Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Capital Datang

Life in Chang'an Chapter 13 Tea Fried Tea and the Prince's Mansion at a Loss

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    The wine lasted until the moonlight fell on the branches. Although the alcohol content of Datang wine was not high, it could still be intoxicating if drunk too much. Li Min was drunk and was helped out by the guards, and he could not remember what happened after that.  When he woke up, it was already the morning of the next day, and he had already returned to the palace.

    When he woke up with a hangover, Li Min had a headache and wanted to saw his head open. Fortunately, Wen'er had asked the kitchen to prepare hangover soup. Li Min drank several bowls in a row before he felt better. He lay on the bed and groaned for a long time.  I just got up and did Tai Chi in the garden again, and then I managed to regain some energy.

    "Your Highness, the steward of the tea garden has brought this year's newly picked spring tea!" As soon as Li Min sat down and took a sip of the salty and astringent tea, Gao Zhong came in and reported to him that the inner courtyard of the palace is the same as the palace, right?  Men were allowed to enter. In the past, there were eunuchs, but Li Min rushed them all to the front yard. Now, apart from maids and servants who do menial work, Li Min is the only man in the inner courtyard, unless he has permission.  Of course, as Gao Zhong is the general manager of the palace and a eunuch, he is not subject to restrictions.

    "Bah! That's great. Bring both the people and the tea. Finally, we don't have to drink the tea residue!" Li Min spit out the tea in his mouth. He really couldn't stand the strange taste of the tea in Datang. It would be bitter without salt.  Unfortunately, he couldn't bear to drink it with salt, so he had long thought about making some tea for himself.  He had previously ordered Gao Zhong to send some of this year's spring tea directly to the palace without any processing after picking it, and it happened to be delivered today.

    While waiting for others to pull tea leaves, Li Min first chopped some bamboo in the garden and removed the leaves to make a tea broom. Then he asked Wen'er to go to the kitchen to find a small iron pot and a charcoal stove for heating in winter.  , when everything was ready, Gao Chong brought a middle-aged steward with a cart to the garden.

    "Steward Liu Hu meets the prince!" The middle-aged steward named Liu Hu parked the car and saluted Li Min. Liu Hu looked to be in his forties, with a stocky appearance and a strong body. He walked with a bit of  The neatness and toughness of a soldier.

    "Well, get up!" Li Min didn't expect a tea garden manager to have such a temperament, and couldn't help but asked curiously, "Liu Hu, have you ever joined the army before?"

    "For your information, Your Majesty, I used to serve under the Duke of Wei, but later retired due to injury. Fortunately, Your Majesty appreciated me and allowed me to manage the tea garden." Liu Hu clasped his fists and saluted.  The Duke of Wei was Li Jing, the military god of the Tang Dynasty. He defeated the Turks and went on an expedition to Tuyuhun. He never lost a single battle in more than a hundred battles in his life. His prestige in the army was so high that even Qin Qiong and Cheng Yaojin were defeated by him.  Downwind.

    "Well, that's right. I didn't expect that I would have a talent like you under my command. Work hard and I will never treat you badly in the future!" Li Min smiled and praised a few words. Liu Hu also cooperated and immediately burst into tears of gratitude.  He expressed that he would do anything to repay Li Min for his kindness.

    Next, Li Min began to fry tea himself. Gao Chong and Liu Hu both stayed. Li Min planned to let Liu Hu learn how to make fried tea from all the tea leaves produced in the tea garden. After all, such a large tea garden cannot rely on itself.  Fry, and after the tea is fried, you can not only drink it yourself, but also give it to others in the future.

    Heat a small iron pot to a certain temperature, then put in more than half a kilogram of tea leaves and quickly stir-fry for a minute or two. This is called full pot swirling. When the leaves are soft and dark green, raise the pot to lower the temperature.  , and then use force to rotate the tea leaves in the pot. This is called holding force. When the leaves shrink into strips and become sticky, raise the pot and lower the temperature again. Fry until the tea leaves get into the branches of the broom. Repeat  Fry a few more times, and when the leaves are 30 to 40% dry, you can take them out of the pot.

    The fried amaranth was dark green in color and curled into strips, which was exactly the same as the tea that Li Min drank in later generations. This method of frying tea was something Li Min saw on the Internet. He did not expect to make good tea on the first operation.

    "Your Highness, your method of frying tea is quite novel, and the aroma of the tea is also very strange, but I don't know how the brewed tea tastes?" Liu Hu sniffed and said. As the manager of the tea garden, he knows tea very well.  It's the first time I've seen this method of making tea, so I'm a little unsure.

