Daqin Fusu: It is difficult to start the battle

Chapter 68 Oil extraction from rapeseed?
Zheng Guo said unrelentingly: "But Taicang Prime Minister came to report, and His Majesty sent someone to take a hundred stones of brassica seeds from Taicang!"

"How many rapeseeds, no, brassica seeds are there in Taicang?" Fusu picked up a piece of soap and asked while washing his hands.

He made this with plant ash and lard. Because of the trouble of making it, he only made a few pieces for his own use.

In his research, soap, a big killer for traversers to make money, is completely inapplicable to the current state of Qin.

Soap is very strong in removing oily stains, but most people at this time have no oily water...

Besides, people still have free soap locusts to use.

This led to soap not being a fast-moving commodity like salt, as expected, but a luxury like sugar.

"In addition to what His Majesty took, there are [-] stones!" Zheng Guo replied without thinking, and just looked at the soap in Fusu's hand with a slight frown.

From this point of view, I did take a lot of seeds... Fusu washed off the soap scum with clear water, and suddenly realized that the rapeseed in this period was mainly eaten as a vegetable, and rapeseed was not a grain. , the rapeseed in the surrounding areas of Guanzhong has already been planted, and the grain stored in Taicang is also stored. Even if you take it all by yourself, it will not affect the agricultural planting!

Then, for such a trivial matter, the doctor Yushi, one of the three lords, and Zhi Su Neishi, one of the nine ministers, came together, isn't it a bit of a big deal?

Is it because I am worried that I will wantonly embezzle the state money, so I will prevent it from happening?

Fu Su's heart turned like electricity, he suppressed another word in his heart, wiped off the water droplets on his hands calmly, glanced at Zheng Guo and said: "This is the soap I made when I have nothing to do, my hands are very clean, wait for you two Take two yuan when people leave."

Feng Jie was speechless for a while, the two of them came to persuade and help Su, why did they suddenly come to ask for a reward?

But after Fusu said this, the two of them immediately bowed to the ground and thanked them.

Fu Suxu gave him a little support, and said solemnly: "I will remember the advice of the two Qing families in my heart."

Immediately there was a smile on his face, and he continued: "The sun has set to the west, you two might as well have dinner in Lanchi Palace before returning to Xianyang."

"Here!"

……

Lanchi Palace Tingquan Hall, although the sky is not yet completely dark, a large number of candles have been lit in the hall.

Zheng Guo took a closer look and recognized that it was the worm wax that has been popular in Xianyang in recent days.

Compared with the previous lamps, it is cheap and bright, and what is even more exciting is that when the insect wax burns, it does not have the smell of burning oil!
Your Majesty has a good way of collecting money... Zheng Guo nodded secretly, and with the support of two servants, he sat down behind a black lacquered wooden table.

Because Tangchi Palace is the emperor's palace, all ceremonies are kept simple, with only seven or eight musicians playing music and more than ten dancers dancing.

While waiting for the food to be served, Zheng Guo asked, "I don't know what your Majesty is going to do with the brassica seeds?"

Fusu signaled that the sound of the music was a little quieter, and then looked at Zheng Guo: "press oil! In addition, from now on, brassica is renamed rapeseed, and its seeds are named rapeseed!"

Brassica mainly refers to the fresh and tender cabbage heart of rapeseed. The rapeseed heart in the official field is mostly used for the royal family or emperor's royal meal, and sometimes it is also used as a sacrificial offering.

In later generations, the purple moss vegetable produced in Hongshan Temple, Wuchang, Hubei, is known as the "Golden Palace Jade Vegetable" and was listed as a tribute by the royal family.

In addition to the name Brassica, rapeseed is also known as Xuan mustard, cold vegetable, etc. However, since the Qin Dynasty’s carts have the same track and the books have the same text, Fusu naturally followed the trend and unified this name.

After all, the main purpose of rapeseed in the future is to extract oil!
Zheng Guo and Feng Jie naturally had no objection to this, it was just a name anyway, what they cared about was Fusu's saying that rapeseed could be used to extract oil.

Feng Jie asked suspiciously: "There is also fat in canola and rapeseed? Is the oil that is squeezed similar to tung oil?"

Fusu shook his head: "Rapeseed oil is a kind of edible oil, which is different from tung oil."

The two sparse white eyebrows on Zheng Guo's face were frowned, and he held the table with his hand and said: "This kind of oil, the old minister has never heard of it!"

The main source of edible oil during this period was animal fat, and tung oil in vegetable oil was inedible.

In ancient times, the concepts of fat and ointment were specifically separated. The oil extracted from horned animals is called fat, and the oil extracted from hornless animals is called ointment.

In the Zhou Dynasty, according to the consistent tradition of the foodie empire, the oil was subdivided into "Eight Treasures for Seasoning", among which the ointment was butter, and the ointment was dog oil...

The chicken oil that Fusu used to cook venison before was called cream fishy.

In "Zhou Li Tian Guan", it explains in detail the usage of various ointments.

They eat suckling pigs and lambs in spring and cook them with butter; in summer they eat dried birds and fish and cook them with dog fat; in autumn they eat young cattle and deer and cook them with chicken fat; …

Like Shan Hai Jing, many books record a wide variety of species and corresponding cooking techniques...

Fusu said with a smile: "There are not only rapeseeds that can extract oil, but also soybeans, that is, soybeans. However, soybean oil is wasted, and it is still delicious to make tofu!"

Zheng Guo nodded involuntarily. After getting old, his teeth and stomach are not very good, and he can't eat big fish and meat, so these days his three meals a day basically consist of tofu or noodle soup.

Fusu glanced at Zheng Guo, and then said: "The residue left over from rapeseed oil extraction can be used as fertilizer or feed for livestock after simple treatment, and there will be no waste at all."

"Animal fat is not easy to obtain, and non-rich families can't afford it. But rapeseed grows from the ground, and it is cheap and easy to get. The most important thing is that it can be grown in large quantities even in the bitter cold places such as Shangjun in Longxi."

"If you generalize it, three to five years later, the head of Guizhou in the Great Qin Dynasty can eat oil for every meal!"

There is no need to repeat the importance of fat intake to people.

The two ancients who didn't know what was going on nodded frequently, but when Fusu talked about Qianshou cooking oil, they all showed expressions of disapproval.

Fusu saw it in his eyes, but just let out a smirk in his heart.

Since the Xia Dynasty, China has always been an aristocratic government, treating the common people as domestic slaves and the country as private property.

This is the case even for a certain Zhu surnamed colleague who started with a bowl.

So when Old Master Meng said 'the people are the most precious', the monarchs all thought it was very good, but after a few words, they just regarded him as farting!

Fusu continued in a calm manner: "I have asked Gong Shugui to build an oil-pressing workshop in Du Youting. You can go with me tomorrow to see how oil is squeezed from rapeseeds!"

The two elderly people who had completely forgotten what they were going to do today put their hands together and bowed to salute: "Here!"

PS: Rapeseed is native to China, and its seeds existed in the Banpo site in Shaanxi 7000 years ago.

(End of this chapter)