[Three Kingdoms] After crossing, I opened the sick and weak main road line

In the spacious and bright guest room, the young people sitting upright have warm smiles and proper politeness on their faces. They are gentle and elegant and look easy to get along with. If there are no two fierce generals beside them, this is simply Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping. Favorite negotiation occasion.

Doing business is different from being an official. The family members are used to being superior, and most of them know nothing about merchants. As long as they ask for directions and send money to the place, basically there will be no problems.

After that, how they operate in private is their own business. No matter what, they will not let themselves lose money.

But now, the state shepherd above does seem to be ignorant of common affairs, but the two generals beside him are staring at him, and they dare not even speak, so they don't even have the heart to negotiate terms.

"Feng Xian, Wen Yuan, please don't be rude." Yuan Huan said a few words indifferently, and raised his hand to signal the two terrified bullies to sit down beside Zhang Liao, "Mr. Thinking of Jizhou, it's too late to thank you, now that wars are raging, righteous men like you two are rare."

"Your Excellency is too good, let me wait for you." The two wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads, walked to the soft cushion and sat down, their buttocks did not dare to touch their feet, and they almost forgot the reason for coming. .

Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping looked at each other, saw the cautiousness in each other's eyes, took a few deep breaths to calm down, and were about to open the skylight to speak brightly, the state shepherd obviously didn't care much about their trivial matters, if they didn't say anything, they would have no chance to say anything up.

They don't have much reputation in the Han area, but in the northern area, all the grassland tribes are more willing to do business with them. There are their business routes in Youzhou, Bingzhou, and Liangzhou. As long as the state shepherd let go, they can do more than imagine more.

Jizhou produces grain, but there is no good place to raise horses. The Zhen family's business is mainly grain. The adults want to guard Jizhou. They can be self-sufficient without buying food, but soldiers and horses are necessary. More valuable.

Adults are not familiar with common affairs, so they divide the pros and cons into each one to let adults know. Even if they exaggerate their own advantages, they still have an advantage over the Zhen family.

Yuan Huan took a sip of warm water, smiled and looked at Su Shuang who spoke on behalf of the two, his eyes were clear and moist, and his every move carried the unique elegance and dignity of a family.

Looking at the princes from all walks of life today, there are not a few who are funded by merchants and raise troops.

These two people have a big business, and their skills and luck are very good. They already have a lot of bargaining chips. In the whole world, except Jizhou, they can be offered as guests anywhere.

Their luck is good if they say it is good, and it is really bad if they say it is bad. Jizhou can be said to be the most suitable place in the world for their development, but it is a pity that his state shepherd is not short of money.

He is not short of money, and merchants rush to come, and they have to pay more.

However, paying more is not entirely a bad thing. Jizhou has a good location and is very suitable for business development. As long as these two people have enough skills, doubling the family property is just a blink of an eye.

It's not enough to just sell and boast, he doesn't keep anyone with two hearts under his command.

Merchants all have the ability to observe words and demeanor, Su Shuang carefully said what they could do, mixed with selling misery, trying to make the mild-mannered state herdsman agree to give them some protection because of their difficulty in doing business.

Nowadays, there are so many rich merchants sponsoring those who recruit soldiers and horses. It is not shameful to accept gifts from merchants. Your lord does not think about yourself, but just give the merchants under your rule more ways to survive.

Although the two of them travel between states all the year round, their household registrations are still in Zhongshan. They are from Zhongshan County, and they are the people under your lord's rule. Your lord can't watch their merchants who went out of Zhongshan be robbed outside.

When Su Shuanghua hurried to say this, he realized in a flash that this was a breakthrough that couldn't be better.

What was said just now was a mix of truth and falsehood, but what is said now is not false at all. Even if the adults went to look through the household registration books in person, the two of them were born in Zhongshan County.

Yuan Huan couldn't help raising the corners of his lips when he heard this, and he had to say that this person's head was a flash of light. Taking household registration as an example, it was an angle he didn't expect, "I already know the hearts of the two righteous men, but The family has a lot of business recently, and the two of you will stay for a few more days, and discuss with the government personnel from various places after they are properly settled."

