Three pheasants and a big pot of soup. Ang Lee left a pheasant and a third of the soup for the servants so that they could share the delicious food. This was a kind of preferential treatment for the servants. This was also Ang Lee's usual style. As for how much each of them could get, it depended on their own ability.
In theory, the status of these servants were all equal, so they should share this delicacy equally. However, those who were sharp-tongued and more powerful would definitely be able to get more delicacies. As for the honest people who were not good at fighting, they would be lucky if they could even get a mouthful of soup.
In any era and any place, honest people would always be at a disadvantage. This was also an animal's instinct. For example, there were three chicks in a bird's nest. Every time the mother bird came back with food, the three chicks would constantly stretch out their small mouths to grab the food. The chicks who competed the most fiercely would always eat the most food. In this way, they would grow faster and their bodies would be stronger when they reached adulthood. On the other hand, the chicks who could not compete with their companions would be thinner and weaker. Even when there was a shortage of food, they would starve to death.
Of course, there was a difference between humans and animals. In addition to animal instincts, humans also had many things that animals did not have, such as compassion, kindness, wisdom, and so on. There were also strategies and the like, such as loosening the reins only to grasp them better. In fact, they could get what they wanted.
Ang Lee took Tang Er back to the room in the inner courtyard. The dishes on the table were already full. Eight main dishes and two soups were ready. The main dish was naturally the pheasant soup made by Ang Lee himself.
"My husband, this pheasant soup is so fragrant. Let's drink it first!"
Yan Ruyu suggested.
Ang Lee naturally would not object. He said, "The pheasant soup is naturally delicious. However, I'm afraid that after drinking the pheasant soup, I won't be able to taste the other food. Haha!"
Li An wasn't just making things up. After a person ate a very delicious food, it was generally difficult for them to eat ordinary food again. This was because their taste had already been raised to be picky. It was difficult for them to adapt to food that tasted worse. In fact, they might not even be able to taste the same thing as before.
For example, when a person was hungry, the steamed buns tasted very good. However, if he ate a beef bun midway and then continued to eat steamed buns, he would suddenly find that the steamed buns were tasteless and tasted much worse than before. This was because the steamed buns he ate midway had made his mouth picky, causing him to lose interest in the steamed buns and even feel that the steamed buns tasted terrible.
"Husband, even if that's the case, we still have to drink the chicken soup first. It's too fragrant, and I can't help it. Haha!"
Yan Ruyu said. She personally divided the two big bowls of chicken soup into small bowls and put some pheasant meat in each bowl. The rest of the people also stood up to help.
"Wow, smells so good! It's delicious. "
Tang'er was the first to drink the chicken soup. She let out a heartfelt sigh of admiration.
"It's rich and fresh, and there's a faint fragrance. It's the best of the delicacies. What else can I say when my husband eats it?"
Yan Ruyu took a sip gently and praised with squinted eyes.
Li Hanlu, who was next to her, gently picked up the chopsticks, tore a small piece of the pheasant meat that had been cooked to mush, and gently put it into her mouth.
"How is it? How does the pheasant meat taste?"
Ang Lee was not in a hurry to taste it. He wanted to see his wives eat and drink well first.
Li Hanlu didn't know how to say anything too literary, so she said directly, "It's better than the domesticated ones. It tastes good."
In a concise and comprehensive sentence, she described the taste of the pheasant meat.
"Husband, you should also taste it quickly."
Man Man was considerate. She tore a piece of pheasant meat and put it in Ang Lee's bowl.
Ang Lee tasted it gently. It was really delicious.
Previously, Li An had also made free-range chicken soup in the residence. However, he had used a domesticated rooster and the ingredients did not include angelica. As such, the ingredients were naturally inferior, and the taste was naturally lowered by a level.
Before they started eating, the two large bowls of pheasant soup had been divided up by the table. Even the marrow of the pheasant was eaten up, and the bone dregs were not spat out.
