I got up at five o'clock in the morning and went out with Huaiyu to go horse racing and practice archery. When I came back, I had morning tea, a bowl of beef soup and a bowl of chicken soup. Around seven o'clock, I called out that I was hungry and ordered four steamed buns and a big bowl of shredded chicken noodles.
It was only ten o'clock and he started to drink deer bark soup again. At eleven o'clock, his maid brought him another cup of ginseng soup. At twelve o'clock, he had to eat meat for dinner.
Wu Huaiyu couldn't stand it anymore.
"Where did you learn how to eat?"
His amount is equivalent to that of ten ordinary people. The key is that the combination is unreasonable. This guy not only likes to eat meat, but also likes to supplement it randomly.
As a young man, I eat beef soup and chicken soup in the morning, deer bark and ginseng soup in the morning, roast goose for dinner, ginseng Yangrong pills, Wuzi Yanzong pills, etc., and occasionally a bowl of rotten pork noodles.
Sew, or plate eggs to make a base.
No wonder he has gained a lot of weight after not seeing his figure for more than half a year. This guy's face seems to be glowing now, but something is obviously not right anymore.
Cheng Chumo patted his thick waist and said proudly, "This is what a general looks like. He must wear a belt of ten girth."
"Aren't you obsessed? A general becomes a general based on his military exploits, not his big body. Although your father is also strong, he doesn't eat like you. You are young, and as a military general,
"You should eat more meat appropriately, but you can't take supplements randomly. Do you know that over-supplementing will harm your body?"
"I think it's pretty good. I'm very strong now." Cheng Chumo said proudly.
"stop."
"You really think this is a good thing. Your current situation is that your body's meridians and qi and blood are rushing wildly, and you have no place to vent the energy and blood in your body. So you are very excited all day long, but you don't know that this is a very dangerous signal."
"impossible."
Cheng Chumo was dubious.
"Let me ask you, do you often feel toothache and constipation recently?"
"how do you know?"
"If you eat a lot of meat and take supplements, your internal fire will naturally not leak out. The accumulation of medicinal power will gradually induce various diseases and secret poisons in the body. You are still young now, and your body still has some foundation for a while. Listen to me and stop taking supplements randomly. I
Let me nurse you back to health."
"You stopped all the ginseng and deer bark soup and various tonic elixirs. Don't take them again. It's three parts of the medicine and poison."
"From now on, you have three main meals in the morning, lunch and dinner, and then some snacks in the morning, afternoon and evening,"
Wu Huaiyu helped him re-plan his diet. Breakfast and lunch mainly consisted of mutton and beef, but they were mainly stewed or boiled, with some rice or pasta.
As for snacks, just eat some boiled chicken, or cold vegetables, gluten, etc. Eat boiled eggs, but not the egg yolks.
"Eat more vegetables and less oil and salt."
Although Huaiyu's list is still far higher than that of ordinary people, Cheng Chumo's body is indeed using up a lot now.
Cheng Chumo originally wanted to show off his standard general figure to Huaiyu, and wanted to laugh at Huaiyu for still being so 'slim', but he was frightened by Huaiyu's words.
He remembered that Wu Huaiyu was a master of rejuvenating elixirs.
"Well, I won't be really hurt in that way, right? Will it have any impact in the future?"
"In the past three months, it's best for me to abstain from sexual desire and let it recover properly,"
Cheng Chumo was startled.
For dinner, Huaiyu prepared mutton noodles, but he only ate the noodles and not the mutton.
"Eat with confidence, this portion is not excessive."
"This diet combined with exercise is still very healthy."
Cheng Chumo became a little depressed.
On the one hand, I always feel that my stomach is not full, and on the other hand, I stopped taking ginseng, deer bark, and pills today, and I feel like something is missing. However, Huaiyu said that I am a little scared and dare not eat them.
"If you don't eat meat, can you drink some wine?"
"A glass or two of ale will be fine."
"Forget it."
"Let me tell you something, I met Li Sanniang before, and she became a Taoist nun in Zhongnan Mountain. How come you kid seduced her so much that you refused her so ruthlessly?"
"You think I can't say no?"
