socalfunplaces Chapter 276: Does it have something to do with a girl closing her eyes?
Chapter 276: Does it have something to do with a girl closing her eyes?
"Your Majesty?" Zhao Ji was stunned for a moment.
Fusu stood up from the stool, walked to her side, opened the lid of the food box, and found pigeon soup with grease spots floating inside. A thin leg floated in the pot, as if telling the hope that it still had a chance to be redeemed.
Oh, this is the price of shirking responsibility... Fusu gently kissed Zhao Ji's cheek to calm her nervousness, and then asked: "Where did you buy this pigeon meat?"
"Tai, Taiguan..." Facing Fusu's sudden action and unfamiliar attack in public, Zhao Ji seemed to be hesitant in her words: "It was purchased from the palace attendant. We have always raised pigeons..."
She looked around shyly and found that all the palace maids on standby in the hall had quietly left. Then she opened her eyes slightly, revealing a delicate and gentle face.
However, at this moment, the only thing occupying her mind was the pigeon.
It turns out that pigeons already existed in this era?
The Taiguan office that served meals had a special livestock area for animals to be slaughtered to live and live, and it was not uncommon to see pigeons.
Fusu stroked the beard at the corner of his mouth. He had no impression that carrier pigeons were not known and used by people until the late Tang Dynasty or even the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, he once believed that the pigeon species was introduced from the outside world and it took a certain period of time for it to enter China.
However, since it can be inferred that pigeons are a breed bred locally in China, this greatly simplifies the solution - using pigeons to relay information, the speed of which is many times faster than that of horses!
He was worried about not being able to find an effective way to quickly obtain information about emergencies across the country. Whether it was a natural disaster, such as floods, droughts, or insect pests, or a man-made disturbance caused by soldiers imitating the sounds of animals, if he could obtain accurate intelligence data in the first place and make countermeasures and deployments in time before the incident worsened, it would greatly enhance the foresight of decision-making.
Recalling the past memories, there are methods and techniques for training educated pigeons, but I find that everything seems to be scratching an itch. The so-called trained homing pigeons are actually a group of pigeons that are transferred from point A to point B by using their natural homing characteristics, and then guided to return to point A.
The news of the famous Battle of Waterloo was also transmitted to Ross Haines via carrier pigeons. Before World War I, carrier pigeons played a key role in wars.
However, these knowledge points only stopped there. He knew nothing about how to differentiate homing pigeons from ordinary edible meat pigeons, or the conditions for selecting homing pigeons.
Fusu shook his head silently and sighed softly, and suddenly heard a faint sobbing sound.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, are you disgusted with me?"
Zhao Ji lowered her head, tears as big as beans rolled down her cheeks, and she stood still crying.
Disgust? Why is it like this... Fusu blinked and began to recall his own behavior.
Then, after suddenly realizing what was going on, he said no more. Instead, he smiled, picked up Zhao Ji horizontally, and walked into the inner hall.
"His Majesty……"
"Don't talk now, save your energy, and talk later... Don't wear that complicated straight-hem robe anymore!"
"Why?" Zhao Ji wondered.
"It's really too complicated. What should I do if I can't solve it?" Fusu said with a smile.
"I can untie it myself..."
"Just know."
"Ah."
...
About an hour later, Fusu changed into new clothes and went to the enclosure of Taiguan Cheng accompanied by Han Rang.
Zhouli stipulated that chefs were responsible for preparing ingredients for the six domestic animals, six beasts, and six poultry. The six domestic animals included pigs, cattle, sheep, horses, chickens, and dogs; the six beasts were elk, reindeer, black bears, elk (a special type of deer), wild boars, and rabbits; and the six poultry were geese, quails, chickens (a type of quail), mountain pheasants (commonly known as red-tailed pheasants), doves (turtle doves), and pigeons.
At this time, Fusu paid special attention to an area filled with bamboo cages, where there were countless Mai Xi (the name of pigeon birds).
The chief of the Imperial Household, Xi, walked forward quickly, knelt down, and bowed respectfully.
Although the Qin Dynasty had no formal requirements for official etiquette, as a close servant of the royal family, the position of the Director of the Taiguan Palace could not be underestimated.
He was stout, with a slightly bronzed complexion, loose skin on his face and a prominent Adam's apple... Facing this scene, Fusu motioned for him to stand up and asked, "How many pigeons are there in the imperial palace in Xianyang?"
Xi thought about it for a while, but still seemed hesitant. He replied with a trembling voice, "A total of between 7,000 and 8,000."
However, Han Rang sternly questioned: "What is the exact number? Could it be that even a director of the Taiguan Department is so ignorant that he can't distinguish the specific numbers?!"
Hearing this, Xi immediately knelt down on the stone slab again. Although the temperature was not particularly hot at the time, sweat had already seeped all over his back.
Looking at the kneeling person, Fusu watched silently. As an important official in charge of the food management of the imperial palace, he even failed to control the number of animals in his own enclosure. This was obviously a serious dereliction of duty.
