"What do you call this vegetable?" asked one of the emperors, with a sinister look on his face.
The vegetable in front of me is called courgette, but the emperor once forbade talking and writing with the word "hu".
The minister had to give the vegetable a new name, which remains in use to this day.
Which vegetables are you today?
Low self-esteem
The emperor who asked this question was Shi Le, the founder of Later Zhao. When it comes to this man, many people will think that he killed all his sons.
Although Shi Le said that he killed all his sons, he also has many advantages, and his experience of becoming an emperor can be said to be a legendary story.
Shile was said to have come from a tribe under the Xiongnu at that time, and his father was a small leader at the time.
Looking at it this way, in fact, Shile was not poor at all at that time, at least he could eat enough.
It's just a pity that such days didn't last long, and a huge turning point in Shiler's life came.
When Shile was a child, there was a famine in his hometown, and for a time even those rich families could not afford to eat.
So many Hu people had no choice but to slowly approach the rich Central Plains, that is, the Western Jin Dynasty at that time.
Although the Central Plains region was also affected by the famine, the situation was much stronger than that of the outside world.
In order to eat a full meal, the Saiwaihu people could only bow their heads to the Central Plains people.
At that time, most of the people in the Central Plains were Han Chinese, and the relationship between the Hu people and the Han people could be said to be feuding. The beacon tower built in the Western Zhou Dynasty was to guard against the Saiwaihu people.
Seeing that so many Hu people gathered, many Han people had an idea.
It is not impossible to give these Hu people a mouthful of food, provided that they are used as free labor, which we can understand as slaves exploited by everyone.
After collecting each batch of slaves, the Han Chinese would find a prisoner cart to pull them to the market and sell them. Shile was one of the slaves at the time, and he was later taken out and sold.
Later, a rancher bought Shile and other slaves, and let them farm when they were fine.
At that time, Shi Le and the others often heard shouts of killing, and slowly, Shi Le discussed current affairs with other Hu people.
By chance, the rancher found that Shi Le was a very special person, so he let Shi Le go.
Although he said that he was released by his master, Shile was not grateful to him. Because in his heart, there are already two different concepts of Hu and Han.
After coming to the Central Plains, Shi Le slowly learned that he was the rough and greedy Hu people in the Han population.
Shi Le was not too bad at the time, so he did not quite agree with the rough and greedy characteristics of the Hu people.
In addition, Shi Le's eyes were dazzled by the appearance, customs, and living environment of the Central Plains, and at the same time, he was also very puzzled: "Why do the Han people occupy such a precious place, and their Hu people have to be eroded by wind and sand outside the Saiwai?"
So slowly, Shi Le gradually developed an inferiority complex, and the Han people always had a feeling of superiority in his heart.
After regaining his freedom, Schler soon recruited eighteen good brothers on horseback, which were the family property when he first started his business.
Scheller then built on this and gradually developed and expanded. Even when facing the Western Jin Dynasty, he can wrestle with them.
To say that this Shile is also a very good Hu man, his road to success can be said to be smooth sailing. Although he also worked for others, he eventually became his own boss.
In this way, Shi Le is very much like the male protagonist of a modern cool novel.
In reality, there seem to be many Shuangwen actors, and many people have also given their own "evaluations" on the Internet, saying that they have noble people to help.
But if you think about it carefully, what kind of people will generally get help from nobles?
If it is a mediocre person who does not work hard, will anyone help him?
prohibition
For those nobles, helping others means investing. If you don't have any outstanding merits to make people shine, how can people help you for no reason?
So don't always say that successful people rely on others to help, the most important thing is to rely on their own efforts, so that one day there will be noble people to help you.
Shile succeeded in establishing Later Zhao and, not surprisingly, he was the first emperor.
Although he said that he had successfully become the emperor, from Shi Le's heart, he still had an inferiority complex, for example, he was very reluctant to hear others say the word "Hu Ren", so Shi Le specially issued a ban in his own country.
The content of this prohibition is very simple, that is, whether you speak or write normally, you must not have the word "hu" in it.
As soon as this ban came out, not to mention that the common people didn't know why, even those officials couldn't figure out what the emperor was thinking. Their nomadic people were simply Hu people at that time, is there anything wrong with that?
This is the same reason that the Han people call themselves Han Chinese.
Shile didn't explain much about this, anyway, he couldn't have the word "Hu", otherwise he would be beheaded for public display.
