North and South groceries

Luo Yong still has a lot of seeds on hand, but he dare not take them out easily.

The last time I took out the corn was already an adventure, but now people in the world say that this is the sixth valley bestowed by God.

But maybe one or two old foxes have noticed that the summer when the Sixth Valley appeared in Chang'an City happened to be the time when Luo Sanlang from Lishi entered Beijing for the first time.

In the eyes of many people, Luo Yong is somewhat mysterious. If it is said that the sixth valley was made by him, everyone will not be too surprised, but in this way, the emperor's position is...

So no matter how many more heads Luo used, he would not dare to take out the seeds in the space easily, especially potatoes and sweet potatoes. This is not only related to his personal wealth and life, but also to the stability of the entire situation. .

At this moment, the power of the various gentry families is still quite strong. The Li family has become the emperor, and while the other major families are playing the role of assistants, they are also restricting the royal power to a certain extent.

This constraint will make the king quite unhappy, but it will also keep them vigilant at all times. It restrains the king and prevents the ninety-five lords who are in high positions from doing whatever they want. This is the balance between imperial power and power. Gradually decline.

In the early Tang Dynasty, Xiangquan was so powerful at this time. This power was not given by the royal family, but the group that controlled Xiangquan itself were some powerful families. They had powerful power, a deep popular foundation and a lofty social status.

During a period of peace, these forces unite and suppress each other, forming a balanced and stable structure with the imperial power. Once this balance is broken, the entire society may fall into chaos.

Under such a big background, Luo Yong, a small butterfly, did not dare to flap its wings indiscriminately.

The reason why he made the gesture of collecting seeds very much this time was not to carry private goods, but to really want to find a kind of seed. This kind of seed is not easy to find, and it may be difficult to achieve what he wants in a short time, so he I can only let go of my reputation for collecting various seeds from the Western Regions early on, and the intention is to let these Hu merchants find seeds from all over the place and do what they like.

For these barbarians who came to him with seeds, Luo Yongna was very generous and enthusiastic. He not only told them all kinds of jokes as the other party wished, but also often made people entertain with a lot of food and wine. It is indispensable.

And the seed Luo county magistrate was looking for was none other than cotton.

When he was sorting out the books and materials in the space earlier, he had seen such a passage, which said that there was a kind of cloth called white cloth in the mid-Tang Dynasty society, which came from the Western Regions. It was expensive and only distinguished Only those who can afford it.

Many people in later generations believed that this white folded cloth was cotton cloth, and pointed out that in the middle of the Tang Dynasty, cotton was already planted in Xinjiang, but it was not introduced to the Central Plains. The Central Plains began to plant cotton on a large scale, and it would have to wait until the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

Luo Yongchuan has been here for so long, and he has never heard of white folded cloth. Perhaps it is because the time is still early, and it is still the early Tang Dynasty, and there are still more than 100 years before the middle Tang Dynasty.

I don’t know if people in Xinjiang at this time, that is, the countries in the Western Regions mentioned by the population, have already started to grow cotton. However, even if there is no Western Regions, there must be some in Tianzhu. Tianzhu is the future India, the origin of cotton. One, and the other is Arabic.

Luo Yong is currently actively contacting Hu merchants from all over the world. If this is done, then Luo Sanlang from Lishi, he can probably be upgraded to Duke Luo directly.

It's just that whether the cotton plantation can fall into his hands smoothly in the end depends on God's will.

Two days ago, when Luo Yong was having wine with a group of Sogdian Hu merchants, there were several middle-aged Sogdians in the banquet, who were very well-informed, so Luo Yong mentioned cotton to him:

"I heard that the Western Regions can also produce cloth, which is neither silk nor hemp nor geese. Have you ever heard of it?"

"It is true that the Western Regions can produce cloth. I wonder what kind the Ming government is talking about?"

"I just heard that Tao is stronger than silk cloth and softer than linen cloth. Its color is as white as snow, and it is very warm to wear."

"This..." These Sogdians were all puzzled.

"It seems that my brothers still have too little knowledge. I don't know who the Ming Dynasty listened to, and which country did this cloth come from?" one of the Sogdians asked Luo Yongdao.

"A few Hu merchants who passed by Changle County told me about it. They also heard about it from others, and they don't know much about it." Luo Yong shook his head with a smile, picked up the jug and poured wine for these Sogdians .

"If you can know which country this thing came from, it will be easier to inquire about it."

A Sogdian picked up the wine glass and drank the white wine in one gulp, and then smacked his lips a little bit. It will not be entertained for nothing.

"The Western Region is so big and there are so many countries, and the places we brothers have been to are limited. If you ask those big food merchants, they may know more." One of the older Sogdians said to Luo Yong .

"Tsk, big cannibal..." The Sogdian next to him snorted, apparently disliking the big food merchant.

These people traveled between countries to do business, walked on the desert and Gobi, and occasionally fought with wolves and robbers, sometimes with blood on their hands.

But killing a person and selling a person as an animal are two completely different things.Although not every big food businessman is involved in human trafficking, they are the ones who do the most.

"The cloth that Sanlang said is very precious, maybe it was planted in the royal manor of a certain country, and outsiders don't know much about it." The old Sogdian said again at this time.

