Ang Lee was an indispensable top talent in the Tang Empire. He was a heavyweight who could control the fate of the Tang Empire. If the Tang Empire wanted to achieve bigger and better goals, it could do without anyone. Even the emperor could be changed at will, but it could not do without Ang Lee. Everyone was well aware of this.
Because he was extremely important and irreplaceable, the emperor and the ministers were very supportive of Ang Lee. They also wanted to live a better life. They also hoped that Ang Lee could develop those incredible machines. They also looked forward to being able to communicate directly with people thousands of miles away.
Previously, when Ang Lee said that he could develop a telegraph, many people did not believe it. But now, the experiment had been successful, and no one dared to doubt it anymore. Ang Lee being able to invent such a powerful machine was also a great contribution to the Tang Empire. The emperor said that there was nothing else to reward, but the two giant groupers could also be regarded as a reward. Moreover, the difference in treatment between the other ministers reflected the weight of this reward.
The emperor rewarded Ang Lee in such a way to show his attitude and tell everyone that he was an emperor who would reward those who made contributions. In the future, whoever could make contributions to the imperial court would receive the treatment they deserved. In addition, the emperor treated Ang Lee so generously. If Ang Lee did something disloyal in the future, he would be regarded as ungrateful and would be reviled.
Therefore, rewards were sometimes a kind of shackle. The person who was rewarded had no choice but to be loyal to the person who rewarded him. Otherwise, his reputation would be greatly affected.
In the history of Hua Xia, usurpation of power happened from time to time. In many non-unified eras, usurpation of power happened almost every few years. Most of the usurpations were because the previous emperor was muddle-headed and incompetent. He beat and scolded his ministers for no reason, causing the ministers to be in a state of panic. As a result, they supported the usurper in their hearts and actions and helped the usurper to ascend to the throne.
Especially in the Northern and Southern Dynasties before the Tang dynasty, whether it was the Northern or Southern Dynasties, there were many usurpations of ministers and generals. Therefore, there were many dynasties in this period. If one was not a professional scholar, one would not be able to figure out the order of these dynasties and the specific relationships between people. Many of the usurpations of the founding emperors rebelled because they could not stand the muddle-headedness and tyranny of the last emperor of the previous dynasty. At the same time, this was the main reason why they could gain support. If these last emperors could treat their ministers better, such things would not have happened.
With the Emperor's generosity, even if Li An was full, he would have to continue eating. Otherwise, he would be unappreciative of the Emperor's kindness. Moreover, grouper was so delicious and nutritious. How could Li An not eat more?
"Your Majesty is so generous. Even if this humble subject's stomach bursts, this humble subject will eat more."
Ang Lee said as he picked up a piece of belly meat and ate it in big bites.
This kind of grouper was not only extremely delicious, but also extremely nutritious. It could be called the most nutritious top-grade delicacy. Eating it often was very good for one's body.
The tender meat of grouper had the functions of nourishing Qi, warming the stomach, moisturizing the skin, and so on. It was a nourishing food. The fish had low fat content and low heating energy. It had the functions of nourishing Qi and blood, softening tendons and bones. The various trace elements contained in it could enhance one's memory, thinking, and analytical ability, and delay the decline of brain power.
This kind of fish also had the functions of nourishing blood, improving eyesight, smoothing the nerves, preventing miscarriage, promoting labor, stopping bleeding, promoting lactation, and so on. It was good for all kinds of people. It had many other names, such as the fish for beauty and skin care, the fish for high protein, the fish for anti-aging, and so on. The bigger the grouper, the more nutritious it was. It was very expensive in the market. Only the rich and powerful could afford it.
Ang Lee tasted the grouper with relish, while the ministers beside him were looking at Ang Lee eating the fish. Their expressions were somewhat thought-provoking, which made Ang Lee feel embarrassed.
"Colleagues, why don't you eat? Why are you all looking at me? This grouper is a rare delicacy. Moreover, it is extremely nutritious. Eating more of it can prolong one's life and make one healthy. Although you all only have a small piece, it is enough for you to eat. "
Ang Lee was really not used to others looking at him eating. It was a very unpleasant feeling.
