Chastity Layman

Dafeichuan.

A dozen or so light cavalry were scattered, looking for traces of the Southern Route Army and the Tuyuhun Tianzhu King's Department.

Passing by Chaka Salt Lake, Qin Lang took a rest here temporarily. Chaka Salt Lake is the name of later generations. To be precise, Chaka means salt pond in Tibetan. At this time, the lake was indeed called Yanchi. It was an important salt pond in Tuyuhun. The salt produced was of good quality. At that time, the salt here was continuously transported to the Central Plains.

It's just that the lively Yanchi in the past is empty at this time.

Yanchi is sandwiched between the branch of Kunlun Mountain and the branch of Qilian Mountain. The two mountains are covered with snow all the year round, and the snow mountain is reflected on the lake, forming the beauty of a city in the sky where the sky and water intersect, and the snow mountain and the salt lake complement each other.

Qin Lang used to travel here, followed a tour group to visit Qinghai, and went to many famous scenic spots like a horse on horseback, sleeping on the bus, urinating when getting off the bus, taking pictures when he arrived, and following the tour guide to the designated places after taking pictures. Shopping in the store, although the scenery is really good, but it is not very impressive.

Unlike at this time, walking all the way, wading through mountains and rivers, experiencing hardships and exhaustion all the way, when arriving at Yanchi and looking at the beautiful scenery, it is a completely different experience.

Spreading a yak felt blanket and looking at the salt lake reflecting the snow-capped peaks, I really can't tell which is the earth and which is the sky.

In the distance, wild flowers are blooming brilliantly.

Zhang Chao brought butter and highland barley powder, "I didn't want their tea bricks for the tea, and those tea bricks are too bad, they are all knife tea."

The so-called knife tea means that after the tea farmers in the Central Plains have picked the best crops of tea leaves, they finally use a knife to cut off the old leaves that have grown for at least half a year, including the stems and leaves. This kind of tea actually has no buds. Only leaves and stems. After these old teas are picked, they are greened, kneaded, fermented, autoclaved, and finally made into tea bricks.

This kind of tea itself was made by Qin Lang, and it is also called dark tea. In fact, it is a foreign trade route. This kind of dark tea is low in cost, and the tea tree itself has to be pruned every year after picking tea. The process of cutting the top for better tea production next year.

Originally, these peeled old tea leaves and stems were also discarded, but Qin Lang collected them, and after more than a dozen processes, made these tea into tea bricks, which were as hard as bricks, but because they were made after After fermentation and autoclaving, the tea leaves are very strong.

It's just that ordinary people in the Central Plains are not used to drinking it, but it is more suitable for herdsmen who eat milk and meat for a long time.

This kind of tea brick is also easy to transport, not easy to mildew, etc. It is also easy to eat, just drop it a little. If you drink it with ghee, mare's milk, etc., and add some salt, it is actually more suitable for the taste of herdsmen.

After special marketing, this kind of Qinji tea bricks has already been brought to Turkic, Khitan, Mohe, Tuyuhun, Western Regions and other places through major tea merchants, and the market sales are soaring every year.

On the contrary, now Zhongyuan has been deliberately promoted by Qin Lang to change his taste. In the past, Zhongyuan liked to drink boiled tea with various seasonings such as salt, onion, ginger and garlic, but now he gradually began to like brewed tea. , green tea and black tea are very popular.

Qin Lang watched as Zhang Chao fetched a piece of tea cake.

From this point of view, it is the tea that nobles can enjoy, and it is also a kind of tea that many people in the Central Plains are used to drinking. Today, the finished tea in the Central Plains mainly includes four types: loose tea, rough tea, powdered tea and cake tea.

Ordinary people generally can’t afford tea, and small landlords with better conditions drink powdered tea, which is the high broken tea that old Beijingers like to drink in later generations. It is actually broken tea leaves, which are packaged and sold to ordinary people. , the price is low, but it also tastes good.

Of course, there is also a high-grade powdered tea, which is actually fine tea that is smashed into fine powder.

Crude tea is naturally raw material with old leaves and thick stalks. Generally speaking, it is one or two grades higher than export tea bricks. It is the recommended leaf tea picked after the bud tea is picked, with a little stalk. Picking June leaves is better. But generally it is also a synonym for low-grade tea. Occasionally, there are a few kinds of rough tea with good reputation and good taste, which are also very rare.

Cake tea is a popular tea in the past. There are seven steps in the production of cake tea. It is picked on a sunny day, then steamed, pounded, shot, baked, worn, sealed, and dried. This is tea cake. The raw materials of this kind of cake tea are good, usually young buds are picked, but the processing technology is different. When drinking, it is usually roasted first and then fried, that is, traditionally boiled tea, and then add various spices to it.

The biggest difference between this cake tea and the fried loose tea that Qin Lang strongly recommends is the difference between steaming and frying. Cake tea uses steamed greens, while loose tea is mainly fried.

Two kinds of tea represent two flavors.

Good tea cakes are still very precious, and are even liked by many old-fashioned nobles, especially on the grasslands. Those chieftains and nobles prefer strong tea cakes. The tea is transparent, full and thick, and it is the best Satisfying the color, fragrance and flavor they want, especially if they usually eat too much greasy food, drinking a cup of thick decocted cake tea will really warm the stomach and spleen, and make the whole body comfortable.

