Chapter 38 Mooncakes (mid-autumn festival, today only
Li Guangyin didn't know that every move he made was planned. On the contrary, he felt that he was getting in touch with the truth about this town.
After chatting with the manager of the horse market, he chatted with an old man who came to town to exchange eggs for rice.
The other party was not as eloquent as the previous steward. But Li Guangyin felt that the news he got in this way was more real. He wanted to know the truth about the town and the true face of the city lord.
After asking many people in succession, Li Guangyin finally had a general impression of this town and the Lord Lu.
To put it simply, as long as half of the deeds of City Lord Lu are true, he is the most powerful person Li Guangyin has ever seen in his life.
Alone and enslaved by horse bandits, he was able to blend in with the horse bandits and win their trust. Then four years later, he set up a trap to kill all the horse bandits in one fell swoop.
The courage and strategy shown in this, as well as the cruelty and ruthlessness, are the only things Li Guangyin has seen in his life.
After knowing everything, Li Guangyin was basically relieved. At least Lu Xiao was probably not a horse bandit. He probably wanted to reopen this trade route as he said.
This time, Li Guangyin began to think about this matter seriously. He was thinking about the profits it represented. As a businessman, after knowing that there was no life-threatening danger, he immediately returned to this.
This road will save about a month than the road he is taking now. This is undoubtedly a huge advantage. The key is how to convince other people.
Three days later, in the same living room, Li Guangyin met Lu Xiao again. This time, Li Guangyin saluted with sincere admiration. For a young man in his weak years, it is already rare in the world for a young man to take control of a city with his own strength. Especially this time.
This town is still a frontier fortress with tough folk customs and the most difficult to control.
But for three days, Li Guangyin only saw one thing. In this city, Lu Xiao was everyone's god.
"City Lord Lu, I agreed to your previous request. However, we still need to discuss the details in detail."
The discussion between Li Guangyin and Lu Xiao lasted for two full days. The two imagined various possible problems and worked out various details.
Lu Xiao even asked Li Guangyin to put out his goods, and now there was a trade fair in the town.
He has been here for more than four years. Lu Xiao has long noticed that the various living conditions here are shockingly poor. Within a radius of 500 miles, there is not even a cave that can make ceramics. Even simple things like tea cups and bowls
The daily necessities are seriously insufficient.
Farmers in many villages even use pottery and wooden utensils in their homes.
Now that there are no horse bandits, everyone does not have to worry about good things being robbed. Lu Xiao wants to stimulate their consumption concept. Only when money flows, it is money. Only then can the city prosper.
Li Guangyin agreed to this request without hesitation. For him, after making a plan to reopen the business route with Lu Xiao, he no longer looked down on this small business. Because Lu Xiao promised him 20 years as a partner.
Li Guangyin understood that if this matter came true, it would be enough to ensure the prosperity of his family for fifty years.
As a result, he naturally disdained the business of traveling through mountains and rivers with his belt in hand.
This transaction lasted for five days. It was not finally over until all the surrounding villagers who could come had come.
Lu Xiao sent Ding'an with twenty of his best swordsmen to escort Li Guangyin's caravan out of the city. Xiang Qie walked up behind Lu Xiao and said to him.
"If your plan really succeeds, we don't have enough swordsmen here. A caravan needs at least twenty swordsmen to protect us. We have less than a hundred people in total, which is simply not enough."
"So we have to start preparations now. You go to the cities in the north now and buy some children from there. Although the imperial court has banned the buying and selling of people, this phenomenon is very common in these frontier cities. We will start cultivating them from now on.
When the trade route is actually opened, it will almost be enough."
"As long as you have a plan. My old bones can still move for a few years. I will try my best to train you with as many useful hands as possible. Before I die, maybe I can actually see the scene you mentioned."
"You can definitely see it." Lu Xiao said with certainty.
"If others say it, I won't believe it. But if you say it, I must live until that time and see it with my own eyes. Let's go back early today."
Xiang Qiezheng said something casually. Lu Xiao didn't pay attention, but nothing happened. He decided to go home early.
As soon as he got home, he saw the girl busy working in front of Zai Ban. Lu Xiao walked over and took a look, and saw that the girl's face was covered with flour and she seemed a little embarrassed.
"What are you doing?" Lu Xiao took a look and saw a few pieces of dough on the eucalyptus board. It seemed that something had been added to it, and it was a little yellow. But he couldn't tell what it was.
"What will you do again?"
"Mooncakes! I heard my father say this once when I was a child. When he was young, he went to a distant city with others and saw merchants selling them. He couldn't afford to eat them, so he asked them how they made them. After he came back, he told me
Pass.
But it’s been many years and I can’t remember how to do it. I tried it several times without success.”
The girl looked disappointed. She originally wanted to surprise Lu Xiao, but obviously failed. For a girl who was born in a rural area on the frontier of the Western Regions, her pastry skills were obviously not enough to complete the level of desserts such as moon cakes.
The pasta process. What's more, she has never really learned the detailed process. She only tried it on her own based on a few examples from her childhood. It's surprising that she succeeded.
Lu Xiao looked at the dough on the eucalyptus board, thought for a moment and then said.
"Let me help."
"No, no." The girl quickly stood up and protected her eucalyptus. "You are a man, how can you do such a thing?"
"Haha, you don't know that the chefs at Zhongyuan Restaurant are all men. I still know a little bit about mooncakes."
Lu Xiao didn't lie, he really knew a little... theory.
I looked at the ingredients on the table. Flour, icing sugar, chestnuts, and some lard. These are all the ingredients. Compared to later generations, it is really a bit too simple.
Lu Xiao thought for a moment and rummaged through the cabinets and found some nuts such as walnuts and peanuts. They crushed them into pieces and made some nut fillings.
In fact, Lu Xiao himself likes to eat red bean paste or egg yolk mooncakes the most. But there is no red bean paste at all, and he can’t make egg yolk ones. He can only use nuts and five kernel fillings. Of course, nut fillings are timeless classics, and so is he.
Totally acceptable.
The girl watched in surprise as Lu Xiao melted the icing sugar in the water, then added flour and started kneading the dough again. Then he fried all the nut fillings, mixed the flour icing sugar and water to form filling balls one by one.
Then wrap the stuffing ball with the dough and make it into the shape of a thick dough. Then brush the surface with oil and put it directly into the oven to bake.
