Chapter 691 Looking for Business Opportunities
When the naughty boy was eating candied haws, he shook his cheeks angrily and took big bites, as if the torn candied haws in his mouth were his shameless fifth brother-in-law.
However, when Zhu Pingan gave him a few snacks while buying snacks for the little Lolita, the attitude of the naughty boy changed 180 degrees. It was short, and Lao Huan was so sincere that he had long forgotten about Zhu Ping'an "bullying" him.
She really is a mother if she has breasts.
Zhu Pingan glanced at the grinning naughty kid, shook his head slightly and smiled.
Although there are no air-conditioning fans in the imperial capital of the Ming Dynasty in the summer, there are still a variety of cold drinks in abundance. Roadside teahouses, wine shops and even vendors provide a variety of icy cold drinks, including sugar mung bean, watermelon juice, snow pear juice, ginger honey juice, etc. Lychee dew, plum blossom wine, etc. are not much less popular than modern cold drinks.
In addition to cold drinks, shaved ice is also sold, mixed with sugar and spices for human consumption, which is the prototype of modern ice cream. But even so, the price of shaved ice is much more expensive than cold drinks. It is very expensive. Even people in the imperial capital can only afford it to some rich families and nobles.
Zhu Pingan led the naughty boy and the little loli into a tea stall selling shaved ice, and ordered three portions of shaved ice, ready to try the difference between ancient ice cream and modern ice cream.
The shaved ice in a small porcelain bowl is mixed with juice, sugar, milk and spices, and is served in the porcelain bowl like rice.
The appearance is far different from modern semi-solid ice cream, and the taste also disappoints Zhu Pingan.
However, the naughty child and the little loli ate happily, especially the naughty child with food all over his face.
Looking at the other people sitting in the tea stall, they also looked satisfied after eating. They felt as if this thing could only be found in heaven and not in the human world.
This is all so satisfying. If they were allowed to try modern Haagen-Dazs... Zhu Pingan touched his chin.
It’s not very difficult.
Although Zhu Ping'an doesn't understand chemistry, he still understands the method of using saltpeter to dissolve in water and absorb heat to make ice.
Although the ancients have long mastered the method of collecting ice in winter and storing it in ice cellars for summer use, the ice stored in this way is expensive and only wealthy families can afford it.
In addition to the ice preserved in this way, the only ice obtained is the ice made from saltpeter. This was the late Tang Dynasty. People mined saltpeter when producing gunpowder. They accidentally discovered that when saltpeter dissolves in water, it absorbs a lot of heat and can condense water into ice.
However, judging from Zhu Ping'an's observation of the prices of shaved ice and cold drinks on the market, it is estimated that not many people have mastered the saltpeter ice making method, otherwise it would be so expensive, and the price is much more expensive than modern ice cream. It is estimated that even if you master it, it is still relatively rough.
With the saltpeter ice making method, and as a senior foodie, Zhu Ping'an has some understanding of the modern ice cream making method. Generally speaking, ice, milk, jam, starch and eggs are stirred together. Semi-solidified ice cream will form in about an hour, and then use thin egg pancakes to make a cone. Although there is no DIY method in modern times, Zhu Pingan believes that after a few more attempts, he should be able to make ice cream, which will at least be much better than the shaved ice in his hand.
If modern ice cream appeared in Daming, it would be more competitive than Daming’s shaved ice.
Of course, it's just an alternative.
“Brother-in-law, I still want to eat.”
In a blink of an eye, the naughty boy’s bowl of shaved ice was at the bottom, and little loli Niuniu’s bowl was still half-full.
The naughty child looked at Zhu Pingan eagerly.
Children can’t eat so much shaved ice, it will ruin their stomachs. Zhu Pingan glanced at the naughty kid and smiled slightly, “There are a lot of delicious food on the street, save some for later. I’ll take you to try something else.”
Although he couldn't eat another bowl of shaved ice, when he heard that Zhu Pingan wanted to take him to eat something else, the naughty boy happily licked the bowl.
After eating the shaved ice, Zhu Pingan led the naughty boy and the little loli to wander around.
Because there were snacks, the two little ones didn’t feel tired at all, especially the naughty ones, they had a great time running.
Slowly wandered to Dongcheng District.
The Qihua Gate area in Dongcheng District is also the prosperous economic area of the Imperial Capital. In addition to the "first three gates" of the Imperial Capital, the Qihua Gate area is the most prosperous and lively area.
Zhu Ping'an led the naughty boy and the little loli to carefully avoid the busy traffic and stood in the shade of the trees looking at this prosperous area.
Zhu Ping'an stood under the shade of a tree and looked at Qihua Gate from a distance. He found that the flow of people and cars going in and out of Qihua Gate never stopped. There was an endless stream of grain trucks. Officials leaving Beijing to bid farewell, officials coming to Beijing for pilgrimage, businessmen going south from the imperial capital, and businessmen returning to the imperial capital from the south came in and out of Qihua Gate.
It feels a bit like in front of a modern train station, with people coming and going and a constant flow.
Zhu Pingan knew that the prosperity of the Qihuamen area benefited from the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal opened in the Sui Dynasty connected the north and the south. It was the economic lifeline of the entire empire. The grain used in the entire capital was passed through the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. Transported by canal.
During the Yuan Dynasty, Guo Shoujing presided over the excavation of the Tonghui River, which was called Yuhe in the Ming Dynasty and connected the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal.
In this way, grain transport ships from the south can follow the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal to Zhangjiawan, Tongzhou, and then continue along the Tonghui River to the west to Qihuamen Wharf in the capital.
Qihuamen is the only gate for grain to enter Beijing. After the grain is unloaded from the ship to Qihuamen Wharf, it is loaded into the city through Qihuamen, and then stored in major granaries in the city. And then through the shops to the dining tables of thousands of households. Every morsel of food for the people in the capital is transported in through this gate.
With so much passenger traffic, this is where business opportunities lie.
Zhu Ping'an looked around. Well, sure enough, what he could think of, the ancients could also think of, there are particularly many shops in this area.
“Let’s go ahead and have a look.”
Zhu Pingan held the little Lolita in one hand and led the naughty child with the other hand, and walked slowly towards Qihua Gate along the shade of the trees.
As he walked forward, Zhu Pingan observed that among the foot traffic here, the footmen unloading goods at the dock accounted for a considerable proportion.
Similarly, Qihua Gate is the only place that must pass through the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, whether it is businessmen, transporting grain by water, or making contributions from all directions. The goods that arrived at Qihuamen Wharf through the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal were massive and required manpower to transport them off the ship and then load them onto horse-drawn carriages.
Before he even approached Qihua Gate, Zhu Pingan heard the neat chants of the trackers on the Qihua Gate Pier, as well as the voices of the footmen shouting "Come to move the cargo."
Close to Qihuamen Pier, there are many shops selling food, including steamed buns, steamed buns, side dishes, fried rice and noodles, broth, bean curd, rice cakes, cut meats, etc. The laborers, boatmen and other laborers who had finished unloading the goods had towels draped on their shoulders and went in groups to look for food. For those who do hard work, it is very important to replenish their physical strength. The naughty child stared at the various foods in the stalls and shops, drooling all over the floor.
(End of this chapter)