The implication is that he already knows about this matter, but he will not take care of it personally, and he does not intend to cooperate with them as the head of the Yuan family. After talking, the two of them will no longer be pure horse merchants, but official merchants recognized by Jizhou.

The premise is that we can talk about it.

Zhang Shiping heard the deep meaning in the words, and hastily pulled the corner of La Sushuang's clothes. The two of them expressed their gratitude again, and then they withdrew their excitement and left under the watchful eyes of the two generals.

They can continue to stay in the house, which means there is still hope.

The two outsiders left, leaving only Yuan Huan and two generals who had a bad temper. Zhang Liao looked away and asked in confusion, "My lord, they are just two horse dealers. Why are you so polite?"

It's fine if they are short of money, and they have to smile with those who send money to their door, but now that they are not short of money, how can the lord be met by two businessmen just by saying they see each other?

"Jizhou is rich, but Yanzhou and Yuzhou have been war-torn for a long time. If you want to restore vitality, farming alone is not enough, and the presence of merchants is indispensable." Yuan Huan smiled, put down his teacup and was about to get up, and kept staring at the man next to him Lu Bu quickly helped him over.

Zhang Liao gritted his teeth unconvinced, and made up his mind to be ahead of this guy next time.

Yuan Huan: ...

Are young people today so hard to understand?

Lord Qingrun, who was still out of the situation, shook his head helplessly, patted the stiff arm of General Lu Da next to him comfortingly, and explained as he walked, "The way of business is in the hands of those people. There are also clansmen who have become officials, and it is not easy to win the business in their hands, rather than grabbing them by force, it is better to let them be used by us directly."

Although those two people had met him twice, they didn't get what they wanted to say, so they left him lukewarm, and waited until the person he invited arrived in Zhongshan, then the big drama would begin.

"My lord, did you find other merchants?" Zhang Liao scratched his head, not quite understanding why he was looking for so many merchants. The two horse merchants, Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping, went to the north, and Zhen's caravan went to the south. Isn't that almost the same? Why go to someone else?

"Because the things that are going to be sold next are very important, and it might be a bad thing to just find one." Yuan Huan walked in the corridor, without continuing to explain, but went back to the room, took a box from the bookshelf, opened it and handed it to Zhang Liao, "Take a look, what is this?"

The box was filled with snow-white granules, Zhang Liao frowned, looked up and down for a while, seeing that their master didn't stop him, carefully put a little bit into his mouth with his fingers, and then suddenly opened his eyes wide.

Lu Bu's curiosity could no longer be restrained. Seeing that he kept silent and wanted to snatch it, the lord just happened to hand over another box. He felt that the grains of the box in his hand were much larger than the box in Zhang Liao's. I learned to dip a little bit into my mouth, "Tsk, it's quite sweet."

Zhang Liao froze for a moment, "Sweet?"

The box in his hand is obviously salty, and it contains salt without any bitter taste.

The two looked at each other, regardless of the tit-for-tat confrontation just now, they exchanged the boxes and carefully identified them, the expressions on their faces became more and more confused, "My lord asked those merchants to come over, are you going to sell these?"

"The only thing to sell is salt." Yuan Huan put the box back and said slowly, "There are not many salt producing areas in Jizhou. If you want to sell it, you have to get in touch with Qingzhou and Xuzhou. Since our identity is not good, we can directly come forward and talk about business. , it would be best for a businessman to come forward."

If he wants to improve his food, he can't always eat coarse salt. These days, the salt is very coarsely purified. Even for a wealthy family like the Yuan Mansion, the salt in the kitchen is not the snow-white fine powder of later generations, but rather bitter. kosher salt.

The coarse salt used by high-ranking officials has been purified. Poor people can’t afford salt, and they have to eat salt. They usually use coarse salt with large particles. The color is not white, but yellowish, or taupe. .

What you eat should not be ignored. If the salt is not purified properly, the content of harmful substances in it is too high. If you eat it for a long time, you will easily get sick.

The Han Dynasty established the official salt and iron camp since the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. In order to maintain the rule of the court and fill the national treasury, all indispensable things such as salt and iron were collected by the court, and private merchants were prohibited from selling them privately.

