When the wine and food came up, he was just about to raise his glass, but Kang Yuan saw it on the road, "Huh", and hurriedly came over to salute: "It turns out that the lifting officials are also eating here." Xiaomin is a tea merchant in Xiangzhou City, and it is a coincidence that he is here to hang out today! ”

Tsui Hark whispered: "Tiju, this is the Kang Yuanwai I talked about a few days ago." Thanks to his help, I'm here. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded and said, "It turned out to be Kang Yuanwai." It's better to meet by chance than to meet, since you have met, let's have some wine and rice together. ”

Kang Yuanwai said yes again and again, said guilt, ran back to the road, asked the entourage to eat elsewhere, and said to Jiang Yuanwai and others: "It's really good luck today, I met the promotion official and Xu Xiucai to eat over there, let's use some together." This good thing that can't be asked for is encountered! ”

When several members heard this, they were all overjoyed, arranged an entourage, and went to the shed together.

When he arrived at the table, Kang Yuanwai said in a loud voice: "Master, this table is bigger." If there is any good wine and food in the store, just come up! ”

The shopkeeper stepped forward and saluted, "Guest officer, our small shop doesn't have many tricks." You can only cook five or six more dishes, and the best wine is only the taste of bamboo leaves. The shops around here are all renting places in the mall to do business, and you can also order other dishes. ”

Kang Yuanwai said: "It's okay, even if the dishes in the store come up, I will give you more money." By the way, I'll see a soup maker over there, which is very good. You ask the little guy to let me know and send a big pot of soup. There is also a seller of roasted mutton, which has some meaning, let them send a few catties. ”

The master agreed, and ordered a small servant to help the Kang staff order food.

Sitting down at the table, Kang Yuanwai arched his hand and said: "It's rare to meet the promotion officials, let the little ones do their best to be a host today." ”

Xu Ke saw that Du Zhongxiao was smiling and didn't speak, and nodded to Kang Yuanwai: "It's just a light meal here, you don't have to break the bank." ”

Kang Yuanwai said: "I walked for a while, and looked at the food here, it is indeed ordinary food, and there is no decent restaurant." When the officials are free, the small riverside restaurant sets up the table and banquet. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Let's talk about it." I'm busy with affairs, and I can't stay in Fancheng for many days. ”

These members looked generous at first glance, and the host was extra attentive, and after a while, all kinds of dishes flew up.

Seeing that they were all kinds of stir-fried dishes, Kang Yuanwai said: "In the past year or two, Xiangzhou has learned from Ye County, and it is popular to eat vegetables like this." In the past, there were fewer and fewer boiled stews and the like. Eating the dish in this way, although the taste is not as strong as before, it is refreshing. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Stir-frying, one is fresh, and the other is convenient." There are vegetables to accompany each other, not like big fish and meat, which makes people feel bad. ”

Kang Yuanwai looked at Jiang Yuanwai beside him, and didn't understand what Du Zhongxiao meant, so he just nodded in agreement.

Now the most popular is boiled and stewed. Chicken, duck and fish, all the same. For the poor, eating like this is naturally enjoyable, but for the rich who eat big fish and meat every day, it is too nutritious and not good for the body. How many people can eat enough in this era? Not really. Du Zhongxiao is a habit, since he sold wine at home and got rid of the life of eating without the next meal, he began to pay attention to his diet. Talking about nutrition with people in this era is completely playing the piano to the cow. When you have money, you have to eat first, which is the common idea of people in this era.

For the store, stir-frying is convenient and convenient, uses a lot of oil, and tastes extraordinarily delicious, which is the reason for the popularity, and it has nothing to do with what nutrition is proper or so on. When most people are malnourished, oil has a special temptation for people, and it is more fragrant to look at and eat.

