Wei Yijie and Zhang'ergou Village's Imperial Tribute Noodles
Author: Wei Guojing
As we all know, Zhang'ergou Village in Neiqiu County is a well-known vermicelli making village, which has not been a large village since ancient times, and the population hovers between three hundred people. Zhang'ergou Village is named after Zhang Er, a famous soldier in the late Qin and early Han dynasties, because he deployed troops here to swing and settle down. However, since ancient times, almost every household in this village has a tradition of making vermicelli, and the skill is superb, and the noodles produced are fragrant, refreshing, resilient, suitable for all ages, and are favored by the neighboring eight counties. Such delicious vermicelli is because the soil here is good, that is, the soil is good, and it can produce yam suitable for making high-quality vermicelli.
It is said that he has a tradition of making vermicelli since ancient times, and there is no exact record of when it was ancient, but at least in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, there was a process of making vermicelli. This is recorded, and the record comes from a story —
In the fifth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1666), Wei Gelao (Wei Yijie) of Baixiang County was fifty-one years old. In August of that year, Wei Yijie returned home on leave, and on a crisp autumn morning, he made an appointment with three or five confidants and paraded to the Taihang Mountains in the west, entering from the border of the city and heading south. Along the way, in the midst of joy and laughter, we cross the mountain pass, through the jungle, wading through the stream, see the fruits of the Mid-Autumn Festival, read all the strange peaks and strange rocks, and appreciate the strange insect rocks. Unconsciously, it was nearly noon, the people were tired and hungry, and several people thought at the same time that there would be no villages in this desolate countryside, let alone restaurants that could relieve hunger, and when they went out from Baixiang, they did not think so much - they had enough food. A few people you look at me, I look at you, helplessly smiled.
Old portrait of Wei Ge
There was no way to continue walking, and several of them went around the mountain beam again, crossing the danger. Suddenly, the eyes suddenly opened up, looking down at the front of what seemed to be a small mountain village, a few people were overjoyed, following the village, getting closer and closer to the village, it seemed to see the cooking smoke wafting up, it seemed to smell the oil wafting in, because of hunger drove several people excited, towards the small hut on the edge of the village. Sure enough, it was a small restaurant, and the owner of the shop with sparse business had already stood in front of the door to solicit business from several people.
Wei Yijie stepped forward to greet the shopkeeper: "Old man, hello, I really didn't expect to be able to sit in a restaurant here, it's so good!" ”
The shopkeeper replied, "Where are you?" ”
"From Baixiang County, idle, I came here unconsciously. What kind of village is this old man's family? ”
"Zhang'ergou Village," the shopkeeper replied.
"Oh... This is Zhang'ergou Village? I know that I have learned about this village in the book before, because Zhang Er, a famous soldier in the late Qin and early Han Dynasties, deployed troops here and settled down, and it is an ancient village," Wei Yijie said.
"How many households are there in this village at present?" Wei Yijie asked again.
"Thirty or forty households," replied the shopkeeper.
"It's not a small village here," Wei said to himself.
"Can the old man's family afford to raise you by opening this small restaurant on the edge of this village?", Wei Yijie asked.
"This guest officer you also saw, we are deeply populated here, there are few people passing by every day, but occasionally there are guests who walk here or play like a few of you, will settle down here, eat a light meal, casually give a few small money, barely enough for the grass people, but the grass people do not care about these, even if it is convenient for passers-by" The shopkeeper is very good at talking.
Hearing this, Wei Yijie smiled and asked, "What is so delicious about your little restaurant?" I'm hungry and a few others."
"This guest officer, let you down, the grass people here only 'pork stew noodles' is also our special meal here." Said the shopkeeper.
Pork stew with wide noodles
Wei Yijie listened to each other helplessly and felt very hopeful, and looked at each other, "Old man, I will eat the 'pork stew noodles' you made later." ”
"Please, officers."
Wei Yijie and a few others went to the grass room to sit at the table in order, only to see that the shopkeeper summoned his wife, came to the small kitchen together, first soaked in noodles with water, then took out the marinated and stored pork, and then took out tofu, Chinese cabbage and other accessories, and the couple began to skillfully handle it next to the small kitchen.
At the same time, Wei Yijie said: "I used to eat vermicelli cauldron dishes, and today I eat the cauldron dishes of Zhang'er Hook Village again, which will be different from what I ate before." ”
"First of all, the meaning is different, the guest officer was eating at home before, and today it is here!" Moreover, the practice of vermicelli dishes is different, which is exquisite in making vermicelli dishes - first of all, what to load first, what to pack later, what to prepare in the heat is to be sure; secondly, as I just said, the important material is vermicelli, Zhang'ergou Village because of the unique terrain, the texture of vermicelli is not the same as other places of vermicelli, these guest officers will feel it after eating for a while. The owner of the small restaurant mixed the cauldron dishes in order while talking to Wei Yijie.
The aroma of the pot stove wafted out and reverberated throughout the grass room, and although Wei Yijie suppressed his saliva, his eyes were fixed on the pot stove. It seems to be really hungry.
Fortunately, in the unconscious dialogue, the cauldron dish was boiled, and the shop couple served each person a bowl of steaming noodle cauldron dish. Just by smell, you know it's a delicacy. First drink a mouthful of clear soup - fragrant, refreshing; then pick a noodle with oil, vegetables, seasoning, and powder in your mouth - tendons, refreshing, silky, and long aftertaste. Wei Yijie a few people have really never eaten such a delicious noodle dish, especially this noodle, when dry, the color is bean green and transparent, boiled in the pot although the color is slightly white, but still transparent, chewing up tendons without skin, soft and not xuan (virtual). Several people also disregarded the image, and opened their arms during this Mid-Autumn Festival, and ate big, and the sweat of the direct food was flowing all over the face, and the burp was continuous.
