Chapter 88 Gossip 1: Don’t Accept Food Given Out of Pity

I took a long break. Happy New Year, everyone.

The last time I wrote an extra chapter, my own chapter was actually censored.

Forget it. I am too lazy to ask why. It is meaningless anyway. I will block it.

I read the comments and found that many people asked when I would start a new book. Oh, it is all in the final remarks. I will release a new book in March. I plan to take a longer break.

Secondly, I found that some people still haven't seen the extra chapters I wrote before. The first to fourth chapters of Shanhaijing are all in the first volume of the official version, after the 76th chapter.

The short story of Zhuanxu is after the 970th chapter of the VIP volume of the main text, "One Arrow Drops Nine Suns", which is called the Jedi Tiantong Science Fiction Edition.

In Taoism and Buddhism, I talked about some ideas for the new book, but I will just stop there.

Because the protagonist's golden finger is information perception, the next book will answer all the unsolved mysteries of the earth, and explain religion and mythology as much as possible from a science fiction perspective...

Because I don't write about the containment, I guess I will fail. If the next book fails, I will finish it.

Some people asked me to talk about food. My old swan, where should I start?

I can only say that eating is eating, and delicious food is delicious food.

If we don’t talk about delicious food, then we can still talk about it.

In terms of pictographic meaning, coarse food grabbed with hands is called ‘rice’, a full meal with bowed head and utensils is called ‘food’, high-end enjoyment of delicacies from mountains and seas is called ‘meal’, and tributes to gods are called ‘enjoyment’.

Some people say that the ancients all had a two-meal system, and only had a three-meal system when they became wealthy very late.

This is true, but also not true.

In fact, China has had a three-meal system for a long time, but it is indeed linked to productivity. For a long time, ordinary people had only one meal, let alone two meals.

And the emperors and princes had not only three meals, but even four meals.

At least in the Shang Dynasty, there was a tradition of eating at regular times. In the oracle bone inscriptions, the main meal was called ‘big food’ in the morning of a day, which was particularly rich and tried to be full. Then the other meal was called ‘small food’, and it was enough to eat something in the afternoon.

The Analects also said, ‘Don’t eat at the wrong time. ’

The three-meals system, judging from the literature, has existed since the Warring States Period at the latest.

Zhuangzi says: "Those who go to the wilderness will return after three meals, and their stomachs will still be full."

It means that when you go out to play in the suburbs, you should bring enough three meals, and you will be full after a day of play.

This is not an isolated case. "Strategies of the Warring States·Strategies of Qi 4" also says: "The scholars cannot be full after three meals, but the king has chickens, ducks and ducks with surplus food."

It means that the scholars cannot be full after three meals, but the king has chickens, ducks and ducks with surplus food. The extended meaning is that the rich have wine and meat, and the poor have frozen bones on the road.

At that time, the scholars had a system of three meals a day. The scholars were not a very rich class. From the king to the princes, to the doctors, and finally the scholars.

The first three levels had land and belonged to the lords, while the scholars had no land and only had a noble status.

The fact that three meals a day could be popularized among the scholars shows that during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, people who had the conditions had already widely popularized the three-meals system.

In the Han Dynasty, there was even a four-meal system, which was of course exclusive to the emperor.

Ban Gu's "Baihutong" wrote: "Why do kings eat four meals a day? It is because there are things from all directions and the merits of eating four seasons."

The four seasons are when the sun rises, called the morning meal. Eat a meal at noon, called the lunch meal. Eat another meal in the afternoon, called the evening meal. Have a midnight snack at night, called the "evening meal".

It is worth mentioning that in the Qing Dynasty, the royal family had two meals a day.

They are called breakfast and dinner. Eat one meal at seven o'clock and one at thirteen o'clock.

Then you have to wait until the next day. You may think, aren't you hungry at night?

Even if you are hungry, you have to do this. This is the rule set by the ancestors in the Qing court, which cannot be violated. There are detailed rules for what to eat and how to cook.

The food is the same every day, and the weight of the ingredients is strictly distributed. Different people have different portions according to their status.

And the cooking method, how much salt to add, and how many spoons of sugar to put, must strictly follow the recipe.

You traveled back to the Qing Palace, and you said you wanted something spicy or salty? No, the imperial kitchen would not give face to anyone for two main meals.

