Harry Potter Morning Light

Chapter 2181 Flower Controversy (89)
Wuyi Mountain is located at the junction of Fujian and Jiangxi provinces. Accompanied by Nick and local officials the day before, he visited a temple deep in the mountain. Incense has been burning continuously in the temple for hundreds of years.

The Minjiang River divides the 120-mile mountain range in this area into two parts. Yishan is located on the north bank of the river, and Wushan is located on the south bank of the river. The mountains on both sides are full of tea gardens.What is enshrined in the temple is not the Buddha or the Dragon King, but the tea god.Picking the head tea is of the best quality. The Jingzhe of the 24 solar terms is designated as the day of offering sacrifices to the tea and shouting to the mountains. That day is not only a sacrifice to the tea god, but also means that you can go to the mountains to pick tea.

Shouting Mountain is held at night. Thousands of people yelled "Sprout, Tea Sprout". The sound resounded through the valley and echoed endlessly. Unfortunately, when Nick went there, he missed the solar terms and did not see the spectacular scene. .

The tea leaves were originally made from the buds of the tea trees, probably because tea picking is affected by the special climatic conditions here. The tea trees grow very well here. The weather was good in the first few days when we first set off. The continuous mountains from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain It was green everywhere, but later it often encountered rain and thunder, and the mist made the mountain shape indistinct, and the peaks were like waves rolling in from the sea.Passing by many villages along the river, the villagers in coir raincoats greeted them, and Nick wanted the boat to stop in front of a certain village several times, so as to take a look at the villages on the bank.

The tea ceremony is a reverence and worship of natural forces. In "Shen Nong's Materia Medica", it is said that "Shen Nong tasted a hundred herbs, encountered 72 poisons every day, and solved them with tea."Local people generally believe that tea has magical effects, especially the Dahongpao mother tree that grows on the mountainside. People believe that it has absorbed the aura of heaven and earth. status, and people also made a myth about it, endowing it with the image of a tea tree fairy.

Yang Taibai is the person who invented the tea-making process, and he is also enshrined in the Tea Temple. As for whether this person exists, it is still unclear.Tea production not only needs high-quality tea as raw material, but also needs the "blessing of the ancestors".Good tea not only requires good weather and good harvest, but also burns sacrifices during the process of worshiping the tea god. Putting salt, tea leaves and rice grains and camphor bark together can achieve the effect of expelling evil spirits.

Xingcun Town is the distribution center of Wuyi rock tea and the largest tea market in the county, and their destination is there.However, because it rained for three consecutive days, the surrounding scenery became gray, which caused the navigator to make a mistake. They got lost at least ten times, and each time they got lost at the fork of the Minjiang River.The direct current of the Minjiang River is about the same width as the mainstream, and it is easy to get lost. They entered a seemingly wide river, but after driving for two or three miles, the river diverged into new forks. Shallow, and finally turned into a small stream.

After walking many wrong roads, they had to go back the same way, but some river sections were difficult to navigate, and sometimes they had to ask local villagers to help them push the boat out with ropes along the river.

After experiencing many unlucky things, wasting a lot of time, and encountering many torrential rains, they came to the black tea producing area.Originally Nick thought it was funny for the British to use the tea leaves in the cup to divination, but when you arrive at the place where black tea is produced, you will understand why the British believe in the magical properties of tea as much as the Wuyi Mountain people.

Panpsychism believes that all things have spirits, and people's imagination will have a sense of emptiness. This imagination makes people vaguely see wonderful things, such as seeing some kind of animal or a person hidden in the dense mist, but In fact, what we see is just a simple substance in nature - stone.

After disembarking, Nick and the others rented two sliding poles, which were also made of bamboo, but unlike the sedan chairs used by people in Guangzhou, two long bamboo poles were tied with a short pole across the top, and the bearer put the short pole on the ground. Walking with the slider on your shoulders, the slider itself is very light.After negotiating the price of renting the sliders, a ride on the sliders costs half a silver dollar per day, but even if the price is negotiated, the coolies carrying the sliders will still go back on their word and make various unreasonable demands for price increases.

This is definitely a shameless Italian approach. Without Captain Yao's help, Nick really doesn't know how to deal with these sticks to protect his pocketbook.

"Haha." Georgiana laughed.

Bonaparte's face was gloomy, and after a moment he said, "Who has been asking for a delay in the withdrawal from Malta?"

So she stopped smiling.

"Is this 'Italian shamelessness'?" he asked again.

Georgiana turned her gaze back to the book.

There is a large population in this area, the land is barren, and there is almost no farmland, and no good harvest can be obtained by farming technology and field work.There is no rice here, so the locals have to grow some sweet potatoes, and in some places, sugar cane, strawberry, cypress, laurel, etc., and even on sandy land, at least one pine tree should be planted, even if it is not good Well, it produces at least wood and resin.

In order to obtain a good harvest, farmers tried every means. In order to prevent the rice from being blown down by the strong wind, they bundled several rice into a bundle so that the rice stalks supported each other. They also used the same method to deal with sugarcane in places threatened by wind disasters. And bundle the sugarcane leaves together, as if covering the sugarcane with a natural rain cover.

But compared with the careful care of tea trees by tea farmers, these measures are not worth mentioning.The tea tree is a shrub that can grow very tall, but tea growers will prune it regularly to limit its growth height to about 5 feet. At the same time, they also need to prune the tea tree frequently. The main trunk of the tea tree will grow many dense side branches.

