Great Tang Idyll Volume 01 Chapter 71

Chapter 71: Disputes Over The Plans For Soybeans

Once liang'pi made an appearance at the San'shui county, the people that bought out the soybeans didn't continue to extend their meddling fingers. The sellers still collected white flour, and they had collected a fair amount. Because of the addition of liang'pi, business for the savory crepe sellers became even better. One cold item and one hot item eaten together--- just five coins and it was enough to become full. 

If this was a different place, five coins might be too much, but at the county seat, five coins was just the price of a bowl of noodles at a noodle shop. Whether it was the taste or quantity, nothing was comparable to eating a portion of savory crepe and liang'pi.

In that given period of time, the sale of these two dishes at the San'shui county was extremely good. A lot of people from neighboring prefectures had came here just to have a taste of the dishes. There were even some forward-thinking people that wanted to learn how to make it, but only to discover that everything was easy to make except for replicating that particular spicy flavour. 

Magistrate Cheng chose people that came from impoverished families. If they wanted to obtain the ingredients, then they would have to bring their family register to the administrative office. Naturally, the other counties did not care about this; just as the commoners say, "Whomever your magistrate is then find whomever."

Given this, Magistrate Cheng became more reputable, regardless of the drought being uncontrollable. 

"Xiao'bao, those people didn't make a move." At the Zhang Manor, Wang Juan spoke disappointingly to Zhang Xiao'bao. 

"Then that means they have no one that is powerful backing them up. I know what to do already. Tomorrow, make the soybean pulp into tofu and then sell them at all the different counties. Make the tofu after arriving at each counties. Call Er'niu over and get him to dress up. I need him to do something for me."

First, Zhang Xiao'bao used the liang'pi to give those people a warning. Following that, the revenge plot began. There was not a single person that was able to become a threat under his watch. Those that threatened him needed to pray that they will never have a loophole in their plans and that they can forever stay in a position that is high above. 

After Er'niu came by and then left, everything returned to silence again. 

"Xiao'bao, isn't this plan of yours too radical?" Wang Jun finished listening to Zhang Xiao'bao's instructions for Er'niu and tried to persuade him out of concern.

"Then what should I do? They're just a group of egg sellers, do I need to give in to them? If it was Zhou Xi'hu, I would yield because his uncle is a sixth rank official. If there was the prefecture governor's son in that group, then I could give them all of my chickens without a problem. 

The world is just this realistic. If you don't have the capability, then don't strike. Actually, I want to request peace and stability, but then that means I would have to compromise with them. The chickens that we raised can't be looked after by us anymore, what, do they think they're the landlord and can control everything? Without the 6,000 chickens, what's going to eat the locusts?"

Zhang Xiao'bao didn't not even consider forgiving them. If those people came to him to talk it over it at the beginning, he might pick a plan that was more accommodating. But those people bought out all the soybeans--- this was a threat and more so, this was a threat made by someone that was not backed by an official. 

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Five days later. 

The price of soybeans everywhere dropped drastically. The Zhang Manor even used the soybean meal saved to be used as fodder to make tofu. Other people sold 1 catty of tofu for a coin while 3 catties of tofu made from soybean meal was sold for 1 coin. The taste of tofu made from soybean meal was not as good, but the price was cheaper. 

After a while, tofu became hard to sell and the number of people who bought soybeans also decreased. It was obvious that the price of soybeans dropped by an amount. Although the amount wasn't a lot, it was still a major loss for larger sellers. 

At this time, Er'niu found his position. Soybeans were originally sold for two coins per catty, and one catty of soybeans can be used to make a bit more than two catties of tofu. Not much money can be made when selling one catty of tofu for one coin. 

Er 'niu found some people at another county to buy soybeans for one coin per catty. If anybody asked, they would say it's to feed livestock. A lot of people did not believe this answer but Er'niu did not care. He used money to get people to go to restaurants and teahouses in every places to advertise. 

"Do you eat tofu? You do? You got to be careful then, some people use beans that cannot be sprouted to make tofu, the type called tu'zui soybeans1, eating tofu made from that type of soybeans will make it impossible for people to have kids2. When you buy it, you must ask carefully."