In fact, they were all very unpalatable, and they had to eat every day and every year. Many concubines had their own small kitchens in the side rooms to cook their own meals.

However, under such an inhumane system, most people would not go hungry.

Because in addition to the two main meals with rich dishes, there were also breakfast and evening meals.

Breakfast was a variety of pastries and snacks, and evening meals were soups and porridge.

If all of this was counted, it was actually four meals.

Not to mention, many concubines in the harem had their own kitchens. They had money, so they could eat whatever they wanted, and ask people to buy ingredients and have their personal maids cook.

If there were really hungry people, they must have been of low status.

The empress dowager would never go hungry. Every day, she had a pig, a sheep, a chicken, a duck, and dozens of meals made with various spices, new rice, white flour, honey, and vegetables.

The queen also had 16 catties of pork, 16 catties of mutton, one chicken and one duck every day, plus various new rice and flour, forming dozens of meals.

And so on, the food standards were gradually reduced.

When it came to the lowest-ranking concubines, the food was much more shabby, with 1.8 catties of pork for cooking every day, and every month, note that it was every month, there were 15 plates of mutton, each plate was about 1 catty, and there were five chickens and ducks every month.

What was lower? The lowest was the palace maids, who had 1 catty of pork, 12 catties of fresh vegetables, and 75 spoons of old rice every day. That was it.

One cup was 180 grams, and one spoon was 30 grams. A total of 1,410 grams of rice.

The two main meals a day are counted separately, that is, one meal contains 705 grams of rice.

It's not bad. A meal of half a catty of pork, half a catty of vegetables, and nearly three catties of rice can fill you up. This is the treatment of a palace maid.

If we want to talk about delicacies, there are so many delicacies in our country that it is impossible to finish them all.

If I just introduced the dishes, I could write millions of words...

So let’s talk to you about some history related to food.

After all, the question was about 'eating', not 'food'.

First of all, let me ask a question. Which historical period do you like best throughout the dynasties of China and before the present?

I think everyone has a preference in mind.

Some people may want to travel through the Tang Dynasty, some may want to travel through the Three Kingdoms, and some may want to travel through the Ming Dynasty.

And what I love most is the so-called "collapse of rituals and music" period, the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

That is, the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

More than fifty percent of the idioms in our history came from that era. All kinds of historical allusions and behavioral precedents were born at that time.

In the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, disputes continued among the countries, which aroused the contention of hundreds of schools of thought, and wise people all wanted to suppress the disputes and bring order to the chaos.

The collision and excitement of various theories and ideas is the golden age of our culture and the era of great explosion of ideas.

The same period happened to be the period of the so-called ideological explosion in ancient Greece.

It was an era when speech was extremely free and everyone had integrity.

Therefore, when I eat it, my first reaction is to think of Duke Wen of Jin, Chong'er.

I mentioned the story of Duke Wen of Jin eating dirt when Sister You and the others from Blue and White Society pretended to be aliens to deceive the earth.

Chong'er was homeless and had been wandering for more than ten years. He and his followers often had no food to eat.

Once when I walked to Wulu, I was really hungry. I saw an old man cultivating the land, so I asked him for some food and asked if he had any food to help me.

Unexpectedly, the farmer was very calm. He looked at the embarrassed nobles, smiled, leaned down and picked up a piece of mud and handed it to Chong'er: "Here! Food!"

Chong'er was so angry that the son of a dignified noble family actually gave him dirt to eat.

He scolded the old man, but the old man said as if he was not afraid of death: "Look at me at such an old age and still cultivating land here. Do you think I have food? I only have loess to give you."

Hu Yan, a follower next to Chong'er, asked, "Where is your son?"

The old man said: "All my sons died in the war."

Chong'er stopped talking. He actually didn't want to pursue the old man, but the humiliation made him unable to step down.

Hu Yan immediately said: "This loess is the land, it is the country. The people are not giving you soil to eat, but entrusting the country to you."

Chong'er got off the donkey along the slope, and immediately shed tears. He held the loess in his hands, knelt on the ground, looked up to the sky, and vowed that if he became the king, he would make sure that the people could live and work in peace and contentment.

This is the allusion that Duke Wen of Jin accepted the soil and thought that he would pay attention to the country.

But he did it. He succeeded to the throne in his later years and became a late bloomer, which indeed made the Jin State's national power unprecedentedly strong and completed its hegemony.

During his exile, Chong'er also ate another bowl of very meaningful food.