    "Haha, this tea is not boiled. Just brew it with boiling water. Wen'er, is the water ready?" Li Ming said with a smile.

    "Okay!" Wen'er agreed and walked up with boiling water.  Hua'er placed several cups, Li Min personally put in the tea leaves, and Wen'er poured boiling water in. The curled-up tea leaves slowly unfolded in the water, and the tea became emerald green and transparent, looking like emerald.  Within a moment, a light and distant fragrance of tea filled the air, and the smell was refreshing.

    "Huh? Good tea! Good tea!" Liu Hu sniffed and praised the tea loudly. He has managed the tea garden for so many years and has drunk countless good teas. Just smelling the tea aroma will make him feel better.  Know the quality of this tea.  The tea brewed from this roasted tea was definitely better than the tea he had drunk before.  Liu Hu stared at the tea cup with bright eyes. If it weren't for the obstruction,Because of Li Min's identity, he had already grabbed the cup and tasted it first.

    "Come on, come on, let's all have a taste and see how the tea made by this king looks like?" Li Min waved his hand and took the lead in picking up a cup of tea and taking a sip.  Well, it feels good. It tastes similar to the tea sold on the street for a few yuan and a tael in later generations. Tea frying is a technical job. In addition to the quality of the tea itself, the more skilled workers make the better tea. Li Min, a farmer like  My hands didn't stir-fry the tea into paste, so it was pretty good.

    Liu Hu saw that Li Min had already tasted it, so he impatiently picked up the tea cup, first put it under his nose and sniffed it for a few times, with an intoxicated expression on his face, and then slowly started to taste it until he finished the cup of tea.  , then put down the tea cup with a look of aftertaste, and looked at Li Min with an awe-inspiring look.  Gao Chong, Wen'er and Hua'er also took a sip. They might not be used to it at first, but gradually they felt the benefits of roasted tea and drank it down with joy.

    "Your Highness, this tea is bright in color and has a noble aroma. It is slightly bitter at first, then becomes cool and sweet at the end, leaving you with endless aftertaste. It is simply a fairy tea from heaven. I can guarantee that there is no other tea in the world that can compare with this.  Tea!" Liu Hu bowed deeply to Li Min.

    "Hahaha~, Manager Liu is really good. He immediately explained the characteristics of this tea." Li Min said with a proud smile. He just couldn't listen to others' praise. When others praised Li Min, he got a little carried away. "Manager Liu,  I will pass on this method of frying tea to you, and all the tea produced in the tea garden will be made in this way."

    "Thank you for your trust, Your Majesty. I will live up to your trust." Although Liu Hu vaguely guessed the reason why Li Min asked him to stay, when he heard Li Min say it with his own ears, he was still so excited that he couldn't control himself.  As a tea plantation manager, how could he not see the importance of this tea-frying method, yet His Highness Prince Liang taught him the method without hesitation, which shows his trust in himself.

    "Your Highness, this method of tea frying must be kept secret. The fried tea leaves can be handed over to the old slave and then sold on the market. The profit will definitely be huge, and the money and silk obtained can also make up for the deficit of the palace.  "Before Li Min could say anything, Gao Zhong next to him jumped out excitedly and said.

    Selling tea?  Li Min had never thought about this. The first reason he made tea was to drink it himself, and the second reason was to give it to others. He never thought about using the tea to make money. After all, in his mind, he, the Liang Prince, should not be short of money.  Bar?  But from Gao Zhong's words, it seems that the finances of Prince Liang's Mansion are not very optimistic, right?

    "Gao Chong, what do you mean by this? Is there still a deficit in the mansion?" Li Min asked curiously.

    "This" Gao Zhong's face froze. Originally, he shouldn't have told Li Min this kind of thing, but he let it slip in his excitement. Now that Li Min asked him, how should he answer the question?

    "Your Highness, the finances of the palace are indeed not very good. The palace's income is not enough to meet the expenses. It is now heavily in debt. Fortunately, Concubine Yang and the King of Shu often provide financial support, so it can barely survive" Gao Zhong hesitated for a moment and finally decided.  It was better to tell the truth, because he found that since King Liang woke up from injury, he seemed to be a different person, and it was time for him to know these things.