Therefore, he had no intention of offering forgiveness to this person. For those who are not clear about the specific amount, serious problems are often exposed. For example, he remembers the historical story that the Qing emperor rewarded one tael of silver for only one egg at a time.
Then, Han Rang waved his hand gently, and two tall eunuchs came up and supported the still trembling Xi away from here.
Han Rang asked the servant who was kneeling on the ground: "Does anyone know how many pigeons there are in the palace?"
At this time, a thin young man stood up and responded, "I understand!" He was about sixteen or seventeen years old.
"Say it!"
The young man turned to Han Rang and said, "Reporting to the envoy, the total number of pigeons in Tangchi Palace is 420 to 419, and the number of eggs among them..."
In a moment, all other items counted by Han Rang were confirmed to be correct, except for the difference in the number of eggs.
This discrepancy was not caused intentionally by the teenager, but was because the newly laid eggs had not yet been counted.
Fusu nodded, agreeing with the situation and turned to lead everyone away.
"What's your name?" Han Rang patted the boy's shoulder.
"My last name is Luan and my name is Bu!" The young man looked into the distance with an excited look on his face.
Fusu led everyone forward, stumbling slightly, almost falling. However, he waved his hand to stop the people who tried to help him, smiling slightly, and a silent laugh escaped from his mouth.
-When we arrived at Tangchi Palace, during the noon hour (around 9 to 11 a.m.), a small shed was temporarily built on a certain open space, which became a temporary work area.
Fusu sat on a round chair under the shed. On the left was a stove, and on the right was a desk for placing memorials and documents.
He took a document and began to read absentmindedly.
After taking over the position of Minister of Food at night, Lu Bu took nearly four hundred pigeons to Shanglin Garden overnight, fixed the pigeons' feet with bamboo sticks, and released all the pigeons at the scheduled time.
Although Fusu didn't know much about the breeding of homing pigeons, he knew how to do preliminary screening.
Among the more than 400 pigeons, those that return the fastest will be trained as a priority to avoid becoming food on the table directly.
In addition to Lanchi Palace, pigeon flocks including those in Hamgyeong Palace and Lanchi Palace will also be selected to undergo the same selection process.
Those that can accurately find the way home and are not distracted by the beautiful scenery along the way will be chosen as carrier pigeons.
Then, they will be continuously released and screened again, the best individuals will be selected for breeding, and the others will be sent to various places, gradually building a system of transmitting messages using carrier pigeons.
After a while, when the pigeons had not yet returned, the water boiling on the fire began to boil.
As the water splashed, the kettle lid made a snapping sound. Unfortunately, the person guarding the stove was Han Rang, not Adam Smith (note: the person who invented the steam engine in reality), so the credit for inventing steam power had to go to Fusu.
Han Rang deftly took the tea leaves out of the pottery jar, put them into the teapot, and added boiling water.
This time, Fusu ordered people to roast the tea.
The entire production process consumed seven craftsmen and more than a hundred pounds of young tea leaves. In the end, only a little more than half a pound of high-quality products were carefully selected. From this perspective, the market price of this half a pound of finished products should not exceed fifty cents per pound, no more!
Tian Ji's expression reminded Fusu of a past love affair. Even though there was a leaf hanging in his mouth, he couldn't help but take a bite of it.
"Is it sweet?" Fusu asked.
"It's sweet." Tian Ji put down the porcelain bowl and forced a smile.
Sweet? Hehe! Look at the way you look at me. ... Fusu said with a smile: "If you like, the whole pot is yours!"
Hmm...ah...Tian Ji frowned, searching her mind, and cast a pitiful look at Zhao Ji.
This is really frustrating... Zhao Ji laughed secretly, but also walked over to help Tian Ji.
"What is your majesty doing?"
"Waiting for those old ladies and the doves of peace to fly back."
After Fusu finished speaking, he waved his hand to signal his men to place three round cushions around him.
Qi Rui sat on the outside consciously, her almond-shaped eyes, containing a hint of melancholy, looking at Fusu.
Fusu pretended not to see it and picked up the document to look through it carefully.
Zhao Ji poked Tian Ji with her finger and asked quietly: "Can the pigeon fly back after it is released?"
Tian Ji said nothing, shook her head, then nodded, the golden beads on her head sparkling among her hair accessories.
Your Majesty said that if it can fly back, it will fly back! Humph! Just flattery... Zhao Ji curled her lips and looked up at the sky.
Not long after, a group of pigeons came back and pecked at the broken rice on the ground. Several people in charge of raising pigeons came over quickly and put them back into the cages one by one.
"Your Majesty, 350 doves have returned, and the rest are still on the way!" Han Rang bowed respectfully in response.
There were nearly four hundred peace doves, and three hundred and fifty returned. Considering that these were some primitive species, the return rate was not bad... Fusu nodded and arranged for people to add some food for these pigeons. For the peace doves that returned later, tonight's dinner will be hot casserole tofu pigeon meat porridge.