After three rounds of drinking, Kang Yuanwai said: "Today we walked around the mall, and the goods here are complete, which is really unprecedented." I've been to Kaifeng Mansion before, but even in the capital, there is no such place. However, officials, there are no tooth people here, and the price of any goods is set. Small people have little knowledge, so sell goods, if there is a backlog of goods, what if they can't sell for a while? Just like we sell tea, new tea and old tea are not the same thing at all. In the tea field, there is sometimes a backlog of aged tea for several years, which has no taste and is no different from the earth. If it weren't for the inhibition of matching, no one would have bought that kind of tea. There are many kinds of goods in the mall, and there are naturally such drawbacks. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "If you can't sell it, you will naturally throw it away." Each kind of cargo has a time, and when the time is over, it is thrown away. ”

Kang Yuanwai laughed when he heard this: "The promotion officials are so generous, they can do this." We went to the field to buy tea, and sometimes the tea in the field was old for five or six years, and it was no different from the soil. He didn't dare to throw it, and he gave it all to us. Which one is willing to buy tea? And the magistrate there said, "This tea is all in the account, and who is the one who has wasted the amount?" ”

Since the Song Dynasty, the tea method has changed every few years, and it has changed many times. But everything remains the same, that is, the government controls the purchase, wholesale and transportation of tea, buys it at a low price, sells it at a high price, and the profit is called tea interest money. Theoretically speaking, the tea interest money is very high, five or six hundred wen per catty. It is simply unrealistic to make so much money with a pound of tea, no matter what tea method, it will not be able to run every few years. With the new tea law, tea merchants will always be quick to find loopholes in order to ensure their profits. Tea interest money only exists in the account books, but it does not exist. The most common is an overestimation, and the other is aged tea. Looking at so much money in the account, it is actually all old tea in the library, five or six years is not outrageous, and there are also ten or eight years. These are not the old pu'erh of later generations, they will rot like dirt in a few years, and they will be completely unusable.

The tea law is not realistic, businessmen can always find loopholes, and after a few years, the loopholes are getting bigger and bigger, and the government is unprofitable, so they have to change the tea law, and the cycle continues. If all the loopholes are plugged and the merchants are unprofitable, there will be no one to do this business, and the tea will not be sold.

Kang Yuanwai's inhibition is a treatment method for aged tea. How much new tea do tea merchants buy, and how much old tea they use, otherwise they will be disqualified from buying tea. In fact, it is to increase the price of new tea in disguise and offset the account of old tea. Of course, businessmen are not stupid, they always try to avoid it, and if they can't avoid selling tea, they will lose money. This kind of business is not possible for ordinary people. Not only to have a large capital, but also to be able to access various roads.

This was a financial feature of the Song Dynasty, which was simple and crude in drawing money from the commercial system, did not follow objective laws, and was often unsustainable. Tea and salt are a necessity of life, and this is particularly evident. Wine, comparatively speaking, is more of a luxury, much better.

The tea of the Song Dynasty, from the perspective of production and sales alone, was extremely profitable. But in fact, most of the tea interest money is wasted on circulation and storage, and the tea merchants cannot develop, and the government cannot collect much money. In the end, businessmen make less profits, consumers pay more, and none of them benefit.

Seeing that a few outsiders threw away what they said about expiration, they were all very surprised, Du Zhongxiao said: "To sell goods, what is sold must be useful things, otherwise which one will buy?" After time, it is useless, so naturally it can only be thrown away. In fact, the same is true for you to buy tea, a few decades ago, the backlog of old tea in the tea field still had to be burned? It's just that the imperial court exam, the tea field can't make money, and I don't dare to burn it, so I have to suppress it for you. Can you take it and sell it? In the end, it is none other than tea drinkers who spend all this money. - By the way, where do you buy your tea now? ”

Kang Yuanwai said: "Since the Xiangzhou Tea Service was abandoned, we all went to Jiangling Mansion to buy it. Now that the railway is open, it is also convenient. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "It will be more convenient in the future." The Changping Division and the Shipping Division agreed that in the place where the Xinyang military produces tea, there will be a separate tea mountain, which will be subordinate to the field affairs. Tea was also sold in the mall in the future, and it all came from there. When the tea is produced there after the year, you can also go there and buy it. The shipping department only collects tea interest money, and doesn't care about the rest, just don't ship it to other states for sale. ”