Chapter 334 Magistrate Wu's Dilemma 2


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This was definitely not a consequence he could bear, and it was also a situation that the prefect did not want to see.

So he no longer cared about the gossip about collusion between officials and businessmen, and personally took the chairman of the county's tea merchants association to Yuncheng to find a solution.

Maybe God couldn't bear it, so he made me meet Qiao Xin on the first day I arrived in Yuncheng!

You have to know that Qiao Xin's whereabouts are usually uncertain. Unlike other old nobles who stay in one place to enjoy their retirement, Qiao Xin likes to travel back and forth between various places, inspecting different industries, sightseeing along the way, getting things done by the way, making money, and getting rid of the moths in the shop.

Because of her behavior, the shopkeepers in Qiao's shop became extremely dedicated to their work, fearing that any of them would be kicked out by the sudden appearance of the old lady.

Being a manager in the Qiao family is very well paid. Not only do you have a certain degree of management autonomy, but you also live in a small house, get a high salary, and get generous dividends at the end of the year. If you still don't do your job well and stretch your hands where you shouldn't, you really can't blame your boss for driving you away.

While feeling thankful to have met Qiao Xin, Magistrate Wu fluently recounted to Qiao Xin the problems he had encountered.

As a grown man, I almost cried by the end!

He was really worried, there were so many mouths to feed! If this problem was not solved, many families would be left without food in the second half of the year.

Anhua County is a place with many hills and few farmlands. The soil is reddish, so it is not suitable for growing crops, but it is perfect for growing tea.

After the Qin conquered Shu, they began to plant and pick tea leaves. In the following hundreds of years, planting and picking tea leaves became the main means of livelihood for the people of Anhua County.

Anhua tea has always been made of large leaves, fermented and pressed into balls.

Because the tea leaves are large and the finished product is mostly dark brown, they have never been accepted by the nobles in the Central Plains. However, they are durable in storage, relieve greasiness, and are rich in nutrients. They contain vitamins, minerals, proteins, amino acids, tea polysaccharides and other substances, which can well supplement the nutrients and dietary fiber needed by the human body. This just makes up for the deficiency of the common people who often eat beef and mutton and eat less fruits and vegetables.

As border tea, it is sold to Annan, the northern desert, and Tubo, and is often in short supply and extremely precious. Once tea merchants from the mainland bring it over the mountains and rivers, they will sell it out.

A round trip brought a lot of profit. Countless families from the mainland and the border participated in this chaotic time.

Since the founding of this dynasty, the court has implemented the policy of using tea to govern the border in order to prepare food and fodder for the army to conquer the south, and also to better control ethnic minorities and strengthen its rule over them.

Tea and Salt Offices were set up in important cities in the southwest. Previously, they only collected taxes and exchanged for horses, medicinal materials, cattle, sheep, grain and other goods that the border troops needed.

After conquering Western Shu, the imperial court tasted the sweetness and realized the huge profits and benefits, and even formulated the "Border Tea and Horse Law."

Special horse and tea farms were opened, and tea merchants of the dynasty were no longer allowed to sell tea privately at the border, let alone bring tea seeds and tea seedlings to the border.

Once discovered, not only would the tea merchants be executed, their entire families would be exiled 3,000 miles away, and even the officials who failed to supervise would be punished.

The prosperity of the Ancient Tea-Horse Road began to emerge.

In previous years, the imperial court, merchants, and the people maintained a delicate balance.

Unfortunately, there was an exception this year. The tea collected by the chairman of the Anhua County Tea Association, all the tea clusters produced in the county and aged for more than a year, were moldy without exception.

This is not just one or two kilograms of tea, but tens of thousands of kilograms of tea that have problems. Even if he were skinned alive, he could not afford to compensate for the loss.

The tea tax has not been paid yet, and the tea farmers have not been paid in full. If there is a mistake, it will affect the livelihoods of many people.

He was really at his wit's end and had to ask County Magistrate Song for help.

Fortunately, County Magistrate Song did not add insult to injury, but actively helped him. His only request was that the farmers should not withhold their wages.

Thinking of how he had secretly tripped up County Magistrate Song when he first took office because he believed in slander, his face turned red.

After this incident, no matter success or failure, he would follow the lead of County Magistrate Song.

It was not really a generous move for County Magistrate Song to agree to help, but as the county's chief official, he could watch the tea merchants go bankrupt when such a big thing happened, but he could not ignore the lives of thousands of tea farmers.

Once the reputation of Anhua tea is ruined, the livelihood of the locals will be completely destroyed. Tea is sold on its reputation, not on the quality of the variety.

Didn’t you see that in Qiao Xin’s era, the scraps that Chinese people disliked when making tea eggs in their daily lives were broken up and packaged by foreigners, and suddenly became tea bags of an internationally renowned brand, with annual sales of over 100 million bags.

This shows the economic value of a good brand. It is not easy for famous tea to maintain its reputation, but isn't it easy to ruin its reputation?

A simple quality problem is enough to ruin the years of hard work of the local people.

He could quit his post as county magistrate, but if during his tenure, he ruined the reputation of Anhua border tea and starved so many people to death, how would he have the face to go back to see his fellow villagers? Even after death, he would not be able to face his ancestors.

After hearing the whole story, Qiao Xin had some guesses in her mind, but she did not rush to draw a conclusion.

"You can bring samples with you. Show them to me!"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

President Meng quickly asked the servant to go back to the courtyard where they were staying to get the samples. The two places were not far from each other.

Qiao Xin thought she saw a bunch of tea cakes, but unexpectedly the servant brought a mule directly.

Each mule carried two lattice bamboo baskets on its back, and the things inside were wrapped tightly with palm leaves and polygonum leaves.

Chairman Meng saw Qiao Xin standing there, just watching without saying anything, and thought that she disliked their packaging, and felt embarrassed. They also wanted to use the popular porcelain bottles and oil paper packaging. But the locals were poor and couldn't afford it!

A living person can't be suffocated to death by urine, so everyone can only use their brains and use local materials.

The Anhua people are not only good at making tea, but also hunt and fish. They got inspiration from the fishing tool, the lattice bamboo basket.

In order to protect the tea from rain and sun during transportation and to keep the tea leaves from being exposed, people used the resources from Anhua Mountain—palm flakes and Polygonum leaves—as linings. They also used the bamboo cage covers that were used by mountain children to prevent the cattle from eating crops along the way as caps to close the bamboo tea baskets.

In order to pack more tea leaves into each bamboo basket, tea farmers steam the dry tea to soften it, then fill it and press it into shape using rolling and twisting rods.

That's why I'm in this state now.

Not pretty, but very practical!

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