I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 147 The emperor is not in a hurry for the eunuch

Chapter 146

After the sweet potatoes are dehydrated, they are dried sweet potatoes. There are generally two types of dried sweet potatoes. One is steamed and peeled sweet potatoes, then cut and dried naturally.One is fresh sweet potato as raw material, which is cut into thin slices by tools and dried in the sun.

Dried sweet potatoes can be stored for more than one year, or even several years, as long as they are stored in a cool and dry place.

Dried sweet potatoes can be used to cook porridge directly, or they can be ground into powder and mixed with flour to make sweet potato noodles and steamed buns. They can also be used to make wine. The very famous sweet potato roast is just like this.

You can also smash the sweet potatoes to precipitate the starch inside, then boil a pot of water, and put the starch of the sweet potatoes into the boiled water like noodles, which will become vermicelli.

The vermicelli in the Northeast famous dish stewed with pork and cabbage is made of sweet potato flour or potato flour. This kind of vermicelli can also have a shelf life of two or even three years.

The easiest way to store it is to dig a cellar and store fresh sweet potatoes for half a year without deterioration. You must never put sweet potatoes in a high-temperature environment, such as in the kitchen. Once it is in an environment above 25 degrees, Sweet potatoes will sprout.

Cheng Shijie did not tell everyone that this is indeed a current commercial secret, just like the difference between white sugar and brown sugar is that lime is used as a clarifying agent, and the production process of the two is the same, only white ash is added for clarification, and white sugar is formed.

White sugar is dozens of times more expensive than brown sugar at 280 Wen per catty. Now there is a sugar factory in southern Liaoning. Since southern Liaoning does not produce sugar cane, it cannot directly make sugar, so it can only use purchased sugar and buy it in large quantities. Under the circumstances, the price is still as high as 100 ren per catty, and the price has increased by more than [-] times because of a simple process.

The white sugar sold to Jiannu now costs 28 taels of silver per catty. This is the value of technology.

From noon to night, more than 55 military households plus 2 transferred over [-] farm households, a total of more than [-] people began to work, and finally harvested more than [-] mu of sweet potatoes, which is only equivalent to the sweet potato fields in Zhenhai City. However, the purchased sweet potatoes have piled up into dozens of hills.

These people also learned to do it themselves, some baked sweet potatoes, some boiled sweet potatoes, and some ate them raw, because sweet potatoes contain a lot of starch and sugar, and are deeply loved by military households in the village.

Countless refugees from Henan were crying while eating sweet potatoes.Before the sweet potato had spread to Henan, they were all crying.

If this kind of sweet potato was planted earlier, they would not have to starve, and so many people would not have to starve to death.Counting from the first year of the Apocalypse, Henan has not been as good as each year. Heavy taxes, coupled with drought, locusts, and this flood, starve to death almost every year.

Cheng Shijie was in a very good mood. He killed dozens of big fat pigs in one go, stewed the pork cabbage and sweet potato vermicelli together, and invited everyone to eat this famous dish.

Everyone was very satisfied with the meal, it was so delicious, and it was so full of stomach, I really wanted to swallow my tongue!

Sun Yuanhua pulled Cheng Shijie and kept asking: "How to store sweet potatoes for a long time!"

Cheng Shijie was so entangled by Sun Yuanhua that he had no choice but to give a rough idea of ​​how to store sweet potatoes.

Although sweet potatoes and potatoes are plants of the same order and different families, they are processed in completely different ways.For example, sweet potato flour can be cut into slices and dried in the sun, and processed into coarse powder. This flour is not starch, but it tastes better than sweet potato starch.But potatoes cannot be processed in this way. Potatoes cannot be exposed to the sun, and they will deteriorate when they are exposed to the sun. The potato noodles produced in this way will kill people if eaten.

There is only one way to process potatoes into flour, and that is to wash the potatoes clean without leaving any soil, and then mash the potatoes into a paste to separate the starch inside from the potato skin.

The third step is to filter. Pour the mashed potatoes into a jar and add water to stir until saturated. The last and most difficult step is to dehydrate. Squeeze the filtered starch as much as possible to remove the water, and then Pour it into a container made of bamboo like a steamer, and send it to a drying room to dry, so that it can be preserved for a long time.

