As the end of the year approaches, there are crowds of people in Chang'an City. The people of Jingzhao Prefecture, who have been working hard for a whole year, all rushed into the city while taking advantage of their rare free days.

The east and west markets were filled with customers from morning hours to evening hours. From the high-priced gold, silver, pearls and jade to the low-priced needles and threads, as long as the guys could put the goods out, they would not have to worry about not being able to find a way out. Even the business of selling mutton soup with a stove at the entrance of the market was doubled compared to usual. Sun Da, the shopkeeper behind the stove, was so happy that his mouth could not be closed. After several times, he almost dripped his saliva into the soup pot.

"Boss Sun, you're rich!" Liu Genbao, a hawker selling wood carbon, pulled most of the cargo carts with a donkey cart and walked past the mutton soup stall with difficulty. The people and donkeys looked exhausted.

"Get rich, get rich, everyone get rich together!" Sun Da immediately raised his head and responded with the same good-looking words.

A businessman is not a scholar, and he never feels embarrassing to say the word "get rich". And he and Liu Genbao have met since childhood, so the word "get rich" is full of blessings when he said it.

Seeing that the other party seemed to be in poor spirits, Sun Da grabbed a handful of heart and liver crumbs cut in the basket next to him and put them into the wooden bowl on the case in front of him. Then, he scooped a large spoon of hot sheep bone soup and poured it on the crumbs, "Come on, brother Xiaobao, eat a hot bite. This bowl is my brother-in-law, please give me a hot bowl!"

"No, no, I've eaten it in the morning, I've eaten it!" Liu Genbao, a charcoal vendor, waved his hand desperately, "I've really eaten it. Brother, I'm not hungry at all now, really, not hungry!"

Although he was speaking hard, his belly started to roar and suddenly, it made him blush. The donkey beside him seemed to be greedy for the temperature of the fire, protesting in a low voice, refusing to move forward any further.

"Okay, eat, why are you polite? I don't know you yet! We have grown up playing with peeing mud since we were young!" Boss Sun was originally a righteous person, especially when he was well-off, and he couldn't stand his friends suffering. He smiled and buzzed his advice, "You are pretending to be fried soybeans in your pocket, right? After eating mutton soup, feed your donkey a handful. The old saying goes, a person can lose money in his stomach, but a beast cannot lose money. If you lose money today, you have to pull the car yourself another day!"

"This, this is not suitable. Sun Da, you are also a small business! You can make money for a few days in the end of the year." Liu Genbao, who sells firewood, refused to accept the other party's invitation, and continued to wave his hand with a blushing face. Then, he quickly took out a handful of fried soybeans from his body, threw a few of them into his mouth, and then sent the rest to the donkey's mouth.

The donkey stopped protesting when he had food. He stretched out his steaming tongue and licked the soybeans in Liu Genbao's palm cleanly.

Liu Genbao also accumulated enough strength. He tightened his belt with his hands, stood up straight, and bowed to Sun Da with a smile, "Brother, I'll leave first. The sun has just arrived, and I have to rush to help others!"

"Don't leave, don't leave, Xiaobao, the mutton soup has not been drunk yet!" Sun Dawen heard this and quickly reached out to stop. However, another wave of people who had finished the New Year's goods came over and stopped in front of the mutton soup stall. In desperation, he had to continue to persuade him while greeting the guests, "I said Xiaobao, why are you polite to me? Dear fellow villagers, the soup is not money, and it is free to give it to you. Two quotations of soup and scattered pieces, you add one or two more fat intestines for you..."

The price is actually not quite kind, but it is almost the Chinese New Year, and many guests don’t care about the three-meal and two-year-old date. They threw the copper coins to the sister-in-law of the Sun family who was standing aside to help. Then, they took the wooden bowl and asked Sun Da to put the mixed pieces to pour soup.

After the guests dispersed, Liu Genbao was gone in front of the stove. Sun Da, who was selling mutton soup, shook his head, picked up the wooden bowl that had not been moved, poured the already cold soup and crumbs back into the soup pot, and then sighed in a low voice, "Oh, Xiaobao and his family are sad this year!"

"Who can you blame?" Mrs. Sun had long been dissatisfied with her husband's behavior of giving people mutton soup casually. She frowned and responded in a low voice, "Last month, you kindly reminded him that many people in the city now have changed braziers into stoves. Charcoal will definitely become more and more difficult to sell. He thought you were deliberately scaring him to reduce the price. He even told you..."

"Okay, don't always mention the old sesame and rotten grains!" Sun Da felt very uncomfortable when he heard this, and whispered to his wife, "He was also treating his mother in order to make more money. Alas."