Compared with tea bricks, it is more upscale.

Qin Lang has never been used to drinking this kind of tea cakes and tea bricks. He thinks the taste is too strong, and it hurts his stomach when he drinks it, just like he didn't like drinking Pu'er before, he always felt like scratching his intestines.

He still likes brewed green tea, or black tea in winter, which is clear in color and fragrant.

"also."

During the march, you can't pay too much attention to it, and it is better to drink butter tea with this cake tea.

Ghee is the same as in the seized materials, and it is also an extremely valuable product of the herdsmen. The herdsmen have to milk the milk two or three times a day. The oil is separated, and a large bucket of milk can only produce a small ball of ghee.

Ghee made from fresh milk every day exists together. These ghee is not only the tribute that the herdsmen want to pay to the lords and nobles, but also the currency in their daily transactions. At the same time, ghee is inseparable from daily drinking.

A large pot of water had already been boiled in the cauldron. Zhang Chao took out a piece of tea cake and prepared to simmer it with a knife. Qin Lang took the tea cake directly and threw it into the pot, "Bring some more."

This kind of tea cake is very thin, and a catty of tea can be made into a hundred slices, so it is also called thin slice cake tea in this category. The thinner the tea, the more expensive it is, representing superb craftsmanship. Qin Lang reckoned that the tea cake in his hand, those merchants had slaughtered the Tuyuhun nobleman, a piece of such a thin slice would have to be exchanged for a cow of him at least.

However, although the technology of this kind of tea is relatively advanced and complicated, the cost will not exceed a sheep.

"The key to buttered tea is its richness and oily fragrance. If you dig a little bit of tea leaves, what's the taste?"

"This tea cake is very expensive. It is said that one cake costs two cows."

After hearing this, Qin Lang called him a profiteer.

The Qin family can now be said to be one of the largest tea merchants in the Tang Dynasty. In recent years, under Qin Lang's instruction, the Qin family has bought tea from various places to grow tea, and signed contracts with many tea farmers, so that they have a large number of tea farms in their hands. , mastered the precious first-hand resources.

Then there are a large number of tea factories in various places. Qin Lang also used various means to come up with the Datang tea industry standard, launched the eight major tea varieties, and packaged hundreds of tea brands, high, medium, low, and various stages. He makes tea.

Then through the dealer system, the Qin family's tea is sold all over the place. There are two principles of Qin Lang's business, everyone earns money together. So although he has mastered the important sources and standards, he is still very generous in terms of profit. Those tea merchants who cooperate with the Qin family get tea from him at a discount, and even as a distributor, there are rebates. The more sales, the higher the rebates. This win-win model makes the partners of the Qin family very active in selling tea.

However, although the price of the tea from the Qin family is low, the tea merchants did not lose money because of this, especially those teas for export, such as this kind of thin slices, Qin Lang sold them to the tea merchants, and one piece was less than a sheep. The price was converted, but these guys actually took two cows when they sold Tuyuhun.

Huge profits.

"Put a few more pieces." Qin Lang thought to himself, should he adjust the price of this tea next time, and set a rough price standard with the dealers, or if everyone sells like this, will it affect the Qin family's business? What about the tea industry?

Put the ghee into the barrel, then add the high-quality salt produced in Yanchi, and finally pour the boiled strong tea into the barrel, and beat it repeatedly with a wooden pestle, so that the ghee and tea soup are fully integrated, and finally become milky.

Qin Lang sat there, watching Princess Yongni of Tuyuhun making buttered tea with a wooden pestle and focused expression. Ghee, whipped milk tea, skillful movements.

Abao's twin daughters, Yifu Zhenji and Yifu Wenji, have a nice name, and they make barley tsampa there.

Ghee and hot tea are also inseparable from making tsampa.

Tsampa is fried with ground barley flour. On the plateau, herdsmen will also grow some barley for consumption. The yield of barley is not high, but it is more suitable for the plateau terrain.

The two sisters first put some ghee into the bowl, then rinse it with hot tea, and finally add the barley powder, and then use their hands to mix it in the bowl. It is similar to kneading noodles, but the barley powder is easy to disperse, so the method is very particular. Qin Lang is always difficult to form, so he simply let the two sisters do it for him.

The two sisters each have a silver bowl, and stir in the bowl with their hands. First, use the middle finger to press the fried noodles to the bottom of the bowl and stir gently. The other hand drags the bottom of the bowl and turns slowly. Press the highland barley flour into the tea soup in one direction, and then knead and mix flexibly with a few fingers side by side in the pressure bowl, and knead it into a ball after the fry is almost evenly mixed.

The highland barley tsampa balls are beautifully made.

Sisters Zhen Ji and Wen Ji brought the beautiful tsampa balls to Qin Lang.

At this time, Princess Yongni also made the butter tea.

"Saburo uses tea."

"Sanlang eats tsampa."

Looking at this scene, Zhang Chao suddenly felt sad. He could only quickly turn his head to the side and look at the beautiful Yanchi. It would be great if he could find such a beautiful and gentle girl from another race.