"That's also possible." Luo sat cross-legged on the bed, with his hands in his sleeves, his face slightly drunk, and he nodded with a smile, as if he was just listening to an anecdote that he didn't care much about.

"If this is the case, it will be difficult for others to know the method of weaving."

"There are many secret methods of weaving that are not passed on in China."

"Tsk, it's not just the secret method of weaving, even a single silkworm egg is not allowed to be taken out of the customs." The few people chattered again.

"There are no silkworm eggs in the Western Regions?" Luo Yongqi asked.

"How can there be none?" A Sogdian laughed: "It's just a few silkworm eggs, and someone will always think of a way to get them out."

"This matter is only said to Saburo, you and us, and it will definitely not be said to someone else."

"In the past few years, corn seeds have also been said to be unable to leave the customs. This year we have traveled all the way, and in some oases to the west, we have seen some people planting corn."

"Talking about the silkworm eggs, I heard that it was a princess of your Han who secretly brought them outside the pass the first time."

"Is there still this?"

"But it's just hearsay, a widely circulated theory in the Western Regions."

"It's just that although there are silkworm eggs in the Western Regions, the silk cloth is still the best produced in the Central Plains."

"..."

Talking and drinking with these barbarians can make people gain some knowledge.

Speaking of the matter of entraining silkworm seeds and grain seeds to pass the customs, Luo Yong couldn't help but think of an incident in the Ming Dynasty, which was related to sweet potatoes.

At that time, the Spaniards occupied the Philippines, and many Chinese went to Luzon Island in the northern part of the Philippine Islands to do business with them, mainly raw silk, cotton cloth, and porcelain.

The Philippines is often prone to food shortages, so the Spaniards promoted the cultivation of an American crop, sweet potatoes, there.

Those Spaniards guarded against Chinese businessmen very closely, and they were strictly checked when they passed through the customs, and they refused to let them bring sweet potatoes back to China.

Chinese businessmen bribed the local aborigines to get a few feet of sweet potato vines, and a Fujian merchant named Chen Zhenlong weaved these few feet of sweet potato vines into the water ropes on the boat, so as to pass the customs.

Sweet potato is a highly adaptable and high-yielding crop. It can still guarantee a good harvest in famine years when other crops fail. It is a real life-saving food.

Fujian merchants brought it back to China and widely promoted it. In the later years of hardship and hardship, when there was no food, many people survived by eating sweet potatoes.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, productivity was low, and the social economy was not well developed. In some remote and barren places, many people were still struggling below the line of food and clothing.

There are sweet potatoes in Luo's space, but he has not taken them out for various reasons. Although he often does various psychological constructions for himself, he is often tortured by his conscience.

No matter how many reasons he finds, he can't hide the fact that before considering the life and death of others, he must first consider the life and death of himself and his family.

"What are you thinking about again?" Qiao Junlin closed the book, turned around and saw Luo sitting cross-legged on the edge of the Kang, shaking his body with his sleeves folded, his brows furrowed and his eyes slightly fixed, as if he was thinking about something.

"It's nothing." There's no way to tell Qiao Junlin about this matter. Besides, he alone is enough to carry this kind of moral shackles. If one more person knows, it will only increase troubles in vain.

"A group of cannibals came today, bringing more than 20 Kunlun slaves. You need to be more careful at the cement workshop." Qiao Junlin shook off the thin quilt and said to Luo Yong while taking off his coat.

The three Apus at the cement workshop were also Kunlun slaves, so Qiao Junlin was worried about their involvement with these big cannibals.

"Where do they live?" Luo Yong frowned.

"It's the new one that opened a while ago." Qiao Junlin took off his coat and got under the bed. The temperature difference between morning and evening in Changle County is relatively large, and summer is almost over now, so we still have to cover it up at night. Quilt to sleep.

"You should also be careful." Luo Yong was very opposed to human trafficking, but in this era, their behavior was legal.

He also wants to see what is out of sight, but there are some things that should be done and must be done. In life, he must do his best to do what he can do at that time, so that he will not leave regrets in the future.

You don't need to know the newly opened restaurant a few days ago, he went there on the day it opened, and also went to drink with people in the past two days, and he is quite familiar with the store.

Luo Yong thought about it, and sent someone to send some soy milk, fried dough sticks, mixed noodles and pancakes early tomorrow morning, so that those Kunlun slaves could have a warm meal first, and let the store take care of them for the next few days. It's an advantage, but that's about all he can do at the moment.

However, before this night passed safely, something happened to the big cannibals who arrived today.

In the middle of the night, a group of big food businessmen rushed to the cement workshop outside Changle City angrily, saying that the steward of the cement workshop had abducted their Kunlun slave.

The manager of the cement workshop was Apu, Luo Yong's subordinates, and the guards patrolling the city at night naturally couldn't just watch him suffer, so they stopped those big food merchants on the way.

Luo Yong and Qiao Junlin were called up in the middle of the night, and when they rushed over, the two sides were confronting each other. In the dark night, each torch was flickered by the night wind on the Gobi, and each other's murderous look His face flickered on and off in the firelight, like a ghost.

Both Luo Yong and Qiao Junlin didn't speak, they just walked to the front of their side and stood still.

Qiao Junlin held the handle of the knife in one hand, opened his arms slightly, and slightly shielded Luo Yong behind him...