North and South groceries

"Where did you get this knife?" Luo Yong asked Si Niang.

Metal products at this time are not like those in the 21st century, where you can buy them for a few bucks in a small shop, and they are very expensive.

"Hai Rigu gave it to me." Si Niang grinned.

"..." Luo Yong thought for a while, but he couldn't remember who Hai Rigu was, so he had to ask his sister, "What does Hai Rigu look like?"

"It's the oldest and most prestigious among those barbarians." Siniang said.

As for the oldest one, Luo Yong also has a little impression, but is it the most majestic among those barbarians? Luo Yong privately thinks that Si Niang's compliment is quite watery, probably because she was given a knife.

"You keep this knife away, don't scratch Liulang Qiniang," Luo Yong instructed.

"Oh." Si Niang started to swing the knife again.

"If you can't take care of this knife, I'll take care of it for you then." Luo Yong was still not at ease.

"Understood." Si Niang agreed.

Since she agreed, Luo Yong didn't care too much. Although the little girl's knives were a bit outrageous, the Hu man was willing to give her the knives out of goodwill.

The barbarians at this time were not like the ones he had seen on TV, wearing brightly colored robes, riding tall horses, with sharp silver knives, bloodthirsty and brutal.

Having been here for such a long time, Luo Yong's impression of Hu people is that they are tough and poor.It was still spring at this time, but most of the Hu people who came with Zhao Chen were dressed thinly. You must know that Shuozhou is further north than their place, and it must be colder on the prairie.

For such a prairie man who doesn't even have a piece of warm clothing, a knife is definitely a very important property for them, and it is also his life-saving tool at critical times.

However, the other party gave the knife to Luo Siniang. Of course, Luo Yong also knew that it was because of his own relationship.

Zhao Chen and the others brought some lard and mutton fat this time in addition to wool. Luo worked overtime for two nights to help them make soap from this batch of fat. Let them take all the soap.

Some of these fats belonged to the Zhao family, and some were brought by the barbarians. Lard fat was rare on their grasslands, but sheep fat was quite common.

Luo Yong does not have high requirements for the oil used to make soap. Whether it is suet, large intestine oil or even lymphatic oil, all of them can be used to make soap.

There is not much difference between goat oil soap and lard soap, except that the saponification price is slightly different, and the soap made has a slightly fishy smell, so it should be better after a period of time.

Zhao Chen and his party rested in Xu's guest house for a few days, and after taking soap and fermented bean curd from Luo Yong, they decided to go north.

Most of the wooden carts used to transport wool were sold at a low price, except for a part left to carry fermented bean curd, soap and dry food. Wang Dang and the others bought a few, and the rest were taken by Xu’s guest house. There are quite a few merchants coming and going, some of them are purely here to buy goods, and they don’t prepare their cars when they come. They buy goods here and buy them temporarily, so there is no need to worry about not being able to sell these wooden cars if they stay in the guest house.

"This parting, we won't see each other again until the beginning of next spring." Zhao Chen cupped his hands to Luo Yong.

"It's a long way to go, be careful on the Dalang road!" Luo Yong also bowed his hands and said goodbye to him.On the way north, they still decided to take the dry road, which would take another half a month.

"Let's go." Zhao Chen stretched out his hand and stroked Wu Pair's big hairy head.

"Ang..." The donkey turned his head and shook his forehead again, as if he didn't want to talk to him.

"Hahaha." Zhao Chen laughed loudly. Although this stubborn donkey has a bad temper, he was raised by his family after all. Now he is very happy to see that it is doing well here.

On this side, Luo Yong found Hai Rigu, and handed him a bundle in his hand: "I heard that the grassland is very dangerous, and you have to defend yourself without a knife. You gave the knife to my fourth mother earlier. After you go back, you can use it." Trade this soap for another knife."

Hai Rigu was not too polite, he laughed and accepted the burden, and said that he would come here again next spring, when he would bring a lot of sheep oil, and asked Luo Yong to process it into soap for him.

From the prairie where they live to Lishi County, the journey is naturally very long, but sheep oil can be used to make soap, which is definitely great news for people on the prairie.

Living on the prairie, what they lack most is food, cloth, salt and ironware. In the past, they used livestock to exchange these materials. It often takes a lot of livestock to exchange for a little material, which is really not cost-effective.

But it's different now, the cashmere is so light and the price is so high, there is hardly any need to consider transportation costs and road consumption.And now they have discovered that sheep oil can also be used to make soap. When they usually slaughter goats, they can store the excess oil and use it to exchange for the materials they need.

When the value of cashmere and suet is fully exploited, it is hard to imagine how much life on the prairie will change.

