The host is red and black, and the system can only chirp

The surprises include not only cotton, but also peanuts and candy.

Sugar needs no further explanation, Xi Mingming had been planning for a long time. Peanuts, on the other hand... Xi Mingming didn't have high hopes at first, there were too few records, and what she could recall was limited, and she didn't know where to start looking.

Zhang Shu presented a small wooden box and reported hesitantly: "Master, I collected seeds along the way and found peanuts similar to what you described. But... there are very few, and the seeds are not as big as you described. I don't know if it is true."

Xi Mingming took the wooden box and opened it. Wow, he picked it up and twisted it open. Huh... not only was it small, it was also deflated.

Xi Mingming waved his hands at Zhang Shu, "It's peanuts. It's normal, it's not your fault, it's my mistake. Unselected seeds can't have the effect I described. It's okay, peanuts are used to extract oil. It's OK, now the land is vast and the population is sparse, plant more, it will be enough to extract oil. Zhang Shu, you have done a great job!"

During the reign of Emperor Taizong, the equal-field system stipulated that each male adult was granted 100 mu of land. By that time, the population had been slowly growing.

In other words, the land in the border town today is extremely rich.

As long as we can attract population, there is no need to worry about the border not being able to develop.

Zhang Shu's skin used to be fair among the border residents, but now it has turned completely black.

Xi Mingming was sure it was peanut seeds. Zhang Shu immediately smiled with all his teeth showing: "Really? Hehe, hehehe~ I didn't expect it too much. Ji Bei and the clan leader described it exactly. I thought I had found the wrong one."

Jibei is the Li language spoken by the Li people. Although thousands of miles away, the leader knows Yazhou very well. To be honest, Zhang Shu really thought he had made a mistake at first.

Bring it back, but new species cannot be missed, maybe the sect leader also recognizes this thing.

New species, the term used by the suzerain.

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"Both teams brought back staple crops, and Zhang Shu also found oil-producing species. Chief Steward Gao, according to the Border Town Wartime Management Regulations, how should the rewards be calculated?"

Gao Hongde reported back: "Team leaders Zhang Shu, Song Shuang, and Ba Fenghan will be rewarded with 300 pieces of colored silk and 100 catties of salt; each team member will be rewarded with 100 pieces of colored silk and 50 catties of salt."

The colorful silk came from the sponsorship of the six county governments.

Border town salt is a rare commodity not only in the Eastern and Western Turkic and Tiele tribes, but also in short supply even in the Central Plains.

Rewarding salt means rewarding hard currency!

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Song Shuang, as a descendant of the Song family, was not short of money, so he did not feel much. Ba Fenghan's eyes lit up, because this man had become a killer for money.

Zhang Shu pushed his chair away and stood up, waving his hands in panic: "Master, the chief steward has paid the caravan salaries and rewards on time, no... no more."

Xi Mingming disagreed, "The rules have been established, and everyone must follow them. Unless they are no longer applicable now, then...you and I should follow the rules, that's the right way."

Zhang Shu's face flushed: "But, but this is too much."

He is the leader of the caravan. Salt in border towns is in short supply and very valuable. Who knows more about it than him?

Sect Leader Xi shook his head: "That's because you don't know how much change these two things can bring to the common people."

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Zhang Shu was terrified. After all, the demand for Xi Zongzhu's salt in the border town market was growing day by day. It was currently hard currency and could be exchanged for everything needed in life!

Refined salt is only twice as expensive as cheap salt.

Don’t think that ordinary people will not be able to accept the price. A simple conversion will make you understand.

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Salt Amount, "Guan Zi·Hai Wang Chapter": "At the end of the month, the male should eat 5.5 liters of salt, the female should eat 3.5 liters of salt, and the son should eat 2.5 liters of salt.

How much is one liter in the Spring and Autumn Period? Archaeologists have verified based on unearthed measuring vessels that one liter in Qi at that time was equivalent to 200 milliliters in later times.