"This is not a scattered grain of rice. It has not been two months in total!" Mrs. Sun raised her neck and rolled her eyes.

My husband is a good man, capable, kind, and filial to both the elderly. However, his husband's faults are so annoying. He obviously has no great ability, but he is used to taking care of all his friends he knows. It seems that he is a legendary hero.

If the two had just gotten married, Mrs. Sun would have endured these minor problems. At that time, the two had no children and didn't have to worry about their descendants. Now, the eldest is almost ten years old and will be born in half a year. Some small accounts must be clearer.

"That's not the old sesame seeds? Besides, we didn't buy his charcoal at that time, so why bother to remember?" She was very unhappy that the woman took some small things to heart, and Sun Da whispered a lesson.

"It's not that I'm obsessed with it, but that there must be something hateful about a poor person!" Mrs. Sun became more and more angry as she spoke, and her voice gradually became higher.

"How could he hate him? Who can't bargain when doing small books? Your petty problem has to be changed. Otherwise..."

"Gududu, Gudududu, Gududu..." The sheep bone soup in the pot beside him was burned again, and the heat pushed the whitened sheep bones, making a series of pleasant sounds.

Sun Da didn't bother with his wife anymore, so he moved the pot away, and rushed to use large pieces of peat to press the fire down.

This iron shell stove is easy to use, but the peat fire inside is too hard and it is easy to burn the pot. However, because peat is far cheaper than charcoal, I can bear it. Anyway, the money for the iron stove and iron pot have been made. When I am not busy this afternoon, I can go to Xishi and move a three-foot-wide iron pot back. By then, the mutton soup tastes faster, and there will definitely be more customers coming to drink soup and eat mixed bags.

Several luxuriously dressed sluts walked past the stall and covered their nostrils with disgust to avoid being disgusted by the smell of sheep. However, more people were attracted by the smell of mutton soup. At Sun Da's greeting, they took out one Tongbao one by one.

Sun Da and his wife had no time to argue. One scooped soup and put a piece of miscellaneous things to greet the guests, and the other collected money, and they were so busy that they were sweating profusely.

"I don't know how many thousand acres are. Anyway, all the Buddhist fields in Baima Temple in Weinan are now belonged to him!" The guest's self-esteem was immediately greatly satisfied. He smiled and continued to add, "If I have children, I will quickly take them to register, so as not to be too late to even get a number. Even if I can't study, I can follow Zhang Shaojian to get some blessings."

"That's it, that's it!" Sun Da was overjoyed when he heard this, and bowed to the customer with a smile, "I bought the stall in the afternoon..."

He frowned suddenly, and he quickly turned his eyes to his wife, "This wave of guests in the morning is almost done, I can get busy myself. Otherwise, you will go home now and take Xiaobao to register? Anyway, Weinan is not far from Xinfeng, and you have finished signing up, and you can still take Xiaobao home before sunset."

"Then I'll go, be careful!" Mrs. Sun got what she wanted and couldn't wait to stand up. She was about to clean up the stall and went home quickly, but suddenly she heard a strange orchestral sound in her ears. Then, a group of Persian maggots wearing light blue or light green gauze dresses, barefoot, bare arms, only a bellyband on her chest, but covered her whole face with black cloth, walked over with music.

Behind the Persian dancers, there was a large group of big Kunlun slaves all over the body. Each two were in groups, carrying dozens of huge wooden boxes. Inside the boxes, glass bottles, glass cups, glass lamps, glass earrings, necklaces, strolls, and colorful perfumes were all piled together, lingering with treasure light. (Note: The Great Kunlun slave was an African slave, while the Little Kunlun slave was a Malay slave. But they were all brought to China by the Great Food merchants.)

Further down there is a huge plaque, one zhang wide and five feet high. It can only be carried by eight large Kunlun slaves to slowly move at the end of the team. On the plaque, there are dozens of large characters, half of which are Chinese and half of which are big food texts, each character is coated with copper powder, and when the sun shines, golden light shines...

The weather has just begun to warm up and the wind is not very warm. However, those Persian dancers do not feel cold at all. While walking, they dance like flying in the sky. The wrists, ankles, waists and other copper bells accompanying the dance posture, constantly making "jingle jingle sounds, falling into people's ears, captivating souls.

Sun Da deals with sheep from morning to night every day. When did he see such a strange and erotic scene? Immediately, his eyes lost the ability to rotate. The guests who were drinking mutton soup standing around the stove all opened their mouths and stretched their necks like ducks. The soup in their hands spread all over their big collars, but they ignored them and wiped them.

