In April of this year, at the western end of the Hexi Corridor where Luo Yong and the others were located, the small yellow mud town called Changle County was currently shrouded in the shadow of war.
Thousands of miles away in Chang'an City, Aunt Luo and others had already left Chang'an City.
They first walked eastward along the Yellow River, turning from land to water along the way.
Their ships entered the canal in Chuzhou and went south along the river.
After passing Yangzhou, Runzhou, Changzhou, we went all the way to Wuxian County, Suzhou, and then we stopped.
At this time, Suzhou was the northernmost state on Jiangnan Road, with six counties under its jurisdiction.
It was bordered by the East China Sea to the east, Taihu Lake to the west, the Yangtze River to the north, and the then Hangzhou to the south.
Its geographical scope includes places such as Suzhou, Changshu, Shanghai, and Jiaxing in later generations, which are both close to the sea and lakes.
Between the sea and lakes, there is the Songjiang River running from east to west.
To the north is the estuary of the Yangtze River, and there was the former Sui Yang Emperor.
The Grand Canal, which runs from north to south, has brought unlimited opportunities to the development of Suzhou.
In the early years of Wude's household registration, there were a total of 11,000 households in Suzhou.
It should be more than that now, but compared with the prosperity of later generations, it must still be far behind.
The reason why Aunt Luo chose to come to Suzhou this time instead of Luoyang, Jinling, or Yangzhou was because she had heard people say that Suzhou can produce tangerines.
Aunt Luo owns a food shop.
They grow so much eucommia gum in their hometown in Lishi, and she has the skill of making cans.
Naturally, she doesn't want to buy cans from others at high prices.
Peaches, apricots, pears and plums are all available in Chang'an City.
As long as they buy more during the fruit season, they can make them into cans.
When these fruits are out of season, they can sell them at a higher price.
But things like oranges and pineapples are not produced in the Central Plains.
Some of the stewards at their food shop said, "If you don't have it, just don't have it.
It's okay to eat without these two things."
Aunt Luo refused to give up easily.
She came all the way this time A large part of the reason for visiting Wuxian County, Suzhou is for the mandarin oranges.
Wuxian County is very different from the Northland.
The people here do not live in yellow mud houses, but houses built with wooden planks.
The wooden plank houses are nestled together and connected together, and the neighbors are also very close.
There are many rivers and canals in the city.
There is a small river right outside the door.
You can cross the bridge in a few steps.
Women and girls squat in groups by the water.
Those who wash vegetables and those who wash clothes also speak in Wu Nong's soft language.
There is an indescribable uniqueness and style.
When Aunt Luo and others first arrived in Wuxian County, they were intoxicated by the delicate and beautiful scene in front of them.
After staying for two or three days, they gradually began to feel a little uncomfortable.
First of all, there is only a layer of wooden boards between the houses in the south.
If an oil lamp is lit next door, the light can shine through the gaps between the wooden boards to their side.
Even the people next door burp at night.
The sounds were heard very clearly.
Also, I am not used to the food.
Wuxian County is close to Taihu Lake and there are many waterways in the city.
The local people like river fresh food, and their food is often fresh, and they are not very afraid of fishy food.
Aunt Luo and the others prefer salty food, so they eat here After a few days, they felt their mouth was bland and tasteless, and they were afraid of fishy food.
They couldn't eat many local dishes at all.
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The young man named Chen Ji, who came from Hexi, had lived in Wuxian County for less than ten days.
He shrank completely, which made Aunt Luo feel funny and a little worried at the same time.
Infinitely good literature, all in Jinjiang Literature City There is such a big difference in taste between the north and the south.
It is not easy for them to run a sister's restaurant in Wuxian County.
After much thought, Aunt Luo decided to start with sweets, because most people, whether they are southerners or northerners, still like sweets.
Recently, they looked at several shops on the street.
At this time, the house prices in Wuxian County are much lower than those in Chang'an City.
After some observation and comparison, Aunt Luo finally decided to buy a shop with a better location.
Wine shop.
This wine shop occupies a large area, the front room is also large, and it is also two floors.
In Wuxian, many houses in the city are two-story, mainly because the local climate is humid and the humidity on the first floor is too high.
This wine shop is big, but a little shabby.
There is a yard behind the wine shop.
There is also a row of two-story wooden houses built behind the yard.
They are a bit older.
They are still useful whether they are used as residences or as warehouses. .
Going out from the backyard is a bluestone path.
Next to the bluestone path is a clear little river.
Standing from the second floor window, you can see the small bridges over this little river.
Most of them are relatively simple.
They are considered to be in a good area of the city.
If it is a cheaper place, if the ground is not paved with stone slabs, it will look very muddy, especially the local climate is very humid and rainy.
Probably because of this, most local people prefer to wear clogs.
It's not even May yet, and many people are already walking around the streets wearing clogs.
After Aunt Luo opened the shop, she led a few people under her to prepare the opening of the shop, while making a batch of jujube and bean cakes for sale every day.
Before the signboard of this sister's restaurant has been hung up, the fragrance of jujube bean cakes has already drifted to the streets and alleys of Wuxian County.
Every day when this batch of jujube bean cakes is made, there are some children from Wuxian County wearing wooden clogs and rolling up their trousers.
People gathered around outside the shop and stretched their necks to see that not every household was willing to eat the jujube and bean cakes that cost only a penny each.
At the beginning, just the neighbors came to buy one or two to eat back.
Within a few days, the reputation spread.
Many wealthy households in the city sent their families to buy them, and some even bought five or six at a time.
More than ten.
