Chapter 88 Linxiang Thirteen Village Pickles

In March of Yangchun, my friends and I went to Linxiang to see Huanggai Lake, and learned about its grass growing and warblers flying, blue sea and sky. Linxiang is located in the border of northern Hunan, bordering the Yangtze River in the north and Dongting in the west.Xia and Shang belonged to Jingzhou, and Spring and Autumn belonged to Chu State. In the fifth year of Song Chunhua (994), Dynasty County was established, and in the second year of Dao Dynasty, it was changed to Linxiang County.The terrain is high in the south and low in the north, with undulating peaks in the southeast, continuous hills in the middle, and vast flat areas in the northwest.There are many rivers, among which Taolin River, Tandu River and Yuantan River meander north and flow into the Yangtze River.Linxiang borders nine counties and cities including Chibi, Tongcheng, Jianli, Tongshan, Chongyang, Honghu and Xiushui in Jiangxi.The waterway of the Yangtze River goes down according to the environment. In the late Qing Dynasty, there were 18 ferry crossings along the Yangtze River, including Ruxi, Xinzhounao and Yejiadun.

Huanggai Lake is a part of the ancient Dongting Lake Yunmengze. It is located on the south bank of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River at the junction of Hunan and Hubei provinces, in the northeast corner of Linxiang City. It is located on the bank of the Yangtze River. Nearly two-thirds of the west and south banks belong to Linxiang City. , one-third of the north and east coasts belong to Chibi City. In 207, the chief general of the Soochow Navy trained troops here, formerly known as Taiping Lake.After the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan rewarded Huang Gai for his meritorious deeds and renamed it Huang Gai Lake. In 1959, the state-owned Huanggai Lake Farm of Hunan Province was established, which was directly under the jurisdiction of Yueyang City, and later restructured into Huanggai Town, which was under the jurisdiction of Linxiang City.A large number of educated young people from Changsha and Hengyang came here to reclaim land. After more than 40 years of reclamation, it has been built into a land of fish and rice with complete infrastructure and convenient water and land transportation.There are willow bank Fangdi, fishing boats singing late, rice lotus fragrance everywhere.

We went west from Chibi, the ancient battlefield of the Three Kingdoms, through the mountains, and beyond the wilderness was a swamp, which was the destination of our trip, Huanggai Lake.Looking from a distance, the mountains are green and the water is beautiful, the waves are surging, the gulls are flying in the sky, and the scenery is beautiful.Huang Gai, the general of the Eastern Wu Dynasty in the Three Kingdoms, stationed his troops here. The lake is vast and there are many embankments.Soldiers marched and fought in wartime, and soldiers opened up wasteland and farmed in leisure time, planting a lot of vegetables.Huang Jun used the secret method handed down by the local aborigines to pickle vegetables, sealed them with yellow mud in an earthen altar, buried them by the lakeside, and took them out after forty-nine days.When Chibi was burned, Huang Gai was wounded by a stick and lost his appetite. The sergeant served pickles, his appetite was great, and he fought for rice every day. He quickly recovered and became strong, defeating Cao Jun.One day, Zhuge Liang and Lu Su comforted Huang Gai. Huang Gai took pickles from Shisan Village in the barracks to entertain guests. Xiajun County was granted the fiefdom of Huanggai, and the lake around Shisan Village was named Huanggai Lake.Since then, Shisancun pickles have become royal tributes, and some people commented that "there are six must live in the north, and there are thirteen villages in the south".Shisancun has a wide variety of pickles, including eight-flavored soybean paste, Xiangli bean paste, shredded red mustard mustard, refined chopped chili, spicy fermented bean curd, dried five-spice sauce, and spicy radish sticks.

We roamed around the Huanggai Lake, looking for the color of spring, and also looking for the cultural heritage of Huanggai Lake. Another purpose of our trip is to experience the taste of Shisancun pickles.I am a gourmet seeker, and the people who accompany me are somewhat contaminated with my bad habits. At about noon, the brother who called at the front station called and asked us to go a few hundred meters further. There is a farmhouse, where can we find the pickles we were looking for in Shisancun.Everyone rushed to the farmhouse in a hurry, the owner had already served the meals, and Shisancun pickles were also served. We felt that the pickles were refreshing, but we didn't understand them carefully.After swallowing the food, I had a leisurely drink of tea. During the chat with the shop owner, I learned that: Shisancun pickles mainly appear on the Dragon Boat Festival.

Linxiang Dragon Boat Festival has the habit of making rice dumplings, eating salted eggs, rubbing realgar, watching dragon boats, hanging sachets, and taking medicinal baths. Salted eggs are one of the pickles in Shisancun.When cooking zongzi, put some salted duck eggs in the pot and cook together. After eating the zongzi dipped in sugar, eat the salted duck eggs on top, so that there will be no sores in summer.Salted duck eggs will be eaten in the sun at noon, and there will be no headaches in summer.The shop owner sent each of us a salted duck egg. I tasted it carefully. The egg body was tender, the egg yolk was cinnabar, the oil juice was overflowing, the fragrance was delicious, the taste was unique, and the aftertaste was endless.

When we returned to Changsha, I went back to the farmhouse and bought 20 salted duck eggs and some pickles, and brought them home for my wife to taste.