"Everyone, groupers that are more than a hundred catties are rare. Half a year ago, the largest grouper that my son bought from the market was only twenty catties. At that time, I thought it was very big, but now it seems that it can't be compared to the ones in the palace! Let's all have a taste! There aren't many opportunities to eat such a large grouper. "
Yang Guozhong said and picked up his chopsticks to eat. As he ate, he praised the taste.
The ministers all picked up their chopsticks and ate seriously. The taste of the grouper was indescribable. Moreover, it was such a large grouper, so the taste was even better.
"Your Majesty, the taste of such a large grouper is indeed different. It is much better than those small groupers that are only a few catties. The meat is softer and thicker, and it is more chewy."
Ang Lee said.
Now, everyone was eating grouper. Only the emperor had no grouper to enjoy. However, since the grouper in front of him was given to him by the emperor, there was no reason for Li An to give a piece to the emperor. This was against the rules. As for the grouper that was given to the ministers, although there was still half of it left, it was given to the ministers first. It was even more inappropriate to give the rest to the emperor. Therefore, the emperor could only stare helplessly and could not eat the grouper.
"As long as my dear ministers eat happily, I am happy. The prosperity of the Tang dynasty can't be separated from talents like Minister Li. At the same time, it can't be separated from the support of my dear ministers. Without you, I would be alone."
Li Longji said happily. He paused for a moment before continuing, "Oh right, these are not the biggest groupers. This time, the person in charge of purchasing the groupers obtained a 300-jin grouper in Yangzhou. It's much bigger than the grouper on Minister Li's table. It should taste even better."
When the ministers heard this, they were all shocked. The common grouper in the market was one to two to three catties, and those that were more than ten to twenty catties were as rare as phoenix feathers and water chestnuts. The Emperor stewed three hundred catties of fish in one go, and even obtained a giant fish that was three hundred catties of fish. This was truly not simple.
Hearing this, Ang Lee quickly said, "Your Majesty, a 100-catty grouper is very rare. A 300-catty one can be regarded as the king of the fish. The fish is too big and has intelligence. It's better not to eat it. It is a kind of reverence to God to keep it."
"I have the same idea. I have asked people to keep it. Penglai will ship several carts of seawater every day. It is enough to feed these big fish. Haha!"
Li Longji said very proudly.
Ever since the railway was connected to the seaside, Li Longji had become more and more willful. If there were any good sea fishes by the seaside, he would have people transport them to the capital. In order to raise some of his favorite sea fishes, he would have people transport seawater from the East Sea directly to the Daming Palace. In any case, the railway was fast enough and the volume was large enough to meet his needs.
However, not all marine fish could be raised. Marine fish like the grouper could naturally be raised in the palace for fun. But for some deep-sea fish, there was no way to raise them because the conditions of the palace were very limited. It was a piece of cake to build a breeding pond about ten meters deep. But some deep-sea fish could only live in the deep sea where the pressure was extremely high. Once they entered the shallow sea, their bodies would explode and they would die. It was impossible for the palace to build a pond that was hundreds or thousands of meters deep to raise these marine fish. There was no need for that. Therefore, there was no way to raise deep-sea fish. This could be regarded as a pity!
In addition, no matter if it was deep-sea fish or shallow-sea fish, they could not leave the sea for a long time. Needless to say, deep-sea fish would explode and die as soon as they left the deep sea. And when the shallow-sea fish entered the air, their bodies would explode because of the decompression and they would die of dehydration.
There were also marine fish that couldn't be raised in fresh water. Freshwater fish would be salted to death when they entered the sea, and marine fish would also die after entering fresh water. However, it was definitely not due to the desolation, but because of the long-term pressure changes.
In the sea, because the density of the sea was relatively high, marine fish lived in the sea for a long time, and their blood pressure adapted to the pressure of the sea. After entering fresh water, because the pressure of the river was relatively low, and the marine fish's blood pressure didn't adjust in time, the pressure of the marine fish's blood vessels would exceed the water pressure, causing the blood vessels to explode and die.
However, if a marine fish was domesticated for a period of time and then placed in fresh water, it was still possible for them to survive. For example, the salmon was a marine fish, but the place where they laid their eggs was in fresh water, and they would not die.
