Chapter 27 Just ask me if this piece of glass is good
The wine that was originally meant to be given to his future father-in-law, but now that the emperor has asked for it, he has to give it away. Lu Yao borrowed flowers to offer to the Buddha and showed the wine to several people in the Wende Hall.
He introduced: "These two jars of wine are brewed by my newly opened restaurant. I just want to give them to His Majesty the Emperor for you to try."
It was somewhat uncomfortable to hear Lu Yao call him His Majesty the Emperor. Most people would call him Guanjia, which was also the title used by the emperor throughout the Song Dynasty.
Song Renzong nodded and said: "Lu Erlang is interested. Mr. Wen, how about we drink the wine brought by Lu Erlang and then discuss the business?"
"Thank you, officials." Wen Yanbo and the others saluted.
Lu Xu winked at Lu Yao and asked in a low voice: "Yao'er, is there anything wrong with your wine?"
"Is there a problem? What could be wrong with the wine I brewed?" Lu Yao really didn't know what Lu Xu was thinking. Could he have poisoned the wine?
This kind of operation is like hanging someone's life. It's just because you don't want to live too long. Do you want to live in Bianliang anymore?
"It's okay!" Lu Xuyou changed into the appearance of an old god, looking ahead, not knowing what he was looking at.
Song Renzong's personal eunuch brought six wine glasses on a tray and placed them in front of Lu Yao.
Lu Yao took out a jar of wine and opened the cork, and the fragrance suddenly filled the entire Wende Hall.
Fu Bi took two deep breaths. He was a good drinker and would have a drink every day with dinner. After drinking wine for so many years, he had tasted a lot of good wines. He had never tasted such a good wine.
He smiled and said: "Thanks to the official family, I can taste this glass of good wine today."
After Lu Xu and Lu Yao each got a glass of wine, the eunuch came to Song Renzong with the wine and was about to test the poison with a silver needle, but Song Renzong stopped him and said, "Send it to Wen Xianggong and the others. Don't let them wait for a long time."
waited."
Wen Yanbo, Fu Bi, and Zeng Gongliang each held a wine glass in their hands, waiting for Song Renzong to taste it before he drank.
Zhao Zhen took a brief sip and felt that it was smooth in the mouth and flowed directly into his throat like silk. It did not have the sourness of other liquors. It was sweet and strong, with an indescribable refreshing feeling.
Zhao Zhen put down his wine glass and sighed, "Good wine, let's all drink together."
Fu Bi couldn't wait any longer and poured half a cup into his mouth. In the cold winter, his body gradually became hot and he could only use the word "comfortable" to describe it.
He smiled and said: "After seeing this, I will have to go to the Lu family to sell wine. How can I still drink the wine before I drank this wine?"
Zhao Zhen smiled and nodded. Suddenly he didn't want to drink any more of the tribute wine in the palace. He asked Lu Yao: "Lu Erlang, does this wine have a name?"
Lu Yao then remembered that he had not given the wine a name, which was really a sin. However, there were so many wine names in later generations, so he just picked one up and said, "His Majesty, the common people call this wine Wuliangye."
"Wuliangye? Is this wine brewed from five kinds of grains?" Zhao Zhen asked curiously.
Lu Yao scratched his head in embarrassment, "Only one kind of grain was used."
Zhao Zhen shook his head, "No, no, the name doesn't match the reality. How about I give this wine a name?"
Lu Yao was very happy. What better advertisement could there be than the emperor personally naming the wine? Even the emperor said, why don't you come and drink? He had already planned to engrave the name of the wine given by Zhao Zhen into big characters and hang it on the signboard.
What is this called? This is called facade.
Lu Yao saluted and said: "It is a great honor for the common people to be named by His Majesty the Emperor."
"This wine is like jade and has a soft fragrance. How about calling it Qiongyu?"
Fu Bi smiled and said, "This wine deserves the word Qiongyu."
Lu Yao saluted again and said, "Thank you, His Majesty the Emperor. From now on, this wine will be called Qiongyu Niang."