Salt merchants have to pay heavy taxes if they want to sell salt, and the price of salt in the government is not low. If the merchants want to make money, if the imperial court takes one copper coin from them, they have to take two copper coins from the people, so the price increases layer by layer. , Even if the imperial salt production is not low, the salt price is still high.

There are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom. The price of official salt increases layer by layer, but the price of coarse salt that has not been purified much has not followed. Salt, but since Emperor Wu established the Salt Law, those who make salt privately will cut off their left toes once they find out, and gradually no one dares to take this risk.

After coming and going, the common people can’t afford salt, but they can’t afford to eat salt. They really can’t afford the purified salt sold by the government, so they go to private salt dealers to buy cheap coarse salt. Eat as much as you should.

If the price of coarse salt also rises, the common people will be forced to live, and sooner or later there will be chaos.

The taste of coarse salt is bitter and astringent, while the smell of official salt is not so strong, but it is not purely salty.

Yuan Huan specifically asked the steward of the mansion, and found that the official salt purification method these days is very simple and crude. In the coastal areas, seawater is boiled into salt. If there is no sea in the interior, the water from the salt lake is brought out to let the water seep in, or be exposed to the sun. When salt is formed on the ground, it can be transported to the folks for sale.

People can be satisfied as long as they have salt to eat, regardless of what is mixed in the salt, whether it is bitter or astringent, as long as it has a salty taste, they can accept it.

The official government has one more purification step than the direct drying or cooking, but it is not so pure. After the big family buys official salt, the kitchen will use its own method to refine it before cooking.

These days, the aristocratic families basically hide everything, the letters are not easy to spread, the dishes made in their own kitchens are also kept secret, let alone the technical work of salt purification.

Otherwise, when Yang Biao came over a few days ago, he would not have asked the kitchen to sort out the recipes as gifts.

Many places in Anguo Yuan's Mansion are not as good as Runan Yuan's Mansion. The gap in kitchen level is especially obvious. At first he thought that he had taken too much medicine, so everything in his mouth tasted bitter. Later, when he had a meal with everyone, he accidentally mentioned it. It's a question of salt.

The salt in the house is not the whiter, finer, and purer salt he knows. He has been here for too short a time. Several stewards have to take care of the entire farm, and many details have been neglected. In the past, if Yuan Huan hadn't said it out, I don't know when this problem would be discovered.

When the stewards found out about this, they burst into tears. When such a noble person as their patriarch lived through such a hard life, it was their incompetence.

Yuan Huan didn't expect the stewards to blame themselves for the taste of the food, and it took them a while to stop their tears.

Thanks to the chemistry teacher, knowledge is power, and knowledge that can improve life is more important than anything else. Fortunately, he still remembers the steps of coarse salt purification. Even if there is an omission, he can find the correct steps after a few more trials in the actual operation.

People in the later generations have passed the stage where salty taste is enough, and even fine salt that has been purified to the point of being no longer pure can not satisfy them. It has reached the point where it is not only pure but also healthy, and the control of various trace elements is extremely strict.

He is not very demanding, and he does not need to control trace elements, it is enough to be clean and odor-free.

Now that the imperial court is in decline, and the local governments are doing their own thing, various things such as salt and iron have long been controlled by merchants. After all, other things may lose money, and it is absolutely impossible for salt and iron to lose money.

Especially for salt, except for buying land and spending a little money, it can be said that it is almost a no-cost business, no matter how low the price is, it can be profitable.

Who wants to use bitter and astringent coarse salt when you can eat fine salt without peculiar smell.

It is not difficult to purify coarse salt, as long as you write down the method and find someone to do it in order, you can get fine salt grains with white flowers.

Yuan Huan himself doesn't have time to keep an eye on Fang Zi's meaning. The stewards in the house are fine with managing the farm, but they dare not take this kind of thing if they leave it to them. Why don't they find a few businessmen and have their interests hanging in front of them. For their own benefit, they will not let people learn the method easily.

Both Lu Bu and Zhang Liao are not stupid, and they quickly understood their lord's intentions to turn those merchants into official merchants, and private salts can also be changed into official salts, and the Central Plains and other places can take it easy, but the tribes on the grasslands lack this. something.