According to the origin story of the Cold Food Festival, the food that Chong'er was sponsored for was stolen by others. The group of them had no food and were hungry in the wilderness. Suddenly, Jie Zitui cut off his own thigh meat and cooked broth for Chong'er to eat. Historically known as: Cutting flesh to serve the emperor.

The "Book of Songs" written by Han Ying in the Han Dynasty praised this greatly.

Jin Wengong was a wise king of his generation. When he was hungry and unbearable, he was humiliated with dirt, but he finally endured it.

However, his grandson Jin Linggong could not do it.

"Linggong of the Jin Dynasty is not a king. He builds thick walls to carve them out. He throws people off the platform and watches them take pills. He kills his husband and hides his body, and puts it on the baskets for the women to carry to the court."

What does that mean? Jin Linggong has no appearance of a monarch, and he does not look like a human monarch! I like to stand on a high wall, shoot the people below with a slingshot, and then watch them dodge the projectiles.

He liked to eat bear paws. After waiting, he asked, but the cook said they were not yet cooked. After all, they were bear paws, and there was no pressure cooker. How could they be cooked so easily?

However, Jin Linggong was very angry, saying that I have waited for so long and it is not yet cooked! He was so annoyed that he killed the cook in a rage... and then asked the palace maid to throw his body away.

There is another story after this story, that is, when the famous Jin minister Zhao Dun and his younger brother Zhao Chuan learned about this incident, they finally couldn't stand this guy's stupidity and tried to admonish him again, but Jin Linggong didn't listen, and the quarrel ended up being very unpleasant.

Later, Duke Linggong of Jin found a reason to kill Zhao Dun and set up an ambush. Zhao Dun was able to escape because of the help of righteous men.

Then came the famous incident of ‘Zhao Chuan’s Regicide’.

Zhao Chuan attacked and killed Jin Linggong and welcomed Zhao Dun back. Then Zhao Dun did not deal with his younger brother Zhao Chuan.

So Dong Hu, the Grand Historian of the Jin Dynasty, wrote: "Zhao Dun killed his king."

Zhao Dun was unjustly accused and said that he wrote it wrong and it was not me who committed regicide. However, Dong Hu refused to change, saying that although Zhao Chuan killed the king, it was to welcome you back into exile. You did not leave the country in exile, and you did not deal with the regicide thieves when you came back. You are committing regicide.

This is also the famous "Dong Hu Bi in Jin Dynasty" in Zhengqi Song.

Duke Wen of Jin wanted to eat some cereals, but was humiliated with dirt, but he did not kill the old man. He was starving to death and survived on the flesh of his thighs cut off by his loyal ministers.

He developed the power of the Jin State, but his grandson killed the cook in order to eat bear's paws. He was advised by his loyal ministers, and he also wanted to kill important officials in the court, and eventually died at the hands of his ministers.

Bear paws were a delicacy during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Also before his death, King Chu Cheng especially loved to eat bear paws.

King Chu Cheng wanted to kill the prince Shang Chen and replace him with the prince's title. He had secretly planned it.

During the preparation stage, Shang Chen vaguely heard the news and was very anxious, but he didn't know if it was true.

His teacher Pan Chong said, "You hosted a banquet for Jiang Mi, the sister of King Cheng of Chu, and deliberately molested her during the banquet."

So the merchant did as he was told, invited Jiang Mi, and treated him with great disrespect. As expected, Jiang Mi cursed: You bitch, no wonder the king wants to kill you and make you the prince!

Well, Shang Chen was sure that his father really wanted to kill him.

The business minister quickly took the initiative and bribed the palace guards, raised troops and surrounded the palace, forcing his father to be killed.

Because Jiang Mi leaked the secret, King Chu Cheng was caught off guard, unprepared, unable to resist, and forced to commit suicide.

Before King Chu Cheng died, he made a request: "Please eat bear legs!"

That is, I want to eat bear paws!

However, his son did not meet his request.

In desperation, King Chu Cheng hanged himself with regret that he could not eat the bear's paw before dying.

The despair of a foodie, it doesn’t matter if you kill me, why can’t you let me eat bear’s paws before I die?

Haha, actually before he died, because his son refused to give me bear paws, King Chu Cheng retreated to the next best thing and asked me what posthumous title he would give me after his death.

The merchant said directly: Ling.

