Playing intrigue is worse than engaging in infrastructure

With the identity of this group of merchants, it is not enough to have an interview with Song Qingyuan.However, the main purpose of their trip was not this, so they followed the guidance of the people on the road and arrived at the wool workshop, intending to discuss with the workshop stewards about the sale and purchase of cloth.

The heads of the caravan were a little surprised at first that all the staff in the workshop were women, from the stewards to the cleaning servants.

But when they heard what happened to those gossipers, they shut up very sensibly.After seeing the steward who was negotiating with them, he didn't feel contemptuous just because the other party was a young lady.

The leader of the caravan gave a suitable price and a sincere attitude, so the business was settled smoothly.

The steward made an agreement with them to pick up the goods in seven days. During the few days waiting for the goods, they decided to walk around.

After leaving the city, the first thing that caught the eyes of the young gentlemen was the flat farmland.

Walking in front of the mouth are young people born in several aristocratic families.One of the gentlemen got off his horse, handed the reins to the boy next to him, and walked along the ridges of the field to a few people dressed as peasants.

All he asked was the unimportant question of what was growing in the field and what the harvest was like this year.

Because many people from other places came to Wang Ting to do business during this period, when they saw these young gentlemen who were obviously dressed differently from those from Mobei talking to them, the busy villagers in the field did not hesitate. Too surprised, he casually answered a few questions asked by the other party.

After getting the answer, the gentleman went back to his companions, and while riding on the horse, he recounted the conversation he had just had with the farmer and the people around him.

"Don't people say that Mobei is desolate, and there are barren lands like the Gobi Desert everywhere? How can we grow food?" One of the gentlemen looked at the surrounding scene and said doubtfully.

"The environment in Mobei is not suitable either. Even if it is forced to plant, the yield should not be too high." Another person shook his head and said firmly.

"No, if the yield is not high, the farmers just now don't have to be so concerned. I talked to them just now, and they clearly cared about the appearance of this land, and they said they would give all the cattle and sheep to their families Dear family, take care of these crops with all your heart for the next year." The man who had just talked to the farmer retorted.

"How come?" Everyone stopped and gathered together to discuss this matter.

"If this is the case, wouldn't Mobei no longer need to buy food from us in Nanzhou?"

The other person hummed, and said in a tone of displeasure: "It's best not to buy, our own people don't have enough food, so sell them for nothing."

"You are confused. If Mobei no longer lacks clothing and food, what else can we do to restrain them!" The person who spoke was the oldest in this group, so he would naturally see the problem more comprehensively.

"It's not that we don't dare to compete with Mobei without these things." The person who spoke just now retorted unconvinced.

Although his tone is firm.But everyone understands that the reason why Mobei can maintain a temporary peace with them at the moment is entirely because their economy in the Southern Zhou Dynasty is more developed.

Many are like salt and grain.The necessities of life such as cloth and tea are only available in the Southern Zhou Dynasty, and Mobei cannot produce them.

In recent years, in order to stabilize Mobei, they have opened an unknown number of trading points and business roads.

If Mobei can produce these things by himself in the future, they will have no leverage at all against Mobei.

Mr. Lang, who was angry just now, obviously also understood this point. Although his face was not angry, he didn't speak any more words to refute.

If the Southern Zhou Dynasty was as powerful as it was in the past few decades, it would be fine, and they naturally don't have to be too afraid of Mobei, but their Majesty now...

Forget it, let’s not mention it.

In the contest between countries, if you have no competitiveness at all, you can only hope that the other party will decline with them.

If the lords of the Southern Zhou Dynasty could still deceive themselves and others with such an idea, but seeing Mobei becoming more and more prosperous day by day, their original self-comfort could not continue.

This kind of opponent is accelerating their development, but they can only watch themselves fall behind step by step. It's really uncomfortable.

The atmosphere in the crowd was a little gloomy for a while.

But this time they were too worried. Even if Song Qingyuan was here, there was no guarantee that Mobei's food would be self-sufficient.

The main reason is that the natural conditions in Mobei are here, no matter how powerful Song Qingyuan is, with the current level of productivity, there is nothing he can do.

As long as there is a person who understands farming among these gentlemen, they will not be so worried as they are now.

It's a pity that these people were all born in rich and noble families, and the closest contact with crops is just to meet outside the city for an outing in spring and sunny days, reciting a few poems to the green wheat seedlings in the fields.

But if you ask them what month to sow, when to fertilize, and how to thresh, they will know nothing.

On the other side, Song Qingyuan and Boyan were also discussing about farming.

