Chapter 146 Some are happy, some are crying
Because tea oil also needed to be collected, all the villagers at home became busy soon and sent their own tea oil to the village chief's house for collection.
Gao brought her two daughters-in-law to weigh and keep accounts, while Su Ying directed people to empty the large vat of sediment powder and collect the residual water and put it into the vat.
The empty jars were cleaned and dried, and then filled with tea oil and honey. Everyone was busy but not in a mess.
When Gao met Fu Zhong, she felt that he looked familiar, but she couldn't remember who he was for a moment because she was busy collecting tea oil and had no time to think about it.
Instead, Fu Zhong, who had something to hide, immediately recognized this descendant of the royal family of the previous dynasty.
At that time, Gao would accompany her husband to the palace during festivals and holidays, and Fu Zhong would bring eunuchs to serve the nobles. It was inevitable that he would have some impression of her after so many times.
"Come, try our honey!" Su Ying poured warm water into the wooden barrel that had been filled with honey, turning it into a bucket of sweet honey water.
"Oh, it's time to drink honey water!" The children were very happy and hurried home to get bowls.
Even though they wanted to drink so badly that their eyeballs were about to fall into the bucket, they still lined up in an orderly manner.
"Come, Mr. Fu, try it and see how it tastes!" Su Ying handed Fu Zhong a bowl.
"Thank you!" Fu Zhong's shrill voice sounded.
Gao, who had just finished collecting tea oil, was stunned. She had been away from the capital for twenty years and had even forgotten about the eunuch.
Fair and beardless, thin body, and shrill voice are the unique characteristics of eunuchs.
What's going on this year? First, officials from Beijing were exiled here, and now even eunuchs appear. Gao finds it very strange.
After looking at Fu Zhong several times, he finally remembered that this man was a manager of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the previous dynasty, and he had met him several times during court festivals.
Why is he doing business here? Was he driven out of the palace during the new dynasty? Gao secretly speculated.
"Well, good!" Fu Zhong praised.
It was the first time in my life that I drank such fresh honey. Its fragrance and sweetness were not tasted by even the nobles in the palace, let alone a eunuch like myself.
It’s a pity that honey is difficult to transport, otherwise I would send some to the Queen by express horse.
However, he knew that compared to fresh honey, finishing the task at hand was the most important thing, and it was the real way to repay the Queen.
"Wow! So sweet!" The children sat in a row in the yard, drinking in small sips, feeling that life was so beautiful.
"Who among you would like to go to Qingshi Mountain?" Su Ying asked the children.
"Me!" "Me!" The children raised their hands one after another.
"Okay, I'll give you a task. Take these barrels over so that they can drink honey water too!" Su Ying handed the remaining honey barrels to the children.
After drinking the honey water, the children happily ran towards the bluestone mountain carrying wooden buckets, playing and laughing.
"Mr. Fu, where in Jiangnan are you from?" Su Ying had some free time and sat down to chat.
"Old... cough cough..." Fu Zhong almost exposed himself. He covered his lips with his hand and coughed lightly, "I am from Quanzhou."
In the first year of Zhenguan, the world was divided into ten regions: Guannei Road, Henan Road, Hedong Road, Hebei Road, Shannan Road, Longyou Road, Huainan Road, Jiangnan Road, Jiannan Road, and Lingnan Road, according to the terrain.
Jiangnan Dao governed 51 prefectures, including present-day Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Anhui, as well as parts of Fujian, Hunan, Hubei, and the area south of the Yangtze River in Guizhou.
Jiangnan Road had a vast area. By the 21st year of Kaiyuan reign of Emperor Xuanzong, Jiangnan Road was divided into Jiangnan East Road, Jiangnan West Road and Qianzhong Road.
"A person from Quanzhou?" Su Ying thought to herself, no wonder.
Quanzhou was established in the ninth year of Kaihuang in the Sui Dynasty, when Fengzhou was renamed Quanzhou, and Nan'an and Jian'an counties were changed to counties, and the name "Quanzhou" appeared.
