In the Ming Dynasty, it was recorded that people would make plaques for New Year greetings

Plaque index finger dumplings.

Banshi is a northern dialect, generally referring to noodles such as dumplings and pot stickers. Bianshi is the ancient name for dumplings. The central and northern Jiangsu and Fujian areas have always retained the name Bianshi due to their ancient cultural areas, and they are also a common snack in this area.

Dumplings are said to have been invented by Zhang Zhongjing, the "Medical Sage", who used the "Winter Solstice Medicine" to save people. At that time, he asked his disciples to set up a tent and set up a pot in Dongguan, Nanyang, and cook mutton, chili peppers and cold-repelling medicinal materials in one pot. "Soup" for people to eat to cure frozen ears.

New Year’s Day food customs

New Year’s Day customs are divided into north and south. Northerners are popular to eat dumplings, and southerners are popular to eat rice cakes. Every New Year’s Day, northerners will eat dumplings. The custom of eating dumplings on New Year's Day flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. "Quwo County Chronicles" records: "The two-day flat food is wrapped in gold to invite the son-in-law to compete for good fortune.

Eating rice cakes on New Year's Day was popular in the Ming and Qing Dynasties in the south. It is very popular in the area. It is recorded in the second volume of "Scenery of the Imperial Capital" in the late Ming Dynasty that "when you are in high spirits, you eat jujube cakes and rice cakes every day."

The word "rice cake" is a homophony of "nian niangao". It has a good meaning and also places people's good hopes. There is a poem called rice cake: "The meaning of rice cake is a little cloudy, white like silver and yellow gold." I look forward to good times and good fortune as I age, and I sincerely and silently wish for wealth to come. ”

Eating cold food on the Qingming Festival is to commemorate a late emperor

Who is eating cold food on the Qingming Festival to commemorate: Jie Zhitui

Jie Zhitui was the Jin Dynasty in that year A wise minister of the country, he served Prince Chong'er. When civil strife broke out in Jin, Prince Chong'er was forced to flee abroad. Jie Zitui followed Chong'er into exile despite hardships and hardships. He once cut his own leg flesh to make soup and presented it to Chong'er after he became the king. At first, Jie Zitui was still remembered, but as time went by, he was forgotten. Jie Zitui felt very sad and returned to his hometown with his elderly mother to live in seclusion in the mountains.

One day, Jin. Duke Wen found that he was missing Jie Zitui, and he felt very guilty when he remembered that he had forgotten to reward this virtuous minister. He went to the mountain where he lived in seclusion to look for him. However, he only saw overlapping mountains and green trees, but no Jie Zhi. He thought that Jie Zitui was a filial son, and if he set fire to the mountain, he would definitely come out with his mother on his back. So he ordered the fire to be set on the mountain, but the fire spread for tens of miles and burned for three days, but Jie Zitui did not go out. Zhitui did not come out. After the fire died, everyone went into the mountain to investigate and found that Jie Zitui and his mother were burned to death in the mountains.

This news spread to everyone. Respect and remember Jie Zhitui. From now on, we will commemorate him on the day when he was burned to death. This day is the day before Qingming Festival in April every year. Because Jie Zhitui was burned to death, everyone can't bear it on this day. If you raise fire, you would rather eat cold food, so this day is called the Cold Food Festival

Zhu Yuanzhang's Celebration Banquet

"When radishes are on the streets, there is no business in pharmacies; when leeks are green, the people will be stable for a long time." ; Two bowls of green vegetables are equally fragrant, and the breeze on both sleeves is good to the Prime Minister; green onions and tofu are green and white, fair and honest like the sun and the moon. ”

This is another way Zhu Yuanzhang appreciated his four dishes and one soup, but the princes and ministers were not happy when they saw the clear soup and lack of water in front of them.

Perhaps In our impression, the emperor's three daily meals must be all delicacies from the mountains and seas. A full banquet of Manchu and Han Dynasties was placed in front of him, and each dish only needed to be tasted before changing to the next one.

But Zhu Yuanzhang was a frugal person. The emperor, not only did he eat green vegetables and radishes, but also asked all the officials in the court to follow suit and eat vegetarian food every time without seeing any oil.

Until one time, the princes and ministers received Zhu Yuanzhang's imperial edict again and asked them to do so. Go to the Qinggong Building to attend the celebration banquet.

