Chapter 4

"Li Yixian, look at what I've brought you."

In the morning, while Li Yi was watching the steward try to persuade him to keep a piece of forest, Li Chengqi arrived.

"Steward, listen to me, sell it. Whoever wants it can dig it up and buy it, then plant grapes for me."

Li Yi gave the steward his instructions and went to greet Li Chengqi.

He wanted to keep eighty acres of mulberry trees for silkworms and then weaving.

Li Yi firmly refused, deciding to pay the rent and labor tax to the government with the wheat he could grow himself.

He would buy the rest and definitely not keep any mulberry trees.

He wanted to plant a large vineyard.

As Li Chengqi approached, Li Yi saw that this resourceful man had brought a cow.

A cow that had been slaughtered and drained of blood.

"Brother, I've brought you a cow, and I'll have lunch with you at noon." Li Chengqi was pleased to see Li Yi's surprised expression.

"I'll have them start pressing the soybean oil right away." Li Yi did not refuse.

He led Li Chengqi to the oil press, where the male servants began operating.

Li Chengqi and the eunuch watched.

Li Yi had someone bring tea, while he ran to the kitchen to handle the entire cow.

At noon, the forty-two students, along with Li Chengqi and the eunuch, enjoyed a soup made from beef bones, tofu, and wild vegetables.

The main dish was millet rice, which was a normal meal; eating noodles every day was too luxurious.

Li Chengqi and the eunuch ate the same, including Li Yi.

He spent the morning processing the cow, not being a professional beef seller, so he had to take his time and couldn't prepare other dishes.

Fortunately, he had marinated the tendon meat, and in the evening, he could give Li Chengqi two large pieces of braised beef to take away.

The oil pressing process was not yet complete; they were still making the molds and would start hammering the wooden wedges in the afternoon.

He also exchanged five hours of his lifespan for a pound of chili powder, excluding the seeds.

To exchange for chili seeds, it would cost five million hours of his lifespan.

Not to mention whether he had that much lifespan, he was unwilling to give up nearly eleven and a half years of his life.

Li Yi made some spicy beef sauce and chili oil.

He also let the man who brought the whole cow take half of the spicy and numbing beef tendon away in the evening.

The rest he planned to freeze for two days and grill the next day.

Since he had money, the man who took away the soy sauce yesterday said he would bring 55,000 coins in the afternoon.

He also noticed that his lifespan had increased by 320 hours.

Li Yi was not sure why selling soy sauce increased his lifespan.

But with the money, he planned to host a poetry gathering for the forty-two students.

He would invite other friends to the manor to eat and drink, and help promote the soy sauce.

There were a hundred large vats, each producing 200 pounds of oil per batch.

"Do you know, brother, that there will soon be more cattle and sheep?" Li Chengqi said, taking a bite of the delicious pickled vegetables to Li Yi.

"Where will the cattle and sheep come from?" A map appeared in Li Yi's mind, with the capital region leading north to the Turks, where there were grasslands.

"From the Turks." Li Chengqi put on an air of knowing a lot about international affairs.

Li Yi smiled and shook his head: "Impossible. Mo Chuo has too much ambition. He frequently attacks us during the unstable transition of the Tang throne. How could he stop the war?"

"Especially now, His Majesty is daily troubled by the unrest in the country and the coordination of the generals."

"The local administration is chaotic, and the Turks, Western Turks, and Tibetans are all watching closely. Tibet is even more so."

"We are resisting the Tibetans and defending against the Turks. If I were Mo Chuo, I would also attack."

"Otherwise, once the Tang stabilizes its borders, will there be any chance for the Turks to rise again?"

Li Yi briefly explained the situation.

Thud, the eunuch's chopsticks fell onto the table.

Li Chengqi's eyes widened, wondering if he was speaking to the emperor's brother and the prime ministers.

Resisting the Tibetans and defending against the Turks were matters of state.

Why would a young man running a manor know about these things? Who leaked the information?

"How do you know so much, brother? Are you just making it up?" Li Chengqi asked.

"Know? It's obvious. What's there to know or not know?"

"Brother, please look. The Tibetan workshops and farming are not inferior. There are constant frictions on the Tang border, and the Tang often attacks but rarely wins."

"The prince is young, and the prince's mother, who was regent last year, is also dead. The regency is now held by the prime minister, Wei Qili Xu Shangnian."

"At this time, the internal situation in Tibet is unstable, so it is best to use external military action to unite the people internally."

Li Chengqi: "..."

He didn't know what to say. You are a young man who has just inherited a manor.

Why don't you focus on farming and instead worry about the distant northwest and Tibet?

What does Tibet have to do with you? Do you buy your plowing oxen from Tibet?

"How do you know so much... so well-read?" Li Chengqi wanted to know Li Yi's purpose in understanding these matters.

"National turmoil affects the family, and national defeat leads to the loss of the family. How can there be a whole egg under a collapsed nest?" Li Yi said with conviction.

Li Chengqi could only nod, speechless, as the young man was not wrong.

Li Yi continued: "Moreover, when I grow up and enter the government, if the emperor asks for advice, how can I not have a good plan to offer?"

Li Chengqi's eyes lit up: "Brother, do you want to enter the government?"

"Yes! When in poverty, one should cultivate oneself; when in power, one should benefit all. Entering the government is not for the sake of being an official, but to cultivate the people." Li Yi answered.

Li Yi spoke from the heart. Being an official would allow him to better promote social development.

Social development would increase his lifespan.

According to the timeline, if he did nothing, he would live for another 108 days.

Li Chengqi, moved, finished his meal and went to watch the soybean oil pressing.

The process of pressing soybean oil was not difficult, but the challenge was how to press it better.