Zhao Zhen waved his hand and said: "Lu Erlang does not need to call me His Majesty the Emperor, just call me Official like others."
"It's an official family."
Drinking is just to give Lu Yao some face. After having a taste, he will continue to talk about national affairs.
"Give me seats for Lu Qing and his son." After the eunuch put away the wine glasses, he brought two seats and placed them behind Lu Yao and Lu Xu.
Lu Yao also sat on the chair very seriously.
Zhao Zhen said: "The salt tax reported by the Ministry of Household Affairs today is much less than in previous years. Does Lu Qing know the reason?"
Lu Xu was also worried about the salt tax these days, so after learning that Lu Yao brought refined salt home, he wanted to know if Lu Yao had discovered a new salt mine. It was true that there was too little salt in the Northern Song Dynasty at this time.
At this time, the Northern Song Dynasty mainly focused on salt lakes and well salt, and the output was not very high. Coupled with the difficulties in transportation, a pound of salt often cost more than 40 yuan. Compared with the Ming Dynasty, it can be said to be sky-high price of salt, but there is no way.
things.
Although the imperial court with Xixia has explicitly banned the sale of illegal salt, in the face of huge profits, businessmen like to take risks, and smuggling of green salt is not uncommon.
Low-priced salt flowed into the market of the Northern Song Dynasty, so how could people sell the sky-high official salt? Although green salt is not as delicious as official salt, as long as there is salt to eat, it doesn't matter what kind of salt it is.
Bianliang was under the emperor's command, and he did not dare to sell private salt here. However, the salt tax collected by Qingzhou, Xizhou, and Yan'an this year was less than 40% of last year's. Lu Xu was really worried and scratched his head.
With no other choice, he showed Zhao Zhen the refined salt at home, and this was how Lu Yao came to the palace.
Lu Xu cupped his hands and replied: "The officials, the smuggling of green salt is really too serious. I'm afraid that in a few years Qinfeng Road won't be able to collect even a cent of the salt tax."
"Smuggling, smuggling." Zhao Zhen murmured softly, thinking of ways to solve the smuggling problem. No matter how much he thought about it, he could not solve the problem.
"Do you have any good ideas?" Zhao Zhen asked.
Wen Yanbo stood up and said: "The official reason for the heavy smuggling is that there is huge profit, and Xixia has a large salt lake, and its salt price is more than ten times lower than the price of salt in our country. The price of salt in our country will not drop for a day.
Then the smuggling will continue."
Zhao Zhen sighed: "I also know that the price of salt is high, but the cost of making salt is so high, how can it be reduced?"
This problem is completely unsolvable. If the price of salt in the Song Dynasty cannot be reduced, then the annual salt tax will only become less and less. The best way is to increase the production of salt, or improve the method of salt production. As long as the salt production is
If the cost is reduced, the price of salt will be reduced.
Zhao Zhen turned his attention to Lu Yao. He tasted the refined salt that Lu Xu presented. It was not astringent and crystal white. He heard that Lu Yao filtered out some impurities in the salt to obtain refined salt. Suddenly
He had a bold idea.
"Lu Erlang, I heard that you are good at making salt. I wonder if I can use the method you use to make edible salt from rock salt."
Of course Lu Yao knows what rock salt is.
Rock salt, also known as rock salt, is a salt mine in the mountains. Later generations used unfiltered rock salt for industrial use. This kind of salt cannot be eaten directly. It contains a large amount of sodium chloride. Eating too much will cause edema all over the body. This is what the ancients have always said.
Reasons not to eat rock salt.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Zhen still had such an idea. He really had no choice but to put his idea on rock salt.
There are many rock salt mines, and the mining cost is extremely low. As long as the rock salt is refined into edible salt, the price of salt in the Song Dynasty may be lower than that of Xixia green salt.
Lu Yao thought for a while and replied in the affirmative, "It can be refined, but I need time to prepare some things."
