The beef of the Kingdom of Rahman had its own unique flavor, very different from the beef of the Great Tang. Besides the different flavor, one could also feel more at ease when eating it, without any psychological burden. After all, the Great Tang did not permit the slaughter of cows unless they had lost their ability to plow the land and could no longer serve humans. In this way, eating beef in the Great Tang would make one feel like they were committing a crime, but one would not feel the slightest bit of guilt here.
Speaking of the Kingdom of Rahman, they also had arable land, so they should also need oxen. But the strange thing was that the farmers here almost never used oxen for their work. Perhaps they still didn't know how to use oxen! Or, the crops they planted did not need to be plowed. They only needed to dig a hole.
In addition, the main source of food in the Rahman Kingdom did not come from agriculture. Grazing, hunting, fishing, and gathering were all very important sources of food. These sources of food accounted for the majority of the food, far exceeding the food that could be brought by farming. This was very different from the Tang Dynasty.
In the entire Tang Empire, the food provided by farming occupied a very high proportion. Without the food provided by farming, it was estimated that more than half of the people of the Tang Dynasty would have starved to death.
After Ang Lee invented machines and greatly improved agriculture, the output of agriculture was even higher. The proportion of the food of the people of the Tang Dynasty was even greater than before.
Animal husbandry, fishing, and other sources of food accounted for a very low proportion in the Tang Empire, but it was the complete opposite in the Rahman Kingdom.
The main reasons for this situation were that the development of ironware in Europe was much more backward than in the Tang Dynasty. Without reliable and cheap ironware, it was difficult to popularize farming tools on a large scale, which led to the backwardness of agriculture.
In addition, the coverage of forests in Europe was relatively high, and the soil was hard. If cheap stone tools and wood tools were used, it would be impossible to achieve reclamation. This objectively led to the backwardness of Europe's agricultural development.
The forest soil was not suitable for farming, but it was very suitable for the growth and reproduction of wild animals. Using the unique forest resources to hunt was a very good way to make a living.
In a slightly flatter forest, a variety of fruit trees could be planted. Planting fruit trees consumed much less manpower and material resources. Wild fruits could even be directly collected.
In addition, the topography of Europe was very different from that of the Tang Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty was a typical landlocked country, while Europe was surrounded by oceans. In the south was the Mediterranean Sea, in the north was the Baltic Sea, and in the west was the Atlantic Ocean. In short, the entire European civilization was an ocean civilization, and the Tang Dynasty was a land civilization. The difference between the two was obvious.
Since there were many oceans in Europe and coastline, fishing and hunting naturally became a very important means of livelihood. Europe's people who were unfamiliar with the sea.
In other words, the huge forests and continuous coastline provided enough food for the people of Europe. This caused their agriculture to lag behind that of the Tang Dynasty. After all, as long as one had enough to eat, who would work hard to farm? Among all the ancient civilizations, agriculture was the most advanced, but at the same time, it was also the most difficult and tiring. As long as one was not forced by the predicament of survival, no one would be willing to engage in agriculture, unless one was a fool.
It was precisely because Europe mainly relied on hunting and fishing for food that they had been lagging behind the Hua Xia for thousands of years. The African continent mainly relied on hunting for food and had never farmed. Naturally, it was even more backward.
Later, due to the development of iron tools and the increase of population, hunting and fishing could no longer support the huge population of Europe. Therefore, their agriculture gradually became more advanced, and their level of civilization was greatly improved. They were on the verge of catching up to the Hua Xia.
Later, due to the rise of the age of great navigation, these Europeans needed to continuously research larger and more advanced ships to better plunder from afar. They continued to develop their intelligence and completely surpassed the Hua Xia to become the highest civilization on the planet.
However, judging from the Tang Dynasty era that Ang Lee lived in, Europe's civilization was still too backward. It was much worse than the Tang Dynasty and could not even compare to the civilization of the Umayyad Dynasty. It was only slightly better than the civilization of the African continent.
"Assistant Minister Li, the cows here are very healthy. Why don't they be used to farm?"
His subordinate looked at the publicly sold beef and sighed with a frown.
Ang Lee smiled and said, "The efficiency of the cattle here is not high. I saw them working in the fields a few days ago. But more farmers like to use hoes directly because cattle are too expensive. Ordinary farmers can't afford to buy them, and they don't really need cattle. The amount of land they farm is too little. Moreover, the strong cattle raised by the herdsmen can't be used as cattle without training. They can only be used as food. "
"Assistant Minister Li is right. The Turks in the north of the Tang Dynasty raised so many cattle, but they were all used for meat. Only the Tang Dynasty has a lot of farmland and can't do without the help of cattle. Therefore, we can't eat cattle."
His subordinate suddenly thought of the Turks and said.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "That's right. Looking at the world, there are really not many countries that rely on farming like the Tang Dynasty! The Turks in the north live completely by herding. Although the small countries in the south also grow crops, the proportion of fishing, hunting, and hunting is not small. In other words, only the Tang Dynasty has the greatest demand for cattle. Therefore, the imperial court issued a decree that the people in the world are not allowed to slaughter cattle. However, this situation will change in the future. As long as the machines for farming are popularized, there will be no need to use cattle in the future. The cost and efficiency of the machines are far higher than cattle. In the future, when the people of the Tang Dynasty all use the machines for farming, there will be no need to use cattle. In this way, we can eat beef unscrupulously. "
This was Ang Lee's ideal. After all, the efficiency of using cattle was too low, far less than the efficiency of machines. When the machines completely replaced the cattle, the surplus cattle could be used for cooking.
The subordinate hurriedly said, "There are so many cattle in the Tang Dynasty. If we want to replace all of them with machines, it will probably be a long way. I'm afraid it can't be done without several decades!"
