I Love Farming

Most of the children in Northumberland Manor have never tasted the taste of brown sugar, which is a description that only appears when priests preach.Today, they were summoned outside the master's mill.

The sensible children were a little uneasy at first, because the farm officer's face was very ugly, but soon, they found that the faces of the serfs who were working were smiling, and the uneasiness was greatly diluted.

The farm officer turned his head to confirm his eyes with the lord, and then said loudly: "Listen to me, you little bastards, find two thin wooden sticks each, line up in four lines, and come in front of me."

If it was before, this task would probably be difficult to complete, how would they know what to queue up for.

However, after experiencing the lord's delivery of broth, and the array of rattan armored peasant soldiers in the village showing off, children also like to line up in private, so after they found wooden sticks all over the ground, they lined up in four lines smoothly , or in order of height.

The agricultural officer's face was still so gloomy, so gloomy that it reminded everyone of the day when the mutton soup was distributed.

"Cough..." the agricultural officer said with a sullen face, "Let's begin."

So, the serfs took the wooden sticks from the children in the front row, rinsed them in a clear water basin, opened the crock pot containing the sugar paste, twisted the wooden sticks twice, and rolled up a lump of sugar, "Take it and eat it. This is a gift from the Lord."

The child was dumbfounded, not knowing what to do. He was the son of a serf, and he had never seen brown sugar, let alone sugar paste.

"Silly boy, this is candy." The serf whispered, "You still have to open your mouth to lick it."

sugar?Is it the sugar that the priest said the sky was full of?The child subconsciously licked the sugar rolled on the wooden stick. The light brown sticky sugar paste burst out the most wonderful taste in life after touching the tongue: sweetness.

At this moment, the child was enveloped in a great sense of happiness. This sweetness was countless times stronger than the sweetness he tasted occasionally by sucking grass stems. The soft and sticky taste was even more fascinating. The paste was about to drip down, and the sugar serf asked him to roll it again.

The two wooden sticks are stirred back and forth, and the sugar paste is rolled up again. Even this action is extremely fascinating!

The child rolled the sugar paste tirelessly, licking it one bite after another.

The open space outside the mill and sugar mill has become a sea of ​​joy.

They boldly ran to the lord of the agricultural officer and the lord of the lord, and gave a nondescript salute, "Thank you, the lord of the lord, the lord of the agricultural officer."

The gloomy agricultural officer felt a little unnatural. It stands to reason that he should reprimand these brats and keep them away from him, but when he saw the smiles on their hands holding up the sugar, the agricultural officer couldn't bear it.

There may be more precious brown sugar behind this, and the reason that he is convinced that he can get more from the lord, but the agricultural officer did taste a little bit of happiness from it.They regard serfs as tools, but how can a numb serf child be used as a tool when there is such a smile on his face.

"Sir, can I take the candy home for my grandma?" asked a child.

Being able to be a grandma is definitely very rare at a time when everyone is short-lived.Cui Qichao nodded and said, "If you give it to you, it's yours. You can freely choose who to share it with."

Basically, all the children, after the initial joy, chose to run home, held the candy high, and said to their father and mother: "This is the candy that the master gave me! Try it!"

Of course their parents were taken aback, they didn't realize it at first, sugar, what kind of sugar, is this made of mucus and grass juice?

It wasn't until I tasted it that I could carefully confirm that it should be sugar, and now I was even more confused: even serfs can get sugar, so did the master dig a gold mine?

With such doubts in mind, the family sat together and shared the stick sugar paste in the child's hand, watching the child show them how to twist the sugar, and the whole manor was filled with joy.

It is indeed a luxury that nobles can enjoy. It is indeed a delicacy that the priest said that only the sky can be found everywhere. One lick will change the mood of the whole person.

It's just that no one is willing to eat it all at once, and stay to lick it from time to time, just like beating chicken blood.Fortunately, this situation did not last long, and in the near future, at least in Northumberland, sugar paste will not be such a luxury.

……

Cui Qichao kept some of the remaining sugar paste for Lance and the children of the servants in the castle, and donated the rest to the church.

How the sugar came from could not be hidden from others, but the priest William who lived in the manor, he would know sooner or later.Fortunately, William basically belonged to a group of common interests. While he was surprised that those beets could be made into sugar, he happily enjoyed the sugar paste.While priests can afford honey, who wouldn't want a little extra sugar.

After William knew about it, the people in other manors also gradually learned about it. It turned out that the beet they harvested was the raw material for making brown sugar, and it wasn't that the master had dug a gold mine.

Of course, having a sugar mill might not be much different from owning a gold mine...

"Master is kind-hearted, no wonder he can make candy."

"That's right, it must be because the master is kind-hearted, so God gave him candy."

