The perfected method for Hulu Chicken made Jian Yong extremely happy. He stared without blinking, firmly engraving those simple steps into his memory.
As for the large-scale chicken farming mentioned by later generations, Jian Yong was actually quite familiar with it.
"What the later people speak of should be the matter of Zhu Ji Weng of Luoyang."
"Living on the northern mountains of Jushi Township, people of the time said this old man raised chickens for a hundred years, herded over a thousand chickens, and made a living selling eggs."
Liu Bei slowly nodded, then shook his head and said:
"This old man's story is recorded in the Liexian Zhuan. Now that we look at it, there may truly have been such a person, but his deeds are likely similar to Jiang Qi, who raised bees and pigs."
"It is only that in the end he likely did not attain immortality. More likely, as later generations say, over a thousand chickens were struck by epidemic disease and perished in a single blow."
The Liexian Zhuan was one of Liu Bei's leisure readings in his youth. The immortals within once filled him with endless longing.
Peng Zu, granted eight hundred years of life by the Heavenly Emperor. Chi Songzi, who could enter fire without burning and move with wind and rain. Tao Zhu Gong, who retired at the height of power and amassed great wealth.
All of these left deep impressions on him.
Naturally, there was also Zhu Ji Weng, who was said to understand birds and beasts, and Liu Bei had once imagined that this old man had likely returned to the Heavenly Court.
Now it seemed far more likely that his chickens died of plague, and his carefree life simply ended naturally.
The huge gap between legend and reality left Liu Bei momentarily speechless. Amid long sighs, he could not help but speculate that once the halo was removed, many immortals might also have had moments of hardship.
Zhang Zhongjing stood up at once, eyes full of urgency, tightly gripping Kongming's right hand.
"I beg the Military Advisor to teach me the method of distillation."
Before today, Zhang Zhongjing had only once heard later generations casually mention antibiotics, calling them an "ultimate super weapon."
The wording was blunt, but it was hard not to yearn for it. Later generations did not talk much about medicine, so antibiotics had long been on Zhang Zhongjing's mind.
Now that this "super weapon" was mentioned again, his first instinct was to look to Kongming.
Kongming immediately felt a headache coming on, but still comforted him:
"Divine Physician, do not worry. Though this preparation method is unheard of, if one breaks down the characters and interprets the meaning, it is not without clues."
These words calmed Zhang Zhongjing somewhat, yet he still felt restless.
Then another thought struck him. If allicin could truly be successfully prepared, it would still need testing for medicinal properties, research by disease type, and finally recording results into medical texts.
This was bad.
Why did the Treatise on Cold Damage suddenly feel like it was going to get longer and longer?
Zhang Zhongjing naturally understood that medicines for humans could be tested on poultry, and conversely, medicines used on poultry could also be applied to humans.
By the same logic, if allicin could be used to prevent and treat poultry epidemics, then the commonly spread cold damage illnesses should also be affected.
Hope rose in Zhang Zhongjing's heart.
Could it be that the vow he made in his youth, to surely defeat cold damage, might truly be fulfilled?
…
As for the sizzling, oil-dripping Hulu Chicken on the light screen, Li Shimin snorted and did not even look at it.
Just from its appearance, he knew Divine Physician Sun would never allow such a thing to easily enter his mouth. Since that was the case, he might as well not think about it.
Besides, strictly speaking, he did not have a special fondness for chicken. Compared to that, he still longed more for tender, fatty lamb. That was purely a matter of personal taste.
But putting that aside, what he cared about more was the issue of meat consumption among the Tang people.
"In Chang'an today, can one adult man obtain one chicken per day?"
This was Li Shimin's question.
"Perhaps next year."
Li Shimin's question was relatively vague, so Fang Xuanling also gave a relatively vague answer.
Then he stepped forward and carefully explained in detail.
Simply put, the people's diet was not too poor, and it was hard to say they lacked money. But the biggest problem was that live chickens were still expensive.
Tracing it to the root, the biggest issue was that there simply were not enough live chickens.
Moreover, compared to selling chickens for meat, raising chickens to lay eggs and selling eggs was the more common choice for many farming households.
As for why Du Ruhui said that next year chicken prices could be lower, the reason was also simple.
At the beginning of last year, the artificial egg incubation method learned from the light screen had finally begun to show results after research by the Directorate of Agriculture.
It was hard to say how many flaws this incubation method still had compared to later generations, but at least within the imperial gardens, the number of chicks was steadily increasing.
Once it was promoted to the civilian population, chicken prices would surely be driven down.
Hens should naturally be kept to lay eggs.
But roosters, whose only function was to crow at dawn, really did not need to be kept in such large numbers.
While Fang Xuanling and Li Shimin discussed policy, Sun Simiao silently memorized the description of distilling allicin.
To the Tang people, distillation was not unfamiliar.
Even ordinary farmers knew that reheating cold rice was called "liufan," and re-steaming day-old steamed buns could also be called "liuman."
Heating cold food was called steaming. Reheating cold food was called distilling.
Then this method of distillation was likely a preparation method involving alternating cold and heat.
Later, he could speak with Yan Liben and borrow the capabilities of the Directorate of Works. Solving it should not be too difficult.
The only unknown was what miraculous uses this substance called a quasi-antibiotic truly possessed.
As Sun Simiao felt deep anticipation, he also vaguely sensed that this distillation method was likely not limited to making allicin alone.
Rather, it seemed more like a general method used by later generations to extract medicinal essences.
If garlic could be distilled into allicin, then other medicinal materials might also yield miraculous effects.
If he could fully research it and leave behind a Treatise on Distillation, perhaps later generations would even honor him as the founder of distillation studies.
[Lightscreen]
[When celebrating the New Year in ancient times, another most important activity was pasting couplets and door god paintings.
However, due to regional customs, even to this day there has never been a unified time. From the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month to New Year's Eve, people paste door gods and couplets at different times.
Among these, door gods are particularly interesting.
Here is a multiple-choice question.
Among the following pairs of figures,
Which group was historically used as door gods?
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei
Shentu and Yulei
Han Xin and Xiao He
Li Shimin and Wei Zheng
Sun Bin and Pang Juan
Wu Zixu and Zhao Yun.]
Door gods?
Liu Bei hesitated and said:
"Shentu and Yulei are certainly door gods. Second Brother and Third Brother, according to later generations, have also served as door gods. Han and Xiao, one civil and one martial talent, the common people might also paste their images to guard the door, but…"
Kongming's confusion was far more direct.
"What connection is there between Zilong and Wu Zixu?"
Li Shimin and Wei Zheng could still be explained as ruler and minister in harmony. Sun Bin and Pang Juan could also be discussed.
But how could General White Horse Zilong, whom they knew well, be connected to Wu Zixu, the great minister of Chu?
Although he had never done such later-generation questions, Kongming still vaguely guessed:
"Most likely, all those listed once had deeds of guarding the people's household doors."
…
In Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin and Wei Zheng looked at each other.
Most of what was in their eyes was disbelief, mixed with laughter and helplessness.
But Li Shimin reacted first. He strode forward, grasped Wei Zheng's hands, and said sincerely:
"To think that I and my beloved minister also have a reputation comparable to Emperor Zhaolie and Marquis Wuhou, with ruler and minister in perfect accord."