Yuan Xi, Guo Jia, Tian Yu, Sun Li and others went down from the city wall and prepared to return to the military camp for dinner, and then went to see Xian Yu Fu.
As soon as they reached the gate of the camp, they heard shrill cries coming from inside.
Yuan Xi was shocked and took everyone in to take a closer look. He couldn't help but laugh, it turned out that they were slaughtering a sheep.
The soldiers cleaned the freshly slaughtered sheep in the stream, then chopped up the internal organs and leftover mutton with their short knives and threw them into a big pot to stew. The remaining best mutton was cut into small pieces, skewered on red willow branches, and roasted over the fire.
Tian Yu said, "North of Quanzhou, there are more people grazing, and sheep are much cheaper than in the south. I'll have someone buy a few when I go into the city today."
Seeing the soldiers' extremely skillful movements, Yuan Xi smiled and said, "They have been to the North and Xuzhou before, so they have combined the best of both places."
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, grilled skewers had already become popular, not only spreading among the nomadic peoples in the north, but also spreading to the Xuhua area. This method was called "roasting".
However, the barbecue in the two places is quite different, and the condiments used also vary depending on the region.
As the mutton is roasted in the flames, oil sizzles and the air is filled with fragrance. It is ready to eat when it is about 70% cooked.
Although it lacked seasoning, the soldiers didn't care. The fresh mutton was delicious enough even without any seasoning.
Soldiers with stronger tastes would take out the salt bags from their waists, dip the mutton on the branches in the salt, and then put it into their mouths, immediately letting out satisfied exclamations.
Yuan Xi sat in front of the big pot, holding up a bowl of steaming mutton soup, in which finely chopped mutton offal and meat chunks rose and fell, with a few crystal drops of oil mixed with green amaranth dotted on top.
Guo Jia couldn't wait to drink a mouthful of soup, and then praised: "The sheep in the north do have a unique flavor."
"If we follow the Han system, it is not easy to eat meat on a regular basis, but now we are benefiting a lot from the young master."
The Han system that Guo Jia mentioned was inherited from the pre-Qin ritual system. The emperor ate beef, high-ranking officials at the rank of doctor and above ate mutton, officials and gentry below the rank of doctor ate pork and dog meat, and ordinary people ate grilled fish.
This is because cattle and sheep require a large amount of fodder, which consumes a lot of arable land. Cattle in particular are important farming tools. Therefore, the Han law stipulates that killing cattle without reason is a capital crime.
However, everyone knew that the Han court was now in name only and there had been no news from the emperor since he left Chang'an. Even if they killed cattle for eating now, no one would care.
Yuan Xi held the wooden bowl between his knees, took the wheat cake handed to him by Sun Li, tore it into small pieces, and threw it into the mutton soup. After a while, the wheat cake absorbed the soup and began to swell.
Yuan Xi picked up the bowl and took a big gulp of the wheat cake and mutton soup. After the mutton soup went down his throat, his hungry stomach seemed to cheer and his whole spirit was shocked.
When Guo Jia, Tian Yu, Sun Li and others saw this, they also followed suit. Food was hard to come by in troubled times, and the opportunity to have such a leisurely meal was even rarer.
Yuan Xi drank the soup happily. In this world, wars had involved everyone. This misfortune might last for decades, but in order to escape from it and temporarily forget all the troubles in the world, one often only needed a delicious and filling meal.
In the mansion in the city, Cai Zhaoji walked into the house carrying a wooden tray and said to Zhen Mi and Madam Wu, "My lord, you are touring the city today. I'm afraid you won't be back until very late. General Tian asked someone to bring half a lamb. I made some lamb soup. Let's eat some first."
After hearing this, Zhen Mi said, "Thank you for your hard work, let's eat together."
Madam Wu quickly stood up and said to Cai Zhaoji, "I can do this kind of thing, why bother you, Madam?"
Cai Zhaoji heard this and said, "How dare you? Madam is still my aunt in terms of seniority. Please take a seat, Madam."
Mrs. Wu was persuaded by Cai Zhaoji and had to sit down awkwardly. When she made up her identity, she just made it up casually. As a result, Cai Zhaoji seriously calculated and found that Mrs. Wu was one generation older, so she called herself a junior.
Mrs. Wu felt quite guilty. She had deceived everyone and yet she had to continue covering it up.
It has been more than a month since the Chinese New Year. Thinking about the uncertain road ahead and not knowing where to go, Mrs. Wu became more and more anxious.
Cai Zhaoji placed the bowl of soup in front of Mrs. Wu. Mrs. Wu thanked her and smelled the aroma of mutton. Somehow, she felt more and more irritated.
She suppressed her discomfort and carefully sipped the mutton soup. The soup, which was originally extremely delicious, made her stomach churn after it entered her lips and teeth.
Mrs. Wu was a little surprised. She had eaten mutton before and did not feel any discomfort. Compared with the mutton from Jiangdong, the mutton in the bowl had almost no fishy smell. Why couldn't she drink it?
She didn't want to show anything unusual, so she had to cover her face with her sleeves and forced herself to drink a few more sips. The discomfort in her chest and abdomen became more and more severe.
Suddenly, waves of nausea surged up upon her. Mrs. Wu felt nauseous and wanted to vomit. She quickly ran out of the room and held onto the corner of the wall and began to dry heave.
When Zhen Mi saw this, she asked Cai Zhaoji with concern, "Madam, are you feeling unwell?"
Cai Zhaoji was also confused and said, "Maybe Madam is not used to drinking mutton soup. I'll go over and take a look."
Cai Zhaoji had just walked out the door when she saw Mrs. Wu saying something apologetically and then hurried back to the house.
Zhen Mi came out and said, "I'll have someone cook some rice porridge in a while."
