The last time I heard about Tremella, Cui Junsu was frightened that Qin Wangzhuang had stored 70,000 kilograms of dry goods. That was worth twenty to thirty thousand kilograms. But it was obvious that Qin Wangzhuang was disgusted with things with troublesome production processes.
What Li Yuanxing likes is calculated in millions of catties. If the output is less than one million catties, he will consider it a trouble.
In fact, because Li Yuanxing came from a later generation, the calculation unit was tons, and the calculation data of how many thousands of tons the annual output was was in the news, cleaning everyone's concept of output.
The 50,000 kilograms of the Tang Dynasty weighed only more than 30 tons, and a truck pulled it down.
It sounded like the quantity was huge, and it was only a small amount in the warehouse, so Li Yuanxing naturally didn't take it seriously.
"Wu Lang said it's cheap, I'm interested in hearing it!" Li Jing asked further.
Li Yuanxing pointed at Yuanchun: "Since the beginning of the trial production, Yuanchun has gone to observe the progress several times and tried it out with his own hands, so let Yuanchun talk about it. I'm talking about a feeling, and the feeling Yuanchun talks about should be easier for everyone to understand!
"
Yuanchun bowed and opened the cabinet from the small table next to Li Yuanxing's desk in the small living room.
There was a secret code box in the cabinet. Yuanchun turned the code disk on it, opened it and took out a small book.
"The raw materials used for this kind of candy are wheat, corn, and sweet potatoes. Zhuangzi tested seven ingredients, and the final ingredient list is..." Before Yuanchun could say anything, Li Yuanxing stopped her: "Stop, this ingredient is probably
, one cent wheat, three cent corn, seven cent sweet potato." After speaking, Li Yuanxing motioned to Yuan Chun: "Continue talking!"
Everyone was stunned for a moment, and Li Jing laughed and scolded: "Wu Lang is hiding his secrets!"
"No. If you can tell me the ingredients, it's already a huge secret. There's a reason why we don't let you know the detailed ingredients of Zhuangzi's experiment."
"Then Goro, tell me the reason!"
Li Yuanxing signaled Yuan Chun to step aside, and then said: "The wheat rain and harvest are different every year, and the wheat itself will be different. Corn and sweet potatoes have different starch and sugar contents due to different fertilizers. I am asking the Taoist priests to
Research how to accurately test the difference between each batch of grain."
"It seems that Goro's reason is reasonable. Goro doesn't want to use one ingredient to mislead. In fact, some of the ingredients can be slightly adjusted. In the past, this would have been troublesome. But in Goro's industrial mass production
In theory, Wulang’s reason is extremely reasonable!”
As a representative, Fang Xuanling praised Li Yuanxing's prudence.
Li Yuanxing nodded and signaled Yuanchun to continue.
"Next, wash the wheat and put it in a special large water tank with a water cannon. Use cold water in summer and warm water in winter. After soaking for twelve hours, place it on bamboo shoots and wait for germination. Pour warm water every day.
The water temperature should be slightly warm to the touch. After three or four days, two leaves will germinate and the kernels will be sprouted. Then crush the wheat and set aside!"
It sounds simple, but as Li Yuanxing said, this is a labor-intensive job.
"The third step is to steam the crushed corn and crushed sweet potatoes separately. Corn is more difficult to steam than sweet potatoes, so they must be steamed separately. Steam and let cool until it feels a little hot to the touch, but when it is not hot, mix it with the crushed wheat and put it in
After three hours, the juice was squeezed out of the burlap bag!"
It seems that it is really not difficult, and the production time is not long. It is really a labor-consuming job.
"In the last step, the juice is actually sugar. But His Highness asked to cook it again, and it turned into pure sugar cubes of raw sugar. His Highness said that this will also go bad, but the whole process is clean, and it can be stored for one year after cooking. , or eighteen months. Various sweets are also made from this raw sugar."
It doesn't sound complicated. After listening to it, Fang Xuanling tasted a piece and said: "This is more like caramel. It's just that the raw materials are different. The caramel is not so sweet. It's just slightly sweet." , presumably Goro improved the raw materials and production methods,
The history of mixing materials, especially maltose, which uses high-starch and high-sugar corn and sweet potatoes as raw materials, is not very long. Li Yuanxing knew that the historical data that could be found only existed in the seventeenth century.
Because these two crops were introduced to China not long ago.
Because of this, ancient malt sugar almost disappeared during the Han Dynasty, because malt sugar consumes grain. In dynasties with insufficient food, it was impossible to use a large amount of grain to make these sweet candies.
According to historical records, China had cane sugar in 300 BC, during the Warring States Period, and the raw material came from Jiaozhou, which is now Guangxi and Guangdong. The original method used was to dry sugar, and it was not until the 26th year of Zhenguan that it was produced Finely processed frosting sugar. In the first year of Zhenguan, when food is not enough to eat, it is good to have sweetness.
Malt sugar, a sugar that is not particularly sweet, can be said to have been temporarily lost, and only some books still have some ancient records.
"Has Wulang calculated the price?" Li Jing asked again.
"The labor is too high. How about twenty-five cents per pound?" Li Yuanxing asked with a smile.
Li Jing picked up the raw sugar: "Is Wulang talking about this?"
"Of course I'm talking about this. If you add walnuts or other nuts, I will lose 25 cents. Walnuts are very expensive recently. A pound of walnut kernels in Chang'an City costs 80 cents." Li Yuanxing Complaining.
