Playing intrigue is worse than engaging in infrastructure

When Duokang lifted the curtain and walked in, Song Qingyuan was researching what kind of berry was in front of him.

Seeing someone coming, Song Qingyuan put down the berries in his hand, motioned Jiang Duo to show Duo Kang a seat, and asked, "Why are you here?"

Duokang was the person Song Qingyuan assigned to be in charge of beef processing before leaving Muhe Tribe last time.

He was once a cavalry commander of Lianti.Although his legs and feet are disabled and walking is somewhat inconvenient, he does things very meticulously and methodically. The current scale of the beef workshop cannot be separated from his efforts.

After entering the big tent, Duokang saluted Song Qingyuan first, then sat down, and explained in an unhurried manner: "I heard from the people below that His Highness came to Muhe Tribe, so I hurried over. I didn't expect to hurry up." It's still a step late, and I didn't see His Highness at the first time."

Song Qingyuan smiled and waved his hands, "The distance from the workshop to here is not short, and I'm not just staying in Muhe Tribe for a day, why should I be in such a hurry?"

Duo Kang smiled and said nothing, but everyone knew it in his heart.Hearing that His Highness is coming, whoever can wait patiently for one more day is rushing to see Song Qingyuan as soon as possible.

"How's your time going?" Song Qingyuan thought that he had nothing to do today, so he held a cup of tea and chatted with him.

"Thanks to Your Highness, everything is fine."

Duo Kang stroked the folds of his clothes, as if he suddenly remembered something, and said, "Your Highness, do you still remember the more than 2000 sheep you asked me to raise?"

Song Qingyuan nodded, he was deeply impressed by those sheep.

At that time, he exchanged drunken horse papyrus and meat floss for the sheep that the tribes planned to ship to the Southern Zhou Dynasty. He never thought that he would exchange more than [-] sheep. At that time, he was worried for several days because he didn't know how to deal with them.

"But you should have killed quite a few, right?" Song Qingyuan asked.

Those sheep are full-grown rams, and even if they continue to be raised, they will not gain weight.Later Song Qingyuan got the idea of ​​wool on them.But in the autumn of the next year, the wool of each tribe was sold to Wang Ting. When there was no shortage of wool here, he asked Duokang to deal with them by himself.

"It killed a lot."

Duokang nodded, and added: "But after that, my subordinates bought ewes with the money from selling meat, and they gave birth to many lambs this year. If you count the number, there are quite a few more lambs!"

Song Qingyuan never thought that things would go this way. He raised his eyebrows in surprise, and asked, "I remember that the people in the tribe often raise sheep. How can they sell meat for so much money?"

Since Duokang said that he gave birth to many lambs, he must have bought ewes, but there is no market for mutton in the Muhe Tribe, otherwise Song Qingyuan would not have worried about the whereabouts of those sheep.

"Your Highness, you don't know something." Duo Kang paused, and was about to explain the reason, and then said with a smile: "Speaking of which, it is thanks to His Highness that we were able to sell so much mutton."

Song Qingyuan blinked, and the expression on his face gradually changed from doubt to be a little dazed.Why didn't he know that this matter had something to do with him?

"It's a long story." Duokang put down the teacup in his hand, "Before you told the leader of Amur that you wanted to build the Muhe Tribe into a... trade center with the Southern Zhou Dynasty."

After a pause, Du Kang continued: "I didn't understand what it meant before, but more and more merchants from the Central Plains came to the tribe later, and some even came from Jiangnan thousands of miles away. People from other tribes also began to After shipping their products to us, the subordinates gradually understood the meaning of His Highness's words."

Song Qingyuan nodded slightly, motioning for him to continue.

"Later, more and more people came, and there were many guest houses and restaurants in the tribe. I don't know if His Highness has seen it just now."

"I've noticed this." Song Qingyuan remembered the scene he saw through the crowd when he came over.

Duo Kang scratched his head honestly, "Our people in Mobei are alright, but those Central Plains people, eight out of ten want to try the taste of our beef and mutton in Mobei."

It turned out to be such a thing.Song Qingyuan let out a long "Oh".

Special dishes, he understands.When modern people travel outside, don't they also have to try "local specialties"?

It's just that most of the later local specialty restaurants are dedicated to slaughtering customers, and they are not as authentic as the restaurants in the tribe.

"More than that." Duo Kang shook his head with a smile, and added: "Your Highness, the way of eating mutton in a copper pot that you invented really scares those Central Plains people. Those who have eaten it once are full of praise and want to eat it." Second time!"

Even their own people like it very much.Many Central Plains people who came to Muhe Tribe for the first time didn't even care about unloading their goods, so they had to go along the road to eat mutton in copper pots.There are not a few businessmen who postpone their trips because of this hot pot meal.

Song Qingyuan didn't know what to say for a while.He didn't expect that the copper hot pot he made on a whim would have such a big impact unintentionally.

"Copper hot pot can be welcomed by so many people..." Song Qingyuan paused for a while before continuing silently: "Me too, very happy."

But this is also a surprise.

Song Qingyuan smiled and shook his head.Maybe after the official road is repaired, grassland characteristic tourism can be developed.

"Since that's the case, let's teach you another food method." Song Qingyuan thought for a while.

"What food?" Duo Kang's eyes lit up.