Gu Shizhang looked at the mountains of sweet potatoes, as if he was looking at all the top-notch beauties, his eyes were full of green light, and he was almost crying.

"Master Jinglue, do you know if you sell these sweet potatoes?"

"Do not sell!"

Cheng Shijie said resolutely: "You have also seen that such a high yield can cost several thousand catties per mu of land, and it is very hungry. A man with a big belly can eat two or three catties to be full. Sweet potatoes contain protein, starch, Pectin, cellulose, amino acids, vitamins and various minerals are longevity foods."

"longevity?"

Fan Yongdou asked in disbelief, "Can you live longer if you eat this stuff?"

"Of course, sweet potatoes not only have high nutritional value, but also have the effects of laxative, laxative, and phlegm-relieving, and the gastrointestinal function of the elderly is degraded. It can’t be melted, but sweet potatoes are very easy to digest, cook sweet potatoes and millet together, and eat a bowl of porridge every meal, and you can live 99.”

Seeing this situation, the merchants gathered in front of Cheng Shijie one after another: "Master Jinglue, anyway, you have so many sweet potatoes, why don't you sell some to us? Let's exchange rice, how about a stone for a stone?"

"One stone for one stone, what the hell do you want?"

A sugar merchant asked: "Master Jinglue, you said this sweet potato contains sugar? So, sweet potatoes can also be made into sugar?"

"It's natural. In the future, our sugar factory in southern Liaoning will use sweet potatoes to produce sweet potato jelly, caramel, syrup, brown sugar, etc. If you need it, you can contact the commercial department of the management committee to discuss cooperation!"

The fat man who weighed nearly two hundred catties squeezed out of the crowd very nimbly and ran towards Zhenhai City.Cheng Shijie didn't need to remind him, he also knew that if he reacted quickly, he would eat meat, but if he reacted slowly, he would not even be able to keep up with the heat.

Cheng Shijie looked at Fan Yongdou and said with a smile: "Brother Fan, don't worry, you won't lose a single grain of the grain you ordered. The wheat can be harvested in half a month at most, and once the grain is harvested and put into storage, it can be shipped !"

Fan Yongdou naturally knew that Cheng Shijie had no shortage of money, only war horses and cattle. It was difficult to buy his things with money, but war horses were much easier.

Fan Yongdou said with a smile: "Master Jinglue has broken Fan Mou. Fan's men are chasing debts from the Ordos Department of Mongolia. They have a batch of Hequ horses in their hands, not Mongolian horses. I wonder if Master Jinglue needs them?"

"how many?"

"One thousand six hundred horses!"

Fan Yongdou's batch of Hequ horses are naturally not from the Ordos Department, but from Datong Town. It quickly decayed, and more than two-thirds of the more than 460 towns and forts have been corroded by Fan Yongdou.

In the seven years of Chongzhen in history, the Manchu Qing broke through and invaded the Xuanfu of the Ming Dynasty and the Datong area. During this period, many places were conquered, nearly 20 people were robbed, and countless grains and cloth were taken away. Among them, Fan Yongdou made great contributions .

Cheng Shijie thought for a while: "Don't talk about [-] war horses, even if it is [-] horses, I want it!"

"Then can I use sweet potatoes..."

Cheng Shijie said with a look of embarrassment: "Well, it's not good. I have good food, wheat, soybeans, and rice, and the best Jiangnan polished rice!"

Seeing that Cheng Shijie was unwilling to buy it, Fan Yongdou lowered his voice and said, "How about [-] catties of sweet potatoes for a horse?"

"Don't even think about it, I'll give you silver, 20 taels of silver for each horse, 3 taels of silver!"

"One horse, eight thousand catties of sweet potatoes!"

"How about continuing the grain trade, twenty shi grains per horse!"

"Seven thousand catties!"

"no!"

"Six thousand five hundred catties!"

"It's impossible. Our brother's relationship, if it can be sold, I will definitely sell it to you. These sweet potatoes are of great use to me!"

"Six thousand catties!"

"Five thousand five!"

