No war in the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 59: Golden Kitchen God Boy and Ink

Su Ze was a little surprised. He was not a professional in accounting, but he knew that the Song Dynasty's accounting system was notoriously complicated.

Su Ze is very clear that the improvement of social management level is the improvement of administrative technology, and the improvement of administrative technology, in practice, is the improvement of the financial and taxation system.

The reason why the Qin system was able to strictly control land and population was because of the Qin Dynasty's strict land and tax system. The state was able to collect taxes from the people and establish a strict administrative system.

When Liu Bang entered Xianyang, Xiao He seized the documents and archives of the Qin Dynasty, and what he seized was this set of "Qin system".

From the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, the financial system has been constantly improving, and the accounting system has become increasingly complex accordingly.

In the Song Dynasty, there appeared special clerks in the government, who were professional accountants who were responsible for handling government documents and account books.

However, even the most experienced scribe would have to calculate the years and months to read through such a box of account books, not to mention clarifying the account logic and finding the key data in the accounts.

The purple spiritual boy is indeed extraordinary!
Su Ze was very satisfied. After handing all the account books to A Zhang, he opened the scroll again. Taking advantage of his good luck in drawing the purple spiritual boy, Su Ze prepared to build a [Neighborhood Shop] (blue).

According to the system, [Neighborhood Shop] can produce food, and the quality of the food is determined by the quality of the spiritual boy who is in charge of the cooking.

If he could recruit high-quality spiritual boys, Su Ze would be able to enjoy delicious food.

There was no way. Although the chef in Zhang Yaozuo's family was quite good, Zhang Yaozuo loved to eat shredded meat. Now it was spring, so Zhang Yaozuo had to eat shredded meat for every meal.

"脍" is the popular "脍", which in modern terms means sashimi.

Every March, the imperial garden Jinmingchi in the western suburbs of Bianjing would be open for a few days for people to fish.

At this time, the common people came to the bank of Jinming Lake with fishing rods, chopping boards and sharp knives. After catching the fish, they scraped the scales and gills directly on the shore, cut them into thin slices, and ate them with sauce.

This scene was called "cutting fish by the water" in the Song Dynasty and was a major scenic spot in Tokyo Bianliang.

Zhang Yaozuo also dug a pond at home and raised a lot of fish. He covered the pond with wooden boards. Every time he had guests, he would catch a fish and ask the chef to make sashimi to entertain the guests.

For a modern person, this kind of freshwater fish fillet containing a large number of parasites is completely unacceptable.

Su Ze refused to eat sashimi with Zhang Yaozuo, and Zhang Yaozuo said that he didn't understand the deliciousness of fish sashimi.

You'll find out when you get a parasitic disease.

As his current backer, Su Ze didn't want Zhang Yaozuo to eat himself to death, and he once advised him to eat less sashimi.

But Zhang Yaozuo didn't care and just said that it would be fine as long as he didn't eat raw meat when his eyes were red. Su Ze had no choice but to give up.

He can't eat raw meat, and the prices in restaurants with slightly better food are too high. Su Ze can't cook, so he built this [neighborhood shop].

Su Ze chose to build a [Neighborhood Shop] on an open space next to Taohuawu, and then returned to Taohuawu and hung the recruitment sign on Taohuawu.

At this moment, a mist suddenly filled the Taohuawu, followed by a strong fragrance. Seeing this strange phenomenon, could it be that gold has appeared?

A small boat appeared in the fog, and a short, fat, carrot-shaped man wearing a chef's shorts and holding a shovel and an iron pot appeared at the dock.

Su Ze quickly opened the scroll, and sure enough, gold came out!
Su Ze became puzzled again. The last time the boy traveled far away, Ayuan was also golden, so why didn’t such a strange phenomenon appear?

Could it be that they were recruited together last time, and only drawing individually will have special effects?
Su Ze checked out the newly recruited golden spiritual boy.

[The Picky Chef’s Kitchen Boy], orange.

[Picky], very picky about ingredients, they will only cook if the ingredients satisfy them. Their satisfaction does not lie in how precious the ingredients are, but in meeting their needs.

【Chef】can turn decayed things into magic, and simple ingredients can also create wonderful flavors.

"What are you standing there for? Help me up!"

Chu Yun Tongzi roared, and Su Ze quickly reached out and pulled him up from the boat, only to hear him say again:
"There are still my tools on the boat, hurry up and get them up!" Su Ze touched his nose. It turned out that capable people all have tempers. After Su Ze brought up the pots and pans in the cabin, the kitchen boy said:
"Master Taoyuan, I have three rules for you. I will only cook ingredients produced in Taoyuan!"

So this is what it means to be "picky". This requirement is easy to meet, as everything in Peach Blossom Land is self-sufficient anyway.

Su Ze nodded in agreement, and the boy from Chu Yun then bowed to Su Ze.

Su Ze said:

"You can call yourself the Kitchen God. Once the [Neighborhood Shop] is finished, you can open it."

The chef nodded in satisfaction and moved his pots and pans to the side of the [Neighborhood Shop].

Su Ze ignored him and started wandering around in the Peach Blossom Land.

He came to Azhi's printing workshop and saw Azhi busy in the workshop.

Seeing Su Ze coming in, Azhi raised his head and then buried his head in carving the woodblock.

Su Ze walked to the shelf and looked at the pages that had just been printed with a satisfied expression.

A few days ago, according to Su Ze's suggestion, Azhi changed the formula of ink and added turpentine and sesame oil to the original ink to synthesize oil-based printing ink.

Turpentine was collected by Qiao Yuntongzi in the pine forest on the mountain, while sesame oil was taken by Su Ze from Zhang Yaozuo's kitchen. Sesame oil was the main oil used in cooking that began to appear in the Song Dynasty.

Su Ze didn't really like the taste of sesame oil, but it was just right for making ink.

Although we know the ingredients, the difficulty in making ink lies in the proportions.

Turpentine is a diluent. After evaporation, the components of turpentine will disappear, which is similar to the role of water in ink.

Sesame oil is an adhesive that fixes the ink and forms a protective film to prevent the ink from falling off easily.

Turpentine and sesame oil have completely opposite effects in ink. How to make the ink dry quickly while ensuring that the toner remains clearly on the paper requires repeated experiments.

Fortunately, Azhi possesses the skill of [Ingenuity] and was able to develop a usable formula.

"Master Taoyuan, be careful of ink stains."

Only then did Su Ze realize that the ink had not yet dried and his hands were already stained with ink.

Azhi said distressedly:
"The ink still dries too slowly, and your hands get dirty if you're not careful."

Su Ze suddenly remembered a British drama he had watched before. British newspapers in the 19th century were also printed with ink. In order to prevent the ink from staining the hands of the nobles, the butlers would use irons to iron the newspapers early in the morning to dry the ink on the newspapers.

Su Ze said:

"Can I use an iron?"

Azhi raised his head and asked:
"What's an iron?"

Su Ze described:
"It's a heated iron that can be used for ironing things."

Ah Zhi clapped his hands and said:

“That’s a solution!”

Then Ah Zhi took out a blueprint and said solemnly:
"Master Taoyuan, many of the tools in the workshop are not suitable for my use. Could you please build a blacksmith shop?"

(End of this chapter)