North and South groceries

Speaking of which, Emperor Sui Yang was indeed a very generous emperor.

Back then, he not only held a grand banquet in Zhangye, but also encouraged businessmen from the Western Regions to go to the Central Plains to do business, and held a grand meeting of all nations in Luoyang.

This approach left people with the impression that people are stupid and have a lot of money, but at that time, this policy was really attractive to those Hu merchants in the Western Regions.

At that time, the trade between the East and the West was almost monopolized by the Turkic people, and Hu merchants were already used to doing business with the Turkic people. As time went on, the Turkic financial resources became stronger and the threat to the Central Plains became greater. Emperor Sui Yang This move is basically a draw from the bottom of the pot.

At this time in the early Tang Dynasty, Hu merchants no longer had the same treatment as in the Sui Dynasty.

In the fourth year of Zhenguan, some people in the Western Regions said that they wanted to pay tribute. In fact, they were suspected of going to the Central Plains in the name of paying tribute to do business and eat and drink. Many small countries have done this kind of thing in the past. Treated as a state guest, the gifts sent over were not many, but when they returned, the gifts they received in return were quite generous.

In response to this matter, Wei Zheng remonstrated at that time: If it is just merchants and let them do business with the people on the border, then there is no problem. If you want to entertain them as guests, it is "not in the interests of China."

In fact, there is no need to do that. Since the trade pattern has been opened, why should these people live and live for nothing.

This thing is like the new customer discounts of various APPs in the future. For new customers, various red envelopes are distributed in large quantities, and old customers don't even think about it.

Therefore, these Hu merchants can't live in post stations now, and they can't enjoy the treatment of free board and lodging. The small towns on the commercial roads in the Western Regions also have the opportunity to develop the catering and accommodation industry.

Hu businessman's money is not easy to earn.I heard that on some large piers in the Central Plains, those coolies who moved goods for others often swarmed the cargo ships of those aristocratic families and merchants from the Central Plains, because most of these people spent a lot of money. It is not so high, because most Hu merchants are relatively stingy.

But that is in the Central Plains, in Changle County, where a large part of the local economy is driven by these stingy Hu merchants.

Changle County has neither rich resources nor any special industries, nor can it compete with the surrounding cities, and cannot allow Hu merchants to stay in the city, so this county is very poor.

In order to develop the local economy, Luo Yong has been thinking hard recently and probably set three short-term, medium-term and long-term goals for this small town.

The short-term goal is to provide better services than surrounding towns at the same or similar price through the promotion of tofu dishes, as well as improving the food standard of restaurants and the accommodation environment of guest houses, so as to retain some people who are not in a hurry. Hu merchants, through their consumption, brought some income to this small town.

Hu merchants travel between the Western Regions and the Tang Dynasty, and need to cross a large desert. In the desert, it is hot in summer, extremely cold in winter, and windy and sandy in early spring. Generally, the seasons for Hu merchants to cross the desert are late spring and early summer, or autumn.

In February and March of the lunar calendar, there were not many caravans coming from the Western Regions, but some Hu merchants coming from Liangzhou. They settled down in the Dunhuang area, waiting for the opportunity to cross the desert again. The right season and the right weather .

These Hu merchants who travel between the Tang Dynasty and the Western Regions are not so much merchants as gold diggers and adventurers.

Unlike some merchants in the Central Plains who have rich assets and a huge network of relationships, they risked their lives and traveled all the way to Datang just to make a lot of money.

There are also some Hu merchants who have chosen to settle down in Datang since they came to Datang, or walked a few times, and earned enough principal.

Whether in the Hexi Corridor or in Chang'an and Luoyang, there are many such merchants. They either resell goods, or run restaurants and guest houses. They do everything, but most of them are still doing business.

There are also some settled Hu merchants in Dunhuang, but there are not in Changle County.

"Changle County is ahead." This afternoon, a caravan came from Jinchang.