The dishes this time are not radish, green vegetables, and leeks, but hard dishes such as bird's nest, mutton, and rabbit meat.

As Zhu Yuanzhang gave the order. , these dishes were brought to the table.

This abnormal behavior attracted Liu Bowen's attention. During the banquet, he had no time to appreciate the graceful figures of the singers, and his attention was always on them. After three rounds of drinking, Zhu Yuanzhang said he felt bored and wanted to go out for a walk.

Liu Bowen seized this opportunity and said he wanted to serve on the side, so he went out with Zhu Yuanzhang.

When Zhu Yuanzhang walked out of the Qinggong Building, the Qinggong Building immediately collapsed and caught fire.

Most of the heroes who accompanied Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the world died in Qinggong Tower.

Of the 36 ministers who were invited to the banquet, only five including Liu Bowen and Xu Da survived.

This is one of the many historical stories about Zhu Yuanzhang, the burning of the Qinggong Tower.

Why is Zhu Yuanzhang, the supreme emperor of the 1990s, so strict in his diet? For what reason did he kill all his founding fathers one by one?

This has to start with Zhu Yuanzhang’s life experiences. As a peasant emperor in Chinese history, Zhu Yuanzhang undoubtedly completed a counterattack in life.

Born in a poor peasant family, Zhu Yuanzhang had to herd cattle for the landlord to earn money to support his family since he was a child.

In the third year of Zhizheng, Fengyang, Anhui Province suffered a severe drought, and Zhu Yuanzhang's destiny began to slowly change.

In the spring of the fourth year of Zhizheng year, a serious locust plague and a deadly plague broke out in Fengyang.

Zhu Yuanzhang’s parents and brothers passed away one after another. Zhu Yuanzhang, who had no enough to eat, chose to become a monk in Huangjue Temple.

Originally, he thought he could get alms at the temple, but the famine made it difficult for the monks in the temple to survive.

After that, Zhu Yuanzhang began to wander around. He lived like a beggar by eating grass roots and tree bark.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the world was in chaos. During his travels, Zhu Yuanzhang joined the Red Scarf Army led by Guo Zixing.

After that, Zhu Yuanzhang began to display his leadership skills in the military.

Guo Zixing valued Zhu Yuanzhang very much and even married his adopted daughter Ma to him, who later became Queen Bigfoot Horse.

Zhu Yuanzhang went through untold hardships to defeat Chen Youliang's power and ascended the throne as emperor with the support of many.

The difficult experiences in his early years made Zhu Yuanzhang understand the hardships of life for the people at the bottom.

When Zhu Yuanzhang’s parents died, he couldn’t even afford the coffin.

So as a peasant emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang did not pursue luxury and was very considerate of the lives of the people.

In addition, the new dynasty has just been established, and everything is still in ruins.

Having just experienced war, the people in the early Ming Dynasty could not pay any taxes at all, and Zhu Yuanzhang himself did not want to waste a lot of national power.

In terms of diet, Zhu Yuanzhang continued his previous habits and did not pursue appetite.

But the princes of the royal family, who have transformed from the peasant class into the landlord class, do not have such a consciousness as Zhu Yuanzhang.

As an emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang naturally wanted to reward those good brothers who followed him through life and death.

In 1370, Zhu Yuanzhang began to reward his subordinates based on their merits.

Six people were granted the title of Duke, the remaining 28 generals were granted the title of various Marquises, and some Dukes received iron certificates of alchemy.

In addition to giving them prominent official positions, Zhu Yuanzhang will of course reward them with a large amount of land.

The number of tenant farmers owned by the 34 dukes and marquises in one country was 38,194.

All the tax revenue from these tenant farmers' lands belonged to the private property of the princes and princes. In order to protect the loyalty of the princes and ministers, Zhu Yuanzhang even became in-laws with them.

In order to win over Guo Ying, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted his sister as Concubine Ning and took her into the palace.

Zhu Yuanzhang also found a good home for the daughters of Feng Sheng, Lan Yu, Xu Da, Chang Yuchun and other meritorious officials.

He personally arranged the marriage and married the daughter of this hero to the prince.

At the same time, Zhu Yuanzhang also made clear arrangements for his princesses to marry the sons of Li Shanchang, Fu Youde and others.