This ban did not have much impact on the common people, and it was the officials in the court who were most affected.
Everyone is used to saying "nonsense", but it is really difficult to change it suddenly. Usually it is okay to say that it is leaky, but an official actually said that he leaked his mouth when he reported to Emperor Shile.
As we all know, local officials would go to Beijing every once in a while to report the situation to the emperor, and that day the Xiangjun Taishou came to the court in rags.
Everyone was dressed neatly in the last court, so this Taishou looked too unsocial.
So Shile asked him, "Why did you dress like this and come to court? Is it because you don't have enough money to buy clean clothes?"
These words can be asked in Taishou's heart, so he quickly opened the mode of complaining to the emperor.
"The Hu people in our place are really difficult to manage, they are all unruly and arrogant, and even I, the Taishou, don't pay attention to them. ”
"The reason why I dressed like this to go to court is to blame those barbarian Hu people, who robbed me of my money and food, even the clothes I was wearing. ”
"In the end, I had no choice but to pick up a few torn clothes in the city and put them on. ”
What Taishou didn't expect was that he was patronizing and complaining, and he had long forgotten the ban that Shile had issued. So Shi Le not only did not sympathize with him, but also roared angrily: "Bold! You dare to openly disobey me in the court!"
Hearing the emperor say this, Taishou finally came to his senses. I only cared about complaining, and I invisibly forgot that I couldn't use the word "Hu" when I spoke.
So he quickly gave himself a few slaps to sober up, and then hurriedly kowtowed to the emperor to plead guilty.
Shi Le also laughed when he saw this, and then he spared this Taishou.
Cucumber
Shi Le knew very well that the rule was that the dead were alive, and Taishou didn't mean to say that, he was completely immersed in the sad experience and couldn't extricate himself, so the word "Hu" was said inadvertently.
This Taishou is also true, he not only said the word "Hu", but also said how barbaric they were, didn't he consider the feelings of Shi Le, who was also a Hu person?
Even if you are flustered, you must think carefully about every word before speaking.
However, this Taishou is also fateful, Shi Le at that time was barely a benevolent monarch, he knew that Taishou did not mean it, so this time he was exempted from his crimes.
However, Shi Le is still a bit bad, although he was exempted from the death penalty this time, he immediately arranged a new topic for Taishou.
After going down, Shi Le said to the Taishou: "You go to take a bath and change your clothes, the cost will be borne by the state, clean up and go to the banquet." ”
What an honor it is to go to the emperor's house for dinner.
Taishou was very happy to see this, so he hurried back to clean up.
Just as the two monarchs and ministers were eating happily, a palace maid brought over a plate of courgette.
Isn't it just a dish, Taishou didn't take it to heart, and then Shi Le asked him, "What do you say is the name of this dish?"
This question can freak out Taishou, after all, the name of this vegetable has "Hu". If he repeats it again, it is estimated that it is really time to go to Hades.
Looking at the overwhelmed Taishou, Shi Le also had a bad smile on his face.
It is said that the courgette is a sweet and delicious vegetable, and it was later introduced from the Western Regions, and the people of the Central Plains said that it was good to eat, so the courgette was very popular in the Central Plains at that time.
Of course, courgettes are still popular, and everyone will understand by their other name.
Looking at the gourd in front of him, Taishou's brain began to run rapidly, and finally he came up with a countermeasure.
Taishou said to Shi Le: "Golden bottle nectar, jade plate cucumber." "Meaning, it's a cucumber.
Seeing this, everyone should understand that the cucumber we eat now was called courgette before. Because this was a kind of melon unique to the territory of the Hu people at that time, it was called courgette before.
Many people must have wondered: "Why is cucumber called cucumber when it is green after picking?" This question not only stumped us as children, but also our parents and grandparents also did not know how to answer.
The answer is actually very simple, the reason why we don't know the origin of this name is not that we have not heard of this story of the monarch and minister, but that we have not seen the cucumber when it is fully ripe.
In our modern view, when a cucumber is soft and wilted, it is old, but in fact, it is really old when it turns yellow.
Cucumbers turn yellow when they are fully ripe, and it is precisely because of this common sense that Taishou gave the cucumber this name.
From this, it is not difficult to see that the common people at that time ate fully ripe cucumbers, not the green cucumbers we eat today.
It was also from that time that the name cucumber gradually became accepted by everyone. Even though the way it is eaten in modern times is different from that of ancient times, the name is still retained, which is why it is not called green melon.