Chapter 342: Winter Wheat

"Plant wheat?"

As soon as Neishi Teng heard Heifu's words, he knew exactly what he was scheming.

"You intend to have the counties of the Interior increase the planting of winter wheat around the turn of autumn..."

The "winter wheat" Neishi Teng spoke of was the term used in those days for winter wheat. Wheat was an imported crop, only introduced to the Central Plains during the Yin and Zhou periods. Initially, wheat's cultivation season was the same as the existing millet and broomcorn millet crops — that is, planted in spring and harvested in autumn.

But gradually, the Zhou farmers skilled at growing crops discovered that wheat's cold resistance was stronger than millet's, though its drought tolerance was inferior, and that the most suitable time for sowing and growing wheat was not spring but autumn. Thus, when some unknown Zhou farmer tried saving a handful of wheat seed until early autumn to sow, winter wheat — "winter wheat" — came into being.

Because the grain crops of the north were mostly planted in spring and harvested in autumn, every summer there would often be a gap between harvests, triggering food crises. Winter wheat, however, ripened exactly in summer, able to bridge scarcity and ease grain shortages. It thus received attention and smoothly ranked among the Five Grains.

Heifu cupped his hands in salute: "Exactly so! In this way, we can harvest a great quantity of wheat in early summer next year, and feed those hundreds of thousands of relocated captives on wheat!"

Neishi Teng, however, was somewhat dismissive and asked Heifu in return: "Have you ever eaten wheat rice?"

"Wheat is rare in the south. I only ate it once or twice during famines when I was small."

"Was it palatable?"

Heifu answered honestly: "No matter how you cook wheat rice, it is hard to chew and hard to swallow. The mouthfeel is far inferior to millet or paddy rice."

"Indeed."

Neishi Teng said: "In some treacherous, mountainous places in Han territory, the grain the common people grow is either beans or winter wheat, so I often see it."

"Wheat is the food of rustics and farmers. If it were ordinary commoners, that would be one thing — they would be grateful just to eat wheat rice. But those relocated captives are mostly wealthy households from east of the mountains. Many of those families demand fine grain and meat for every meal, and embroidered silk for every garment. Making them eat wheat will likely inflame public sentiment, already discontent after being forcibly relocated, into even greater fury."

Heifu chuckled inwardly. Although wheat had become one of the Five Grains, that did not mean people liked eating it. Steamed wheat rice was tough to chew and hard to digest once in the stomach, so wheat rice was regarded by the world as "the food of rustics and farmers." Compared to millet and rice, its planted area was not large, and it was counted only as a "coarse grain."

In Qin, wheat rice was generally fed to convict laborers. An official eating wheat rice was seen as incorruptibly poor and honest, and the same held among commoners. Heifu remembered that in Yangwu County, a case had occurred locally: a family's daughter-in-law ate millet herself but made her mother-in-law eat wheat rice, and was consequently cursed by the neighbors as "unfilial"...

Feeding this wheat, which even convict laborers disdained, to the wealthy households relocated from east of the Pass — those already harboring discontent might indeed explode.

But Heifu had another idea.

He asked the attendant behind him to open a bit of a "gift" he had brought, and inside was something like fried dough twists — "jünü."

This sweet snack had been made in the Mai family workshop. After a lawsuit that landed those unlucky honey and sugar merchants in jail, the two sides had reconciled through the mediation of Wushi Yan.

Although brown sugar had dealt a certain blow to the honey and sugar trade in the Southern Market, it was not enough to completely steal the livelihoods of the Mai and Shi families, and since it was only produced in the south and not much could be shipped up in a year, the three families had reached an unspoken understanding and formed an unwritten pact to divide the honey and sugar market three ways.

However, stones from other hills may polish jade — the Mai and Shi families had ingratiatingly sent over some jünü and honey cakes, which piqued Heifu's interest.

Upon inquiring, he learned that the Mai family's ancestors were originally from Qi, and in the Qi-Lu region, the rotary mill invented by Lu Ban was already common household equipment among wealthy families, and had been introduced to Qin for at least several decades...

