Chapter 374: Clear Rewards and Punishments
The Eastern Han Dynasty was extremely short of cooking oil and relied almost entirely on animal oil. However, the fat content of most animals is actually not high. Pigs have the highest proportion, but they also produce very little.
Therefore, even the nobles in the Eastern Han Dynasty could not eat stir-fried vegetables, let alone fried food.
The fried food that Liu Feng brought out today almost swept the entire audience, giving the Kuaiji natives a gourmet shock that transcended the times.
Wu Fan was very alert. After hearing Liu Feng's words, he immediately prostrated himself and said, "I didn't expect that we would be so lucky to taste the general's private delicacies."
During the Han Dynasty, there was far less contempt and contempt for cooks than later generations.
In fact, this is a continuous and rigorous process. Even in the Song Dynasty, Su Shi's development of food was still an elegant thing praised by people at the time, rather than a shameful thing. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, many aristocratic children would cook fish and meat and barbecue by themselves when gathering, to please their friends and relatives.
The local nobles in Kuaiji seemed to be overjoyed to be able to taste the private dishes of General Zhengnan’s family who had just broken their backs.
Doesn’t this just show that they are on the right path?
Liu Feng gave Wu Fan an approving look and asked him to understand it. Then he turned to Wei Teng and said, "Where is Mr. Zhou Lin?"
Wei Teng heard his own words suddenly, and was still a little unable to recover. After a moment, he responded.
Liu Feng showed no signs of concern. When Wei Teng hurriedly stood up and saluted him, he stopped him with a smile: "Mr. Zhou Lin is virtuous to the people, has affection for me, and The imperial court has merit.”
After saying this, Liu Feng raised his wine cup and said, “I’m here to offer you a drink!” Their eyes were all red, and they were all jealous of Wei Teng.
But then he thought that Wei Teng had donated tens of thousands of acres of land, accounting for 89% of the land donated in the past half month, and the jealousy faded away again.
Land is the lifeblood of every family, so Wei Teng's move is nothing like a prodigal son.
Although everyone was envious, they also wanted to see the Wei family laugh in the future, but this did not happen overnight, and they still had to support Wei Teng at the moment.
Wei Teng, however, ignored the opinions of others and quickly raised his wine cup to drink with Liu Feng.
After drinking, Liu Feng did not put Wei Teng back into the table, but called him closer.
For a moment, everyone in the hall focused their eyes on Liu Feng and Wei Teng.
Wu Fan was also a little nervous. He stared at the two of them closely, vaguely guessing that Liu Feng was going to reward Wei Teng.
Sure enough, after Liu Feng put down the wine cup, he asked with a smile: "Mr. Zhou Lin, since you have made great contributions, how can I not reward you? If you wish, you can tell me Me. Whatever I can do, I will do it for you."
Wei Teng had a look of surprise on his face, but when Liu Feng asked him what reward he wanted, he did not. He opened his mouth and became speechless.
Of course he had wishes, and there were more than one. He was even willing to listen to Wu Fan's advice and donate a large amount of land in order to revive the Wei family and obtain a higher official position, or even a title.
But you can’t say these words in front of so many people.
Regardless of whether the nobles are good or bad, as long as they are not completely stupid, they can still distinguish what values are good and what values are bad.
Asking for an official position in public was the most despised behavior in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
It is completely different from the Western Han Dynasty. The art of raising hopes in the Eastern Han Dynasty is already an extremely mature means of gaining fame. However, the negative effect of this method is that people who actively seek official positions will be naturally discriminated against.
Wei Teng naturally did not want to lose his reputation. After secretly seeing Wu Fanzheng winking at him, he had an idea and shook his head at Liu Feng and said: "What Teng did was to repay the emperor and the court for their great virtues. Secondly, I am grateful for the kindness of conquering the south and stabilizing the country, and thirdly, I feel deeply for the hardship of the people. It is not for my own selfishness.”
“The conquering of the south has clear rewards and punishments, and it is fair to do things.”
As Wei Teng spoke, he bowed his hands to Liu Feng: "The reward I want to give you now is a selfless act by the Duke of Zhengnan. Teng does not dare to miss the general's important event. Teng has a wish and asks the general to carry it out."
< br>Liu Feng immediately agreed and said: "Mr. Zhou Lin can speak frankly, but for the sake of reasonableness, Feng Wuyou will not refuse."
