The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

When the servant came in to report the results of the case, Mai Hui was tasting the freshly made 粔籹 (jù nǚ) in his own workshop.

粔籹 is a kind of dessert, which is made by mixing maltose and wheat flour, rolling them into thin strips, tying them into bundles, twisting them into rings, and frying them in oil in a pot. It is crispy and sweet, just like honey bait, and is a favorite snack of the nobles in Guanzhong.

After taking a bite of the glutinous rice cake, the forty-year-old Zuo Shuzhang Mai Hui wiped the crumbs from his mouth and said with satisfaction:

"When it comes to blending, sweet, sour, bitter, spicy and salty are necessary. Everyone needs salty taste, but people in Qi, Donghai and Hedong especially like salt. Some people may not like sour, bitter and spicy tastes. The south of the Yangtze River is hot and cold, and people like sour food in rice and fish soup. Bashu has a lot of ginger, pepper and dogwood, and people like spicy food. Few people like bitter taste."

"But from babies to the elderly, no one dislikes sweet taste! Especially in Guanzhong!"

Sweet taste always evokes a sense of pleasure, and the Guanzhong people have a long tradition of liking sweetness. A thousand years ago, when the Zhou people migrated to Zhouyuan, they praised it: "Zhouyuan is fertile, and violets are as sweet as candy." This means that the land of Zhouyuan is so fertile that bitter herbs like violets can grow as sweet as candy...

The reason is that wheat comes from the west, and Guanzhong is the earliest and most planted place in the world, so people learned to make maltose with malt early.

At present, the Mai family, the left minister, is the largest maltose supplier in Guanzhong. He has 74 hectares of land distributed along the Zhengguo Canal, almost all of which are planted with wheat. Wheat, which requires more water than millet and sorghum, grows lushly under the irrigation of ditches, and countless golden wheat can be harvested every summer.

Steamed wheat rice is difficult to chew and difficult to digest after eating. The nobles mainly eat a little out of the tradition of "tasting new wheat". Ordinary people usually eat it as emergency food during the lean season. In Guanzhong dialect, "wheat rice and vegetables" and "wheat rice and bean soup" are used to describe the hardship of life.

However, Zuo Shuzhang Mai did not eat wheat. Instead, he had a unique vision and used the large amount of wheat grown by himself to make maltose!

The production of maltose is relatively complicated. First, the soaked wheat grains need to be germinated, and then the mashed malt and steamed glutinous rice are mixed, fermented, and filtered. After many processes, the sugar solution can be produced, and then repeatedly stirred, boiled, and crushed to form maltose.

Maltose, with a hint of sweetness, has become the only dessert that people can eat besides precious honey...

"Rich people eat honey, and middle-class people eat maltose." This has been a fixed tradition for thousands of years, so the Mai family and the Shi family, who specialize in collecting honey from Mount Zhongnan, monopolized the dessert market in the southern city of Xianyang. Without their supply, the dozen or so vendors could not survive for a day.

Honey and sugar are only small-scale trades, and the profits are not as good as those of wine, meat, salt, iron, cloth, and lacquer pottery, which are monopolized by the government, but they also bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.

However, this balance was broken by the group of merchants from Nanjun...

Since brown sugar appeared on the market in Xianyang, Mai Hui felt its strangeness. The brown sugar, which is shaped like a horse's hoof, is extremely hard. Unlike the softness of maltose, it tastes as sweet as honey, and has been given the title of "stone honey" by the people in the city.

What was even more frightening was that the merchants in Nanjun sold two thousand kilograms of brown sugar at once, and the price was lower than that of maltose. Everyone liked cheap and good quality things, so the wealthy families in Xianyang flocked to it.

Mai Hui was shocked and sent his merchants to inquire about the method of making brown sugar, but the merchants in Nanjun were very secretive. Even if Mai Hui asked someone to come forward and bribe them with tens of thousands of dollars, they kept this secret strictly.

Seeing that there were few people buying maltose in the shops controlled by his family, Mai Hui lost his patience. He decided to teach these reckless Nanjun merchants a lesson. After discussing with Shi, he asked the merchants to report the brown sugar shops.

Xianyang had a large population and many cases. In order to facilitate management, the Xianyang magistrate set up a prison officer in Zhangtai, Beigong, and Nanshi respectively, and several magistrates were responsible for hearing trivial cases.

Although Sima Xin, the prison officer of Nanshi, was always careful and refused to accept bribes directly, he was a flexible person and made many conveniences for the nobles such as Mai. All of his subordinates, the clerks, had received honey, sugar, and glutinous rice as gifts.

So Mai Hui thought that if he could find loopholes in renting the store and let a doctor testify that eating brown sugar was harmful to the body, even if he could not put the Nanjun merchant in jail, at least he could make him unable to do business!

Since he couldn't get it, he would destroy it! Mai planned to drive the competitors out of Nanshi and ruin the reputation of brown sugar to maintain his monopoly.

"Let them know who has the final say in the honey industry!"

Sima Xin was straightforward. The case would be tried today. Mai Hui also had an official position. Although it was just an idle job, he could not appear in court due to his status. Those Nanjun merchants could be left to his subordinates.

However, the lawsuit that was thought to be a sure win ended in a miserable defeat!