For a time, almost all civil and military personnel in the dynasty were relatives of the emperor.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was indeed at the center of power through this method, it also laid many hidden dangers.

Getting the Iron Coupon of the Alchemy Book means getting a gold medal to avoid death. No matter how serious the crime is, Zhu Yuanzhang will spare their lives for the sake of the Iron Coupon of the Alchemy Book.

This death-free gold medal is not a magic medicine that can save people from death, but an accelerator that tempts them to violate Zhu Yuanzhang's bottom line.

The marriage between the dukes and Zhu Yuanzhang also fueled the arrogance of the princes and ministers, making them even more arrogant.

Zhu Yuanzhang had just formulated the criminal laws one second, and the next moment there were heroes who didn't take the court's laws seriously.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was born as a farmer, not only maintained his consistent frugal style, but also deeply hated corrupt officials.

Because he was oppressed in his early years, Zhu Yuanzhang regarded political clarity as his goal in governing the country since he ascended the throne.

"Ming Tongjian" records Zhu Yuanzhang's anti-corruption activities as soon as he came to power: "However, Hu Yuan was lenient and lost. I must be fierce to bring China to peace."

For officials who had embezzled more than 16 taels of silver, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered them to be punished on the spot without mercy.

Zhu Yuanzhang enforced this law very strictly. No one, whether he was a relative of the emperor or a prince or a minister, had any special privileges.

But Zhu Yuanzhang, who had previously given privileges to the heroes, faced their behavior of bullying men, dominating women, killing and robbing, at first he only gave them a slight beating and did not use real swords or guns.

Compared with Zhu Yuanzhang’s four dishes and one soup every day, the lives of the heroes were completely different. They could no longer look down on these vegetables and radishes.

Eating good wine and meat, watching the singers dancing, the heroes felt that this was the life they should live.

The extremely luxurious living style naturally made Zhu Yuanzhang feel dissatisfied, so he felt it was necessary to hold a palace banquet.

The purpose of the banquet is naturally to let the princes and ministers see that he is an emperor who eats green vegetables and radishes. How can you mere ministers usurp the emperor's authority?

So, in the splendid palace, plates of green vegetables, radish, leeks, and spring onions mixed with tofu were served.

The ministers who originally thought they were here to enjoy the delicacies of mountains and seas suddenly changed their expressions, thinking that Zhu Yuanzhang was joking with them.

Zhu Yuanzhang took great pains and immediately ordered that in the future, guests would only be entertained according to the standard of four dishes and one soup.

Seeing that Zhu Yuanzhang was so serious, the ministers naturally did not dare to violate Zhu Yuanzhang's imperial edict, so they could only agree temporarily.

But privately, the courtiers felt that this was too shabby, not even as good as the lives of ordinary people.

The heroes who wanted to satisfy their appetites began to commit crimes against the trend.

The heroes who did not understand Zhu Yuanzhang’s true intention of treating them to four dishes and one soup ignored the ultimatum issued by Zhu Yuanzhang.

They still went their own way, taking advantage of and plundering within their own sphere of influence, ignoring Zhu Yuanzhang's imperial edict.

As more and more things like this happened, Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't stand it anymore.

Jingjiang King Zhu Wenzheng, Zhu Yuanzhang's nephew, played the leading role in the decisive battle of Poyang Lake between Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang.

But Zhu Wenzheng, who was only crowned king, felt that he should have higher rights, so he felt resentful towards Zhu Yuanzhang.

Later, Zhu Wenzheng relied on his status as a royal relative to rob women in broad daylight, and the people complained.

In addition, he was not satisfied with the salary issued by the court, and blatantly sold his official position to make money.

These actions made Zhu Yuanzhang very angry. He did not expect that his great hero, his good nephew who had praised him at the beginning, would actually take the lead in breaking the law and discipline.

After Zhu Yuanzhang got the news, he wanted to order Zhu Wenzheng to be executed immediately.

However, under the persuasion of Empress Ma, Zhu Yuanzhang did not go on a killing spree. He cared about his family ties and only imprisoned Zhu Wenzheng.

Zhu Wenzheng still survived, but among the other heroes, there was no Queen Ma to intercede.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't bear it anymore and began to uproot the cancers of the Ming Dynasty.

