Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 149 Parting is for reunion

Yuan Xi was sitting in the carriage, looking at the streets of Yecheng through the window, full of people, a bustling scene, wondering if the scene in the city would be the same when he came back next time.

In all fairness, after he returned to Yecheng, he accomplished a lot of things, and the results far exceeded his expectations.

Lv Bu, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and even the Yuan family, he has gained a lot of benefits from various forces, which all depend on his grasp of the psychology of the princes in history.

But from now on, this kind of thing will be much less, in front of Yuan Xi, it will be a brand new road, which can only be explored carefully.

Anyway, relying on his own strength, the time to attack Yi Jing was advanced by three years, which gave Yuan Xi a sense of accomplishment.

But it's not without regrets.

Marriage with Zhen Mi.

This incident has been full of twists and turns, and the dust has not yet settled. Although Yuan Shang, the Liu family, was in the way, Yuan Xi also had to admit that he did not do his best in this incident.

Because with his current strength, even if he married Zhen Mi, it would be difficult to arrange him properly.

According to the Han system, even after he marries Zhen Mi, he cannot take him to Youzhou, but has to stay in Yecheng for three years.

Even if he finds a way to bring Zhen Mi to Beixin City, where he is under the double threat of the Black Mountain Army and Gongsun Zan Army, in the worst case, he has no spare power to protect Zhen Mi.

After much deliberation, Yuan Xi decided to wait until he captured Yi Jing and eliminated Gongsun Zan before returning to settle the matter.

The biggest problem facing him now is how to farm under the two hostile forces in the past six months. After all, the other party must know that Yuan Shao is going to attack Yi Jing and will never sit still.

When the carriage arrived at the back door of Zhen's Mansion, the servants over there had already opened the door and waited, and when Yuan Xi's carriage entered, they immediately closed the door.

As soon as Yuan Xi got off the car, a charming maid came up and led Yuan Xi to the small building.

As soon as he entered the small building, he saw Zhen Mi guarding the stove. There was a small copper pot on top of which hot oil was bubbling slightly. On the chopping board beside him were white noodles and several bowls.

Zhen Mi frowned, but she didn't know what she was thinking.

Seeing Yuan Xi coming in, Zhen Mi quickly stood up, squeezed out a smile and said, "I have seen the young master."

Yuan Xi saw that what Zhen Mi was wearing today was a well-fitting crimson skirt with a deep red skirt and narrow sleeves. The cuffs were inlaid with gold rims and gorgeous cloud patterns.

The neckline of the cross-collar is a little low, revealing the inner collar of the pure white underwear inside. One layer is lower than the other, and there are three layers in total, which are called three-layer bottoms, which are usually worn on important occasions.

Seeing Zhen Mi frowning, Yuan Xi said, "What's wrong?"

Zhen Mi glared at Yuan Xi bitterly: "Ask knowingly."

She was a little disappointed, "Young master will leave Yecheng in a few days, and I remembered the sugar cake that you made when I first met, so I wanted to try it to treat you."

"But I didn't expect it, because the batch of sucrose that the Zhen family bought from Jiangdong was not very good, the sugar cakes they made were always bitter, and it was really not good for the young master to eat."

Seeing that there was still a piece of sugar cake in the bowl next to it, Yuan Xi took it and took a bite, it was really bitter.

He looked into the other bowl, where there was some dark black sucrose powder.

At that time, sugar was made by squeezing sugarcane juice, putting it into a vat, and boiling it with fire to make a yellow-black syrup, which turned into black granulated sugar after cooling.

He remembered that Yuan Xing's candies were a bit white, and someone might have offered them to Yuan's family. Naturally, they were better, but he didn't know what method was used.

The Zhen family bought it from commercial channels. At that time, the sugar industry was just emerging, and the quality of cane sugar varied, so it was inevitable.

Seeing Yuan Xi eating with gusto, Zhen Mi felt even more embarrassed, and said in a low voice, "My lord, it's better not to eat."

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "No, it's delicious."

"You're doing fine, it's just the sugar that's the problem."

Zhen Mi said distressedly: "I tried to filter it with several layers of sackcloth, but the sugar became more bitter and darker."

"I remember charcoal absorbing flavors, and thought maybe it would absorb colour, too, but that didn't work too well either."

Yuan Xi thought it was a pity, Zhen Mi was thinking in the right direction, but what works is activated carbon, which cannot be produced in this era.

It suddenly occurred to me that it was not until the Song Dynasty that the yellow mud water drizzled sugar method was applied on a large scale, and white sugar appeared on the market. Before that, brown sugar and maltose were the mainstream.

He smiled and said, "There is a very troublesome method, and I don't know if it will work or not."

He briefly explained the method, and Zhen Mi said in surprise: "Drenched in yellow muddy water, isn't it even dirtier?"

Yuan Xi smiled and said, "Do you want to try?"

Zhen Mi became curious and said, "This method is really incredible, I really want to see it."

She ordered the maidservant beside her to ask the servants to prepare. After a while, a servant came with a wooden bucket and several barrels of yellow muddy water.

Seeing that small holes had been dug at the bottom of the wooden bucket and stuffed with straw, Yuan Xi filled the wooden bucket with black sucrose and burned the straw at the bottom.

He placed the wooden bucket on top of the clay vat, and then poured the yellow mud water on the brown sugar one by one.