Delicious vermicelli
Wei Yijie's stomach was full, he touched the mouth oil, paid the shop guy two silver, and wanted to leave. At this time, Wei Yijie suddenly stopped and said, "Slow down...!" Only to see him turn his head and turn to the shopkeeper and say: "Old man, your noodles are so delicious, just now you said that this is your specialty here, you will not only sell vermicelli dishes and not dry vermicelli, right?" ”
"What this guest officer means is... Want to buy dried vermicelli from grass people to eat...? Well, how much do you want to bring? The guest officer spoke though. "The owner returned.
"We have a long way to go, and we can't bring much, so we can bring ten pounds and eight pounds, and when we return to the dynasty, we will bring some hometown flavor to the emperor."
"To the Emperor...?" Are you...?"
Wei Yijie inadvertently revealed his identity, which really startled the shopkeeper. While the shopkeeper was wondering, Wei Yijie's entourage blurted out, "Lord Wei is the prime minister of the dynasty, Elder Wei Ge." ”
When he heard this, the shopkeeper immediately summoned his wife to give a big gift to Wei Yijie: "The grass people have eyes and no pearls, they don't know Lord Wei, and the grass people should fight." Wei Yijie hurriedly bent down to mix up the shop couple, only to hear the shopkeeper still say: "In this area, we all know that we have a good official here who can sympathize with the people--he is you--the Wei Ge old man in Baixiang, I really can't imagine that today this old man of the cabinet is next to the grass people, and he also ate a 'vermicelli cauldron dish' made by the grass people in this small hut, and the grass people are so happy." The shopkeeper could not hide his excitement, and said excitedly: "The old man of the cabinet said, how many noodles do you want?" Homegrown, free! ”
Only to see Wei Yijie gently patted the shopkeeper's shoulder and said kindly: "The old man's family can eat the vermicelli dishes you made in Zhang'ergou Village, brother I am also very blessed, or just said to weigh ten pounds and eight pounds on the line, I want to bring the noodles of our Zhang'ergou Village to the palace, let the Kangxi Emperor also taste, maybe the emperor will bring good luck to our Zhang'ergou Village after eating." ”
"Then the grass people thanked the elder ge on behalf of the whole village father and elder of Zhang'ergou." After the shopkeeper finished speaking, he wanted to give a salute to Wei Yijie, but was hurriedly stopped by Wei Yijie.
At this time, the shopkeeper turned around and instructed his wife to take ten pounds of vermicelli and hand them to Wei Yijie's entourage. Wei Yijie ordered his entourage to double the payment to the shopkeeper Yin Liang, and instructed: "Guard the small restaurant and facilitate passers-by." The shopkeeper and his wife, who could not get away, nodded their heads vigorously and bid farewell to Wei Yijie.
After returning to his hometown in Baixiang, Wei Yijie made a simple rest, that is, he began to pack some bags, first wrapped and wrapped, tied and tied up the special noodles of Zhang'ergou Village, and after everything was ready to stop, he embarked on the road back to The Dynasty.
The Kangxi Emperor calculated that a certain moment on this day was the time when the Wei people returned to the dynasty, and in order to show their friendship to the old minister, the Kangxi Emperor greeted the Wei people early within the noon gate. If not, Wei Yijie returned to the court on time to see the Kangxi Emperor, first gave a great gift to the emperor, and then the monarch took his hand. As they walked, they asked each other about their recent past, the Kangxi Emperor asked about the harvest of the people and the living conditions of the people; Wei Yijie asked the emperor about the current political affairs of the dynasty. The two of them seemed to have endless words.
At this time, the Kangxi Emperor saw that Wei Yijie was still carrying a bundle of things in his hand, and couldn't help but quip: "What, you still bring gifts to Yuan?" ”
Seeing the opportunity, Wei Yijie immediately returned: "Yes, it is not easy to go back to the hometown, when you come, you must bring local specialties to the emperor, this is the noodles specially produced by Wei Chen's Linxian - Zhang'ergou Village in Neiqiu County, Wei Chen has eaten very delicious, Wei Chen knows that the daily emperor loves to eat noodle stews, so be sure to bring some to the emperor, to make the emperor full of food." ”
"Well, I'll let you eat noodles with you at noon today." The Kangxi Emperor said in a tone that was both serious and gentle to Wei Yijie. He then instructed his subordinates to take the noodles in Wei Yijie's hand to the imperial kitchen and make a "royal meal noodle cauldron dish".
Vermicelli cauldron dish
Just as the meal was about to be served, the fragrant vermicelli cauldron dish was brought to the emperor's table, and the Kangxi Emperor ordered Wei Yijie to eat together. Only to see the Kangxi Emperor first use chopsticks to pick up the noodles from the rice bowl, use his eyes to check the texture of the noodles after cooking, and then close to the nostrils to smell how the incense is, and then put the noodles in the mouth and start chewing, see how the tendons are, see, smell, taste after the Kangxi Emperor began to praise, directly praise the noodles in this ear groove is delicious, praise Wei Yijie let him full of happiness.
At this point, the Kangxi Emperor seemed to have some understanding in the face of Wei Yijie and other ministers: "The noodles in this Ergou Village are so delicious, presumably they are also the favorites of the old and young in the palace, and it is still like this in the eyes of the Emperor - it is appropriate for the Ministry of Internal Affairs to go to Zhangergou Village in Neiqiu County every year to buy the number of noodles needed in the palace within one year at the market price." The Kangxi Emperor said so and did the same.
Since then, the noodles produced in Zhang'ergou Village in Neiqiu County have become the famous "Royal Tribute Noodles". Since then, it has also enriched the people, and the local people are grateful to Wei Andi and the Kangxi Emperor.
2021-11-28 Yubai Township