Yuan Chun muttered quietly from the side: "If His Highness hadn't bought up all the walnut kernels in Chang'an City, a pound would only cost thirty cents at most!"
Yuanchun's voice was not loud, but everyone heard it, but no one laughed.
"Twenty-five cents per pound!" Li Jing asked again very seriously.
In later generations, unpackaged maltose sold for fifteen yuan per pound, which was extremely expensive. In exchange for money in the Tang Dynasty, it should be three cents per pound. But the Tang Dynasty did not have the energy for industrial mass production, and the complicated machines were simply not available. It can't be made, so it still has to be made by hand.
However, the cost of Li Yuanxing’s maltose is really not high.
In fact, three kilograms of sugar from ten kilograms of material is more than enough. The remaining seven kilograms of waste are not useless.
According to the current price of grain in the Tang Dynasty, ten kilograms is less than a dou, and a dou in Chang'an City is only ten cents. What's more, Li Yuanxing used the grain in his own warehouse, which can definitely be calculated as five cents a dou. Plus The actual cost of water, coal, tools, labor and other costs for Li Yuanxing per kilogram of grain was two cents, which was as high as the sky.
What's more, the waste materials he used after making maltose are also valuable.
(Note: The Western Zhou Dynasty in China was the original maltose, but the raw material was not wheat. Wheat was introduced to China in the Han Dynasty, but it took hundreds of years to become the main food. Corn was even later, and crops such as sweet potatoes were not introduced until the Ming Dynasty. Entered China. Therefore, ancient maltose in ancient times is not only not sweet, but also consumes a huge amount of food. It is only eaten by nobles and is rarely seen by ordinary people. The sugar in the Tang Dynasty was still sucrose, and beet sugar was only introduced in the 17th century. was discovered!)
"Wulang Kezhi. What is the price of sugar in Chang'an?"
"A pound of 140 fen. A better 260 fen!" Li Yuanxing knew the prices.
Sugar cane is shipped from Guangxi. Guangxi does not yet have the ability to process sugar, and it is still relatively primitive there.
Including freight, labor, and the craftsmanship of the Tang Dynasty, one hundred pounds of sugar cane could not produce one pound of sugar. Sugar was definitely a luxury food in the Tang Dynasty, and it was a top-notch luxury product.
Li Jing suddenly thought about it, turned around and asked Yuan Chun: "Yuan Chun, what are the ingredients of this candy?"
After speaking to Yuan Chun, Li Jing looked at Li Yuanxing with a smile: "Wu Lang, you are not allowed to speak or wink this time."
Li Yuanxing shrugged helplessly, saying that he would remain silent.
Yuanchun knew that the people sitting here were all important people, and she had not yet learned to tell lies, so she had to tell the truth: "One catty of wheat, three catties of corn, seven catties of sweet potatoes. Three catties of sugar! And seven catties of leftovers.
His Highness said that you can give up that thing or feed it to the pigs, but we tried it and the pancake was very delicious. It was fluffy and soft!"
"Loose and soft?" Li Jing smiled.
Everyone also laughed.
Li Jing said to Yuan Chun again: "Go and make some cakes for us, and use that to make them."
Li Yuanxing nodded, and Yuanchun immediately trotted out to give orders. But Li Yuanxing knew that in modern times, it was used as feed and would never be eaten by others.
Because most of the nutrients have been lost.
To say it is soft, after fermentation and removing the starch and sugar, the baked product is naturally soft. But when you eat it, it is dry in your mouth, which I will never like.
But the farmers and soldiers in Qinwangzhuang had experienced hunger countless times, so he thought it was a good thing.
Li Jing asked Lu Maofeng again: "Have you tried it? How do you feel?"
"To tell you, General, that thing is naturally not as delicious as pure flour pancakes. But if you add a little oil and some chopped green onion to make pancakes, it will be very delicious. During the war in the past, if I could eat this thing, I would probably
I can laugh out loud even in my dreams. Your Highness said these can only be fed to pigs. I dare to say that Your Highness is wrong."
"Can you feed the horse?" Li Yuanxing asked with a cold face.
"Feed the horse, Your Highness is wise!" Lu Maofeng quickly replied.
In the hearts of soldiers, horses are treasures, and they can feed them good beans, so there is no problem with this.
Li Jing waved his hand to signal Lu Maofeng to step aside, and then said to Li Yuanxing: "A certain person still knows Wu Lang. If Wu Lang dares to offer twenty-five cents per catty, then he dares to earn half the profit. Now that I think about it, what Wu Lang really did this time is
Too greedy, wheat in Chang'an is currently ten cents a dou, and flour is only fourteen cents."
Cui Junsu was from the Ministry of Household Affairs, and he immediately said: "The price of corn is higher, dry corn kernels are twelve cents per bucket, and corn flour is only eighteen cents. An acre of sweet potatoes costs tens of thousands kilograms, and those things are sold in Chang'an."
It’s really expensive, only two for one penny. But His Highness the King of Qin has never sold it as food, and the market price in Chang’an City is zero!”
Cui Junsu took an abacus from Li Yuanxing's table.
A slap in the face.
"Your Highness, King Qin, does it count for one person to make one hundred kilograms of sugar in three days?" Cui Junsu asked again.
"Okay, stop talking nonsense here. The cost is two cents, do you believe it?"
"I don't believe it!" everyone replied in unison.
Li Yuanxing just shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Then the cost of King Qin's money is one penny per catty, do you believe it?"
Once you believe it, if you don’t believe a penny, you won’t give the King of Qin any face. (To be continued...)