Nine hundred and eighty-ninth chapter selection again
In the early morning, the Guo Song family gathered at the dining table as usual, with only the eldest son Guo Jincheng's seat empty.
"Husband, how is Acheng?" The person asking was Liu Caichun. She was four months pregnant and her belly was slightly bulging.
Guo Song smiled slightly and said: "He went to Ju'anfang to teach before. I felt it was not safe, so I asked him to work as a writer for "Chang'an Express"."
The dining hall suddenly became lively. Acheng actually went to the newspaper office. This was something new.
Guo Weiwei asked anxiously: "Dad, will we see Acheng's articles in the newspaper in the future?"
"Of course. I think we can see it in two days."
There was a burst of applause in the dining hall, and everyone was full of expectations.
Guo Song took a piece of steamed cake and put it into his mouth. He felt that it tasted very good, sweet but not greasy. He pointed at the steamed cake and asked, "It seems that the taste is different from before!"
Dugu Youlan pursed her lips and smiled and said: "My father sent someone to deliver cane sugar and beet sugar two days ago for us to taste. This is beet sugar."
Guo Song was immediately interested, "Has the beet sugar come out?"
"Of course it came out, and it was also published in the newspapers. It was in yesterday's "Chang'an Express", it seems..."
"In the food section!" Minqiu said with a smile.
"Yes! Yes! It's in the food section."
There was "Chang'an Express" on the dining table. Min Qiu quickly handed the express to Guo Song, and Guo Song turned to the food column. The food column teaches people how to cook, make pasta, and snacks. It is very popular.
Guo Song suddenly saw an article, 'The Great Revolution in Food', which introduced sucrose and beet sugar. Sucrose has appeared on the market since it was introduced to Tianzhu decades ago after boiling sugar, mainly brown sugar, basically
It was only for the royal palace and dignitaries, and had no connection with ordinary people.
But the article says that in the future, raw materials for cane sugar and beet sugar will be grown in large quantities. In a few years, sugar that costs two guan per catty will definitely be reduced to a hundred cents, and it will enter the homes of ordinary people.
Obviously, the person who wrote this article must have interviewed the Dugu family, and Guo Song really wanted to talk to Dugu Qiu.
...........
After breakfast, Guo Song came to the court room. They do not have a fixed morning court every day. They just depend on the situation. If the political hall makes a morning court request for a certain matter, Guo Song will hold a small-scale morning court, which basically covers four
Relevant officials with grades and above are actually just expanded discussions of the political hall.
Guo Song sat down in the court room and said to Lu Lun: "Go and inform Dugu Zizheng that I want to talk to him about beet sugar."
Lu Lun nodded and went quickly.
Guo Song took out a list from the drawer. This was a list of candidates for the new prime minister. It was recommended by the current five prime ministers. There were five people in total, including Cui Yuanfeng recommended by Pan Liao, Xue Xun recommended by Du You, Wei Yingwu recommended by Zhang Qianyi,
Du Lingqiu was recommended by Cao Wannian, and Lu Zhi was recommended by Zhang Qiu'an.
Among them, Guo Song has identified Cui Yuanfeng. Cui Yuanfu came from the Cui family of Qinghe. He was once Dezong's minister of household affairs and was granted the title of Pingzhangshi under the title of Zhongshu. Just before he became prime minister, the Jingyuan army was defeated and Cui Yuanfeng did not go south to Chengdu.
, but went home to wait and see and seize Hebei. The Cui family of Qinghe was indispensable. As a reward, Guo Song decided to give the first vacant position of prime minister to the Cui family of Qinghe.
Moreover, Cui Yuanfeng's own qualifications are sufficient, but their family leader still lacks a little.
Guo Song originally considered placing the second place in Hedong, but if he placed it in Hedong, he would not be able to avoid the Taiyuan Wang family. Choosing the Taiyuan Wang family would affect the Queen Mother, which Guo Song had to consider. Moreover, Pan Liao was
A native of Jiexiu County, Taiyuan Prefecture, although he has been an official in Hexi for a long time, his clan members are all in Jiexiu County, Taiyuan.
So after careful consideration, Guo Song decided to put the second spot in Guanzhong. After all, Guanzhong is the big one, and currently there is only Du You.
There are currently two candidates in Guanzhong, one is Wei Yingwu, one is Du Guqiu, one is from the Guanlong family, and the other is from the Guanlong noble family.
Wei Yingwu was very capable. He served as the Yin of Jingzhao for two years and managed the Chang'an and Jingzhao areas in an orderly manner. He served as Zuo Si Langzhong in the imperial court, and as a local official, he served as the governor of Jiangzhou, the governor of Chuzhou and the governor of Suzhou. His local qualifications were sufficient.
, but the qualifications of the court are still slightly insufficient.