The copper hot pot invented by His Highness on a whim is so popular, isn't the new food a delicacy that only gods can eat?

"This thing is called a cake, and it's a kind of dessert." Song Qingyuan recalled the cake making process with his head down, and then, under Duo Kang's expectant gaze, unhurriedly mentioned a few tools that he needed to prepare.

Duo Kang hurried down to prepare, his whole body was full of excitement and can't wait.

Seeing that his legs and feet were inconvenient, he walked out of Duokang, who used to be the commander of the cavalry. The former comrade-in-arms was half puzzled and half jokingly asked: "Duokang, why are you going? You are as anxious as burning your ass. .”

what do you knowDuo Kang curled his lips in disdain, "Your Highness asked me to prepare things, as for what to do..."

His tone was proud, and under the curious eyes of his friend, he snorted and said, "I won't tell you!"

"Hey, you!" The friend handed over the things in his hands to someone else, and followed Duo Kang, "I want to see what His Highness ordered you."

The two left arguing, and the content of the words was naive even for an eight-year-old child.

On the other side, Song Qingyuan was holding his head and thinking about another matter.

What he made in Wang Ting before was a cake with a layer of cream on top.But cream is rare, and it is not cheap to make, so it is not suitable for ordinary restaurants to promote.Therefore, Song Qingyuan planned to teach the common people how to make the inner layer of cake.

And when he was thinking about how to make the cake, he suddenly remembered that Lian Ti seemed to like the cream cake he made back then.

After all, the cake was shared by the two of them until there was nothing left.

A few days later, it coincided with the victory of the army and returning home...

Song Qingyuan's thoughts turned quickly, so can he make a big cake to welcome the returning soldiers?

He hurriedly called Jiang Duo and ordered him to buy a large amount of milk from the Muhe tribe, as much as possible, and then transport it together the day after tomorrow.

Because the weather hasn't completely cooled down yet, the milk will definitely go bad.Therefore, he needs to calculate the time when the army will return, and then make cream with fresh milk half a day in advance.

Since it is to celebrate the safe return of the soldiers, of course the bigger and more grand the cake, the better.Song Qingyuan asked the blacksmith to make a one-person-high iron frame that could be assembled.

The iron shelf has five layers in total, and on it are five wooden trays arranged in descending order, which are used to place the finished cream cakes.And there is an iron pillar passing through the middle, which plays a fixed role.

In Song Qingyuan's plan, not only the iron frames and trays need to be made by craftsmen, but also the molds and cream spatulas for baking cakes are not available.

Fortunately, he planned to build a beef processing plant in Muhe Tribe before, because a lot of equipment designed by Song Qingyuan was used in it, so Duokang hired many carpenters and blacksmiths to take care of daily maintenance and repairs.

Otherwise, the plan of this cake tower would have to be aborted because there were not enough craftsmen and the required utensils could not be completed before the army arrived at Muhe Tribe.

After handing over the drawings to the craftsman, Song Qingyuan began to think about another thing.

That is: this cake was made to celebrate the victory of the war and welcome the soldiers back home, but the outermost layer of cream is pure white, anyway, this color is always a bit unlucky.

But there is no edible coloring in this era.

Song Qingyuan leaned against the soft hidden sac on his back, thinking about what plants could be eaten and used for dyeing without any special taste.

After much deliberation, Song Qingyuan turned his attention to the melons and fruits piled up like hills on the table, which were stuffed by the common people just now.

The unknown berry just now attracted Song Qingyuan's attention.Just as he was about to reach out to grab it, he heard the servants guarding both sides whispering: "Your Highness, the juice of this fruit is very easy to stain, if it gets on your hands, it will take a long time to wash it off, Your Highness must be careful when handling it. "

Isn't that what he wants?Song Qingyuan patted the corner of the table excitedly.Then carefully picked up one and tasted it.

Sweet and sour, rich in juice, dyed and seasoned in one go.

Song Qingyuan hurriedly asked his attendant about the source of this fruit, and when he heard the attendant said that there were quite a few of this kind of fruit not far from across a river in the south, and that this season was ripe, he was completely relieved, and quickly asked someone to attend Said the place to pick.

After lunch the next day, the tools for making cake towers have not yet been made, but the people who learned how to make cakes have already come by the agreed time.

Song Qingyuan taught them how to make cakes, and of course it wasn't completely free. Those who came to learn today will have to help make cake towers in a few days, but for the common people, Song Qingyuan's actions are basically no different from doing charity.

After all, if you have learned the technique of making cakes, you have a top-notch craft. In the future, let alone making a living with it, it will not be difficult to live a wealthy life.

Think about those shops that sell mutton in copper pots, which ones don't live a life without worrying about food and clothing.

Therefore, the people standing in front of Song Qingyuan struggled to get this hard-won spot. Although His Highness said, the production method will be disclosed to the people of the Muhe tribe.But if you learn one day earlier, you will have an advantage over others.

If it is really like what His Highness said, if you can understand by analogy and figure out how to make other kinds of pastries by yourself, then you will really have no worries about food and clothing in the future.

The author says:

On the surface: making cakes to celebrate the return of soldiers from victory.

Actually: So-and-so seems to like eating very much.

(Excerpt from "The Correct Usage of Double Standards" by Song Qingyuan)