At the mouth of Jiankang and Qinhuai River, ships of all sizes and large ships on the water surface were bustling, extremely busy. Large ships from the Yangtze River slowly berthed at the mouth of Qinhuai River. The goods loaded on them were packed onto the gathered boats, and the boat went upstream through the Qinhuai River and transported the goods to Bianhuai Liesi.

The materials coming from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River maintain the daily needs of the people of Jiankang City. Although the upper reaches of Baxiang and Jiangzhou have been occupied by the Zhou State, their output has been transported to Jiankang as always.

This is the result of the mutual market between Chen and Zhou. The land of the Three Wus, which has a large population, can still ensure the basic supply of food and daily needs, and will not cause famine and lead to refugees everywhere.

It is precisely because of the mutual market that many high-quality and low-cost Huangzhou products were able to pour into Jiankang and into the homes of ordinary people, and became well-known to people. Thus, they gradually became accustomed to them, and even their lives changed accordingly.

Cheap daily necessities from Huangzhou are filled with Jiankang, such as cheap porcelain, paper, bamboo, wood, iron needles that are too cheap to believe, and various small ironware, which greatly reduces the living costs of ordinary people.

At the same time, it also made many people difficult to move forward.

The cloth produced in Huangzhou, Zhou Kingdom was of high quality and low price. It was sold in large quantities by merchants in Jiankang, which caused the price of Chenguo cloth to drop year by year. The cloth woven by farmers themselves was overshadowed and their sales were greatly affected.

Spreading your own fabric is one of the few sources of income for many families. Now it is no longer effective because hand-spun fabric is not easy to sell.

Although merchants purchased large quantities of hemp and silk from farmers and sold them to Zhou State for profit, these profiteers maliciously suppressed prices, which caused the income of many farmers to plummet. After the impact, their already struggling lives became increasingly difficult.

Not only farmers but others were affected, but also others. Lu Qian was one of the "victims". At this moment, he was sitting on the second floor of a tea shop, looking at the busy scene on the Qinhuai River outside the window, feeling depressed and could not be happy at all.

On the side, the maids were preparing tea, stone mills, small stoves, tea pots and other tea preparation utensils for him.

If it were in the past, Lu Qian would have prepared and cooked tea and enjoyed the fun in these processes. However, now his mood is different, and he is focused on the tea business that is becoming increasingly difficult to make, and he will lose his leisure and elegance.

As a tea merchant, Lu Qian once lived a good life. Although he was not a wealthy family, he still lived a good life. However, the good times of that year were gone forever, because since new teas such as "Xiyangchun" began to be sold in Jiankang, his business has been getting worse and worse.

Xiyangchun is a tea from Huangzhou. It is named after the capital of the state is Xiyang City.

Huangzhou was still the territory of Chen State more than ten years ago and has not been famous for producing tea for hundreds of years. Now, the famous "Xiyangchun" tea in Huangzhou, or other famous tea leaves, is very popular in Jiankang, squeezing the share of traditional tea, making life more and more difficult for tea merchants such as Lu Qian.

The reason why "traditional tea" is because the "methods" of new tea such as "Xiyangchun" are different. They are not cooked, but "soaked". They have a unique flavor when tasted. Xiyangchun and "making tea methods" soon spread in Jiankang.

The traditional tea making is called "Buying Tea". First of all, you need to prepare tea first. Just like cutting vegetables before cooking, grind the tea leaves and tea stems with small stone mills and other tools, then add salt, mint, orange peel, ginger and other seasonings, add water and then put it on the fire and cook it slowly.

Or, just like making soup, you can directly cook raw tea into soup and drink it. Drinking tea is similar to drinking vegetable tea soup. This soup is also called "Ming Porridge".

The so-called tea brewing means putting the tea leaves in a teapot and brewing them with boiling water. The tea prepared in this way is not eaten, but only drinking tea. For Lu Qian, this is simply nonsense.

When making tea, you should add a lot of seasonings and cook them together. Only after they are cooked can you drink them. What is the difference between this method of soaking them in boiling water and drinking them after soaking them in boiling water. It is not salt in cooking and eating them without cooking.

When you cook tea without seasonings, is this still called tea?

Lu Qian has always believed this, but his stubbornness cannot save the transaction. As "making tea" becomes more popular, the sales of the tea he acquired begin to decline, and the transaction is getting worse every year.

Tea is needed to make tea, but it is not necessary to make tea. Why is it difficult to sell even tea? Why is this?

The reason is very simple. The new tea led by "Xiyangchun" is not in the form of traditional round tea or tea cakes, but in the form of a loose "scattered tea". Each tea leaf is rolled into a roll, and when it is boiled, the taste will come out quickly.

This loose tea is made with a new process, which is different from the traditional process. Lu Qian and other Jiangnan tea merchants took a lot of effort to find out that this new production process is called "fried tea".

Put the fresh tea leaves in a cookware called "Iron Pot" and "fry" them before rolling the tea leaves into rolls and soak them in boiling water, making them fragrant.

Iron pot is a kind of iron cookware first used in Huangzhou. It can achieve the cooking skills of "frying". Lu Qian's chef can do it. The fried dishes are indeed delicious, but it is difficult to "fry" tea with an iron pot.

You should pay attention to the heat. If the heat is not enough or has passed, the tea leaves will not work. How to grasp the specific details? Tea garden owners and tea merchants have tried countless times, but they are always unable to compare with the tea leaves produced by Zhou State such as "Xiyangchun".

The owners of tea gardens in Jiangnan also wanted to follow the crowd and use "fried tea" to prepare tea to meet the huge demand in Jiankang City. However, the problem is that they cannot cook well, and the sales of tea were greatly affected.

Today, I no longer drink tea, and many powerful people followed suit, and even their family and relatives and friends learned. As I learned, I became addicted and really liked to drink the tea I made.

There is also the so-called "tea art". When women who have practiced their "tea art", the actions of making tea look pleasing to the eye, which is much better than grinding tea and grinding tea.

Therefore, traditional tea cakes and buns are not easy to sell. Although they are not impossible to sell at all, it is an ironclad fact that profits plummet.

Regarding this, the owners of tea gardens in Jiangnan were anxious, and the tea merchants in Jiangnan were also anxious: they also wanted to go to Zhou State to purchase goods, but the relationship between the tea gardens in Zhou State and the tea merchants was close, so outsiders could not buy goods directly from the tea gardens.

Even the "fried tea" process is not easy to get out, so the tea (group tea) transactions in Jiangnan are shaking under the impact of "scattered tea".

One big ship after another arrived in Jiankang with loose tea, and was then sold out by merchants and soon appeared on the tea tables of the powerful people in Jiankang City. Lu Qian and other tea merchants and tea garden owners in Jiangnan could only watch the tea merchants in Zhou Kingdom. The tea garden owners made a lot of money, but they could only watch them on the wall.

At this moment, Lu Qian looked through the window and looked at several large ships that were moored at the Qinhuai River in the distance, and felt his heart bleeding: these were all tea boats loaded with tea, and the profits they seized were originally theirs.

Cutting off people's wealth is like killing parents. Lu Qian and other tea merchants, who were forced to go to the fore, decided to make a try.

Now, the other party is unscrupulously selling a large amount of loose tea to Jiankang. If he doesn't move, he will not be able to live this year, so some people suggest giving foreign "scattered tea" a little color.

Thinking of this, Lu Qian looked at the Qinhuai River outside the window again, and saw several small ships with marks slowly moving towards the mouth of the Qinhuai River. Many men sitting on the boat looked nothing unusual.
Chapter completed!