"This Yongzheng really hates trouble," Liu Bei said, his tone clearly annoyed.
Kongming and the others immediately smiled.
But speaking seriously, it was not that hard to understand. Just like how Emperor Wu set the lunar calendar to mark the old year out and the new year in, unifying customs across the realm had always been a shared pursuit of the descendants of the Han.
Yet now, because Yongzheng wanted to save himself some effort, later generations ended up with a one day difference in New Year customs between north and south.
It was not a major issue, but it was still irritating to think about.
Among the group, only Lu Su was still focused on another matter.
"Why do later generations dare to claim they surpass five thousand years?"
At this, the displeasure on Liu Bei's face faded. Even Kongming's calm expression showed a trace of complex emotion. He instead raised a seemingly unrelated question.
"Zijing, in your view, two pages of agricultural treasure, one describing composting methods that raise yield by half a shi per mu, another recording seedling cultivation and selection experience worth a hundred years of knowledge, how much would such things be worth in later generations?"
The question was abrupt, but Lu Su still considered it carefully and answered cautiously.
"Even if later generations are far more materially abundant than we can imagine, I suppose it would still be worth at least a hundred coins?"
Lu Su felt this estimate was already quite bold.
Yet Kongming shook his head, raised one hand, and spoke plainly.
"A whole book called Tiangong Kaiwu, a true treasure manual, is valued in later generations at only five coins."
He then explained in detail to Lu Su how, based on the gold items they had been given earlier, they calculated the equivalence to the later unit of currency called yuan, and the full chain of cause and effect behind that conversion.
Lu Su fell silent. Then, hesitantly, he asked,
"Then… then what about that barely edible porridge the junior mentioned earlier. How much would that be worth?"
Kongming was always observant. He had also noticed earlier a box of Laba porridge that flashed briefly on screen. It seemed to be canned and packed into a box, with weight and price clearly printed. One can was 280 grams, twelve cans sold for 34 yuan. They had already figured out the conversion between later grams and their current jin and liang, so the calculation was easy.
"A porridge mixed from dozens of grains and fruits, over seven jin in total, worth about three wen."
Lu Su could no longer control his expression. In the end, all that remained on his face was envy.
He had seen too clearly along the road how common people lived in these chaotic times.
External enemies, internal heavy taxes, people crying because they could not even get a bowl of porridge. He had just witnessed such scenes not long ago.
Even the overflowing granaries recorded by the Grand Historian during Emperor Jing's reign seemed pale in comparison to the abundance of food in later generations.
Thinking again of how the juniors casually talked about celebrating the New Year, Lu Su could not help but sigh.
"We celebrate festivals with grand feasts. With later generations being so wealthy, I wonder what kind of magnificent celebrations they must have."
[Lightscreen]
[The changes in Little New Year customs are relatively simple, but by looking at records of stove candy used for Kitchen God sacrifices across different dynasties, we can clearly see the evolution of ancient sweets.
From the source of sugar, ancient sweets can broadly be divided into three types: honey, malt sugar, and cane sugar.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Huangfu Mi, grandson of General Huangfu Song, recorded in his work Biographies of Lofty Scholars that a man named Jiang Qi raised bees to produce honey and wax, formally opening the era of domesticated beekeeping.
By the way, Huangfu Mi was quite impressive. He wrote The Systematic Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, the first acupuncture monograph in Chinese history. He also compiled works such as Biographies of Recluses, Biographies of Exemplary Women, and Chronicles of Emperors Through the Ages. A true dual master of literature and medicine.
Because honey is sweet, delicious, and long lasting in storage, it was always favored by nobles and elites. Thus, from the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Ming dynasty, beekeeping kept improving. Song Yingxing described the already mature artificial beekeeping methods of the Ming in Tiangong Kaiwu.
However, all the way until the fall of the Qing dynasty, China still used ancient beekeeping methods, using hollow logs or hollowed wood to force bees to nest, then destroying the hive to harvest honey. Efficiency was extremely low, completely incomparable to modern reusable frame hives and honey extractors.
As a result, in ancient times, honey was always exclusive to the elite and never the mainstream sweet.
Besides honey, there was also a small sweet war between malt sugar and cane sugar.
Malt sugar is a modern term. In ancient times, its well known name was yitang. Its consumption history is very long, traceable back to the Book of Songs, from Western Zhou to Spring and Autumn.
From Eastern Han to Wu Zetian's era, this was the golden age of yitang. Techniques using millet and other grains to make malt sugar, and higher yield boiling methods, all came from this period. But after Wu Zetian, consumption of yitang gradually declined, and malt sugar went from prosperity to decline.
The cause of this shift was the rise of cane sugar.
This part should sound familiar.
With one shout, Wang Xuance brought sugar making techniques from India back for Li Erfeng, and cane sugar production took root in China.
During the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, cane sugar techniques kept improving. Both quantity and quality rose steadily, and cane sugar successfully defeated honey and yitang at the dining table, becoming the top choice for sweetness among the ancients.
Corresponding to this sweet war was the sudden decline of ancient beer.
Modern research suggests that the ancient drink recorded as li involved malting, saccharification, and fermentation, and can basically be confirmed as a primitive form of beer.
Records show that li originated in the Shang, flourished in the Han, and disappeared in the Tang. This timeline matches the decline of yitang, since malt sugar and beer brewing are technically related processes.
Another factor was in the fourteenth year of Zhenguan, when Li Erfeng destroyed Gaochang. Besides achieving strategic goals in the Western Regions, he successfully obtained complete grape wine brewing techniques and prized horse milk grapes.
Attacked from both sides, cane sugar achieved total victory, and sugar production technology advanced greatly.
Relying on high quality cane sugar, from Song and Yuan through Ming and Qing, Chinese overseas merchants successfully monopolized the entire Southeast Asian sugar market and gained massive wealth.]
"As far as sweetness goes, yitang is indeed far inferior to cane sugar," Li Shimin said, unconsciously licking his lips as he gave what he felt was a very fair evaluation.
Then he shot Sun Simiao a slightly resentful look.
Banning fatty beef and mutton, he could understand. But why also order the imperial kitchen to reduce sweet and sour fish to once a month. He was not Cao Pi with wasting thirst syndrome.
Yet under Imperial Physician Sun's firm insistence, and thinking of how that wasting thirst disease was called diabetes in later generations, Li Shimin could only pinch his nose and accept Sun's demands.
The result was that whenever delicious foods were mentioned, Li Shimin could not help but secretly complain about Sun Simiao in his heart.
Sun Simiao stood unmoved, not even bothering to return a glance to the Tang emperor.
Li Shimin did not mind. As he continued watching, his interest turned into delight.
"So Gaochang actually has such treasures?"
His thoughts stirred. Since fatty beef, mutton, and cane sugar were forbidden, being able to freely drink grape wine was not bad either.
Gaochang had both the brewing methods and the materials.
Was this not a gift from heaven?
Li Shimin was in high spirits.