It was only a pity that the Qin people only used the milled wheat flour to make a few snacks, and had never tried to make it a staple grain. So the tale that "the Qin army unified the six states relying on flatbread as army rations" was pure nonsense.

Thereupon Heifu pointed at these snacks and said: "Does the Interior Minister know what these jünü are made from?"

Neishi Teng of course knew. He laughed in spite of himself: "You don't mean to take this year's wheat harvest and make it all into jünü to feed the relocated captives, do you? No, no, the cost would be far too great."

Heifu said: "Not at all. It is only that I happened to discover that after wheat is ground into flour with a rotary mill, it can not only be made into sweets, but with a little cooking, can also serve as staple food. Compared to wheat rice, the taste is ten times better!"

In this era, people's ways of eating wheat were either boiling it directly into porridge, or using it to make malt sugar, or expensive snacks. This wasteful behavior was something even Heifu, a southerner not particularly partial to wheaten food, could not bear to watch!

Since both wheat and the rotary mill were available, wheaten foods were ready to emerge.

"Simply grinding it into flour can have such an effect of turning dross into gold?"

Neishi Teng was somewhat skeptical of this idea of Heifu's. At that moment, the Ye family's gentle daughter happened to come in with a maidservant to serve wine. Hearing her father's doubts, she smiled and asked: "What are Father and the guest disputing?"

Heifu turned his head and found that today Zijing was dressed in a plain white outfit. Perhaps from eating too many red dates and brown sugar, her complexion was rosy, and her jet-black hair was coiled behind her, making her look ever more the image of a refined young lady from a great house.

After Heifu rose and exchanged courtesies with her, he glanced again at Ye Teng and, seeing that he had no intention of sending the women away, briefly recounted the matter to her.

Hearing this, Zijing was not particularly surprised.

"Father often says that you always have strange and wonderful ideas, like that water-powered trip-hammer, and also..."

She gave a mischievous smile, skipping over the invention that made Heifu's face turn green, and brought up brown sugar directly, then urged Neishi Teng:

"People often say, hearing of a thing is not as good as seeing it; seeing it is not as good as treading upon it. Since the guest speaks so confidently, why not fetch some wheat flour and try it here at home?"

Heifu also said: "I happened to bring cooks with me today; we can have them try making some."

Heifu had been working on this for the past few days. He had directly purchased a dan of finely ground wheat flour from the Mai family, brought it home, and tossed it to the cooks to tinker with for several days, managing at least some results.

Of course, having a southerner who had never kneaded dough and whose dumplings all burst their seams invent wheaten foods naturally encountered many setbacks. Even figuring out how to achieve what Heifu described as "leavened dough" had nearly vexed the cooks to death. First they had to find a way to obtain what could be called a "restricted purchase item" — wine yeast used for brewing — to ferment the wheat-yellow dough, but the steamed result was not fluffy enough and had a sour taste that was hard to eliminate.

Heifu had calculated that today he would come to Ye Teng's residence to present his treasure, and could not wait for the cooks to research further. He simply told the cook-woman not to bother with fermentation, and to first try making some unleavened wheaten foods. At least there were two items presentable enough.

"You certainly came well prepared."

Neishi Teng shot Heifu a glance, but granted the matter nonetheless...

Heifu's household cooks were two people, a married couple. The wife was exactly that young girl "Yuan" he had rescued from Blind Mountain; she had married a mute cook. Three years ago, the couple had followed Yuan's father Ju to Heifu's new residence. Ju raised the cattle and horses for Heifu, while Yuan and her husband were responsible for the kitchen.

Now that Heifu had come to Xianyang, his mother could not set her mind at ease and felt that her son surely could not get used to northern food, so she had sent this young couple to look after his diet.

After arriving in Xianyang, they had stayed all along near the small residence on Zhangtai Street. Although they could see the towering, majestic imperial palace the moment they stepped outside, after staying a long time they had grown numb to it. Only today, when the couple were brought by Heifu to the Interior Minister's mansion and entered its kitchen, were Yuan and her husband stunned.

