The first-class concubine of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 49

The next day, it was cold.

The Kaifeng government has prepared salt, but it is not coarse salt, but the kind of salt with a lot of impurities.

Detective Shen noticed this when he came to Kaifeng Mansion, but he didn't care. At this time, he felt ecstasy in his heart, an indescribable ecstasy.

After seeing King Jin, he immediately said, "My lord, I have something to report."

King Jin glanced at Shen Tan, and said with a smile, "Master Shen, what do you want to report?"

Shen Tan showed a little hesitation, and then said: "This subordinate accidentally discovered that there are people from the Southern Tang Dynasty haunting the capital. I'm afraid they are spies from the Southern Tang Dynasty. I dare not make decisions without authorization, so I came here to ask the prince for instructions."

As soon as he heard about people from the Southern Tang Dynasty, King Jin suddenly thought of Shi Bo, he slightly raised his head and glanced at Shen Tan, feeling very puzzled in his heart, wondering if it was that Shi Bo that Shen Tan was talking about?Thinking of this, the King of Jin asked: "Oh, people from Southern Tang, what's going on?"

"A guest came from Zuixianju in the capital, and he was very generous. The subordinates were curious and asked about it, but who knew that person was from the Southern Tang Dynasty..." Before Shen Tan finished speaking, King Jin waved him to stop. He stopped: "It turned out to be Shi Bo's matter, and this king already knew about it."

"What...what?" Shen Tan was very surprised. Originally, he wanted to use this incident to slowly lead out the private meeting between Liu Wei and Shi Bo, but he never thought that King Jin would know about it.

King Jin nodded slightly: "Shi Bo wants to do business with us in the Great Song Dynasty. Liu Wei has already told this king about it, and this king is considering it."

Shen Tan's body shook slightly, he didn't expect Liu Wei to tell King Jin about this, but he still foolishly thought that he could use this matter to catch Liu Wei by surprise.

At this time, King Jin didn't think much about it. He didn't seem to notice Shen Tan's reaction. After he finished speaking, he even smiled slightly: "Today, Liu Wei is going to change coarse salt into refined salt. Master Shen can come and open it." Vision?"

Although Shen Tan was shocked at this time, after all, he has been in the officialdom for many years, and he still has self-control. After hearing King Jin's words, he quickly smiled and said: "It's an honor."

While the two were talking, Su Tongjian rushed back from the outside and said, "My lord, everything Liu Wei asked for is ready, let's go back to the backyard to see what's going on, how about it?"

"it is good!"

When a few people entered the backyard of Kaifeng Mansion, Liu Wei was instructing the servants to do this and that. After seeing King Jin come in, Liu Wei waited quickly and said, "My lord, the salt has been filtered once now, and it is what we usually eat. Coarse salt, but if you want more refined salt, you must filter it again, and you must add some other things.”

As he said that, Liu Wei ordered people to continue to filter, and added some things that King Jin and the others couldn't understand. After several times of filtering and evaporation, a layer of white salt was finally obtained at the bottom of the pot.

When King Jin saw the layer of white salt like snow, he felt joy for some reason, just like a child who opened the door and saw snow in the winter morning.

Liu Wei poured that layer of white salt into a bowl and held it in front of King Jin. King Jin squeezed a little to taste it, and found that the white salt tasted salty and had no other miscellaneous flavors at all. The man brought the frying pan, and then fried a plate of green vegetables on the spot.

Everyone present was shocked, how could this Concubine Liu know how to cook?

Normally, everyone would have to say a few words, or make a few jokes, but Liu Wei did it suddenly, and everyone was delighted by the layer of white salt, and finally they all looked at Liu Wei in a daze. A plate of green vegetables was fried.

When the green vegetables were served before and after King Jin, Liu Wei smiled lightly and said, "My lord, please taste it."

At this time, King Jin suddenly woke up, and said with a smile, "Liu Concubine still has this hand?"

Liu Wei shook his head: "What kind of food will this subordinate cook there, just to let the prince taste the taste of this refined salt."

King Jin nodded, picked up a piece of green vegetable with his chopsticks, green vegetable is a very common kind of green vegetable, usually common people eat the most, sometimes when King Jin wants to eat something lighter, he will order the cook to cook it, take a piece of green vegetable, chew it lightly After chewing, I feel that the vegetable tastes fragrant, and it is delicious that I have never tasted before.

Seeing King Jin's expression, Liu Wei smiled and said: "Salt is the king of all flavors. If there is no salt in the food, it will taste bland and tasteless, and if the body lacks salt, it will easily cause the body to become weak. This taste is the most disgusting. Aftertaste, if you eat refined salt for a few days before eating other salts, the food will be hard to eat."

As Liu Wei said, King Jin nodded in satisfaction. After Liu Wei finished speaking, King Jin immediately said excitedly: "Ordinary dishes, after using refined salt, are even more delicious than delicacies from mountains and seas. The people of the Tang Dynasty must be addicted to refined salt, so this king will go to the palace to meet the emperor and report the matter to him."

