Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 349 Treasure Hunt

Rong Jin said.

Hua Lei pulled the corner of Rong Jin's clothes. She was worried that Rong Jin was still in the internship period, and as a manager of the Ministry of Justice, he came to supervise the pioneers. If he helped her to gain benefits at will, it would not be good for his assessment, so she signaled Rong Jin to step back.

Rong Jin looked at the bud, nodded slightly, took a step back, and stopped talking.

Hua Lei thought, although she was only a sixth-rank official, the other party was a seventh-rank deputy envoy, whose rank was lower than hers, so she didn't have to worry about anything. Besides, it was normal to fight for benefits for herself, wasn't it?

Next, Hua Lei praised her own Pueraria root to the skies, and Deputy Envoy Song couldn't help but laugh.

He looked at the flower buds, then at Rong Jin, thought for a while, and nodded, "Okay, then ninety cents a pound. However, Master Hua, you need to ask your subordinates to clean up the mud and sand on the kudzu root. You can't carry so much mud and sand."

Deputy Envoy Song said, holding a kudzu root longer than his arm, that it had just been dug out and there was indeed a lot of mud on it.

Hua Lei was delighted, and said without changing her expression, "Of course, if Master Song is worried, I can clean it and send it to you."

"There's no need to wash it. It can't be preserved for a long time after washing. It takes a long time to process 3,000 kilograms of Pueraria root. I'm afraid it will go bad before it's processed. So Lord Hua just needs to rub the mud off." Deputy Envoy Song said readily.

"Okay, thank you very much, Lord Song. Don't worry, I will definitely clean the mud for you. How about we sign an agreement?" Hua Lei asked.

Deputy Envoy Song nodded, and the group went to Hualei's temporary wooden study at the foot of the mountain and signed the agreement for the kudzu root. In the following days, the excavated kudzu root was not sent back to Huaying Manor, but according to the requirements of the Imperial Hospital, it was rubbed clean of mud, slightly dried on the surface, and then sent to their designated warehouse.

Half a month later, Hualei went to the Ministry of Rites to collect the payment for Gegen's goods according to the agreement. Although it was not much, it was like free money, and Hualei was still very happy.

Moreover, the cunning Hua Lei pretended to accidentally leak the news in Shangjing City the day after signing the agreement with the Imperial Hospital.

The drug store owners in the capital, who had been hesitant at first as to whether to ask Hua Lei for the goods, immediately made up their minds and went to the place where the Pueraria root was dug on the barren mountain to ask Hua Lei for the goods.

I originally wanted to buy 100 kilograms, but now I have increased it to 200 kilograms. I originally wanted to bargain for the price, but now I am too embarrassed to bargain for it. After buying it back, I asked the medicine boy in the pharmacy to work overtime. After a period of hard work, the kudzu root was dried and made into dried kudzu root slices, so that it would not spoil easily. Whether to stew or stir-fry the kudzu root later depends on the subsequent needs of the pharmacy.

The medicinal materials approved by the Imperial Hospital cannot be bad, and the Imperial Hospital must need a lot of them. If you delay, you won't be able to buy them. In this prosperous dynasty, the approval of the government is the best reputation.

Therefore, before all the kudzu roots on the barren mountain were dug up, a large pile of orders had already been placed on Hualei's desk. When all the kudzu roots were dug up, they were basically all sold out.

Hualei originally wanted to make Pueraria slices and the preparations for processing Pueraria were wasted. However, Hualei did not feel sorry for such a waste, as only the money in her pocket was hers. Moreover, this also saved her a lot of manpower, as she did not have much manpower on her farm. In this way, Pueraria earned Hualei a lot of money.

Now there are only some kudzu roots that were damaged and broken when they were dug up in Huaying Village. These are not easy to sell, and I don’t want to pass off inferior flower buds as good ones. Of course, throwing them away is impossible. So, I can only make kudzu root powder from the remaining ones for myself.

Wash and peel all the damaged kudzu roots, and cut them into thin slices to make it easier to grind and extract starch. Put the sliced ​​kudzu root slices into a stone mill, add an appropriate amount of clean water, and grind them thoroughly to allow the starch to precipitate. Then filter the slurry with gauze to remove the residue and leave the starch slurry.

Let the filtered slurry stand for two to three hours. After the starch has settled, pour out the water on the surface and leave the starch on the bottom.

Take out the starch and put it in a clean bamboo plate to dry. Pure kudzu root powder will naturally form blocks and can be dried by drying. Put the dried kudzu root powder into a sealed bag and use it at any time.

In addition, Hualei uses kudzu root powder to make kudzu root vermicelli, kudzu root paste and other delicacies, adding yellow and white sugar and osmanthus, and the taste is very good.

The kudzu root was finally dug up. Next, it was time to fertilize and maintain it. The pits and holes where the kudzu root had been dug were refilled with soft soil, and then some shallow horizontal trenches were dug at appropriate distances. Because the hillside itself was inclined, no vertical trenches were dug.

After leveling the land, I checked it again and trimmed off the extra side shoots to ensure the healthy growth of the kudzu root and increase the yield. Then I carefully cleared all the weeds near the main stem.

The next step was to apply fertilizer. Hualei once again demonstrated the spirit of Yugong moving mountains and transported the fermented chicken, duck and goose manure from Yuanying Village, along with wood ash water, to Huaguo Mountain to use as fertilizer for the Pueraria root.

Dried weeds were spread at the roots of the Pueraria root, and a thin layer of soil was covered on the weeds to prevent them from being blown away by the wind, thus keeping the Pueraria root warm.

Hua Bud has left a large area of ​​land around the Pueraria root, preparing to allow the Pueraria root to continue to expand its territory next year so that she can collect the profits.

In this way, Hualei made nearly 10,000 taels of silver by selling a small portion of the wine and kudzu root. There were still several hundred jars of wine in the warehouse that had not been sold.

Hualei was rubbing the account book in her hand, feeling very happy. Emperor Shengwu, who was sitting in the imperial study, listened to the report of the shadow guard, pondered for a long time, and quietly issued an oral order the next day to send a team of fifty people to start treasure hunting in his twenty or so barren mountains.

In the following days, Hualei was still wandering around Beishan Mountain out of greed, hoping to find some more treasures.

However, we have not found large tracts of treasures yet. However, we have discovered some sparsely growing wild fruit trees, such as persimmon trees, hawthorn trees, chestnut trees, etc. However, the quantity is very small. They are enough as snacks when the fruits are harvested, but not enough to exchange for silver.

However, although the amount was small, Huabud did not mind and took good care of the trees, pruned them, fertilized them, weeded them, and even remembered to keep them warm.