If they bring their own food boxes to buy, Aunt Luo will pick out those jujube bean cakes with bad shape and cut off a small piece to use as a topping, which is equivalent to the price of a piece of oil paper.
If they come empty-handed, then there is none left.
Infinitely good literature, all in Jinjiang Literature City This small piece of jujube bean cake will probably end up in the mouths of these servants who are running errands, so every time the master sends them out to buy jujube bean cake, these girls and boys are very happy.
Aunt Luo sells these jujube bean cakes every day, but she actually doesn't make much money.
The main reason is that red dates are not produced locally, and the price of red dates here is much more expensive than in places like Hedong Road, Chang'an City.
I heard that things are going well now.
A few decades ago, the red dates here were more expensive.
Later, the Grand Canal was opened.
The red dates from the north can go south along the canal.
The waterway does not require a lot of manpower and animal power, but the river channel Not everyone can use it if they want to.
Except for official boats, ordinary merchants will inevitably be exploited at all levels if they want to sail on this river.
In addition to red dates, flour here is also more expensive than in the north, brown sugar is cheaper, and the price of eggs is also cheaper than in Chang'an City.
In addition to copper coins, Aunt Luo's shop also accepts silk thread, grain, and eggs.
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Usually three eggs can be exchanged for a jujube bean cake.
The quality of grain, silk thread, etc. depends on the quality.
Infinitely good literature, all in Jinjiang Literature City In addition to eggs, what they have harvested the most recently is rice.
The land of fish and rice in the south of the Yangtze River has little corn and wheat but more rice.
Aunt Luo spoke half-baked Wu language all day long and chatted with the local people who came to exchange jujube and bean cakes.
She often made some mistakes and made some jokes.
Before they came to Suzhou, they had I asked someone to teach Wu dialect in Chang'an City for a few days, but I still couldn't learn it well.
Fortunately, there are many scholars in Wu County who can speak Mandarin, but their Mandarin is not very similar.
Aunt Luo sometimes listened to it.
I also want to laugh.
Most of the Chang'an merchants who came with Aunt Luo and others also set up shops on Wuxian Street at this time.
Several merchants often moved between them, and everything was discussed and discussed in a subtle way.
It was actually headed by Aunt Luo.
The reason behind this is naturally because of Luo Yong.
Although several other companies have their own relationships, this Aunt Luo is Lishi Luo Sanlang's sister.
What kind of person is Lishi Luo Sanlang?
Although he has been squeezed out of Chang'an City, he can still manage such a large tea business in Changle County, a small border town.
Not to mention what the future of this person will be, just at this moment, these merchants who have come all the way to open a shop in Suzhou City may not want to get involved in the tea business, and this tea business is now controlled by those who are away from home.
In the hands of Shi merchants, Li Shiluo Sanlang plays a key role in this.
The neighbors on the street where Sister's Restaurant is located heard about these things, and most of them were a little skeptical.
Seeing that Aunt Luo was working with her sleeves rolled up all day long, she didn't look like those legendary big shots.
Some of the well-informed big business owners in the city knew it well.
Many people were wondering why Aunt Luo came to Wu County.
Could it be that their local tea business could really develop greatly?
I want to invest in tea production, but I am worried about the war at the border.
Once the war breaks out this year, the Hu merchants in the Western Regions will not come here very much.
I don’t know what it will be like next year.
"Receive or not" On this day, everyone else in the shop was busy working in the backyard.
Aunt Luo moved a stool and sat in front of the shop picking beans.
At this time, an old man came over and asked her if she could collect something.
Aunt Luo didn't listen for a moment. clear.
"You're right."
Aunt Luo put the basket of beans under the wall to dry, then clapped her hands and stood up.
"I want to ask you if you will accept the tea leaves," the old man said loudly.
"Hey, come on, take a look with me first."
Aunt Luo heard clearly this time and said with a smile.
When the old man heard this, he handed him the basket in his hand.
The tea was also good tea.
They were all young leaves and buds he picked from the mountain behind his home.
It was just not as prepared as the tea shipped to the west these days.
It was shaped into a cake.
The few shops in the city that heard that they were selling tea recently were all unwilling to take it.
However, there was a medicine shop that offered him two cents.
The old man refused, so he came to Aunt Luo with the basket. .
Aunt Luo looked at the tea leaves in the basket.
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There were not a lot of tea leaves.
They were placed in a medium-sized basket.
The basket was half full.
The things were quite good and they were all made from young tea leaves.
"But I want to change it to jujube cake," Aunt Luo asked him.
"How much do you want for me?"
the old man asked.
"Today's jujube cakes are almost sold out."
Aunt Luo opened the steamer and looked at him: "There are only these few pieces left.
If you are willing to exchange them, I will give them all to you."
When the old man came out of Aunt Luo's shop, he held a pack of jujube cakes in his arms, six big ones and one small one.
His home was on the outskirts of Wu County, and there were several tea trees growing in the mountains behind him.
When the tea leaves came out every spring, he would pick some when he had free time.
He couldn't sell them for much money, so he saved up and took them to the city, which was just a change.
A man with two or three pennies heard that the price of tea was more expensive this year, so he wanted to sell more, but he didn't expect that he would get this big bag of jujube cakes in exchange for it.
The old man was walking on the road, feeling happy and couldn't help but speed up his steps.
His daughter-in-law has been here for three or four years.
She just got pregnant last year.
Recently, her belly has become bigger and bigger.
She is always greedy and hungry.
Taking these pieces of jujube cake back can help her supplement her.
When next spring comes, his grandson will probably be able to bab with him for food.
Then he will go up the mountain to pick some tea leaves and exchange them for cakes.
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