"Your Highness, shall we plant soybeans next year?" Boyan asked.

The harvest in the field this year is very good, and the enthusiasm of the people for farming has also increased a lot, and some people even reclaimed wasteland by themselves.

Boyan came to ask at this time because he wanted to make arrangements for the spring plowing before the end of the year.

In this way, when the lease of the plow is arranged next year, there will be no rush and mistakes.

"Well, let's keep planting." Song Qingyuan nodded and made a decision.

It doesn't matter to the people that they are willing to plant other things in the fields, but the government mainly promotes soybeans.

"Why not grow some other food? Such as corn or wheat." Boyan was a little puzzled.

Logically speaking, the value of crops such as millet and wheat should be higher, and they are also the main food eaten by the people.

Compared with millet and wheat, soybeans are much less useful.

Song Qingyuan knew what Boyan was thinking. He shook his head and explained: "Choosing a crop not only depends on its own value, but also depends on whether the place where it is planted is suitable. It is cold in Mobei and the land is not fertile. If you plant it Crops such as corn and wheat have poor yields."

Boyan nodded thoughtfully, and heard Song Qingyuan add: "If you are worried that we won't be able to consume the soybeans planted next year, we can sell some of them."

What, sell it?where to sell

Boyan subconsciously looked up at Song Qingyuan with a shocked expression on his face.

You know, soybeans are not a high-quality food no matter where they are, and it is easy to be flatulent if you eat too much.Only extremely poor families will eat soybeans as a staple food.

When farming, farmers would never choose soybeans if they could not grow other crops in the field.

The price of soybeans on the market is also very low. At most, it can be used to make some tofu and other foods, and the rest is useless.

Now His Highness even said that he would sell the soybeans elsewhere.Not to mention whether anyone would buy it, the money from selling the beans might not be enough to hire porters.

Seeing that Boyan was so surprised that his raised hand was hanging in the air, Song Qingyuan smiled and explained: "Don't forget, soybeans can also extract oil."

Boyan still looked confused, he stared at Song Qingyuan in a daze.He knows that soybeans can extract oil, but meat oil can also be extracted from livestock.

Isn't it the same for the common people?Butter and suet don't cost money.

Song Qingyuan shook his head helplessly, "You forgot, the people of the Southern Zhou Dynasty didn't feed cattle, sheep and livestock very much."

How could he forget this!Boyan patted his head in frustration.

The Central Plains did not have such a wide grassland, so it was too extravagant to feed the livestock with things like soybean meal and wheat bran.Therefore, ordinary people seldom feed livestock such as cattle and sheep.

I heard that in the Southern Zhou Dynasty, cattle were extremely precious animals, they could only be used to plow the fields, and it was even illegal to slaughter them privately, unlike them, they would kill one for meat every now and then.

People in the Southern Zhou Dynasty fed livestock such as chickens, ducks, and pigs at most.Because chickens and ducks are too small, they can't make any fat.And now even the people are almost out of food, and there are even fewer people to feed the livestock.

And in this era, it is not popular to castrate pigs, that is, castrate pigs.Therefore, the fishy smell of pigs is still relatively strong, and naturally no one eats lard.

Looking at it this way, the market for soybean oil is simply incomparably vast!

Boyan couldn't hide his joy, and couldn't help rubbing his hands, imagining the scene where they could make a fortune from soybeans.

What kind of inferior crop is this soybean.It is clearly a baby of great use.

"Your Highness, next year I will let the people grow more soybeans!" Boyan said loudly.

Seeing his energetic appearance, Song Qingyuan said with a smile: "Then you can send a letter to the leader of Amur for me. Ask him if there is another place to open another oil-pressing workshop."

Compared with whole soybeans, soybean oil is obviously less convenient to transport.If the soybean oil was processed into soybean oil in Wangting and then transported to the Southern Zhou Dynasty via the Muhe Tribe, the transportation cost would probably increase greatly.

The best way is to build an oil extraction workshop in the Muhe Tribe closest to the Southern Zhou Dynasty.

If possible, Song Qingyuan would actually prefer to build the workshop directly in the Southern Zhou Dynasty, so as to save the cost of transportation.

But Nan Zhou didn't have a suitable partner now, Song Qingyuan could only give up after thinking about it.

Not only soybean oil, Song Qingyuan also wanted to try to make other soybean products.

In Song Qingyuan's opinion, the current soybean products are too monotonous. There are only tofu and derived dried tofu, and they are not easy to preserve, and the way to eat them is very rough.