"Five thousand catties!"

Fan Yongdou lowered the price little by little, and Cheng Shijie was a little moved.

[-] high-quality Hequ horses, [-] catties of sweet potatoes, is there such a cheap thing?
The answer is yes, no.

Seeing Cheng Shijie's heart moved, Yang Yunniang brought Zheng Jian, Zheng Qi's father and daughter to see Cheng Shijie. Seeing this scene, Zheng Qi boldly said: "If Mr. Fan is not sincere, I don't think so. Now, there are other merchants waiting to discuss with us about purchasing surplus grain!"

Cheng Shijie simply kept his mouth shut and asked Zheng Qi to bargain with Fan Yongdou.

I can't see that she can still do business. In the future, Zheng Qi will be transferred here to be in charge of business negotiations, which is too inferior to a bank.

Fan Yongdou couldn't figure out Zheng Qi's identity, but he had already seen that Zheng Qi was a woman, a woman disguised as a man. It was because of a woman that it was even more difficult for him to figure out her identity.

Fan Yongdou and Zheng Qi started negotiations on the trade of war horses and sweet potatoes.She confronted each other tit for tat, refused to give in to each other, you come and go, one raises the price and the other bargains.

Bargaining is one of women's natural hobbies. Cheng Shijie has a deep understanding of this in later generations. Xiang Hui has an indifferent temperament. You can come and I can bargain with the boss for half an hour.

Just like buying a house this time, the Binhe Garden house is not for sale. The total house price is more than 120 million. Cheng Shijie didn't say anything.

Zheng Qi was articulate, but Fan Yongdou felt his head was as big as a bucket.

As it was related to Cheng Shijie's vital interests, Zheng Qi worked hard to fight for every possible copper coin for him. After half an hour of fierce confrontation, the deal of sweet potatoes for war horses was finally completed.

"600 million catties of sweet potatoes for [-] war horses!"

Fan Yongdou compromised.Not compromise is not enough, men bargain with women, they are naturally at a disadvantage.Fan Yongdou has never negotiated business with women. Of course, except for Cheng Shijie, in this time and space, many businesses are fronted by men. Fan Yongdou really lacks experience in negotiating with women.

Cheng Shijie was very happy, which meant that he needed another [-] war horses. There are many places in southern Liaoning that need war horses, especially the more and more post stations are built, and the more reconnaissance troops are built, all of which need war horses .Even if Cheng Shijie was given another [-] horses, he would not let them sit idle.

With the harvest of sweet potatoes, the most intuitive feeling is that the hearts of the people in southern Liaoning have stabilized, and more and more refugees are pouring in. The families of the Ning Navy officers and soldiers who first entered the Liao people and the veterans of the Weizuo Thousand Households in Dengzhou Subordinates feel uneasy.They opposed Cheng Shijie's continuous intake of refugees, and worried that the refugees would eat up all of Cheng Shijie's food, and once the food ran out, they would also starve.

It's all right now, the sweet potato harvest is good.

The harvested sweet potatoes are transported by carts to factories in various places. From now on, the people in southern Liaoning have realized the freedom of sweet potatoes. For sweet potatoes, they can eat them boiled, roasted, steamed, or stewed. Eat differently.

With the bumper harvest of sweet potatoes in Zhenhai City, these agricultural experts who had been in contact with sweet potatoes immediately began to reflect that they were actually inferior to Cheng Shijie, a martial artist.

Cheng Shijie knows how to fight, and being able to fight is his major as an economic officer, but farming is their major, and in his professional field, he is inferior to a layman.

These agricultural experts couldn't hold back their faces. They guarded their wheat fields and ate their food, feeling that the food was not delicious.

……

Zhenhai City, Xu's other courtyard.

After Xu Shumin from the fourth group of Xu came to southern Liaoning, she quickly fell in love with bathing. She took a hot bath every day before going to bed, which was very refreshing and comfortable.

When Xu Shumin was about to go to bed, she suddenly felt the noise in the street outside the door.

Zhenhai City is a very livable city, there has never been any trouble, and there are not many things that disturb her rest like today.

"what happened?"

