This year is the year of tribute, and the group tea of Platts Tea House was selected as a tribute by Pu 'er House. In the Qing Dynasty, making tribute tea was not an easy task. The material used should be the first bud leaves before spring, and the picking time is very particular. We must "choose five and abandon eight", that is, choose date, time, tea mountain, tea bush, tea branch, bud, leaf, bud, color, insect and purple. Traditionally, after making cakes and tea, the boss and local officials of Laopuzhuang will escort tribute tea to Beijing. But this year, the master of Lao Puzhuang fell ill, so he had to let Shao Zhuang's master, General Luo Qian of Pu 'er House, pay tribute to Beijing. At that time, the owner of Pu Shaozhuang was about twenty-three or four years old, just like the newly sprouted tea buds after the Qingming rain, tall and straight, handsome and full of heroic spirit. He fell in love with Miss Bai, the daughter of a salt merchant who was hacked twenty miles away. The White House is also a family of salt merchants. White girl is a celebrity in Fiona Fang for dozens of miles, and she is also a perfect match. Two fire cages have drunk wine, and the bride price has passed. In a few days, they will get married, and now they are planning the wedding. However, time is pressing, and the emperor's orders cannot be violated. Pu's master had no choice but to bid farewell to his father and Miss Bai in tears. Before he left, they urged him to go home as soon as he delivered the tribute tea.
It was also an accident. Because Pu's master is preoccupied, pressed for time and inexperienced, this year's spring rain has been intermittent again. Usually, my father's dry tea was not completely dried this time, so he hurriedly pressed the cake and packed it, which laid a great curse for what happened later.
Pu's master and escort officer arrived in Beijing day and night. At that time, it took seventeen or eighteen days to walk from Pu 'er to Guanma Avenue in Kunming, and it took more than three months to walk from Kunming to Beijing. In the meantime, the hardships of wading through mountains and rivers, sun and rain have not been mentioned. Be more alert to the attacks of bandits, beasts and diseases. Fortunately, we didn't encounter any big trouble along the way, but it was rainy season and the weather was hot.
After Pu and his party stayed in Beijing Yuelai Inn, the general, the escort officers and soldiers, Ma Guotou and the horse driver went shopping and drinking happily, regardless of the fatigue of the pommel horse, because it was their first time in Beijing. Only Pu misses his father and Miss Bai in his hometown and lives in the inn. He thought, tomorrow we will go to the temple to offer tea. After the tribute tea, we will go back day and night, just don't know what happened to the tribute tea. Thought of here, he ran to the guest room where the tribute tea was stored, untied the tribute tea from the horse bag, opened the sack, carefully carried out the bamboo tea bag, untied the bamboo rope and peeled off a bamboo tea bag. Oh, no, the tea cake has changed color. The original green tea cake has turned brown. He quickly opened the second bag and changed the color, then opened the third and fourth bags. As a result, all the tea cakes changed color. Master Pu Shao Zhuang suddenly sat down on the ground, but he couldn't come to his senses for a long time. He knew that he had made a big disaster and damaged the tribute, but it was a crime of deceiving the monarch, and he would have to kill his head, or even kill all nine families. Master Pu Shaozhuang sat on the ground for a long time, stood up slowly, drifted back to his room like a sleepwalker, closed the door, and lay in bed, tears streaming down his face. He remembered the earnest instruction of his father who was ill in bed before he left, the tearful and charming face of the white girl and her reluctant farewell, the solemn exhortation of the county magistrate and the farewell of the elders in the street, and the hardships along the way. The green tea mountain, the busy teahouse, the endless caravan and the busy street in Pu 'er Prefecture flashed in my mind, and all the familiar things would no longer exist, and the teahouse painstakingly managed by ancestors would also be destroyed in my own hands.
Besides, one or two people in the shop were curious when they heard that the inn had lived in a caravan in Yunnan. I want to see what this tribute tea is. He sneaked into the guest room alone. He saw the horse bag that Master Pu untied, took a piece of tea, pried it open with a knife, broke off a small piece and put it in a bowl. He rushed into the boiling water. When he saw the color of the soup, it was red and bright. He held it up and drank it. Wow, sweet and fragrant. Thought: what is the emperor's old son drinking? It's really different I moved a stool, sat cross-legged at the table and slowly sucked.
Master Pu Shao Zhuang was tossing and turning in bed, thinking about the past, and his pillow was wet with tears. I don't know how long it took, but at last he thought, "That's it, that's it, just like being beheaded in front of the temple tomorrow." It is better to kill yourself today, so as not to be embarrassed. " Go back to your residence, untie your belt, tie it to the beam and wrap it around your neck. ...
There's a bunch of people in charge, full of food and wine, humming a little song, and buying some Beijing snacks to take back to the young master to taste. As soon as he entered the inn door, he shouted, "Young master, young master, come and try Kyoto snacks." They looked everywhere, but they didn't see the young master Pu. Xiao Er heard General Luo Qian's cry and ran out of the room and said, "I was here the day before, but I think I will go back to the guest room later." Luo Qian, the manager, walked to Shao Zhuang's official residence with something in his hand. Hardly had he climbed the stairs when he heard a bang. He pushed the door and entered the room, and found that the son was hanging from the beam, and his hands and feet were still moving slightly. General Luo Qian was frightened and shouted, "No, young master hanged himself." He quickly pulled out his broadsword, cut off his belt and put down the young master. Class two heard the cry and ran out of the room one after another, only to see the young master's eyes turn white and dying. Several people shouted, shouted, pressed and rubbed. Fortunately, the belt was not tied in a slipknot, and he didn't die. It took him half an hour to wake up with the efforts of several people.