This was not an exaggeration at all. The bones of the pheasant were very small. In addition, after being cooked in the pot for more than an hour, the bones had been stewed for a long time. They were crushed into dregs with a bite. Because the taste of the soup had penetrated into the bone marrow, the bone dregs were delicious in the mouth. Naturally, they were reluctant to spit them out.
After finishing the two large bowls of pheasant soup, everyone's stomach was still not full. Such a delicious pheasant soup was naturally not enough. But when everyone began to eat other dishes, they suddenly found that these dishes that were usually delicious were tasteless at the moment.
"Look at Tang Er's frown. This pheasant soup really spoils everyone's appetite. They don't want to eat anymore."
Yan Ruyu looked at the people in front of her who were unwilling to eat and said with a smile.
"Husband, write down this dish. In the future, we have to eat it often."
Man Man asked.
Although pheasant and fresh angelica were rare, these were nothing for a family like Ang Lee's. As long as they could afford it, they could buy them.
Of course, pheasant was a wild animal after all. As more and more rich people liked to eat wild animals, pheasant would inevitably be overhunted. In this way, pheasant could not be seen in the wild. It was not so easy for rich people to eat pheasant.
At this time, the number of pheasant in the suburbs of Chang 'an had decreased a lot. It was because there were too many people like Ang Lee who liked to eat wild animals that the number of pheasant finally decreased greatly. The best way to solve this problem was to artificially breed pheasant. Only artificially breed pheasant could meet the needs of a large number of rich people.
Although artificially bred pheasant was not as good as naturally bred pheasant in the wild in terms of the quality of chicken, the decrease was limited. However, the increase in productivity was extremely high. In a word, the cost-performance ratio was very high. In Chang 'an, where the population was exploding, the demand for pheasant was very large. It was far from enough to meet the demand by relying on the pheasant grown in the wild such as Mount Li outside the city. This led to the high price of pheasant. The high price also led to frequent wild hunting. As a result, fewer and fewer people could eat this kind of delicious food.
This time, Ang Lee caught a few pheasant by chance. If he wanted to eat pheasant in the future, he would have to spend a lot of money to buy it. Of course, he could also choose to take people to the mountains to catch pheasant. However, whether he could catch pheasant depended on luck. After all, the overall number of pheasant had decreased a lot. He could not catch pheasant every time he went to the mountains, at least in the mountains near Chang 'an City.
After hearing Man Man's request to eat pheasant, Ang Lee felt that it was time to artificially breed pheasant. In this way, it would be easier to eat pheasant in the future.
However, it required skills to breed pheasant, and this breeding technique also needed to be explored. In addition, the breeding location also needed to be chosen. It must be in the wild with a better environment. Moreover, it should be free-range as much as possible instead of caged pheasant. Otherwise, the quality of the pheasant would decline too much. In this way, it would completely lose the freshness of pheasant, and the breeding would be meaningless.
Fortunately, in this era of the Great Tang, the chickens, ducks, and geese of the common folk were almost all raised in a free-range manner. Very few would use cages to raise poultry, unless it was a professional farm.
However, if the pheasant was free-range, there were many thorny problems that must be solved as soon as possible. For example, the pheasant's flying ability was too strong. If it was free-range, it was likely to fly like a bird. In this way, the breeding would be in vain.
In order to solve this problem, many ways must be found to deal with it. For example, the feathers on the pheasant's wings could be cut off, so that it would be difficult for the pheasant to fly, or it could not fly too high even if it wanted to.
Or, a net could be installed over the forest to slightly limit the pheasant's range of activity, so that the pheasant could only move within a certain range, instead of going wherever it wanted.
After all, the personality of pheasant was different from that of pigeons. Most of the time, pigeons would fly back home after flying away, but pheasants might not come back after flying away. This caused the breeding of pheasants to have to be explored.
Ang Lee's industry was already enough to make money. To be honest, there was really no need to engage in the pheasant breeding industry. However, even if Ang Lee did not breed pheasants himself, he could provide an idea for others, especially people from poor families. Choosing to breed pheasants was definitely a good way out.