As for tofu skin, yuba, and bean paste, I have never heard of it.

Hearing that Song Qingyuan asked the palace man for a stone of soybeans, he was a little puzzled, what did he want so many soybeans for?

After all, a stone of soybeans must weigh more than 100 catties, which is still very eye-catching to ordinary people.

Curiosity drove Lian to mention a small courtyard owned by Song Qingyuan outside the palace.

As soon as he approached the yard, Lian Ti smelled a strong aroma of beans.It was only when I entered that I found that the scene inside was the most shocking.

On the west side of the house, three stoves are neatly set up, and each stove has a large pot on it.

The charcoal fire in the stove was crackling, and the soy milk in the pot was bubbling and bubbling.

And Song Qingyuan was busy between the three cauldrons.

He kept skimming the scum from the pan with a long-handled spoon.It was clear that there was still a cold wind blowing outside, but Song Qingyuan was sweating from the heat.

Lian Ti looked at Song Qingyuan who was busy in front of the stove, and then turned to look at the palace servant standing aside with his hands down. The coldness in his eyes could almost kill the palace servant on the spot.

"Are the few of you just watching His Highness busy? Then what good does the king want you to do? If you go back, you will punish me with thirty lashes." Lian Ti's tone was displeased.

Song Qingyuan heard the voice and turned around to take a look at the situation.Then, while continuing the work at hand, he said to Lian Ti: "Don't blame them, I will do it myself."

Lian Ti suppressed his anger, "Since Your Highness interceded for you, then your punishment will be spared."

Lian Ti took a look at the servants who were busy kneeling and begging for mercy, and waved them to get out of here.

Then he walked to Song Qingyuan's side, took the long spoon in his hand, continued to skim off the foam, and said to Song Qingyuan: "Your Highness is honorable, let the servants do these things, why do it yourself."

"They have no experience and are afraid of making mistakes." Song Qingyuan explained.

In Lian Ti's heart, Song Qingyuan should be like the bright moon and the breeze in the mountains, and he should always be like an exiled fairy in the light and the moon.Now I'm sweating profusely because of this kind of thing.

He said helplessly: "It's just skimming off the top layer of foam. I learned it after a few glances. There is no difficulty. Besides, even if there is a mistake, it is just a pot of soybean milk. Your Highness has been smoked by the heat for so long, what if you get hurt?"

Song Qingyuan shook his head with a smile, he is not like a little paper man, he can't see the water vapor.

It's just a little sweat from being steamed by the heat, so how could it rise to endanger your health.

It's true that he didn't have to do this matter, but he just happened to be comfortable, so he didn't intend to bother the servants.

Although I felt that what Lian Ti said was a bit exaggerated, but after all, he was doing it for his own sake. Song Qingyuan did not argue, but followed Lian Ti's words and said: "Since it is not good for your health, then don't do it, my majesty. People."

Seeing that Song Qingyuan was about to go out, Lian Ti quickly called him to stop.

"What's wrong?" Song Qingyuan turned around with doubts on his face.

"Your Highness just broke out in sweat, now going out, the cold wind blows, wouldn't it be possible to catch a cold?" Lian Ti said seriously.

"Oh." Song Qingyuan swiftly took back the steps he had taken.

He really didn't think of this just now.In the past, catching a cold could be fatal, thanks to the reminder.

"Okay, the foam in the pot has been skimmed off, what should we do next?" Lianti put down the long spoon and pointed to the soy milk in the pot.

Song Qingyuan leaned over to take a look, and sure enough, the scum in the three pots was wiped off, revealing a lustrous luster.

He turned his head to look at the hourglass, and said, "It's almost time to put out the fire, and then just wait for it for a while."

Song Qingyuan planned to make yuba this time.

The taste and taste of yuba is the best among several soy products, and it can be preserved for a long time after drying, which is the best choice to increase the added value of soybeans.

After drying for a while, the surface of the soy milk began to condense into a layer of light yellow wrinkles.

Song Qingyuan picked up a pair of long chopsticks, sandwiched them from both sides to the middle, took them out and put them on the shelf beside them, and a bean curd stick was formed.

After Lian Ti watched Song Qingyuan scoop it up a few times, he took a pair of chopsticks and disposed of the remaining two pots of soy milk as well.

Just like that, Lian Ti, who just said "Let the servants do it, why bother to do it yourself", just scooped up yuba for half an hour in such a steaming hut.

The author says:

Lian Ti: Heir of intangible cultural heritage, proficient in Sichuan Opera Face Changing.