Ang Lee said affirmatively, "You're right. There are so many cattle in the Tang Dynasty. Replacing them with machines can't be done overnight. However, I'm afraid that after the machines replace the cattle, no one will be willing to raise cattle. After all, the cost of raising cattle in the Tang Dynasty is too high, far less than that of the Turks in the north. After the train goes to the north, the transportation cost of selling cattle and sheep from the grassland to the Tang Dynasty will be much lower. In this way, the grassland cattle and sheep can be sold to the people of the Tang Dynasty at a lower price. If the people of the Tang Dynasty raise cattle themselves, they will lose money, so no one will raise them in the future."
I said with a face full of melancholy. Although machines replacing cattle is a historical progress, but the interest of the countryside is much less. Just think about it, an old farmer leading a cattle to work in the field, what a perfect picture it is! But the machines in the field are quite stiff. The picture is far less interesting than cattle.
"Yes! After the machines are popularized, there will be no cattle in the Tang Dynasty. In the future, it will be difficult for the people to see cattle. "
The subordinate said.
Of course, it was unrealistic for cattle to completely disappear. After all, cattle were still very valuable in many remote mountainous areas. In many terraced fields, it was difficult for machines to climb up, but cattle could easily climb up to work.
Therefore, even in the high-tech era of later generations, cattle could still be seen in remote places. Therefore, it was impossible for cattle to completely disappear, but they would become rarer and rarer, more and more difficult to see.
What was lost was always the best. In the era of cattle everywhere, no one thought that cattle were good. After the cattle were gradually replaced by machines, the farmland became a landscape. Many people in later generations would go to remote mountainous areas to take photos with the old farmers and cattle. They would think that this kind of picture was the most beautiful.
The beef in the Rahman Kingdom had a special flavor, which Ang Lee liked very much. However, the largest number of local specialties here were olives. Almost all the streets were filled with peddlers selling olives.
Compared with grazing and raising cattle, planting olives was too easy and relaxing. Except for the hard work of collecting fruits, there was really nothing else.
After all, olives were the fruit on the tree. As long as a tree was planted, there was no need to deliberately care about it. As long as there was no particularly major drought or flood, the tree would not die. In other words, as long as the saplings were planted, the next step was to wait for the harvest. It was too easy. Planting herbs, rice, wheat, and other crops was too hard. It was many times harder than planting fruits.
But in terms of filling the stomach, the food provided by the crops per unit area was naturally far more than the food provided by the fruit trees. Therefore, no matter how hard it was to plant crops, it was impossible to change all the crops to fruits. Otherwise, many people would starve to death.
In many places in the Rahman Kingdom, the land situation was not very ideal. There was too much pressure to plant crops. Olives did not have high requirements for the fertility of the soil. Even if the land was very barren, it could grow lush olives. Therefore, the people here were very wise to choose to plant olives.
The olives produced by the olives were a very nutritious fruit. It was very good for the health of the human body. For example, it could promote blood circulation, improve the function of the human digestive system, improve the function of the endocrine system, have great benefits for the bones, prevent cancer, anti-aging, and protect the human skin.
Among them, anti-aging and protecting the human skin were the main reasons why many people advocated this fruit. After all, people were very vain. They did not want to age and wanted to stay young forever.
The olives did have this effect. It was rich in fatty acids that had excellent affinity with the skin. It was absorbed quickly and could effectively maintain the elasticity and moisture of the skin. It could eliminate facial wrinkles and prevent the skin from aging. It was effective in protecting the skin and preventing the hands and feet from chapping. It was an edible beauty and skin care product that was popular among consumers.
In addition, the effective ingredients of the olives could also be extracted and made into olive oil. Olive oil was a high-end cooking oil in the future. It was a cooking oil that many ordinary people could not afford. In any case, Ang Lee could not afford olive oil in his previous life. He could only eat the cheaper soybean oil and rapeseed oil. He even ate gutter oil.
The reason why olive oil was expensive was that olives were the fruit of the fruit tree. The yield per unit area was far less than soybean and rapeseed. Moreover, it was more nutritious and was sought after by the masses. Therefore, how could the price not be high?
In addition, many vegetable oils were obtained by high-temperature compression. In other words, during the process of oil extraction, a very complicated chemical reaction was produced. However, olive oil was not like this. Olive oil was directly cold extracted from fresh olive fruits. It did not undergo heating or chemical processing, and retained its natural nutrients. It was known as the oil that was most suitable for human nutrition among the oils discovered so far.
The use of olive oil and olive oil residues had been around the Mediterranean Sea for thousands of years. In the European world, olive oil had many nice names, such as Liquid Gold, Vegetable Oil Queen, Mediterranean Manna, etc. Just by hearing the names, one could tell how good olive oil was.
Ang Lee looked at his subordinate beside him and said, "These olives are very good. We should buy more of them and bring them back. Oh right, olive oil is also good. We should bring more of it back."
The subordinate said, "Assistant Minister Li, since these olives are so good, why don't we bring some of them back? In this way, it will be very convenient when we want to eat olives in the future. "
Ang Lee nodded happily and said, "Very good. We must bring some olive trees back. The barren land in the south of the Tang dynasty is the most suitable place for planting olive trees. However, we can't bring too big olive trees. We can only bring some small saplings. It will take several years for them to bear fruit. Therefore, in the next few years, if we want to eat olives, we will need to get them from here. "
Of course, Ang Lee would not give up on importing such a good thing like olives. As long as this fruit tree was introduced to the Tang dynasty, the olives in the Tang dynasty would be self-sufficient in a few years. At that time, it would be a great fortune.
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