The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Chapter 254 253 Refer to Him

"You mean, for ordinary ginseng that is several decades old, one catty is three or four taels of silver? Ginseng that is more than a hundred years old is only ten taels of silver?"

Wei Guangde looked at Zhang Ji's summary of the price of ginseng in Beijing and asked in disbelief.

"Yes, sir, the shopkeeper said that those ginsengs used to sell for one or two taels of silver. Now the amount of Shangdang ginseng collected each year is getting smaller and smaller. Many local ginseng farmers have changed their jobs, so most of the ginseng in Beijing has turned to Liaodong in the north for purchase, and the price has also risen."

Zhang Ji thought Wei Guangde was dissatisfied with the high price of ginseng, and hurriedly explained the news he had heard from the shopkeeper of the medicine shop.

Shangdang ginseng?

Dangshen?

Wei Guangde had a vague impression, as if he had seen it somewhere.

Now it seems that the price of ginseng in this era is not expensive, almost the same as cabbage price.

In fact, except that most areas in the south are not suitable for ginseng growth, so the output is small, the amount of ginseng in the north during this period is still very considerable.

However, with the large-scale collection and consumption that began in the Song Dynasty, the production of ginseng in the mainland has dropped sharply, especially when Codonopsis pilosula was almost extinct. Now many dignitaries often eat ginseng and have developed a habit, so they buy similar Changbai Mountain ginseng, also known as "Northeast ginseng", which has led to the current soaring prices of ginseng.

During the Song Dynasty, ginseng was not considered a precious health medicine, but was used by many people to soak in water like jujube.

Su Shi, a great writer in the Song Dynasty, was like a food blogger, often recording the taste of various delicacies on paper.

Once Su Shi asked his friends to purchase some jujube and ginseng for him. It can be seen that in people's eyes, the value of ginseng is no different from that of jujube.

It's just that Codonopsis pilosula is extinct now, and Changbai Mountain ginseng produced in Liaodong has become a substitute. The difficulty of mining in the mountains, barter trade and long-distance transportation naturally increase the procurement cost, resulting in the current skyrocketing ginseng prices.

The records of ginseng's medicinal effects are described in the "Shennong Bencao Jing", but it is also believed that this thing is sweet and slightly cold, mainly nourishing the five internal organs, calming the spirit, settling the soul, stopping panic, removing evil spirits, improving eyesight, and making people happy and intelligent. It is just an ordinary common medicine, which is far from the great tonic and longevity boasted by later generations.

Wei Guangde heard that people nowadays do not pursue ginseng as much as later generations do, and regard it as a magical medicine that can prolong life, but as an ordinary health product.

It is cheap, but I don't know if the price can be hyped up in the future.

Relatively speaking, for this kind of medicinal materials, it must be precious when it is old, so Wei Guangde still plans to stock up a batch of old ginseng.

It's not that I want to hype this thing. The shopkeepers of the drugstores know that the production of ginseng in the mainland is now less, and it depends on the ginseng in Changbai Mountain in Northeast China.

It seems that there are many ginsengs in Liaodong now, but it can't withstand such continuous collection. Wei Guangde estimates that the price of ginseng will definitely rise.

The price of those ginsengs of the previous year may not be as exaggerated as in later generations, but it is inevitable that they will rise. It is a waste to hoard so much cash in your hands. It is better to take out some of the money to invest in ginseng.

"Take time to go to those medicine shops and buy a large amount of those ginsengs of a hundred years for me."

Wei Guangde sat on the chair and thought for a while before continuing: "Don't touch the silver at home for the time being. Go to Huitong Commercial Bank and find Mr. Lin Erye to withdraw 2,000 taels of silver to do this."

Last time, Wei Guangde withdrew 3,000 taels of silver from Huitong Commercial Bank and gave Gao Zhong 1,000 taels of silver. Now there are about 2,000 taels at home, but it is not certain when it will be used, so Wei Guangde wants to keep it first.

Huitong Commercial Bank has only lent out a sum of silver after such a long time, 5,000 taels, not much, and 3% interest.

It would be troublesome to take all the remaining 12,000 taels of silver back home, so Wei Guangde has never wanted to withdraw cash.

Now that it is useful, let's go to Huitong Commercial Bank and collect the silver.

"Master, do you really want to buy so many ginsengs?"

Zhang Ji was shocked by the silver figure reported by Wei Guangde. Two thousand taels of silver, how many ginsengs would he have to buy?

Can you eat so many ginsengs?

"I want only those over a hundred years old. The older the better. I don't want those with younger years. I don't know how many I can buy."

Wei Guangde said with a little regret.

"I know. Buy ginsengs over a hundred years old."

Zhang Ji nodded in agreement, and then suddenly remembered something and said to Wei Guangde: "Master, there is another thing.