Just as Mai Hui was about to have a feast, the servant reported with a sad face: "Master, I don't know what happened to Sima Xin. He usually smiles and is kind to us, but today he has a stern face. He first refused the benefits that were secretly handed over, and then talked about the way of being an official and the strictness of the law in public. Then he personally urged the clerk to list the evidence and refute the testimony one by one."

"In the end, the Nanjun merchant was released without guilt and can continue to sell sugar in the South City, while the more than ten merchants who reported and testified were all convicted of false accusations and were detained as prisoners!"

After listening to the servant's words, Mai Hui's eyes widened. The other party was unharmed, but his army was completely wiped out? What's going on!

He was so angry that he slammed the table and cursed: "What does Sima Xin mean? He bullied me, Zuo Shuzhang, who is just a title passed down by my father and grandfather, and has no real power?"

Mai Hui was so angry that he immediately stood up and planned to find his in-laws Shi. Although the two families did not hold high-ranking positions, they had many connections. If they made up their minds and made some efforts, it would not be impossible for Sima Xin to lose his job.

But just when the Mai and Shi families were planning to make the matter worse, they were stopped by an uninvited guest...

When the visitor told the two of them in a subtle tone who was behind those Nanjun merchants who sold brown sugar, Mai Hui and his in-laws Shi couldn't help but take a breath of cold air!

"You failed to collect honey, but you poked a hornet's nest!"

...

The three-day feast to celebrate the establishment of the empire has not yet ended. Xianyang City is still immersed in the feast. The courtyard where Heifu lives is also full of toasts. This is a banquet specially set up by Heifu to calm down his cousin Yan who has escaped from the crime.

Yan's face flushed from drinking, and he toasted Heifu and said: "Although I was taken away by the government and my shop was confiscated, I am not worried at all, because I know that Zuo Shuchang will definitely protect me!"

Heifu smiled but did not answer, saying that his brothers did not need to be polite. He turned around and toasted Ba Zhong:

"The Art of War says that knowing yourself and the enemy will lead to victory in all battles. Thanks to Brother Ba's information, otherwise I would not know that those merchants are backed by the Mai and Shi families, and this matter could not be resolved so quickly."

Ba Zhong was polite, but he felt very regretful in his heart.

He thought that this was an opportunity for Heifu to owe him a favor, so he proposed to him: "The Mai and Shi families disregarded the national law and disrupted the market, which is really hateful. But as a king, it is not convenient for you to intervene in this matter. Xianyang is not Nanjun. Zhonglang Huling has just arrived and is not familiar with many places. It is better for me to handle this matter on your behalf, and I will definitely be able to clear Yan's name."

However, Heifu declined his kindness, wrote a letter casually, and asked his subordinate Dong Yi to deliver it to Sima Xin, the prison officer of Nanshi, on his behalf. The matter was solved, solved...

"I am not the only one who wants to show goodwill to Heifu."

Ba Zhong was helpless. After all, Heifu is now a close minister of the emperor, and he has a bright future in the future. Who doesn't want to please him?

It's a pity that Heifu would rather ask Dong Yi and Sima Xin for help than owe Ba Zhong a favor.

Heifu had his own thoughts: "The Yidao Rebellion three years ago was a public matter, but today, it is a private matter. I am now the emperor's guard. I stand high, but I can also fall hard. Although Qin Shihuang favored Ba Guafu Qing, I must also pay attention to the distance when dealing with these wealthy people..."

Private relationships are possible, but when it comes to interests, you have to be cautious.

Besides, why bother to kill a chicken with a butcher knife when a letter can be done?

Yan was not good at drinking and soon got drunk. Heifu asked the servants to take him to the guest room to settle him. Only he and Ba Zhong were left at the table to continue chatting.

Just as Ba Zhong was hesitating whether to say the proposal in his heart, Sangmu came with a visiting card, saying that there were three people visiting outside.

"Three people?"

Heifu thought it was Dong Yi, Sima Xin, and Li Liang, but when he looked at the visiting card, he found that it clearly wrote the names of Mai Hui, Shi Gong, and an inconspicuous "Shi Ren Yan".

"Okay."

He smiled and said, "These two finally found out who is behind Yan."

Sang Mu said that the three people were humble and brought gifts, probably to admit their mistakes and confess their crimes.

Although it is better to resolve a feud than to make one, Hei Fu is no longer a pawn that can be manipulated by others. He has come to this point with solid military merits. As the Zhonglang Huling beside the emperor, he is also a party member secretly supported by Li Si. Even Neishiteng, who is in charge of Xianyang and Guanzhong, is his old boss.

He doesn't care about the two powerless Zuo Shuzhang and Wu Dafu!

So he didn't plan to reconcile with the two families, so he said: "Just say I'm drunk and can't see guests!"

Ba Zhong, who was standing aside, glanced at the third name on the visiting card, his face changed slightly, and out of good intentions as a friend, he dissuaded Hei Fu, saying: "Zhonglang Huling, although Mai and Shi are insignificant, it's not good not to give face to the third person outside!"

"Oh?" Hei Fu re-examined the visiting card, and the third person called himself "Shi Renyan".

"Who is this?"

"Shi Renyan is his humble name."

Ba Zhong smiled and said: "His full name is Wu Shiyan, the younger brother of Wu Shiluo!"

"Wu Shiluo!?"

A famous person, Hei Fu laughed dumbly, thinking: "What's going on today? The son of the mine owner is still at the table, and the younger brother of the livestock boss is here!"