, "Yes, yes, yes, that's right! This village is so weird. They actually accepted them so boldly without any suspicion? They even sent them food and drinks and held this bonfire banquet!"

Another person beside him nodded and said, "It's unreasonable, but the young master said that foreign countries are different from the Qin Dynasty. We should not use our own ideas to speculate about them. What we think is reasonable may not be considered reasonable by foreigners, and vice versa."

When they heard this man mention Li Nian, everyone else nodded. They didn't have much feeling about what the young master said at first, but now they understood.

Another person said, "But we cannot rule out the possibility that they are pretending. We must remain vigilant at all times. Captain Gan and the others may need our help."

The other nine people nodded. Of course, the delegation would not let Gan Yu and his companions approach this foreign village alone, so they sent scouts to follow Gan Yu and his companions. If Gan Yu and his companions encountered any accidents, they could pass the news back to the delegation in time.

After a night, Gan Yu woke up and took over from a soldier on duty. After letting the soldier go to rest, he looked at the place where the bonfire party was held last night. There was a mess on the ground, leftover food scraps, a fire with residual heat, and local people who had not woken up beside the fire.

These local people are really brave. After having fun last night, some of them did not return to the village but slept here directly. They were not afraid that Gan Yu and others would take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack after they fell asleep.

Gan Yu looked at the village again. It was quiet. It was obvious that the villagers were still sleeping. Why didn't they get up to work? They were too lazy!

After taking a look at the rice planted in the nearby fields, Gan Yu silently withdrew this idea. It was obvious that the rice was not well taken care of, but it was growing well.

Moreover, these rice crops were most likely planted again after being harvested once, so two crops of rice can be planted and harvested a year, and they do not require too much effort to take care of. It is no wonder that the local people are so lazy.

This place has good forests and abundant water resources. You can collect wild fruits and vegetables from the mountains and catch fish and shrimp from the water. It is not difficult to obtain basic food and drink needed for survival.

It was not difficult to get food and drink, but they handled the food rather roughly. Thinking of the process of the local people preparing food last night, Gan Yu still had lingering fears. If he had a choice, he really didn't want to eat.

Fortunately, he did not get infected, but several people did. They had diarrhea in the middle of the night and had to run several times. They almost thought that the locals had put drugs in their food.

But with the local "clean and hygienic" processing method, there is no need to add any medicine at all, and the product itself is a laxative.

The locals like to use sauces because they have no better way to process food, and the salt they use has a strong bitter taste, so they probably want to use a lot of sauces to cover up the taste.

Gan Yu sat next to a fire and added a few pieces of firewood, which were also sent by local people after they finished working. While warming himself by the fire, he thought that he should continue to build good relations with the local people and find out the situation here from them.

As the Art of War says, "Know yourself and know your enemy, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger." What's more, they are in a foreign country, so they must not be careless, as they may make big mistakes if they are not careful.

Gan Yu silently recited the diplomatic mission rules in his mind to check if there were any problems with his behavior last night. This rule was compiled by Li Nian and listed various problems they might encounter when they were on a diplomatic mission to a foreign country:

For example, when you go to a foreign country, you need to understand the customs and taboos of the local people, because some behaviors are not considered a big deal in Daqin, but they may be taboos in a foreign country.

Although the Qin State is strong, it is impossible for the Qin State to send a large army to accompany them on their mission. If they violate taboos and lose their lives, even if the Qin State seeks justice for them in the future, their lives will not be brought back.

The diplomatic routes designed by Li Nian for the Qin envoys were different from those for the Han envoys: Your lives are precious, and there is no need to risk your lives unless it is necessary!

Gan Yu decided to hold a banquet for these local people today. They happened to have brought salt and some seasonings, so it was time to let these local people see how the Qin people prepare food.

This can not only bring Daqin closer to the local people, but also promote Daqin to them through food, so that they can better understand Daqin.

Gan Yu told others about his plan, and they all agreed to give it a try. Several Baiyue people who were accompanying him also wanted to show off their skills and make Baiyue food for the local people to see, and Gan Yu did not refuse.

It was not until almost noon that this foreign village gradually came alive. However, after getting up, they did not immediately look for something to eat. Instead, they ran outside the village to see how the outsiders were doing.

After all, this was the first time that Wata Village had seen outsiders, and they felt very fresh. They wanted to know a lot: Why were the outsiders so tall? How big was the Qin tribe, and how many people were there? Was everyone in the Qin tribe this tall?
The "village chief" and a group of local people came to the outskirts of the village. After the bonfire party last night, Gan Yu and his party became much closer to the local people. After all, judging from the result of the party, the local people should have no ill will towards them. The "village chief" and Gan Yu communicated, but just like yesterday, they couldn't communicate in the same language, so they had to guess by gestures.

After a not-so-simple communication, Gan Yu finally made the "village chief" understand their idea of ​​holding a banquet.

The "village chief" turned around and started talking to other local people. Soon, Gan Yu saw many local people looking excited and curious. These outsiders were going to make Qin tribe food to give back to them. Didn't that mean that they were going to eat authentic Qin tribe food?

Although Gan Yu and others took out the food they brought and shared it with them at the bonfire party last night, they did not bring much, and that food was obviously from a long journey, which must be different from the daily food of the people of the Qin tribe.

Although these outsiders said they wanted to borrow their food ingredients and some of their utensils, what’s the big deal?
Compared to a sumptuous Qin tribal meal, these are all insignificant prices.