This is a derogatory posthumous title, which means that he was originally called King Chu Ling.

The King of Chu is anxious. I won't eat your bear's paws, and your posthumous title is so unpleasant. I won't commit suicide! You have the guts to kill me.

In order for him to commit suicide as soon as possible, Shang Chen had to agree to him: OK, the posthumous title will be Cheng.

So he called him King Chu Cheng. He didn't get the bear's paw, but he got a good posthumous title.

Speaking of foodie kings, Zheng Linggong is not to be outdone.

That's right, another person with the posthumous name Ling...

"Zuo Zhuan·Xuan Gong 4th Year": "The Chu people offered turtles to Zheng Linggong. When the Song Dynasty and the Zi family were about to meet, the Zi Gong moved his index finger."

This is the allusion of ‘big move of the index finger’.

Young Master Song often boasts to others that his index finger can tell fortunes. As long as he shakes his index finger, he will surely taste delicious food today.

Sure enough, they soon got the news that the Chu people presented a giant turtle to Zheng Linggong. According to the custom, everyone who saw it had a share.

Zheng Linggong ordered the delicious turtle soup to be cooked, but he divided the big portion and gave everyone a little bit of soup to drink, and deliberately did not give it to Young Master Song.

Young Master Song was angry. He walked to the King's Cauldron, stretched out his supposedly sensitive index finger, dipped it in the soup, put it in his mouth and sucked it, then walked away.

This is the idiom 'encumbered with the tripod'. It is also the origin of the word encroachment.

How can a minister get his hands on the monarch's cauldron? Very disrespectful.

So Zheng Linggong was very angry and wanted to arrange for someone to kill Young Master Song.

Unexpectedly, Young Master Song took advantage of the situation first... together with Duke Linggong's son, they killed Duke Linggong of Zheng...

Tsk, tsk, tsk, even if the desire of the tongue is indulged, it will lead to the disaster of death!

Seeing this, I'm afraid you will sigh with emotion, the rituals are broken, and the music is ruined, and you will kill the king at every turn.

Because Young Master Song didn't get the soup, he touched the king's cauldron and wet his fingers with the soup. It was so rude. If he had done this in the Qing Dynasty, he would have been chopped off on the spot.

However, Prince Song's anger was normal at the time.

It was Zheng Linggong who was the first to humiliate him by deliberately feeding him the soup without distinguishing it. This was an intolerable insult for the noble ministers.

If Master Song had not reacted excessively, he would not be taken seriously in the aristocratic circle in the future.

The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period were the true feudal period of our country, which was different from the later pseudo-feudal period of centralized power.

The culture at that time was aristocratic culture. There are four types of nobility: kings, princes, officials, and scholars. The first three have territories and are feudal lords. Scholars have no land, but have noble status.

The honor and dignity of nobles are very important and should not be taken lightly.

In the wars of the Spring and Autumn Period and earlier periods, nobles had to join the army and fight. When nobles were captured, the victors had to allow the other party to redeem themselves with a ransom.

According to the etiquette of the time, the victor would give the captured noble a piece of jade.

The value of jade depends on the status of the other party, and jade of different values ​​is given.

The intention is that if the other party's family cannot pay the ransom, then this jade can be used so that the other party can redeem himself.

Of course, usually the captured nobles will not use this piece of jade. Even if they sell the iron, they have to pay the ransom, then tidy up their clothes, respectfully return the jade to the victor, and go home in dignity.

This is a Zhou ritual. Unfortunately, it was only observed in the early days. From the middle and late Spring and Autumn Period, many places began to disobey it.

Especially after Duke Xianggong of Song Dynasty was defeated and almost lost his country because of his benevolence, righteousness and observance of rules, no one observed this kind of etiquette at all.

Of course, it's just that the rules about jade have been simplified, including the disappearance of some rules on the battlefield.

However, the honor and dignity of the nobles have not been lost, and many non-war etiquette are still observed. Later, this noble dignity was gradually lost, which was caused by Qin Shihuang's unification of the world, the same book and the fusion of surnames.

During the Warring States Period, Lord Mengchang, one of the Four Gentlemen, had three thousand men.

At that time, as nobles with no real estate income, scholars could only serve the princes, serve the officials, and be retainers.

Diners are also called diners, commonly known as those who eat rice.

The Four Gentlemen raise so many scholars, some of them will be used, but many of them will not be used in their lifetime and they will eat free rice.

