Why do heroes in Water Margin mostly eat beef when they eat out?

When it comes to diet in Song Dynasty, it is inevitable to mention Water Margin. "Water Margin" has a feature that beef is always indispensable to eat, a total of four or five hundred times.

When beef first appeared, Wang Jin turned to Shijiazhuang. "Soon, put down the table in the hall. Zhuangke took out a bucket of plates, four dishes and a plate of beef, put them on the table, and cooked the wine first and sifted it. " There is also Lin Chong in the forage field: "The store cuts a plate of cooked beef and scalds a pot of hot wine for Lin Chong to eat. I bought some beef myself, had a few drinks, bought a bottle of gourd wine, wrapped up the two pieces of beef, left some broken money, pointed a fireworks gun at the gourd, stuffed the beef in my arms, shouted' interference', went out of the gate, and came back to meet the north wind. "

When there are other options, beef is also the first choice. Lin Chong went to a restaurant for a drink on a snowy night and asked the bartender, "What would you like to drink?" The bartender said, "raw and cooked beef, fat goose and tender chicken." Lin Chong said, "Cut two Jin of cooked beef first." If there is no beef, the next best choice is dog meat. Lu said to him, "Cudgel people don't avoid meat and wine, and they don't choose any turbid and innocent wine." Beef dog meat, but eat it. "

Every time I mention the Old Jin Man Altar, I am very happy, either criticizing "it is so wonderful" or writing "good". However, there is a saying in one place that "four words are absolutely down." Suddenly, from the mouth of the bartender, Li Kui jy is not like eating mutton. " Isn't it because fugitives like to eat beef and dog meat, but because they can't eat mutton?

If so, then an argument that eating beef reflects the rebellious spirit of Liangshan heroes is untenable, because if you want to rebel, why not just eat mutton? Obviously, in the meat grade of Song Dynasty, mutton surpassed beef. Why? To answer this question, we have to start with whether people in the Song Dynasty ate beef or not.

Cattle is a farming tool and an important means of production in the society of "intellectuals, farmers, industry and commerce", and intellectuals have a high status in this society. Therefore, since the Qin Dynasty, the control of cattle has been very strict. When there is a shortage of cattle, the government will come forward to allocate it. Even if the cattle of ordinary people are injured and old and can no longer be used, they should be reported to the government. If you don't report it, you will be punished for killing yourself.

The Northern Song Dynasty was no exception. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the grand and detailed criminal system in the bamboo slips of the Song Dynasty clearly stated that "one and a half years for those who kill officials and privately own cattle", "two and a half years for those who steal officials and privately own cattle" and "one year for those who commit suicide". Slaughtering an official cow privately will take one and a half years in prison, stealing and killing an official cow will take two and a half years in prison, and killing one's own cow without authorization will also take one year in prison.

In terms of policy, there are two imperial edicts about cattle in the imperial edict collection of Song Dynasty.

The first is the cattle tax. Song Zhenzong Volkswagen Xiangfu was promulgated on July 8, 2005 (1065438+July 9, 2005);

The power of agriculture and cattle, land is capital. Remember that the damage caused by the epidemic is useless to cultivate. It is advisable to calculate the market to help steam the people. People everywhere buy and sell cattle tax and pay it for one year.

Second, it is forbidden to slaughter cattle. Song Zhenzong Volkswagen Xiangfu was promulgated in August 9 (101August 6):

Mu Zhi is the capital of animal husbandry and agriculture. The prohibition of stealing and killing is strict, and the period of returning to the world is hope. Or being slaughtered, which is very painful. From now on, killing cattle, stealing cattle and killing cattle are not crimes against the dead. If you are imprisoned and smell it, you should be severely punished.

The first imperial edict said that cattle transaction tax would be exempted for one year to facilitate farming.

The second part is about stealing cattle and killing them, and punishing them by weight.

It seems that there is no beef to eat, but it is not. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the economy was underdeveloped, and most places were short of cattle, so it was normal to ban slaughtering. However, after decades of economic development, especially the rapid development of urban commerce, not only the population has jumped to 80 million, but also the annual tax and grain income has more than 20 million stones, which is not much different from that of the Ming Dynasty. At this time, there was obviously no shortage of cattle in the Northern Song Dynasty. In the era of Song Zhenzong, although it was still forbidden to kill cattle, the royal chef consumed 400,000 Jin of mutton and 4,000 Jin of pork a year, but did not eat one or two pieces of beef. But it's not monolithic.