Catherine said: "They all said... the governor, planted a new crop, and now the harvest is bumper, with a yield of more than 3000 catties per mu, and some fields even reach more than 4000 catties..."

As Xu Guangqi's granddaughter, although Xu Shumin is also a young lady who does not stick to the sun, she is clear about basic common sense such as grain production and crop harvesting time. She immediately smiled and said, "How is this possible? Who made up the nonsense? "

"I don't believe it either, but people outside say that, there is no wave without wind, I'm afraid it may not be true!"

"Go find out what's going on!"

Lying on the bed, Xu Shumin didn't feel sleepy at the moment. As Xu Guangqi's granddaughter, Xu's children were all self-satisfied. With such a family style.

However, in the great environment of the Ming Dynasty, it was actually quite difficult for the children of the Xu family to get married. They had to choose the right family and people who were clean and self-sufficient. Such people were not absent in the Ming Dynasty, and they were very rare.

Officials who do not take concubines, including Lu Xiangsheng, including Sun Yuanhua, also have several concubines.

She actually knew the reason why Xu Shumin came to southern Liaoning.

For Cheng Shijie who wants to marry Cheng Shijie, the first is age. In the Ming Dynasty, there was an age gap in this matter, but 20 years old is not too big, which is also a normal situation.

Many scholars only take concubines and do not marry. That's it. When they become Jinshi, most of them are in their 40s and 40s. It is not uncommon for some people to be in their [-]s.

Cheng Shijie is only 36 years old now. Although he has been married and has a son, the problem is that Cheng Shijie is a good man who complies with religious regulations.

According to Cheng Shijie's identity and status, even if he takes a hundred concubines, it's not a problem, and no one said anything. Now many people in southern Liaoning are worried that Cheng Shijie has no son, and many people use every opportunity to speak to Cheng Shijie, telling him to hurry up. Get married, or take a concubine.

Regardless of whether he is a legitimate son or a concubine, it is better to have Cheng Shijie's own son than nothing.

Xu Shumin didn't dislike Cheng Shijie's appearance. Although Cheng Shijie was not as weak as the Jiangnan scholars, he had a very rare temperament.

In Catherine's words, Cheng Shijie is a very manly man.

But the problem is, Cheng Shijie didn't have any strange thoughts about her. He didn't talk to her to promote the relationship, and he didn't find anyone to propose marriage to Xu's family.

This made Xu Shumin very frustrated.

In all fairness, Xu Shumin is a beautiful woman, no matter in terms of figure, appearance, or family background, she is the best choice, but Cheng Shijie is not interested in her, what can she do?
Catherine had advised her and invited Cheng Shijie to dinner...

This method was directly given up by Xu Shumin, what a joke, if this is the case, then what has become of her?

As for Lian Er's method is even more unreliable, to seduce Cheng Shijie.

Don't look at Cheng Shijie who often runs around, but the question is, who can easily get close to him?
When did he travel without hundreds of guards, protecting him airtight?

Once, when Cheng Shijie was traveling, a frightened horse rushed towards his carriage.Cheng Shijie's guards beat the chief Wu Sheng to death with just one punch, like a tall horse.

If Wu Sheng misunderstood him, one punch would be enough to smash his own little head...

……

Not only Xu Shumin, but also Xie Zongze were worried about their marriage.Although Xie Zongze's official position is high, his family background is not considered prominent, and his poems and articles are not well-known, but his temper is indescribably stubborn.

At first, it was because he was involved in his daughter Xie Susu's marriage, but as he became the dean of Jinzhou Academy, he also served as a member of the Liaodong Management Committee, and both father and son members joined the management committee.

In the view of traditional literati such as Xie Zongze, the member of the Liaodong Management Committee is responsible for the education work in Liaodong. If it is placed in other provinces, this should be the level of a province's promotion.

What's more, his son Xie Jinglin was a blessing in disguise, and he was appointed as the Commercial Department and enjoyed the treatment of the Dusi level, so the Dusi can be regarded as the fourth rank, at least the prefect level.

Since then, Xie Zongze's attitude has become tough again. A scholar... a dog will not marry his daughter to a poor scholar, at least he is a juren.

