Chapter 280: Roast Duck

Soon, Seo Hyun brought in a middle-aged man in his thirties. He is not tall, his appearance is not good, and it can be said that he is a little obscene.

He respectfully saluted Li Yu and Emperor Zhou E, and then asked, "I don't know what Your Majesty has to call Weichen up, what are your orders?" ”

Li Yu asked: "Chen Qing, let me ask you, how many iron tools can my country produce every year?" ”

Chen Lei thought about it and said: "It's about more than 10 million catties." ”

Cui Daoshu smiled secretly in his heart, more than 10 million catties, converted into the unit of measurement of later generations, that is, six or seven thousand tons, is not enough for the annual output of a small steel workshop in a township in later generations.

Li Yu asked again: "How much iron ore can be mined every year?" ”

Chen Lei replied: "Your Majesty, the output of ore has not been counted. ”

Li Yu also knew that the Ministry of Industry only counted the output of ironware, and would not calculate how much ore was mined, so he was indeed a little embarrassed by Chen Lei.

He continued to ask: "Chen Qing, if you want to increase the mining of ore, what good way do you have?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, there is no other way than to add more manpower."

Li Yu looked at Cui Daoshu, and Cui Daoshu hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, why don't you Tang Kingdom hand over the mine to us, we have many large equipment, which can quickly mine iron ore." We can cover the full cost of the miners, and pay the Ministry of Pig Iron and weapons in proportion to the production of iron ore. This is called ore for weapons. ”

Li Yu's eyes lit up, as long as Tang Guo handed over the mine to Cui Daoshu, he would be able to get a large amount of pig iron and weapons every year without spending any cost, which was an absolutely cost-effective business!

Li Yu looked at Han Xizai, and Han Xizai nodded slowly: "Your Majesty, the old minister agrees to this deal." We don't have to pay any price to get a lot of high-quality weapons, and if this happens, it will be a good thing. ”

Emperor Zhou E asked puzzledly: "Young Master Cui, we in the Tang Kingdom can get a large number of weapons without spending a penny, don't you pay for it?" ”

Cui Daoshu said confidently: "Back to the queen, we can't compensate." The second brother Wei Hongye's iron-smelting technology is very advanced, let me give an analogy, that is, if the craftsmen of the Tang Kingdom smelt a pound of pig iron, it will cost 100 wen, and our craftsmen, after adopting the technology of the second brother Wei Hongye, only need to spend 10 wen. Do you think we can pay for it? ”

The people in the room were all shocked, and they thought that it would be great if Tang Guo could obtain such technology! But people won't leak it out, this is definitely a secret.

Emperor Zhou E asked again: "Young Master Cui, why did you make a deal with Your Majesty?" Why don't you make a deal with the neighboring Wu Yueguo? ”

Cui Daoshu said with a smile: "Queen Mother, if I tell Qian Hongyu that our Cui family can produce 100 steels in Mingzhou, do you think he will be tempted?" Will our Cui family be wiped out? Do I dare to trade with him? ”

Everyone suddenly realized that the reason why Cui Daoshu dared to trade with Tang Guo was because Tang Guo and Wu Yueguo were opposites, and they were separated by Wu Yueguo, not directly bordered, so Cui Daoshu was not afraid that Tang Guo would dare to be angry.

Li Yu pondered for a moment, and then said, "Han Shangshu, you are responsible for this matter." Tomorrow, you will gather the personnel of the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Households, and discuss with Cui Gongzi to come up with a charter, and start the matter of 'ore for weapons' as soon as possible." ”

Han Xizai agreed, saying that he would start operating this matter in the afternoon.

Li Yu waved his hand, and Chen Lei immediately said goodbye and went out.

Li Yu asked curiously: "Cui Gongzi, your eldest brother and second brother are both geniuses, how are your other brothers?" ”

Cui Daoshu continued: "Your Majesty, you have seen the third brother Nazhe, the fourth brother Du Da Lei, is witty and humorous, and he is a genius in equipment, he can make many kinds of large equipment, such as mining equipment, cranes used to carry heavy objects, and large bed crossbows and so on. ”

Han Xizai immediately asked, "Bed crossbow?" What is the difference between the bed crossbow he made and the bed crossbow of our Tang Kingdom? ”

Cui Daoshu asked rhetorically: "Han Shangshu, how many soldiers do you need to operate the bed crossbow of the Tang Kingdom?" ”

Han Xizai thought about it and said, "About thirty or forty people." ”

"We only need eight people for our bed crossbow."

"Ahh How is this possible! Han Xizai exclaimed.

Li Yu stared at Cui Daoshu tightly to see how he explained.

Cui Daoshu smiled and said: "Han Shangshu, my brother Du Dalei is a genius in equipment, and the bed crossbow he made is very small, but the power is not reduced, and it can be easily operated by eight people. These bed crossbows can be mounted on ships.