Wei Teng immediately bowed and saluted, touched his forehead to the ground and said: "In the second year of Jian'an, Since then, Sun Ce has been wreaking havoc, and then there has been an illegal rebellion. The countryside has been invaded by military disasters, the people have been displaced, and the young and strong have suffered heavy casualties. Now Teng begs the general to exempt Kuaiji from paying 30% of the land tax for the summer and autumn harvests this year, so as to revitalize the people of the countryside. "
< br>Wu Fan was overjoyed. He had always known Wei Teng to be stubborn and impatient, but he didn't expect that his answer would be so smart this time.
Jia Kui listened and his expression softened.
Although Jia Kui was stern and selfless towards officials, he was quite kind to the people. He had a good official reputation in various places, and he loved to promote local water conservancy projects and reclaim wasteland.
When Jia Kui was the governor of Yuzhou, his achievements were among the best in the world. He built water conservancy canals and tortured corrupt officials. He was rated as the law of the state by Cao Pi at this time.
Wei Teng's words undoubtedly touched Jia Kui's heart, otherwise the usually cold-faced Jia Kui would not have shown an appreciative smile.
Liu Feng laughed loudly, walked out from behind the case, and helped Wei Teng up personally.
This Wei Teng was really knowledgeable and knowledgeable, so he immediately replied: "Mr. Zhou Lin's contribution is more than enough to exempt Kuaiji from the land tax for one year. Why is Qiu Qin so conservative?"
Wei Teng replied seriously: "The general is in Kuaiji to conquer Shanyue Bucheng, gather the refugees, pacify the people, repair water conservancy, and build culture and education, all of which require money and food. Teng's original intention is to reduce the burden on his hometown elders, but not to cause trouble for the general. . If Kuaiji is exempted from the tax, all the grain and grass needed will have to be transported from Jiangbei, which will cost several times the freight."
After hearing this, Liu Feng sighed: "Unexpectedly, there is also Mr. Zhou Lin in Jiangdong. Such a heroic man.”
Everyone immediately praised Wei Teng and spared no effort in praising him.
Liu Feng pondered for a moment and said: "The tax reduction is all about Mr. Zhou Lin. But this reward alone is not enough to reward the merit."
Liu Feng deliberately spent a few times in the hall. He took a few steps, then turned around and said, "Sir, do you know about snow salt, frosting sugar, and sesame oil?"
Wei Teng was stunned for a moment, nodded first, and then shook his head: "Reporting to the general, Teng has only heard of snow salt and frosting sugar, and has also bought some at home. It is indeed a delicacy in the world that makes people reluctant to part with it. But I have never I’ve heard of sesame oil. ”
The sesame oil here is not the sesame oil used to light lamps in Buddhism, but edible vegetable oils such as sesame oil and soybean oil.
There were already a small amount of peanuts in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and sesame was also grown in large quantities in the northwest and Sili. As for soybeans, it is one of the main crops and ranks among the five grains.
But I don’t have the pressing technology, and I don’t know the secret that peanuts, sesames and soybeans can be pressed to produce edible oil.
Therefore, the Eastern Han Dynasty had treasures in their hands, but they still had to rely on animal oils made from animal fats for simple frying cooking. It was really a waste of resources.
Since last year, Liu Feng has arranged for the cultivation of a large number of peanuts, sesames, sugar cane, sugar beets and other crops in Guangling. As for soybeans, the quantities are huge and there is no need for Liu Feng to make special arrangements. At the same time, hundreds of windmills were built on the river, which can not only make wheat flour and rice flour, but also press vegetable oil.
Now, with a fixed supply of raw materials and a large-scale expansion of the workshop, Liu Feng has an extremely abundant supply of snow salt, frosting sugar, sesame oil and other materials. Although these materials are expensive, they are still in short supply. . After trying dishes with added snow salt, tea with melted sugar, and meat fried with sesame oil, most people are completely unable to give up these delicacies. Moreover, these are essentially consumer goods, and their annual demand exists objectively.
Today, there are only four largest markets, one is Hebei, one is Jingzhou, one is Yizhou, and the last one is Yangzhou with Jiangdong as the core.
Because these places have been least affected by war damage, with the fewest casualties and the lowest number of destroyed fields and houses, they not only have a large population, but also have enough economic strength to absorb these luxury goods. consumer goods.
Liu Feng was originally thinking about how to promote these things to increase additional income for Liu Bei Group.
After seeing Wei Teng, Liu Feng found a good way, which was to let the powerful nobles like Wei Teng who were loyal to him act as distributors. While giving back to compensate them, they could also spread these luxury goods.
Not only do these people have money and needs, but the people they make friends with are also potential customers. They are the owners of shops and channels in the local area, which can only be said to be a perfect fit.
In this case, let the professionals do the professional things.
Wei Teng is Liu Feng's carefully selected agent.