Why are you still keeping it? It is an expression of courtesy to a virtuous person, similar to buying a horse bone for a thousand gold. Even if they are useless, he will still support them.

Because the scholars were too arrogant, and there was not just one country at that time, but many countries, so if the scholars were not satisfied with one place, they would move to another place, and if they were not satisfied with one country, they would move to another country.

In order to keep those talented scholars, they must treat them with courtesy, even if some scholars are useless, they must not be rude.

For example, 'There is Feng Xuan in Qi, who is poor and cannot support himself. He asked someone to come to Mengchangjun and hoped to live under his door. '

There was a scholar named Feng Xuan in Qi, who was poor and destitute. He asked someone to come to Mengchangjun and hoped to eat at his house.

I, the scholar, you have to support me.

Mengchangjun saw that he was in rags and had only a sword with him. Well, this is the kind of scholar who is so poor that he is about to starve to death.

Scholars must carry swords, even if they starve to death, even if they sell everything, they cannot sell swords.

If there is a scholar who does not have a sword, then he cannot call himself a scholar.

Mengchangjun asked him politely: What is your hobby?

What are your hobbies?

Feng Xuan said: The guest has no hobbies!

I don’t have any hobbies!

Mengchangjun was stunned. In fact, asking about hobbies is asking about the other party’s talents, which is a euphemism.

So he asked directly: "What can the guest do?"

Feng Xuan said: The guest has no skills!

I can’t do anything!

Mengchangjun smiled: OK.

Then he took him in... arranged for him to stay.

As a result, not long after he lived there, Feng Xuan "leaned against the pillar and played his sword" and sang: "Come back with the long sword! There is no fish to eat."

Sword, sword, let's go, there is no fish to eat here...

He sang there every day when he had nothing to do, and people nearby went to report to Mengchangjun. Mengchangjun smiled helplessly and said: "Feed him, treat him like a guest under the door."

Give him fish to eat! Treat him as well as the guests under the door, no need to treat him badly.

However, not long after, Feng Xuan played the sword and sang again, "Come back with the long sword! There is no car to go out."

Sword, sword, let's go, there is no car to go out here...

Others laughed at him, and then told Mengchangjun, Mengchangjun smiled helplessly and said: "Drive for him, just like the guests of the door."

Give him a car, just like the guests of the door, don't treat him badly.

Feng Xuan sat in the car and said to others: "Mengchangjun is my guest."

Mengchangjun is so good to me.

However, he played the sword and sang again, "Come back with the long sword! There is no home."

Sword, sword, let's go, there is no feeling of home here.

"..."Everyone around him hated him, thinking that he was greedy and unsatisfied. Mengchangjun asked: "Does Feng Gong have relatives?"

He replied: "I have an old mother."

Mengchangjun sent people to give her food and not let her lack. So Feng Xuan stopped singing.

He sent people to bring food to his old mother and sent people to serve her so that she would not work hard, so Feng Xuan stopped singing.

This is the story of 'Feng Xuan playing the sword'.

After that, Feng Xuan worked hard for Mengchangjun, tried his best to give him advice, and made many contributions, but never asked for a reward.

When I had nothing and knew nothing, you treated me like a guest of honor and gave me everything I wanted. Then I would not ask for a reward even if I made contributions and died for you.

He was called the 'sword-playing guest', and the only valuable thing he had with him until his death was the sword.

Mengchangjun had thousands of guests, and the treatment of food, drink, housing and transportation was the same as his own, regardless of their status.

The Records of the Grand Historian, the biography of Mengchangjun, recorded: "Mengchangjun once entertained guests at night, and a man blocked the light of the fire. The guest was angry and left because the meal was not equal. Mengchangjun stood up and compared his meal with him."

One day he entertained the scholars for dinner, and a new scholar was arranged to sit in a darker place.

Because there were many people sitting in the banquet hall, and the light was blocked by others, he could not see what he was eating.

So the scholar was very angry, slammed the table and stood up, stopped eating, and said goodbye, saying: Mengchangjun, is my food different from others? Did you arrange a worse meal for me than others? Forget it, I'm leaving!

Mengchangjun immediately stood up, ran over from his main seat with a table, and asked the scholar to compare his food with his: "I eat the same as you!"

The scholar saw that what he ate was exactly the same as what Mengchangjun ate, and he had wronged Mengchangjun.