"Does your household usually make stir-fry tofu to eat? After eating and drinking a cup of water, your stomach feels bad, right?  That's because there's too much cold yin element3 in it, otherwise, why else does it have a bad beany smell? "

"Do you buy soybeans? I'll sell it to you for cheap, it's true. I'll sell you five catties for one coin, it's true, don't run off. You won't fall ill from eating my beans."

One rumor following another rumor spread throughout all the counties in the prefecture. Although this wasn't actually significant--- everybody still ate what they normally ate and some people even sneered at the rumors. 

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After the rumors have spread for five days, a lawsuit was filed at the administrative office. Another person helped write a complaint report and they were filing a complaint against a person that sold soybeans on the street. They claimed that their father ate the bought soybeans and died. The Magistrate issued a warrant to arrest the suspect but the person could not be found. It was as if the person never returned after making an appearance that time. 

On the complaint report, it was clearly written that the person sold them two carries of soybeans for one coin, and there were a lot of tu'zui soybeans mixed in. In the end, the family ate the soybeans and the father didn't make it past the night. The magistrate ordered people to investigate and the bailiff that was sent there came back to report that when the old man died, his entire body was swollen.

At the same time, a married couple said that they didn't have kids and that they usually ate soybeans and tofu because it was cheap. Magistrate Cheng was beyond furious and immediately sent out a wanted list to catch the person. 

With this, the entire prefecture and surrounding prefectures were shaken. The price of soybeans dropped by a thousand zhang4 in one fall. Immediately, Er'niu's side set the price for collecting soybean to be five catties of soybean in exchange for one coin. 

Furthermore, rumors spread saying that only the soybeans at Bin Prefecture was like this. This didn't happen to other places and only soybeans produced during the last two years were deadly to consume. 

"Do you see, because your one moment of anger , the people here don't dare to eat soybeans anymore. Do you know how many people you screwed over because of this?" At the Zhang Manor, Wang Juan complained to Zhang Xiao'bao. 

However, Zhang Xiao'bao didn't care as he had a circumventive plan. He told Wang Juan, "The power of public opinion is still immensely great. When the time comes, just find some random excuses and the situation will be turned around. Didn't we teach those tofu sellers how to make dan'dan noodles5? In the entire prefecture, how many tofu sellers could there even be?"

"Then how did that old man die? Did you cause his death?" Seeing that Zhang Xiao'bao had already made arrangements, Wang Juan changed the topic and continued to interrogate him. 

"How could I cause his death, am I capable of causing him to contract tuberculosis? Did you not hear what the people from the administrative office say, that old man kept coughing out mouthful after mouthful of blood. Even if they were to immediately inject him with isoniazid, it would be too late. 

Zhang Xiao'bao felt a bit resigned. His tactic was just a bit underhanded, but it wasn't his fault that time was tight. The business field is like a battle field, so what tactics can't be used?  

"Then, then how are you going going to get people to eat soybean again?" 

"Wasn't it said at the beginning already? Soybeans from last year and last last year can't be eaten, so the ones from other times are fine."

"How about it being impossible to have kids?"

"The wife of that couple was pregnant already; that was something I made sure of when I was looking.  Later, just say that people were intentionally spreading false rumors. Once she gives birth to the child, the rumors will destroy itself without any other inference. 

"Regardless, your tactics are not quite honest."

"I did intend to be honest, and it wasn't that I couldn't, but do I have time? And there's a drought going on. The higher ups will send people to check up on the land--- now that I have done this, the taxation on the land will decrease. They will be coming very soon. "

"You're the only one with this many reasonings."  Wang Juan found out that she couldn't find any errors on any of the details, but she still felt a bit discomfort in her heart. At the very least, a lot of the people won't be able to eat tofu for the time being. 

"I know what you're thinking of. This is simple. We will put out money and let Magistrate Cheng say that all of the bad soybeans in our prefecture has been found and they have burned all of them already. The people would be relieved then, wouldn't they? " Zhang Xiao'bao continued to add on. 