Just as Hai Rigu and the others were on their way, they were thinking about how many lambs they would raise this year and how much cashmere and suet they would save.

In Lishi County, a galloping horse galloped out. Sitting on the horse was Hao Cishi's most trusted trilogy. He was holding a document and a neatly folded white paper in his arms at the moment. .

What was written on that piece of white paper was the Luo family's method of making soap.

Not long after Zhao Chen and others left, Luo Yong wrote his own soap-making method on a piece of white paper and handed it to Shizhou Governor Hao Jianping, saying that he would offer a prescription to the saint and asked Hao Governor to help him.

"Why did you think of offering the prescription?" Hao Jianping also felt a little curious. This Luo Sanlang is known as the coffin board, and he was watching him in Lishi County, and he had never seen him currying favor with anyone. This time suddenly remembered to donate?

"The world is so big, how much soap can I make by myself? A few days ago, some barbarians came to this place. I heard that the grassland is rich in suet. If I teach them the method of making soap, not only the grassland The barbarians on the mainland can benefit from this, and the people in the Central Plains can also use soap at a relatively low price."

Luo Yong knelt on a peony cushion in Hao Cishi's house, and said to Hao Jianping who was opposite him.

"You want to teach people on the grassland to make soap?" Hao Jianping frowned.

"Although I have this idea, it's a big deal at the end. I'm young and superficial, so I dare not act lightly. A sage is wise, so I should make a decision." Luo cupped his hands and bowed.

"I think this is inappropriate. If the barbarians are rich and powerful, they will inevitably make trouble again." Hao Cishi did not despise Luo Sanlang's youth, and directly expressed his opinion to him on this matter.

"I'm still young, and some thoughts may make you feel naive if I express them. Please don't make fun of me, the governor." Luo Yong said to Hao Governor:

"I think, if you can live a prosperous life just by raising goats, there should be very few people on the grassland who are willing to risk their lives to rob and rebel, or even start a war with my Tang Dynasty."

"Furthermore, when the business of cashmere and soap becomes more and more important in the grassland area, many grassland people will make a living on it. If they still dare to make trouble at that time, we just need to stop these two businesses, and they will be dealt a huge blow to them."

"I am used to living a stable and prosperous life, how can I still endure the hard times in the past? The people's hearts want us to quell the chaos without a single soldier."

In the 21st century, who is still playing wars every day? If a strong country wants to deal with a weak country, it is generally enough to impose economic sanctions.

Cashmere and suet soap can indeed bring many benefits to grassland people, but correspondingly, the more these two industries develop and the more important they are to the local people, the stronger the local people's dependence on these two industries will be.

So in the end, the Tang Dynasty, as the largest buyer, will of course have the absolute right to speak. In terms of wealth and spending power, which country in the world today can compare with the Tang Dynasty?

After hearing these words, Governor Hao couldn't help but look at the young man in front of him with admiration.

He already knew that Luo Sanlang was intelligent, but he did not expect to be so intelligent. He had never heard of the truth Luo Yong said today, which made him feel refreshed.

These words were naturally recorded in the document by him in the end, and he sent his subordinates to Chang'an City along with the soap making method.

From Lishi County to Chang'an City, it's a thousand li journey, if you go fast, you will arrive within a few days.

When this document and Zaofang were sent to the Taiji Hall, the saint was discussing with several officials, and the matter discussed was Tuyuhun in the southwest.

Hearing that Shizhou Governor Hao had a document delivered, the sage stretched out his hand to take it and looked at it. First he looked at the document written by Hao Governor, and then at the soap recipe Luo Yong offered. The servant Fang Xuanling said: "Aiqing, come and see what the governor of Shizhou said."

Fang Xuanling bowed, took the document with both hands, read it carefully from beginning to end, and handed it back respectfully.

"Everyone, please take a look." It's the first time for the sage to hear such a novel concept, and he feels it is fresh at this time, so he wants to share it with the ministers.

Everyone saw it, and they felt refreshed. Seeing the sage was happy, they couldn't help but say a few words of praise, saying that Luo Sanlang is talented.

"You have talents, but this word is really ugly." The saint picked up the soap prescription written by Luo Yong, and shook it at the ministers, causing everyone present to laugh.

Laughing and laughing, those who can get into this position are basically human beings. Luo Sanlang presented this soap recipe, saying that it is too important for him to make his own opinions, but all the people present It can be seen that this is actually a nomination certificate.

Don't look at it as just a small piece of soap, a thin piece of paper, the changes it will bring to the prairie are immeasurable, and correspondingly, the hearts it can gather are also immeasurable. For today's saints, it is undoubtedly a great gift.