The Struggle History of the Fourteenth Qing Dynasty

A few coolies led the way, and eight Mongolian guards led the formation, and it was in the capital again. Brother Fourteen was not afraid of their tricks.

Or trying to make money and kill one's life, if the capital is not safe, how can it be safe?

This South Sauce Garden is actually a pickle garden in the southern suburbs of Beijing. Pickles have a strong taste and are disliked by people everywhere. It is okay in winter, but the smell is strong in summer, which attracts flies.

So this area is sparsely populated.

It's easy to find, and these coolies are quite familiar with the owner when they arrive at the place, so they invited the boss to come out.

This man was in his thirties, wearing a light robe, an apron, and sleeves.

It's pretty clean, but this place has a bad smell, and no matter how clean it is, it can't make up for this shortcoming.

"Young master, are you here to order pickles?" The boss didn't believe that he was here to order pickles. The young master was dressed so neatly that he probably didn't bring a hand to hold the oil bottle down at home.

"Are you the boss of this place?" Elder Fourteen looked at him for a long time, and found that this person was not at all the same as the trademark portrait printed on bottles and cans in later generations.

"Yes, I'm Wang Yi, the name is Anping." Wang Yi cupped his hands: "Is this young man here to see the pickles?"

"Yes and no." Elder Fourteen pointed to Zhao Da who bought a tael of pickled vegetables next to him after receiving the money: "They were eating at a roadside stall, and I happened to meet..."

He told the story: "I want to meet, the owner of this pickle garden, and talk about a big deal."

Wang Yi was born and raised in the capital, and he knew that if he wanted to do a big business in the capital, he had to have a backer.

Their pickle garden is famous far and wide, but they have not been able to sell it in the capital, because their family has no backing, and the business is not very big.

Small officials dislike this thing for small profits but quick turnover, and there is not much oil and water.

Small merchants and hawkers don't have that kind of capital, let alone that kind of network, so their pickle garden has always been tepid, and they are running on a small budget.

Wang Yi memorized those coolies, and then introduced the fourteenth elder brother and his party to the place where he entertained guests in his pickle garden.

The pickle garden is huge, and there are hundreds of sauce vats for drying miso. It is said that the largest pickle garden has [-] large vats.

There is also a tofu shop that specializes in making tofu, which is only used for making pickles in their pickle garden. The soy milk is sold cheaply to those hawkers who are greedy early in the morning.

There are even some livestock farmers who come here to buy soy milk and feed it to their livestock.

The people around have benefited, and they don't mind that the stinky tofu from the pickle garden is not good.

What's more, some of them also eat stinky tofu.

The pickle garden has a gate, which is dedicated to selling pickles. There is a hall at the back, which is a place for guests to rest their feet. Behind the hall is a courtyard. After the courtyard, there are three main rooms and seven or eight side rooms.

This is where the hosts themselves live, and where the guys live.

There are three main rooms, one is the living room, the east is the bedroom, and the west is the accounting room.

With three doors open, the three main rooms are not accessible, which also provides great privacy.

After being invited to the living room, Wang Yi said: "Actually, this pickle garden was created by my father. It's just that my father is old, so I run it from my subordinates. My father also came from Juren, but he didn't pass the exam. When he was old, he donated it." As an official, he is honored and raised at home, and his home is in the village behind."

Without an official status, this business cannot be suppressed, and the villages on the outskirts of the capital are also prosperous areas, not much worse than ordinary towns.

The Wang Family Mansion is still a very prestigious place.

"Oh?" Elder Fourteen thought for a while, "Can I meet the boss?"

The Jinshi in Kangxi's early years were actually not reused, because at that time many of them were the confidantes of the auxiliary ministers.

Even if there are three or five innocent people, they are people with insufficient talent and learning, and they were stuffed in to make up for the number. What's more, the Manchus did not pay much attention to the imperial examination system of the Han people at that time.

Therefore, there are many juren who cannot be promoted.

But after all, he is getting old, Brother Fourteen is a good boy who respects the old and loves the young.

"Then please wait, young master." Wang Yi could see that the servant next to the young master might not be simple.

The hem of the robe is three feet off the ground, the shoes are an inch higher than usual, and the uppers of the white shoes are blue satin, which is what servants in the palace would wear.

Although the eight Mongolian guards didn't speak, they had rough looks and tough personalities. Only a wealthy family could afford such a Mongolian hero.