"Hurry up, I heard that a new county magistrate has come to teach the restaurants and guesthouses in the city tofu dishes." A Hu businessman wrapped in a white turban said loudly.

"It's just tofu, haven't you eaten enough in Liangzhou City?"

"Changle County is too deserted, it's not lively at all."

"We'll rest here for one night, and we'll go to Dunhuang tomorrow morning."

"When you arrive in Dunhuang, take a good rest."

"Hurry up! Changle County is ahead, and we will stay here tonight."

This group of bearded barbarians chatted loudly, even if someone else heard it, they still couldn't understand it.

Back then, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered people to garrison fields in the Hexi Corridor, and many Han soldiers lived and settled here, so the language here is mainly Chinese.

These Hu people have a bad impression of this place in Changle County. Every time they passed by here in the past, the food and accommodation were not very good. The city is small and there are very few people. There is not even a decent bathhouse.

This group of people chattered and chatted as they walked, talking all about the bad things about Changle County.

When he was about to enter the city gate, he looked up and saw that it was still the dilapidated city wall from before.

After entering the city gate, looking at the streets in the city, they are somewhat different from the past. The streets are much cleaner. Although there are not many pedestrians on the streets, they come and go in a hurry. scene.

"The guests want to eat, so go to my house. I, the magistrate of Aye and Naluo, have learned tofu dishes, and they are delicious. Today, we also stewed mutton at home, and there are new bean sprouts..."

There was a boy in his teens beside the city gate. Seeing this group of people entering the city, he hurried up to solicit business for his family's food shop.

The barbarians were a little moved when they heard him talk about tofu dishes, and they felt a little bored when they heard him talk about stewed mutton. Then they heard that there were new bean sprouts, and the leaders looked at each other and decided to go.

They were on the road, either eating jerky or eating pancakes. Although they had stayed in many towns and hotels next to Nilv, vegetables and vegetables were hard to come by in winter. At this time, they wanted to eat something refreshing for a change.

When he arrived at the food store opened by the child's home, his elder brother Ye Niang hurried out to greet him. Twenty or thirty Hu merchants filled his food store to the brim in an instant.

Seeing the guest houses next to him was very envious, and secretly regretted that they didn't let the family members go to the gate of the city today. There are not many caravans coming and going in this season, who would have thought that so many people would come today.

These Hu merchants order food, and those who house the animals house the animals. They are not at ease to hand over all the animals and goods to the shopkeepers.

These Hu merchants had just ordered one or two dishes, when a child quickly ran out of the food shop, kicked off his feet and ran all the way to an unnamed shop in the middle of the street, and shouted when he entered:

"There are 29 guests at my house, and they just ordered mixed with three silks and homemade tofu."

"Understood." The shopkeeper was a slightly older guard.

Although this person looked old on the outside, he was quite agile in his actions. He took bean sprouts, leeks, dried tofu, and a lot of tofu from the shelf beside him in a short while. These things were packed in a basket, which was quite heavy.

"Can you handle it?" the guard asked him.

"Yeah." The child picked up the hemp rope on the basket and hung it behind his neck, then walked out the door with his arms in his arms: "I, Aye, will send you some money later."

"Got it."

On the other side, at the food shop, those barbarian merchants ordered a few more dishes. The eldest son of the shop also came out of the shop at this time. I told him about the other dishes, and asked him to go back and send a message that the adults in the family would pick them up later.

There are so many guests coming at once, and the restaurant is also very busy. Those who wash vegetables wash vegetables, those who cook porridge make porridge, and when the big pot of steaming cornmeal porridge is boiled, the three shredded noodles here are also ready. up.

Hot porridge paired with cold dishes is very appetizing. Seeing those Hu merchants drinking porridge, putting cold dishes with chopsticks into their mouths and chewing, the expressions on their faces are also very satisfied.

While the Hu merchants were eating, new dishes were constantly being served. The taste was quite good. The most rare thing was that the ingredients of each dish were very fresh. It was not easy to do this.