On the contrary, Du Guqiu served as General Qianniuwei and Zuowei General. In the Southern Tang Dynasty, he served as Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and Zuo Prime Minister. However, Du Guqiu never served as a local official, so he was easily criticized for his experience.
After all, since the Han and Tang dynasties, there has been a rule in the past dynasties not to visit prefectures and counties, and not to enter provinces and Taiwan. Historically, before Yang Guozhong was promoted to the prime minister, he suddenly became the governor of Yizhou in order to make up for his weakness of never being a local official.
As for the background of the Guanlong nobles, it is actually not very eye-catching.
At this time, a document was reported at the door, "Your Highness, Dugu Zizheng is here!"
"Invite him in!"
After a moment, Du Lingqiu walked in with a smile. Guo Song quickly stood up to greet him. Now that Du Lingqiu was the senior minister, he had to be more polite from the perspective of respecting his seniors. Besides, Du Lingqiu was still his father-in-law.
"Your Highness is too kind."
The two exchanged pleasantries, Guo Song asked Du Qiu to sit down, and the tea boy served two cups of tea.
Guo Song said with a smile: "The main reason I asked the counselor to come here today is to ask about beet sugar. The newspaper said it was quite vague."
There was a slight flash of disappointment in Dugu Qiu's eyes, and he immediately smiled and said: "The beet sugar that I started selling this year was actually harvested last year. A total of six thousand kilograms of brown sugar was harvested. It took two months to transport it from Anxi. The quantity is small.
The freight is also expensive, because it is a trial planting in the first year, and the quantity is not large. By next year, 30,000 kilograms of brown sugar will be produced. However, the beets from Fengzhou will be harvested next autumn. We estimate that the beets from Fengzhou can be harvested.
Produce 80,000 brown sugar."
"What about adding sucrose?" Guo Song asked again.
Du Guqiu said: "Before talking about sucrose, I still have an idea."
"Please say!"
Du Guqiu smiled and said: "This batch of beet sugar was crudely made in Anxi and then refined in Zhangye. Later, several Sogdian businessmen saw it and insisted on buying our brown sugar. They were even willing to pay five guans per pound. According to them,
These candies can be sold for twenty guan per catty in the West, so I was wondering if Anxi’s sugar could be sold to Sogdian merchants?”
This is feasible. Historically, sugar beet boiling only appeared a thousand years ago. In the West, honey is basically used as sugar substitute. This kind of brown sugar is indeed rare for them.
Guo Song thought for a moment and said, "I'm afraid we don't even have enough."
"This is what I want to tell His Highness about cane sugar. I have a descendant who has gone to Yunnan with a few stewards to build a manor. The climate there is hot and humid. We can grow a large amount of sugar cane, refine it on site, and then transport it to Yuzhou.
It is refined and then transported by water to various parts of Sichuan and Sichuan. This is one. Secondly, sugar cane is widely planted in Lingnan. After being refined in Guangzhou, it is transported to Yangzhou by sea. The entire Jiangnan and Central Plains can be supplied with sucrose. As for Chang'an and the Yellow River
To the north, supply beet sugar from Fengzhou."
Guo Song walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, then turned around and said, "So you suggest that Anxi's sugar be sold to the West?"
"Exactly what it means!"
Guo Song nodded and said: "In principle, it is feasible, but the prerequisite is that the needs of the people of the Tang Dynasty must be met first, and there will be surplus supplies before they are sold to the West."
"Of course, sugar is a livelihood resource and we must first meet the needs of our own people. After all, we are not just businessmen."
Dugu Lingqiu said something meaningful, and when he heard the string and understood the elegant meaning, Guo Song vaguely guessed Dugu Lingqiu's thoughts.
Guo Song sat down and said: "I have been thinking a lot recently. I think the basic needs related to people's livelihood, such as wheat, coarse cloth, salt, jaggery, cattle, government rental housing, etc., should be controlled by the government. What I mean is
"The government should control raw materials, processing, and selling prices to ensure the livelihood of the people at the bottom, what do you think?"
Du Guqiu pondered for a while and said: "Your Highness, you mean that the sugar beets grown in our manor are sold directly to the government, and our processing turns to cane sugar?"
Guo Song shook his head, "You don't understand what I mean. I don't care about your own sugar beet manor. Guantian also grows a large number of sugar beets. What I'm talking about is jaggery. The sugar beets grown by the government only make jaggery. You can't sell jaggery. You should
We should continue to purify it and make higher-grade brown sugar or white sugar. The same goes for sucrose. The government makes coarse sugar, and you make refined sugar."
Only then did Du Lingqiu understand, "I understand what Your Highness means!"
At this time, Guo Song smiled lightly and asked: "How is Zizheng's current health?"
For some reason, King Jin's seemingly casual greeting made Du Lingqiu's heart skip a beat.