Seeing this, Zhen Mi told the maids and servants to stay far away, while she rolled up her sleeves and came over to help. The two of them scooped up muddy water and poured it down in silence, and then repeated it.

After half an hour, Yuan Xi himself felt that he could not hold on any longer, and felt that he must have failed.

But when he looked up, he saw that Zhen Mi's forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat, but she was still supporting her waist and gritting her teeth. He couldn't help being touched, and continued to lift the wooden ladle.

After an unknown amount of time, the sky had begun to gradually darken. The two of them were pleasantly surprised to find that an extremely thin layer of slightly whitish icing had condensed on the wooden bucket wall!

Although the amount is small, it shows that this method is feasible!

After another half an hour, the two of them could no longer lift their tired hands, and the frosting became thicker again, and even began to condense into tiny crystals.

Yuan Xi stopped, smiled at Zhen Mi, "Try it."

Zhen Mi stretched out her fingers, tapped the icing sugar, put it in her mouth to taste, and immediately smiled, "It's very sweet, really sweet."

She laughed happily, her eyes turned into crescent moons again, "Who would have known before that the seemingly dirty yellow muddy water could make sugar as white as frost and snow?"

Yuan Xi also dipped a little bit into his mouth, and it really had an obvious sweet taste. Although it was far inferior to later generations, it was already much better than the brown sugar from before.

He sighed: "Out of the mud but not stained, that's what I'm talking about."

"The seemingly dirty yellow muddy water can make sweeter white sugar, which means that bad things can also turn into good things."

Zhen Mi understood that Yuan Xi was explaining her, her eyes lit up, "My lord can always say something very interesting and thought-provoking."

Yuan Xi breathed a sigh of relief, and said with a smile: "Fortunately, I didn't lose face in front of you. If you hadn't kept fighting, I almost wanted to give up."

"How can you hold on?"

Zhen Mi said softly: "Because I believe that the young master will not lie to me."

She paused, "I have to believe that every word you say is true."

"Because I'm very scared, even if the young master only has one sentence to lie to me, which one is it?"

Her tone suddenly became sad, "Young master will come back, right?"

Yuan Xi felt heavy in his heart: "Trust me, it will happen."

Zhen Mi lowered her head, pinching the corner of her clothes with her bare hands.

"Young master, don't lie to me."

Yuan Xi was a little at a loss, remembering what Zhen Mi said last time.

After a long while, Zhen Mi raised her head and said with a forced smile, "I've lost my composure."

Standing in front of the window of the small building, the two of them gradually calmed down as they watched the dotted lights in Ye City.

Yuan Xi began to explain the things after leaving one by one.

When something is wrong, how to quickly connect with the spies in the house.

If there is an accident with the spies in the mansion, how will they contact the dead men in the city.

The method of making white sugar with yellow mud water and brown sugar with lime.

When Zhen's family and Mi's family delivered key goods, the two parties exchanged codes.

People in Ye City who may be unfavorable to the Zhen family, as well as noble families who can help.

Zhen Mi wrote down each item carefully, and deeply remembered these things in her heart.

After Yuan Xi finished speaking, she also spoke out about the emergency escape routes of the Zhen family, as well as the location of the commercial route strongholds established along the coast.

Yuan Xi also carefully remembered that if these routes are used well, it will be extremely beneficial for the soldiers to attack and fight in the future, and can give the enemy a fatal blow by surprise!

The two seemed to have endless words to say, until the silver hook hung high in the sky, and the stars were dotted with each other, and then the words of each other were deeply imprinted in their hearts.

The two looked at each other for a long time, Zhen Mi took a few steps back, and said to Yuan Xi, "Is my concubine's clothes looking good today?"

Yuan Xi nodded: "Girls look good in anything, especially today."

Zhen Mi's mouth moved, "Although the young master speaks nicely, next time, I hope that the young master can change his name."

Yuan Xi thought to himself if he could come back.

But if he really said that, I'm afraid Zhen Mi won't see a smile on her face this year.

Yuan Xi and Zhen Mi said goodbye and left, and the door of Zhen's Mansion was gently closed behind them.

The carriage turned a corner and went up the street. Yuan Xi stopped the carriage, opened the curtains and looked at the small building for a while before preparing to leave.

At this time, the window of Zhen Mi's small building was suddenly pushed open.

Zhen Mi stood in front of the window, her face covered with tears, waving desperately at the carriage, her long sleeves fluttering in the wind in the night sky, like brightly colored battle flags.

"Young master, you must come back!"

Yuan Xi jumped off the carriage, waved to Zhen Mi and shouted: "I will be back!"

"must!"

The voices of the two echoed above Yecheng.

Yuan Xi jumped into the carriage and left without looking back.

When he returned to Yecheng again, it was the time to take Zhen Mi away, and no one could stop him.

But before that, he will not let anyone who wants to make trouble.

Confidential letters were sent from Yuan Xi's mansion to several villages at the turn of Youji. The dead soldiers inside began to pack up and rush to Yecheng. After that, they entered Yecheng and settled down with various identities. After half a month.

Before this, Yuan Xi led the crowd to Beixin City.

Among these people, there are generals like Tai Shici who want to make contributions, there are also reluctant counselors like Guo Jia, there are sergeants who yearn for the fields, there are craftsmen who are eager for future generations to become officials, and there are also plans on how to revitalize the family. gentry officials.

They formed a long team and followed Yuan Xi to the north, taking the first step to stir up the world situation at the end of Han Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)