The cement road from Chang'an City to Liangzhou has been under construction for more than a year.

Many parties were working together, and since it was laid on an existing official road, with 70,000 to 80,000 people working together, the progress was quite fast.

If there are no accidents, the entire line can be connected before the heavy snow falls this year.

However, some people have already enjoyed the benefits brought by cement roads in advance.

Peach Village, as the name suggests, the peaches produced here are the most famous.

I don’t know since when it became popular to plant peach trees in the village.

When the peach blossoms are in full bloom, the mountains and plains are covered with a sea of ​​flowers, and bees are flying everywhere.

Even some literati from Chang'an would come here in admiration and leave a few masterpieces.

However, after all, Pitao Village is still a few miles away from the official road, and it is still more than two hundred miles away from Chang'an City.

In previous years, not many vendors came to Peach Village to buy peaches.

Because this peach has thin skin, thick flesh, juicy and sweet taste, it is very difficult to transport.

It was a bumpy journey of more than two hundred miles, and by the time we got to Chang'an City, it was estimated that 70% to 80% of the peaches were spoiled.

Therefore, the villagers of Peach Village did not earn much money from the peach trees all over the mountains and plains.

Most of the time, I have to rely on the hundreds of acres of paddy fields beside the stream to fill my stomach.

Shui Ergui is the most ordinary villager in Mitao Village. His family has three or four acres of paddy fields and a peach orchard, and can barely support his family of five.

But that’s just about not starving to death.

It is impossible to eat enough.

It is even more impossible to cook every day.

"Ergui, the peaches in your peach orchard this year are the best in the village."

Seeing that the peaches were beginning to ripen, Shui Ergui had to take care of them every day, pick a basket and sell them along the official road.

Every household in Peach Village has planted peach trees. Although the nearby villages are not like Peach Village, there are still many families who have planted several trees in front of and behind their houses.

Therefore, selling nearby is impossible.

The food in the fields is not enough for oneself to eat. All year round, I just hope that when the peaches are ripe, I can exchange them for some copper coins to subsidize the family.

Otherwise, we wouldn't even be able to afford the salt we eat.

Fortunately, in recent years, vendors have been selling salted fish. It seems that eating salted fish is more cost-effective than eating salt.

"Hey, second uncle, it doesn't matter whether it's good or bad. If you can sell the left and right for 20-30%, it's pretty good. The rest will eventually rot, which makes the pig at home cheaper.

.”

Shui Ergui sighed, but was unable to change the situation.

In fact, this situation is still very common even after more than a thousand years.

A good harvest but not a good harvest.

There are many reasons.

Sometimes, you find that the fruits and vegetables sold in the place of origin are very cheap, but you can only buy extremely expensive ones.

"I see there have been more horse-drawn carriages on the official road recently than in previous years. Let's see if we can sell them better."

After listening to Shui Ergui's words, the second uncle didn't have any good ideas.

"Second uncle, I'm going to be busy now. I'll send you a few kilograms of peaches later."

…

Wenying is a fruit vendor and has his own shop in the West Market.

In previous years, he mainly purchased some fruits from villagers around Chang'an City and transported them to the West Market for sale.

In this era, the scale of fruit cultivation is generally not very large, and they are usually collected here and there to form a cart. Therefore, vendors like Wenying are actually the most familiar with the surrounding fruit cultivation conditions.

"Shopkeeper Wen, the newly launched fruits are selling quite well these days. Basically, they are sold out as soon as they are shipped back."

When the waiters in the shop saw Wenying coming back from outside, they hurried forward to tell the good news.

Although it has already entered autumn, the weather in Chang'an City is still very hot.

In addition, in recent years, people's income has increased, and their consumption capacity for fruits has also increased significantly.

Of course, the most important buyers are the distinguished families on both sides of Zhuque Street.

"Really? Which fruits are the best to sell?"

Wenying wiped the sweat from his forehead, sat down and took a sip of tea, then asked slowly.

"They are all very easy to sell. Among them, the new peaches that arrived yesterday are the best sellers."

"Are peaches the best to sell?"

Wenying's brain immediately started working quickly, thinking about which village around Chang'an City had the most peach trees planted by the villagers.

"Yes, Shopkeeper Wen. In fact, these peaches sell well every year, because there are not many shops selling peaches in the West Market, and peaches are easily bruised during transportation, so some shops simply don't sell them. "

The clerk has also been with Wenying for many years, and he knows the situation in the shop very well.

"Were the peaches bruised a lot yesterday?"

There are many types of fruits that need to be purchased in the shop, and Wenying cannot go to each one by herself.

For example, one of his nephews was responsible for purchasing the peaches brought back yesterday.

"Ninety percent of it is fine. Even if there are some problems, they are just minor bruises. It is much better than in previous years."

"Ah? Real or fake? Why are there so few damage?"

Although the less bad things are, the happier Wenying is.

But this situation was obviously different from his own understanding, and he still wanted to figure out the reason.

"I heard from Shiro yesterday that these peaches were purchased from the village near King Chu's Courtyard in the south of the city. There is a cement road from there, and the carriage is very stable. In addition, some hay is also placed on the carriage, so The damage was minimal."

"Is there a cement road?"

Wenying was keenly aware of the problem.

If we really talk about cement roads, the most famous one is the cement road from Chang'an to Liangzhou that is under construction.

Are there any places near this road that produce a lot of fruits?

"Yes, this cement road is really good. Even if the transportation distance is longer than before, the damage has become smaller. The distance is no longer a big problem."

The waiter added another sentence, which suddenly made Wenying think of something.

"You come with me, we will buy a batch of fruits and come back today."

…

The spacious cement road, like an endless road to the sky, extends to the northwest.

The fiery red sun shines on the land of Guanzhong, baking the cement roads scalding hot.

If an egg is accidentally broken on the cement road, it will probably ripen quickly, right?

Shui Ergui wore a straw hat and waved his palms in front of his neck, trying to drive away some of the heat. He stared at both sides of the cement road to see if any pedestrians or carriages were passing by.

Once there was movement, he began to use his loud voice to the extreme.

"Peach, freshly picked peach, with thin skin and juicy texture, sold cheaply."

In the past few days, Shui Ergui has sold some peaches with this kind of shouting.

Although the situation is still not ideal, Shui Ergui is already quite satisfied.

At least it's better than last year.

If this trend continues, there should be no problem in selling 30% of the peaches in my own peach orchard.

This winter, I can buy a pound of wool thread for my grandma to knit a warm woolen sweater.

Shui Ergui wiped his sweat while dreaming about a better life.

The distance of two hundred miles is neither far nor close.

In previous years, when the roads were not very good, even driving a horse-drawn carriage would have taken at least half a day.

However, Wenying discovered today that it only took her an hour and a half to get from the West Market to the vicinity of Peach Village.

This speed was something I would never dare to imagine in the past.

The most important thing is that there are obviously no bumps along the way, which is very important for fruit transportation.

Why are many fruits in Chang'an City relatively expensive?

Why are the stores unwilling to purchase large quantities of fruits even though they know that the selling price of fruits is much higher than the purchase price of farmers?

The biggest factor is that the proportion of transportation damage is too high.

In previous years, when I was unlucky, when a truckload of peaches came back, there were basically few intact ones left.
To be continued...