"What's the good thing about a group of fairies?" As a woman, Mrs. Sun had no feeling of the twisting body of the Persian dancer. She put her hand on her husband's waist and pinched her hard, "Look again, look! How much money are you working so hard all day long? Is it enough for someone to have a bell on her body?"

"Ah, oh, it hurts, it hurts!" Sun Da exclaimed in pain when he was pinched, and his soul immediately returned to his original position. He blushed and scolded loudly, "You cruel woman, I didn't spend any money when I took a look?"

When he saw his wife's head covered with oil stains, there was already a faint white hair. His voice quickly became smaller. With a bit of begging for mercy, he quickly defended, "Besides, I don't see a person, but the glass in the box. Be good, it's really beautiful, just like the ice in the wellhead in the morning. I don't know how those people made it?"

"It was transported by the Great Veteran from a very far place." Among the guests who drank mutton soup, there was also a person wearing a long gown. When Mrs. Sun scolded her husband, she blushed with shame and explained in a low voice, "I just stared at the plaque, which was written very clearly. With the permission of the Municipal Bureau of Changes, the Great Veteran opened a treasure pavilion in the east and west cities. It specializes in selling glazed products, ivory, coral, jewelry and other items from Dashi, as well as authentic Dashi perfume. It will open on the day of the Chinese New Year. On the day of opening, the first 100 distinguished guests who entered the store will be 60% off no matter how much they buy!"

"Oh" Sun Da suddenly realized, picked up the spoon, and continued to stir the hot soup in the pot in front of him. Whether it was glazed or perfume, it was too far away from him. Just like the body of the Persian lady, no matter how much it was discounted, it was a luxury that Sun Da was not qualified to touch in his life. The bones in the pot and the mutton on the chopping board were the most realistic. He and his wife worked all winter long, and when they were young and disliked, they could have half the rice and half the bran in the whole family's meal.

"Master, then I'll go and take my children to school to register first?" Seeing that her husband was relieved, Mrs. Sun had no reason to continue pinching people. She gently rubbed Sun Da's waist where he pinched and asked in a low voice.

"Go, hurry up, don't worry about me. I can support you alone!" Sun Da immediately jumped up like a scorpion, then waved to his wife repeatedly, "Be careful on the road, go and go early and come back early. It's better to have a companion with others. Although Weinan is not a few steps away from our house, you have to be careful."

"Don't worry! I'll bring a knife to kill sheep!" Mrs. Sun patted her willow waist and her heroic figure was erect.

"Go quickly, go quickly and come back quickly!" Sun Da, who was selling mutton soup, was also energetic by his wife's actions. He smiled and waved the wooden spoon at his wife. Then, he quickly placed the wooden bowls on the table with one hand and greeted the stranger who was walking past the stall enthusiastically, "mutton soup, mutton soup, just-cooked mutton soup! Drink a bowl and the whole body is hot all day. The soup is not expensive, mutton dust, you add one more article, and I will cut you a piece of fat intestine."

When the woman gave birth to a baby, she always dreamed that purple air penetrated through the window. Lao Sun's family was about to come out of a scholar! That shitty glass, shitty ivory, shitty perfume and coral, you can't drink it when you are thirsty, and you can't eat it when you are hungry. What a good thing! His third aunt at the east entrance of the village said it was good that it would be better to leave a box of books for her children and grandchildren...

"So much!" After a moment of attention, the mutton soup in the pot splashed out, and the oily soup fell into the stove, and the blue smoke swayed up with dust.

"Cough cough, cough cough, cough..." Sun Da coughed repeatedly by smoke and dust, and tears flowed out uncontrollably. However, his face was filled with happiness and satisfaction.

……………………………………………………………………

"Cough cough, cough cough, cough..." The thick smoke rolled, making Guo 19 cough loudly, and his nose and tears flowed.

"Young man, don't have to stare here! If you are a little one, don't worry!" Foreman Guo Si covered his nose and mouth with a linen covered with water, ran forward quickly and asked loudly, "You are the imperial court official, so you don't need to do this. If you are a little one, just stand in a distance to command. The little one guarantees that there will be no mistakes!"

"Didn't you see my senior brother still here?" Guo Nu raised his hand and wiped his nose and tears, and responded in a muffled voice, "He didn't hide far away. I'm hiding, what's the point of saying?"

"This, this is a minor negligence. It should be beaten, it should be beaten!" Foreman Guo Si looked up and looked through the rolling smoke and water vapor. Sure enough, he saw that the eldest brother of his young man, Zhang Qian, who was the fourth-rank secretary of the dynasty, was holding an iron pipe and poking it on the ground. Every time he poked it, a deep hole appeared on the ground, and a large amount of smoke and water vapor appeared from it, and then it emerged from the hole.

