After being divorced, my identity as a poet was exposed

Everyone here has no worries about food and clothing.

For them, eating is a very particular thing.

Especially those wealthy business families, they have their own chefs at home.

Some of the chefs were even former imperial chefs who were hired at high prices.

The cooking skills of these chefs are undoubtedly extremely high.

But at this moment...

Not only Chen Dingmao, but everyone else showed an expression of disbelief after tasting the soup.

Their taste buds are discerning.

But now, they were shocked by this simple and ordinary chicken soup!

There is no bitter taste of medicinal herbs.

No bitter taste of green salt.

There was a light salty taste, the purest salty taste they had ever tasted!
The original flavor of the long-simmered old hen blended with the pure salty taste, and after taking a bite, there was a taste that they could not describe.

It has a salty-sweet aroma.

But it is neither salty nor sweet, so what does it taste like?

Chen Dingmao and others couldn't put it into words, they just knew that the taste was so delicious!
"fresh!"

Su Mingtang blurted out a word.

He drank three spoonfuls in a row and said again:

"This soup... is not a gift from me to please the emperor. This soup is the best in the world. Only one word, 'delicious', can express how I feel in my heart at this moment!"

"I love soup, but I have drunk many kinds of soup all my life, and none of them can compare to this soup!"

"As for food ingredients, old hens are common, but drinking it is like drinking nectar...with a long aftertaste!"

After hearing what Su Mingtang said, Li Wenhou was shocked.

He had eaten too much just now and had no intention of drinking the soup.

What's good about soup?

He, the Shangshufu, never knew how to make soup.

It tastes bad!

Tea is needed to relieve the bitter taste in the mouth that does not quench thirst.

trouble!

He felt that the old man Su Mingtang was quite capable. It was just a bowl of soup, wasn't it?
As for flattering Li Chenan like this?

Li Wenhou didn't believe it in his heart, but when he looked around, his eyes widened.

At this moment, old man Nian Chengfeng had put down the spoon, and directly picked up the small bowl with both hands, and drank the bowl of soup in a few gulps.

He put down the small cup reluctantly, licked his lips with satisfaction, and his eyes fell on the small cup in front of Li Wenhou.

"hey-hey……"

"Master Li, I know you don't like soup,"

As he said this, he stretched out his hand and said, "It is shameful to waste. Otherwise, I will help you drink it with reluctance."

Li Wenhou took a look and found something was wrong!
Su Yian next door actually cast a greedy look at him. This soup... is it really different?
correct,

Li Chenan's white salt has no bitter taste.

Then the soup must have been added with white salt.

Although white salt is good, its goodness lies in its pure saltiness.

Could it be possible that the taste would change if it was put in this soup?
Su Mingtang praised the soup highly. Could this soup really be so delicious?

He quickly stretched out his hand and picked up the small cup, "Hehe, Master Nian, after all, it is a gift from the Emperor."

"I don't normally drink soup, but I want to try it now. It's not that I'm stingy with this bowl of soup, but it's a gift from you, so I dare not refuse it!"

Under Nian Chengfeng's gaze, Li Wenhou picked up the small cup and took a sip...

As soon as this mouthful of soupy chicken entered his mouth, he felt as if every taste bud on his tongue exploded!
I just ate a lot of food.

The bitter taste of those dishes still lingers in my mouth.

After taking a sip of the soup, the bitter taste was actually covered up, and the taste lingering in his mouth was truly an incomparable sweet taste!
He quickly took another sip.

This time, he sipped the soup like he was tasting tea.

He lowered his eyes slightly, swirled his tongue in his mouth, and he felt the fragrance became stronger.

He swallowed the soup slowly and opened his eyes.

"There is really only one word to describe it!"

"When I tasted this soup, it was as if I saw an old hen leisurely strolling on the grass under the sun." "This soup not only has the leisurely taste of the old hen, but also... the taste of the spring sunshine."

"Yes, the freshness of this soup is like the first ray of sunshine in the early spring morning bathing your body, making you feel refreshed... and... leaving you with a long-lasting aftertaste!"

After saying this, he also picked up the small cup and drank the soup in one breath.

He looked eagerly at Eunuch An who was waiting behind Li Chenan, "Is there anything left in the pot?"

Eunuch An bowed and said, "There is still some food in the pot."

“Master Li, it’s really gone, just stewed like this.”

“Ah…what a shame, what a shame!”

"With this soup, why would we need all these so-called delicacies on the table?"

"What kind of delicacy is this?"

"In front of this soup, they are... useless!"

The other merchants also finished the soup.

Although they could not speak as elegantly as Li Wenhou, their feelings about the old hen soup were even deeper than Li Wenhou's!
At this moment, Guo Shanyi's mouth was still filled with the delicious taste of the chicken soup, but what he was thinking about was how the chicken soup was made.

For thousands of years, no one in the palace or among the people could solve the bitter taste in soups or dishes. The soup prepared by the emperor himself actually solved the problem perfectly...

He was suddenly startled!
Salt!
Green salt is used in all countries in the world.

The biggest problem with green salt is that it has a bitter taste no matter how you prepare it.

To avoid this problem, we must start with the seasoning of salt.

Only when salt is free of bitter taste, the cooked dishes and stewed soups will not have this taste.

The emperor summoned them and had only prepared this bowl of soup.

Then the big business that the emperor mentioned...

Guo Shanyi's heartbeat suddenly accelerated, so much so that his face flushed with excitement, and even his hands were shaking slightly——

If this big business is really salt!

And it’s this salt that doesn’t taste bitter…

Guo Shanyi could hardly imagine how great its value was!
Everyone needs salt!

It is unknown how many kilograms of salt are produced by the six major salt mines in Ningguo every year.

At least half of Ningguo’s tax revenue comes from salt!
If the salt that the emperor is talking about today is the salt used for stewing soup, and if this salt is put on the market...all salt merchants in the world will go bankrupt!

Yue, Wu, and other small states all relied on salt taxes for support.

When this salt enters the markets of these countries, I am afraid that these countries will have huge problems with taxation.

This is not just about merchandise with huge profits.

It is simply a weapon that makes the courts of other countries tremble!
At the same time, Chen Dingmao and others also realized this.

Chen Dingmao naturally knew that this business was really a huge business!
It makes much more money than water transport and more profitable than any other business in the world.

Chen Dingmao was not overwhelmed at this moment.

He thought more than the others.

Will the emperor hand over this lucrative business to these merchants?
With this salt, if the court's Salt and Iron Bureau operated it itself, Ningguo's treasury would probably have to repair many more places.

This is not a hen that lays golden eggs.

This is simply an inexhaustible gold mine!

If the emperor really has this intention, then the price he needs to pay to get this big business... is probably quite high!
Even Wen Zhuyu looked at Li Chenan at this time.

The taste of the chicken soup was countless times more powerful than the taste of the salt.

He was keenly aware of the huge economic and strategic value of this white salt.

Everyone's eyes fell on Li Chenan's face.

Li Chenan stood up and said, "Since everyone has tasted the wonderfulness of this soup, I guess everyone has guessed the big business I am going to talk about."

"Yes."

“It’s salt!”

"I will give this salt to you to sell through bidding..."

He turned his head and looked at Chang Zuoqing, "Go and get me that jar of salt so they can see it."

Chang Zuoqing: “…”

He looked at Li Wenhou.

Li Wenhou: "..." (End of this chapter)