When Cheng Chumo talked about such frivolous things, he became energetic again, "Li Sanniang is dressed up as a Taoist nun, but she doesn't have the air of being a worldly person."
"Let me tell you, regarding this matter, I think your master also knew that he could not change Li Sanniang's mind, so he just let her go. He said that he wanted to become a Taoist nun, but her status as a Taoist nun is actually quite good.
From now on, he is no longer a secular person and is not bound by those secular rules.
Next time you return to Chang'an, if she comes to see you again, the Li family will probably not care."
Huaiyu was surprised, "What do you mean?"
"Taoist nuns are no better than nuns. Taoist nuns like Li Sanniang just find a Taoist temple, pay a sum of money, and then get an identity and put on a Taoist robe. Nothing else changes.
But she has become a monk and is no longer the eldest daughter of the Li family. Do you know what this means? It means that she has stepped out of the Five Elements and is just like the widows of famous families, and can no longer be controlled."
"Just like your father and Widow Cui?"
Cheng Chumo chuckled, acquiescing.
Wu Huaiyu just snorted, "Don't make random guesses about others."
"Aren't you moved? I know you were concerned about Li Sanniang's identity before. It was impossible for you to divorce your wife and marry another woman, and it was impossible for her to be your concubine. But now you can be together without getting married."
"Stop, stop talking. I have no intention of doing this. This matter is bad enough. I don't want to make it worse. Mr. Yongkang is my teacher."
Cheng Chumo looked at Huaiyu for a long time and confirmed that he seemed to be telling the truth. He couldn't help but admire him, "If it were anyone else, how could he miss such an opportunity?"
"Do you know the eldest son of the Chai Shao family? That guy saw Li Sanniang return to Chang'an before, but he didn't have any shame. He went to visit the Li family in Pingkangfang every day. Even if the Li family disappeared later, he went there every day and gave him various gifts.
He also invited matchmakers time and time again to propose marriage, and even asked His Majesty for a marriage.
But Li Sanniang didn't care about it at all, and finally went to Zhongnan Mountain to become a monk and became a Taoist nun.
In fact, I think it was obviously Li Jing and his wife who allowed her to leave the Li Mansion, and they probably did not want her to marry that guy Chai Zhewei."
"Chai Zhewei later ran to Zhongnan Mountain, but I heard that he came back in disgrace, but it is said that this kid actually hates you."
"None of my business."
"You have stolen my heart's love. Besides, His Majesty made the plan to conquer the Liang Dynasty, and he was the governor of the major governors. The whole plan was for you to weaken the Liang Dynasty first, and then the final blow was to be led by Chai Shao to destroy the Liang Dynasty.
But your exhaustion of Liang has turned into destruction of Liang, especially you, Wu Huaiyu, who was originally the queen, but ended up destroying Liang alone. Didn't you take the credit from Chai Shao? You made Yi Guogong the governor of Xiazhou, and he, Chai Zhewei, was the emperor's nephew.
, you are still a Qianniu guard, do you think you can avoid being jealous?"
"There is also the Qiu family. The Qiu family has been hurt this time, but they also hate you, especially Qiu Shengong. I heard that they wrote your name on the archery target and shoot you every day."
Wu Huaiyu disagreed, "The swans don't get along with the sparrows, so they don't bother to care about them."
Cheng Chumo gave a thumbs up, "There is a pattern, and he is worthy of being granted the title of Duke. It is worthy of my study," he said, looking at the Huaiyu family manor, "I heard that you have acquired 40,000 acres of land in Fortress?
"
"Well, the land here is vast and sparsely populated. The land is not valuable, but there is a shortage of people."
"That's just right. What our Cheng family needs most right now is people. I plan to buy three to five hundred hectares of land."
"Now there is a lot of land in Lingwu, Shuofang, Yanfu, and Qingfu. It's not difficult for you to buy land." Wu Huaiyu also supports Chu Mo's farming, as long as he doesn't violate the rules.
"Uncle Cheng is in Luzhou this time and has made such great contributions. It seems that he has gained a lot of benefits." Huaiyu joked.
