In the back courtyard, Du Zhongxiao and Chen Xu sat under the big tree. Seeing Bao Zheng coming in, he said, "Long Tu came just in time, try the newly made moon cakes." ”

Bao Zheng stepped forward and saw several plates on the table, which contained all kinds of shortbread. Most of these cakes are dark brown, and at first glance they are heavy on oil and sugar, and various patterns are printed on the skin.

Sitting down at the table, Bao Zheng pointed to the cakes on the plate and said, "This is the moon cake?" What is Mooncake? ”

Chen Xu said: "It's a small cake." Jieshuai made some new patterns, added fillings to them, and printed several patterns, which made people eat and admire the moon in the Mid-Autumn Festival, and named it moon cakes. Look at the dragon picture, this one is Chang'e running to the moon, and this one is the rabbit pounding medicine, which is in line with the meaning of admiring the moon. ”

Bao Zheng nodded, understanding what Du Zhongxiao meant. Hequ Road is a new place, to embellish the peaceful weather, pay special attention to the festival. At the time of the Dragon Boat Festival, everything was just beginning to flourish, and the mess everywhere was about to pass. Now that it is gradually on the right track, the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival will be particularly important, lively and lively. Whether it's making mooncakes or other arrangements, it's all about adding to the festive atmosphere.

Du Zhongxiao said: "There are several kinds of stuffing here, Long Tu try it." - This one is egg yolk filling, and the duck egg yolk used is transported from Xiangyang, which is very delicious. This one is filled with fresh meat, which is extremely tender and delicious. This one is filled with bean paste and tastes the sweetest. There is also this one with pea yellow filling, which is soft and glutinous. The last one is a five-kernel filling, with pine nuts, melon seeds, walnuts, sesame seeds and almonds five kinds of filling, with tangerine peel as silk, green and red, which is not only good-looking, but also extraordinarily delicious to eat. ”

Bao Zheng listened, and didn't know which one to take for a while, so he said: "Eat a small cake, and you are so particular?" It's too cumbersome. ”

Chen Xu smiled: "It's just to be cumbersome. The more troublesome it is done, the more varied the tricks, and the more high-grade it can be in the eyes of the people. Festival Shuai said that this is called high-end atmosphere, as long as ordinary people, the Mid-Autumn Festival does not eat such a moon cake, it is as if there is no festival, it is the best. ”

Bao Zheng shook his head: "This moon cake, is it sold in the mall?" ”

Chen Xu nodded: "Naturally, it is sold in the mall." In the past few days, we have tried to make a few things, so that everyone can taste which one tastes better, and then we will make more. Start selling early, let people know that there are such good things in the mall, and they will come to buy them when the time comes. Also, the festival commander should be more systematic, and it will be sent to the army at that time, as the Mid-Autumn Festival reward for the generals and soldiers. ”

Bao Zheng picked up a fresh meat filling casually, and took a bite of it, the skin was a little hard, but the filling was soft and glutinous, and there were small meat particles between fat and thin, which was fragrant and delicious. couldn't help nodding and praised: "In the past, when I was in the capital, I ate the dough cakes given by the palace, although they were exquisitely made, they were not so delicious." This crust is already excellent in pastries, and the taste of the filling inside is really rare. ”

Moon cakes are more powerful than ordinary cakes, heavy oil and heavy sugar, otherwise they cannot prevent spoilage. In later generations, there was overnutrition, and when it came to heavy oil and salt food, everyone talked about it. In this era, there is a general lack of nutrition, which is another matter, and pastries with heavy oil and sugar are especially popular. Ordinary families can't afford it at all, and the market buys it as a gift every day, and it's quite decent to carry it to the door.

Although Bao Zheng had a hard time when he was young, he was not from an ordinary person's background, but a serious official eunuch, and his father had a very good relationship with Wen Yanbo's father when he was an official. Bao Zheng and Wen Yanbo were originally world friends, and they were in the same year as Jinshi, and their personal relationship was particularly close, and they were still married to their sons and daughters, and they had the friendship of in-laws. However, Wen Yanbo's officialdom is slick, and he naturally knows about this matter, but he is not clear if he is a little more distant.

A few days ago, Wen Yanbo entered the court as the ruler, and Bao Zheng had the support of people in the court, and his position in Hequ Road was stabilized. Compared with the transfer envoys along the border roads of Shaanxi, Hedong and Hebei, Bao Zheng is not responsible for the money and grain in the army, and does not concurrently serve as the transfer envoy with the army. The households on Hequ Road have not yet settled down, taxes have been exempted for three years, and there are not many civil affairs for money and grain, and Bao Zheng's authority is mainly to supervise hundreds of officials.

This is related to Du Zhongxiao's decentralization. The military and political affairs of the General Department of Economic Strategy, including the power of supervision, are also controlled by the Commander's Division, and the Transit Envoy Department is also a subordinate yamen of the Economic Strategy Division in the strict sense, just like the Changping Division. However, Du Zhongxiao deliberately gave up the right to supervise, except for major events that threatened the authority of the military and government, and generally did not point fingers at Bao Zheng. On the one hand, Du Zhongxiao delegated power, on the other hand, Bao Zheng knew how to advance and retreat, and the cooperation between the two was quite tacit.

