Tea Merchants of the Song Dynasty

Mengshan tea has always been precious, and one of the reasons for its preciousness is the unique terroir of Mengshan.

The sky in Western Shu is leaking, with Mount Meng in the center, and fog and rain covering it.

Yazhou is rainy, and the heaven and earth come together to bring down sweet dew. The rainiest place in Yazhou is Mount Mengshan. There are many clouds and fog, and it rains all year round. This is the weather.

The height of Mount Meng is just right, suitable for the growth of tea trees, which is a geographical advantage.

The people of Yazhou are hardworking, kind and simple. The people of Mingshan County where Mount Meng is located even more admire Wu Lizhen, the ancestor of tea, and believe in harmony with others.

The right time, right place and right people have created the thousand-year-old ancient tea garden in Mengshan, which is also the birthplace of tea culture.

Mengshan's cloudy, foggy and rainy climate, unique lighting conditions with no scorching heat in summer and no severe cold in winter, coupled with the acidic soil on Mengshan, provide a unique growing environment for Mengshan tea.

The soil on the south and southwest slopes of Mount Meng is dark brown. It is very fine when crushed by the palm of your hand and contains a lot of humus.

The red sandstone that can be seen everywhere is the source of weathered minerals in the soil.

This kind of soil is called "tea soil", which is nutrient-rich and loose.

In addition, the mountain slopes are covered with lush forests, which is undoubtedly an ideal living environment for tea trees that love water and require good drainage.

Every March, it is the season when fir branches sprout, fern buds begin to curl, and plum blossoms fill the sky. Tea buds slowly sprout in the soft and moist environment, and the tea produced is exceptionally delicate and soft, with irreplaceable quality.

It was because of such unique conditions that Mengshan tea was favored by the government and Tubo, and the government also transferred the tea-horse trade here.

Among the five peaks of Mount Mengshan, Jiang's Shangqing Peak is the most famous.

In addition, the royal tea garden and tribute tea are both produced in Shangqing Peak, so Jiang Yin can understand why someone would set his sights on Shangqing Peak.

But being able to understand it is one thing, but if someone dares to target the Jiang family, Jiang Yin will not let it go.

The booklet given by Si Niang had neat handwriting, even with some brush strokes. As soon as Jiang Yin saw it, he knew it was the handwriting of his fourth uncle Fang Wenyuan.

She flipped through the booklet and found that it was exactly the same as what Si Niang said. The soil of Shangqing Peak had been disappearing since a month ago.

Maybe it was earlier than a month, but Si Niang discovered it a month ago.

It was only half a month ago that the tea trees on the hillside began to have problems. It was only a few days ago that the tea trees began to turn yellow.

Jiang Yin frowned. Perhaps the murderer behind the scenes did not really want to destroy the tea trees at the beginning.

If things had continued as they had in the previous life, Shangqing Peak and Lingjiao Peak would soon be divided up by the other three families.

If they were responsible for dividing the two peaks of the Jiang family, they would not allow the tea trees to be damaged.

Unfortunately, this time it didn't go as they wished.

The lobby was quiet, with only the sound of Jiang Yin flipping through books and a few occasional murmurs.

Listening carefully, I found that it was Fang Wenyuan who was reciting articles and poems.

Jiang Yin: ???

I'm afraid he has become obsessed with the imperial examination.

After a long while, she looked up and said, "Today we found that the soil on the top of the mountain has been renovated. Could it be that someone came to steal the soil again?"

When Wang Heng told her, she didn't think about it. Now, taking all the facts together, it seems that someone is stealing the soil.

But why go to the top of the mountain to steal soil? Why not steal at the foot of the mountain or halfway up the mountain?

Jiang Si Niang's expression slightly straightened, and she nodded, "Yes, the thieves are even more rampant this time, not only wanting to steal the soil on the top of the mountain, but also the soil outside the Royal Tea Garden.

However, there were monks from Zhiju Temple and our people guarding outside the Royal Tea Garden, so they didn’t succeed.”

Jiang Yin said coldly: "You are so bold that you even dare to attack the Imperial Tea Garden!"

The Imperial Tea Garden is located between the Five Peaks and at the foot of the Shangqing Peak. Not far away is the Zhiju Temple, which was transformed from the Zhiju Temple.

In the Imperial Tea Garden, the tea produced by the seven tea trees planted by Wu Lizhen, the ancestor of tea, is used every year for ancestral worship in the royal ancestral temple.

Every year on the day of picking, officials would bathe and worship, then climb the mountain in court robes, and invite monks from the Zhiju Temple on the mountain to preside over the opening ceremony.

Of course, the Jiang family also had to participate. This was an honor that belonged exclusively to the Jiang family, and even if the Shen, Chen, and Hu families were jealous, they could not participate.

After a lengthy ceremony of burning incense and worshipping the mountain, the monks of Zhiju Temple will pick 360 tea leaves in the Imperial Tea Garden.

The picked tea leaves will be roasted into tribute tea by the tea monks of Zhiju Temple who will sit cross-legged, chant sutras and make it into tribute tea.

After the tea is stir-fried, it is stored in two silver bottles and sent to the capital. The tribute tea in these two silver bottles is only used by officials to worship their ancestors.

In addition to Zhiju Temple, the Jiang family will also participate in the management of the Imperial Tea Garden.

In addition, while the tea monks were frying the tea, Jiang would simultaneously pick the best tea leaves around the imperial tea garden and fry them into another batch of tribute tea.

This batch of tribute tea will be sent to Beijing at the same time as the tribute tea produced in the imperial tea garden for the exclusive enjoyment of the royal family.

The Imperial Tea Garden was of extraordinary significance, and a special road was opened to lead to the Imperial Tea Garden and Zhiju Temple, exclusively for use by monks and members of the Jiang clan going to the Imperial Tea Garden.

This road was the same road that Er Niang and the others took to go down the mountain when Jiang Yin went up the mountain.

Now some people are planning to take possession of the soil outside the imperial tea garden, which means they are planning to take possession of the tribute tea, in order to replace Jiang's position in the government.

Jiang Yin said tensely, "Send more people to the mountain to inspect and make sure the tea mountain is not damaged again."

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes and said, "In an emergency, if we can't take care of both, then the Imperial Tea Garden and the Tribute Tea will be the priority!"

In her opinion, compared with ordinary Mengshan tea, the tribute tea used in royal sacrifices and exclusively for the royal family is more important.

After all, she could still find a way to get some ordinary Mengshan tea, but there was only so much Gongcha, and if it was gone, it would really be gone.

She did not say anything about the booklet Si Niang gave her in front of Jiang Dewang. Instead, she made an appointment with Si Niang to go to the tea mountain together early tomorrow morning.

Afterwards, Jiang Yin met with other people one by one, until it was dark, when he had met everyone.

After sending everyone away, she took Xiao Luo to record all the key points that everyone said and marked the points that she thought were unusual.

When they finished tidying up, it was already late at night. Jiang Yin sighed deeply and said, "Dad and Mom have worked hard over the years."

It is not easy to support such a big Jiang family. If she had not died once, she would not be able to take on this burden.

Xiao Luo massaged her shoulders and said, "Madam, I don't quite understand why Madam and son-in-law didn't cultivate your ability to manage the household earlier.

If my wife had participated in the management of Jiang Corporation earlier, she wouldn't be so confused now."

Many noble families would train their successors from an early age, and the eldest lady also began to learn how to manage the family from an early age.

Not only do you need to learn tea-making skills, you also need to learn about business matters.

But apart from learning the skills of making and growing tea, my wife has been free and easy since she was a child. She has never been involved in business matters, let alone participating in the management of family affairs.