This was because before they entered fresh water, they would stay for a few days at the boundary between fresh water and seawater to let their bodies gradually adapt to the changes in water pressure. Then, they would swim upstream and enter fresh water to breed. At this time, the body functions of the salmon had been adjusted to the state of freshwater survival, and they could live normally in fresh water.
Therefore, marine fish couldn't be directly placed in fresh water because their body functions couldn't adapt to the large changes in their living environment in a short period of time.
The emperor could be so willful and raise large marine fish in the palace. This was inseparable from the various high-tech machines invented by Ang Lee. If Ang Lee hadn't invented the railway and the train, these marine fish couldn't be smoothly transported to the Daming Palace in a living state. Therefore, if the emperor wanted to raise marine fish, he could only raise extremely small ornamental fish. After all, without the railway as a transportation method, large marine fish couldn't be transported from the seaside to the Daming Palace alive. This was an absolutely difficult task, and the large marine fish would definitely die on the way.
In other words, before Ang Lee invented the railway, even the richest family in the capital couldn't eat live marine fish. Even the emperor could only eat dead marine fish or pickled dried marine fish, such as squid, squid, and sea cucumber. Which one of them wasn't dried dead? If he wanted to eat live fish, he could only go to the seaside personally.
Before the railway transportation, the cost of transporting live fish from the seaside to the capital was very high. It was so high that it was unbelievable. This was only for small marine fish. It was impossible to transport large fish far.
One of the reasons was that the transportation time was too long. The marine fish slowly died on the way. The distance from the seaside to Chang 'an City was too long. Even if they went by water, it would take a long time. Moreover, they couldn't go directly to Chang' an City. They needed to change carriages when they reached Luoyang. As a result, it brought a lot of pressure to the transportation work. With such a long journey, it would be strange if the marine fish didn't die on the way.
Another reason was that the transportation technology wasn't up to standard. They didn't understand that marine fish also needed to breathe oxygen. They didn't know how to ventilate the seawater, so the fish inside slowly suffocated to death. They also didn't know how to maintain the sanitation of the seawater. The normal metabolism of marine fish would make the seawater more and more turbid. If the turbid seawater couldn't be cleaned and filtered in time, the fish would be weak and sick. If the sick and dead fish weren't dealt with in time, they would infect the whole tank of fish. In the end, all the fish would slowly die.
In the long run, not many merchants would foolishly transport live fish from the seaside to the capital. This meant that they would lose everything. The cost and loss of long-distance transportation made the price of marine fish that were lucky enough to reach the capital increase by hundreds or thousands of times. As a result, who could afford to eat them? Directly transporting marinated marine fish didn't have such a problem. A large amount could be transported at one time. The transportation cost was greatly reduced, and there was basically no loss. This was also the fundamental reason why the inland markets were full of marinated marine fish and there were very few live fish.
In this way, merchants would at most transport some gorgeous ornamental marine fish, and they were all very small marine fish. In this way, the transportation would be much more convenient. As long as the transportation quantity was small, there wouldn't be a phenomenon of dead fish.
In other words, in the previous Great Tang, the capital generally didn't have any edible fresh sea fish. They were all saltwater fish, and it was already quite good to have a few beautiful ornamental sea fish. The majority of ornamental fish were goldfish found in inland rivers. Sea fish were extremely rare, so their prices were naturally even higher.
However, after the construction of the railway, this situation had greatly changed. After loading from the seaside, fresh marine fish could be transported to Chang 'an in a few days. In such a short time, as long as the density of live fish was controlled within a certain range, there wouldn't be a large-scale death. In this way, the cost of transporting live marine fish from the seaside to Chang' an was greatly reduced. The nutrition and taste of live fish were definitely far better than that of dead fish, so they could be sold at a higher price.
The price of live marine fish in the capital was naturally many times more expensive than in the seaside cities. But compared with before, it was still much cheaper. Take many ornamental marine fish for example. Although the current price was relatively high, which was ten times that of the seaside, the price of these ornamental marine fish was thirty to fifty times that of the seaside cities before the railway was in operation. Therefore, the price was relatively lower, and this was all thanks to the railway.
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