The novel Water Margin describes the events in the Northern Song Dynasty. Let's read an article. Song Wu passed by Jingyanggang, and there was a hotel called Sanwan. Wu took a sip of "good wine" and ate three bowls in a row. Then he shouted, "Master, buy some when you are full." Cudgel said, "Only boiled beef." Song Wu said, "Cut two or three Jin for wine." According to statistics, there are as many as 48 places to eat beef in Water Margin, which shows that it has become a trend for Liangshan heroes to eat beef.
Then the reaction in the novel is different from that in the real Song Dynasty. Why do you always emphasize that Liangshan heroes eat beef? First, the author's life.
Shi Naian, the author of Water Margin, lived in the late Yuan Dynasty and early Ming Dynasty, which coincided with troubled times. Shi Naian grew up mainly in the Yuan Dynasty. His personal experience should be based on the life scene of the Yuan Dynasty. The novel "Water Margin" is about what happened in the Song Dynasty, but the life scene in it can't be completely Songhua. Because the author must blend in with his familiar environment in his creation. Shi Naian is familiar with the Yuan Dynasty, which is a nation inseparable from beef. They drink milk and eat beef, which is their staple food, so this Water Margin knows more or less about their own lives. Shi Naian himself once said: "Beef is a product of diet and is eaten every day."
Second, it was designed by Shi Naian on purpose.
Why let Liangshan heroes eat beef? This was also designed by Shi Naian on purpose. Beef was banned in the Song Dynasty, but how to set off the heroism of Liangshan heroes depends on the details of life. If the imperial court forbids eating, then the heroes insist on eating to show the spirit of resisting to the end. The same description, the heroes are eating beef, especially in line with heroic temperament. How petty it would be to let Liangshan heroes eat chicken feet and drink foreign wine.
Third, the real Song Dynasty did not completely ban beef.
In the early Song Dynasty, cattle were strictly slaughtered, and there was little beef in the diet menu of the Song Dynasty. However, when it developed to Song Zhezong, the number of cattle increased greatly, and the protection of cattle was not as harsh as in the early Song Dynasty. The market began to buy and sell beef privately, but the price was too high. Many people take risks to slaughter cattle for profiteering, making dead cattle more valuable than live cattle. The government has repeatedly banned it. What should we do? Some officials have written to the court, simply liberalizing the cattle slaughtering market and charging a "beef tax" to increase government revenue. So in late Song Zhezong, beef was already available in the market. What Shi Naian described happened to be the period of Song Zhezong. It is also in line with history.
From the above three points, we simply understand why Liangshan heroes like to eat beef, because the author of the book likes to eat it, and it is also to shape the spirit of Liangshan heroes. Killing cattle was forbidden in the early Song Dynasty, but at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the political situation was chaotic and beef was on people's table again.
So what was the true attitude of the ancients towards cattle? First, sacrifice.
Cattle is one of the earliest domesticated livestock, which has been at least 8000 years. It is recorded in the Book of Rites: "Worship the cows of heaven and earth as chestnuts; The ox in the ancestral temple, with a horn grip; A guest's cow, a square. Governors don't kill cows, doctors don't kill sheep, and scholars don't kill dogs for no reason. " It is stipulated that governors can't kill cows casually, and only rulers can kill cows, sheep and tapirs to sacrifice to heaven and earth in spring and autumn. Then only the emperor can eat the beef for sacrifice. At this time, beef can't be served on the table of ordinary people.
Second, war.
Soldiers use armor, and rhinoceros armour is the earliest one. But rhinos are killing less and less, and animals are aware of the danger of migration. Due to the frequent wars in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, rhinos originally distributed in the Central Plains fled to the southwest. Rhinoceros is gone, and bows and shields can only be made of cowhide. In this way, cattle have become a strategic resource.
Three edible.
Eating beef was recorded in the Han Dynasty. "Records of Emperor Gaozu": "When Gaozu entered Qin, he made three chapters about the law, and the Qin people were overjoyed, striving to appease the cattle and sheep as staff officers." It shows that beef is generally edible. Because of eating too much, the number of cattle decreased, and the Han Dynasty began to protect them. But the law is the law and people still like to eat beef. Especially in the Tang Dynasty, our great poet Li Bai wrote: "Boil a sheep, kill a cow, sharpen your appetite, and let me, 300 bowls, take a long drink!" "If beef is inedible, he won't write it in the poem.
From these three points, we can roughly see the status of cattle in China. From the deification of sacrifice to the dining table, the status of cattle is declining, but generally it is an animal protected by the rulers, and cattle are still very important in farming society. Killing cattle was illegal in ancient times, and it was not completely forbidden to eat. Because it's a pity that farm cattle don't eat after natural death, there is little meat protein in ancient times. Who can specify which cows died unnaturally? In the Song Dynasty, although there were inspectors who specially inspected dead cattle, what happened after the officials received the commission? I think it is appropriate for Liangshan heroes to order beef in the hotel.