On the 19th day of the twelfth lunar month in the ninth year of Jianji, Qian Chuanqiong entered the palace for the second time to meet the saint. In the Changqiu courtyard, Shao Shude was grilling meat with his own hands.
"Abaoji was severely beaten once and fled north again." Shao Shude skillfully put the raw meat on the iron plate and grilled it until it was sizzling and oily, and said at the same time; "The Rouzhou camp came to report and beheaded more than 3,000 prisoners.
There are more than 20,000 people, and 300,000 cattle, sheep, horses and camels. Abaoji has almost vomited the results of his plunder. I think Wugu and the Snowman tribes will also have a problem with him. They went out to plunder, and the results were achieved.
, that’s good for you, good for me, good for everyone, but if you lose your old capital, you will feel resentful in your heart. Ah Baoji, I think he is also in a dilemma.”
"If your Majesty wants to completely solve this hidden danger, you will have to organize a large army to conquer it." Yue Liduo took out a piece of marinated raw meat from the jar. The color was very attractive, with alternating fat and thin, which was perfect for frying.
Xiao Chongsheng, Xiao Wanniang, Yelu Zhigu and other new favorites in the past two years are surrounding them. Regardless of whether they are willing or not, they must show a positive attitude to help.
Zhong, the only serious woman, was slowly cooking seaweed and pork ribs soup, glancing at the saint from time to time, and then sighing quietly. She did not ask the saint to favor her, she was only worried that the saint would be hurt by women.
"Let him be at ease for a while, there is no time to care about him now. The system I established in Liaodong needs time to be stable. Before winter, there was another rebellion in Longquan Prefecture, and there were people in Jizhou, Muzhou and other places raising troops to respond. What is needed now is time.
Don't let Abaoji lead you by the nose." After Shao Shude finished speaking, he took the meat from Yue Liduo and praised: "This meat is well marinated, it should be very tasty."
Generally speaking, after autumn, the palace would also pickle vegetables, meat and fish, mostly produced in the ponds and gardens of their own homes, but they were mainly supplied to palace maids, guards, eunuchs and the like. Even if the emperor wanted to eat fresh green leafy vegetables, there was a way
, let alone fresh meat, just slaughter it directly.
But Shao Shude wanted to taste the meat that the people had marinated before winter, so he asked the imperial chef to send some and cooked it himself. "The pepper masked some of the smell, but if you smell it carefully, there is still some." Shao Shude put the meat in
He put it between his nose and sniffed it, and said, "Your Majesty, if there was no pepper to cover it up, the smell would be even worse." Xiao Chongsheng said with a smile.
"I'm used to eating milk, and the old milk tastes the best." Shao Shude said with a smile.
The marinated meat was placed on the iron plate, and with a "chi" sound, green smoke rose and the fragrance curled up.
In fact, if you cook the marinated meat and add some seasoning, it should be able to completely cover up the smell. Now he finally understood why Europeans were desperately looking for pepper in history. It would be difficult to use it without this thing.
After the Agricultural Revolution, Europeans entered an era of both farming and animal husbandry. Livestock production increased dramatically, and a large number of livestock needed to be slaughtered every year. For them, pepper was an urgent need.
Some areas of Daxia also have this flavor.
He remembers that he was doing a pilot project with 300 farmers in Longxing Temple, Lingzhou, and implemented the three-crop rotation system for the first time. At that time, the regulations were that 20 acres of 60 acres of land should be used to grow pasture and raise 20 beef cattle. The life span of cattle.
How many? It seems to be only about ten years. After a long time, it is inevitable to slaughter beef cattle every year.
There have been large-scale cured ham workshops in Lingzhou many years ago. This is the result of the increase in the maintenance of livestock by farmers. In the coming summer, pepper will also become an urgent need, because it is the best at masking the smell of cured meat.
Huh? Thinking of this, he remembered that there seemed to be people waiting outside to pay their respects.
"Let Qian Chuanqiong come in." Shao Shude said, concentrating on frying the meat.
"Greetings to Your Majesty. Long live my emperor!" As soon as Qian Chuanqiong came in, he immediately bowed and saluted. It's disgusting! Others shout "long live" once, but you shout three times.
Shao Shude didn't even raise his head and asked directly: "I want to ask you something." "I know everything I know." Qian Chuanqiong replied.
"If we take a boat from Haizhou to land behind Huainan, is it still safe?" Shao Shude asked.
He knew that Qian Luo had attempted a cross-sea landing in history, and his troops suddenly appeared in front of the Huai army. By surprise, he turned the tide and resolved the crisis, so he asked him.
Qian Chuanqiong was sweating on his forehead. How can such a thing be accurate? When sailing, you keep your head in your belt. Skill is important, but luck is also important!
How to answer this time? If you say no, will it offend the saint? He will
If you ask this question, it is certainly not without purpose. If you say yes, if something happens, you will still offend the saint. Thousands of forbidden soldiers have fed the fish, who can bear this responsibility? But not answering is even worse, it is pure suicide.
In desperation, Qian Chuanqiong could only say vaguely: "Your Majesty, this matter cannot be generalized..."
"Look at your bearish behavior!" Shao Shude laughed and said, "Am I such an ignorant person? That's all, I won't embarrass you. Let's talk about sea trade. How are you doing with Japan recently?"
"After autumn, there are ships passing by every month." Qian Chuanqiong said: "But they are all local merchant ships, only one or two." "Why not send more ships?" Shao Shude asked.
"Businessmen dare not bet all their wealth." Qian Chuanqiong said: "Navigation is dangerous, and even one ship can make a lot of money. What's more, the Japanese don't have that many goods to sell to the Central Plains."
