Volume 2: The King's Way Chapter 120: Eat pork with you!
Recently, Bai Tu finally pointed out "castration of pigs" - it is a bit of a waste of time, mainly because the technologies related to the "proper business" are all a waste of money and time. Although the rewards are huge, before the drought is over, Bai Tu just wants to make a living.
Speaking of soy sauce, "sauce" had already appeared in the Western Zhou Dynasty, but it was fermented from meat and was something only nobles could enjoy. The technology to ferment soybeans was already available in the Han Dynasty, so it could also be seen among the people. It was called "bean sauce", which was similar to soy sauce.
It's just the taste...
There are all kinds of strange and varied recipes for "bean paste", and they are all kept secret. In order to experiment with pork, Bai Tu specially asked the Lu, Zhang, and Yu families for some chefs with ancestral skills. The taste of those sauces... is very complicated!
Especially the chef of the Lu family, whose craftsmanship is said to have been passed down from the pre-Qin period - fermenting beef puree and then adding cow blood... has completely changed Bai Tu's view of soy sauce.
And since there is soy sauce, there naturally comes "braised pork", but it is not called that name now.
The "Qimin Yaoshu" written in the early Northern and Southern Dynasties clearly recorded the method of braised pork, which was as grand as the current farming technology. A pig was cut into four large pieces and boiled in a pot. After the blood was boiled out, the pig was taken out and cut into small pieces, and the water was changed and boiled again - this cycle was repeated several times. Finally, the sauce was added and the sauce was cooked until it turned amber, and it was done.
In the time when there was no technology for castrating pigs, this should have been the meat that ordinary people could eat on special days during good years.
Not to mention the wealthy and powerful families, even children from poor families would not eat it openly. No matter whether it is an official reward or a prominent family that is trying to gain reputation, they would not use pork as a gift - it is shabby.
Bai Tu went to visit Gan Ning specially. When there were no outsiders around, Gan Ning did not hide his temper at all... In fact, when there were outsiders around, he only concealed it slightly.
For example, no matter how big the meeting was, Gan Ning dared to walk into the central hall of the governor's mansion barefoot - according to the etiquette at that time, it was necessary to take off shoes when entering the room, but can't you wear socks once?
Moreover, he never took off the jingling bells on his body. As the chief priest of the Ministry of Rites, Hua Xin had criticized him before the meeting in the governor's mansion. As a result, Gan Ning raised his buttocks, made a cutting mat gesture with his fingers on the cushion, and winked and said: "Don't you like to watch the fun? Ning's bells are not lively enough?"
Hua Xin was so angry that he almost went berserk...
At this time, Bai Tu saw Gan Ning glancing at him unhappily, without any intention of greeting the "lord". Bai Tu counselled him, "Happiness should be best for Xingba. We will come to the governor's mansion to eat meat in the evening!"
Gan Ning was furious when he heard this: "I'm telling you! Even if I starve to death in Jinling or jump off a city wall, I would rather not eat cheap meat!"
Gan Ning was not the only one who felt secretly uncomfortable with Bai Tu's plan to invite everyone to a pork banquet on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. However, not only Yu Fan and Zhang Zhao, but even old man Lu Kang could understand this as "Bai Gong wanted to put on a show and have fun with the people."
On this basis, they can overcome their discomfort, put on a show to improve their reputation, and just grit their teeth and get through it!
However, Gan Ning is different. Although he is also from a noble family, Gan Ning's emotionality gives the old men of the Gan family in Shu County a headache. In addition, for Gan Ning, the meaning of life is to show off and pretend to be "cool". If he is asked to eat "cheap meat", he would rather die than surrender!
"Let's not talk about the pork for now, let's talk about some serious matters." Bai Tu felt that pork was also a serious matter, but it had little to do with Gan Ning, so he just had to be responsible for eating it. What he wanted to tell him now was something he needed to do.
When Gan Ning heard that there was something important going on, his attitude improved a bit...
