Great Tang Idyll

Book 2: Chapter 13

Two days later, the carriages carrying the poultries from the Zhang and Wang manors arrived. Along the way, there were a lot of things to worry about, such as taking care of what the poultries ate and what the poultries drank. Since the poultries were unable to see their original owners, they were ruffled. Regardless of whether it was day or night, the poultries were noisy.

There were more than 20,000 poultries in total. When the poultries got off the carriages, they didn't know where to run to. The hens usually gathered next to the roosters, and the roosters were ready to fight each other.

Dozens of them died on the way but fortunately, there were no infectious diseases. After the poultries came, it was troublesome to get them to work. They were a large mess, and some would even attack people when they got too close.

Just when others were at a loss, Ying'tao made an appearance. These poultry were all hatched by her and in particular, when the poultries were young, Ying'tao was the one who took care of them for a few days. Large ones and small ones were sent out and brought in batches by batches and this made her exhausted. Even just taking care of the eggs caused a lot of blisters to form on her hands.

When these poultries saw her, they all wanted to move towards her. Even though they have grown a lot already, they still saw her as their mother. After a bit of work, the poultries settled down a bit. There was no need to continue to keep them in cages so they were herded to different locations. They were divided into several groups, and there was food along the way for them to eat.

There was no need to worry about getting water for them since the grasshoppers have a high water content, and they could also get some water from dew. Including the poultries that were here first, there were a total of more than 30,000 poultry that were dispersed to the places in He'nan Division where the locust plague was the most severe.

The poultries raised by the locals were also brought together by the local authorities, but there was a slight dispute in the distribution of eggs. It was impossible to distinguish which family's poultry laid the eggs so quarrels often arose over the number of eggs that each person can collect. There was a selfish and dishonest person that only had a rooster and two hens, but he claimed that his poultries produced three eggs everyday. He only backed down when the local bailiffs intervened and gave him a warning.

There was not so much trouble on Ying'tao's side. More people were hired to help pick up the eggs and this became another source of income for the people here. Tens of thousands of eggs were produced everyday. Ying'tao, Xiao'hong, and the others followed their Young Master's instructions to sell the eggs on the spot. If the locals had no grains, then other items such as wood, dried fish, shrimp, cloth, domestic animals, metal tools can be used to exchange for the eggs.

This area was next to the Yellow River and not too far from Shan'dong so they had access to the sea and they could easily find items from the sea such as kelp and crabs. These items could also be used to exchange for eggs.

In addition to using the eggs to exchange for items, one tenth of the eggs were brought to other Divisions and Prefectures to be sold. The money earned was used to buy and ship grains and resell it. This was done in hopes of further pushing Yao Chong to quickly get the credit for the two manors.

Yao Chong did not return to the capital yet, which was located not too far away. He wanted to stay here for a few more days to see how the situation progresses. The presence of more than 30,000 poultries put him under great pressure. He was also confused why they allowed people to exchange those items for eggs, so he got Magistrate Cheng to come over.

"My lord, are you looking for me?" Magistrate Cheng respectfully greeted him when he arrived. He was not nervous at all right now, unlike how he was at the beginning when they first met. The arrival of the 30,000 poultry boosted his confidence.

"Yes. Let me ask you, it makes sense that the Zhang and Wang family are trading their eggs for the other items, but why are they obsessed with those things collected near sea? How come five catties of shell powder and those rotten fish and shrimp are worth an egg? And seven catties is worth a duck egg, and ten catties is worth a goose egg? What do they want these useless things for?"

Yao Chong heard his subordinates say that many people were collecting up these items that no one wanted at the nearly dry Yellow River so that they can trade it in for all kinds of eggs. However, Yao Chong couldn't figure out why.

Magistrate Cheng knew why--- it was used for feeding chickens. It was obvious that these poultries were stronger than other poultries and they were able to lay more eggs. Every night, there were people at every market in San'shui County collecting items; regardless of what the item was, as long as it was edible, it was picked up.

At the beginning, he didn't know that the Zhang Manor was behind this, but later he noticed that the markets were more cleaner than usual so he sent someone to investigate this matter. Whenever the bailiffs had free time, they also helped pick up items and then they would send it to the Zhang Manor after the items were dried. After inquiring more about it, they found out that it was used to feed the poultries.

He knew the answer in his mind, but he didn't talk about it. If he did, then others would know about it, and this would cause the value of it to increase. The area near the sea was not under his control, so he was not compelled to help them. Thus, when the Prime Minister asked him about this, he made a confused look in his eyes.

"My lord, this is my first time hearing about this. You're right, what are they going to do with these items? Near the sea, these items are just trash, who would want them?

I think those two manors are deliberating helping out the commoners. If they just gave the eggs to the commoners, the commoners will grow suspicious of them. Maybe these items can be brought back to be used as fertilizer. "

Yao Chong did not find Magistrate Cheng's response to be satisfactory, and in particular, the last part about fertilizer did not make sense. It would make sense to use freshwater shrimps and fish to make fertilizer, but using saltwater creatures did not make sense unless they wanted to turn their high quality soil into medium quality, and medium quality into low quality. The salt will remain in the soil and affect crop growth.