This afternoon, Chen Ju, the eunuch, sent a little eunuch to say that the emperor will summon Tong Miao San Ren to the palace to refine medicine tomorrow."

Wei Guangde nodded when he heard it.

Yes, Ganoderma lucidum is available. Chen Ju said before that if the remaining herbs cannot be found, Ganoderma lucidum can be used instead.

Zhang Juyou of Wanping was really lucky. Not long after the decree was issued, Lingzhi was sent to the palace.

I don’t know if Geng An has made an agreement with Liang Gaofu these days. Will Liang Gaofu tell in detail the crimes committed by Prince Hui during the process of refining the medicine this time?

Sure enough, after the second day of work, Wei Guangde had a banquet with his colleagues. When he got home drunk, he heard Zhang Ji’s report. Geng An returned home at noon. According to Geng An’s words, he told Liang Gaofu Liang Sanren in detail about all the cases of Prince Hui’s rampant lawlessness in Junzhou.

Wei Guangde quickly called for Geng An and asked about the situation in detail before he was satisfied.

The only thing we have to do now is to wait a few days to see if we can find Chen Ju and find out the reaction of Emperor Jiajing later.

Wei Guangde guessed that Chen Ju might have guessed something. At least he knew that Wei Guangde was very concerned about King Hui, but Wei Guangde did not tell Chen Ju in detail about his specific thoughts.

Wei Guangde's judgment of Chen Ju is that he seems to be loyal and honest, but he is also very smart, otherwise he would not be trusted and relied upon by an old eunuch like Gao Zhong.

Yes, in the past few contacts, Wei Guangde felt that Gao Zhong liked to leave errands to Chen Ju, and he was obviously very optimistic about him.

He didn't know how long it would take to refine the medicine this time, so Wei Guangde could only continue to wait, and go to Chen Ju for a drink in a few days to get some news.

"Zhang Ji, when you go to Huitong Commercial Bank, you need a two hundred taels of silver meeting note and give it to me."

Wei Guangde thought about it, although he had taken the initiative to invite Chen Ju for a drink the first two or three times, he had never done anything to help Chen Ju and establish a relationship with him. This was not going to work.

The first time Gao Zhong gave him a thousand taels of silver, this time he gave Chen Ju 200 taels of silver. In the future, he would use him to inquire about the situation in the palace, so naturally he would try his best to maintain this relationship.

"Also, let Li San follow me these two days. Zhao Hu should stay at home first. You should seize the time to go out for a run and bring me some old ginseng."

After talking to Zhang Ji yesterday about transferring money from Huitong Commercial Bank to buy ginseng, Zhang Ji still followed him up and down today. Wei Guangde felt that it was completely unnecessary.

Now Wei Guangde has trained Zhang Ji as his housekeeper, and he has to go out and take charge of himself.

Geng An was also sent out, staring at Liang Gaofu to see when he would leave Xiyuan, which meant he could have a drink with Chen Ju.

A few days later, Zhang Ji began to deliver boxes of century-old wild ginseng to the Wei family's warehouse.

At first, Wei Guangde was very happy when he saw these thick ginseng. ,

If you take out a box of ginseng here, it could be called the treasure of the store in that era.

But in the current Ming Dynasty, it was just a drink that the rich and powerful drank in water.

But having said that, if ginseng had not been collected in large quantities during this period, I am afraid that future generations would not have such high prices.

In later generations of ginseng, it was not because these old ginsengs were all eaten up and the price was so high because of the scarcity of the ginseng.

Now that Emperor Jiajing is frying Ganoderma lucidum, Wei Guangde has taken a different approach and plans to fry Laoshan ginseng. He doesn’t know if he can raise the price in the end.

Wei Guangde was unsure, but he thought that he had already done it anyway, so as long as he kept all the goods in his own hands, he wouldn't be afraid that the price would rise.

It's so damn cheap.

However, the problem was quickly exposed. According to what Zhang Ji said when he came back, a medicine shop owner told him that the preservation method of the ginseng was also very important, otherwise it would be easy for insects to eat and rot.

For dried ginseng, it is much easier to store it, that is, seal it.

Although there was no such thing as a sealed box in ancient times, jars and jars could also be sealed. You just need to pay attention to keeping them dry and sealing them with wax when sealing. Sprinkle quicklime, charcoal, etc. around them to keep the storage environment dry.

Some fresh ginseng needs to be dried regularly and then stored.

If you want to keep it fresh, it's a bit more troublesome. You need to wrap the ginseng completely and gently with fresh moss first, then put it into a dry foam box or other container, and sprinkle a little water on the surface to keep it fresh. Keep the moss moist.

However, even in this way, the storage time is only a few months, which completely fails to meet Wei Guangde's requirements. Naturally, everything needs to be dried and sealed.

For this reason, Wei Guangde asked Zhang Ji to find a person who was good at this in the pharmacy in the capital to come to his home to take care of the ginseng he had stored.

