Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1370 New Customs

After leaving Taiyuan Mansion, head north all the way, passing through Xinzhou, Daizhou, Weizhou, and Guizhou, all the way to Beiping Mansion.

Xin and Dai are originally in the hinterland of Hedong, but it's nothing, they are still the same.But Weizhou, Guizhou and the neighboring Yunzhou are quite different.

In short, the population of the prefectures and counties outside Yanmen Pass has dropped to a very pitiful level due to the tug-of-war over the past 30 years.The imperial court had to send people from Guanzhong, Guanbei, and even Cao, Song, Bian, and Hua prefectures in Henan to immigrate to enrich the local household registration.

And after such an operation, the local area is much more pleasing to the eye, and it is no longer the barren appearance of thousands of villages and thorns. It is not rich, but it is indeed stable enough, and there are many resources per capita.

On this day, Zhao Kuangming and Yao Ji took shelter from the snow in a village outside Xingtang County, Weizhou.

"Zhang Weng is from Kansai?" Zhao Kuangming took a bowl of mutton soup and thanked him repeatedly.

"It's in Yanchi County, Lingzhou. There's not much land there, it's only suitable for raising horses." The old man sat down and said with a nostalgic look: "Yanchi County is actually good, but there is little land. My home is not in Tiezhuquan, otherwise I won't leave .”

"But lack of water?" Zhao Kuangming drank a bowl of mutton soup and was full of praise.

"Lack." The old man nodded and said, "The sage repaired a lot of ponds during the Lingxia meeting, but there was still a lack of water. Without water, no matter how much land there is, it can only be put there and cannot be cultivated. It is also raised. There are no more livestock, and there are not even many livestock."

"Bang bang!" The healthy woman's movements were steady, precise and powerful.If you are conscripted to fight, you can at least stand on the city wall and chop people with an axe.

"The salt here is not as good as the green salt from Huluoyanchi." Seeing Zhao Kuangming staring at her, the woman didn't feel shy, and said generously, "I heard it was fished out of the grassland pond in the north. It's not very good. The best way to say it is Good salt has to be Fengzhou Indian salt, which is a tribute. Sages are blessed, and they eat Indian salt when they were young. Even now, saints eat steamed cakes made of Fengzhou white flour every day, dipped in Indian salt. .”

"Zhang Weng's bowl of mutton soup is good. It's cold in winter. Drinking a bowl will make you feel good." After Zhao Kuangming finished drinking the mutton soup, he signaled, and his attendant took out half a coin and put it on the case.

"Everyone from all over the country says that, so can it be false?" the woman said naturally.

The old man was a little uncertain, and said vaguely: "Maybe. However, I heard from my Dalang's colleagues that at least three-in-one peppers shipped to us are produced in Annan."

Unfortunately, very few people do this.

"Ah?" The woman opened her mouth wide in surprise.

"I have to buy some cooked meat later, take it." Zhao Kuangming smiled.

"If—" Zhao Kuangming turned his head, looked at Yao Ji, and said, "If every household in Beidi buys pepper, what kind of business would it be? Money is touching, what business is the most profitable? Not coral, pearls, or jade. It’s not a rare product like this, but a common product that everyone needs.”

In fact, he once thought, if the price of pepper is lowered, will more people buy it and make more money?He deduced it carefully and found that the possibility was extremely high.

"It's really a good business!" Yao Ji also sighed: "If the business is done well, it will not be a problem if the country is as rich as the enemy."

"It doesn't need so much." The old man declined.

But when the Turks imposed a trade embargo one day, the spices and silk were all cut off, forcing the Portuguese to go to sea to find spices.After the development, Portugal naturally became the first colonial empire.

Zhang Weng had three sons, the eldest son was a soldier of the government, who was conscripted to guard Niupiguan.

"No wonder Tang died, this Yuan Zai is too ignorant. Pepper is not expensive, can't you just buy it in the market?" the woman sighed.

This kind of behavior is widespread, almost the whole county, the whole township, and the whole village do this, and the embryonic form of the custom has already taken shape-in ​​the next few decades or more than a hundred years, it will definitely become a serious custom.