But there was a good saying that everything was difficult at the beginning. Breeding pheasants might not be too difficult, but at the beginning, the difficulty was not small. For example, first of all, you must have healthy male and female pheasants. You must master the technology of breeding them, the technology of hatching pheasant eggs, and how to raise healthy pheasant babies.
As long as you mastered these technologies and owned breeding pheasants, then the next thing would be easy to arrange. It was estimated that many people would be willing to breed pheasants, which would bring them enough income. Ang Lee could also make money by selling the technology.
"Now the price of pheasants is not cheap. This is not the most important thing. The most important thing is that there are fewer and fewer pheasants in the market. Sometimes if we go there late, we can't buy them at all. Moreover, it is getting harder and harder to buy them."
Although Li Hanlu rarely went to the market, she still knew the basic situation very well. The servants would tell her what happened.
Ang Lee smiled and looked at the crowd. He said, "Now, our Chang 'an City has about two or three million people, and there are more and more rich people. With so many rich people gathered in a small place like the capital, how many pheasants can we eat? Moreover, many of the pheasants we buy in the market now are not necessarily from the nearby mountains. Many of them are transported from afar by railway. They are not very fresh. It is not easy to eat the freshest pheasants!"
"Husband, according to what you said, in a few years, we won't be able to eat pheasants anymore. That's a pity."
Yan Ruyu said.
Ang Lee smiled and nodded. He said, "You're right. According to the current trend, we won't be able to eat pheasants sooner or later. Haven't you noticed? The price of domesticated pheasants has never risen for so many years, but the price of pheasants has risen ten times. It will definitely continue to rise in the future. Moreover, we may not be able to buy them even if we have the money. "
"Then what should we do? Won't we be able to eat pheasants in the future? "
Li Ya 'er pouted and said.
"If we want to eat pheasant meat forever, we must adopt the method of breeding pheasant meat in large quantities. In this way, it will not be difficult to eat pheasant meat. However, as far as the current situation is concerned, none of the pheasants in Chang 'an are farmed. All of them are caught from the wild. Naturally, the number of pheasants can't keep up."
Ang Lee said.
"Husband, pheasants are called pheasants because they are wild. If they are domesticated, are they still pheasants? Won't they become domesticated chickens? "
Man Man said.
Ang Lee smiled and said, "What are you talking about? As long as the breeding environment is well controlled, pheasants will always be pheasants. The difference between their taste and that of wild pheasants is almost negligible. I plan to do an experiment of breeding pheasants. As long as it succeeds, I will promote this technology and let more people breed pheasants. Of course, pheasants are only one of the projects. Wild boars, wild dogs, and other wild delicacies can all be bred. The breeding speed will definitely be much faster than that of wild pheasants. "
"Father, are you going to raise pheasants at home? Can I feed them? "
Tang'er also chimed in.
Ang Lee pinched Tang Er's little face and said with a smile, "How can you raise pheasants at home? Our house is too small. We'll go to Mount Li to breed pheasants. The environment there is better and more suitable for breeding pheasants. Only by breeding pheasants there can we breed pheasants that taste as delicious as wild pheasants. If Tang Er likes to feed pheasants, you can go to the pheasant farm in Mount Li and feed the pheasants in person and enjoy the scenery on the mountain."
"Okay! I want to raise pheasants. Can I go tomorrow? Father? "
Tang Er asked.
Ang Lee flicked Tang Er's forehead and said with a smile, "You can go to Mount Li tomorrow, but you may not be able to see the pheasants there. The pheasant farm hasn't been built yet. In a month, we should be able to feed the pheasants there. "
"If there are no pheasants, why should I go to Mount Li tomorrow? What's fun there? "
Tang Er asked.
Ang Lee said, "Tang Er! Tomorrow, I will take many imperial grandsons who are only a few years older than you to Mount Li to enjoy the scenery there. If you are hungry, you can find wild game to eat on the mountain. Do you want to go? "
After that, he winked at his son.
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