Great Tang Idyll Volume 01 Chapter 78
Shout out to Dan for commissioning this week's extra chapter release!
Chapter 78: How Many Times Can The Price Be Driven Down By Small Increments?
"I can't get it. They didn't mention the formula at all. Uncle, think about it, regardless of who it was, no one would hand over a good thing like this."
Zhou Xi’hu said helplessly, and when he saw his uncle wanted to say something, he continued, "Uncle, I know what you want to say. You want to say that we could keep an eye on what they purchase. From earlier on, I had already arranged for someone to watch them.
However, they buy almost everything, and they also send people to the market to salvage items. At night, after everyone at the market has left, they have someone to pick items. Primarily, they pick up food items, like rotten fish and shrimps. At first, I thought these items were something good, but later I learned that they dried all of these things and grounded them into powder, and fed them to chickens.
They also bought some rice and flour. It used to be soybeans. Later, wasn’t it said that soybeans were poisonous? So, they stopped buying it and even the vegetable oil was not sold. Only then did I know that vegetable oil was actually soybean oil. I also wanted to know how to make oil. I have roasted soybeans several times, and they were quite fragrant, but unfortunately, no oil came out.
Later, I tried soaking it in water to try to draw out the oil, but it sprouted and ended up growing to two inches long. So I stir-fried it with meat and it tasted not bad. I complained to Song Jing’gong, who had been helping them, but I didn’t expect that Song Jing’gong really I went back and told them that. The next day, he gave me a formula, which was actually a recipe---chicken slices with scallion oil and bean sprouts were placed underneath. That made me so mad."
"Oh? Is it delicious? I haven't eaten it before." Zhou Kong asked with a smile.
"It's delicious. They told me on the third day that the head and end of the bean sprouts should be pinched, then quickly dipped into hot oil and then stir-fried with thin pork strands. It was tender and crispy. I made that too, and it was indeed like so." Zhou Xi’hu made a face of despair.
"Hahahaha." Zhou Kong finally couldn't hold in his laughter. At the same time, he became more curious about the Zhang Manor. His nephew was over here fooling around, and they immediately handed him a recipe. They were not simple.
"In that case, why don't you work with them to sell this thing? You can give them a larger share of money."
"I did. They didn't agree; they told me to not rush and that there will be new things to sell right away. They will sell it to small shops and to the stores that specialize in selling salt and soy sauces. And it will not only be in our prefecture, but also in other prefectures too. As for my side, I’m still looking for merchants in other prefectures.
They aren’t selling it for a high price. The price they gave me was two catties for five coins and I can sell them at three catties for ten coins. The profit does not need to be shared with them. Now, many places are suffering from a drought and the price of beans is expensive. Them selling it like this is really a help to the people. "
Zhou Xi’hu counted his fingers as he spoke to his uncle.
"Then you’re not earning much?"
"Not much? It depends on the quantity. They said that they can give me five thousand picul1 of soy sauce in the early stage, and then they will give me a total of fifty thousand stones in intervals in the later stages. I need to get salt for them as they weren’t able to buy a lot of salt. Was this not a lot? I don’t know in which year it will be all sold out. It’s best if my people are all capable and can sell the soy sauce to locations further away."
Zhou Xi’hu was now wondering where the Zhang Manor got that many soybeans to make soy sauce from and how they dared to set the price so low.
Hearing these words, Zhou Kong no longer looked as relaxed as he was just earlier. The Zhang Manor's action makes it seem like they’re trying to help drive the price of certain things down in this prefecture so that the people who want to take advantage of the crisis will not dare take action. They’re abilities were truly great. Fifty-five thousand stones of soy sauce---this was scary sounding.
He understood that some of the news he got from his nephew might not be true. He shouted to the outside, "Magistrate Cheng, please come over for a bit, I have questions to ask."
Magistrate Cheng was thinking about how to keep all the people from above in the county seat while getting only Zhou Kong to visit Zhang Manor. He heard Zhou Kong shouting to him and he didn't dare to neglect. He got down from his own ride and got onto Zhou Kong’s carriage. He respectfully asked, "My lord, what do you want to ask me?"
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"Did you know that Zhang Manor is going to sell soy sauce?" Zhou Kong asked directly.
"I do know. They want to drive down the prices of goods. Not only just soy sauce, but there will also be a large quantity of eggs that is going to be sold in two days. Each time, up to one catty can be bought and the price is very cheap. Chickens need to eat and once the price of eggs go down, the price of grain won’t go up. I have ordered people to block the county’s roads going outside. If they find that there are grains and other related items, they will hold the items back. We will only allow importation and no exportation."
Magistrate Cheng was a little excited when he talked about this. The two Zhang and Wang Manors were losing money to help him keep prices down. The restrictions at the San’shui County were stricter, thus, they didn’t have to worry about their people unable to eat meals. The Manors made a lot of money and did not have hesitations when spending money.
Zhou Kong was in charge of taxation, so of course he knew how much praise would be won by Magistrate Cheng if the prices of goods were stabilized. Why did the Zhang Manor do this?
"Are you in touch with them?"
"Yes, they have been helping me all along. As long as I’m facing a little difficulty in any areas, the Zhang Manor will pull out a solution and use it. I have always regarded the people who had looked after me as my Shi’fu. I have discussed with Song Jing'gong several times already about going to them to seek discipleship, but the people on the Manor didn't agree. I feel like they are testing me."
