No one grows tea in Xinghua, at least no one that Liang Chuan knows of grows tea. The tea leaves are either bought from Jianzhou in the north or from Qingyuan County in the south. He never thought about why no one was growing tea in this place. At first he thought it was because the soil and climate here were not suitable for growing tea. However, Sun Houpu told him that the land in Xinghua was also an excellent choice for tea gardens.
This made Liang Chuan confused.
If the income from growing wheat and vegetables is small, it is understandable that no one wants to grow it. However, tea, an almost indispensable daily necessities in life, is a commodity with high demand and high profits. Smart Xinghua people It should be planted by many people.
Zheng Ruoying's family does not plant any tea, and even Zheng Zuliang, who loves tea, has never heard of having an acre of tea garden. Is this a coincidence? Definitely not, there must be some reason why everyone keeps away from tea! The answer lies here with Sun Houpu.
Sun Houpu took a loquat and played with it without peeling it open and eating it, and said, "Xinghua is really a geomantic treasure land. Although there are eight mountains, one water and one field, the fields are fertile and can be used to grow lychees, loquats, and even red-hearted Wendan pomelo." If you grow tea trees here, you will definitely be able to bake good tea."
Zheng Ruoying originally thought they were talking about some business, so she tilted her body and raised her ears as if watching Yi Niang and the others weaving bamboo, but her ears were listening to their conversation.
“If we can bake good tea, why doesn’t anyone grow tea?”
"Because tea cannot be sold, so no one will grow it." Zheng Ruoying actually said the same thing.
Sun Houpu's eyes lit up, and he continued her words: "Those who work in our tea business, whether they grow tea or make tea, are called farmers. It is like an ancestral business passed down from generation to generation. Generally, if you do this business, so will your descendants. Get into this business."
"Our ancestors have lived in Changkeng for generations and started growing tea very early. However, the tea we grew cannot be freely traded. The imperial court has set up thirteen mountain farms in the south of the Yangtze River. These thirteen mountain farms are weighing on our heads. The thirteen mountains we climbed were so heavy that we couldn’t breathe.”
"If you can't buy and sell, where will the tea you grow go?"
"You don't understand this. The tea leaves should be taken away by the people at the mountain farm." Zheng Ruoying said.
"What?" Liang Chuan was confused.
Sun Houpu saw his confusion and asked whether there was anything normal people didn't know about tea production in the Song Dynasty.
"Brother Liang, there are thirteen mountain farms south of the Huaihe River, which are responsible for the production and trading of our farmers. There are six warehouses north of the Yangtze River, responsible for the national tea and salt trade. If you want to buy tea, you have to go to Tokyo to use it. Pay the tea price in advance with money or silk, get the tea leads, and then go to the designated mountain farm or check the goods to pick up the tea leaves. Only after you get the tea leaves can you sell the tea leaves!"
Liang Chuan's head was pounding after hearing this. What kind of nonsense is this? "I can't sell the tea I grew myself. I have to sell it to the government first and then I go to the government to buy it back before I can sell it freely?"
"Although your words are a bit rough, it's the truth." Sun Houpu agreed.
Liang Chuan was so angry that he picked up a piece of firewood, put it on his chest, folded it hard, and broke it into two pieces. Still not relieved, he said angrily: "How much will the price of tea rise after this? Tea farmers. You have no choice but to sell tea leaves to a mountain farm. Isn’t that meat on the chopping block and left to be slaughtered by them?”
Zheng Ruoying said with a serious expression: "In the name of the government, it is a fair trade with the farmers, but in reality it is robbery and robbery. Since Taizu implemented the tea tea law, the tea planters have died, escaped, and even harmed the tea farmers." Many villagers sat together, saying that cutting down the tea trees was against the law, and planting as many tea trees as possible would only make things worse. People now say as the saying goes, 'The land does not grow tea, the reality breeds disaster.'"
Liang Chuan watched the two people singing in harmony, which sounded like a husband singing and a wife accompanying each other. Liang Chuan frowned and looked at the two of them. The two of them felt uncomfortable being stared at by Liang Chuan, and then they realized what I was doing. Zheng Ruoying's cheeks were slightly red, she lowered her head so that no one could see her, and said softly: "I won't talk anymore."
Sun Houpu recalled the past and said in detail: "In the early years of my Sun family, we also cultivated a small piece of hilltop, planted a few tea trees, roasted them and drank them ourselves. In the following weeks, we had our own land in Fujian. It was considered a peaceful era, and my grandfather happened to break the ground." Open up the field and expand the tea garden area again and again. At that time, Taizu had not yet entered Fujian, and the government focused on mediating with Taizu. In addition to taxation, the private sector did not exploit much. "
"Who would have thought that in the Taizu Dynasty, the people would enjoy peace and prosperity, but my tenants would be in dire straits. In the second year of Emperor Qiande's reign, he began to ban tea from all over the southeast. In the second year of Emperor Taiping's rejuvenation of the country, he opened a mountain farm and set up research projects. , all tea in the world is exported to the official market. Anyone who dares to hide or secretly hide tea will be confiscated into official property and will be punished according to the value. Those who privately destroy tea trees or sell fake tea..."
The more Liang Chuan listened, the more chilled he became, and the more he listened, the more frightened he became. There was no tea control, but drug control was pretty much the same.
"What will happen?"
"A man who sells smuggled tea will be punished by being imprisoned and sent to the army, and a woman will be sent to hard labor. Those who abandon the market for more than 100000000000000000000000000000000000000 yuan will be punished as if they were selling smuggled tea. Selling counterfeit tea will cost 100 jins, and beheading for 20 jins." Abandon the market..."