I used to look at the so-called ginseng king in other stores, and thought that it could be stored for a long time if it was completely dried, but I didn't expect that there would be so many things behind it.

In the past two days, Wei Guangde asked people to wait outside Xiyuan until Chen Ju came out of the palace.

Through Geng An, he already knew that Liang Gaofu had left the palace and returned to Tongmiao Temple, and now he needed to get the news from Chen Ju.

Chen Ju doesn't have a house outside the palace now. After all, his rank is so high, so there is naturally less oil and water.

The two hundred taels of silver offered were only enough to buy a house in the outer city, but given his current level, it was definitely not suitable.

Give him two hundred taels first, and if we continue to cooperate in the future, we will naturally get more money, and sooner or later we will buy a house in the inner city of Beijing.

For Chen Ju, who was still just a young chamberlain, Wei Guangde felt that two hundred taels of silver was quite a lot.

Chen Ju now probably hasn't developed the appetite of those great eunuchs yet. Maybe he doesn't look at people seriously even if he has a thousand taels of silver.

In a private room of a restaurant near West Chang'an Street, Wei Guangde and Chen Ju sat opposite each other, drinking and eating while chatting about interesting things in and around the capital.

"Brother Chen, that Wanping citizen Zhang Juyou is really lucky. The emperor just wanted Ganoderma lucidum, so he sent it to the palace. I wonder how the refining of the medicine you mentioned before is progressing. Did he get a reward from the emperor? ”

After three rounds of wine and five flavors of food, Wei Guangde naturally turned to the topic of refining medicine.

"Hey, don't mention it."

When Chen Ju heard Wei Guangde's question, he picked up the quilt on the table and drank it all in one gulp.

With a "boom", the wine glass was hit hard on the table, which startled Wei Guangde.

But soon, Wei Guangde knew that something must have happened during the refining process, which was why Chen Ju was so angry.

"What's wrong with refining the medicine?"

Wei Guangde asked tentatively.

"Well, the elixir is nothing. According to Liang Sanren, the quality of the elixir is quite high, and His Majesty is also very happy. That's it."

Chen Ju only stopped mid-sentence.

Seeing this, Wei Guangde hurriedly picked up the wine flask and filled it for him. He asked with concern: "It's a good thing that the medicine is ready. Why was Brother Chen like that before?"

"I'm not a Liang Sanren yet, and I don't know what's going on recently. I've spoken ill of King Hui several times when I attacked the alchemist, and this time too."

Chen Ju looked up at Wei Guangde and then continued: "It's the same this time. I don't know what they said in the alchemy room. Anyway, when he came out, His Majesty's face was very ugly. It was Liang Sanren who gave us the medicine and asked us Keep it carefully for His Majesty to take."

"What happened next?"

Wei Guangde asked hurriedly.

"Are you so concerned about this?"

Chen Ju pretended to be surprised at this moment.

"Hey, the emperor is unhappy. You ministers should be careful. Is it easy for us foreign ministers?"

Wei Guangde smiled.

"It is estimated that Liang Sanren said bad things about King Hui again. After sending Liang Sanren away, His Majesty asked us to read the records of King Huiwang in the recent period, and then scolded us after reading them.

You said, we are provoking whomever. He Liang Sanren wants to have trouble with King Hui, but he involves us. "

Chen Ju curled his lips and said.

"That is to say, Liang Sanren may have spoken ill of King Hui in the alchemy room. The emperor was also very angry after reading the records of your inner court. King Hui is about to fall out of favor."

Wei Guangde pretended to exclaim, but his heart was filled with joy.

"what you up to?"

Chen Ju asked strangely.

"No, didn't Brother Chen say that last time? This King Hui has a lot of misdeeds. The emperor is dissatisfied, and I don't know if he is going to be punished."

Wei Guangde replied.

"No, the other majesties probably haven't paid attention to it yet. They were mainly dissatisfied with King Hui for leaving the fiefdom without permission. After reading the records in detail, they just cursed us. I don't know if the anger has subsided. Anyway, be careful recently. Just click.”

Chen Ju said.

"Look, big brother, what if I submit a memorial to him at this time? Does Prince Hui have any accomplices in the court?"

Wei Guangde asked in a low voice.

"Nonsense, if King Hui had someone in the court, we would have reported him long ago."

Chen Ju said dissatisfied, "Do you want to take advantage of His Majesty's dissatisfaction with King Hui to impeach him?"

"Of course, if the emperor is dissatisfied with someone, we ministers should not help write a memorial. Even if he fails to participate, we should let him be disgraced and vent his anger on the emperor."

Wei Guangde smiled.

"What do you want to sue him for?"

Chen Ju frowned and said, if this matter is not handled well, the people in the inner court will be in trouble.

Chapter 257/1231
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The Prosperous Era of LongwanCh.257/1231 [20.88%]