In fact, sugarcane was planted in southern China as early as the pre-Qin period. The common method of eating was to squeeze the juice and drink it directly, or eat it as fruit. Later, people also tried to roughly process the sugarcane slurry, that is, to boil it in the sun and remove some of the moisture in the sugarcane slurry, and make a higher concentration of "sugar oat".

There is a story in "The Three Kingdoms" where Sun Liang of Wu found rat shit in the sugar cane oyster donated in Jiaozhou. After breaking it apart, it only had a moist surface and a dry and not wet inside. Therefore, it was concluded that rat shit was thrown into the oyster not long ago.

It can be seen that the cane syrup at that time was a thick syrup. If it was further condensed, this viscous cane syrup could also be consolidated into aurora-brown candy. Because its shape and color are like stones and tastes as sweet as honey, it is named "Shimi".

However, traditional methods can remove limited moisture, so this sugar block has a lot of moisture and is very easy to dissolve. It looks strong like a stone, but in fact it melts at the mouth.

In the early Tang Dynasty, in the north where sugarcane was not produced, people had to rely on foreign missions and Western Regions Hu merchants who came from afar along the Silk Road.

The "Xiji Stone Honey" they brought was produced in the Western Regions. It is dry cake-shaped due to its superb dehydration. It is not only easy to carry and store, but also has better taste and quality than the crude sugarcane in the south.

Basically, most of the candy eaten in the palace are like this. Of course, this is the highest-grade candy. The one with a relatively low-grade is ordinary maltose.

The so-called sweet as candy means that it is sweet like sugar. The candy here refers to the finished product of maltose. In ancient times, there was also candy, and "o" refers to a slightly harder "o".

Maltose will be produced when plant seeds germinate, but this maltose is not easy to crystallize and can only be made into glue substances. Even so, not everyone can eat it.

Although I have mastered the technology of sugar making, the sugar here needs to be made of grain seeds, so I can’t even eat enough food, so what about eating sugar? So although sugar is a seasoning, it is an absolute luxury of the upper class.

"Playing with grandchildren" is the life ideal of Empress Ma during the reign of Emperor Zhang of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Even the ideal of the Empress was to tease her grandchildren with candy, let alone the people who lived so hard?

It was not until the Song Dynasty that sugar truly became a widely consumed food.

"Langjun?Langjun?" After Cui Yue finished eating Zhang Nan's butter cake, Zhang Nan was still immersed in her money-making plan and did not wake up.

Cui Yue shouted at Zhang Nan while swaying in front of Zhang Nan's eyes with her hands.

"Hmm? What's wrong?" Zhang Nan was reacting after being shaken by Cui Yue.

"No, what are you thinking about, Mr. Cui Yue asked curiously. Although Cui Yue had seen Zhang Nan in a daze, Zhang Nan would have some novel ideas every time she was dazed. So what Cui Yue was curious about was not Zhang Nan's daze, but why Zhang Nan was dazed.

"I thought of another big plan to make money. How about it? Is Yue'er interested?" Zhang Nan asked with a smile.

Although Zhang Nan can also operate these things personally, Zhang Nan’s current goal is no longer on these. If there is any business that Zhang Nan can operate them personally, it will only be national or even foreign trade.

Of course, Zhang Nan really doesn’t like the small profits of flies like sugar making, but no matter how small the mosquito legs are, they are still meat. Moreover, before sugar became a popular food, it was still a very thick mosquito legs.

So Zhang Nan wanted to hand over this business to Cui Yue, just to think that it was to earn some pocket money for Cui Yue.

Unexpectedly, after hearing Zhang Nan's words, Cui Yue clearly rejected Zhang Nan's proposal.

"No, I'm too busy with Yue Liman's business, right? Saint-man, Lizhi." Cui Yue said.

"That's right, Yue Liman is preparing to launch a new product recently. We are still ready to stare at the new product." Jin Shengman said with a plastic fork and inserted a strawberry into his mouth.

"You are not happy?" Zhang Nan scratched his head. In fact, if the sugar-making business is done, it will not make less than Yue Liman, or even more than Yue Liman. After all, Yue Liman is a boutique route, but sugar is a popular food.

"This, Duke An Guo, can I let me try this thing?" Seeing that the three women were unwilling to do this business, Li Chengxia asked timidly.

"Oh? Is the princess interested? OK, let me think about it. If the princess wants to do it, then vote first." Zhang Nan said this, then pinched his fingers and calculated.

"I can start the sugar-making business by investing about 700 to 800 guan. And I promise that as long as the first batch of sugar is produced and the reputation is made, the sugar will be in short supply every month." Zhang Nan said.

As soon as he heard Zhang Nan say he wanted 700 to 800 yuan, Li Chengxia immediately lowered her head and began to eat the small amount of cream cake left in front of her seriously.

How could Li Chengxia have so many seven or eight hundred stakes? Li Chengxia only has more than ten ten stakes of money per month, so it is definitely impossible to take out seven or eight hundred stakes of money at this moment.

Seeing Li Chengxia like this, Zhang Nan also understood what was going on.

"It's okay. If you don't have money, just take it from me first. I will provide an interest-free loan." Zhang Nan said with a smile.

"Interest-free loan, what is that?" Li Chengxia asked strangely.

"Interest-free loans are... Princess, you won't have even been to the bank, right?" Zhang Nan scratched her head. Zhang Nan now felt that Li Chengxia was out of touch with society.

Li Chengxia shook her head very honestly.

"Hey, the interest-free loan is just that you need no money. You will get it from me. When you make money, you can just return the money to me." Zhang Nan said helplessly.

"Really? That's great!" Li Chengxia said happily.

"Did you agree?" Zhang Nan was also a little happy. After all, Zhang Nan was thinking about investing in technology, and now someone is finally willing to do this business.

"Yes." Li Chengxia nodded seriously.

"Okay, then I'll decide how much money you're missing, I'll give it to you."

"It's still eight hundred trump cards."

“…”

"Well... I just don't have money to say so." Zhang Nan scratched his head.

"Yes, I don't have money." Li Chengxia said so confidently that Zhang Nan almost thought that she was doing this business.

"Oh, okay, I'll give you a thousand guan. You can use it to do business. Who made me a good man Zhang?" Zhang Nan shook his head and said, Zhang Nan himself was moved by his kindness.

"By the way, Duke An Guo, I have never done business, nor have I dealt with people I don't know. Can you help me do this business?" Li Chengxia asked at Zhang Nan with a serious look on her face.

“......”
Chapter completed!