Li Yi urged the steward to find people to buy trees.

He didn't want mulberry trees; planting trees on eighty acres to raise silkworms would earn very little money.

Planting grapes would be better. Wine is more expensive than ordinary wine.

Dried grapes are also a fruit and are not cheap.

He could use the money from selling wine and dried grapes to buy cloth to pay the labor tax, which would only require a small portion.

Li Yi had better planting methods and brewing techniques.

Now he needed to find old vines that were already bearing fruit; he didn't want to wait years for the grapes to grow.

Fortunately, at this time, the Tang people loved to drink wine, and many people were growing grapes.

Some people's grapes produced little fruit and were not sweet.

Li Yi had methods to handle these issues, but he was in a hurry.

The grapes were about to bloom; how could they be transplanted during blooming?

Usually, they are transplanted in the fall, and after a winter, they take advantage of the spring warmth to promote root growth.

Transplanting old vines in the spring would greatly damage the vines.

It was doubtful that they would bear fruit in the same year.

Li Yi was anxious, and the steward, Song De, was even more anxious.

Because the money had arrived, and 100 bolts of silk worth 55,000 coins were delivered.

The money for five vats of soy sauce, and there were still many more vats, each of which could produce oil.

His master was impressive, able to make money.

If the master said to sell the trees, then they would sell them.

Steward Song De rode the only horse in the manor to find people to sell the trees and buy grape vines that were three to five years old.

The well-fed students came out to help move the silk.

They had no arrogance towards Master Li Yi.

The master was not an illiterate rough person; occasionally, he would write and discuss strategies with them.

The master's handwriting was elegant, and he could write in a style that looked delicate but had a strong character.

Before dinner, Li Chengqi personally lit the biogas lamp, praised it, and left.

He also took away the braised beef, cold spicy and numbing beef tendon, and spicy beef sauce that Li Yi had made.

Most terrifyingly, he even took the braising liquid used to make the beef sauce.

He took it all, a whole pot.

"Remember to heat the braising liquid every day and keep it cool with ice."

Li Yi was afraid the other party would get sick and shouted as he saw him off.

As for whether the other party had ice to keep it cool, it was not Li Yi's concern.

After seeing off Li Chengqi, dinner was still beef bone and wild vegetable soup, but without tofu.

Tofu was more expensive than rice, and soybeans had a low yield.

One pound of soybeans usually produced 2.2 pounds of tofu.

Of course, Li Yi used the soybean cake left after pressing oil to make tofu.

Even with the soybean cake, he could produce three pounds of tofu from one pound of cake.

If he used unpressed soybeans, he could produce at least four pounds of tofu.

The Tang people used braising liquid to make tofu, but he used gypsum.

The Tang people would eat the residue after boiling the tofu.

He boiled the residue repeatedly, using the stove to cook in winter and the biogas to continue cooking.

The final residue was inedible by humans and was used to feed pigs and chickens, which even cows wouldn't eat.

He was also considering using the soybean cake to make tofu and skimming a layer of tofu skin during the boiling process.

After boiling the beef bones to make soup, he continued to boil them.

Then he continued to boil the wild vegetables.

Until nothing could be boiled out, the bones would become fertilizer.

The "Qi Min Yao Shu" (Essential Techniques for the Common People) mentioned that besides farmyard manure, bone residue and the residue from pressing other crops except sesame could be used to fertilize the fields.

However, the bones from Li Yi's manor would not be used to fertilize the fields but would be turned into bone powder to feed the chickens.

When chickens lacked calcium, their eggs would have soft shells or they wouldn't lay eggs at all.

Li Chengqi did not know that Li Yi's manor had a scientific method of utilization.

He didn't eat dinner and hurriedly returned with the items.

Fortunately, the distance was not far. He went through the Tonghua Gate and entered the palace while the palace gates were open.

He entered the Baifu Hall from the side door to see his father, the retired emperor.

When he entered the Tonghua Gate, someone had already run to the Anxing坊 to find other brothers to come to the Baifu Hall together.

Li Longji heard the news and also rushed over, bringing the Empress Wang.

The other brothers also brought a concubine each when they arrived.

After greeting the retired emperor Li Dan and the Lady Doulu, they began to taste the food Li Chengqi had brought back.

The soy sauce from the previous day had opened a new window for the food lovers.

Today, it was like opening a door.

They had all eaten beef before, but this braised beef was already delicious without the garlic sauce.

When they dipped it in the garlic sauce, everyone's expression was one of joy.

Another taste of the spicy and numbing beef tendon, oh, how could there be such a taste in the world?

This spiciness, why did it make them want to eat more, so pure and authentic.

The two beef tendons and two beef tendons were quickly divided among the group, leaving everyone wanting more.

"Brother, why not recruit Li Yi to the Imperial Kitchen?"

Prince Xue, Li Longye, licked his lips and expressed a thought shared by several others.

"Ye, don't talk nonsense." Li Chengqi scolded his younger brother.

He then said, "Li Yi has lofty ambitions. Today, he spoke about the affairs of Tibet and the Turks. He said..."

Li Chengqi recounted what Li Yi had said to the others.

Everyone listened and, like Li Chengqi, showed a look of shock.

It turned out that the young man had a deep understanding and great ambitions.

If so, how could he go to the Imperial Kitchen to cook?

After the shock, the noodles were cooked, and the main dish for the evening was soup noodles, eaten with the spicy beef sauce.

"Brother, I heard you bought a thousand pounds of soy sauce. I wonder how much is left at Li Yi's manor?"

Prince Xue, Li Longye, who had just suggested that Li Yi be recruited to the palace kitchen, was now thinking about the soy sauce again.