If we follow the later density of pure salt of 2.165g/cm3, an adult man in the Spring and Autumn Period consumed 77g of salt a day! !

In the late Tang Dynasty, court officials described the amount of salt consumed by the people in the memorial: "A family of five... consumes one catty of salt every three days." One catty in the Tang Dynasty was approximately equivalent to 680 grams, or 45 grams per person per day, which was still outrageous.

It was not until the "History of Yuan Dynasty" recorded that "each person consumed 4.18 qian of salt per day" and the "History of Ming Dynasty" recorded that "adults consumed 12 jin of salt per year, and children consumed half that amount" that the normal value was restored.

According to the measurement units of the Yuan and Ming dynasties, the average daily intake for an adult is 14 grams.

Seeing this, do you doubt that ordinary people before the Yuan Dynasty lived with salt jars? Sect Leader Xi was also skeptical at first, until she saw the salt of ordinary people and then saw the "Qimin Yaoshu" she collected.

Then I understood what was going on.

Let’s see how “Qimin Yaoshu” records it?

——Put one dou of salt into water and let it dissolve... Use a scouring vessel to remove the sand and dirt, and drain the clear juice into a clean vessel... Another dou of salt will yield eight dou of juice.

Just filtering out dirt and other impurities will result in a loss of 20%. If it is then dried and eaten, how much of the 45 grams is left?

"Salt and Iron Theory" states that "the high price of salt is inconvenient for the people, and the poor may eat salt lightly."

After seeing the current salt, Sect Leader Xi felt deeply that common people are very lucky. What kind of salt do they eat?

It's not just salty, it's bitter and astringent! Just imagine how many deadly impurities there are.

.

The people should be grateful for the policy of the Sui Dynasty for salt that is so poisonous.

During the Sui Dynasty, salt was not nationalized and no tax was levied on salt production. Most of the systems in the early Tang Dynasty were inherited from the Sui Dynasty, and the tax-free salt industry also continued.

Xi Mingming was different. When she took over the border town, she took a series of measures, including distributing land, grain, good seeds, improving farm tools, building kangs, and engaging in breeding, and the collective ownership of salt did not attract much attention at all.

The Xi clan leader included salt regulations in the "Border Town Wartime Management Regulations", prohibiting the private trafficking of salt while also establishing a salt-leveling system.

It is indeed expensive for the people in the border town to buy salt, but since Sect Leader Xi has subsidized the people first, he should at least let the collective collect some money, right?

No ordinary people think there is anything wrong with the price of salt.

By the time the common people realized that the salt that Sect Leader Xi sold to them was the refined salt eaten by the nobles... just imagine how crazy the people in the border town would be?

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As for the powerful people who sold salt in the past?

They were all imprisoned in the county city of Mayi by the Xi clan leader... Yuchi Jingde, who was outnumbered by 30,000, guarded the county city and led his troops to train around the county city every day.

The powerful are as obedient as quails.

Are you kidding? With all the talent of Liang Shidu, Yuan Junzhang and Liu Wuzhou, who would be so stupid as to go against Sect Leader Xi?

Even if you really have an idea, do you need to attract external forces? Who do you look for? The Eastern Turks? They were beaten to a pulp by Li Jing, the subordinate of the Xi clan leader. In the autumn harvest of the 12th year of Daye, they did not dare to go south to raid the valley!

Western Turkic? There is civil unrest.

I heard that General Li would sneak into the depths of the grassland from time to time to pick up war horses and lambs.

Who are you looking for?

The neighbor next door, the newly appointed Taiyuan governor Li Yuan? My goodness, his own son supported the Xi clan leader for many years. Who knows if the two families are one family?

Who else do you dare to look for?

No one dares!

The powerful people are honest and just act blind and deaf. As for salt...if they don’t want to sell it, then don’t sell it!

Salt, a business that is sure to make money... But what can we do? Sect Master Xi wants to take it back as a collective! The tyrants can only hide in their beds and chew on the corners of the quilt.