It is best to be a Jinshi...

Because Xie's family status in southern Liaoning is getting higher and higher, of course, more and more people want to marry Xie's family, and many matchmakers come to the door in groups, and Xie Zongze is also satisfied.

But the problem is, this old girl from the Xie family is arrogant.

I would rather marry a centurion than a scholar.

This is Xie Susu's principle and also his bottom line.

There are not many people in southern Liaoning who can fall into Xie Zongze's eyes.

Warrior.

Even at Changyu's level, Cheng Shijie ranked among the top five generals under Cheng Shijie's command. He was young and unmarried, but he despised Zhang Yu's family background. In-laws, that would be worse than killing him.

As for Shen Mingyu, he is a bit older, and his father is a Qianhu in Guide Mansion, and he is an official with five sense organs, but the problem is that Shen Mingyu is not a good bird. Now Shen Mingyu has seven concubines, five of whom are older. Stomach...

Although Xie Zongze believed that Shen Mingyu would not dare to dote on his concubine and kill his wife, and would make Xie Susu angry, but the problem was, when Xie Susu saw Shen Mingyu, he said that he would rather become a nun and be with the green lantern before the Buddha.

Xie Susu was annoyed by the matchmaker group, so she set her own principles for the matchmaker group: "First, the other party must be from southern Liaoning, and they are not allowed to leave southern Liaoning for life. Second, after the other party gets married, they are not allowed to take concubines. Thirdly, the other party must serve Mrs. Xie Zongze together with Mrs. Xie for life;
If any one of these three conditions is not allowed, they cannot get married. Xie Susu made it clear that she was forced to marry. If she violated the three chapters of the contract in the future, Xie Sudu will divorce and remarry.

These conditions are very strict. The first condition is that Miss Xie expresses that she does not want to marry too far away from her parents. The second condition is that Miss Xie expresses that she hopes that her future husband can follow the example of Fang Xuanling. The third condition is that Miss Xie clearly told the other party that it is your duty to honor my parents, but respecting your parents is your own duty, the duty of your brother and sister-in-law.

After hearing this condition, Cheng Shijie was so frightened that he broke out in a cold sweat.

He even wondered if Miss Xie had traveled through future generations...

Otherwise, how could there be such an advanced concept?
At the same time, Cheng Shijie was also a little curious about Miss Xie.

Cheng Shijie didn't respond yet. This was following Xie Susu's three chapters of agreement, which caused the entire south of Liaoning to explode.

"I really thought I was a golden branch and a jade leaf!"

"What beautiful things do you want?"

"The Xie family is this family style?? Xie Zongze, an old man, is really self-inflicted!"

"Who in southern Liaoning can meet her criteria for choosing a son-in-law?"

"Don't say no, there is really one person who fits!"

"Who?"

"Our Liaodong Economic Strategy Envoy, Master Cheng!"

"This standard is probably for Mr. Cheng!"

"Toad wants to eat!"

Cheng Shijie naturally didn't know that he had been formed into swan meat.

After learning of the sweet potato harvest in southern Liaoning, Gao Qiqian, the nominal superintendent of the Ning Navy, couldn't sit still. He hurriedly arrived in southern Liaoning by boat from Dengzhou, and then rode a fast horse with a team of eunuchs and Jin Yiwei. Hurry up and go to Zhenhai City.

"What kind of wind brought the father-in-law here!"

Gao Qiqian did not greet Cheng Shijie politely, but directly smiled and said: "Is there really a yield of three thousand catties per mu?"

"The fattest field yields 650 jin per mu!"

"It's so auspicious, why don't you present it to the imperial court!"

Cheng Shijie asked in surprise, "Is this Xiangrui?"

"Isn't this considered auspicious? Throughout the ages, when have you ever seen more than 4000 catties of grain per mu?"

Cheng Shijie was really speechless.

Gao Qi was in a hurry: "Oh, General Cheng, hurry up and write a note, and then give our family a few carts of sweet potatoes, and we will dedicate them to His Majesty..."

What does it mean that the emperor is not in a hurry and the eunuch is in a hurry?
That's about it.

(End of this chapter)