"Let's follow the master, and we still have candies..."

"Don't mention it. I had a chance to choose someone from the sugar factory before. I knew I should fight for it. I heard that the people from the sugar factory pulled a lot of beet residue back to feed the pigs."

I didn’t know about sugar beet before, and I still don’t understand it now, but everyone has a concept that crops that can produce sugar must be good things, and feeding pigs can grow well and fat.

Why didn't such a good thing spread to them?

If the sugar mill is to continue, these workers must be fixed and will not be changed at will. Unless the enrollment is expanded, then this position is likely to become hereditary, and their sons and grandchildren will be able to rely on the craft of sugar making.

Thinking about the conditions for selecting workers at the beginning, it was hardworking, honest and willing to work, which made people regret to death. They only regretted not showing themselves at the time, or giving gifts to Zhuangtou in advance.Otherwise, they will be the proud ones today.

The serfs who worked in the sugar mill talked about how much sugar they saw stacked together, and they seemed to be able to chat for a whole year.

They brought back the beet pulp, and the master also ordered that the pigs should not be fed all the beet pulp, because too much beet pulp is not good for the pigs.There are not many workers in Tangfang, and there are only one or a few pigs in the family.

As a result, the workers had to distribute it to the neighbors. For the feed for the pigs, the neighbors exchanged it with firewood, pig manure, and helping to carry water.

All of a sudden, business in the village was in full swing.In the past, some people may have tried to cook and eat beet pulp, so how could it be used as pig feed?

……

The servants in the castle were more joyful, and they could feel the generosity of the master more closely than the serfs.

As soon as the master came back, he distributed sugar paste to everyone. There is a mine at home... no, it is different if there is a sugar workshop. The whole castle is full of joy.

What is the sugar paste? With the master's temper, he will definitely cook with sugar. The knights and stewards must all have a share, and the rest can also share some leftovers.

In addition to joy, everyone also has a little worry.

This is an era when wars can be fought over a few boxes of honey, what if someone finds out about the existence of the sugar mill and calls over.Now, we must be thankful that the master trained so many peasant soldiers at that time. Practice has proved that their combat effectiveness is very good, and they can fight against the regular army.

The butler was so anxious that the master immediately dispatched people to surround the sugar mill, and those beet seeds must be locked in the warehouse and no one would know.

"Okay, what's the rush, the serfs will take turns to train, do you have any objections? At critical moments, all the people can be soldiers." Cui Qichao said casually, "For armor and weapons, rattan armor, wooden bows and wooden swords stained with poison ivy juice, almost With an army of thousands of people, who can beat me?"

The steward whispered, "And the church..."

"I know, I will contact the archbishop and send them some sugar." Cui Qichao said, the archbishop's status in the church has been greatly improved because of the insect repellent method, and now he will send him the brown sugar and beet sugar method to further strengthen the relationship. It can also reduce the presence of Northumberland.

Moreover, with the sugar law, without mentioning the existence of the archbishop and the expectation for Northumberland, the church cannot covet Northumberland like other collars—the seaside city over there grows a large area and more sugar beets. , they asked those cities for beets and it was about the same.

There is also a problem of promotion. It is not feasible to rashly disclose the new sugar production law in the form of transactions. Everyone will get lost between economic crops and food crops.

Brown sugar is so valuable, when the time comes, everyone will grow beets, and the grain will be greatly reduced.Besides, with so many possible accidents during the planting period, not everyone has the risk tolerance.

Common prosperity needs to be worked out gradually. The church has a lot of arable land, and the brown sugar production will increase, so the price will naturally decrease. Everyone can look at it more calmly, and at the same time, we can also summarize many planting conditions in the process.

Which feudal landlord has a higher risk tolerance than the church?

The steward said happily, "Master, there is one more thing. Shouldn't the farmers be asked to plant part of the beets next season?"

Now Northumberland's grain production has been greatly increased due to the increase in arable land, the reduction of fallow and fertilization, and more land for sugar beet can be opened up.The farmers also took some beet seeds to plant, and the rent would have to be paid in the majority anyway.The rest of them can also make brown sugar in the master's sugar workshop for a fee, or buy and sell it, or eat it by themselves.

Of course, this was Cui Qichao's idea. The housekeeper probably only thought about the rent collection, and he definitely wanted to grow some brown sugar on his own land.

"Yes, we will plant them all at that time," Cui Qichao said.He will control the ratio of food crops and cash crops.

……

Soon, the news spread throughout the manor.

In the next season, everyone can receive one-third of the beet seeds of their own land, plant beets, and then make brown sugar in the master's sugar workshop, and receive their own part.

Even though the taxes in Zuzi and Tangfang are high, this is expensive brown sugar. For a while, the farmers are gearing up to start planting sugar beets immediately. It is best to grow three crops a year...