"Can't the Japanese be allowed to produce gold and silver?" Shao Shude asked.
"Your Majesty, Japan actually doesn't have that much gold and silver." Qian Chuanqiong said: "I heard that two ships from the Ministry of Internal Affairs landed in Japan last year and sold thousands of skins, which Japan bought with gold and silver. In fact, that time it really happened
They make an exception, generally they don’t do this kind of business.”
"What happened that time..." Shao Shude recalled it for a moment and felt very happy.
When Bohai was destroyed, some people from Bohai had actually escaped by boat. However, when the Ministry of Internal Affairs ship arrived, the Japanese pretended not to know and pretended to be a powerful nation.
"Forget it, what I really want to do is to establish a route." Shao Shude shook his head and said. "Your Majesty, please clarify." Qian Chuanqiong replied.
Shao Shude clapped his hands and asked someone to bring the map. Pugu Chengen quickly came over with the map.
"Here!" Shao Shude pointed to the southernmost point on the map and said, "Jiaozhou." Qian Chuanqiong's heart moved, as if he knew something.
"The pepper production in Annan is getting bigger and bigger now." Shao Shude said: "Jing Haijun went to the memorial hall to report that people were planting pepper trees on the hillsides and on the banks of rivers and lakes, and some even destroyed fertile fields to plant pepper.
Pepper produced on land is transported to the sea by river, and then transferred to Haizhou by sea ships.
In Mizhou, Dengzhou, Cangzhou, Dezhou, Beiping and other places, the annual sales volume is tens of thousands."
Qian Chuanqiong was a little surprised when he heard this.
He does know that pepper has been selling well in the past two years and the sales volume is amazing, but he really doesn’t understand that it is such a big market. However, the price of pepper is not cheap, and sales of more than 100,000 yuan may not mean that there are only a few ships of pepper. And in the future, pepper cultivation
If it is too much, the price will plummet. Can you really make money in the long term?
"This is eight years since Jianji was founded. There will definitely be more pepper sales this year." Shao Shude said in a very sure tone: "As long as there is no war in the North, pepper sales will increase every year. This money will make Dachiren earn.
Datou, doesn’t Qian Qing feel it’s a pity?”
"What your Majesty means..." Qian Chuanqiong seemed to understand.
"The Ministry of Internal Affairs is currently specializing in Liaodong trade and does not have the energy. I plan to form another fleet and slowly take over the pepper business." Shao Shude said, "But I can't get so many ships and manpower together at the moment. I heard that Mingzhou Su
Don’t you have any ideas for this important sea trade town?”
"If your Majesty lacks manpower, all he needs is an edict..." Qian Chuanqiong said.
Shao Shude stretched out his hand to interrupt and said with a smile: "I never let people work in vain. Let's make it clear today. Wang Shenzhi of Fuzhou is already willing to ship and send people. They are all ready in Quanzhou. If the prince of Yuhang County is interested,
, you can also send some people and ships, and the imperial court can send some more to form a fleet to specialize in the pepper trade route from Annan to Hebei. What do you think?"
In fact, does the imperial court really lack such sailors and ships? Not necessarily.
Isn't the reason for doing this just to benefit the local forces in Fujian and Zhejiang?
The most taboo thing in doing business is to eat alone. This will not end well, and it is easy to make yourself lonely. Make money together, bring more people into a circle, and unite with interests. This is the kingly way. Pepper trade is now
It's still in the nascent stage.
The price of pepper itself is still a bit expensive, which makes some people unable to afford it. If you want to buy it,
To make the cake bigger, you have to lower the price so that more people can consume it.
To reduce the price of pepper, we must start from two aspects. The first is the source, that is, expanding the market and increasing the supply; the second is to reduce the huge profits in the intermediate links such as transportation, wholesale, and sales, which can also reduce the price.
Why should the big cannibals make a big profit from Daxia's business? If they want to participate, that's fine and welcome, but they can only make reasonable profits, not huge profits.
But it’s not easy for people to give in if you talk nonsense. After thinking about it, competition is the most effective way.
In this pepper trade route, not only the imperial court will participate, but also the local forces in Zhejiang, Zhejiang, and Fujian, as the targets of the united front, can also join in. The powerful local factions in Annan, which are the source of production, can also take shares and profit sharing.
Even in Shao Shude's vision, local dealers in places where pepper is consumed in large quantities can also join. He thought so at one time, but later found that it was too complicated and a bit troublesome to operate. After all, there was no concept of a joint-stock company.
.
But he really wants to promote this kind of thing to the whole society.
The total share capital of the company is 10,000 shares. As the largest wholesaler in the north, how many shares can Zhang San hold? Li Si, as a powerful local man in Annan with a large amount of land, how many shares can he hold? Wang Wu, as a sea trade master, owns
A ship that is familiar with the sea conditions, how many sailors there are, and how many shares can be taken...
If everyone is united into such a profitable joint-stock company, both sides will benefit from cooperation, and both sides will lose if they divide. If there are conflicts, sit down and discuss them yourself, and don't rebel at every turn. Such a community of interests is relatively stable and takes into account all aspects.
Interests.
"Your Majesty is so kind to me, I am so grateful." Qian Chuanqiong didn't understand for a moment, but he still responded.
"Liu Yin will not survive and will be destroyed overnight." Shao Shude said: "The general trend of the world is clear. It is time for the prince of Yuhang County to make a decision. Qian Qing should return to Hangzhou as soon as possible and tell the matter. My patience is running out."
"I obey the decree." Qian Chuanqiong's heart suddenly suddenly responded and he immediately responded.