Seeing this, do you think that scholars are arrogant and proud of their favors, and are very rude? The so-called aristocratic dignity is a joke?

Indeed, in order to maintain the so-called aristocratic dignity, they are sometimes very proud.

However, they are also so proud that if they wrongly accuse others, they must die to apologize.

"The guest is ashamed, and he will kill himself."

"I wronged you, sorry, I will commit suicide." The scholar was so ashamed that he immediately drew his sword and killed himself.

This incident tells us that scholars cannot be without swords, and expresses the importance of swords to scholars...haha.

If someone insults your dignity, no matter what your status is, you must retaliate.

On the contrary, if you misunderstand and insult others, you must die to atone for your crime.

This is a scholar.

Food, clothing, housing and transportation are very important criteria for a person's status.

Especially eating, eating is the lowest need of human beings, so it is often associated with life.

In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, eating was the most important thing for people. Nowadays, people always say "make a living" and call work "rice bowl".

It is because since ancient times, people with dignity have exchanged labor for food, exchanged talents for food, and served others for food.

This is a matter of course and it is natural, so you have to work hard to eat. As aristocrats, scholars also work hard, but the standard of eating is related to dignity.

I have food to eat because I have the ability. If you want to use my skills, you have to give me food to eat. However, although I eat your food, I do it in exchange for your service. I can respect you, but you must also respect me, and you must not infringe on my dignity.

As long as we live, we must eat with dignity.

"Book of Rites. Tan Gong" records that Qian Ao of Qi State disrespectfully called out to the hungry and gave food to the hungry, but the hungry refused to eat the food and eventually starved to death.

I’ve learned this textbook, so I won’t post it.

At least, this was the case during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Because the scholars had no real estate and were nobles, they had to serve the princes and ministers if they wanted to eat.

If someone feeds you poorly, it's an insult. I just despise you and treat you as a subordinate with no status.

If the other party is not polite to you and does not give alms politely, then you cannot eat the food.

Noble banquets must have music.

Different guests have to play different music according to their status.

At that time, the scholar couldn't see clearly what he was eating, and he felt: What if he is worse than others? It's okay for me to sit in a dark corner as a newcomer, but if my food is worse than others, it means that Mr. Mengchang looks down on me.

So he stopped eating.

However, Lord Mengchang was very polite to him and quickly explained the misunderstanding. He found that he had wrongly blamed others, so he committed suicide.

The diners have very high requirements for food, and in order to solve this problem, Mengchangjun simply treats everyone equally, regardless of their ability, and eats the same as Mengchangjun himself.

Mengchangjun did a good job in treating the virtuous corporal.

In comparison, Mr. Pingyuan is slightly worse.

Mr. Pingyuan has an allusion to "Beauty smiles".

The building of Pingyuan Jun's house is close to the people's house. There are people with worms in their homes. Disperse and travel. Pingyuan Junmei lives upstairs. When she sees her, she laughs. Tomorrow, the concubine will go to Pingyuan Jun's gate and say: "I heard that you are interested in a scholar, and the scholar has come from a thousand miles away. I think you can honor the scholar but despise the concubine. Unfortunately, I have the disease of Feixiang, and your concubine is the concubine." When someone comes and laughs at me, I would like to win the head of the person who laughs at me. ’ Mr. Pingyuan smiled and said, ‘No. ’ When the turtle went away, Lord Pingyuan laughed and said, ‘Look at this tall boy, he wants to kill my beauty just because of a smile, but that’s not true!’ He didn’t kill her.

What does that mean? A lame person is a lame person.

Mr. Pingyuan had a building, and there were private houses nearby. There was a lame man inside. He must have been a scholar, but he was not a guest of Mr. Pingyuan. This man carried water lamely and passed by Mr. Pingyuan's downstairs. Mr. Pingyuan's concubine saw him upstairs and laughed loudly.

The next day, the lame man came to Lord Pingyuan, knelt down and begged: "I heard that your Majesty loves scholars, and scholars have traveled thousands of miles to seek refuge with you. I think that your Majesty can respect scholars and despise concubines. Unfortunately, I am disabled. , and your harem looks down and laughs at me, I hope you can kill her!"

Mr. Pingyuan smiled and replied: "Okay."

The lame man then went back, and Lord Pingyuan smiled at Concubine Ji and said, "Look at this guy, it's too much to ask me to kill my beauty just for laughing at such a trivial matter!" He did not kill the concubine after all. Concubine.

