Liu Muzhi was born in Juxian County, Dongguan (now Shandong), with the word Daohe and the small word Daomin. When he was a teenager, his family was poor and addicted to alcohol and food. He did not detain himself. He often went to his wife and brother Jiang's for dinner. His wife wouldn't let him go. He didn't care. He still went there once and asked the host to chew betelnut after the banquet. The Jiang family brothers laughed at him: "Betel nut is a snack. You are always hungry, so why do you need it?" The Jiang family took pains to reconcile, cut off their hair and became money, and bought wine and food to support Mu Zhi. The hypothesis is that it is a gift from their brothers; Since then, I dare not wash in front of Mu Zhi, for fear of exposing the secret of hair cutting.
Liu Yu, the prime minister, wanted to find someone to be the chief secretary, and his trusted followers said that Liu Daomin was the only one. Mu Zhi became the master book, integrating the responsibilities of the chief secretary, chief cabinet officer and military adviser. Every day, people asking for instructions from inside and outside the house are full, and there are long queues outside the stairs. Mu Zhi listened to the report, read the documents, wrote comments and instructions, and never made mistakes. Liu Yu's expedition to Chang'an was presided over by him. He also asked for advice on military advances abroad. Mu Zhi was rich and had a big treat. Jiang Shi, afraid of complaining, knelt down to beg him in tears. He smiled and said, "I don't hold grudges, don't be suspicious.". At the end of the banquet, he ordered people to treat guests with a gold plate filled with betel nuts.
Li Bai's poem: "When to make a golden plate, one can recommend betel nuts", that is, to chant the matter. In the 13th year of Yixi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 417), Mu Zhi died early. In the third year, Liu Yu, who was born as a farmer, became the emperor and deeply commemorated him. He said, "When Mu dies, people will be easy for me.". Liu Muzhi is a powerful person, a noble person and a famous person. He is magnanimous and loves betel nuts, which has a great influence on the popularity of betel nuts throughout the country. If the betel nut industry wants to worship the founder, it must be Liu Muzhi.
Xiaoyi, the son of Emperor Gaodi of Qi in the Southern Dynasty and the king of Yuzhang, died in the tenth year of Yongming (AD 492). On his deathbed, he told posterity that a mourning hall should be set up within three days to provide incense, water, dry rice, preserved wine and betel nuts. After burial, four kinds of incense and betel nuts should still be provided every month. His hobby is betel nut, which he will never forget until he dies. All the above are based on the Southern History. According to the Northern History, Wang Xin, the sixth generation of Wang Meng's grandson, was killed by Emperor Gao Yang of the Northern Qi Dynasty. The imperial edict scolded him: "It's good to fake betel nuts and praise frivolous articles." It can be seen that betel nuts had become extremely valuable goods in the north and south at that time, just as Coca Cola and KFC became popular later.
In the early Qing Dynasty, Wang Shizhen taunted Tongguan for saying "sitting in a sedan chair and eating betel nuts", and in A Dream of Red Mansions, You Erjie had the details of betel nut purse. Later, betel nut gradually became popular throughout the country. Only in the corner of Xiangtan, areca consumption is particularly high.
Wang Kouyun's "Guangxu Annals of Xiangtan County/Articles of Merchandising" estimates that the streets of the city are three fold, 15 miles long, multiplied by three, 45 miles in total, 300 steps per mile, which is about five steps to a betel nut sales point, facing each other, earning 100 wen a day at each point, with a total annual consumption of more than 20 billion wen, which is only equivalent to the grain income of Yisu Town (this calculation is wrong, it should be more than 200 million wen). However, as far as the whole country and province are concerned, counties are rarely comparable.
The old fallacy said that after slaughtering the city, people formed the habit of chewing betel nuts to bury the dead for epidemic prevention, but they didn't know that there were few people left after slaughtering the city. How could they buy betel nuts? In fact, because the water transport of Guangzhou goods must change ships in Xiangtan (the east bank of Changsha is too shallow to berth boats), Xiangtan accepts the incoming betel nuts and has traditional processing handicrafts, so it first collects and distributes them here, thus becoming a large consumer. It is a fact that every person in Xiangtan is mocked by outsiders for chewing a handful of grass.
Wang Kouyun mentioned the Zhou family of Chenshan in Xiangtan County Guangxu Annals/Mountains and Rivers with a note: "Zuo Wenxiang lived in his wife's house recently and hated betel nuts." This is just a joke, or intended to raise Zuo Zongtang, compared with Liu Muzhi. In fact, Zuo doesn't like betel nuts, and his family never laughed at his poverty. His family is not destitute either. He has 30 mu of farmland, which was given to his brother. Areca nut has become a commercial fist product in Xiangtan and has gradually been introduced to all metropolises in the country.
The Crane Forest Jade Dew said: Lingnan people use betel nut instead of tea to fight malaria, which has four merits: waking up can make people drunk, and chewing is as exciting as drinking. Drunken can wake you up. After drinking, you can chew it. Hunger can make you full, chew on an empty stomach, and cheer up. Being full can make you hungry. Chewing can relieve greasy food and digestion. Zhu Xi's poem: Areca nut is harvested to dispel phlegm, which is said to be medicinal. In modern times, it was used as its seed, the famous flower white or flower betel nut, and boiled water was used to deliver pumpkin seeds. It has a special effect to expel tapeworms. When Su Shi was demoted to Hainan, his poem said that "red rosy clouds climb the cheeks and intoxicate betel nut". These are all good materials for betel nut advertising.