These people not only have to eat meat to ensure their combat effectiveness, but also their equipment, knives, daggers and leather armor, as well as the horses they ride.

Although there is no mark on the horse, he can still see the goodness of the horse, with strong limbs and a high head.

The saddles are simple in appearance, but they are all made of good leather.

This action is worth the money.

So he didn't dare to be negligent, and sent someone to invite the old father to come, and he accompanied the young man to the drying yard.

In the drying of the pickle garden, hundreds of large vats lined up are still very imposing, and the smell of sauce is very strong, but it attracts flies.

Right now is the hottest time in summer, and it is also the time when miso is fermented.

There is no way, the hygiene of this era is not up to standard, and there is no sterile workshop.

Brother Fourteen, who was watching, frowned: "Clean up here, it's too dirty, and the things you make are easy to break if you leave them for a long time."

"Yes, yes!" Wang Yi wiped his sweat.

Seeing that the sun was coming up and the weather was hot, Elder Fourteen went back to the living room to wait for others.

After a while, a small carriage arrived at the gate of the courtyard, and a young man came down, helping an old man.

The old man looked a little fat, with a kind face, wearing a silk gown, and leaning on a small walking stick.

With a gray beard, he looked very old.

"Young master, this is my father, Wang Zhihe." Wang Yi got up and helped the old man to sit down.

"It's this young master who wants to see the old man?" Wang Zhihe had spent his whole life in the capital, and immediately saw that the Fourteenth Master had an extraordinary background.

"Yes, little...cough, late...well, I want to ask, how did you manage your pickle garden? Do you sell it or not?" Brother Fourteen changed his name three times in a row.

He originally wanted to call himself a "boy", which was the most appropriate one, but he couldn't hide his identity if he wanted to negotiate business with people.

Claiming to be a junior?He was afraid that the other party would not be able to bear it.

I had no choice but to call myself my father, but it was a bit awkward, the other party was an old man after all.

"This pickle garden, it's what we used to make a living when we were old and down!" Wang Zhi and the old man were not only lost in memories.

The fourteenth elder brother only found out that Wang Zhihe was originally a Juren from Xianyuan, Taiping County, Ningguo Prefecture, Anhui Province. In the eighth year of Kangxi, he went to Beijing to rush for the exam and failed the exam. He was trapped in the capital and was stranded in the capital.

By the way, Elder Fourteen felt that he was also quite unlucky. This period of time was just a sensitive period when he, Huang Ama, was competing for power with the courtiers and the Empress Dowager not long after his marriage.

Countless people were implicated at that time.

The imperial examinations have been greatly affected.

The unlucky Wang Zhihe caught up with this time, because he made tofu at home when he was young, and started a tofu business to make a living.

It's rare that he, a scholar, is willing to let go of his figure and start a business to make a living.

In the "Anhui Guild Hall" in the mutton alley on Yanshousi Street outside Qianmen where he lived, he used a small hand-push mill to grind several liters of beans every day to make tofu and sell it along the street.

The money I earn supports myself, and at the same time I study hard to prepare for my next grade.

As a result, one day in midsummer, the tofu he made was not sold out, and he was afraid of spoiling for a long time, so he cut it into small squares, mixed with salt, pepper and other condiments, and marinated it in a small jar.

Then there was news that Qiu Wei was about to start, and when he got the news, he stopped working and concentrated on studying, but he forgot about it.

After the autumn coolness, the autumn festival was held as scheduled, but Wang Zhihe failed the ranking again!

Since the court game was the most intense at that time, he didn't want to go back to his hometown, so he resumed his old business here in the capital, looking forward to the next exam, not to mention the emperor's wedding, and with an Enke, he can take the exam again next year, nothing more than waiting for the next exam. Only one year.

Wang Zhihe, who comforted himself so much, suddenly remembered the small vat of tofu, and hurriedly opened it, never thinking that the smell was pungent, and when he calmed down, the tofu had turned blue.

He lived in poverty, and it was a pity to throw it away, so he tasted it boldly, and unexpectedly it had a unique flavor, so he gave it to his neighbors to taste, and the tasters were all amazed.

Wang Zhi and stinky tofu rose to fame.

But this taste is too strong!

People in the guild hall like to eat, but others may not all like it, so he had to move to the south of the city gate, where there are several pickle gardens, he rented it at first, and then bought it.