Liang Chuan almost burst into tears, "Xiao Sun, please tell your guys to slow down. Don't plant those tea seedlings, or someone will die!"
Sun Houpu said: "It's all grown on the ground now. It's too late." Sun Houpu also wanted to see how Liang Chuan would deal with it. His family had spent a lot of effort to open up this tea road. Now that I have been asked to plant it, , It’s impossible to ruin tea. If someone sues me, then I’m in bad luck.
"I was driven to a dead end by you, Xiao Sun. No wonder you said this tea sucks human blood. It's not just blood-sucking, it's deadly. In my small tea garden, I can't pick two kilograms of tea a year. Is it possible that I still have to run away?" Going to Tokyo?" Liang Chuan is a stupid layman in the tea industry. He originally thought it would be easy to make some extra money by frying some tea, but now that the tea cannot be sold, he may lose a lot of money.
Zheng Ruoying didn't know the ins and outs of this matter. How could Liang Chuan be so bold and dare to reach out and touch the tea? His father was involved in all kinds of things, but he didn't dare to touch salt, iron, tea and wine. He had no big backer behind him and only wanted to be blackmailed. Who could Can you make money? Liang Chuan went to plant tea trees. What was he thinking? From what they said, it seemed like Liang Chuan knew nothing about tea, and this man surnamed Sun had evil intentions and secretly tricked Liang Chuan?
Thinking of this, Zheng Ruoying became even more disgusted when she saw the look in the eyes of a young master like Sun Houpu. Who can be considered a gentleman if he uses dishonest means?
Sun Houpu continued: "The price of tea is set by the mountain farm, and this price is set before buying the tea. Regardless of the tea output this year or the quality, the mountain farm has the final say. This is called the official price. The official price The price cannot be negotiated, but the government will pay the tea price to the tenants first."
Liang Chuan has learned to be smart now. There are traps everywhere when it comes to tea, and the competition between the government and the people for profit is everywhere. How could there be such a good thing, giving money to tea farmers first, and then collecting tea leaves?
Liang Chuan glanced at Sun Houpu sideways, and said with a smile: "I'm afraid there is no such good thing, right?"
The response is so fast!
"Yes, of course there is no free food in the world. What the government pays in advance is called capital. After the tea leaves are collected, the tenants have to pay the full amount of tea leaves, and also pay interest. The value of five draws is called tea interest."
Worth one out of five? Doesn’t that mean 20% interest is charged! Poverty has limited Liang Chuan's imagination. What is the difference between raising pigs and slaughtering them for fat? The common people are the pigs in the eyes of the government. Can the people of the government get a sip of soup after being fattened like this?
"This is loan sharking, it's terrible."
"I don't know what loan sharking is what Brother Zhang is talking about. It's easy to imagine that it's not a good thing."
"Young Master Sun, you should have said the same thing." Zheng Ruoying looked at Sun Houpu coldly. Seeing her unkind expression, Sun Houpu thought that he had not offended her in any way. Why did he look so bitter and resentful that he was worse than before.
"Oh, by the way, the official price for collecting tea from the mountain farm is very low. After repaying the principal and interest, there will be an additional loss of 20 to 35 jins for every 100 kilograms of tea. This is called tea consumption." Sun Houpu spoke in a small voice, his eyes not leaving Liang Chuan's face. At this time, Liang Chuan's face had no expression and he just kept shaking his head.
"Brother Liang, why is he shaking his head?" Sun Houpu asked knowingly. Isn't this all reasonable? .
"I shake my head because the tea laws of this dynasty are so harsh, wouldn't the tea farmers resist?"
Dogs will jump over walls when they are anxious, and rabbits will bite people when they are anxious. You, the tea farmers, are money-spinners who demand excessive amounts of money, and the people will not rebel? Liang Chuan had read some unofficial history. Most of the heroes in the Water Margin were killed by Fang La. Why did Fang La rebel in the first place? It is said that Fang La was originally a tea farmer. Liang Chuan was still wondering when he saw this. How could the tea farmers of the Song Dynasty rebel if they were so rich?
Under the exploitation of this kind of tea law, it would be strange for the tea farmers not to rebel. Song Jiang's old rival Fang La is a tea farmer in Zhejiang. Don't think that these leading brothers are poor people who don't have enough to eat. They are all the ones who make a lot of money, they just want more!
Zheng Ruoying and Sun Houpu were both frightened when the word "resistance" came out of their mouths. They couldn't just say this casually, and if they were sued, they would lose their heads. This Liang Chuan was really audacious, speaking so casually without changing his expression.
"The Taizong Dynasty had strict tea laws, so Wang Xiaobo and Li Shun in Sichuan rebelled. Sichuan only produced tea in dozens of states and counties, and many people relied on the tea industry for their livelihood. Northwest Boma, the northwest of Sichuan tea city, tea When the price was as bad as dirt, the tea farmers rebelled. For this reason, Emperor Taizong also issued the "Edict of Sin", which shows the anger of the tea farmers."
Sun Houpu is indeed an expert in this industry. The history of tea is literally in his heart, and he is fully aware of the pain, blood and tears of various tea farmers.
Zheng Ruoying only knew one thing but not the other, and was secretly speechless after hearing this.
"After the civil uprising, will the tea law remain unchanged?" Liang Chuan hit the point.
Sun Houpu said helplessly: "It has changed. Tea cannot be sold anywhere in the world. Even tea from Sichuan and Lingnan can be bought and sold freely."
