Is the pig leg that Xiang Yu rewarded Fan Kuai at the Hongmen Banquet raw or cooked?

Think about it, if there is a plate of big, fragrant and soft pork elbows in front of you, smell the fragrant aroma, and your mouth will be full of oil after taking a bite, I guess the mouths of most of my foodie friends will be watering just thinking about it. came out. But if you see a pig leg in front of you, which not only smells of blood, but is also mixed with unfinished hair and blood, then someone tells you: Eat it! It is estimated that many people will be put off. Are you kidding? How can you eat it if it is not cooked?

Some people really ate it, and Sima Qian vividly recorded the story of this person chewing a pig leg in "Historical Records". The story is the Hongmen Banquet we are familiar with, and the person who eats the pork legs is Fan Kuai, the founding hero of the Western Han Dynasty.

The Hongmen Banquet was a gathering of stars, but Fan Kuai turned this summit meeting into a stage for his own performance.

(Hongmen Banquet Seating Map)

Originally, under Fan Zeng’s interference, Xiang Yu had already planned to deal with Liu Bang, but Xiang Bo’s betrayal made Liu Bang know that his situation was very dangerous, so Early the next morning, Liu Bang brought Zhang Liang and others to apologize to Xiang Yu. His posture was as low as twelve points, and his meaning was very clear: You are the boss, I am the younger brother, how do you arrange it, and what do I do? , I am 200% loyal to you and have no other intentions. Xiang Yu, who was still furious at first, expressed great satisfaction when Liu Bang surrendered. This upright Jiangdong man also began to explain to himself: Oh, this is all your Zuo Sima Cao Wushang who slandered our relationship, otherwise we wouldn't have done it. It got to this point.

(This Fan Zeng got angry and asked Xiang Yu to kill Liu Bang, but Xiang Yu didn't respond at all)

Well, this is just a change of hands and he sold Cao Wushang! Fan Zeng was probably so angry that his eyes would pop out. Now that the misunderstanding between the two parties was resolved and Liu Bang was a guest from afar, Xiang Yu held a banquet to welcome Liu Bang. Of course Fan Zeng was not reconciled to not being able to kill Liu Bang on the spot, but regardless of whether he was at the banquet. Regardless of his winks or gestures, Xiang Yu just didn't respond, and this guy was easy to fool. Since Pei Gong didn't have second thoughts, why should I bother to be a villain?

(In desperation, Fan Zeng had to find Xiang Zhuang and asked him to wait for an opportunity to assassinate Liu Bang during the sword dance)

Fan Zeng was anxious. If the mountain doesn't come, I will do it. He went to the mountain, so he walked out of the camp and ordered Xiang Yu's general Xiang Zhuang to come forward and dance with his sword to cheer up, and found an opportunity to kill Liu Bang. Just when Xiang Zhuang was secretly poking at Liu Bang, Xiang Bo, who had turned his elbow outward, took action. Is this man really working hard? Xiang Bo also drew his sword and danced, often covering Duke Pei with his wings, so that Zhuang could not attack. ?Who is Xiang Bo? The patriarch of the group and Xiang Yu's uncle, how could he, a member of the Xiang family, afford to offend him? Xiang Zhuang naturally shrank back, and the assassination was abandoned.

Although Liu Bang's situation was temporarily safe under the protection of Xiang Bo, who knew if Fan Zeng would think of other tricks, so Zhang Liang got up and went to move reinforcements. Who to look for? Fan Kuai.

Fan Kuai is also a tiger. In Xiang Yu's territory, this man rushed in without waiting for the application notice. The guards on both sides stopped him from entering. As a result, Fan Kuai directly knocked the guards into confusion. He opened the curtain and rushed in. What was Fan Kuai doing at this time? ? Standing in the west, wearing a curtain, looking at King Xiang with anger, his hair pointing upward, and the canthus of his eyes cracked.

?You were excited to watch the sword dance, but suddenly a tall black man rushed in, staring at you with two bloodshot eyes. How did you feel?

(Fan Kuai would have been a bottle blowing expert even now, and drank more than three bottles of wine in one go)

Anyway, Xiang Yu was startled, and he immediately leaned forward, holding in his hand I'm also holding the hilt of the sword. As long as you have any evil intentions, I will draw the sword! Zhang Liang, who followed later, hurriedly stepped forward to explain; I misunderstood, this was Pei Gong's chariot Fan Kuai! Looking at the majestic Fan Kuai, Xiang Yu, who was born as a warrior, started to love talents. He called Fan Kuai "strong man" repeatedly, and then carried forward the fine tradition of the Chinese dinner table: Have a drink? ?Give him wine? So he gave Fan Kuai a full dou of wine. In the Qin and Han Dynasties, a dou of wine was equivalent to about two thousand milliliters, which was equivalent to more than three bottles of beer. Fan Kuai raised his neck and blew! Xiang Yu took a look and saw that the eldest brother had a good drinking capacity! So he ordered the people around him: "Give him a pig shoulder!" ?