Magistrate Cheng did not withhold much this time and he disclosed anything that he was able to say. He knew that Zhou Kong and him were considered to be partners so there was no need to have reservations on matters that weren’t secrets. Anybody who was perceptive enough would understand with just a glance.
Zhou Kong pondered for a while, and then asked, "Then can you ask for their formula?"
"I don't know, I didn't dare to ask for it as that would be destroying their road to making money. I’m still hoping to seek discipleship." Magistrate Cheng told the truth.
"Hmm, I see. We’re almost there, right?" Zhou Kong felt that it wasn’t appropriate for him to force Magistrate Cheng since he had taken care of his relative.
"Soon. I’ll take my leave now, and I’ll come back later." Magistrate Cheng knew that he was hinting at him to leave so he replied back and then instructed the carriage to stop. He bowed down and then retreated away.
After advancing forward for another while, they finally arrived at the place. When they got off their carriages, they saw a lot of commoners around the area and they were carrying a container to hold water. Some people squeezed their way out of the crowd and left with water.
In addition to these, there were people kneeling and burning incense. A lot of water has been spilled onto the ground so the surrounding area was all wet. The place that was surrounded by people should be the dried-out well that had water coming out of it.
The people from the imperial court were getting ready to chase away everyone else, but before they could give orders, Magistrate Cheng went forward and shouted to them, "My fellow villagers, please make way. The imperial court has sent people to look at this well."
The commoners didn't even hesitate, and made way for them. From this, the level of prestige of Magistrate Cheng in this county was evident
Everyone saw it now: a well that wasn’t sitting on a raised platform appeared in front of them, and next to it was a tool to draw up water. The commoners that were here just now were here to get water.
Everyone went closer to look at it. As they looked, they asked questions. In particular, they asked the commoners and the commoners were called over for questioning. After a few inquiries, they had no choice but to admit that it was indeed an auspicious omen. During a severe drought, water came out of a dried-out well. Some said that it was mythical, and they also said that they saw the heavens use lightning to strike the well, and after a large bang, there was water in it.
Some person even said that they saw a deity passing by the well and had lamented about the drought here, so the deity used a lighting calling spell to blast the well. There were too many stories, but regardless of which one, hearing a loud sound was always mentioned in each version.
The people who came recorded all of this down, and it was considered that their job was done. Everyone returned to their carriages and allowed the commoners to continue fetching water. Some of them even asked people to find something to hold water and put water into it so that it can be used for tea later.
After finishing being busy for a while, Magistrate Cheng didn't wait to see if other people had other plans and told them that they will be going to a different location to eat so that they can have a taste of the specialties of the San’shui County. This decision was already considered to be disturbing the commoners.
Seeing that everyone had left, the commoners were more convinced of this auspicious omen and everyone returned and fetched water with a pious expression on their faces.
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*
"Don't rush, take it slow. It seems that we need to go buy some seaweed. There are too few seaweed sellers here. When can we go to the sea, seaweed needs to be collected."
Inside the Zhang Manor, Wang Juan said to Hu’zi, who was working, and then began to whisper to herself.
The thing that can enhance flavors was MSG, which is obtained from boiling kelp. She and Zhang Xiao’bao only knew how to make this type, as for further refining processes used by the industry, they had no idea.
After the kelp is boiled until it becomes mushy, or when it's cooked into soup for drinking or for other things, the liquids were evaporated out and the remaining precipitate was MSG. Because kelp is not easy to buy, the production was not high. Other than selling to the three restaurants to help promote it, some were also shared with the administrative office and Zhou Xi’hu.
The rest of the MSG was kept and its use will be decided after the opening of their restaurant here. Also, some were going to be given to Zhou Xi’hu’s uncle. When other people want to eat it, they had to come here. It can be said that this was done so that even if they came here to just purchase MSG, when they passed by “Between Water and Clouds Restaurant”, they would go in. This was good enough.
Zhang Xiao’bao didn’t actually really care about this. He was teething with the piece of kelp in his hand. Wang Juan saw that he was not doing anything and touched him, "Can you think of other ways? This is all money."
"Think of a way? Think of what ways? Though I do know that there are many things that MSG can be made out of, I need to know how to actually do it. The process is complicated. So, hold on. When the time comes, go to the sea and collect it. Nobody eats these; if it wasn’t used to feed ducks, then it was littered everywhere."
Zhang Xiao’bao swallowed a mouthful of kelp and saliva and replied with his head cocked to the side. .
"Sea, sea, we’re not close to the sea. A round-trip will take more than half a month. Zhou Xi’hu's uncle is coming, have you thought of what to treat him with? If there’s no other choices, then let's serve dumplings. Dip the dumplings in soy sauce. We have so much soy sauce. Steamed buns would work too."
Wang Juan also didn't know what to do about this. She had already sent Er’niu out. The last time he went there, he was buying stones and this time he was buying kelp, or rather, picking kelp. No one eats this thing.
"Don't always think about soy sauce. Eat steamed buns? What if people like to eat gou’bu’li steamed buns2? The authentic way of eating it to dip it in vinegar. Hu’zi, it’s good, it’s fine just like that. Scoop the thing out. For the next few days, we’re going to eat seaweed."
Zhang Xiao’bao stared at that side and told him to stop. He was fretting about the cooked seaweed.
Translator’s Notes
Picul
This is a measurement unit and one picul is equivalent to 120 catties.
Gou’bu’li steamed buns
This is a type of pork steam buns that originated in Tian’jin. China, and has a history of over 100 years. The bun is said to be named after the person who invented this particular type of steam bun.
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