The results of it?

The guests were slightly led away by the house, and more than half of them were there. Pingyuan Jun was surprised and said: "Sheng Sheng, so he who treats you kings will not dare to be rude, how many people leave?" ’ A member of the family came forward and said to him: ‘If the king does not kill the laughing man, if the king loves lust and despises the scholar, the scholar will have his ears removed. ’ So Pingyuan Jun cut off the beautiful head of the smiling duck, and built his own gate to enter the turtle, because he thanked Yan. After that, he came back slightly from the back door.

The general idea was that after that, most of Mr. Pingyuan's guests left one after another. He was very surprised and asked the remaining people: "I was not rude to everyone, why are there so many people leaving?"

Someone said: "Because your Majesty will not kill those who make fun of the cripple, and your Majesty is greedy and despises the scholars, so they left."

So Lord Pingyuan panicked, immediately beheaded the beauty, gave it to the lame man, and apologized to him. After this, those retainers and scholars were invited back one after another.

To sum up, the ancient people at that time were very honest and proud.

Even a lame man who was not a retainer dared to go to Lord Pingyuan and ask him to cut off the head of the person who laughed at him and give it to him.

After this happened in the Qin and Han Dynasties, it was not the concubine who died, but the lame man.

There will be no one who stands out among the retainers, because the cripple is not even a colleague.

However, in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, this was a real class sentiment.

Why did only half of them leave? Because the remaining half would not betray Lord Pingyuan easily. They had been living off other people's food for a long time, and had received great kindness from Lord Pingyuan, but they had not repaid them, so they told and advised him not to look down on the scholars.

Those who left were all scholars who had paid off and could leave if they wanted to, and stay if they wanted to.

In the case of disputes between countries, the scholars acted very freely. It is this kind of competition among countries that has developed the liberal culture of "If you are not worthy of my service, I am not worthy of your rice bowl."

There was a scholar in the state of Wei named Tian Wuze, who was very talented. He was the teacher of Marquis Wen of Wei, and he was worshiped as the prime minister.

One day, the prince was surrounded by people, driving a wealthy car in a very grand manner on the street. As a result, he saw Tian Zifang driving over in a simple car. The prince quickly got out of the car and stood on the side of the road to salute, because this was his father's teacher.

As a result, Tian Zifang ignored it and drove straight past.

Then the prince was angry and said to Zifang: "Are the rich and noble arrogant? Are the poor and humble arrogant?" Zifang said: "It is the poor and humble who are arrogant, how dare the rich and noble be arrogant! If the king is arrogant, he will lose his country, and if the minister is arrogant, he will lose his family. I have never heard of anyone who has lost his country being treated as a country, and I have never heard of anyone who has lost his family being treated as a family. A poor scholar, if his words are not used and his actions are not in line with others, he will just take off his shoes and leave. Where can he not be poor and humble!" Ziji thanked him.

The prince was very angry and asked Zifang: "Is it the rich who can look down on others, or the poor who are qualified to look down on others?"

This actually means to satirize Tian Zifang. Although Tian Zifang was appointed as the prime minister, he was still a scholar and he had no fiefdom. He was different from the minister, who was granted a fiefdom by the princes. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the land of the princes was called "country", the land of the minister was called "home", and the houses of the common people could not be called homes, but only houses.

The so-called prime minister, although he has great power, if he loses this position one day, he can't take anything away when he leaves, and he will still be a poor scholar. Just like Zhang Yi.

However, in response to this question, Tian Zifang replied: "Of course, poor people are qualified to look down on others! If the monarch looks down on others, he will lose his country, and if the minister looks down on others, he will lose his home. Those who have lost their country have never heard of anyone continuing to treat them with the courtesy of the monarch, and those who have lost their home have never heard of anyone continuing to treat them with the courtesy of the minister."

"But, poor scholars like us, if our advice is not accepted and our behavior is not harmonious, we just put on our shoes and leave. We have nothing, so where can we not keep our poverty!"

After this, Prince Ji hurriedly apologized.

Don't think this is unrealistic. The society at that time was like this. The barefoot are not afraid of those wearing shoes. When the country was destroyed, it was the princes and the ministers who lost their land. What does it have to do with them, the scholars? If his strategy is not used by others, he will leave, and the country has plenty.