(No, Fan Kuai in history would never eat pig trotters with such a naive expression. This is not Fan Kuai, but a fool)

The next record of Tai Shigong is : Then it will be a lifetime relationship. I don't know if Fan Kuai was deliberately trying to embarrass Fan Kuai, but he actually gave him a pig's thigh. As a result, Fan Kuai fiercely threw his shield to the ground, put it on the pig's shoulder, drew his sword, cut it into pieces and ate it. ?A piece of pig leg, he just cut it and ate it, and he finished it! When I first read this story, I thought it was unbelievable. After all, such a big elbow would make me feel tired even if it is cooked, let alone a raw thigh that is not cooked or roasted, and is still stained with pig hair and blood? Is this thing too chewy? Can you eat it? No one can do it!

(Liang Yusheng also seems to have some doubts about raw pig legs, so he interpreted this as the word "new" was added by later generations)

Don't think that I am bored and have trouble with a pig thigh. In fact, it’s not only me who is surprised, but the ancients don’t seem to understand either. Liang Yusheng of the Qing Dynasty specifically questioned the pig leg in his "Historical Records". In his opinion, the origin of this pig leg is very unreasonable. After all, They weren't in the kitchen, where did Zuo Zuo find a pig leg for Fan Kuai? Although he had already prepared it, he didn't know that Fan Kuai was coming, so Liang Yusheng thought that the word "生" was added by later generations. In fact, Xiang Yu gave Fan Kuai a prepared pig leg, and Fan Kuai ate it. Yes, Xiang Yu said you are really awesome.

Many modern scholars seem to disagree with Fan Kuai eating raw pig legs, so teachers have given many explanations for the word "生".

(There is also a theory that because the bamboo slips are written vertically, later generations regard "quan" as "life")

Some teachers think that this "student" should be "?" The word "quan" was written vertically on the bamboo slips. When copying, the ancients mistook "quan" for "a whole life", which is why they made such a big mistake. In fact, what Xiang Yu gave to Fan Kuai was a cooked, whole character. A pig leg, which also echoes the whole text, indicating that Fan Kuai can not only drink, but also eat. After all, he just blew more than three bottles of beer in one breath, and then destroyed an entire pig leg without changing his expression. This made Xiang Yu even more He sighed repeatedly: Warrior! And it was precisely because it was a whole pig thigh that Fan Kuai put it on a shield and cut it with a sword. If it was the kind of elbow we usually eat and gnawed it in the hand, why put it on a shield? ?

(It is also said that raw pig legs actually refer to cooked but cut and seasoned pig legs, which are actually edible)

The last theory? Raw The word "?" actually refers to cooked but unprocessed meat, because during the Qin and Han Dynasties, everyone still had a meal-sharing system similar to a "buffet". If you wanted to eat meat in the military camp, you would set up a big pot outside the tent. Put large pieces of meat into a pot and cook it. After cooking, cut it into small pieces and eat it with the sauce on the side. This can also explain why you can provide Fan Kuai with a "raw pig leg" while Xiang Yu is eating it. While the meat was watching Xiang Zhuang and Xiang Liang dancing swords, Fan Kuai rushed in, so Xiang Yu handed a cooked but not yet chopped thigh to Fan Kuai. Fan Kuai was not polite and picked up the pork leg without dipping it. Sauce, take a big bite, this seems to explain it.

Is that really the case? Is it really because of errors in textual copying or differences in historical background that we have misunderstood the pig leg that Fan Kuai ate for thousands of years?

(After consulting various documents, the records of pig legs are all raw, which shows that Liang Yusheng’s statement is untenable)

I’m afraid this may not be the case, and the explanations of later generations are all It is quite far-fetched to speculate on the ancients based on modern customs. First of all, regarding Liang Yusheng's "copying and adding characters" theory, there is no evidence or surviving documents to prove that there are omissions or additions of characters in this section of the historical records. Since Taishi Gong Since the advent of "Historical Records", there have been many published versions. The earliest version we can find is "Historical Records Collection" written by Pei Xiang, an official of the Liu and Song Dynasties in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and most of them were included in the revision of Sikuquanshu during the Qing Dynasty. There are several websites where you can watch online, and all Fan Kuai eats is a "raw pig shoulder". If you want to say that the online version is unreliable, the paper documents I have on hand are "Historical Records" published by Zhonghua Book Company and Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House. , its authoritativeness is self-evident, but the records of this pig leg are also "uncertain". This shows that before the decisive evidence is produced, the possibility of Liang Yusheng's additional words is unlikely.

(There are a lot of doubts about the misunderstanding, after all, this is how the small seal script of ?全? is written)

Secondly, the word ?全? was written by mistake and became? Life? This statement is not very reliable. Friends who hold this view may have suffered from illegible handwriting and misreading of words. However, after the founding of the Western Han Dynasty, Xiaozhuan was used as the official script (the popularity and development of official script was only in the Eastern Han Dynasty) (son), the entire "Historical Records" written by Tai Shigong should be written in seal script. How is the word "全" written in small seal script?

