Chapter 2181 Flower Struggle (Eighty-nine)

Wuyi Mountain is located at the junction of Fujian and Jiangxi provinces. The day before, Nick and local officials accompanied him to visit a temple deep in the mountains. The temple has been filled with incense 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 covered with tea gardens. What is enshrined in the temple is not the Buddha or the Dragon King, but tea.

God. Caitou tea has the best quality. The Waking of Insects in the 24 solar terms every year is designated as Tea Sacrifice and Mountain Calling Day. On that day, not only are sacrifices made to the Tea God, but it also means that you can go into the mountains to pick tea.

The mountain shouting is held at night. Thousands of people shout "Grudge, let tea sprout". The sound resounds throughout the valley and echoes endlessly. Unfortunately, Nick had missed the solar term when he went and did not see the spectacular scene.

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Tea is originally made from the buds of tea trees. This is probably because tea picking is affected by the special climatic conditions here. Tea trees grow very well here. The weather was not bad in the first few days when we set out, and the continuous mountains were beautiful from the foot of the mountain to the top of the mountain.

It was full of green, but later it often rained and thundered. The mist made the mountain shape shadowy, and the peaks were like rolling waves from the sea. I passed many villages along the river, and the villagers wore raincoats and shouted greetings to them.

Nick wanted the boat to stop in front of a certain village several times and go to the villages on the shore to have a look.

The tea ceremony is a reverence and worship of the natural force. It is said in "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" that "Shennong tasted hundreds of herbs and encountered seventy-two poisons every day, so he used tea to relieve them." The locals generally believe that tea has magical effects, especially for long-term growth.

The Dahongpao mother tree on the mountainside is believed to have absorbed the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. The tea it produces is not only the best among rock teas, but also has the highest status in the Wuyi Mountain Tea Kingdom. People also made up a myth about it.

Given the image of the tea tree fairy.

Yang Taibai was the person who invented the tea-making process, and he is also enshrined in the Tea Temple. It is still unclear whether this person exists. In addition to good tea as raw materials, tea production also needs the "blessing of the ancestors." Good tea not only requires

If the weather is good and the harvest is good, sacrifices must also be burned during the worship of the tea god. Salt, tea leaves and camphor bark are put together to achieve the effect of dispelling evil spirits.

Xingcun Town is the distribution center of Wuyi Rock Tea and the largest tea market in the county. Their destination was there. However, it rained for three consecutive days, making the surrounding scenery gray, which caused the navigator to make a mistake. They at least

They got lost ten times, each time at the fork of the Min River. The direct current of the Min River is about the same width as the main stream, so it was easy to get lost. They entered a seemingly wide river, but after traveling two or three miles, the river branched into a new channel.

At the fork of the river, there were more and more tributaries, and the river became shallower and shallower, and finally turned into small streams.

After taking many wrong turns, they had to go back along the original route, but some sections of the river were difficult to navigate. Sometimes they had to ask local villagers for help and use ropes to push and pull the boat out from the river.

After experiencing a lot of unlucky things, wasting a lot of time, and encountering many heavy rains, they came to the black tea producing area. Originally, Nick thought it was funny that the British used tea leaves in cups to divine fortune, but when they arrived at the black tea producing area, you will understand why.

The British and the Wuyishan people believe in the magical properties of tea.

Animism believes that all things have spirits, and people's imagination will have a sense of emptiness. This imagination allows people to vaguely see wonderful things, such as hiding in the mist and seeming to see some kind of animal or a person.

In fact, what we see is just a simple material in nature - stone.

After disembarking, Nick and the others rented two sliding poles. The sliding poles were also made of bamboo, but they were different from the sedan chairs used by Guangzhou people. There were two long bamboo poles with a short pole tied across the top. The bearer put the horizontal short pole on

Walking with the slider on your shoulders, the slider itself is very light. After negotiating the price for renting the slider, it costs half a silver dollar per day for a ride on the slider, but even if the price is negotiated, the coolie carrying the slider will still regret it.

, making various unreasonable demands for price increases.

This was definitely a shameless Italian move. Without Captain Yao's help, Nick really didn't know how to deal with these sticks to protect his money bag.

"Haha." Georgiana laughed.

Bonaparte's face was gloomy, and after a moment he said, "Who keeps asking for a delay in withdrawing from Malta?"

So she stopped laughing.

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

Georgiana turned her attention back to the book.

This area has a large population and poor land. There is almost no farmland, and farming techniques and field work cannot produce good harvests. Rice is not produced here, so the locals have to grow some sweet potatoes, and in some places they grow sugar cane, strawberries, and blackberries.

For plants such as cypress and laurel, at least one pine tree must be planted even on sandy soil. Even if the pine tree does not grow well, it will at least produce wood and rosin.

In order to get a good harvest, farmers tried every means. In order to prevent the strong wind from blowing the rice down, they put several rice grains into a bunch and let the rice stalks support each other. They also used the same method to deal with sugar cane in places threatened by wind disasters.

And the sugarcane leaves are tied 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. Tea trees can grow very tall, but tea farmers prune them regularly to limit their growth height to about 5 feet. At the same time, they also need to regularly feed tea trees.