"Who is Yuan Zai?" The woman asked, "Why did you store so much pepper?"

Zhao Kuangming watched them busy with interest.

But in places like Henan, where growing grain has higher returns, it is impossible to turn it into a pasture.Guangchengze has not been able to expand so far, and is facing the threat of shrinking pastures and opening up arable land, which is quite different from the Yinshan area.

Hearing what he said, the old man accepted it, and told his son who was killing sheep in the courtyard to pick some good meat and cook it.

Zhao Kuangming recalled it.Indeed, the pastures in Weizhou are still quite lush, but it seems that it cannot be compared with Guangchengze in Ruzhou.The climate there is milder, with mountains, lakes, grasslands, and hot springs. No wonder since the Han Dynasty, the emperors have practiced in the palace there and inspected the cavalry troops. It is really good.

There are fewer livestock in Jiangling Mansion, and there are not many spices when pickling, so he thinks it is very fresh.

"What did you do when there was no pepper?"

"Pepper is not expensive?" Zhao Kuangming felt that his cognition had been subverted: "Hu merchants from the Western Regions brought it from afar, and it is very expensive. Do you know that pepper is produced in Tianzhu?"

Bacon also costs money.In addition to coarse salt, some spices seemed to be added, which made Zhao Kuangming a little surprised.

Wool contributed to the prosperity of the wool textile industry, and woolen cloth is now popular in the Yangtze River Valley.Although they are in the south, the winter is really cold, and the demand for wool cloth is no less than that of northerners.

He is fond of reading, and he knows that in the early Tang Dynasty, pepper was mostly transported by land, by the camel caravans of Sogdian and Persian Hu merchants.If Dashihu is transported to Mizhou by commercial sea ship, the amount is indeed not comparable to that of a camel caravan.

"Some grass roots are quite spicy, and they are barely suitable."

She is marinating lamb.

He could see that the northern households that implemented the three-crop rotation system had a large number of old and weak livestock that needed to be slaughtered every year.Even, when the market is good, it is not impossible to kill strong livestock.

This is a habit brought from Guanbei.Since the prosperity of the three-crop crop rotation system, in late autumn, every household will kill some livestock and make bacon.

"Is this spice?" he asked.

"I don't know about that. My Dalang just heard people say that." The old man said, "But who can say for sure? Annan is also under the rule of the imperial court, right? If pepper can be grown widely, it may be a great thing. I think, now I find that without pepper, this meat cannot be eaten.”

"I know." Zhao Kuangming said with a smile, "Yuan Zai used to collect money wantonly and was extremely arrogant. Later, he was gifted to death by the Tang Dynasty Emperor. After the house was ransacked, dozens of corals, 500 taels of stalactites, and [-] stones of pepper were found."

Pepper was used as a medicinal material in the early Tang Dynasty, and it was expensive.Later, Hu merchants discovered that the Central Plains needed this kind of thing, so they shipped more, and the price gradually decreased, and it was gradually used as seasoning.Today, the price of pepper has dropped a lot, only a fraction of that in the early Tang Dynasty, but it is still not affordable for ordinary people.

A family may be nothing, just one or two cows and more than 20 sheep, but what about [-], [-] or even [-] households?What is this concept?If pepper is used to marinate meat to remove odors, how big is the market?can not imagine.

"Isn't Weizhou also short of water?" Zhao Kuangming asked.

The sheep without skin hung there, swaying gently in the wind.A strong woman came over, took the sheep off the hook, put it on the chopping board beside it, and cut it with a knife and axe.

"Pepper used to be very expensive, but now it's not so expensive." The old man walked over and said, "The officials don't know that these peppers are all shipped from Mizhou and Haizhou."

"Wow!" The other woman under the eaves was much more delicate.

"How do you know?" Zhao Kuangming asked with a smile.

But what he saw overturned his cognition.A fubing family used a lot of pepper when they cured meat. Could it be that the price has been reduced recently?
"When did Annan produce pepper?" Zhao Kuangming was a little puzzled.

