The Scrambled Ear Piece------Saving the Emperor

腾冲炒饵“大救驾”

The scrambled ear piece is a special snack of Tengchong in Yunnan Province. It is made of processed, cooked, compressed rice in the shape of thin pies. Apart from piece, it can also be cooked as noodle, i.e. rice noodle. Emperor Yongli of Ming Dynasty moves his imperial government to West Yunnan after Qing Dynasty army headed by Wu Sangui breaks into Kunming in Early Qing Dynasty. Li Dingguo, the leader of the insurgent peasant army Daxi ，is discontented with the imperial court all long. Believing that personal enmities must be forgotten at a time of national crisis, he gets rid of old grudges and joins the imperial army of Ming Dynasty resolutely and persistently. As Emperor Yongli is still hotly pursued by Qing army, Li Dingguo orders the great general Jing tongwu to escort to Tengchong . It is very late when they arrive there. Exhausted and hungry, they finds a resting place. In order to have them eat something as soon as possible, the owner stir-fries the ear piece. Emperor Yongli then repeats the pleasing phrase saying “the ear piece has saved my life”. Therefore Scrambled Ear Piece is also called Saving the Emperor.
腾冲炒饵“大救驾”是云南腾冲的一种小吃，是铒块或饵丝烹制而成，饵块或饵丝都是米类制品。清初，吴三桂率清军打进昆明，明朝永历皇帝的小朝迁逃往滇西，当时的农民义军大西军领袖李定国，一向不满朝廷的统治，但在民族危难之际，毅然捐弃前嫌，与南明朝廷合作，并且矢志不渝。就在永历皇帝为清军紧追不舍之际，他命大将靳统武护送永历皇帝至腾冲，当时天色已晚，此一行人走了一天山路，疲惫不堪，饥饿难忍。找到一处歇脚之地后，主人图快，炒了一盘饵块送上。永历皇帝吃后赞不绝口地说：“炒饵块救了朕的大驾。”从此，腾冲炒饵块改名为“大救驾”