Overlord's Road to Ancient Emperors

The two remained silent for a while, until the deputy general asked for instructions: "It's already noon, does the prince want to eat in the camp?"

Li Xu nodded, and followed Kou Xiao to the big dining hall of the military camp. It was said to be a canteen, but it was actually just a simple hut with more than a dozen large pots on the earthen stove, and the aroma of food could be smelled from a long distance away.

However, as Li Xu, what he eats is not a big pot of rice, but a small stove for him alone, but the presentation is also very simple, a bowl of rice, a plate of fried vegetables, a plate of shallots mixed with tofu, and a plate of scrambled eggs, soup It is seaweed and seaweed soup.

Li Xu went to see the meals of ordinary soldiers, and found that they ate rice with mixed grains, and the only side dishes were pickled vegetable soup and capers, which was really poor.

He grabbed a soldier and asked, "Do you eat these on weekdays?"

The little soldier looked at Kou Xiao nervously, not knowing how to answer, Kou Xiao said with a smile: "Just tell the truth, the prince is not here to correct mistakes."

Then the little soldier replied with a smile: "Today I heard that the prince is coming, so the cafeteria just steamed dry rice. Most of them eat porridge on weekdays, and the side dishes are not like this every day. Eat what you have."

Li Xu let him go, and sat in the small hall with Kou Xiao to eat, always feeling that the more he ate, the more he lost his appetite.In the previous life, the food of the soldiers was good, not to mention other things. In order to give them strength to practice, they were provided with nutritious meals, no matter how bad they were, there were fish and meat, and a complete range of meat and vegetables.

But he also knows that the economic level of this era is far behind, and it is difficult to eat enough, so naturally you can't force it to eat well, but seeing the soldiers drill hard, but eat simple, Li Xu feels uncomfortable.

"Don't think too much, my lord. It's just the beginning of spring, and it's the time when the leaves are green and yellow. After a while, there will be more wild animals, bamboo shoots will grow on the mountain, and there will be all kinds of wild vegetables. The food will be much better."

Li Xu nodded, since he couldn't change anything, he didn't say much.

After lunch, Kou Xiao invited Li Xu to sit in his room, Li Xu readily agreed, followed him up a section of hillside, and then saw Kou Xiao's residence in the barracks, it was very big, but very simple, with only Tables, chairs, beds, not even a wardrobe.

Kou Xiao introduced to him: "This is the bedroom of the general. The west side is the conference hall, and the east side is the bathroom." After speaking, he served Li Xu a pot of tea.

Li Xu took a sip, it was lukewarm, the tea was a bit bitter, but it was very refreshing, he put it down after drinking half a cup, "Is this tea from local production?"

Kou Xiao casually pointed to the top, "It's just picked from this mountain, it doesn't taste good, so drink whatever you want."

Li Xu's heart moved. Judging from the geographical location, South Vietnam should be rich in tea. Tea is a good thing. It is a necessity in the prairie and the Western Regions. I don't know if there is an ancient tea-horse road, but the tea in South Vietnam can definitely be used as economic income. One of the big heads.

"What kind of tea do you drink on weekdays?"

Kou Xiao thought he was going to talk about the tea ceremony with him, touched his nose and said, "I don't have any research, as long as it can quench your thirst, it's good tea."

Li Xu laughed, and raised his teacup to touch him, "I don't know much about tea, I just think that if the tea is liked by the public, it can be sold to other places, which is also a good income."

Kou Xiao shook his head, "I remember hearing from my father that one year I picked tea leaves as a tribute to the royal family, but they were sent back. The king at that time lost face because of this and beheaded several officials."

"Do you know why it was returned?"

Kou Xiao took a deep look at Li Xu, with a mocking smile on the corner of his mouth, and said: "Your Majesty said that the tea leaves from Nanyue are like old rags, smelly and bitter, hard to swallow."

Li Xu turned the teacup and stared at the tea soup inside for a long time. It was reddish-brown in color. It was extremely bitter at first, but after swallowing, there was a sweet aftertaste. If you improve the way of roasting and brewing tea, it will taste much better.

Kou Xiao didn't know what he was thinking, so he took the teacup in his hand and added half a cup, "The general is busy with work, and he doesn't have much time to make tea properly. I heard that a new method of making tea has been introduced from the Central Plains. , Adding ginger, salt and other seasonings to the tea can make the tea soup delicious.”

The corner of Li Xu's mouth twitched, "No, this king thinks this kind of tea is very good." He didn't want to drink a bowl of tea soup with seasonings, "When was this tea picked and how was it dried? "

Kou Xiao turned around to get a can of tea leaves, opened it for Li Xu to see, "It was picked and dried last autumn."

Li Xu still knows tea. Although he doesn't think tea is delicious, clients and friends in the business world cannot live without tea, tobacco, wine, and as time goes by, they understand it even if they don't understand it.

Most of the tea leaves in South Vietnam should be rock tea and Tieguanyin, but Kou Xiao’s sun-dried rock tea is dark in color and slightly bitter, but I don’t know which kind of rock tea it is.

"The king wants to see the tea trees on the mountain."

Kou Xiao was naturally happy, "Now that the tea trees have sprouted buds, if a month later, the camellias are all in bloom, it will be a great sight."

The two of them went up the mountain one after the other, and Li Xu saw a stretch of tea trees before they walked far. The tea trees were about half the height of a person, and they grew randomly. The green leaves were covered with white stamens. He picked them off Putting a piece of tea into his mouth and chewing, a little smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"Are there many tea trees like this in Nanyue?"

Kou Xiao also picked a leaf and put it in his mouth to chew, but he didn't taste anything delicious, and he didn't know why Shun Wang was smiling, "It's more, anyway, I've seen it everywhere."