In fact, in Northumberland's climate, three crops of sugar beets a year cannot be achieved, and two crops cannot be achieved, so there is only one crop.

In this crop, about 1 ton of brown sugar was produced for Northumberland in a short period of time.

Most of the saline-alkali land is used to grow brown sugar. Rao, the sugar yield of beets is not as high as that of sugarcane, and the yield is not as high as that of later generations. Beets on tens of mu of land still produce 1 ton of sugar.

Salt is already very expensive, but salt includes sea salt, well salt, and mineral salt. There are more sources of salt than sweeteners. The current sweeteners are only honey and a very small amount of brown sugar imported from overseas.Therefore, sugar is more expensive than salt, and it is even regarded as a panacea.

Even if some were given to the church, there was enough left over to make Northumberland stand out from the crowd.Cui Qichao even ordered not to sell it all at once, and wait for the church to act first, so that they can slowly exchange some necessities such as grain, iron, and salt, store more grain, and make farm tools.

And so the Northumberland trade party was soon to set off again, this time carrying jars of brown sugar instead of grain for exchange.

Raymond was the team leader again, and his hands were shaking when he took over the task. In this era, is there any difference between betting on a cart of sugar and betting on a cart of gold?Even if there is, the price of sugar is higher.

"It's okay, don't be nervous." Cui Qichao comforted, "It's the same sentence, first protect yourselves. If you see suitable talents outside, such as blacksmiths, you can also bring them back."

This time the trade team set off with more people, and some peasant soldiers were included in it, all in order to properly protect these priceless sugar bowls.

There is no problem with internal security. The knights' fief is in Northumberland, and they can only hope that the fief next year will also plant a lot of beets and harvest more brown sugar.

On the one hand, the farmers are being watched by the knights. On the other hand, they and their families can also grow sugar beets in the future, and the food production has increased.

Thinking about the divine punishment received by the guy who stole the master's manure before, it makes people dare not act rashly.

·

Before the departure of the trade party, Northumberland Castle held a "full sugar feast" unprecedented in this continent at least.

Their lord, who loves to enjoy, has created a fairyland on earth.

He squandered brown sugar recklessly, and on the long dining table were brown sugar bread, brown sugar boiled apples, brown sugar roast meat, brown sugar oatmeal biscuits, brown sugar almond tea, brown sugar pumpkin soup, brown sugar boiled eggs... and other dishes.

They even used brown sugar to compact and carve crude crosses, lions, swords, flowers and other patterns, and put them on the plate as decorations, which is outrageously extravagant.

While preparing for the banquet, the screams of the stewards, as well as the kitchen staff, were choked in their throats.

This is crazy! !

Even if the stewards knew how much sugar was in the master's warehouse, the long-standing concept still made them feel dizzy when faced with such a usage amount.

Even the most absurd king can't think of such a way. Every dish is full of brown sugar, instead of carefully picking a little bit and putting it into food and tea as before.

The cook's hands were shaking when she was making it. With her clean hands, she didn't have the courage to add a lot of sugar. It was Cui Qichao who slapped her wrist, and she poured the brown sugar into the flour. She screamed.

After finishing all the dishes, the cook raised her hands and said to everyone: "I, I think my hands are very expensive now..."

No one can argue that, really, it's too expensive, because it's full of rich brown sugar flavor.Even the whole kitchen is filled with sweetness, which makes people feel like a fairyland.

The cook can even put the children to sleep with her fingers, letting them suck the aftertaste from her fingers.

……

When the banquet started, the knights, attendants, and the trade team peasant soldiers who came to the hall were all dumbfounded, suspecting that they were dreaming.

What kind of wonderful dream is this for such a scene to appear?

The wheat used to make bread is sieved very clean, and brown sugar is added to make it brown. The sweet taste can be smelled from a long distance, and every bite is full of sweetness.

Tea, soup, meat, every food is full of the smell of brown sugar, the braised pork is sweet and soft, the pumpkin meat in the brown sugar pumpkin soup is overcooked, sweet and glutinous, the warm sweets are instantly satisfying, The brown sugar decoration on the table is loved by everyone, and they are reluctant to eat it.

They tasted the food madly, and decided that even heaven was nothing more than that, and that their Northumberland was nothing short of a fairyland.

For the peasant soldiers who had never eaten sweeteners in the previous half of their lives, it was almost the first time that they were full of brown sugar, and they knew the specific concepts of the words "greasy" and "齁".

In fact, the sugar in each dish is generous but not too much, making them taste great, but who calls this a "full sugar" feast, and there is no other taste.