At that time, eating beef has become a custom in Zhejiang, which is regarded as the best taste by Zhejiang people. Song Huiyao's Criminal Law was recorded in the seventh year of Xiangfu (10 14). Kong Zongmin, the foreign minister of Si Xun, said: "Zhejiang people take beef as the top grade, and they are not arrogant or impetuous, and they fight for slaughter without humiliation. If it happens, they will arrest Ziguang, so please don't ask questions.

When Song Zhenzong saw this, the imperial edict said, "In Zhejiang and Zhejiang, cattle are slaughtered for food, and there is no discussion about cooking them. Buyers know that they are innocent." In other words, as long as cattle are bought and sold for "eating" rather than deliberately destroying the means of production, the government does not need to intervene. By the time of Song Renzong, the change was even greater. In the Renzong era, the meat in the palace was still mutton, and more than 200 live sheep were slaughtered in the palace every day, but this was not the case among the people.

Due to the surplus of folk cattle and the market, a live cow was sold to others at that time. "The price of a cow is only five or seven thousand." But the meat of a cow can be sold for 20 to 30 rounds. Therefore, it has become a common phenomenon to pay beef tax to the government privately and the government issues slaughter licenses. In the era of Song Renzong, the restrictions on the slaughter of cattle began to be gradually relaxed, and finally this restriction was completely abolished. Therefore, in the Song Huizong period when the Water Margin story happened, people no longer restricted the killing of cattle, but could kill cattle everywhere to sell beef.

Then again, why doesn't everyone eat mutton in the Water Margin? The reason is simple, I can't afford it.

As can be seen from the price, according to the animal price test in Song Dynasty, during the Stegosaurus period in Song Taizu, the price of a cow was two. In the fifth year of Chunhua in Song Taizong (994), some counties in Jingxi Road lacked Niu Gengdi, and the government organized farmers to buy in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. "The government borrowed 3,000 yuan for each cow." Each cow has three perforations, which is about the price at that time. Daguan four years (1 1 10) "The price of a cow is only five or seven thousand." The price of a cow is 5 to 7. In the fifth year of Xuanhe (1 123), the plundered cattle were collected by Zhejiang and Zhejiang provinces and sold to farmers at the price of 10 yuan. Regarding Song Huizong, Xu Jingheng has a poem called "The Picture of Mo Niu": "A cow is worth 10,000 yuan, how can it be ink?" . The Andtian family really has this. There are no hungry people in the world. "It shows that the price of cattle at that time was generally around 10.

How much is a sheep worth? During the Xining period, the official price of live sheep in Shi Jing was per catty 130 yuan, and it has increased year by year since then. In the 26th year of Shaoxing (1 156), Yang Kang, the butcher of Qiantang county in Lin 'an prefecture, proposed to present "720 royal sheep, totaling 10,000 yuan" to the court. A sheep has risen to the price of a cow. At the end of Shaoxing, the price of sheep in Pingjiang was extremely high, and the amount of mutton soared to 900 per catty: "Pingjiang sheep 9 1 1 catty, how dare you buy it?" Even small and medium-sized officials whose wages already include meat supplements can't afford it.

Zhao Lingzhi's Record of Houjie recorded that Lu Zhi played Dongpo: "I used to exchange goose books. Han Zongru is gluttonous. Every time he gets a post, Lin Yao, the commander in chief of the temple, promises to change more than ten kilograms of mutton, which is called a book for changing sheep. " Dongpo said with a smile: One day, when Gong was in Hanyuan, he wrote a lot of books on sacred restraint. In order to report the books, Zongru wrote several bamboo slips that day, which made people anxious to set up a court to supervise. Gong smiled and said, "I am the official who sent the message today!" When Han Zongru got Su Shi's copybook, he changed someone else's mutton. Su Shi's works are famous all over the world, and the copybook can only be exchanged for more than ten kilograms of mutton, which shows the high price of mutton.

Because mutton is expensive, it is usually difficult to eat, while beef is relatively rich, good in taste, low in fat content, long in digestion cycle and anti-hunger, and gradually becomes the second best choice for folk meat. This is probably the main reason why heroes of the Water Margin love beef alone.