Li Xu turned his head and looked at him with shining eyes, "General Kou, let me borrow your soldiers."

Kou Xiao almost died of drunkenness in those eyes, his heart was beating uncontrollably with joy, he asked in a hoarse voice, "What's your order?"

He thought, at a time like this, no matter what Li Xu asks, he will agree to it. The color makes him dizzy, and he understands it.

"I'm going to build a tea garden. It's already February now. I need to build the tea garden quickly so that the first wave of spring tea can be picked during the Grain Rain season. After roasting, it can be sold to the whole country in early summer. Just in time, I will go to Beijing. It is difficult to say about other things, but this tea will definitely open up the market of nomads in the northwest and north.”

Kou Xiao saw that he became more and more excited as he talked, as if he had seen mountains of gold and silver, he immediately smiled. He really wanted to remind Li Xu that the tea in South Vietnam is notorious, and people with a little background would disdain to drink this tea. It may be difficult to sell to the whole country.

However, since it's something that grows on a tree, it doesn't matter if it can't be sold in the end, it's just a matter of using some manpower to pick it, so let him do it.

"Where does the prince plan to build the tea garden?"

Standing on the mountainside, Li Xu looked around and found that there were tea trees on many mountains, but they were in a mess due to lack of management. He looked down from the top, pointed to the barracks below, and said, "The barracks must be expanded. There is not enough space for this tea garden to be guarded by too many people for a while, so let’s build it near the barracks, so that the soldiers will run around the tea garden every day and keep it safe, so no Xiaoxiao dares to approach it.”

Li Xu pointed to the foot of the mountain not far away and said: "That piece of land is good. Let's build a small factory building as a baking room and warehouse first. If the market can be opened up this year, next year we can call on the people to plant tea trees and make a living from tea. Choose another suitable place to build a factory."

Kou Xiao was very happy when he heard that he wanted to expand the military camp, and naturally he didn't mind building a tea factory near the military camp, "Then at the end of tomorrow, the soldiers will be called to start the construction, and the prince can draw the blueprint overnight."

Kou Xiao has seen the factory built by Li Xu before, as simple as it is, as long as a hundred people are mobilized, it can be completed within a few days without much time wasted.

Li Xu nodded, and said as he walked: "Time is tight, and you don't need to stay overnight. I will go down and draw the blueprints now. The tea making process is almost like picking, drying, shaking, kneading, roasting, and picking. The most important process is baking. We have to get people to make bamboo sieves and tea cages as soon as possible, and buy enough charcoal, preferably lychee charcoal, I don’t know if there is any.”

Kou Xiao saw that his footsteps were hurried and he almost slipped several times, so he stretched out his hand to help him go, he heard his chirping voice talking to himself, and the soft and warm touch under his palm made him a little distracted.

Li Xu is different from all the noble children he has seen. He has a gentle personality but is not weak and bully. He treats people sincerely and does not treat them differently because of their identities. However, Kou Xiao has never seen him before. He looked at the students and high-ranking officials differently, and heard that the master in his mansion was an apprentice of a famous teacher, but he only taught a few children and received a monthly payment of one tael of silver.

The common people are spreading that King Shun is delicious, and he opened a grocery store just to satisfy his appetite. I am afraid that he is ignorant of political affairs and has no achievements, but Kou Xiao does not think so. Compared with eating, Shun Wang is more proficient in business and trade, and he speaks clearly and logically about business matters. Kou Xiao, who doesn't know much about business, also understands some truth.

When he arrived at the barracks, Li Xu realized that he was being supported all the way, and said a little embarrassedly: "Hey, you can let go."

Kou Xiao woke up startled, withdrew his hand, looked directly at him and said, "I don't quite understand what the prince said."

"It doesn't matter if you don't understand, there is no need for General Kou to do anything anyway." Li Xu found a new way of making money and was in a great mood.

"Why is the prince so confident about selling tea? The Huns like to drink tea?"

Li Xu told him about the living habits of the nomads, "The Huns eat beef and mutton all the year round, lack of vegetables, and eating too much meat is not easy to digest. Tea can help them solve this problem. In the grassland, they mostly cook with milk of cow and sheep. Tea."

Kou Xiao rubbed his stomach, and found that it was indeed the case. Sometimes when he was marching outside, he would eat barbecued meat for several days in a row. During those few days, defecation was a big problem. It seems that he can bring some tea leaves to go out in the future.

But Kou Xiao couldn't accept using cow and goat's milk to make tea, so he couldn't eat the fishy smell, okay?

Seeing that he rarely showed a childish expression, Li Xu told him some customs on the grassland and what good things they could get from the Xiongnu.

"The north and the south are very different, and the rich products are also different. They need our tea, silk and porcelain, and we also need their cattle, sheep, horses and iron ore. The exchange of trade brings not only gold and silver, but also the iron we urgently need."

Kou Xiao's eyes are bright, as long as there is iron, there will be weapons, and this tea business must be started.

Li Xu asked him for a pen and paper to start drawing. Bamboo sieves and tea cages are easy to make. Bamboo is the most indispensable thing in South Vietnam. Almost every household can make these things by themselves. He can let the villagers do it. Baking caves are also simple, just a row of circles The pit is shaped like a pit, which is lower than the stove. Put a charcoal fire in the pit, cover it with plant ash, put the tea cage on the pit, control the heat, and let the water in the tea evaporate after several hours of baking.

Of course, the process will not be very simple. Li Xu has never made tea himself. To make good tea leaves must be accumulated and improved over and over again. However, tea leaves have different personal preferences, so it is difficult to define good or bad.