"It's better than Yanchi County." The old man said, "The snow in winter is bigger than that over there, and it thaws after the weather warms up, just in time for spring plowing. Just look at the pastures outside. They are all pastures, but the pastures are different. Three, six, nine, etc."

"It's hard to compare, it's hard to compare." The old man smiled and said, "Anyway, our family can afford pepper, so why bother looking for horseradish?"

Most of the meat is sold in the market, and a small part is kept for self-eating.

Zhao Kuangming and Yao Ji didn't know that in the Portuguese countryside in the 15th century, every family began to slaughter livestock and marinate meat in late autumn.Because of the strong odor, spices are needed to suppress it. As the cheapest of the three major spices (pepper, nutmeg, cloves), the demand for pepper is increasing year by year. Venetian and Genoese merchants earn a lot of money from it. Baman - they get the goods from the Turks, and the Turks buy from India through the Arab sea merchants.

"Ya Nei." Yao Ji walked over and said in a low voice, "Annan has indeed produced pepper, which only happened a few years ago. Last year in Luoyang, I met someone from Jing Haijun who entered the Zouyuan, and said that the pepper grower over there More and more, it seems to be ordered by the imperial court. But Annan pepper was also transported by Dashihu merchants. They have many ships, are familiar with the sea conditions, have high navigation skills, and the ships are good. Therefore, after seeing the demand for pepper in the Northland for a year After a year, they bought large quantities of Annan peppers and shipped them to Haizhou, Mizhou, Dengzhou and other places for sale, making a lot of money.”

"How does it compare to pepper?"

"The Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty."

"Is there so much pepper?" Zhao Kuangming muttered to himself, "Is it possible to plant all of Annan's land with pepper? Is it possible?"

"No pepper is used, the taste is too fishy and smelly, and you can't sell it for a high price. Even if you eat it yourself, you will feel disgusted." The old man said.

Zhao Kuangming laughed dumbfounded.

The old man's second son carefully scratched the sheepskin with a sharp knife, making a rustling sound.The meeting was coming to an end, the sheepskin was completely peeled off and set aside.

"Pepper can remove fishy smell." The woman asked in surprise, "Don't the officials know about this thing?"

"Where are all the people from all over the world?"

Today's agricultural production model in northern Daxia is very peculiar.

Their movements are very skilled.There was a wound on the sheep's neck with a sharp knife. The iron hook penetrated through the wound, hooked the entire neck, and hung on the wooden beam.

"There are people from Lingzhou, Youzhou, and Xiazhou, but Suizhou has the most people."

The second son is scraping the sheep's skin, and the third son is killing the sheep.

Zhao Kuangming was shocked again.

"Zhang Weng is knowledgeable, he even knows about Haizhou and Mizhou." Zhao Kuangming laughed and asked, "Could it be that the big food merchants floated here?"

"Why?"

The dairy industry has also been greatly developed, and milk powder has become one of the standard dry rations in the military. Officers say it is good, because it greatly reduces the logistical pressure.

Then there is meat.Under the three-crop rotation system, taking [-] mu of land as an example, at least [-] head of cattle can be raised.If you don't raise cattle, you can raise more than [-] sheep.Cattle and sheep all have a lifespan. Every year, they die of old age, disease or accidents, and they are slaughtered in huge quantities.And large-scale slaughter usually starts in late autumn. Due to the limited processing level, the meat has a strong smell, and it is best to cover it with spices. Doesn’t this create a huge market out of thin air?
Of course, the premise is to bring down the price of spices.This requires large-scale planting and a relatively developed shipping industry, because things like pepper cannot be grown in cold places.

"I doubt that the sage could have foreseen today's day more than 20 years ago." Zhao Kuangming sighed: "In that poor place in Annan, even if the common people have plowed the fields, can they grow so much pepper? Are they willing?"

"In front of Fu Yue, there is nothing you are unwilling to do." Yao Ji also sighed again and again: "As long as the common people need this kind of thing, there is money to be made, and there is a lot of money to be made, then they can't be stopped. Annan Zhuzhou, perhaps a lifetime to give North Korea People have planted pepper, and it’s not enough if they don’t plant it.”

(End of this chapter)