King Jin was about to get up, Su Tongkan brought over the salt left just now, and said with a smile: "My lord, this is more convincing."
-
Royal Palace.

It was already noon when King Jin entered the palace, and after he handed over the salt to the royal chef, he asked Zhao Kuangyin to have a meal together. The two brothers hadn't sat down to eat together for a long time, so Zhao Kuangyin was naturally very happy.

The meals came quickly, all home-cooked dishes, but there were two more meat dishes than usual.

"Third brother, come here, today you and I will have a drink together."

King Jin drank all the wine in his glass, and then said with a smile: "Actually, I want Brother Huang to taste these meals more."

Zhao Kuangyin was slightly startled, and soon realized that King Jin had something to do, and said with a slight smile, "How are these meals different?"

"Of course it's different. These meals are made with the salt brought by my servants. Brother Huang, let's taste them and see if they are different from the previous meals?"

Zhao Kuangyin was puzzled, but he still picked up the chopsticks and took a bite. After eating the food, he felt that the whole internal organs were comfortable, and the taste was so pure.

"Third brother, what's going on?" Zhao Kuangyin was still excited after putting down his chopsticks.

"Brother Huang, the salt that I brought is refined salt, which has no other miscellaneous flavors, and makes the food more delicious. Using this salt, I feel that the so-called delicacies we ate before are not delicious."

Zhao Kuangyin nodded slightly, he agreed with what King Jin said very much, but after nodding, he suddenly had a question: "Where did the third brother get these refined salt?"

King Jin smiled slightly: "It's Liuwei obtained through layers of filtration in Kaifeng Mansion."

"Willow taste?" Zhao Kuangyin was slightly startled, and then smiled slightly: "This Concubine Liu has a lot of tricks. I just saw his autopsy skills the day before yesterday, and today I made refined salt again."

King Jin nodded: "Brother Emperor, with this fine salt, I suddenly have an idea, I don't know whether I should say it or not."

"Speak, should there be anything to say?"

"Yes, brother, the taste of refined salt makes people no longer want to eat coarse salt after eating it. If we manufacture refined salt on a large scale and then trade with other neighboring countries, wouldn't it be the same as controlling The people of the surrounding countries?"

Zhao Kuangyin is a smart man. As soon as the King of Jin said that, he immediately saw the unlimited potential of refined salt. With this refined salt, people in the surrounding countries will ask them to eat delicious food in the future. If a war is launched , they can control the people of other countries through the refined salt, and once the refined salt is released, it will definitely occupy the market, and even its profits will definitely be considerable.

After pondering for a while, Zhao Kuangyin said: "The profit and effect of this refined salt are indeed considerable, but if we have traded with other countries, will it affect our Song Dynasty? I'm afraid it's inappropriate to cause an impact on the Song Dynasty market?"

King Jin was slightly taken aback. This was something he hadn't expected. If businessmen from other countries disrupted their markets in the Great Song Dynasty, the gains would outweigh the gains. If this problem is not resolved, it may be inappropriate to do business.
-
After King Jin left the palace, Zhao Kuangyin immediately called Zhao Pu into the palace, and told Zhao Pu what King Jin had said. It is beneficial, we can't hold back because of a little danger, and since the effect of refined salt is amazing, this alone is enough for my Song Dynasty to control the people of other countries. Don't forget, the emperor, the people use food For the sake of heaven, if you control the food of the people, it is equivalent to controlling a country."

Speaking of this, Zhao Puwei pondered for a while, and then said: "What we need to determine now is whether people from other countries can still produce refined salt. As for the emperor's worry, we can also find ways to avoid it. Open up the surrounding provinces north of the Yangtze River to do business with other countries, so even if there is an impact, it will not affect the Central Plains."

After Zhao Pu finished speaking, Zhao Kuangyin pondered again, thinking of the prosperity and prosperity of the Southern Tang and Wuyue countries, he firmly believed in what Zhao Pu said just now, and finally said with a smile: "Then it makes sense, since this is the case, Tomorrow morning, I will wait for the monarchs and ministers to discuss this matter, and then send invitations to neighboring countries for trade. The Northern Han has always been hostile and difficult to do business with, and we are using troops with the Southern Han, so we will not consider them. Those who are considering, but Southern Tang and Wu Yue."

Zhao Pu nodded: "The lords of the Southern Tang Dynasty and Wuyue Kingdom have already surrendered to our Great Song Dynasty. As long as the emperor issues an imperial decree, ordering them to send envoys to negotiate."

Zhao Kuangyin nodded in satisfaction: "This fine salt is made by Liu Wei, and he is a rare business genius in our Song Dynasty. This matter can be entrusted to him."

Zhao Pu thought for a while, and said: "The Holy Majesty's words are reasonable, but Liu Wei's status as an official in Kaifeng Mansion is not suitable. If you really want to send him to negotiate with the envoys of the other two countries, you must give him another status. Row."

"What Zeping said is right, then I will leave this matter to you."

(End of this chapter)