The comprehensive development of Quanzhou Port began in the Tang Dynasty, with the construction of water conservancy projects, the reclamation of wasteland for farming, and the promotion of the great development of the agricultural economy.
Iron smelting, ceramics, silk production and navigation technology also improved.
During the Tang Dynasty, the policy of opening ports was implemented, and Quanzhou was one of the four major trading ports at that time.
Fu Zhong is from Quanzhou, which Su Ying thinks is reasonable. She also understands why he came to cooperate so quickly, and his market target is directly aimed at Jiangnan.
In a poor place like Lingnan Road, people don't even look down on those trivial things.
There is no need to go anywhere else for vermicelli, tea oil and honey, they can be directly transported to the port, and the profits earned are absolutely huge!
"Mr. Fu is very lucky. Quanzhou is a good place! Once these things are shipped out of the port, they will definitely make a lot of money." Su Ying imagined according to her own understanding.
Fu Zhong was stunned for a moment. He had never thought about this.
My family used to be engaged in maritime trade, but unfortunately, something unexpected happened.
After receiving this secret mission, he thought of selling it in Suzhou and Yangzhou, and then purchasing aged rice and transporting it up the canal to Henan and Hebei.
I never thought about the more distant Quanzhou. Not only is it far away, but it also requires transportation by horse and carriage, which is time-consuming and laborious.
If time wasn't tight, Su Ying's idea would be pretty good.
Vermicelli is durable in storage and easy to transport. It is both a commodity and a food on HNA, along with tea oil and honey, which are all precious items.
When you complete the mission and return to the palace, should you suggest to the Queen that we do some maritime trade?
The profit would be enormous. If it were really accomplished, the treasury would no longer be tight, the Empress would not have to count the money every day, and the Khan would not have to be so stingy.
However, maritime trade is not easy to do. A trip takes a long time, and ships capsize every time.
"You are a girl with broad knowledge. You even know about maritime trade!" Upon hearing this, Fu Zhong couldn't help but look up to Su Ying.
"Mrs. Fu, the vermicelli we want to purchase is made by her. She also taught the villagers how to squeeze tea oil. It was also her idea to raise bees," Hu Erlang introduced.
"Really?" Fu Zhong sat up straight and looked at the girl in front of him.
He was thin, but his eyes were bright and lively, and his look was calm, without any sign of sadness.
Although she is only in her teens, she has a calmness that her peers do not have.
"It's just something for the poor to fill their stomachs and exchange for some pocket money to supplement the family income. It's not worth mentioning!" Su Ying smiled.
"Master Fu, how far can your family's maritime trade reach? How long does a round trip take?"
"My family's merchant ship is not big. It only goes to Southeast Asia. A trip takes about a year."
Fu Zhong was talking about his family’s maritime trade when he was young. How would he know what the situation is like now?
"One trip a year? Then your business must be very profitable, otherwise it's not worth it to risk your life for a trip, plus the loss." Su Ying said with a smile.
At that time, merchant ships were not large and their navigation mostly relied on the monsoon, so they only made one trip a year, going with the monsoon and returning with the monsoon.
"Yes, even though the maritime trade makes huge profits, if ten ships go out, it's good enough if five or six can come back," Fu Zhong sighed.
Most merchants only own one or two ships, and they often go out to sea together in groups of several.
They had to take care of each other, resisting both pirate attacks and the storms at sea.
If they are lucky, all the ships that have gone out will come back. If they are unlucky, all the ships that have gone out will capsize, and even their owners will be buried in the sea.
Every year at the port you can see people rejoicing and people crying, but some of those who go together will never come back.
There were many villagers sitting nearby, their eyes wide open as they listened to Su Ying and Fu Zhong talking about maritime trade.
This is how those rare treasures from overseas came from. At that time, we were only concerned with showing off and never imagined that there was so much blood, tears and bitterness behind them.
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