If it weren't for the harmonious relationship between Du Zhongxiao and Bao Zheng, how could the transfer envoy not be able to come to the Economic Strategy Division at every turn. In some roads, the transshipment and the warp are the same as fire and water. It is not uncommon for the transfer envoy to regard the transfer envoy as a subordinate and to oppress him at will, and the transfer envoy to be impeached in the previous chapter.

After eating a fresh meat mooncake, Bao Zheng said: "It's really delicious." This is better than ordinary pastries, and the price is inevitably not cheap, and it is not easy for ordinary people to eat it once. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the family bought mooncakes and each person shared a small piece, which was also sad to think about. ”

Chen Xu said: "But during the festival, everyone eats a meaning, each person puts a piece in their mouth, and the meaning is good." ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Long Tu, this kind of food, including pastries, was originally sold to rich and noble families. When it settles down, the money in the market is not all spent in the hands of the rich. Without these goods, how can they get their money back? Rich people can't spend their money, and if they hold it in their hands, they will inevitably become demons and cause endless troubles, so it is better to let them spend it happily. ”

In a normal society, the currency in the market will inevitably be concentrated in the hands of a few wealthy people. If money is concentrated in the hands of a small number of people, if you want to maintain its value and make money with money, all kinds of economic chaos cannot be stopped. Land annexation is not a manifestation of the concentration of wealth in an agricultural society. Land in an agrarian society is not a simple commodity, but an asset that can maintain its value, and the more troubled the times, the higher the price.

Relatively speaking, the annual rent received is not cost-effective for the price of land for most periods. Land is still being chased, one is its value preservation character, and the other is, of course, other invisible exploitation other than land rent attached to the land. The landlord's land is rented, and people become the landlord's slaves, and the more unstable the society, the stronger the nature of personal dependence, and the more they take what they want. Land rent became an incident, invisible exploitation became the main source of income for the landlords, and by this time most of the society had lost its years.

The management of currency in the Song Dynasty was controlled from the beginning of Jiaozi. To put it simply, it is to control the issuance of banknotes at one end, and pay attention to the recycling of private banknotes at the other end. If there is a shortage of currency in the market, the leverage of principal and currency issuance can be enlarged, and the currency will become more and more abundant to a certain extent. If inflation is severe, the paper money on the market will be recycled, and the simplest way is to recycle it with gold and silver.

At present, the money is based on copper coins as the principal, and the degree branch gives a fixed ratio, that is, the leverage ratio of each way. The situation is different from place to place, with the same leverage ratio, where the business is developed, there is a shortage of money, and where the business is not developed, the inflation is regulated by itself. Hequ Road is a place where there are many garrisons and the government-run economy dominates, and inflation is inevitable depending on the principal and issuance ratio of the branch. With money, the branch only allocates the principal, no longer allocates funds, and the money must be spent, so Du Zhongxiao can only try every means to restore the currency.

Cakes, sugar, tea, silk and other relatively high-end goods among the people, Changping Division tried its best to monopolize the sales of this road. Making a profit is secondary, and maximizing the recovery of money is the main purpose. Including all taxes in kind, changed to a monetary tax, is also for the same purpose.

For Shuaisi, is it important that he can print money and how much he earns? Lack of money is printed. The most important thing is to ensure the purchasing power of the currency that is issued. The economy of the entire river meandering road is arranged around this point.

Tax monetization represented the development of the commodity economy to some extent, but at this time, money did not include gold and silver. Taxation was mainly based on gold and silver, which was just another form of physical money, a means of exploitation by the imperial court and the powerful and powerful.

In the new land, the festival is particularly lively, highlighting the peaceful atmosphere, of course, it is one of the purposes of Du Zhongxiao to personally command the making of moon cakes. The main purpose is to increase the means of recycling currency in shopping malls, and do their best to recover currency from the market.

When this truth is said, Bao Zheng will understand. The Changping Division was set up, and most of the functions and powers of the money and grain were transferred to the court, leaving only the tribute to the imperial court, and the profits and losses between the states, and these economic control matters were in the hands of the Changping Division.

The three of them chatted for a while about the prices in the market, which were generally stable. The material determination is the financial resources of Hequ Road, and the stability shows that the financial resources of Hequ Road are still abundant. With financial resources, it is possible to continue to organize local projects to do some work.

Finally, Chen Xu said: "Tomorrow, we will make a large number of moon cakes according to these looks." Changping Division has already recruited people, set up a field, and purchased flour, sugar, oil and other raw materials. It's just handsome, the same moon cakes, there must always be something extraordinarily good, and a high price is set to attract people to buy. ”

Du Zhongxiao looked at a few plates on the table, pointed to the last one and said, "Let's respect the five-kernel moon cake and set a high price." There are five kinds of nuts in it, which are not easy to make, and there are green and red silk, which means beautiful and not comparable to others. ”