    After Gao Zhong's introduction, Li Min finally understood the income and expenditure of his palace. The income of the palace was mainly his salary as a prince, and the salary in the Tang Dynasty was not just coins, but money, food and jobs.  His income, money and grain are very simple and can be used by you. The prince is the first grade and has 1,200 acres of land. The tenants on these lands give him a certain amount of rent every year, which is regarded as his fixed salary.  In addition, there are some rewards and gifts from the palace, which can be regarded as a considerable amount of income.  In fact, he still has a fief, and the taxes on the fief also belong to him, but he cannot control it until he reaches adulthood.

    As a prince, Li Min's annual fixed salary is not small. This alone is enough for the expenses of his palace. In addition, the rewards from the palace and the money saved by Concubine Yang are often given to his son.  It stands to reason that Li Min should live a very comfortable life, but in fact this is not the case.

    The expenditure to maintain the operation of the entire palace is not too large, accounting for only a quarter of the entire expenditure. The remaining three-quarters are Li Min's personal expenses. In the past, Li Min did everything he could to eat, drink, whore, and gamble, and was used to spending a lot of money.  He often held banquets in major restaurants and rewarded a singer several times with just a flick of his hand.  Don¡¯t think that money has always been very little, it has always been one thousand penny. One penny in the Tang Dynasty could buy more than two kilograms of rice. In the 21st century, one kilogram of rice in China cost at least two or three yuan. Calculating, the purchasing power of one penny in the Tang Dynasty was equivalent to five kilograms in later generations.  There are so many yuan, almost catching up with the exchange rate of the US dollar and the RMB.

    It is usually more than 5,000 yuan, and a reward for a singer is tens of thousands of yuan. A banquet will not only invite one singer, plus the expenses such as wine and food, a banquet will cost at least a million.  In addition, Li Min used to be good at gambling, but he had bad luck and lost a lot in one go. No amount of money would be enough for him to spend so much.  Over the past few years, the foundation of Prince Liang's palace has been completely destroyed by him.  In order to maintain the palaceFor expenses, the palace can only borrow external debts, and now it owes thousands of dollars in external debts alone.

    The most pitiful thing was Concubine Yang. After knowing this situation, she gave all her body, money and money to Li Min, but she lived in poverty in the palace. Any rewards Li Shimin usually received were given to Li Min at once.  Shocked, Li Ke complained that Concubine Yang was partial.  When Li Min went to visit Concubine Yang the day before yesterday, he saw that the Wangyun Palace was very elegantly decorated, with no luxurious decorations. In fact, it was not that Concubine Yang didn't like luxury, it was just that she loved her son so much that she kept all the valuable things in her palace.  I gave it to Li Min. I usually don't even have the money to reward the maids in the palace.

    When talking about Concubine Yang's current situation, Gao Zhong burst into tears. He entered the palace at the age of eight and followed Concubine Yang when she was the princess of the previous dynasty. He followed Concubine Yang to the Prince of Qin's Palace until the fall of the Sui Dynasty. After Li Min was born,  , was sent by Concubine Yang to take care of Li Min, until now.  It can be said that his feelings for Concubine Yang are deeper than that for Li Min. Thinking of Concubine Yang's rich body but living in such a miserable life, he couldn't help but fall to the ground and cry bitterly.

    asshole!  Li Min wanted to slap himself hard twice. Li Min was definitely a bastard in the past. With such a good mother who loved him, he still failed to live up to his expectations. He was like a beast.  Thinking of Concubine Yang's concern for him in the palace the day before yesterday, Li Min felt a warmth. Since he is now fortunate to be the son of this great mother, he should behave well and never hurt his mother's heart again!  Thinking of this, Li Min secretly swore in his heart.

    "Gao Zhong, get up! Don't cry anymore! Go borrow money immediately, and then send people to buy as much tea as possible this year. Liu Hu, you organize all the tea masters in the tea garden, sign confidentiality contracts with them, and give  They received twice the treatment, taught them the method of frying tea, fried a large amount of tea, and then organized people to sell it. The palace will never be able to rely on the support of the queen mother and the emperor brother again!" With a goal in mind, Li Min immediately  I felt like my whole body was shaken, and my whole body seemed to be much fuller.

    "Yes, Your Majesty!" Gao Zhong and Liu Hu agreed immediately. Liu Hu didn't notice anything, but Gao Zhong felt that Li Min's temperament in front of him suddenly changed.  Somewhat confident and decisive, he is vaguely similar to Wu Wang Li Ke.

    PS: Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival benefit distribution, so I came back late, I hope everyone can understand.

    {Piaotia Literature www.piaotia.net thanks all book friends for their support, your support is our greatest motivation}
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report