He donated nearly half of his fortune, actively joined Jia Kui, and was extremely obedient to the Southern Conquest Army.
Such a person would obviously become the target of attention from other powerful nobles.
Liu Feng can be regarded as setting a benchmark, hoping that it can have the effect of erecting timber for the city gate.
“Zhou Lin doesn’t know, these three things are all our specialties in Xuzhou.”
Liu Feng smiled and cleared up the other party’s doubts, then he handed over a big pie and clasped it in his hand. on the other party's head: "I wonder if Zhou Lin is willing to be my agent for selling specialties from Shangyu and even Beihui?"
"Agent?"
Wei Teng was a little confused and didn't understand what Liu Feng meant.
"Yes, it is an agent."
Liu Feng explained: "I can authorize Zhou Lin to purchase these materials from Xuzhou and then transport them back to Kuaiji for local sales. With my authorization , which can guarantee that Zhou Lin’s caravan can get the best price in Xuzhou.”
As soon as these words came out, everyone’s eyes that had just faded away a little bit of jealousy were straightened, and these people’s family also. I have purchased some snow salt and frosting sugar.
Although I have never bought sesame oil, this thing can be considered as an extremely precious thing along with snow salt and frosting sugar. Besides, General Zhengnan just said that among the dishes served at today's luncheon, there are delicacies made with sesame oil.
Everyone in the hall was very jealous. Among them, Hu Yi, a young powerful man, suddenly shouted from his seat: "General, I wonder if we can be like Zhou Lin and act as an accounting and business agent for the general."
"Who is this? "Also?"
Liu Feng's face suddenly turned cold and he asked displeasedly.
Hu Yi was very frightened. He had drunk too much just now, and his drunkenness was mixed with greed. In addition, Liu Feng acted very close to the people, so his mind became hot and he started shouting.
Seeing that Liu Feng had become colder now, Xu Chu, Jia Kui and others in the hall behind him looked fiercely, shooting at him like swords, which scared him out of drowning and almost made him dizzy. .
Hu Yi regretted it so much at this moment that he wished he could go back to take a dozen breaths and slap himself to death.
He climbed out of his seat in a hurry, found a direction, and said to Liu Feng: "I'm, I'm... I'm... Hu, Hu... Yi, I've met... the general."
Liu Feng slowly walked up to Hu Yi, but the other person was like an ostrich, just burying his head deeply on the ground and not daring to raise his head at all.
"Humph! You can tell me all your merits. All gentlemen and famous people are here in this hall. I will be fair and upright and reward you."
Hu Yi listened and obeyed. The news that came from above his head made his heart completely cold. At this moment, he regretted it so much that he could only bite the bullet and beg for mercy: "General, forgive me, general! I am also willing to donate my land. I still have three thousand people at home." I am willing to donate all my land, and ask Zhengnan to agree.”
Seeing this man crying, Liu Feng smiled bitterly and shook his head.
What this guy said seemed like he was deliberately blackmailing the wealthy nobles and extorting their property.
Sure enough, upon hearing Hu Yi's shout, the nobles in the hall seemed to secretly observe Liu Feng's expression.
"You are drunk. You lose your moral character after drinking. You are ugly when you are drunk."
Liu Feng did not pay attention to the other party's words of dedication, and immediately drove him away on the pretext of being drunk. go out.
Hu Yi, however, felt as if he had been granted amnesty and hurriedly rolled back.
Seeing that Hu Yi had not been punished, everyone in the hall felt relieved. They were very worried that Liu Feng had really accepted Hu Yi's contribution.
Although they did not dare to resist Liu Feng, if Liu Feng really did so, I am afraid that his reputation in Kuaiji would plummet.
Don't look at how many local nobles in Kuaiji rebelled, supported Sun Ce to confront Liu Feng, and also attracted a large number of Shanyue barbarians.
But Liu Feng's reputation in Kuaiji is not low, otherwise there would not be these powerful nobles standing on Liu Feng's side.
They all have their own reasons for siding with Liu Feng, but one basic point is that they hope Liu Feng will protect their vested interests.
Therefore, Liu Feng focused his work on the field early on.
In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, excessive land was launched, but due to the firm opposition of conservatives and founding heroes, only part of the task was completed.
Now, Liu Feng has picked it up and plans to test it in Yangzhou in the southeast, especially in the Jiangdong area.
Compared with Wu County, the resistance in Kuaiji County is undoubtedly much smaller. After all, most of the people have been solved by Liu Feng, and the rest are just weaklings.
Although Wujun is not as strong as Kuaiji, it still retains too many powerful nobles.
Therefore, the first area Liu Feng chose to study was Kuaiji.
(End of this chapter)