total war rise of empire

Chapter 63 The Value of Pepper

When the Pope of the Church of Glory on the Roman Peninsula had the idea of ​​flattening the Greek Peninsula, Lei Zihao was busy preparing for the upcoming upgrade of the main city!
However, it was at this time that Zhao Guangxian, who also worked part-time as Lei Zihao's internal affairs manager, reported a worrying question.

"My lord, we don't have much pepper left, and most of the white salt has been consumed. These things cannot be replenished."

Lei Zihao was slightly taken aback, he naturally understood the importance of pepper and white salt, it was these precious non-renewable condiments that he could still eat barely enough food in such a backward world!
However, the original Lei Zihao did not pay attention to these details. He had already ordered that pepper and white salt could only be consumed by himself...

What's more, Lei Zihao didn't know that the Greek peninsula he was in didn't produce such things as pepper and white salt!
And Li Qingmei's frightened look when she saw Lei Zihao open up to eat the food added with pepper, honey, and white salt, was also regarded by Lei Zihao as something interesting that he didn't know much about.

It wasn't until Zhao Guangxian reminded him that Lei Zihao suddenly realized that this kind of condiment that he usually eats openly is actually out of print!

These condiments are just the inventory given away by the governor's mansion in the main city after the upgrade. Lei Zihao, who didn't know the suffering of the common people in ancient times, didn't care about this kind of condiment specially for him. Lei Zihao even used white bread sprinkled with pepper. Li Qingmei, who has been tempted to drool, has added a lot of fun to life...

Lei Zihao, who has always been focused on the military, rarely cares about the food of the civilians below. He only knows that the staple food they eat is a kind of black bread baked with a small amount of wheat and a large amount of bran. It can only be eaten when it is roasted soft, otherwise, it can be used as a blunt weapon to hit people, and its power is comparable to that of a brick...

Of course, Lei Zihao just took it as an anecdote, anyway, he definitely wouldn’t eat that kind of black bread. His daily food was either high-quality roast meat brushed with honey and pepper, or the bakery master used hundreds of ingredients. White bread cooked in a unique process!

This kind of white bread is the only one that is close to modern bread. It is soft and exudes the aroma of wheat, and its taste is only half of the cheapest bread that Lei Zihao ate on earth...

It’s just that white bread has too many impurities screened out, so it’s smaller after being baked, only about the size of a small breakfast bag on Earth…

Just such a piece of white bread is already a rare delicacy that ordinary people eat once a year!
The bakery's masters don't make enough white bread for the privileged class in Longhan Town, and there is no extra to sell!

Eggs, white bread, and grilled meat with honey and pepper noodles, in Lei Zihao's eyes, are far inferior to street food in the modern society of the earth, making Li Qingmei, a princess from the royal family of Seris, feel extravagant!
Eggs and white bread are okay to say, and the Seris royal family can often eat them, but condiments such as honey and fine white salt are quite precious!

In the Kingdom of Seris, the table of the royal family of Seris will only be served during festivals and large banquets!

As for the pepper noodles, it is a legendary condiment for Li Qingmei!

It is rare to eat it once a year!
Therefore, even if she gave up all her dignity and was provoked by Lei Zihao like a kitten, as long as she could eat a mouthful of food sprinkled with pepper noodles, Li Qingmei would recognize it!

In fact, the Greek peninsula does not produce this stuff at all. In the human world, pepper is in short supply, and its value is comparable to the same volume of gold!
They are equal volumes, not equal masses!

The main reason why pepper is so popular among humans in this world is that it has a wide range of functions. It can be used as a condiment to satisfy the appetite of the nobles. It can also produce a very comfortable aroma when it burns. The most important thing is that pepper is so popular among humans in this world. Unfortunately, most nobles used pepper as an aphrodisiac...

However, the yield of pepper is very small!

The human world and other races have a huge demand for pepper, especially the night elves, who occupy the world's largest pepper producing area in the Far East, but they don't sell any of them to the human world!

The night elves like the smell of pepper noodles very much. The noble night elves usually paint the walls of their bedrooms with pepper noodles to enjoy the scent of pepper noodles luxuriously...

As for the night elves who pay attention to food, cooking is inseparable from a lot of pepper, so their own pepper is not enough...

As for the pepper producing areas in the human world, they are all monopolized by the church, and the control of pepper is stricter than that of salt producing areas!
There is so little land in this world suitable for growing pepper!
It can be said that in the human world, except for the pope and the high-ranking cardinals who can openly use pepper, other human nobles have to buy pepper at a high price!
Many nobles don't even bring heavy gold and silver coins with them when they go out, but a small bag of pepper. In any human tavern, pepper is a hard currency, and you only need one grain to enjoy the best treatment!
Lei Zihao is about to upgrade to the third-level main city. After the upgrade, he will naturally add a new batch of pepper and other condiments, which can be eaten for a long time, but this is a non-renewable product after all. Lei Zihao has a detailed understanding of this world. After reading the value of the product, I finally have an intuitive understanding of my daily life consumption...

Lei Zihao never expected that in the governor's mansion, he was far inferior to the food standard of ordinary families in the modern society of the earth, and in this world he surpassed the ruler of a country!
The only people who can compare with Lei Zihao are the pope of the human world, the queen of the night elf empire, the great prophet of the orc empire, and a few other figures who stand at the pinnacle of power...

Even some independent Grand Knight Commanders don’t have the extravagance to eat…

The difference is just a little condiment...

If Lei Zihao used the remaining pepper to trade with the human world, they would definitely be happy with their noses bubbling...

However, Lei Zihao only had so much pepper, and he couldn't eat it for a year alone. He was used to eating food with seasonings, and let Lei Zihao eat those bland foods. Hao also has another idea. After all, the main city can be upgraded several times. In the future, he might have to lead troops to rob expensive condiments...

Like the honey wars...pepper wars...

It sounds absurd, but there are countless small-scale wars in which human lords in this world fight each other over a few pots of honey or a bag of pepper!
Lei Zihao suddenly discovered that it is still a very difficult thing to maintain the taste of his food below the level of food and clothing in the modern society of the earth!
(End of this chapter)