"Cough cough, cough cough, cough cough..." Zhang Qian's coughing sound soon came into the ears of the two. Then, there were a series of commands like running water, "Ren Quan, take a few people down to the Mingkeng next to it, step on the wind naan to make the charcoal burn more vigorously. Zhang Gui, Zhang Fu, you two, poke a few more breathable holes in the ditch in front of me, pay attention to covering your nose and face with a linen dipped in water to prevent smoke and dust from sucking into your body. Zhang Ren, Zhang Sheng, cover all the holes in the ditch on the left with wet soil..." (Note: Feng naan, an ancient blowing tool.)

"Yes!" The servants and the guys were busy around with shovels and wind-carrying naans. Some people quickly followed the steps dug in advance and went down a pit to a dirt pit, and blasted several huge stoves from the side. Some people gave a trench two meters long and five feet wide, emitting white mist, and digging holes to dissipate heat. Some people covered another trench that was also wide and narrow, with thick smoke, with a thick layer of wet soil, as if there were fire dragons coming out in the trench at any time.

"Senior Brother, Senior Brother, take a break, I'm here! Don't worry!" Leaving the foreman Guo Si, Guo angrily walked around the ditch and ran to Zhang Qian's side, using the words Guo Si had previously persuaded him, gasping for advice.

"It's okay, it'll be fine soon, you can withdraw first!" Zhang Qian raised his hand and wiped the sweat from his face. He smiled and shook his head. The originally white face was black and white, which was very "good-looking"!

"Then let me retreat together with my senior brother!" Guo angri refused to leave, stood shoulder to shoulder with Zhang Qian, raising his hand to wipe his sweat.

Why did the elder brother dig pits and trenches? Why did he bury peat in the trenches and then roast them with charcoal fire from the side? He didn't understand at all. However, he firmly believed that no matter what his elder brother did, he would definitely not be messing around.

This confidence came a few days ago, when the eldest brother brought him and his third junior brother to rub the medicine and twist the seeds. At that time, he and his third junior brother didn’t know what the use of rubbing the medicine and twist the seeds was. They didn’t understand what harm the five bronze bells that cost a lot of money to create could cause to the monk?

However, after the three medicine twists were tied together and lit, the shooting stars sprayed out by the three copper bells made the altar across the river disappear!

In recent days, facing a series of aggressive offensives by the Dashi merchants, the eldest brother is not in a hurry at all. He just takes people to dig holes in the village. I believe that just like last time, he is ready to use some magic weapon to give the Dashi merchant a fatal blow. At that time, I am afraid that the group of Dashi merchants who think they are sure to win will not even have time to cry.

"Okay, the task is done!" After carefully checking the coking degree of peat in several trenches, Zhang Qian smiled and grabbed Guo Nu, and strode to the canal not far away. "It should be fine. If you burn a few stoves like this, you can always get five thousand kilograms of coke. Although the waste is a little larger, it is better than not being able to burn it!" (Note: The gutter charcoal method is wasteful and polluted, and has long been eliminated.)

"Senior Brother, are you burning carbon? Is the things burned from peat called coke? Just like charcoal from firewood?" Guo Nu seemed to understand it, and while chasing him quickly, he asked for advice with excitement.

According to his past experience, once the senior brother Zhang Qian starts to explain why he does this, he is preparing to teach him and Ren Cong. At this time, you must not take face. If you don’t understand, ask, and the senior brother will never be angry. If you don’t understand, pretend to understand. If you turn around and be discovered by the senior brother, you will definitely be pulled out to practice boxing.

Sure enough, Zhang Qian did not have a look of impatient expression on his face, but turned his head to look at him, with joy on his face: "Yes, it's actually the same as turning firewood into charcoal. Peat is smoked and roasted to remove impurities, and the final result is coke. I didn't know how to do it at the beginning, so I could only take you to explore. Fortunately, I still know a little about the general direction, so we were done without making a few troubles!"

"Is the fire of coke very hard, just like charcoal fire harder than firewood?" Guo Nu is a very smart student and can always learn from it. "Then can we burn glass? Senior brother, you haven't entered Chang'an City in the past few days, and I don't know how arrogant those big food merchants are!"

"There are still some materials and utensils. If you have to buy them for me, we can give it a try!" Zhang Qian smiled and nodded slightly. "The temperature that can be reached after the charcoal is burning is indeed much higher than that of charcoal. In your words, the fire is very hard. The biggest problem with burning glass is that the temperature is not enough. I only have one general direction for how to do it. When your 3rd utensils buy something, let's try it together. I guess if you fail ten or eight times, you can always feel a little fur. Then continue while summarizing..."
Chapter completed!