There are also small tea saplings in gardens in Guangdong, which are completely different from the thick tea trees planted with penguins in a large area in Wuyi Mountain.As for which soil is more suitable for the growth of tea trees, it is difficult for experts who are good at observing tea trees to come up with a consensus. Father Li Ming thinks that tea trees are suitable for growing in sand and gravel, while Father Du Hede thinks that sandy soil without gravel is better. It is suitable for the growth of tea trees. A Roman priest concluded that tea trees are suitable for planting on high ground. The land should be kept moist, but not muddy soil. Sandy soil will not hinder the growth of tea trees, but gravel soil will cause damage to tea trees, because Tea trees are not drought tolerant.

The tea tree leaves that grow in the shade grow slowly. When you roll the tea leaves, you will find that the leaf juice is not full or rich, which is far inferior to the tea tree leaves in the sunny place.

Tea picking is a careful and time-consuming work, because the leaves have to be picked one by one, and a small stump is deliberately left on the petiole to facilitate the germination of new leaves.The tea farmers pick tea leaves very fast. On average, a tea farmer can pick 12 catties of tea leaves every day. Their hands are flying around the tea tree. The tea basket is filled quickly and then emptied immediately. There is only a slight sound when picking. It's like the sound of the leaves being blown by the breeze, and there are basically no other sounds. This job is a bit monotonous.

Perhaps it is because of this that they will sing during the picking process, and then it will become a game called "Double Song". The singing will spread far away, maybe from Wushan to Yishan, or from Yishan to Wushan .

When they came to the first village, Nick became the target of everyone's attention. He was regarded as some kind of half-human, half-cat furry animal. , All kinds of speculations are overwhelming.

Now Nick knew why the people of the coastal villages waved at him.

Curious people and people who didn't believe it ran to him and asked him to show them "claws" without restraint, and even asked him to roll up his sleeves to show them. He fulfilled their request, and everyone burst into laughter. Exclamations and laughter.

The officer shooed them away, explaining to Nick to ignore the backcountry hill folk.

After picking the tea, the tea farmers hand over the tea leaves to the tea maker. The tea making process varies greatly, mainly depending on whether it is black tea or green tea.In addition to the fermentation process, the difference between black tea and green tea lies in the speed and degree of drying.Europeans have a certain prejudice against green tea. They think that the tea is stained with toxic green oxides because of the use of copper pots in the frying process. Large tubs for roasting black and green tea.

Iron containers are used for roasting pekoe, roasted tea, Tunxi tea and pearl tea.The frying of tea is done entirely by hand, and only two catties are fried at a time. The tea-stirring worker has to stir it by hand until his hands can no longer bear the hot iron container. A kind of juice, which can cause damage to the skin, so frying tea is a very hard work.

Another interesting thing is that the names of tea leaves have meanings. Some names refer to the arduous process of tea making. For example, Gongfu tea means that a lot of effort has been spent, while picking roasted tea is carefully selected, and Xichun tea powder refers to the residue of Xichun tea. , is made with the minced Xichun tea.Xichun tea ranks third among green teas. Experts believe that the top two quality teas are Yucha and Songluo tea. Songluo is the origin of this green tea. These three green teas are all produced in Jiangnan and Zhejiang provinces.

These latter types of tea are also made in the same way as Wuyi tea, but with more delicate techniques, finer frying and longer time.After the first few subtle preparations, the tea leaves should be stored in airtight jars for at least five or six months before frying.The tea leaves are then colored with spinach and calcium sulfate, indigo is used for coloring and calcium sulfate is used to fix the color.

No western traveler has ever seen the method of roasting tea leaves. This method has always been a state secret, but the saying that green tea is poisonous is heard by travelers who have been there before. Some people also say that the Chinese trained monkeys to pick tea. , and leave this work to the virgins.

The first theory is self-defeating because there are no monkeys in the area. The second theory cannot be refuted by Nick. It is certain that some jobs require a lot of helpers. Relatively simple, both women and children can do it.

The tea leaves that have been twisted will ooze dark green juice, and then go through the tea-making process again: sorting, winnowing, and baking. Experienced tea fryers can use their hands to feel the state of the tea leaves when they are fried. They don't know how to wear gloves, and this hard work is usually done by men.

It's time to put an end to nonsense and other outlandish claims.

"Do you remember that glass of absinthe?" Bonaparte said with a smile. "The green ones are poisonous."

Georgiana couldn't believe it. She thought it was because of the water quality and taste that she only drank black tea instead of green tea.

"Train monkeys to pick tea?"

"How is this possible?" she said in disbelief.

If you want to refute the rumors, you need Nick's book to spread in Europe. Is this possible?She casts a glance at the dictator restricting "free speech," feeling hopeless.

But Georgiana became interested in the Wuyi Mountain described by Nick. She remembered seeing a photo of Zhang Tao and Ma Qingchen in front of an ethereal mountain. She thought that place was Zhangjiajie or "Penglai". It may also be Wuyi Mountain now.

I'm so sorry, Sybil, I shouldn't have laughed at your tea divination lessons.

She thought helplessly, and turned another page. On this page, there was an old man with a compass in his hand, looking up at the sky. What is he doing?

(End of this chapter)