The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"You mean, a pound of ginseng that's just a few dozen years old costs three or four taels of silver? A ginseng that's over a hundred years old only costs 10 taels of silver?"

Wei Guangde asked with an expression of disbelief after watching Zhang Ji roughly summarize the prices of ginseng in Beijing.

"Yes, sir, the shopkeeper said that in the past, those ginsengs only cost one or two taels of silver. Now the amount of Shangdang ginseng collected every year is getting smaller and smaller. Many local ginseng farmers have changed their careers, so most of the ginseng in the capital has turned to When purchasing from Liaodong in the north, prices have also risen."

Zhang Ji thought that Wei Guangde was a little dissatisfied because the price of ginseng was too high, so he hurriedly explained the information he had learned from the medicine shop owner.

Shangdang ginseng?

Codonopsis?

Wei Guangde had a vague impression, as if he had seen it somewhere.

Now it seems that the price of ginseng in this era is not expensive, almost the same as the price of cabbage.

In fact, except that most areas in the south are not suitable for ginseng growth, so the output is small, the quantity of ginseng in the north is still very considerable during this period.

However, with the large-scale collection and consumption of ginseng that began in the Song Dynasty, the production of ginseng in the mainland dropped sharply, especially when Codonopsis pilosula was dug up and almost disappeared. Now many powerful people often eat ginseng and have developed a habit, so they purchase similar ginseng from abroad. Changbai Mountain ginseng, also known as "Northeastern ginseng", has led to the current skyrocketing price of ginseng.

During the Song Dynasty, ginseng was not considered a precious health medicine. It was just like jujube and was used by many people to soak in water and drink it.

Su Shi, a great writer in the Song Dynasty, was like a food blogger who often recorded the taste of various delicacies on paper.

Su Shi once asked his friends to purchase some jujubes and ginseng for himself. It can be seen that in people's eyes, the value of ginseng is the same as that of jujubes.

However, Codonopsis pilosula is now extinct, and Changbai Mountain ginseng produced in Liaodong has become a substitute. The difficulty of mining in the mountains, mutual market transactions and long-distance transportation have naturally increased the procurement cost, causing the current ginseng price to skyrocket.

The medicinal effect of ginseng is recorded in the "Shen Nong's Materia Medica", but it is also believed that this kind of thing has a sweet and slightly cold taste. It mainly nourishes the five internal organs, soothes the spirit, calms the soul, relieves panic and palpitations, removes evil spirits, improves eyesight, and is good for happiness. The effect of wisdom is just a common medicine, which is far different from the great tonic and longevity boasted by later generations.

Wei Guangde heard that people today are not as enthusiastic about ginseng as later generations. They regard it as a magic medicine that can extend life and take it as an ordinary health product.

It's cheap, but I don't know if the price can be increased in the future.

Relatively speaking, for this kind of medicinal materials, older ones are definitely more valuable, so Wei Guangde still plans to stock up on a batch of older ginseng.

It’s not that we want to hype this thing. All drug store owners know that the ginseng production in the mainland is low now, and they all rely on the ginseng from Changbai Mountain in the Northeast.

There seems to be a lot of ginseng in Liaodong now, but it cannot withstand such continuous collection. Wei Guangde estimates that the price of ginseng will definitely rise.

The price of older ginseng may not be as exaggerated as in later generations, but the price increase is inevitable. It is a waste to hoard so much cash in your hand. It is better to use part of the money to invest in ginseng.

"You take the time to go to those drug stores and purchase large quantities of those century-old ginseng for me."

Wei Guangde sat on the chair and thought for a while before continuing: "Don't touch the money at home for the time being. You go to Huitong Commercial Bank to find Mr. Lin and bring out the two thousand taels of silver to do this first."

Last time Wei Guangde withdrew 3,000 taels of silver from Huitong Commercial Bank and gave Gao Zhong 1,000 taels of silver. Now he still has about 2,000 taels at home, but he doesn't know when he will use it, so Wei Guangde wants to keep it first.

Huitong Trading Company has only released a sum of money after such a long time, five thousand taels, not too much, with three-cent interest.

It would be troublesome to withdraw the remaining twelve thousand taels of silver back to his family, so Wei Guangde never wanted to withdraw the money.

Now that it's useful, let's go to Huitong Trading Company's account first and get the money back.

"Master, do you really want to buy so many ginseng?"

Zhang Ji was shocked by the silver figure reported by Wei Guangde. Two thousand taels of silver, how much ginseng would he have to buy?

I bought so much ginseng, have you eaten it?

"I said as long as it's over a hundred years old, the longer the better, but I don't want anything that's short. I don't know how much I can buy."

Wei Guangde said a little regretfully.

"I know, buy ginseng that is more than a hundred years old."

Zhang Ji nodded in agreement, and then said to Wei Guangde as if he suddenly remembered something: "Master, there is one more thing.

