In the past two years, the price of meat has been somewhat high compared to the income of ordinary people, resulting in many people saying half-ridicule and half-seriously that they are almost unable to afford meat. I live in a small city in the north, the salary is a few thousand yuan, our local beef here is also more than forty yuan a pound, imported brand beef prices are higher.
It may be a bit of an exaggeration to say that people who can't afford to eat meat may be exaggerated, but there is still some pressure for people with low income to imagine that Uncle Benshan's sketch is "anxious and white-faced" to eat and eat as much as they want. After all, the purse is so big, and the fixed living expenses are placed there, who is not calculating to live a life.
However, we look at ancient novels, such as "Water Margin", which mentions the scene of "eating beef" many times. In particular, the good men of Liangshan asked the restaurant to "cut two or three pounds of beef to eat wine" at every turn. The good guys drank wine in large bowls, and ate large pieces of meat very happily. So, is it that the ancient beef supply is abundant, the price is cheap, and it is a common dish on the table of the common people?
The answer is to disappoint you. Ancient beef, not to mention that it is cheap or not, this price is not a problem, the problem is that you can't eat it often, even if you have money.
In ancient Times, China was an agrarian society, and cattle, as large cattle, were the most important agricultural labor and means of transportation. At that time, having a cow in the family was equivalent to having a huge fortune.
Ancient governments attached importance to agricultural production, and protective measures were taken for cattle that could play a major role in farming. Officials throughout the dynasties have banned the slaughter of cattle and imposed relatively heavy penalties on offenders. For example, in the Han Dynasty, it was stipulated that the slaughter of healthy cattle was equivalent to killing people, and the death penalty was imposed.
Later, the rulers of the Tang Dynasty repealed the decree that the slaughter of cattle required compensation, but the killing of cattle was still punished with hard labor or sentenced to a year and a half in prison. In this way, ancient people were not able to eat beef casually.
So, why do the good men of Liangshan in the ancient novel "Water Margin" often eat beef and drink wine?
First, highlight the spirit of resistance of the good men
The Liangshan good men in "Water Margin" are a group of maverick people, who are themselves rebels in society, doing things that the government and mainstream society oppose. They are like a group of teenagers in a rebellious period, always involuntarily trying to resist orders and regulations. Therefore, the book writes that they eat beef, perhaps just to show their difference from ordinary people and highlight their rebellious spirit.
Second, some cattle are allowed to be slaughtered
In ancient times, not all cattle could not be slaughtered, such as old cattle and sick cattle that could not be cultivated, which could be reported to the relevant departments and slaughtered by themselves.
3. Underground black market trading
Although the ancient government banned the use of beef, we know that not all people will comply with the rules. There are always people who will violate the law and do illegal things for the sake of profit.
Like now, aren't there also people who violate the law to hunt and eat protected animals? There were also such people in ancient times. Some people have money and power, but they want to enjoy delicious food that cannot be publicly obtained, and some people take risks for high remuneration to meet the needs of the gold lord.
Therefore, although the ancient government had a prohibition on the slaughter of cultivated cattle, there was still a beef trade in the private sector.
In addition, if we read "Water Margin", we will find that the places where the good men eat beef are relatively remote, all of which are some rural wild shops, which are sparsely populated and almost no law enforcement personnel supervise. Those shops are also mostly black shops, not to mention beef, human flesh they dare to sell, such as the bun shop opened by the great beauty of Cross Slope Sun, which is bought with human flesh pretending to be beef.
Why does the government ban the beef trade, but some people don't listen? Because beef is expensive, selling beef makes money. Take the Song Dynasty, for example, the market price of beef at that time was 100 yuan, which was converted into the current money of 70 or 80 yuan.
At that time, the price of beef was the highest, and lamb, chicken, duck, and goose were not as expensive as beef. This was determined by the market, when beef was scarce and the natural price was higher than other meats. Beef is so expensive that it is illegal to slaughter it without permission, so in fact, people rarely eat beef at that time.
Suddenly, I found that if I crossed to the Song Dynasty, I still couldn't afford to eat beef, eighty yuan a pound, more expensive than now. Oops, suddenly unhappy, so sad. Remember the cat that was bigger than the fish?
I will use that diagram to describe my sadness now, but I can't find the picture, so I won't put it down.