The Interior Minister's household kitchen was located on the eastern side of the mansion, called the "Eastern Kitchen." It occupied an extremely broad area, rivaling the two-courtyard small compound where Heifu lived.

There were over ten people helping in the kitchen. Several were washing food by the well; looking up, one saw the roof beams hung full of smoked fish and pork hocks.

Entering the rooms, they were further divided into the outer kitchen and the stove room. The outer kitchen was full of earthenware jars, basins, and vats for holding things; knives and chopping blocks for cutting food; and bronze cauldrons, tripods, and steamers for cooking — all of bronze and lacquerware. Inside the stove room were five or six stoves, each one busy. One person knelt before a stove, holding a fire stick to stoke the flames and cook the food; atop the stove sat a cauldron, cooking food within...

Looking again at the staple foods being prepared, there were rice, millet, and yellow sorghum, all already washed clean and ready to be steamed. The side dishes included bear paws stewed until tender, with the chef currently adjusting the seasoning; a clear-stewed soft-shell turtle soup; fire-roasted lamb; swan meat; wild duck chunks; and additionally, plucked wild geese and young pigeons about to be put on the rack to roast.

After touring the kitchen of a great household, the couple, who had come carrying only a sack of wheat flour, were dumbstruck and felt utterly ashamed of their own shabbiness.

"Just to entertain a single guest, the Left Chief of the Multitudes, requires so many hands? So much food must be made?" Yuan clicked her tongue, somewhat shocked.

Only when a pleasant voice came from behind did the couple recover their senses.

"The feast lacks only the food made from wheat flour. Why have you not yet begun? Could it be that you are short some utensil?"

Turning around, it was the Ye family's gentle daughter who had come personally to the kitchen. Everyone in the kitchen bowed to her, but she was very amiable, bidding the cooks dispense with the formalities, and began asking Yuan what utensils she needed, having the stewards prepare each one for her.

"I need a wooden basin and water, and also a heated iron cauldron. Right, could you boil up some mutton stew now? Best if it's boiled very tender!"

Then, Yuan and her husband mixed the yellow wheat flour with clear water in a large wooden basin and began kneading the dough. The Ye family's gentle daughter knelt sitting on a mat, watching her movements intently, and suddenly asked: "Who thought of using wheat flour to make food?"

Yuan's husband immediately began gesturing toward the main hall. Yuan hastily stopped him and answered honestly: "My lady, it was all taught by the Left Chief of the Multitudes."

"Where did he learn it from? And furthermore, does he often enter the kitchen?"

Zijing was intensely curious. Men, as a rule, would use the excuse that "a gentleman keeps his distance from the kitchen," unwilling to witness the taking of life, and stayed far away from the cookhouse.

"The Left Commoner indeed enjoys spending time in the kitchen."

Ye Zijing did not put on the airs of an official's refined daughter, and Yuan had also taken quite a liking to her, so she smiled and said: "He loves fine flavors and likes to guide us in making novel foods. When we were in Nan Commandery, he had us make rice cakes, rice noodles, and zongzi, and then he would share these foods with his family. We servants could also get a portion. Whenever that happened, the whole household was filled with laughter."

"After arriving in the north, the Left Commoner had us use wheat flour to make dough-based foods. Though we still aren't used to eating them, they are far better than steamed wheat grains..."

Zijing nodded slightly. Just like that, within the kitchen of the Interior Minister's residence, through the account of a young cook, she began to understand a side of Heifu unknown to outsiders. She finished asking about Heifu's love of fine flavors and his habit of guiding the servants in making food, and even dug up those case-solving exploits from when Heifu was a minor village chief...

And as night was about to fall, when Interior Minister Teng's banquet in honor of Heifu began, the foods named "flatbread" and "lamb paomo" also appeared on the Qin people's dining table for the very first time...

(End of chapter)