This tea shop has two floors and is very large. How big is it? It's a bit of a sight to behold. Standing on the Yanjin Bridge and looking southwest, almost all of its buildings along the south bank of the Cai River spread out for hundreds of meters.

Yanjin Bridge is the central bridge on the Cai River, another river in Kaifeng City, and it is also a stone flat bridge like the State Bridge, which is estimated to make it convenient for the emperor to travel, and the arch bridge is difficult to walk.

However, the Cai River is much more leisurely than the Bianhe River, it is a semi-artificial river, the water source comes from the Weishui, and it is connected to Yingshui through the Pipa Ditch, and it is connected to Chenzhou to the south. There is also an artificial lake outside the Chenzhou Gate, which Gu Fuji said was specially used to train the Great Song Dynasty naval army, known as the Water Tiger Jie.

What the water tiger is Hong Tao doesn't know very well, but it must not be successful. The Southern Song Dynasty Navy should be more powerful than the Northern Song Dynasty, but in his eyes, that thing can't be called an army at all, at best, it can be regarded as a water anti-smuggling team, and its combat effectiveness is greatly worrying.

"Is it necessary to open such a large teahouse here?" Drinking the noodle soup-like tea, Hong Tao began to worry about the owner of the teahouse again.

There are only a few customers on the second floor, and even if the house is all owned by the owner and does not have to pay rent, you can't invest so much money just to lose money.

"The officials don't know that Yanjin Bridge is the largest night market in the south of the city, and at night, the lights on the upper floor reflect the river, like stars falling, it is very beautiful, and the teahouse is even more difficult to find. At that time, the Su officials still wrote a poem here, which was hung in the official's study. ”

Before Fu Ji could speak, Lian'er began to despise her master. It's too slight, even if there are no stars falling into the water now, shouldn't you sit on the second floor and blow the breeze on the river? You are a great talent, it was with a few broken pens that you deceived the princess back then, how can you forget it all!

"Is there one?" To be honest, it turned out that Hong Tao, the horse Wang Xu's study, had only been to it twice, and the main purpose was not to read books or paint poems, but to find pen and paper to make drafts. As for what paintings and words are hanging in the study, I haven't paid any attention to them.

"The crescent moon is picturesque, the stars are cold, and I don't know the noise of Beijing, which is called Jianghu Township." This time, it was Fu Ji who opened her mouth, yin and yang suddenly groaned, and there was a touch of spring on her face, as if Su Shi's poem was written specifically for her.

"The! Huangzhou is still too close, so I should throw you to Yazhou! A broken poem made two women, one big and one young, intoxicated, which made Hong Tao very depressed.

Compared with himself, it is simply heaven and earth, Su Dongpo is in the field, but his image is deeply imprinted in the hearts of the people in the capital. I am in the capital, but who sees who is annoyed, why is the gap so big!

Originally, Hong Tao planned to beg Wang Anshi when he did something, and he would come forward to say something good to the emperor to get Su Shi back. Anyway, he is also his best friend, and he is so talented, maybe he can touch him in the future.

Now it seems that it is better not to let him come back, otherwise a group of big girls and little daughters-in-law will circle around every day, and how angry they will be watching from the side.

"Don't drink it, drink it when you want to drink it somewhere. Shopkeeper, prepare tea! Looking at the two women with looks, Hong Tao really couldn't sit still, and had to leave this place of right and wrong quickly.

Where Su Shi often comes, other literati will definitely not lag behind, in case he runs into a few more acquaintances, he will be too passive, ask what he can't, what's the mix.

In the eyes of the two women who can kill, Hong Tao swaggered downstairs with a tea box. The service of preparing tea is very interesting, a pot of tea with four teacups, plus a vermilion lacquer box, and even the deposit of the tea set is not charged when you meet regular customers or guests with status.

Obviously, although they don't know the guys in the teahouse, they know themselves. The tea set used is the most high-end silverware, and I still don't need a penny deposit, so I let myself take it away. If they don't return it, they won't be able to sell tea for a day.