"If Madam Mingri is still like this, I will ask Mr. Yuanhua to come and take a look."
Cai Zhaoji heard this and said, "That's the only way. But it doesn't look like a big deal. Maybe it's because the weather in the north is cold. Just rest for a day or two."
Seeing that they had no clue for the time being, the two women went back to their room.
After finishing his meal, Yuan Xi asked Guo Jia to stay in the military camp, and he took Tian Yu and Sun Li and went straight to a mansion in the city. When they arrived at the gate, they saw more than a dozen soldiers guarding the front and back doors of the mansion. When they saw Yuan Xi coming, they all knelt down to salute.
Yuan Xi stopped everyone and ordered them to open the door. Just as he walked into the yard, he saw a big man standing in the middle of the yard with his hands clasped and his head slightly lowered, as if he knew that Yuan Xi would come.
Yuan Xi saw that he had a big beard, a rather rough appearance, a strong waist and arms, and his legs were slightly bent. It was obvious that he had been staying there for a long time.
He returned the greeting by bowing his hands: "I am Yuan Xi, Yuan Xianyi, and your distinguished guest is General Xianyu?"
After hearing this, the big man lowered his head and raised his hand, "Greetings, Your Excellency. I am Xian Yu Fu."
Yuan Xi saw that Xian Yu Fu had a calm expression, and it was obvious that he had expected his coming. He thought to himself that he was a smart man.
Xianyu Fu went to see Tian Yu without any concealment, just to avoid Tian Yu being suspected. Tian Yu also understood the intention of Xianyu Fu and knew that he came here not to reminisce about the past, and his target was naturally Yuan Xi.
Xian Yu Fu had never looked for Liu He either. It was obvious that he knew his limits. When talking to such a person, there would be no need to beat around the bush.
Thinking of this, Yuan Xi said straight to the point: "I understand General Xianyu's painstaking efforts. Please come in and talk."
After they sat down in the room, Yuan Xi said, "General Xianyu, just speak your mind. Even if the deal doesn't go through, we can still be friends."
Xian Yufu smiled when he heard this and said, "Your Excellency is a straightforward person. Before I met you, I was still skeptical. Now that I have seen you, I find that you are indeed worthy of your reputation."
He had already understood the implication of Yuan Xi's words. Everything could be discussed, but there was a bottom line for everything. It was impossible to agree to exorbitant conditions.
Xian Yu Fu quickly cleared his throat and explained Yan Rou and his purpose of coming.
After hearing this, Yuan Xi looked at Tian Yu and thought that Yan Rou, Xianyu Fu and Shanyu Tatun were not on good terms with each other privately. This was really a pleasant surprise.
It was like a pillow being delivered when one was dozing off. If the three parties had been very close, Yuan Xi would not have been able to find an opportunity to take action and might have made a lot of concessions. But now he has saved himself a lot of trouble.
He asked, "Is General Xianyu a Han Chinese or a Xianbei?"
Xian Yufu listened and said with a wry smile: "If you want to say, my ancestors are Han Chinese."
The surname Xianyu originated from the surname Zi, which came from Zizhong, a descendant of the royal family of the Shang Dynasty. When King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Shang Dynasty, he granted Jizi the title of Joseon. The "Short History of Korea" records: "When King Wu of Zhou defeated the Shang Dynasty, Jizi led 5,000 Chinese people into Joseon."
Among Jizi's sons, there was one named Zi Zhong, whose fief was in Yuyi. So he combined the name of the country "Xian" and the name of the fief "Yu" into the surname "Xianyu", and called himself the Xianyu clan, which has been passed down from generation to generation to this day.
Xian Yufu said this and then changed the subject, "But some people also say that the Xianyu family heritage is no longer traceable, and this name came from a foreign race."
"Book of Wei" says that the surname Xianyu was not originally a surname of the Xianbei people, but a "Dingling caste" active in Dingzhou, Shuozhou, Wuyuan and Yuyang areas. It was located between the Han and Hu peoples and had an awkward status.
After Xian Yu Fu finished speaking, he felt a little uneasy. He had heard rumors that this fierce tiger from the Yuan family seemed to be very hostile to foreigners.
Although the Xianyu family is a big family in Youzhou, they may not be without foreign blood. Xianyu Fu must point this out. If he conceals it, the other party will only suspect him.
After hearing this, Yuan Xi smiled and said, "I don't really care about this kind of debate."
Yuan Xi thought that it would be a mess to differentiate between the Han and foreigners based on their bloodline.
In terms of pure bloodline, I am afraid that many Han people on the border of the Han Dynasty are not as pure as the descendants of Liu Bao, the descendant of Maodun Chanyu and Liu Xing's royal daughter, who married after the siege of Baideng Mountain.
Yuan Xi thought it was truly ironic that the legitimate successor to the Han Dynasty was killed by him with one single blow.
However, Yuan Xi did not feel any psychological pressure. When the Southern Xiongnu turned their butcher knives towards the Han people, their bloodline had no meaning at all.
Otherwise, anyone who is closely related to Liu Xing's royal family could be killed indiscriminately. How could such a thing be justified in the world?
Even the emperor can't do that!
Today, the princes of the world have rebelled against the Han Dynasty and are each establishing their own regimes. On the surface, they are indeed rebels, but in fact, they are no different from the Yellow Turban Army.
But the instigator was the Emperor Ling of Han, who lost his way and caused chaos in the world. During his many years in power, he plundered the people's wealth and personally pushed the Han Dynasty into the abyss, leading to the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
At the same time, officials and gentry from all over the country also rebelled. Since then, the Han Dynasty had actually lost the support of the people.
When the Han lost its power, the whole world began to chase it.
It can be said that what is happening to Emperor Liu Xie of Han today is just him taking the blame for Emperor Ling of Han.