Especially in places like Changle County, these food shops may not have one or two orders all day long. It is almost impossible to prepare so many ingredients and keep them fresh.

It was precisely with this in mind that Luo Yong asked the government to come forward to help these food shops stock up. Not only did he ask people to buy ingredients locally, he even asked those porters who went out to sell tofu to buy some from Jinchang Dunhuang and other places that were not available locally. something back.

The price of these items is increased by [-]% on top of the original price, and sold to restaurants and restaurants in the city, so that those stores can avoid the cost of stocking. The [-]% of the price increase is probably not enough for the operating costs of this supply point. Everyone is in business, and they are more or less aware of this.

"Ah Weng, it's time to eat." In the evening, a six or seven-year-old boy came from the county government holding a large bowl made of rough clay.

Since he, A Weng, was assigned to sell vegetables here, helping A Weng to prepare meals every day has become his job. This kid obviously likes this job very much. Every day when the meal comes, he will arrive at the county on time with a large rough clay bowl. The people in the county government office also know him.

"You eat first, and I'll take a look at these dishes." This guard is getting old, and he can't eat as much as those young people. It just so happens that the eldest grandson in the family is growing up, so he divides the meals every day. him some.

"Ah Weng, what do you want to eat tomorrow?" What kind of food is not sold well here, they will eat whatever food tomorrow, so just ask my own A Weng, he will know what to eat at the county government tomorrow.

"These courgettes can't be put anymore, maybe I will eat fried courgettes tomorrow."

The servant counted the items on the shelves, walked slowly to the Hu bed by the window and sat down, looked at the meals on the low table, a large bowl of braised mutton, and two small pancakes.

Changle County is located in the border area, the weather is relatively dry, and there is not much land that can be cultivated, so the food price is quite high. In the past two years, there have been many people raising sheep, mainly for cashmere and suet soap, and their local The price of mutton has become very cheap.

But if it’s cheap, it’s cheap, and the people must have money first. If they can’t even get a copper coin in their hands, then no matter how cheap the price of mutton is, they still can’t afford it.

"Ah Weng, you eat cakes, this cake is baked with white flour, and maltose is added."

"You can eat this cake, Ah Weng loves meat."

"Aon, take a bite."

"Then take a bite."

"How? Is it delicious?"

"good."

"This cake is delicious!"

"hey-hey……"

At the canteen of the county yamen, such exquisite food is prepared from time to time, most of the servants want to take it home, and the dolls in the house are very rare.

The grandparent and grandson sat opposite each other on the Hu bed by the window, and in the dim light, they shared a meal.

The child was full, tossed and played on the bed, and when he felt sleepy, he fell asleep on the bed.

The guard covered his grandson with a quilt, removed the low table, and went out to close the courtyard door. Standing in the courtyard here, he could hear a group of women talking loudly over there. There are a lot of dishes, that restaurant must have earned a lot today.

If they ate well, those people might be able to stay here for a longer time, after all, they couldn't enter the desert at this time of year.If this is the case, the restaurant owner will be very happy.

This is also thanks to the new county magistrate Luo, if it weren’t for the new dishes he taught, and the establishment of such a shop to supply ingredients, which satisfied the Hu merchants, they wouldn’t be able to order so many dishes today, let alone Been here for a long time.

Think back when the county magistrate first came, many people in the county were not optimistic about him. Such a young and gentle scholar, is he really as great as the rumors outside?

It is said that it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice, and their place is not very good. No matter how clever Luo Sanlang is, I am afraid that there is nothing he can do about Changle County.

However, it is this young county magistrate Luo, who can not only fight the county magistrate and others away, but also point out the way of running the merchants in the city. Put them into practice one by one.

Originally, it was said that the world spread rumors, but I never thought that the real person is better than the legend.

The night outside the window was getting darker. That night, the old guard had a very good dream.

He dreamed that outside the city gate of Changle County, a small clear river flowed. The clear river water was sparkling, and the whole Changle County was filled with sweet and fresh water vapor. He and his family and neighbors were very happy. joy.