When pruned, the main trunk of the tea tree will grow many dense side branches.

There are also small tea saplings in gardens in Guangdong. They are completely different from the sturdy tea trees planted 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 unanimous opinion. Father Li Ming

It is believed that tea trees are suitable for growing in gravel, while Father Duheed believes that gravel-free sandy soil is more suitable for tea trees to grow. A certain Roman priest concluded that tea trees are suitable for planting on highlands. The land should be kept moist, but not mud-type.

Soil, sandy soil will not hinder the growth of tea trees, but gravelly soil will cause damage to tea trees because tea trees are not drought-tolerant.

The leaves of tea trees growing in the shade grow slowly. When you roll the tea leaves, you will find that the juice in the leaves is not full and rich, and is far less than that of the tea leaves growing in the sun.

Tea picking is a careful and time-consuming work, because the leaves have to be picked one by one, and a small piece of stub is deliberately left at the petiole to facilitate the germination of new leaves. Tea growers pick tea leaves very quickly. On average, a tea grower can pick tea leaves every day.

They all picked 12 pounds of tea leaves. Their hands flew left and right on the tea tree. The tea basket was quickly filled and then emptied immediately. There was only a slight sound when picking, just like the sound of the leaves blown by the breeze. Basically

There are no other sounds, so this job is a bit monotonous.

Perhaps it is because of this that they will sing during the picking process, which then turns into a game called "antiphony". The singing will spread far away, perhaps from Wushan to Yishan, or from Yishan to Wushan

.

When he arrived at the first village, Nick became the target of everyone's attention. He was regarded as some kind of hairy animal that was half human and half cat. Some people ran to look out of curiosity, others were surprised, and some whispered.

, all kinds of speculations are coming.

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

Curious people and people who didn't believe this ran up to him and asked him to show them his "paws" without hesitation. They even asked him to roll up his sleeves to show them. He complied with their request, and everyone let out a burst of laughter.

Sighs and laughter.

The official drove them away, explaining to Nick that he should ignore these country folk.

After picking the tea, the tea farmers hand the tea leaves to the tea makers. The tea making process differs greatly, mainly depending on whether it is making black tea or green tea. In addition to the fermentation process, the difference between black tea and green tea also lies in the speed and degree of drying. Europeans have

There is a certain prejudice against green tea. They think that the tea leaves are contaminated with toxic green oxides because of the use of copper pots during the frying process. This is an abuse of logic, because Nick saw with his own eyes that the tea workers used iron pots to cook the tea leaves.

Roasted black tea and green tea.

Whether roasting pekoe, picking roasted tea, or Tunxi tea, pearl tea is made in iron containers. The tea is fried completely by hand, only two kilograms are fried at a time, and the tea fryer constantly has to stir by hand until his hands can't stand it.

The tea leaves crackle in the hot iron container during the tea frying process, exuding a juice that can cause damage to the skin, so tea frying is a very hard work.

Another interesting thing is that the names of tea have meanings. Some names refer to the arduous process of making tea. For example, Kung Fu tea means a lot of effort, Hojicha means careful selection, and Xichun tea powder refers to the residue of Xichun tea.

, is made from the crushed powder of Xichun tea. Xichun tea ranks third among green teas. Experts believe that the top two quality teas are imperial tea and usnea tea. Usnea is the origin of this green tea.

These three green teas are produced in Jiangnan and Zhejiang provinces.

These latter teas are also made using the same method as frying Wuyi tea, but the technique is more delicate, the frying is more precise, and the time is longer. After the first few times of wonderful preparation, the tea leaves should be placed in a sealed jar for at least

Store for five to six months, then fry. Then use spinach and calcium sulfate to color the tea leaves, 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 claims that green tea is poisonous are heard by previous travelers. Some even say that the Chinese trained monkeys to pick tea.

, and left this work to virgins.

The first statement is self-defeating because there are no monkeys in the area. Nick cannot refute the second statement. It is certain that some jobs require a lot of helpers. Some tea-picking girls start helping when they grow taller than the tea trees. The rolling process is also

It is relatively simple and can be done by women and children.

The rolled tea leaves will exude dark green juice, and then the tea making process is repeated: sorting, winnowing, and baking. Experienced tea fryers can feel the state of the tea leaves when they are fried with their hands. In order to master

They don't know how to wear gloves when it comes to heat, 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 she wanted to refute the rumors, Nick's book would need to be spread in Europe. Is this possible? She glanced at the dictator who restricted "freedom of speech" and felt that there was little hope.

But Georgiana became interested in the Wuyi Mountains described by Nick. She remembered seeing a photo of Zhang Tao and Ma Qingchen in front of a misty mountain peak. She thought that place was Zhangjiajie, or "Penglai".

Now it may also be Wuyi Mountain.

I'm so sorry, Sybil, I shouldn't have laughed at your tea leaf fortune telling lesson.

She thought helplessly and turned another page. On this page was a drawing of an old man holding a compass in his hand and looking up at the sky. What was he doing?
Chapter completed!