This afternoon Chen Ju and Eunuch Chen sent a young chamberlain over to explain that the emperor would summon Miao San people to the palace to refine the medicine. "

Wei Guangde nodded when he heard this.

Yes, Ganoderma lucidum is available. Chen Ju said before that if the remaining medicinal materials cannot be found, Ganoderma lucidum can be used instead.

Zhang Juyou from Wanping was really lucky. Not long after the decree came out, Ganoderma lucidum was sent to the palace.

I don’t know if Geng An has made an agreement with Liang Gaofu in the past few days, and whether Liang Gaofu will explain in detail the crimes that King Hui committed during the process of refining the medicine.

Sure enough, after getting off duty on the second day, Wei Guangde had another banquet with his colleagues. When he got home drunk, he heard Zhang Ji report that Geng An had returned home at noon. According to Geng An, he was the one who told the police what he knew. The cases concerning King Hui's lawlessness in Junzhou were explained to Liang Gaofu and Liang Sanren in detail one by one.

Wei Guangde quickly called for Geng An and asked about the situation in detail before he was satisfied.

The only thing we have to do now is to wait a few days to see if we can find Chen Ju and find out the reaction of Emperor Jiajing later.

Wei Guangde guessed that Chen Ju might have guessed something. At least he knew that Wei Guangde was very concerned about King Hui, but Wei Guangde did not tell Chen Ju in detail about his specific thoughts.

Wei Guangde's judgment of Chen Ju is that he seems to be loyal and honest, but he is also very smart, otherwise he would not be trusted and relied upon by an old eunuch like Gao Zhong.

Yes, in the past few contacts, Wei Guangde felt that Gao Zhong liked to leave errands to Chen Ju, and he was obviously very optimistic about him.

He didn't know how long it would take to refine the medicine this time, so Wei Guangde could only continue to wait, and go to Chen Ju for a drink in a few days to get some news.

"Zhang Ji, when you go to Huitong Commercial Bank, you need a two hundred taels of silver voucher and bring it back to me."

Wei Guangde thought about it. Although he had taken the initiative to invite Chen Ju for a drink two or three times before, he had never done anything to help Chen Ju and establish a relationship. This would not work.

The first time Gao Zhong gave him a thousand taels of silver, this time he gave Chen Ju 200 taels of silver. Later, he would use him to inquire about the situation in the palace, so naturally he would try his best to maintain this relationship.

"Also, let Li San follow me these two days. Zhao Hu should stay at home first. You should seize the time to go out for a run and bring back some old ginseng for me."

After talking to Zhang Ji yesterday about transferring money from Huitong Commercial Bank to buy ginseng, Zhang Ji still followed him up and down today. Wei Guangde felt that it was completely unnecessary.

Now Wei Guangde has trained Zhang Ji as his housekeeper, and he has to go out and take charge of himself.

Geng An was also sent out, staring at Liang Gaofu to see when he would leave Xiyuan, which meant he could have a drink with Chen Ju.

A few days later, Zhang Ji began to deliver boxes of century-old wild ginseng to the Wei family's warehouse.

At first, Wei Guangde was very happy when he saw these thick ginseng. ,

If you take out a box of ginseng here, it could be called the treasure of the store in that era.

But in the current Ming Dynasty, it was just a drink that the rich and powerful drank in water.

But having said that, if ginseng had not been collected in large quantities during this period, I am afraid that future generations would not have such high prices.

For ginseng in later generations, it was not because these old ginsengs were all eaten up and the price was so high because of the scarcity of the ginseng.

Now that Emperor Jiajing is frying Ganoderma lucidum, Wei Guangde has taken a different approach and plans to fry Laoshan ginseng. He doesn’t know if he can raise the price in the end.

Wei Guangde was unsure, but he thought that he had already done it anyway, so as long as he kept all the goods in his own hands, he wouldn't be afraid that the price would rise.

It's so damn cheap.

However, the problem was quickly exposed. According to what Zhang Ji said when he came back, a medicine shop owner told him that the preservation method of the ginseng was also very important, otherwise it would be easy for insects to eat and rot.

For dried ginseng, it is much easier to store it, that is, seal it.

Although there was no such thing as a sealed box in ancient times, jars and jars could also be sealed. You just need to pay attention to keeping them dry and sealing them with wax when sealing. Sprinkle quicklime, charcoal, etc. around them to keep the storage environment dry.

Some fresh ginseng needs to be dried regularly and then stored.

If you want to keep it fresh, it's a bit more troublesome. You need to wrap the ginseng in all directions and gently with fresh moss, then put it into a dry foam box or other container, and sprinkle a little water on the surface. Keep the moss moist.

However, even in this way, the storage time is only a few months, which completely fails to meet Wei Guangde's requirements. Naturally, everything needs to be dried and sealed.

