All Hail Cousin Brother

Chapter 896: Incense Shop

Translator: Atlas Studios    Editor: Atlas Studios

In addition, Chinese medicine also emphasized treating the heart first.

By nurturing a person’s mind, it gave them a psychological hint, making them subconsciously believe that after using these medicines, their bodies would be able to resist the disease and they would not fall ill easily.

Chun Xiao came to a realization. “I’ve heard long ago that many refugees fell sick when they entered the refugee camps. Those refugees finally arrived at the refugee camps after going through hardships. Often, after a hot meal, they would relax and die in one breath.’

The escape had dealt a huge blow to the refugees’ bodies, hearts, and minds.

Yu Youyao was stunned when she heard this. She couldn’t help but purse her lips. “Do many people die every day?”

Chun Xiao nodded. “I heard that at least a hundred people die every day.”

Yu Youyao said after a while, “We can only settle the refugees as soon as possible. It can also prevent a large number of refugees from gathering together. If an epidemic erupts, it will implicate more than a million refugees. There won’t be enough doctors and a large number of medicinal herbs will be consumed. This isn’t something the North can withstand. Scattering the refugees can reduce the probability of an epidemic happening. Even if the epidemic happens unfortunately, one village or a few villages will be easier to control. It’ll be relatively easy to treat.”

If there were fewer refugees, they could be effectively controlled and not affect too many people. At the same time, they could also gather resources and treat them.

The scale of the incense shop was very large. There were special people working on washing the medicinal herbs, drying them, making them, and so on. Everyone was efficient and methodical.

Qing Xiu brought Yu Youyao around the incense shop.

Yu Youyao was a little surprised to discover that this manor was very big and had many medicinal herbs and spices planted inside. “So this is a medicinal plantation?”

Qing Xiu nodded. “This manor is located at the foot of the Goddess Peak. It’s mostly sloped land and can’t grow crops, but it’s suitable for planting some common medicinal herbs and spices. There are more than 30,000 acres in total, and more than 300 common medicinal herbs and spices are planted.”

Yu Youyao was shocked. “Is it actually so big?”

The land-owning class in the North was very xenophobic, so it was very difficult for outsiders to buy businesses.

Qing Xiu smiled. “Not only is there this medicinal plantation, but we’ve also bought the forest near it. There’s a total of 70,000 to 80,000 acres. In the future, when the incense shop develops, we can still continue to open a medicinal garden. We just have to buy land from the government office. I found the You army, who’s in charge of settling the refugees, and picked a group of refugees who know some pharmacology. I signed a long-term contract and asked them to plant medicine. Although we can’t be self-sufficient on the medicinal herbs produced by the manor, at least we can resolve the urgent situation and won’t be choked by the local medicinal merchants.’

Ever since she came to Xiangping, Yu Youyao had been busy every day and did not have time to care about the incense shop. She had heard a little from Bai Kui earlier and approved of Bai Kui and Qing Xiu’s abilities, so she did not pay attention to them anymore.

She did not know that Qing Xiu and Bai Kui had quietly created such a huge facility.

She was shocked. “The medicinal herbs in Liaodong are of high value. This medicinal plantation should be very expensive. How did you and Sister Bai Kui get it?”

When Bai Kui and Qing Xiu came to Liaodong, Yu Youyao had given them a large sum of money to use as they pleased to build the incense shop.

Qing Xiu explained, “The original owner of the medicinal plantation was a medicinal herb merchant in Xi’an. As he was implicated in King Li of Zhou’s case, his family’s possessions were confiscated and his entire family was exterminated. The businesses under his name were taken back by the Imperial Court. Later on, the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War settled the accounts. Over the years, they owed the You army money and couldn’t take out any real money, so they could only give a portion of the confiscated businesses to the You army and hand them over to be dealt with on their behalf. This plantation was bought from the You army through Butler Wen.”

Yu Youyao came to a realization. “Although the Imperial Court has handed over the medicinal plantation to the You army to deal with on their behalf, in fact, the You army doesn’t have any ownership. They can’t farm it, and the sale of businesses has to go through the government. The government will report it to the Imperial Court, and because it implicates King Li of Zhou, ordinary people don’t dare to touch it, so it’s inevitable that it will fall into their hands.’

“This area of the Goddess Peak is only suitable for the growth of medicinal herbs, but it’s very troublesome to manage them. Ordinary people can’t do it. Most of the medicinal herbs that were originally planted are also unusable.

The price of the manor continues to go down.”

Qing Xiu nodded. “This manor was sold for 300 copper coins per acre of wasteland. The land where medicinal herbs and trees are planted is 850 copper coins per acre.”

Yu Youyao said in surprise, “We’ve really gained a lot.”

Qing Xiu agreed deeply. “Why were we able to buy this medicinal plantation at such a low price? The land price in the Liaodong area is very low to begin with. It’s a pity that this medicinal plantation can’t be sold. Furthermore, it’s mainly because Butler Wen has stepped in and opened up the connections of the government. When the government found out that you’re the one who wants to buy the plantation, there’s no need for them to make things difficult for you for a plantation that has nothing to do with them and won’t benefit.

Naturally, they’re willing to sell you a favor.”

Yu Youyao naturally understood this. “There’s a lack of supplies in the North, and the value of medicinal herbs is high. The cost of making incense medicine is too high, which limits the target population and production of incense medicine. It also limits the development of the Jade Pavilion. Buying a medicinal manor allows us to be self-sufficient and can greatly reduce the cost. It’s been hard on you during this period of time.”

The position of the Jade Pavilion had always been that it had expensive goods. The rich could afford it, but there were also some cheap and beautiful products. Ordinary people could also use it.

In fact, every quarter, there would even be some preferential activities to deal with some of the accumulated goods that were not suitable to be stored for

In the future, the Jade Pavilion would have to supply goods to the entire country or even overseas countries. If the cost was too high, they would probably only be able to earn money after much effort. The two of them entered the incense shop again.

The three-way courtyard was clearly arranged.

Every step of the process was divided into areas, and they were all done by separate small courtyards. There were three small stewards in each small courtyard. One was in charge of the operations of the courtyard, one was in charge of production, and the other was in charge of quality.

In addition, every ten people were divided into teams. Every team was specially in charge of certain medicinal herbs and spices.

After the process was completed, professionals would come over to count, check, and register the information. If there were no problems, they would immediately be sent to the next area for further processing.

The procedures were detailed, and there were many more processes, but the division of responsibilities in each area was also simpler and clearer.

As long as there was a problem with any process, they would directly look for the managers of that area. There would not be a situation where they blamed each other. Everyone’s responsibilities were clearly defined. In order to avoid wrongly taking responsibility, they would do things more seriously.

Yu Youyao admired this management method.

At this moment, Bai Kui came over and smiled. “l learned this method from Young Miss. Young Miss wants to rush the making of incense medicine.

Previously, she mentioned that she wanted to separate the process of making incense medicine and let someone be in charge of each step. It gave me a lot of inspiration.”

Yu Youyao was very interested..