It was easy to get rid of sodium chloride in later generations. You only need to use chemical solvents. However, there were no chemical solvents in the Song Dynasty. Lu Yao could only use distillation and filtration to purify, but you need to use glass as a distillation vessel. In fact,
If that doesn't work, you need to make a similar distillation thing out of iron, which will take time to prepare.
Suddenly, Zhao Zhen's eyes lit up. If he could turn rock salt into edible salt, the salt tax issue would be completely solved. However, he was still worried about one question, "How much will it cost?"
If the cost of converting rock salt is higher than the cost of extracting well salt, then the joy is in vain.
Lu Yao replied: "The cost is very low, and it only requires simple steps to successfully refine it."
"Really?" Zhao Zhen sat up from his seat in surprise, "I wonder what Lu Erlang needs, tell me, I can find it for you today."
Zhao Zhen was also anxious. Only if he could see the rock salt was successfully purified earlier would he feel relieved.
Lu Yao said: "I need colored glaze, large pieces of colored glaze."
Nowadays, if there is no glass, it can be replaced by colored glaze.
Zhao Zhen said excitedly: "I recently got a good glass object, which is being stored in the palace. Waiter Ning will quickly bring the glass to Lu Erlang to see."
But after a while, the waiter Ning came over with something.
When Lu Yao saw the object in his hand, everyone was shocked, including Lu Xu.
Isn't this the oil drum he used to store oil before? Why did it come to the palace? Zhao Zhen even kept it as a treasure. Lu Yao felt like he was numb.
Lu Xu looked at Lu Yao in confusion, as if asking you how this thing got into the palace.
Lu Yao suddenly thought of the black-faced man. Could it be that he had some relationship with the people in the palace.
Lu Yao quickly said: "I have seen this thing before. Its texture is too soft and will melt under high temperatures. It is not suitable for use as glass. Please think about it again."
"That's such a pity." Zhao Zhen asked Ning to take the oil barrel down again. He looked at him very much and liked the oil barrel. He was afraid that if he died in the future, he would be buried with this oil barrel.
Lu Yao thought for a while and decided to use iron, which is more reliable after all. "Guan family, I wonder if there is a good blacksmith in this palace?"
"There is no blacksmith. I can look for it outside the palace. I wonder what items Lu Erlang needs to build?" Zhao Zhen asked.
"The official will lend me a pen and paper."
After getting the pen and paper, Lu Yao concentrated on drawing a sketch of the distiller on the paper. In fact, it was nothing. He only needed to build something similar to a pot lid, add an iron pipe, and put it in the iron pipe.
Use good charcoal and plain cloth, and the steam flows out of the iron pipe through the filter, which means the filtering is complete.
After Lu Yao handed the sketch to Ning Shi, Shi Ning hurried out of the palace and went out to find a blacksmith to build it.
"If this method can be accomplished, you, Lu Erlang, will be indispensable." Zhao Zhen said solemnly, such great achievements can lead to a title in any dynasty.
Lu Yao was very happy, it would be very convenient for Jian to do whatever he wanted in the future.
Suddenly he remembered one thing: why go to all the trouble to get salt? There is ready-made salt in sea water.
Lu Yao cupped his hands and said: "Guan Jia, I have another method that can solve the problem of making salt. This method can ensure that the Song Dynasty will never be short of salt again."
"Why, tell me quickly." Zhao Zhen urged.
"This is the salt-drying method." Lu Yao replied.
"Salt-sun method?" Zhao Zhen didn't quite understand. Could it be that the toxins in rock salt could be removed by exposing it to the sun?
Lu Yao continued: "For seawater, you only need to dig a pond and introduce seawater into the pond. After the water is dried by the sun, salt will be produced. This method has no cost. The biggest cost is labor."
"Really?"
"The officials might as well give it a try."
Zhao Zhen immediately ordered: "Mr. Wen, please immediately write to Haizhou, Mizhou, and Dengzhou to order the magistrates of the three places to implement the method of drying salt mentioned by Lu Erlang."
If these two methods can produce salt, then the Song Dynasty's salt tax next year will reach a very scary figure.