"The old man failed many times, so he devoted himself to the business of stinky tofu." Wang Zhihe is old, but he is still very proud of the hardships of starting a business: "Kangxi stopped thinking about the imperial examination in 17 years. This Yanshousi Street West Road has a workshop and a signboard."

Elder Fourteen looked up: Wang Zhi and Nan Jiang Yuan.

It turned out to be like this, he finally understood that he did not find the wrong person, this was Wang Zhihe's predecessor.

Nanjiangyuan!

The current Nan Jiang Yuan is only a well-known industry in central Beijing. Businessmen traveling from south to north like to bring a few jars to eat on the road.

And this taste is indeed not acceptable to everyone.

Therefore, it is a low-end public route, and this dish is salty, so many people who work hard will come to buy a jar and eat it for a month or two.

In addition, no one would take notice of such a small business, so Wang Zhihe became a rich man.

After I had money, I bought an official body, so it was convenient to take care of the business.

And because this business is not very good, no one who is not high or low will like it, so it has been running steadily in the outskirts of the capital, earning some money to supplement the family.

Elder Fourteen thought for a while and asked him, "Then do you know fermented bean curd?"

"Ferfu? Is it something made by Naizi?" Wang Zhi and the old man thought for a while, then shook their heads: "The little old man has been studying tofu all his life. This white tofu, dried tofu, sauced tofu and stinky tofu, Naizi are not very good. good at."

Elder Fourteen choked: "Sufu is not... I... Forget it, I'll just tell you a rough idea."

Fermented bean curd should be fermented well with red yeast rice.

He also only knows roughly that the company went on a group tour back then and visited Wang Zhihe's pickle garden at that time.

One of the workshops is dedicated to brewing fermented bean curd, using red yeast rice.

Fermented bean curd doesn’t taste good, stinky tofu is green, fermented bean curd is red, and when eating hot pot, fermented bean curd, sesame paste, chili oil and chive flowers are the four standard dishes.

With garlic oil, sesame oil and chopped green onion and coriander, this is the dipping sauce for northern hot pot.

Now eating hot pot, it’s just sesame paste mixed with leek flowers and chili oil, without fermented bean curd, he has never been very happy with it.

"I try my best to try, hoping to brew the fermented bean curd that the young master said." The old man is quite innovative: "By the way, young master, you said you want to buy the pickle garden, is it true?"

"Well... you can also join the group." Elder Fourteen said: "I will take half, and your Wang family will take half, how about it? Whether it is profits or taxes, I will take half. In addition, you can make fermented bean curd exclusively. It’s very useful, as for how to use it, I won’t tell you, you will know when the time comes.”

"Yes." Wang Zhi and the old man nodded without saying a word.

Wang Yi was a little worried about being annexed to his small business, but he was completely relieved when the small bottle left the name of Fourteen Baylor House.

And followed his old father to pay homage to Fourteen Baylor.

"I'm here as a secret. Don't tell it. As for fermented bean curd, study it carefully. When you get the finished product, let me know. Tomorrow, I'll call a steward to come over and give you an estimate of the pickle garden. I'll pay you money." Fourteen Ah Ge Dao: "In the future, there will be not only tofu and eight-treasure pickles, but also chive flower sauce, sesame oil mills, and sesame paste mills."

In this case, his hot pot restaurant should have no shortage of dipping sauces.

Then the fourteenth elder brother told them something similar to Laoganma beef sauce, but this requires a lot of beef, chili and rapeseed oil.

Wang Yi also agreed, and he went to develop this.

Fourteenth brother just came to see the strange things, but after returning, he started to make a fuss.

There is no shortage of money in his mansion, and in fact there is no shortage of other things, but it is different to open a shop in the capital.

First of all, this location must be optimistic. For this reason, he did not hesitate to go to the fourth master, but he heard something from the fourth master: "Everyone borrowed money, and the old ten borrowed 10 taels of silver. It’s nothing to do and set up a stage, saying that you want to invite Huang Ama to his house to watch a play, you really don’t know what it means!"

The fourteenth elder brother heard one head and two big ones: "With his character, he still listens to opera? It's not as good as me!"

He and Elder Brother Shi are one of the very few people in the palace who do not appreciate opera. They used to sit and sleep together, but now that Elder Brother Ten has abandoned him, are they going to learn to appreciate opera?

"I think he borrowed money because he was jealous of the old nine, and he followed others, borrowing money one by one, how much money can the household department have?" The fourth elder brother was angry that these people went to borrow money whenever they had something to do. But no one came back.