When Shao Zhuang woke up, he just cried and said nothing. Luo Qian always feels very strange. When he entered the teahouse, he saw that all the tea bags were opened. Looking closely, he understood the reason why the young villa owner committed suicide. He thought: it's over, he is responsible for escorting the tribute, and I can't escape the problem of tribute tea. I'd better leave him first, or someone will come to collect the body. Thinking about it, I pulled out my broadsword and wiped it on my neck. Seeing this, the bartender jumped over and hugged him and said, "Strange, strange, you Yunnan people came all the way to deliver tribute tea, but when the tribute tea didn't arrive, you hanged yourself." Why bother? " Luo Qian always cried and said, "Don't stop me. Because we died a day earlier and a day later, we committed the crime of deceiving the monarch. Let me die. " Xiao Erqi said, "Your tribute tea is very good, fragrant and sweet. How can you say it is not good? " Manager Luo Qian said, "Little brother, don't make fun of me." . Xiao Erdao: "It's really good tea. Why don't you believe it? See for yourself. " At this time, General Luo Qian took the bowl from the second hand with a grain of salt. He took a sip, which was sweet and smooth, and it was indeed a hundred times better than the tea he usually drank. He suddenly cheered up and thought, why is this happening? He looked at the tea pried open by Xiao er, puzzled, thought for a long time, and made up his mind: whatever, forget it if you die, and pay for the tea tomorrow.
On this day, it is an auspicious day for tribute tea from all countries to gather together and compete for tea. In the early morning, Qianlong called the civil and military officials to watch tea together. Tribute teas from all over the world are lined up in the court, with sample tea on the left and brewed tea soup on the right. In ancient times, tea tasting and tea fighting were all about observing its shape, smelling its fragrance, tasting its taste and then evaluating its advantages and disadvantages. The emperor's personal evaluation of tea is the highest competition in tea science. When Ganlong looked at the tribute tea sent from all over the country, it was really dazzling, with a wide variety, different colors and as many as stars. What West Lake Longjing, Dongting Biluochun, Sichuan Mengding, Huangshan Mao Feng, Luan Guapian, Wuyi Rock Tea, etc. , are famous teas all over the country, compact in shape, plump in bud, green as jade in soup and moist as jasper, all of which are fine teas. It is really impossible to judge whether they are good or bad at present. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he found a kind of tea cake as round as the moon in Sanqiu. The soup was red and bright, like a ruby, which was very special. Call a person to smell it, and it is mellow and refreshing. Take a sip, it's sweet and smooth, as if silks and satins were swept by the breeze and fell straight into the stomach. "What's this tea called?" Say dry long Dayue. Round as the bright moon in Sanqiu, fragrant in the blue of Jiutian, and delicious. ".The eunuch pushed Luo Qian, the general manager, to his side and said," The emperor asks you, so please answer quickly. ".General Manager Luo Qian has never seen such a scene. He jumped to his knees and stammered a word or two for a long time. He spoke Yunnan dialect, but he didn't understand it after listening for a long time. He asked, "What is a tribute? "The eunuch quickly replied," This tea is a tribute from Pu 'er House in Yunnan. "."Pu 'er House, Pu 'er House ... Such a good tea is nameless, just call it Pu 'er Tea. " Ganlong said loudly. Luo Qian always listened to this sentence, but it was the name of the tea sealed by the emperor, and he even kowtowed. Gan Long tasted three bowls of Pu 'er tea in succession, holding a reddish-brown tea cake and stroking it, even praising "good tea, good tea". Eunuch was ordered to brew, and gave it to civil and military officials to taste together. As a result, everyone in the court was carrying a bowl of red and bright Pu 'er tea, and the aroma suddenly filled the lobby, and the voice of appreciation was endless.
Gan Long was very happy. He rewarded Luo Qian and his party in Pu 'er House and ordered Pu 'er House to pay tribute to this mellow Pu 'er tea every year from now on. Luo Qian always turns from sorrow to joy, with mixed feelings, as if he had returned to heaven from hell in one day. Back in the store, I told Pu's boss the good news. Pu's master is naturally happy from heaven. They thanked Xiao Er again, asked for Pu 'er tea, a corner of which was pried open from the cake, and rushed back to Pu 'er House.
The master of Pulaozhuang and his family were rewarded by the emperor, and Pu 'er House was also celebrated by the whole family. It was as lively as a festival and lasted for three days. Later, the boss of Puzhuang and the tea teacher of Pu 'er House worked out the processing technology of Pu 'er tea based on this cake tea, and other Pu 'er tea houses followed suit. The tea-making technology of Pu 'er tea has been passed down from generation to generation among tea makers in various teahouses in Pu 'er prefecture, and has been developing continuously. Since then, Pu 'er tea has been paying tribute to the Qing court for 200 years, and drinking Longjing in summer and Pu 'er in winter in the palace has become a fashion and tradition.