As long as you have the ability, you can go anywhere in the world. Unless there is a tyrant or the scholar breaks the law, you dare not offend or even kill the scholar easily.

Because this will offend the entire scholar class, almost all scholars without land will leave the country and defect to the enemy country. And the country that kills scholars for no reason will also decline quickly.

So in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the scholars were very arrogant.

The rise of the Qin State was due to the absorption of too many job-hopping scholars from Wei and other countries.

Unfortunately, this kind of free atmosphere no longer exists after the unification.

Because of the unification, there is only one country. For example, in the Han Dynasty, if you don’t serve the Liu family, do you go to serve the Xiongnu?

The Xiongnu didn’t use scholars, and even if they did, they generally wouldn’t treat them with courtesy.

The Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period could do this because everyone was in the same cultural circle and competed with each other.

So after the unification, the real feudal era ended, and the aristocratic era ended.

The above is the eating in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, which is about dignity and not eating food given out of pity.

Eat the emperor's salary and be loyal to the emperor.

So the reader asked this question, so I wrote something about this.

This is a small talk, I will post this article after the 76th chapter of the first volume of the free chapter of the main text.

Some people asked me why I wrote this, is it related to the novel?

I can only answer: It has nothing to do with it, you don't have to read it.

You can understand it as interaction with readers. For me, this is also a review. Readers ask questions casually, and I extend them and organize my own ideas and thoughts.

These will not be written in the main text of the novel, just treat it as a chat. Choose a topic and talk about your own ideas.

There is no way, I don't use Weibo, and I haven't used QQ space for a long time. This is the only place I can write something.

If you want to read the new book, you have to wait a little longer. I am recuperating and taking medicine.

The story of the new book focuses on the thickness of race and civilization.

If the protagonist of the Blue and White Society is "The world is all white, but I am black".

Then the protagonist of the new book is "Dragon fights in the wild, its blood is dark yellow".

What exactly it means will be explained in the next book.

Here I can say something off topic. That is, these two sentences happen to have four characters representing colors, namely white, black, dark, and yellow.

The Taoist Yin and Yang are two colors, dark and plain. Black is dark, and the Black Emperor is the Dark Emperor.

So it also symbolizes my book, from the White Emperor to the Black Emperor, from the Black Emperor to the Yellow Emperor.

Qingfeng, she is the Green Emperor, a life created by the Pangu Banner to open up the small wilderness, the human sustenance of Lan, and the symbol of emotion.

But love cannot overcome reality. The only thing that can overcome everything with pure love is cartoons.

In my book, love is just a vassal.

So the Green Emperor is not the protagonist. Strictly speaking, the Five Emperors are the protagonists, starting from the White Emperor.

The characteristic of the White Emperor is the brain hole, the plain fantasy domain will breed the shelter, and he is the greatest absolute characteristic.

The world is white, only I am black. The White Emperor era is over, and the Black Emperor era is coming. This is the alternation of dark and plain, the reversal of Yin and Yang, from the shelter era to the end of shelter.

The protagonist of the next new book is the Yellow Emperor.

The Blue Emperor is dead, the White Emperor is detached, the Black Emperor is in prison, and the Yellow Emperor is ruling the world.

In the era when the White Emperor left and the era opened up by the Black Emperor, the Yellow Emperor acted on behalf of the Heaven.

In other words, from the perspective of the interface, in the era when the Yellow Emperor was the protagonist, the Black Emperor was still in the interface we observed.

The two colors of black and yellow, one symbolizes the sky, and the other represents the earth. In the new era, the Heavenly Emperor and the Human Emperor coexist.

Of course, this is a digression, from my perspective, a layer of meaning that transcends the entire Five Emperors series, and does not belong to the main text, so I write it here for fun.

The main text will have other interpretations about "dragons fight in the wild, their blood is dark yellow".

This sentence is considered a comment by Huangdi.

No more nonsense, everyone take care of your health. I won't visit relatives this year. I will write a few stories about containment after the third day of the Lunar New Year. For example, some mission experiences of Gou Ye when he was young will describe some containment objects that were not written in the main text.

That's all.

…

P.S.: Sorry. Some readers wanted me to write about food, so I wrote a little bit, that's all. I know you are more concerned about the new book, but I really want to rest for a while. Don't worry, I will save the manuscript and publish it in March. I will notify the title of the book in the extra volume here at the last minute.