"Water Margin" is one of China's four great classics. It can be said to be all-encompassing, including the art of war, the magic of yin and yang, literature, history, and political strategies. But the most interesting thing in it is the scene where Shi Naian wrote about the heroes of Liangshan eating, such as the most typical scene of Wu Song in a small tavern before hunting tigers in Jingyanggang: Wu Song picked up the bowl and drank it all in one gulp, exclaiming: "This wine is so good." Strength! If you are full, host, buy some for wine. "The restaurant only has cooked beef," Wu Song said, "Cut it into two or three pounds for wine." Wu Song and other heroes all like to ask the store owner to cut two kilograms of beef in the hotel. Of course, there are also times when conditions are not good and there is no beef and other meats to eat. For example: Wu Song took off the cooked goose from the shackles and ate it alone, ignoring the two gentlemen; he walked another four or five miles. He then removed the cooked goose, holding it with his right hand, tearing off his left hand and eating only for himself. He could not travel more than five miles and ate both the cooked geese. ?

I think the two yamen servants were salivating when they saw Wu Song eating so enthusiastically, but Wu Song saw that they were not happy, so he must have stopped eating, and finally killed these two in Feiyunpu. The life of the Yamen servant. So was it really possible to eat meat so casually in ancient times? Just ordering a pound or two of beef to eat alone, it’s beautiful to think about. If we really went back to the Song Dynasty, would we really be able to eat meat so casually?

The answer is of course not. Not everyone can eat all kinds of meat. Don’t be fooled by costume dramas again.

During the Song Dynasty, ordinary hotels did not dare to sell beef at all. As the main "labor force" in the farming era, cattle had a high social status in the Song Dynasty. In more ancient times, cattle were animals that could only be used by the emperor. They usually sacrificed cattle to God and ancestors, and then used them to eat.

In ancient times, sacrifices to gods were called "sacrifice". The two words "sacrifice" are both next to the word "ox", which means that they usually used cows as sacrificial victims. "Book of Rites" records: "The princes will not kill cattle without reason, the officials will not kill sheep without reason, the scholars will not kill dogs and hogs without reason, and the common people will not eat precious things without reason." ?The ancients paid attention to the matching of status and treatment. Without the status of emperor, you could not kill cattle casually, and you could not eat beef at all.

In fact, in the pre-Qin period, it was difficult for the vast majority of common people to be eligible to eat meat such as bacon and beef. "Zuo Zhuan" records that a courtier received a meal from Duke Zhuang of Zheng, including meat. , he did not eat it, but kept the meat and took it back to his mother to eat, because this was a very rare delicacy for common people. Usually, there was no reward from the emperor or princes, and even half of the officials and scholar-bureaucrats were not qualified to eat it. to high-quality meat. The original text records: Uncle Yingkao was granted the title of Yinggu. When he heard about it, he offered it to the Duke, who gave him food and ate the meat of his family. When the duke asked about it, he replied: "The villain has a mother, and they have tasted the food of the villain. They have not tasted the soup of the king. Please leave it behind." ?

Later, in order to liberate productivity, the ancients gradually liberated cattle from specialized sacrificial items, and cattle could be used for plowing fields. But at this time, the status of cattle was still very high. Using cattle to plow fields was much more efficient than using people to dig, or pulling people to plow fields was much more efficient. It can be said that a cow is an important guarantee for a farmer family to have a good life. The number of cattle in a country is an important guarantee for a country's grain output.

So the Tang Dynasty, Song Dynasty and other dynasties had explicit legislation. The law of the Tang Dynasty stipulated: Anyone who steals an official's horse or cattle and kills him will have two and a half years. ?, if you killed cows in the Tang Dynasty, you would most likely be sent to a desolate area to serve as a labor camp prisoner. The Song Dynasty also enacted legislation to protect farm cattle. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the punishment was even more severe than in the Tang Dynasty: "If you kill an official's private cattle, you will be sentenced to three years in prison." If you kill your own cattle, you will be sentenced to three years in prison.

So was it possible to eat beef in ancient times? If a cow dies of old age, illness, or unfortunately falls to death, it is still possible to sell the beef. However, if such rare beef is so cherished, ordinary hotels will probably not be able to obtain a business license, and ordinary people will not be able to buy such beef. "Waiter, two kilograms of beef?" This kind of thing is probably very difficult to encounter. So it’s not like just anyone can eat the meat they want in ancient times. Don’t be fooled by costume dramas anymore.