"How about you go ask them about it. I heard that a lot of eggs went bad when it was transported to other Prefectures so the amount of grains that could be traded for was also reduced. How about they transport salt over and brine the eggs. The salt has to be paid by the two manors, but when they exchange the eggs for grains, they can keep a portion of the grains to cover the cost of the salt."

Yao Chong thought for a while and then he spoke to Magistrate Cheng. This was actually an under the table way of giving the Zhang and Wang manor some benefits. The salt used for brining depends on how much brine is needed for each jar. Because the salt was used to help with exchanging grains with other prefectures, a discount can be given when buying the salt. Furthermore, after the salt-brined eggs were removed, the brine can be reused.

This way, the brining process will use less salt. They can also sell the salted eggs to others at a higher price while also keeping a portion of the grains for themselves, and then selling the rest of the grains at a normal price. In any case, they will be able to earn some money. He was the prime minister so he couldn't just sit there and watch them keep investing in more and more money with no return.

When Magistrate Cheng heard this, he was happy and he quickly agreed, "I understand. I'll go ask right now, and tell them about what you said. My lord is a really good official who is considerate of the commoners. I'm inferior compared to my lord. "

"Well, this is the benevolence of the Imperial Court and the Emperor." After Yao Chong finished speaking, he didn't want to continue talking to Magistrate Cheng so he picked up a book and made a posture that implied he wanted to read.

Magistrate Cheng was also sensible, so he immediately said a few lines of flattery and retreated his way out. He hurried towards the place where Xiao'hong and Ying'tao were so that he could tell them the good news. As for the matter that the Prime Minister asked about, he could just tell the Prime Minister that the Zhang and Wang manors were unwilling to answer.

Xiao'hong and Ying'tao have been busy these past few days. They had to keep a clear record of all of the types of eggs brought back and give the workers their payments in the form of eggs. They had learned some things about bookkeeping from their Young Master. It was a little tricky at the beginning, but they eventually became proficient at it.

After hearing the news that Magistrate Cheng brought back, the two of them immediately sent someone to deliver the message back. They also allowed people to trade jars for eggs so that they can use the jars to salt-brine the eggs.

*

The two manors were also busy arranging the children's competition. The original plan was to start the competition in two days, but none of the children has been able to solve all six faces. In fact, it wasn't just the children that were unable to solve it, but the grown-ups couldn't too. Despite this, a lot of Rubik's Cubes were sold in the meantime.

Zhou Xi'hu even came over to ask about the production method, and he disassembled a few of them to analyze its structure. He wanted to find people to mass produce the Rubik's Cubes and sell it to other locations. The money that was earned will also be shared with the Zhang Manor, just like before.

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan had been in the swimming pool for several days in a row, and today they finally decided to not swim. They found someone to start constructing a bathhouse that had a steam room for their family to use. The two of them were racking their brains trying to think about what kind of stone they should use. Even until now, they couldn't decide.

"Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore. Let's just use mai'fan stone. There's no electricity, so we can only pour water onto heated charcoal. None of those childrens were able to solve all six sides. Should we give them some hints?"

Wang Juan really couldn't recall what tourmaline was, so she had to pick one at random. She reasoned that at least mai'fan stones were not harmful to the human body. Then she discussed with Zhang Xiao'bao whether they should teach them how to solve a Rubik's Cube.

Zhang Xiao'bao had been in a steam room countless times before, but he had never studied it carefully, so he also didn't know what to select. He put the matter aside for the time being, and said to Wang Juan, "I don't think we need to tell them. It's no big deal; we can just delay the start by a few more days. If other people can find a solution to it, then the people here can too. The people of the Tang Dynasty are not that stupid.

How about five days. Let's start after five days, and then whichever child has solved the most faces within the specified time will be the one that wins. We can also use this time to find those intellectuals who think they are smart to watch the competition and learn. Later, we could have another competition just for adults at the Between The Water And Clouds Restaurant. "

"Your purpose of organizing these competitions was to lure Li Xun in, so it doesn't matter if you spent money, but if we make a competition for adults, then even more money would have to be spent." Wang Juan didn't realize what was going on at the beginning since she was fixated on thinking about the spent money, but after she finished speaking, she suddenly had a moment of realization. She continued speaking to Zhang Xiao'bao,

"You want to use this opportunity to earn money, right? I knew it. You had ulterior motives. You want others to pay for your advertising fees. You will be able to rent out some stalls to people selling all sorts of snacks and they can come here to help you advertise."

"Oh my, it could work out like that? Why didn't I think of it?" Zhang Xiao'bao looked at Wang Juan with a surprised look, but Wang Juan ignored him. His acting skills were really terrible.

"Alright, that is my plan. You guessed correctly. Let's figure that out later though. We should discuss what kind brain teasers should we give them? It needs to be appropriate for this era, and it has to be interesting."

Zhang Xiao'bao changed the topic.

"It's simple, listen to me. A person is walking on a single-plank bridge, and a wolf suddenly appears in front of him. He also discovers that there is a tiger behind him. All of them want to eat him. Surprisingly, he..."

"I'm going to doze off. Choose a different one. It should be easier to understand." Before Wang Juan could finish her words, Zhang Xiao'bao interrupted her.