"I'm not going to hand over the Shu brocade craft to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. I'll just give it to you as a family business." Bai Tu said.
This Shu brocade craftsmanship was the "reward" that Gan Ning needed. However, the reward that Bai Tu originally promised him was that Gan Ning would always enjoy the latest Shu brocade craftsmanship. The first batch of Shu brocade produced by any new Shu brocade craftsmanship would definitely belong to him, Gan Ning.
Bai Tu also considered at the beginning to raise funds by running the official "Jiangdong Brocade". Although the craftsmanship was handed over to Gan Ning, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Gan Ning had to cooperate to build an industrial chain in Kuaiji and the southern part of Wujun.
But later I found that there were too many things I could raise funds for...
Therefore, as the first "elder" to follow him, Bai Tu decided to gradually pass on this skill that could be passed down from generation to generation to Gan Ning, as the foundation for Gan's future career.
Upon hearing this, Gan Ning looked at Bai Tu in surprise. He knew very well how much profit he had given up by making this concession - Gan Ning might be slower in calculating the others, but his family in Shu County had been involved in the Shu brocade business, and it was the kind that Gu Que made!
The craftsmanship that Bai Tu taught him was from the Tang Dynasty. This was done to allow the craftsman to grow gradually. Otherwise, the gap would be too big and it would be easy to go astray.
The Tang Dynasty, a time of great prosperity and elegance, was the time for the next great development of luxury goods such as Shu brocade...
"It's not that I'm giving it to you for free. This is the new commercial tax standard formulated by the governor's office. It may be revised in the future, but the general framework is definitely like this... In addition, I'm giving this technology to you, not to your Gan family. If the Gan family wants to settle in Jiangdong, I'd welcome them, but this business cannot enter Shu before mine." Bai Tu said.
In other words, this technological map was given to Gan Ning, and there may even be upgraded technologies in the future , but this tax must be produced in Jiangdong - or in other words, it must be produced within the jurisdiction of Bai Tu.
Shu County is a silk producing area, and so is Jiangdong!
However, Jiangdong's silk weaving industry did not develop on a large scale until the Eastern Jin Dynasty moved its capital to Jiankang, which is now Nanjing.
However, in terms of climate, Jiangdong also has a solid foundation for developing the silk industry. Textiles became Jiangdong's strong point in later generations, and most silk quilts were produced here.
At the same time, there will inevitably be a period of adjustment after the new commercial tax comes out, and Gan Ning will then have to charge into battle on another battlefield and stand clearly on the side of the governor's office!
This decision was the result of Bai Tu's careful consideration...
Bai Tu has too many things that can make money, and it is unrealistic to hold everything in his own hands. It would be better to transfer the non-core part of them to people he trusts, or even to aristocratic families.
Not only can they collect taxes and even acquire shares, but they can also act as a "glue".
For example, the Lu family, the Yu family, the Zhang family... Bai Tu is also observing which technology is suitable for them.
Of course, there is a difference between "trust" and "trust".
Not to mention Shu brocade, the shipbuilding technology was basically based on the level of the middle and late Eastern Wu Dynasty. Although it is not very advanced compared to the present years, it should be noted that during the Eastern Wu Dynasty, Jiangdong's ships and navigation technology were developing rapidly.
As for more advanced shipbuilding techniques, Bai Tu did have them, but on the one hand, he had to consider that the shipwrights and boat builders could not adapt to such a large technological gap. On the other hand, truly modern sea-going ships also required more supporting technologies, which could not be assembled in a short period of time.
The skills of the Eastern Wu in the middle and late period alone were enough to support Bai Tu in finding Yizhou and heading north to Liaodong by sea.
The fact that he was able to entrust the task of building seagoing ships in Kuaiji to Gan Ning was also out of trust.
When Gan Ning heard that Bai Tu had given him the Shu brocade craft as the foundation of his career, his face quickly turned pale, and he finally said, "Tonight... I'll eat pork with you!"