(How short-sighted and sloppy is this to regard the word "whole" as "a lifetime"?) What about the word "一"? What kind of bend does the person above the word ?全? have? How dazzled is the guy who wrote the copy to see ?全? as a whole life? This argument may make sense based on logic or personal habits, but it ignores the historical background of Tai Shigong and is untenable.

(The Kangxi Dictionary also explains "raw", which means it is undercooked. There is no such thing as "cooked" without seasoning)

As for "raw", is it cooked? It is even more nonsense to say that there is no seasoning. In ancient Chinese classics from the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period to the Han and Three Kingdoms, the word "生" always refers to uncooked or live animals, and "cooked meat without seasoning". It has nothing to do with it. For example, the "Book of Han" records that raw meat is called preserved meat and dried meat is called preserved meat. "The Analects of Confucius" says: "If you give food, you must taste it first; if you give fishy food, you must cook it and recommend it; if you give life, you must livestock it." ?The Kangxi Dictionary has notes on various meanings of new words, but when it comes to food, the meaning is ?but not familiar with it. ?Furthermore, the Kangxi Dictionary used the Hongmen Banquet paragraph as evidence in a very wicked way, so friends who hold this view do not need to emphasize on eating habits and cooking history. Judging from the documentary records alone, there is no doubt that this pig leg It was a freshly slaughtered pig leg that had not been cooked in any way.

Giving Fan Kuai a pig leg can better show the fierceness of this man. Because of the way Fan Kuai was blowing the bottle just now, if he was given a fully cooked or half-cooked pig leg, he could pick it up and gnaw it, but a raw pig leg couldn't be torn apart with his mouth, so Fan Kuai put the pig leg on his shield. Then he cut it with a sword, and this man was also a bachelor. He didn't care if the pork leg was raw or cooked, and he didn't dip it in sauce. He just ate it in big mouthfuls. Not to mention how stunned King Xiang was. Fan Kuai was so angry that he ate the raw pig leg. Baqi: I can drink wine, and I can also eat raw meat. Let’s see what you can do to me!

(Before the Western Han Dynasty, many delicacies on the aristocratic table were raw meat)

Secondly, Fan Kuai ate raw meat. Is it strange? It's strange, but not strange. What's strange is the way Fan Kuai eats meat. What's not strange is that before the Qin and Han Dynasties, raw meat itself was the daily food of the nobles. Everyone must know this idiom: "荍词人口", 荍 refers to cooked meat, and zhi refers to raw meat. It can be seen that the delicacies considered by the ancients at that time included both raw food and cooked food.

Of course, the ancients were not like Fan Kuai who took a bloody leg of beef or lamb and opened his mouth to gnaw it. Confucius had a saying: "You never tire of fine food, and you never tire of fine meat." The muscle fibers of raw meat must be very tough and difficult to chew. , so Confucius said that it must be cut finely and chopped into pieces to be delicious. Moreover, when nobles eat raw meat, in addition to cutting it well, they also need to eat it with dipping sauces, such as green onions in spring and mustard in autumn. Confucius also specifically pointed out in "Eight No Foods" that if there is no food when eating raw meat, Sauce, why not eat it? Don’t eat the sauce? In the Zhou Dynasty, in addition to eating raw meat directly, the ancients also played with it. For example, minced meat. This kind of sauce is made of raw meat. Anyone who makes minced meat must dry the meat first and then cook it. , mix it with rice koji and salt, soak it with fine wine, put it in a vat, and it will be ready in a hundred days. ?First dry the raw meat, then chop it into pieces, add millet and salt, and then pour it with wine. After sealing and fermenting for a hundred days, this sauce is made. It is both meat and wine, but the taste is unknown. How about it.

(Sashimi)

However, with the gradual enrichment of cooking methods, people ate less raw meat after the Han Dynasty. After all, it is difficult to preserve and tastes worse than cooked meat. But the fish meat has been preserved. Emperor Zhou had to eat sashimi with mustard sauce. I guess later generations were not so particular about it. They just fished one out, cut it and started eating. Chen Deng, the prefect of Guangling during the Three Kingdoms period, was a sashimi maniac. , this man had been eating sashimi for more than ten years and was infected with parasites. Although he was cured by the miracle doctor Hua Tuo, he still failed to control his mouth and died on the sashimi.

So at the end of the Qin Dynasty and the beginning of the Han Dynasty, it was not surprising that there was raw meat in the military camp, and it was even less strange that it was eaten. However, Comrade Fan Kuai was a tough man, and neither cooked nor chopped it, so he just ate one with great pleasure. The pork leg immediately stunned everyone, followed by an impassioned speech, emphasizing Liu Bang's achievements in conquering Guanzhong, leaving Xiang Yu speechless. The whole scene came to a natural conclusion and was extremely smooth.

It can be seen that if you want to be a hero, you must not only have superhuman strength and extraordinary wisdom, but also have a pair of good teeth and a strong stomach at critical moments!