Chapter 691： looking for business opportunities

Chapter 691 Looking for business opportunities

When the bear boy ate candied haws, he swung his cheeks angrily and gnawed, as if the torn candied haws in his mouth was his cheeky fifth brother-in-law.

However, after Zhu Pingan bought snacks for Little Lolita, he also gave him a few snacks, the bear boy's attitude changed 180 degrees. Really happy, I have long forgotten about Zhu Pingan's "bullying" him.

If you have milk, you are a mother.

Zhu Pingan glanced at the grinning brat, shook his head slightly and smiled.

In the summer of the Ming Dynasty, although there is no air-conditioning fan, there are still many kinds of cold drinks. Roadside teahouses, wine shops and even street vendors provide all kinds of iced cold drinks, such as sugar mung beans, watermelon juice, pear juice, **** honey juice, Lychee dew, plum wine, etc., are not much less than modern cold drinks.

In addition to cold drinks, shaved ice is also sold, mixed with sugar and spices for human consumption, which is the prototype of modern ice cream. But even so, the price of shaved ice is much more expensive than cold drinks, and it is expensive. Even people in the imperial capital can only afford it for some wealthy households and nobles.

Zhu Pingan led the bear boy and little Lolita into a tea stall selling shaved ice, ordered three shaved ice, and was going to taste the difference between ancient ice cream and modern ice cream.

The shaved ice in a small porcelain bowl is mixed with fruit juice, sugar, milk and spices, and it is just like rice in a porcelain bowl.

The appearance is far from the modern semi-solid ice cream, and the taste and taste disappointed Zhu Pingan.

But the bear and the little loli are eating happily, especially the bear is eating all over his face.

Looking at the other people sitting in the tea stall, they also looked satisfied after eating, as if this thing should only be in the sky, and the world can't smell it a few times.

This is so satisfying, if you let them try modern Haagen-Dazs... Zhu Ping'an touched his chin.

The difficulty is not very great.

Although Zhu Pingan doesn't understand chemistry, he still knows how to make ice by dissolving saltpeter in water to absorb heat.

Although the ancients mastered the method of collecting ice in winter and storing it in the ice cellar for summer use, the ice stored in this way is expensive, and only the rich have the financial resources to afford it.

In addition to the ice preserved in this way, there is only ice obtained by making ice with saltpeter. This is the end of the Tang Dynasty. People mined saltpeter during the production of gunpowder, and accidentally discovered that saltpeter dissolved in water would absorb a lot of heat, which could condense water into ice.

However, according to Zhu Pingan's observation of the prices of shaved ice and cold drinks in the market, it is estimated that there are not many people who have mastered the method of making saltpeter ice, otherwise it should be so expensive, and the price is much more expensive than modern ice cream. rough.

With the method of making ice with saltpeter, and as a senior foodie, Zhu Pingan has some understanding of the production method of modern ice cream. Generally, it is to mix ice, milk, jam, starch and eggs together, and it will be formed in about half an hour. Semi-solidified ice cream, and then use a thin egg cake as a tube. Although there is no way to do it yourself in modern times, Zhu Pingan believes that after a few more attempts, he should be able to make ice cream, at least it will be much better than the shaved ice in his hand.

If modern ice cream appeared in Daming, how could it be more competitive than Daming’s shaved ice?

Of course, it's just an alternative.

"Brother-in-law, I still want to eat."

In a blink of an eye, the bear’s bowl of shaved ice has already bottomed out, and there is still half a bowl of little loli niu’s.

The bear boy looked at Zhu Pingan eagerly.

Children can't eat so much shaved ice, it will spoil their stomachs, Zhu Pingan glanced at the bear, and smiled slightly, "There are a lot of delicious food on this street, save some stomachs, and I will show you some other dishes later." of."

Although he couldn't eat another bowl of shaved ice, but after hearing that Zhu Ping'an wanted to take him to eat something else, the bear child happily licked the bowl.

After eating the shaved ice, Zhu Ping'an led the bear boy and the little loli for a stroll.

Because of the snacks, the two little ones didn't feel tired at all, especially the bear, who had a lot of fun running.

Slowly wandered to Dongcheng District.

The area around Qihuamen in Dongcheng District is also the economically prosperous area of ​​the imperial capital. Apart from the "front three gates" of the imperial capital, this area of ​​Qihuamen is the most prosperous and bustling area.

Zhu Ping'an led the bear boy and the little loli to carefully avoid the heavy traffic, and stood under the shade of a tree looking at this bustling area.

Standing in the shade of a tree, Zhu Pingan looked at Qihua Gate from a distance, and found that the traffic of people coming and going from Qihua Gate never stopped, and there was an endless stream of grain trucks. Officials going to Beijing for pilgrimage, merchants going south from the imperial capital, and merchants returning from the south to the imperial capital, entered and exited at Qihua Gate.

It feels a little like in front of a modern railway station, with people coming and going, and the flow is endless.

Zhu Ping’an knew that the prosperity of the Qihuamen area benefited from the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal opened in the Sui Dynasty connected the north and the south, and was the economic lifeline of the entire empire. The grain used by the entire capital was transported through the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

During the Yuan Dynasty, Guo Shoujing presided over the excavation of the Tonghui River, which was called Yuhe in Ming Dynasty and connected the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal.

In this way, the grain transport boats in the south can follow the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal to Zhangjiawan, Tongzhou, and then continue along the Tonghui River, all the way west to the Qihuamen Wharf in the capital.

Qihuamen is the only gate for grain to enter Beijing. After being unloaded from tank boats to Qihuamen Wharf, the grain is loaded into the city through Qihuamen, stored in various granaries in the city, and then delivered to thousands of households through shops. on the household dining table. Every morsel of food for the people in the capital is brought in through this gate.

With so much foot traffic, this is where the business opportunity lies.

Zhu Ping'an looked around, well, sure enough, the ancients could think of what he could think of, and there are especially many shops in this area.

"Come on, let's go ahead and have a look."

Zhu Pingan hugged the little loli with one hand, and led the bear child with the other, and walked slowly towards Qihua Gate along the shade of the trees.

As he walked forward, Zhu Ping'an observed that in the flow of people here, foot laborers unloading goods at the pier accounted for a considerable proportion.

Also, no matter business contacts, grain transportation by water, or contribution from the Quartet, as long as it passes through the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal, Qihua Gate is a must. The cargo arriving at Qihuamen Wharf through the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal is massive, requiring manpower to disembark and load it into a carriage.

Before approaching Qihuamen, Zhu Pingan heard the neat chant of the trackers on the Qihuamen wharf, and the voices of the footmen shouting "Come and move the cargo".

Near the Qihuamen Wharf area, there are many shops selling food, such as buns, steamed buns, side dishes, fried rice and fried noodles, meat soup, bean curd soup, rice cakes and cut meat, etc. After unloading, the footmen, boatmen and other laborers with towels on their shoulders went in groups to look for food. For those who do hard work, it is very important to replenish their physical strength.

The bear stared at the various foods in the stalls and shops, drooling all over the place.

(end of this chapter)