Late Tang

By the afternoon, thousands of people had worked together to carve up five hundred stranded sperm whales.Zhang Hong has been leading a group of officials to check and register. These [-] whales are really a gift from heaven.

The largest sperm whale weighed more than 2000 jin, while the others weighed tens of thousands of jin, and the smallest baby whale weighed 20 to 120 jin.After calculating the cut meat, there are more than 20 million catties, equivalent to more than [-] shi of whale meat.In addition to sending some fragments of meat that were not in good condition to various military camps and various construction sites in Dengzhou, they also distributed a little to the common people. Li Jing mobilized tens of thousands of meat for the rest of the meat. In rush work, non-stop flow operation, [-] catties, [-] catties, [-] catties, [-] catties, and [-] catties are used to make whale meat cans. There are [-] Thousands of cans.

If it weren't for the recent expansion of the canning workshop, and the expansion of several cellars in the clay pot cellar, even if God sent so many whales this time, it would be impossible to eat them all.In June, if you stay overnight, it will all stink.

20 shi of meat, the total number of people under the rule of Dengzhou and Liaodong is less than 50, and on average, each person has a standard of fifty or sixty catties.

In addition to these precious whale meats, Li Jing has a lot to gain, among which the value of ambergris is no less than the value of these meats.The ancient Chinese believed that when ambergris was resting on a stone, the saliva it shed would float to the water, and then gather together to dry and solidify. The fishermen collected them to become this very expensive ambergris.Others assert that when a pack of dragons sleeps, dark clouds gather over their heads and remain motionless for weeks or months while the dragons sleep soundly.

Westerners believe that ambergris is whale feces or semen.

But in fact, ambergris is actually a coprolith.Sperm whales mainly eat squid and octopus. Large squid and octopuses have tough horny jaws and tongue teeth, which are not easy to digest. When sperm whales swallow large molluscs, the jaws and tongue teeth accumulate in the gastrointestinal tract, which stimulates the intestinal tract. The intestinal tract secretes a special waxy substance, which wraps the food residue, and slowly forms ambergris.However, some sperm whales will vomit out the condensation, and some will pass it out of the intestines, and only a small number of sperm whales will keep the ambergris in their bodies.

The condensate spit out and the condensate discharged from the intestinal tract will slowly change from black to white after being rinsed with sea water, and the initial fishy smell will also turn into a fragrance.The quality of white ambergris is the best. It must be soaked in sea water for more than a hundred years to remove all impurities before it can become the top grade of ambergris.The ambergris taken from the intestines of a killed sperm whale is of no value. It must be floated and soaked in seawater for decades to gain a high status. Some pieces of ambergris are soaked in seawater for as long as More than a hundred years.The most valuable is the white ambergris; the least valuable is the brown one, which has only been soaked in seawater for a decade or so.

Hearing the explanation from the perfumer who just arrived from the perfume workshop, Li Jing couldn't help being disappointed.

Of the 900 sperm whales, ambergris was found in eleven of the whales. Except for the first one, which weighed more than 3000 catties, the rest weighed two to three hundred catties, and the total weight was more than [-] catties.Li Jing had only heard that ambergris was equivalent to gold, but unexpectedly, the incense extracted from the whale's body was worthless.

"It's not worthless, but it's not as valuable as white ambergris. Right now, ambergris is very rare. Occasionally, fishermen get it at sea, and it only costs a dozen or twenty catties. Our three thousand catties of ambergris , although it cannot be equivalent to gold, it is almost equivalent to silver." Seeing that Li Jing was disappointed, the perfumer quickly added.

Hearing this, Li Jing became a little happy again.If you can't sell gold, it's not bad if you can sell silver.

Right now, one tael of gold is equivalent to five taels of silver, and one tael of silver is equivalent to [-] renminbi, or two bolts of silk.Calculated, three thousand catties of ambergris is worth three thousand catties of silver.

One catty is 16 taels, so if calculated in this way, it is also worth [-] guan.Although it was a little different from the million he had imagined, it was still a windfall.

"Actually, if you want to make these ambergris more valuable, the old man thinks that it is best not to sell them directly. If you give them to the perfume workshop and mix with some other spices, you can make ambergris-scented perfume. In terms of taste, it is not It will be about the same as the white ambergris. And if it is made into perfume, it will use less amount to make more perfume."

The more perfumes can be made, the higher the price will be.Li Jing just focused on counting the raw materials, but the most valuable thing is of course the added value after processing.This ambergris is not only a spice, but also a medicine.

Ambergris is an excellent tribute, and the royal family often uses this kind of incense, and some members of the royal family even make it into ornaments and hang it on their bodies.And rich people will also spray ambergris powder into the water when making tea.Moreover, many wealthy people believe that this kind of thing is good for the heart, brain, and stomach, and it is also said that it can revitalize men and increase their functions.In short, this is a priceless thing.