What would the food of the Qin tribe taste like?
The local people are already looking forward to it. Judging from the genuine pride and honor these outsiders show towards the Qin tribe, the Qin tribe must be very good and the food must be excellent!

After the "village chief" and Gan Yu finished their discussion, the local people immediately ran back to the village to get the utensils and food ingredients from their homes. Some even asked Gan Yu and others to go into the village to pick out whatever could be used.

With the help of hundreds of local people, everything was almost prepared before the sun set. The local people watched the outsiders process the ingredients and make food.

As expected, unlike them, the Qin tribe was indeed a powerful tribe. These outsiders would wash their hands before touching the food and would clean all the utensils needed.

The way they handle the ingredients is also different. Compared to how they handle the ingredients, the outsiders handle them very carefully. They scrape off the scales of the fish, cut slits of equal distance on the fish, and cut the meat into neat and shaped pieces...

The seasonings used by outsiders also surprised the locals. It should be salt, but why is the salt so white?

The "village chief" pointed at the salt and asked. After Gan Yu understood what he meant, he gave the "village chief" some salt. The "village chief" put the salt in his mouth and tasted it, his face full of shock.

This is really salt, but it doesn't have the bitter taste of the salt they eat. It is a very pure salty taste. It is hard to imagine how delicious the food would be if this salt was used to season food.

The "village chief" thought of another thing in his mind: if all the people in the Qin tribe ate this kind of salt, how rich and powerful would the Qin tribe be?
When the "village chief" was thinking, he was awakened by a strong fragrance. He saw that the source was a big pot where food was stewing. It was called a pot, but it was actually a big jar, and the fragrance came from there.

That was cooking meat, but the meat didn't smell so fragrant when they cooked it. It must be the Qin people's unique way of processing it and the addition of special spices that made it taste like this.

The Qin tribe was indeed strong, as can be seen from the food prepared by these outsiders. Only those who were born in a strong and wealthy place would be so good at food, just like the leader of the tribe, who also paid attention to clothing and food.

But compared with these outsiders from the Qin tribe, the leader was nothing, just like weeds in the field compared to the big trees in the forest.

These outsiders were definitely not the best at making food in the Qin tribe, but the fact that they were not the best at making food could reach such a level shows how powerful the Qin tribe was.

The "village chief" was right. Gan Yu and the others were not professional chefs. They were just cooking according to the way they knew how to cook. Their cooking was just like the common people of the Qin Dynasty.

But for the local people, this is already much better than them. Although one is average, the other is too backward.

The local people watched the outsiders cook intently, both out of curiosity and wanting to learn a thing or two. This was the Qin tribe's people cooking on the spot, and if they missed it, they might not be able to learn it.

Gan Yu was very satisfied with the performance of the local people. He remembered what Master Li Nian said when he was training them: When sending envoys to other countries, it is not necessary to threaten or intimidate them with force. Other methods can also be used to induce them to have good feelings, awe, envy, etc. towards the Qin Dynasty.

What he was doing now should be the "other methods" mentioned by the young master. Unexpectedly, this method seemed to be really effective. These local people were probably wondering how powerful the Qin Dynasty was.

Unfortunately, there were not many people on this diplomatic mission, and their target was the Peacock Kingdom in Yangzhou. Otherwise, he would have suggested leaving one or two people here to "guide" the local people, teach them the language of Daqin, teach them the customs of Daqin, let them know about Daqin, and make them admire Daqin even more.

But this matter can be told to other people after returning, and spread back to the country, so that His Majesty and the Prince can send people here to accomplish this matter in the future: people can be sent from this place to spread the news of the Great Qin!
The method Gan Yu came up with was similar to the "missionary work" of Western colonists. The difference was that Gan Yu wanted to spread a country, while Western colonists spread religion. But the common point was that they both wanted to promote their own things to the outside world.

It is possible to spread the message to a country, but it is not as easy to spread as religion. Religion has more advantages in influencing other people.

As Gan Yu communicated with the "village chief", the food was ready and the banquet could begin. All the local people couldn't wait to eat. The food made by outsiders was indeed very different from theirs.

Perhaps it was because they had already planted the idea in their minds that the outsiders were tall and excellent and that the Qin tribe was strong and wealthy, so even though the taste was a little different from what they usually ate, the local people thought it tasted very good.

This is Qin tribe food made by outsiders, how can it not taste good?
But as they ate, the locals became restrained because compared to the outsiders who were also eating, their eating behavior was too crude. They just took the food with their hands and put it into their mouths.

They usually did this and didn't think there was anything wrong with it, but now the outsiders were using those two small wooden sticks and knives and forks to eat. In comparison, they were like monkeys that had just come down from the trees. The outsiders were humans, and they were monkeys.

This made the local people feel proud. They didn't want outsiders to look down on them, so some of them stopped taking food directly with their hands, went to make chopsticks, and then came back to learn how to pick up food with chopsticks like Gan Yu and others.

This was probably the first time that the people in this village learned to use chopsticks. These chopsticks were made of freshly broken branches. Many people were not used to using them and found it difficult to pick up food.

Gan Yu and others wanted to laugh but they held back. They also took the initiative to teach the local people how to use chopsticks, making the banquet harmonious.

Gan Yu sat with the "village chief" and after teaching him how to use chopsticks, he consulted him about local affairs:
Are there other villages here? How far are they from each other? Are the villages connected? Do they have a common leader? If they want to continue forward, which way should they go? What should they pay attention to?
(End of this chapter)