Think about it, if the Great Song Dynasty in the north comes to attack your Tang Kingdom, and your warships are equipped with many bed crossbows, and on the Great River, thousands of arrows are fired at once, beating the sailors of the Great Song Dynasty to the ground, do you still need to worry? ”

Li Yu was very excited, he slapped the table, stood up and said, "Cui Gongzi, if the bed crossbow is really useful, the widow will buy it in large quantities!" ”

Cui Daoshu nodded: "Your Majesty, after a while, I will bring a few bed crossbows for you to try, if the sailors of the Tang Kingdom are satisfied, we will provide a large number of them, as many as they want." ”

Xu Xuan asked, "This bed crossbow won't be very expensive, right?" Cui Gongzi, you don't want the lion to open his mouth. ”

Cui Daoshu shook his head: "No, we don't want money, just exchange wood for Tang Kingdom." ”

Han Hee-jae asked, "What is the ratio of exchanges?" ”

Cui Daoshu lowered his head and thought for a while, and then said, "A boatload of wood, for ten bed crossbows." ”

Li Yu thinks about it, this business is very cost-effective! Timber is not worth much at all, and it doesn't cost much to send some prisoners up the hill to cut wood. The purchase cost of the bed crossbow is about 500 yuan. If you exchange wood for a bed crossbow, it's simply too cheap!

At this time, Cao Deshun walked in with a few guys and put some steaming dishes on the table.

Cao Deshun said with a smile: "Please try these new dishes for Your Majesty and the Queen Mother, and give Quanjude some guidance." ”

Li Yu nodded, picked up the chopsticks, looked at the plate of dishes in front of him and asked, "Mr. Cao, what is the name of this dish?" ”

Cui Daoshu looked at this dish and smiled secretly in his heart, the restaurant is called 'Quanjude', of course there must be roast duck.

Cao Deshun replied respectfully: "Your Majesty, this is our signature dish of Quanjude, called 'Roast Duck in the Hanging Oven', you can taste it." ”

Li Yu saw that in the white porcelain plate were neatly placed pieces of jujube-red, oily and shiny meat, and there were several plates next to them, which were paper-thin dough cakes, as well as shredded green onions, bean sprouts, shredded cucumbers, shredded radish, and sauces.

Cao Deshun walked over, holding chopsticks in his hand, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, let the grass people demonstrate how to eat this roast duck." ”

Li Yu nodded, Cao Deshun took a piece of dough with his left hand, and then put bean sprouts, cucumber shreds, green onions, and radish shreds on it, and finally picked up a piece of duck meat, dipped it in a little sauce, and put it on top of the pancake.

He wrapped the contents in a pancake, then put it in his mouth and chewed it.

Li Yu understood it, and did so, rolled one by himself, immediately put it in his mouth, and chewed it.

After a while, Li Yu praised repeatedly: "Yes, very delicious, the meat is delicate, the taste is mellow, fat but not greasy, and with several vegetables, it looks very refreshing, delicious, delicious." Queen, you can try it too. ”

Seeing that Li Yu was full of praise, Emperor Zhou E also rolled up a sheet by himself and began to eat it in small bites.

"It's delicious! It seems that the duck meat has a fragrant taste. ”

Cao Deshun explained: "The queen mother is right, this duck meat is made of jujubes, peaches, apricots and other hard fruit trees as fuel, carefully roasted, there is a faint fruit wood fragrance. ”

Cui Daoshu thought that the Peking duck of this later generation began in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang built the capital in Nanjing, that is, after the current Jinling, the imperial kitchen of the Ming Palace took the thick and meaty lake duck in Nanjing to make dishes, in order to increase the flavor of the duck dish, the charcoal fire was used to bake, so that the duck ate crispy and fragrant, fat but not greasy, praised by people, that is, named "roast duck" by the palace.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, and the technique of roasting duck was also brought to Beijing and further developed. Liu Ruoyu, a eunuch in the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, wrote in his "History of the Bile Palace: Good Diet": "...... Locally, roast goose, chicken, and duck. It shows that roast duck has become a famous Beijing dish at that time.

After Zhou Ehuang ate it, he motioned for others to taste it too, and Han Xizai and Xu Xuan immediately rolled one by themselves impatiently and began to chew it.

But Cui Daoshu and Qi Jiuniang didn't move, and Zhou Ehuang asked puzzledly: "Cui Gongzi, Jiuniang, why don't you eat?" ”

Cui Daoshu said with a smile: "Returning to the queen mother, this roast duck was made by my fourth brother Du Dalei, and we often eat it, so let's give it to Han Shangshu and Xu Shilang today." I'm afraid this plate is not enough! ”

Xu Xuan chewed and said vaguely: "That's right, Cui Gongzi is really understanding, knowing that Xu is a glutton, he won't eat it." Xu is very affectionate. ”

Li Yu asked: "Cui Gongzi, you said that your fourth brother Du Dalei is a genius in terms of equipment. Is he also good at food? ”

Qi Jiuniang held back for a long time, and finally couldn't help it, she said angrily: "Your Majesty, this Du Dalei is a foodie and two goods, which is definitely not a good thing." ”

Li Yu was stunned, he and Emperor Zhou E glanced at each other, not knowing why Qi Jiuniang was angry.

Cui Daoshu shook his head helplessly, and had no choice but to come forward to explain: "Back to Your Majesty and the Queen Mother, my fourth brother Du Dalei is witty and humorous, and often jokes with Qi Jiuniang. There is a little contradiction between them, and it is not a big deal. Jiu Niang, am I right? ”

Qi Jiuniang saw Cui Daoshu glaring at her, so she lowered her head and whispered: "Your Majesty, Queen Mother, Du Dalei often says some strange things to make the slave family angry, so the slave family is a little dissatisfied with him. ”