The heroes who have almost done everything from tax evasion, adultery, eating, drinking, prostitution, gambling, corruption and bribery do not understand the principle of accompanying a king like a tiger.

Zhu Yuanzhang also wanted to enjoy the glory and wealth with them, but these heroes had no choice but to commit suicide.

The heroes lived a life of revelry every day, unaware that Zhu Yuanzhang had murderous intentions.

Zhu Yuanzhang saw that the marquises and dukes he had personally ennobled were greedily sucking up the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty.

So, after Zhu Yuanzhang, who strongly advocated frugality, made up his mind, he immediately ordered someone to build a celebration building.

Zhu Yuanzhang knew that this celebration building would be the final burial place of dozens of heroes.

The large-scale Qinggong Building was built very quickly. People who didn’t know the truth thought it was a Tianjia project, which was why it was so efficient.

But only Zhu Yuanzhang knew the secret. Qinggong Tower was just a scumbag project.

When the heroes heard that a celebration building was to be built, they all cheered and called "the emperor is wise."

Only Liu Bowen stood alone and came to Zhu Yuanzhang worriedly, admonishing Zhu Yuanzhang not to carry out large-scale construction projects.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very happy to hear Liu Bowen's words, but his mind had been made up.

Not long ago, the Qinggong Tower located in Gulou Gang was completed. The Qinggong Tower is relatively short, but it covers a large area and is very wide.

The Qinggong Building’s face-saving work has been done very well. In the eyes of outsiders, it seems to be very safe and there will be no accidents.

After finalizing a good day, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an imperial edict and invited the heroes to attend the banquet at the Qinggong Building.

When the ministers saw that the emperor was going to hold a banquet in the Qinggong Building, they naturally dressed up to attend.

Intoxicated by the feasting and feasting of the Qinggong Building, the heroes did not realize the mystery inside the Qinggong Building.

Liu Bowen was very careful. He tested the wooden boards of the Qinggong Building with both hands and found that the inside of the wooden boards was actually hollow. Finding something strange, he secretly sighed, "It seems that everyone will definitely die today."

After the banquet began, Zhu Yuanzhang naturally asked his servants to serve four dishes and one soup first.

The faces of the heroes instantly darkened, and they could hardly hold down their chopsticks due to the lack of oil and water in the dishes.

Zhu Yuanzhang knew that the heroes were not satisfied with these cabbages and radishes, but because of the emperor's face, he did not stand up and openly oppose it.

The princes and ministers who were accustomed to wine pools and meat forests looked embarrassed, and the banquet with singing and dancing suddenly became silent.

Some military generals even whispered below that he would be holding a banquet in the Qinggong Building and just treat them to this. The emperor was too stingy.

Of course Zhu Yuanzhang knew what the people below were thinking, so he waved to the attendants to continue serving the food.

"The dishes haven't been served yet! Why are you anxious?" Following Zhu Yuanzhang's order, braised rabbit meat, stewed dog meat and other major dishes were all brought out.

Before the banquet started, Liu Bowen had a panoramic view of all this, and also signaled Xu Da to drink less at the banquet, and always pay attention to Zhu Yuanzhang's movements.

Xu Da naturally didn’t understand why Liu Bowen said such words, but he also knew that Liu Bowen must have a point.

After the four dishes and one soup were served, only Liu Bowen and Xu Da were thoughtful.

When he saw rabbit meat, dog meat, bird's nest and other dishes on the table, Liu Bowen understood the real purpose of Zhu Yuanzhang's banquet.

Liu Bowen secretly thought of a sentence: "When the cunning rabbit dies, the lackeys are cooked; when the birds are gone, the good bows are hidden; when the enemy's country is destroyed, the advisers perish."

At the climax of the banquet, everyone raised their eyebrows. During the cup celebration, Zhu Yuanzhang left the Qinggong Building on the excuse that he was too bored and wanted to go out for a walk.

Liu Bowen saw Zhu Yuanzhang turn and leave, and then motioned Xu Da to follow him.

Just when Zhu Yuanzhang was wondering why the two of them came out together, a fire suddenly broke out in the Qinggong Building.

After that, because Liu Bowen had advised Zhu Yuanzhang not to carry out large-scale construction projects, Zhu Yuanzhang considered him a good official, so he rewarded Liu Bowen with many gold and silver and allowed him to retire and return to his hometown.