Once Wang Juan heard that all of it had to be burned, she knew that they themselves were the ones that had to give out the money, so her face darkened. "Burn all of it? That's quite wasteful. That would require 1800 taels of silver, wouldn't it. "

"Around there. It's not wasteful though, we can gather up the burnt beans and use them to make soy sauce. Worst comes to worst, we will sell more soy sauce later on. Back then, the orphanage director grandpa made it too. He dry-roasted the soybeans until they were burnt and then he crushed it in a powder. After adding salt, it became soy sauce."

Zhang Xiao'bao added more details. 

"Huh? The one we use to eat wasn't that type, was it?" Wang Juan don't really believe him.

"That's right, they weren't even willing to add actual soybeans so they added food coloring instead. Think about it, the retail price is only 1 RMB for a bag of soy sauce. That bag weighs 1 catty. How much does 1 catty of soybeans cost? How much does it cost for better ones packaged in a bottle? What will be placed in it?"

"From now on, I don't dare to eat soy sauce anymore." Wang Juan really did feel scared. 

"Do we have a choice into not eat it? So much is going to be burnt, we need to use up some ourselves too. We will also give it to the farmers' families too. When the time comes, we will give out 50 catties so they can have a taste. 

Zhang Xiao'bao spoke as if he was joking. 

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Finally, the storm was over. 

Arrangements had already been on Zhang Xiao'bao's side. From the beginning until the end, not a single error was made. Although this was not true for those bean collectors in the Bin Prefecture. They discovered that the soybeans could not be sold so they wanted to ship the beans to another place, but the people there had already taken precautions. When they saw that the beans came from the Bin Prefecture, they directly shooed them away. 

The person how suggested buying out all the soybeans was regretting it too now. He knows that everything was done by the Zhang Manor and when he want to dispute, he realized that the San'shui county magistrate was actually backing the Zhang Manor. When he wanted to find other people in the prefecture, everyone else's only fear was they couldn't evade him in time. 

"What to do? It can't even be sold for 10 carries a coin. The people here won't eat it anymore. The people who once sold tofu were now selling something called dan'dan noodles. The money they earned each day was even more than when they were selling tofu."

A person from this spontaneously assembled "group" complained that he can't keep waiting. His original intention was to sell the soybean at a high price during the drought, but now, no one was willing to buy it. 

"Zhu Guo6 Hao, can you not say these kind of discouraging words? If we can't sell the soybeans, we can always make it into dried bean curd and then ship it out. Who would be able to find out? "

Another person was dissatisfied in his despaired appearance so he suggested another new idea. After hearing this, all the other people's eyes lit up and felt that the idea was doable.

---

Translator's Notes 

1. “tu’zui soybeans” 兔嘴黄豆

I actually had never heard of this name for soybeans before, and I cannot find anything on the internet that is related to this term. The term literally translates to “rabbit mouth soybeans”. If I were to guess, it probably means split soybeans since rabbits have split lips and in the novel it mentions that the beans cannot be sprouted. If anybody knows the definition of this term, please leave a comment and tell me. 

2. Impossible to have kids 断子绝孙

This was hard to translate without losing a bit of the original meaning as the Chinese phrase means “not being able to have children and not being able to have grandchildren”.  

3. “Cold yin element” 阴气重

It is believed that everything is a mixture of yang and yin elements. The vitality in humans can be seen as a fire that is fueled by the “yang element”. When a food item is said to have the yin element, it is considered to be a food that can “cool“ the body. If too much is eaten, it can affect one’s health. As mentioned in the rumor, it can also cause the stomach to become “cold” and thus give stomach aches. (Furthermore, if a male eats too many foods heavy with “yin” elements, it is believed that he will become more “feminine” or even impotent since men are made primarily of the “yang” element and females are heavier in the “yin” element. )

4. Zhang 丈

Note that this is a different word from the ”Zhang” in “Zhang Xiao’bao”. This zhang is a length unit that is equal to approximately 330 cm. 

5. Dan’dan noodles 担担面

This is a noodle dish originated in Sichuan, China. The flour noodles are eaten with a spicy sauce containing preserved vegetables and pork. Read the wiki page here for more information on the name and origin or this website (Woks of Life) for instructions on how to make this dish.

 

6. Zhu Guo 柱国

This is a title awarded to military personnel that have major achievements. Those with this title, regardless of their official position, will receive the same treatment and benefits as second ranking officials.

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