"This is a high-quality Jiancha, and it needs to be filled with silverware, will the general covet this thing?" When Hong Tao asked this question, Fu Ji put on that expression that I don't understand what you're talking about.

It seems that in her opinion, the behavior of drinking tea and taking other people's tea utensils by the way is simply impossible, and the more people who can afford to drink good tea, the less they should do it. There's no reason, it's justified.

“…… Then tell me about the tea of the imperial court. "Hong Tao really has the heart to kick her into the river, what kind of score is it, isn't she just a five-grade female official, and she really compares the five grades in the palace with the five grades in the court!

But now is not the time to offend her, and she must take the house down first. But let her be so idle and unwilling, come on, you say I'll listen, I won't let you drink tea, you'll be thirsty!

Don't talk about not knowing, let Fu Ji say this, Hong Tao has a little more understanding of the tea of the Song Dynasty. There are probably three types of tea in this era, loose tea, slice tea and wax tea.

The lowest grade of loose tea, that is, the state after frying, only small teahouses sell this kind of tea, most of which are drunk by ordinary people, a bit similar to the tea powder of later generations.

The slice tea is of medium grade, and the fresh tea buds are made into flakes through steaming, peeling, patting, roasting, wearing, sealing and other processes.

Wax tea is of the highest grade, and its production process is similar to that of slice tea, but the tea leaves must be crushed into a paste and then pressed into tea cakes, leaving a hole in the middle, and ten tea cakes are worn into a string.

Wax tea can only be made in Jianzhou and Jianzhou, and now there is a piece of Jianzhou tea cake in the tea box carried by Hong Tao.

As for how to tell where the tea cake is made, this is Fu Ji's specialty. She only needs to smell and take a look, and she can basically determine the place of origin. If you can have a drink and try it, you can go to a specific county.

Tea in the Song Dynasty is a unified purchase and sales of forbidden goods, with Fujian tea as the best, the cheapest also has to 5 yuan a crotch.

The crotch was the unit of measuring tea in the Song Dynasty, how big is a crotch? Matchbox size. This word originally meant the jade pendant on the belt, and I don't know who used it to describe the size of the tea cake.

In the Tang Dynasty, the profit of tea was ranked after salt and iron, but in the Song Dynasty, due to the frequent trade with the tea and horse of the northern ethnic groups, coupled with the rise of the economic level, tea became a daily necessities that both rich and poor could afford to drink, and it was also a cash crop that could be produced by landlords and small farmers.

The production and sales volume have increased significantly, and it has surpassed the iron and become the second largest national fiscal revenue after the salt, with an annual annual income of 5 million.

For this reason, the imperial court also promulgated the tea law, and it was particularly heavy. At present, the tea law of the second year of Qiande is still in use, stipulating:

"If the people dare to hide and not send them to officials and smugglers, no one will do so, and those who will be counted as more than 100 dollars will be punished for 70 and 8 times for additional service; The chief official took the official tea trader, recorded his straight 500 yuan, flowed 2,000 li, and always 500 and held the war to sell illicit tea as the lawsuit to arrest the arrested, all died! ”

This is much stricter than the laws and regulations that punished smugglers in later generations, and the private collection or smuggling of tea worth 100 yuan will have to be punished, and it has always been a capital offense if it is more than 500 yuan!

However, there are exceptions, and tea from Sichuan and Quang Nam can be outside the scope of the ban, so tea in these two places is relatively cheap. It is a pity that the tea in these two regions is not allowed to be exported, and can only be sold locally, and it is cheap and useless.

However, Fu Ji also said that as soon as the new policy began, the imperial court turned tea from Sichuan and Guangnan into a prohibited commodity, which is currently being implemented.

Hong Tao is really convinced, Wang Anshi is too ruthless, as long as there are people in the country who he has not offended, he will not be able to eat and sleep, and even the ethnic minorities in Sichuan and Guangnan will not let go.

Just like that, I still expect to give him ideas to save the new deal and save a yarn! Who can have the ability to conjure up an industry comparable to salt, tea, and iron out of thin air, and share it with those interest groups who have been offended by him?

If so, do you still use it for him? Wouldn't it be better to give it directly to the emperor!