After being reminded by the perfumer, it has been decided.In addition to sending one piece to the emperor, most of the rest were sent to the perfume workshop, so that they could make more ambergris-flavored perfumes, and some of them were used to develop a batch of ambergris-made pills, and Be sure to make a batch of the ambergris version of the little Tang blue pills.At that time, if they sell it at a high price to those rich families of scholars, there will definitely be a market, especially those noble old men, who will definitely be willing to pay for it.Thinking of this, Li Jing felt as if countless money were flying towards him with flapping wings.

In addition to whale meat and ambergris, there is one other thing that is also valuable, and that is whale oil.Whale oil is an excellent lighting oil.Whale oil is obtained by boiling the internal organs, subcutaneous fat, and bones of the whale.

"By the way, don't destroy the bone of the biggest whale, keep it intact, and it can be sent to Chang'an as a tribute to the emperor next time." This bone is useless to Li Jing, but it is 10,000+ catty Whales are not common, and this skeleton is also a rare and rare thing. It just happened to be used as a gift for the young emperor who likes to play, and it saved Li Jing from spending real money.

Bing Cao Shenjun Xiao Kai smiled and said: "Just save all these whale skeletons. Anyway, the bones can't be boiled with oil. Why don't we make a little publicity and sell these skeletons directly to those rich and powerful families?" I believe there will be many people thinking about arty."

Li Jing was right when he thought about it. For many rich people, people like this inedible or drinkable thing, but Guan Jian is a rarity.After thinking about it, Li Jing said: "Then start with me, and send one to my mansion tomorrow."

This skeleton is given to the emperor, that is a tribute.Li Jing's family also set up a fight, and if other officials in Dengzhou and senior officers of the Zhendong Army also set up a few.It is estimated that those rich people in Dengzhou must also come to buy one to go home and look elegant.Hey, what a good way to make money.

In the next few days, as expected, many people came upon hearing the news.They all heard about the gift of the Dragon King, who sent five hundred giant fish to Dengzhou, and also heard that Li Jing brought back a young man who had been eaten by a giant fish for a day from the ghost gate.In addition, Li Jing borrowed rain from the Dragon King before, went fishing in Dengzhou and other strange things.All parties sent people to inquire about the authenticity, and even some smart businessmen saw business opportunities and rushed over.

The more than 20 cans of whale meat first aroused everyone's interest, and many businessmen regarded it as a rarity.They knew that as long as these legends from Dengzhou spread to farther places, then these whale meats were not ordinary whale meats, but whale meats with stories.At that time, what will be sold is not meat, but stories and rarities.

For those who want to buy whale meat, Li Jing will always come, but there is only one request, and that can only be exchanged for grain.This grain includes a lot, not only five grains, but also cattle, sheep, horses, chickens and ducks, as long as they can be eaten.This request is a bit excessive, but Li Jing's price for whale meat is not high. One stone of whale meat is only exchanged for two stones of rice. A strong laborer earns more for a day.

However, the merchants are very smart. Ordinary people can't afford this canned whale, and wealthy families who can afford it don't care about how much or how much money they spend.The only trouble is that they can't buy it directly with money, but this doesn't bother them either.Dengzhou was originally the largest port in the north. There are many granaries here. Just find a few acquaintances and exchange some grain from there.

In three days, in just three days, 20 shi of canned whale meat was sold out, and in exchange for 40 shi of rice, Li Jing almost died.Because of the attractiveness of the whale, it even attracted merchants from Lingnan, Hebei, and even Guanzhong, but when they arrived, all the canned whale meat was sold out.

Li Jing took the opportunity to let people sell whale oil and those whale skeletons. Many people couldn't buy canned whale meat, so they bought some of these as well.For the others, Li Jing did not let them go.

All kinds of canned fish, pork, beef, mutton, horse meat, chicken, duck, goose, etc. in Dengzhou.

There are four types of canned aquatic meat, meat, poultry, vegetable meat, and fruit. There are all kinds of canned food, especially various canned fish. Due to the large amount of fishing, it is quite cheap, and the more you buy, the cheaper it is.The low price has attracted many businessmen.This canned food Li Jing did not force him to exchange only food, but only asked for half of the food to be paid, and the remaining half was all money and silk.

In addition to canned food, there are many commodities in Dengzhou, such as high-quality salt from the salt fields, very magical lighters, rock sugar, and various silk cloths, ready-made clothes, and perfumes.In particular, the latest ambergris series of perfumes launched by Perfume Workshop is of good quality but not expensive, and is the most ordered by merchants.After the spot was sold, there were a lot of orders queued up.

In addition, Baijiu in Dengzhou is also very popular. High-grade Wuliangye liquor and fruit wine with various flavors have received a lot of orders.

Many businessmen who came here for the whales were immediately attracted by all kinds of treasured items in Dengzhou.

In general, white wine, fruit wine, perfume, white salt, canned food, and lighters are the best sellers in Dengzhou. All the stocks are sold out, and there are still a lot of orders to come.And the grain exchanged for the sale of these commodities was continuously transported into the warehouse city, filling one granary after another.

(To be continued)