Wouldn't it be more convenient to stabilize the Hu people in the north through doing business than fighting.

What is this called? Subduing others without fighting is worthy of being the master of their family, that is, they are powerful.

Lu Bu smacked his lips, savoring the lingering sweetness in his mouth, and asked, "My lord, this candy is easy to sell, why don't you sell it together?"

He just tasted it, and the sugar is very clean, sweet enough, as fine and white as snow, and the crystals are crystal clear, and it may be more popular than salt when transported to the north.

"It's not that I don't want to sell, but that there are not so many to sell." This Yuan Huan has no choice. He doesn't know when the beets will be spread to the Central Plains. They only use grain or sugarcane to make sugar now.

Nowadays, the conditions are limited. There are no high-yield crops such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corns. There is also a limit to cultivating improved varieties to increase yields. Basically, the yield of any food is not high.

It is impossible to use a large amount of grain to make caramel when people can't eat enough. Jizhou is not suitable for growing sugarcane. The reason why we can see sugarcane juice is because his cheap brother Yuan Shu couldn't stay idle after returning to Nanyang. I found a lot of good things and sent them to honor him, so I happened to see them.

He originally just wanted to try to make brown sugar, but he found that he was quite worthy of the chemistry teacher, and he didn't stop when he was purifying the refined salt. That's why he got this box of white sugar.

But that's all. Refined salt can be made anywhere, but sugar can't. Unless he wins the south, this business won't work.

Lu Bu thought of Zhe whom he chewed as a snack a few days ago, shook his head and sighed, "It's a pity, it's a pity."

"What a pity, didn't the lord say that there are more of these things in Jingzhou and Yangzhou? Let's find a way to take down that place in the future." Zhang Liao whispered in his ear, afraid that his lord would say that he was treasonous, so he deliberately He suppressed his voice and dared not let him hear it.

Lu Bu nodded and felt that this was a good idea. The two smiled tacitly and showed their big white teeth. In a blink of an eye, they became brothers again.

Yuan Huan came back after putting the box away, and saw the two people who were about to fight with angry eyes just now hooked their shoulders and backs in the blink of an eye, shaking his head, he couldn't understand what they were thinking.

At noon yesterday, Zhang Liao came to the main courtyard aggressively. He thought something serious had happened, but the man wanted to stand by as a temporary guard when he met Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping.

Those who didn't know thought that he thought he was a low-ranking official and wanted to rebel.

Before Gao Shun came back, Zhao Yun was sent to Nanyang by him. Now there are only these two people in the house. He guessed that General Lu Fengxian might have said something in front of him, but he guessed the beginning but not the end It's not a fun thing to meet merchants, so it's hard for the two of them to compete here to be accompanying guests.

In the guest house, Guo Tu lay on the crack of the door and watched Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping come back with joy. He clenched his fists and spun in circles for a long time before he made up his mind to turn around and go back to the room.

The situation has changed, and it is not for him to be the master. It is best for the Zhen family to let the owner Zhen Yan come over in person, otherwise if something goes wrong, the two of them may have to fetch water from a bamboo basket.

Guo Tu quickly wrote the letter and asked the coachman who followed him to Zhongshan to deliver the letter to Zhen's house in Wuji County, Zhongshan. Wuji County and Anguo County are both in Zhongshan, and they can arrive in a day at a fast pace. I hope there will be time.

The coachman took the letter and went out all the way avoiding the people in the courtyard next to him, not daring to waste a moment.

The servant who had been staring at them saw someone go out, and appeared in the council hall after a while.

When Guo Jia heard that Guo Tu sent someone to deliver the letter, Guo Jia got up with a smile and said, "Brother Gongze is delivering the letter at this time, so he should be going to Zhen's house. Mansion, how can you let brother Gongze be alone in the guest house, you should spend more time with him."

Xun Yu put down the pen in his hand, looked up at the guy who hadn't played enough, and couldn't stop him, so he could only sigh and let him go out.

Why can't Guo Gong think about it and insist on coming to their house?

The author has something to say: Guo Jia: Why why why why?

Guo Tu: Don't come here!