When you eat a full sugar feast, your mouth is full of sweetness, and even the tea that relieves your tiredness is sweet, and you realize that you miss those bland and unpalatable oatmeal... This is simply unbelievable .

It was also at this time that the lord sent someone to bring barley tea up in a timely manner. At this time, no one had tasted such a taste. The barley was fried, crushed, filtered, and brewed into tea, which had a strong aroma of barley. The tea tastes a bit bitter, but it is just right for those who eat too much sugar.Not only relieves greasy, but also can adjust their stomach after wolfing down.

The banquet guests who seemed to have fallen into magic just now drank barley tea with straight eyes. Only then did they catch a glimpse of the master sitting at the head so calmly, with normal white bread and meat in front of him, as well as barley tea. The only thing with brown sugar is Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies.

Lance's diet was also normal, but he gnawed on a sword-shaped candy with relish and was very satisfied.

Raymond's head was tilted, and he couldn't care less about aristocratic etiquette. He felt in his heart that the master's self-control was too strong. On the one hand, he entertained everyone unrestrainedly, even to the point of being unreal. On the other hand, the master himself only enjoyed brown sugar. The biscuits are still made of oatmeal. I have been watching everyone carnival just now.

Although the baron is not keen on force, Raymond admires him so much. He understands the dreams in people's hearts, but he will not get lost.

——It can only be said that Raymond is thinking too much. Even if Cui Qichao is short of sugar and salt for a few more years, he will only consume a moderate amount of sugar, and there is no reason to eat earth-made brown sugar crazy.

Who in the trade team has never thought about adding some brown sugar to food on the road?

Who knew that after this all-sugar banquet, everyone felt that they would lose their appetite for adding brown sugar for at least a month. They might be the first batch of people who suffered from sugar in the Middle Ages.

Hurt to hurt, there is still a sense of satisfaction. Just this meal is enough for them to talk about it for ten or twenty years.This is not the time when the brown sugar yield is abundant and the price is low. They are the most prestigious people in a brown sugar feast.

It's a pity that in the world outside the territory, even if the details are not exaggerated, many people are unwilling to believe it, or directly regard it as a legend.

Only people in Northumberland would be convinced of this and describe what it was like in their minds.

The rest of the food at the sugar feast was packed and distributed to the family by the feastgoers. At the same time, after the trade team left, the feast was spread through the mouths of their family members and castle servants.

That bit of leftovers is the only evidence left, which makes people rack their brains to imagine what kind of crazy banquet can make peasants and soldiers eat sugar so much that they want to drink wheat water, that is, barley tea to relieve the sweetness in their mouths taste.

……

Cui Qichao asked the cook to make some nut cakes to take back as snacks. He came from an era when there was no shortage of anything, and a piece of sugar cake could be eaten for a long time with barley tea.

The three have developed a strong interest in sugar cakes wrapped in cloth, especially Dabai and Daju. As cats born in the Middle Ages, they are not particularly keen on sugar, but are interested in all kinds of food.

"Sit down." Because there were all kinds of nuts in it, and many nuts were harmful to cats, Cui Qichao only ordered them to sit down and did not intend to eat them.

Cui Qichao took out a small piece and bit it, reasoning: "This is not suitable for you to eat, I will ask the kitchen to cook some salmon later."

Xiaobai's head dangling from side to side, staring at Cui Qichao, and with a dark smile in his heart, he suddenly picked up his clothes and stood up, pretending to be looking for candies, and bit him on the mouth.Watch it to scare Cui Qichao.

It's a pity that when Cui Qichao rarely lost his composure, when he saw Xiaobai approaching him, he barely dodged or dodged for a moment, but opened his mouth expressionlessly, revealing the sugar cake.

Xiaobai only hesitated for a moment.

Cui Qichao: "If you want to bite, I will bite your head too."

noob:"…………"

What kind of trick is this to fight poison with poison? Cui Qichao is crazy, right? ?

Besides, it bites sugar cakes, why bite its head?Can't you be reasonable? ?

It was only at this time that it realized that Cui Qichao still had two pointed teeth, like tiger teeth, but they were far less playful.

One person and one cat opened their mouths and looked at each other solemnly.

Dabai and Daju opened their eyes wide and stretched their necks, watching this scene in shock.

Cui Qichao would wash his hands every time he touched a cat, and if he touched noses with it, would he really dare to gnaw on the cat's head?

It's hard to say, Cui Qichao is a weak person, if he is really crazy, he will grab his cat's head...

After careful consideration, Xiaobai rolled his tongue around his mouth as if nothing had happened, then closed his mouth and put his front paws down.

Seeing this, Cui Qichao also shut up, patted Xiaobai's head twice, looked at his hands and said, "Did Xiaobai eat salt secretly, a little bit of hair loss, he's going bald."

noob:"………………"