Xu Da’s ending was not as lucky as Liu Bowen’s. After the celebration party, Xu Da fell seriously ill.

Zhu Yuanzhang, who had already regarded Xu Da as a thorn in his side, asked his attendant to bring him a plate of roast goose.

The imperial physician had clearly told Xu Da before that he must not eat goose meat, but when he saw the roast goose sent by Zhu Yuanzhang, Xu Da did not dare to disobey.

The story of Zhu Yuanzhang’s burning of the Qinggong Tower is only spread among the people, and historians have a lot of controversy about it.

But we can also learn about history from folk tales.

-End-

Edit|Don’t miss the little stars

What is the name of the green cake eaten during Qingming Festival

Qingtuan. Qingtuan is a traditional snack in the Jiangnan area. It is green in color. It is made with mugwort juice mixed into glutinous rice flour, and then wrapped in bean paste filling or lotus paste. It is not sweet or greasy, and has a light but long fragrance.

Qingtuan is a traditional snack that people in Jiangnan eat during the Qingming Festival. According to research, the name Qingtuan began in the Tang Dynasty and has a history of more than 1,000 years. Qingtuan is almost always steamed every Qingming Festival. In ancient times, people made qingtuan mainly for sacrifices. Although qingtuan has been passed down for thousands of years and its appearance has not changed, its function as a sacrificial object has gradually faded, and it has become a highly seasonal snack.

Historical Allusions

It is said that one year during the Qingming Festival, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom general Li Xiucheng was hunted down by the Qing soldiers. A farmer farming nearby stepped forward to help and disguised Li Xiucheng as a farmer. Plow the land with yourself. Although Li Xiucheng was not caught, the Qing soldiers did not give up, so they added more troops and set up sentries in the village. Everyone who left the village was inspected to prevent them from bringing food to Li Xiucheng.

After returning home, when the farmer was thinking about what to bring to Li Xiucheng, he stepped on a clump of mugwort and slipped. When he got up, he saw only wormwood on his hands and knees. All dyed with green color. He immediately came up with a plan, and quickly picked some mugwort, washed it, boiled it, squeezed out the juice, and kneaded it into glutinous rice flour to make rice dumplings.

Then he put the green dumplings in the grass and passed the sentry at the entrance of the village. Li Xiucheng ate the green dumplings and found them fragrant, glutinous and non-sticky to the teeth. After dark, he bypassed the Qing guard checkpoint and returned to the base camp safely. Later, Li Xiucheng ordered the Taiping Army to learn to form a Youth League to defend themselves against the enemy. The custom of eating Youth League spread.

Zhu Yuanzhang’s Lantern Festival incident

It is related to Queen Ma, because a lantern riddle Zhu Yuanzhang saw at the Lantern Festival also alluded to Queen Ma.

Zhu Yuanzhang during the Ming Dynasty actually went on a killing spree on a street during the Lantern Festival, and was considered by the world to be a very cruel emperor. And what is the cause of this incident? It is said that when he left the palace incognito, he wanted to see how the people spent the Lantern Festival, and he happened to be happy with the people. After leaving the palace, he was shocked by the prosperous scene among the people. While walking, he watched what the people were doing.

Then he came to a shop that guessed lantern riddles. A group of people gathered around him. He was very curious, so he took a look at the lantern riddles. The painting he saw was of a woman holding a watermelon, and this woman's feet were very big. Someone saw this painting and immediately guessed the meaning of the lantern riddle. The answer is that Huaixi women have big feet. He was very angry after hearing this. He felt that everyone was mocking his Queen Ma because Queen Ma's feet were very big and Queen Ma happened to be from Huaixi.

All this made him more certain that the people were laughing at the queen, and he doted on this wife very much. Empress Ma played a decisive role in Zhu Yuanzhang's career. Although he was very angry, he could not reveal his identity and say that he was the emperor at that time. After returning to the palace, he ordered people to immediately kill all the people on the street who were guessing lantern riddles. Many people say that if it were not for this incident, Zhu Yuanzhang would not be so cruel in the impression of future generations.

But in fact, Zhu Yuanzhang in his early years was much kinder than he was in his later years. After Empress Ma died, no one could persuade him anymore.