Chapter 126: Crack

Da Wang's plan to develop labor‑intensive industry won strong support from Bai Yang and Qiao Yi, who vied to offer him ideas.

Unfortunately, Youzhou is so poor and barren that even two well‑traveled people can't create something from nothing—handicraft still needs raw materials!

For example, Youzhou is like wanting to open a bamboo‑weaving factory, but the bamboo has all been cut down and burned by the frozen‑mad populace, leaving the climbable mountains bald. Da Wang won't touch the grain reserves; aside from the idea of mining coal, all that's left is this freshly grown batch of vegetables.

The cabbages on Da Wang's 'wasteland' have matured, perhaps thanks to the exceptionally good seeds from the Garden Base; in any case, his cabbages look impressive enough to show off.

When Bai Yang learned that Zhu Ti would be sent to Chang'an to run a firm, he suggested that Da Wang turn Youzhou's cabbages into spicy cabbage and clear them out in Chang'an all at once.

"Don't take steps too big; first get familiar with the process—for example, start by building a few sauce workshops. Others couldn't do it, because the travel time is too long and the spicy cabbage would over‑ferment, but Zhu Ti is fine—she's your steward, so she can freely come and go from your warehouse, right? If you store the spicy cabbage in the warehouse it will stay as is, and when she reaches Chang'an she can just help herself. Talking about this makes me furious—under the same system, you're the heaven‑chosen prodigy selected by Wanjie Construction and Wanjie Homeland, you even have a steward, while we only get half, just setting up stalls in the homestead!"

Da Wang looked innocent: "You don't even have a city, do you~"

That hit home.

Da Wang, the daring kid who acts on his word, got the spicy‑cabbage recipe from his older brother Bai; since Youzhou really lacks fruit and Bai Yang's off‑season pears are expensive, he took some wild mountain fruits from his older brother Qiao to substitute for pears, brought them straight to the cook, and had them rush to develop the spicy cabbage.

He nonstopped himself, personally going to the grocery store to pick out a few ceramic jars; older brother Bai said the packaging should be better. Good cabbage and good fruit shouldn't be let down by the packaging—otherwise they'd look worthless.

A few days later Da Wang took the small jars to have his two older brothers inspect them; the jars were plain celadon with a wooden lid. Bai Yang frowned and said, "It'd be best to have a lid of the same material, and this celadon shade is a bit dark, looking dirty. Switch to white—it pairs nicely with the red spicy cabbage. Later, order a batch with your firm's name and the words 'spicy cabbage' fired on, to guard against counterfeits!"

Da Wang gasped, "There's white porcelain? And it can bear lettering?"

Bai Yang reflected, "Most of what Da Wang sells or trades are handicraft carvings and bronze ware; there's really no porcelain—apparently they're still at the celadon and black‑ware stage."

"Your second workshop is ready—the Youzhou Ceramic Workshop. Just fire white porcelain; once it gains a reputation, future Youzhou porcelain will surely become famous and valuable~"

Bai Yang gave the dazed Qiao Yi a nudge and said, "We're about to make history! Da Wang, when I get back I'll find you some materials—my classmate studies archaeology, specializing in ancient ceramics, and I'll inquire tonight!"

Da Wang's eyes sparkled: "Qiao Ge, you should learn too—look, the medicine bottles you sell are all the same blue‑green jars."

Qiao Yi pulled out the little porcelain bottles of the beast‑feeding pills he sells and asked, "Do they look dirty? Over here we have every color, but I think the blue‑green is the most plain and steady…"

Da Wang: "…Alright, our Great Jin really can't produce it."

Youzhou soon put up two new job notices: one from the Shengping Sauce Workshop seeking female workers skilled in cooking; the other for stout male kiln workers, both locations on Zhuque Avenue.

Although few are needed, each workshop requires dozens, but as soon as they heard Zhuque Avenue, the locals were all excited.

Da Wang was pleased to have solved employment for over a hundred households, but pottery can't be succeeded in just ten or eight days; with time pressing, he first ordered the needed sauce jars from Bai Yang—about one jar holding two taels of spicy cabbage.

With Zhu Ti overseeing the sauce workshop, things moved quickly; under the guidance of the royal kitchen chef, after a dozen days they produced the finished spicy cabbage and spicy radish.

The spicy cabbage is sour, spicy, and slightly sweet—those who grew up on the plain, bland fare of Great Jin can't resist it. The spicy radish dice gain an extra crunch, and the white radish grown from Meng Meng's seeds is of excellent texture; even Da Wang, who dislikes vegetables, can eat plenty when it's stewed with meat.

The finished dish was served on Da Wang's table; he ate it with great relish, and that day he and Wei Shen each polished off more than a bowl of white rice. Zhao Bao didn't stop them and was eager to try another bowl.

After dinner, Da Wang still felt unsatisfied: "Tell the cook to stir‑fry some lamb with this spicy cabbage tomorrow—I don't know when our farm's lambs will be ready to eat…"

Zhao Bao: "…They've only been raised for less than a month, Your Highness!"

Da Wang sighed regretfully: "I was just thinking. How many calves have we gathered these days?"

Zhao Bao: "The Bai family just sent another twelve cows and fifty foals—cattle are still hard to buy, rarely raised on the plains. But Tong Hui has gathered several dozen piglets for Da Wang among the populace and already put them in the pasture."

"Good! Reward!"

Da Wang knew beef is nutritious and people should eat more of it, but Great Jin's cattle are too precious—mostly draft oxen, so even the emperor can't eat beef daily; therefore he wants to gather more to breed in the pasture.

Once Bai Yang tries it and finds no problem, we'll start full‑scale production; after a few days of fermentation we'll uniformly collect the batches into Da Wang's Wanjie Warehouse for storage, so the south‑bound convoy need only carry recently produced goods.

The goods are ready; pricing is now on the agenda.

These two sauces are the foundation for letting the Youzhou Shengping Firm stand firm; Da Wang dare not set sky‑high prices like the wealthy merchants and aristocrats.

He carefully checked the jar costs with Zhu Ti, then added labor, and finally the seasonings—white cabbage, radish, and chili.

The vegetables used, aside from those grown on Da Wang's own estate and the military tracts, were bought from the people who purchased seeds at the Shengping Grain Store. The purchase price Da Wang gave was generous, yet still market‑level and not too high; in the end the sugar and salt seasonings made up the highest cost.

Da Wang secretly opened the little salt‑making manual Bai Ge gave him and sighed, "If only the court would relax the salt monopoly! We guard the sea yet still have to buy salt from Bai Ge. Your Highness, I've grown spoiled—salt from the neighboring Fuyang Commandery always tastes earthy. Our spicy cabbage wouldn't be as tasty with Fuyang salt, and using Bai Ge's salt is also the secret to its deliciousness."

Zhu Ti, only half‑understanding Great Jin's laws, asked, "If we ourselves set up a salt‑evaporation plant, what would the consequences be?"

Da Wang made a chubby‑pawed gesture across his neck and said, "Crack—"

Zhu Ti: "…Understood."

Da Wang sighed, but the simplest method is solar evaporation, and you can't secretly do it indoors—it's just too hard, too hard!

The only thing unmoved in the room was Bai Ze; the old fellow silently thought to himself, "Once the day comes when we can tear faces and evaporate salt, I won't have to worry about being informed on."