Cheng Chumo didn't hide it from him. They were all brothers or relatives. The governor also led the troops to suppress the rebellion. This was the most lucrative opportunity. There was no need to talk about violations and crimes. Just do whatever you want, and it would be reasonable.
Get a lot of benefits legally.
It's like taking a prisoner, not becoming an official slave, and then selling him.
Or perhaps the Cheng family members served as a caravan for the army and simply ate the best quality ones at a low price, and then resold them and made a lot of money.
The biggest characteristic of aristocratic bureaucratic capital is not how innovative they are, but their monopoly and comprador nature.
Old Cheng was the commander-in-chief and the commander-in-chief of the war zone. With just a word and a note, the Cheng family could make a lot of money from the supply of military supplies or the purchase of trophies, slaves, livestock, etc.
Lao Cheng doesn't need to fight on his own now. He has asked the 14 Jizu Prefecture people he conquered to fight against those who are not convinced. He reaps the rewards and spends more time building roads and widening the roads leading to Nanning.
(Yunnan) road, this road not only has strategic and military deterrence significance.
It is also a golden trade route.
The Cheng family organized trade goods from the interior of Guanzhong and transported them to Xichuan, Nanning and other places, and exchanged them for local products from the barbarians. The profits were extremely high and they made a lot of money.
"Actually, the Cui family and the Zheng family got a lot of benefits from the separation." Cheng Chumo told the truth.
Although the Cheng family is also a local power, its foundation is not as good as that of the five surnames and seven families. Old Cheng is the governor of Luzhou, and the Cui and Zheng families are also on the same boat.
Zheng’s people and goods,
The three families are also followed by many in-laws and friends. Anyway, in the southwest, it is like robbing money.
"Erlang, you shouldn't be idle here, right?"
"I'm not as capable as your father. Besides, although Shuofang is destroyed, there are Turks to the north. We have to be careful. If we are not careful, the situation will collapse."
Wu Huaiyu's main focus now is to maintain stability. As for making money, of course he has to make money, such as buying land for farming, opening salt fields, mining, and trading.
They have been advancing slowly, but they are definitely not as heroic as Cheng Yaojin and the others were in Luzhou.
······
On the Shuofang Silk Road, camel caravans came one after another on the road.
Wu Huaiyu and Cheng Chumo, together with a group of officials, stood by the Wuding River and watched these camel and horse caravans.
"So many live sheep?"
"Well, these sheep are part of the border market agreement that our Xiazhou Governor's Office has just reached with Yu Sheshe. They are driven from Hetao along the Yellow River to Shengzhou Yulin, and then along the Great Wall to Yinzhou."
This route happens to be on the important branch line of the Northern Trunk Line of the third line of the Silk Road.
This route was first developed in the Northern Wei Dynasty and was called Tongguanyi Road.
Now Wu Huaiyu is also taking advantage of Ashina Momo, the Turkic Yusheshe who occupies Dongtao, to be at odds with Jieli Khan. It happened that the Turks were having a hard time this year, so they took advantage of the relationship they had established with Yusheshe when they were in Yanzhou.
Several large deals were negotiated.
Before it snows, live sheep are transported from Hetao to Shuofang, and after it snows, frozen sheep are slaughtered and transported.
These live sheep are generally called hot sheep by the Turks.
At this time of autumn, there is still grass to eat along the way, so it is still more convenient to drive the sheep to Yinzhou with little loss.
Yinzhou is an important midpoint that Wu Huaiyu wants to build. It goes north to Hetao via Yinsheng, or the Tujue Yinshan Khan Court, and to the west it goes to Lingzhou and Lanzhou to Hexi via Xiayan. To the south, it goes to Yanfangfang.
, colleagues arrived in Chang'an.
The intersection of Yulin River and Wuding River is the Rulin of Yinzhou Prefecture within the Great Wall. Huaiyu established a new border city Yulin City at the northern point of this point.
The biggest trade in Yulin City now is sheep, live sheep.
Some Han merchants went directly to Hetao to sell sheep, and some Turks directly drove sheep to trade, which was very prosperous.
"We Chang'an people have the habit of eating mutton after autumn. Every year after autumn, the demand for mutton in Chang'an will increase greatly. Sheep are usually sacrificed during the Mid-Autumn Festival. In the past, during peacetime, Chang'an would have consumed hundreds of thousands of sheep during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
Already."
