Chapter 424 - 424 It's actually true
424 It’s actually true
After the discussion, Liang Youxiao immediately went to find someone to arrange for them to head South.
Shi Qingluo was busy for the rest of the day.
She taught everyone how to make canned food, candles, and soap.
Xiao Hanzheng was also busy, so he had someone re-tabulate the county’s population and the number of families who were eligible for tax-waiver.
After building a few workshops in Heyang County and recruiting a lot of people, the county had also gained a lot of popularity.
However, this would only attract some merchants to purchase the goods.
Therefore, Xiao Hanzheng followed Shi Qingluo’s suggestion and rebuilt the guest houses, restaurants, and eateries in the county.
Shi Qingluo gave him more than twenty low cost food and snack recipes, and Xiao Hanzheng asked the guests, restaurants, and eateries to send their people to learn from them.
All the big inns that had the conditions had been renovated.
There was an eatery inside the courtyard.
He could also change it into a place for accommodation.
For the ordinary families in the county with extra rooms, they could also convert them into a homestay.
Many of the Western regions and Arab merchants came and go.
When they arrived at a place and felt that it was comfortable in all aspects, they would definitely stay overnight.
A small merchant without money would not be willing to spend money to stay in an expensive Inn, so this kind of homestay was very suitable.
The rich merchants could stay in the renovated Inn. The toilets and bathing rooms had all been changed with toilet bowls and shower facilities.
The beds had also been changed into softer beds for comfort.
In the past, many merchants from the Western regions or Arab regions would head directly to the North to stay.
They basically didn’t pass by Heyang County, so they had to build some special industries to attract and retain these guests.
There were also merchants from other parts of Daliang who had to be retained.
Only when there was a crowd could a dead place be revived.
Xiao Hanzheng and Shi Qingluo were extremely busy.
The canned food workshop had also collected a lot of grapes, apricots, and peaches, all of which were made into canned fruits.
Liang Youxiao had brought his trusted aides over to learn how to make fruit cans.
After learning it, he didn’t immediately take his men to the South, but waited for the mutton to be opened.
Ten days later.
In addition to the people working in the canned food workshop, there were also many people who came to join in the fun.
Because they heard that the county magistrate’s wife was going to open the can of mutton for everyone to try, all the people in the county who were interested or wanted to take advantage of it came.
Xiao Hanzheng ordered his men to maintain order of the situation.
Shi Qingluo and her people carried out dozens of canned mutton.
There was a piece of red paper on each can that wrote its flavor.
This is the can of mutton that our workshop stewed ten days ago.
On such a hot day, it would have gone bad if it was directly put outside.
So today, I’ll let everyone witness this can of meat that can be kept for more than half a year without spoiling or smelling.
The reason she dared to let so many people taste it today was because she had opened a few bottles two days ago and they didn’t go bad.
Everyone was shocked when they heard this. So this was canned food?
“Madam, can the stewed mutton really last that long?” Someone couldn’t help but ask.
Almost no one present believed it.
How could it not spoil after such a long time?
However, they did hear that the canned food had been prepared ten days ago and placed in the warehouse.
All of them were staring at it curiously.
“You’ll know if it’s real once you try it,” Shi Qingluo said with a smile.
The reason why he let them try it for free was to make the people in the county happy and increase the county’s popularity.
Secondly, it was mainly for publicity.
After she finished speaking, she took out a can of braised mutton and used a dagger to open the wooden cover.
Everyone heard a “psss” sound.
Then, Shi Qingluo unscrewed the bottle cap.
Qingqing immediately brought over a clean white pot.
Shi Qingluo poured the mutton into a white clay pot, then Qingqing held it in the middle and heated it up in front of everyone.
Very quickly, a thick aroma of mutton filled the air.
Many people could not help but swallow their saliva.
“It smells so good. It’s the same smell as the one from the workshop.”
“Yes, yes, this is the fragrance.”
“I didn’t expect it to still have such a fragrance after being left out for so many days. If we leave it at home for two days, it’ll all stink.”
“I wonder how it will taste? I’ve always wanted to try it when I smelled it, but it wasn’t for sale back then.”
” It smells so good. It shouldn’t taste too bad, right? ”
The current price of mutton was not high, more than ten wen per catty, only the rich in Heyang County could eat meat every day.
Many commoners would only buy it once every ten days or half a month.
The poorer families could only have it for one meal every one or two months.
The northern border was too poor, and the people in Heyang County did not have any main source of income.
The farmers’ lives were even worse.
They were poor to begin with, and they had to pay high taxes.
Therefore, everyone was staring at the can that was being heated up.
They could not wait to see it.
Shi Qingluo opened dozens of cans in succession and had the county government staff to heat them up.
The county government didn’t have that many bowls, so Shi Qingluo had already ordered people to pick many large green leaves and wash them.
She also had her people peel many thin wooden sticks, beat a spoonful of mutton on each green leaf.
Thereafter, they would poked the meat with a wooden stick to eat it.
Seeing that Shi Qingluo was ready, Xiao Hanzheng nodded at him.
“Everyone, come and try it,” he said. “Don’t push. Line up to get it.”
The onlookers couldn’t wait any longer and squeezed forward, wanting to line up first to taste it.
“Don’t push, there’s enough for everyone.” Shi Qingluo said.
Xiao Hanzheng ordered the bailiffs to maintain order and the chaotic scene finally stabilized.
At the very front of the line was a middle-aged man.
He took the mutton wrapped in green leaves, poked a piece with a wooden stick, and put it in his mouth.
Then, his eyes lit up. “It’s delicious. It’s way too delicious. ”
Then, he immediately used a wooden stick to finish the rest of the mutton.
Because he was from a middle-class wealthy family in the county, he was embarrassed to lick the mutton soup off the leaves even though he wanted to.
The second one was a poor, burly man.
After taking a bite, he was also very excited.
“It’s so delicious. This is the best mutton I’ve ever eaten in my life.”
He didn’t care about his face and directly licked all the juice on the leaf clean.
The next few people had similar reactions.
It also made everyone stare at the canned mutton even more, and they couldn’t wait to line up and try it.
Nowadays, the residents would use water to add some salt to the meat, or sprinkle salt on it and roast it over the fire.
Therefore, when they suddenly ate the braised meat with brown sauce and red sauce, which had a lot of extra ingredients to remove the fishy smell and enhance the taste, they were naturally shocked.
“It’s so delicious. I’ve never known that mutton could be so delicious.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what was added. The taste is amazing.”
“To be able to taste such delicious mutton in my life, I, an old man, will be satisfied when I die in the future.”
“I didn’t think that this jar could be used to store cooked mutton and it didn’t go bad after such a long time.”
“It’s too godly, this is actually true. I thought it was impossible before, but after tasting the mutton, I realized that my knowledge was too shallow.”
None of the people who had tasted it said that it was not delicious.
They were basically savoring the aftertaste and couldn’t wait to order a few more servings.
There were also some who wanted to take advantage of the situation and secretly line up again, but they were caught by the bailiffs under Xiao Hanzheng’s orders.