For this reason, Wei Guangde asked Zhang Ji to find a person who was good at this in the pharmacy in the capital to come to his home to take care of the ginseng he had stored.

I used to look at the so-called ginseng king in other stores, and thought that it could be stored for a long time if it was completely dried, but I didn't expect that there would be so many things behind it.

In the past two days, Wei Guangde asked people to wait outside Xiyuan until Chen Ju came out of the palace.

Through Geng An, he already knew that Liang Gaofu had left the palace and returned to Tongmiao Temple, and now he needed to get the news from Chen Ju.

Chen Ju doesn't have a house outside the palace now. After all, his rank is so high, so there is naturally less oil and water.

The two hundred taels of silver offered were only enough to buy a house in the outer city, but given his current level, it was definitely not suitable.

Give him two hundred taels first, and if we continue to cooperate in the future, we will naturally get more money, and sooner or later we will buy a house in the inner city of Beijing.

For Chen Ju, who was still just a young chamberlain, Wei Guangde felt that two hundred taels of silver was a lot.

Chen Ju now probably hasn't developed the appetite of those great eunuchs yet. Maybe he doesn't look at people seriously even if he has a thousand taels of silver.

In a private room of a restaurant near West Chang'an Street, Wei Guangde and Chen Ju sat opposite each other, drinking and eating while chatting about interesting things in and around the capital.

"Brother Chen, that Wanping citizen Zhang Juyou is really lucky. The emperor just asked for Ganoderma lucidum, so he sent it to the palace. I wonder how the refining of the medicine you mentioned before is progressing. Did he get a reward from the emperor? .”

After three rounds of wine and five delicious dishes, Wei Guangde naturally turned the topic to refining medicine.

"Hey, don't mention it."

When Chen Ju heard Wei Guangde's question, he picked up the quilt on the table and drank it all in one gulp.

With a "dong" sound, the wine glass was hit hard on the table, which startled Wei Guangde.

But soon, Wei Guangde knew that something must have happened during the refining process, which was why Chen Ju was so angry.

"What's wrong with refining the medicine?"

Wei Guangde asked tentatively.

"Well, the elixir is nothing. According to Liang Sanren, the quality of the elixir is quite high, and His Majesty is also very happy. That's it."

Chen Ju only stopped mid-sentence.

Seeing this, Wei Guangde hurriedly picked up the wine flask and filled it for him. He asked with concern: "It's a good thing that the medicine has been mastered. Why did Brother Chen look like that before?"

"I'm not a Liang Sanren yet, and I don't know what's going on recently. I've spoken ill of King Hui several times when I attacked the alchemist, and this time too."

Chen Ju looked up at Wei Guangde and then continued: "It's the same this time. I don't know what they said in the alchemy room. Anyway, when he came out, His Majesty's face was very ugly. It was Liang Sanren who gave us the medicine and asked us Keep it carefully for His Majesty to take."

"What happened next?"

Wei Guangde asked hurriedly.

"Are you so concerned about this?"

Chen Ju pretended to be surprised at this moment.

"Hey, the emperor is unhappy. You ministers should be careful. Is it easy for us foreign ministers?"

Wei Guangde smiled.

"It is estimated that Liang Sanren said bad things about King Hui again. After sending Liang Sanren away, His Majesty asked us to read the records of King Huiwang in the recent period, and then scolded us after reading them.

You said, we are provoking whomever. He Liang Sanren wants to have trouble with King Hui, but he involves us. "

Chen Ju curled his lips and said.

"That is to say, Liang Sanren may have said bad things about King Hui in the alchemy room. The emperor was also very angry after reading the records of your inner court. King Hui is about to fall out of favor."

Wei Guangde pretended to exclaim, but his heart was filled with joy.

"what you up to?"

Chen Ju asked strangely.

"No, didn't Brother Chen say that last time? This King Hui has a lot of misdeeds. The emperor is dissatisfied, and I don't know if he is going to be punished."

Wei Guangde replied.

"No, the other majesties probably haven't paid attention to it yet. They were mainly dissatisfied with King Hui for leaving the fiefdom without authorization. After reading the records in detail, they just scolded us. I don't know if the anger has subsided. Anyway, be careful recently. Just click.”

Chen Ju said.

"Look, big brother, what if I submit a memorial to him at this time? Does King Hui have any accomplices in the court?"

Wei Guangde asked in a low voice.

"Nonsense, if King Hui had someone in the court, we would have reported him long ago."

Chen Ju said dissatisfied, "Do you want to take advantage of His Majesty's dissatisfaction with King Hui to impeach him?"

"Of course, if the emperor is dissatisfied with someone, we ministers should not help write a memorial. Even if he fails to participate, we should let him be disgraced and vent his anger on the emperor."

Wei Guangde smiled.

"What do you want to sue him for?"

Chen Ju frowned and said, if this matter is not handled well, the people in the inner court will be in trouble.