"You want to eat so many sheep?" Cheng Chumo was surprised.
"The Mid-Autumn Festival is a big festival, and there is a huge demand for sacrifices and rewards. Do you know that there are over 100,000 soldiers in the imperial guard in the capital, plus how many officials there are?
For example, there are three nobles in your family, so according to the rules, sheep are given as rewards every month, and there are additional sheep given during the Mid-Autumn Festival. Your Cheng family has a big business, so you have to buy a lot of sheep, right?"
"That's fair to say."
"During the Mid-Autumn Festival, even ordinary people in Chang'an City will find ways to get two kilograms of mutton to pay for their family, not to mention that there are so many merchants and scholars in Chang'an."
The demand for mutton in Chang'an is huge, and Guanzhong's own supply is insufficient. The situation this year is obviously better than last year. Although Shandong is suffering from drought, at least Guanzhong has recovered this year.
Their Xiazhou Governor's Mansion is close to the Turks, so they must make a fortune from this resource.
In fact, in July, businessmen began to sell sheep from the grassland to Guanzhong.
Wu Huaiyu just consolidated resources, scaled up the transaction, cleared checkpoints along the way, and ensured smooth flow all the way, and established the Yangyangtong.
When Turkic sheep enter the territory of the Xiazhou Dudu Mansion, they need to register, and then issue a sheep pass, and they can go all the way smoothly. Government offices in various places, and even local powerful people are not allowed to collect money at all levels. The Xiazhou Dudu Mansion sent
Specialized sheep patrol light cavalry patrol.
In addition, sheep farms have been established along the way to provide convenience for these sheep traders.
Finally, these sheep are gathered at Yulin Border Market in Yinzhou, where they can be traded directly to sheep buyers from Guanzhong, or they can continue to Guanzhong after resting.
"These merchants are very powerful. Two sheep workers drive five hundred sheep into a group. Ten groups of sheep make up a house. When walking, each group sets off one after another, two or three miles apart. The whole group of sheep is twenty or thirty miles apart. The front
If any sheep of the flock fall behind, then those behind gather in.”
Cheng Chumo didn't know there were so many things to consider when selling sheep, "Is it profitable?"
"If I don't make money, would I be so mobilizing?" Huaiyu pointed to Yulin City in front of him, which has now become the largest sheep trading market in northern Shaanxi. And relying on such a large flow of sheep, Wu Huaiyu is still planning a sheepskin and wool processing workshop area.
, we have even set up a slaughtering workshop, a frozen sheep processing workshop, and even planned to make sheep tripe wraps for the coming winter. This way, we don’t have to worry about not being able to traffic live sheep on the road in winter, and we can continue to transport the mutton to Guanzhong.
Even because of the large flow of sheep in this market, many sheep customers from Beijing now come here to buy sheep, and many sheep traders who used to sell sheep from beyond the Great Wall to the south are more focused on selling sheep from the grassland to trade here instead of continuing south.
This journey.
What Wu Huaiyu mainly does is a platform. Once the platform is established, it is impossible to just buy and sell sheep. It will definitely also drive the sale of cattle, horses and camels, and even the sale of furs and medicinal materials, plus the sale of Chinese pots, bowls, pans, boots, cloth, salt and tea.
These.
"Then I am not getting a huge advantage. As soon as I took office, I got such a huge benefit from Yulin Bianshi?"
Huaiyu smiled and said, "The stage has been set up for you, and it's getting up now, but you still have to work hard later."
Sheep are not valuable in Turks, but once they are transported to Yinzhou, their value has doubled. If they can be successfully transported to Chang'an and still have fat, they are very valuable.
People in the Tang Dynasty regarded mutton as a precious meat. From the royal nobles to the merchants and common people, they all regarded sheep as valuable. Even if the poor could not afford mutton, they could buy sheep offal and bones to eat.
There are more than 50 kinds of sheep-related snacks in Chang'an. It is simply a black hole of sheep. There is never enough to eat. The sheep supply is often in short supply, making Chang'an sheep very expensive, but the supply still exceeds the demand.
