Fanyu, in the banquet hall of the spot exchange, guests who attended the meeting with invitations gathered at long tables, watching the waiters display exquisitely crafted pipes and American specialty tobacco that emits a strange fragrance.

Taking tobacco with a pipe is called "smoking".

There are many porcelain plates on the long table, with golden dead leaves placed on them. These are the tobacco leaves that have been dried. Because they are golden in shape, they are also called "golden leaves".

Next to the porcelain plate are glass jars containing cut tobacco leaves, also known as "shrimps of tobacco".

The pipes are divided into lengths, but the structure is similar. They are all composed of two parts: cigarette bowl (pot) and cigarette mouthpiece. However, the mouthpiece with the long cigarette rod is very long, and is actually divided into two parts: cigarette pipe and cigarette mouthpiece.

The short pipe is much smaller and it looks like a big spoon when held in your hand.

The waiters held different pipes and told the interesting guests about the magical plant tobacco from America.

Since the expedition discovered the New World in the extreme east of tens of thousands of miles, everyone is curious about everything about the New World. There are many tribes suspected to be the survivors of the Shang Dynasty, and there are various strange flowers and plants. The chiefs wore gold and silver, but they didn't even have iron swords.

Previously, Beiyang Trading Company brought back the local specialty plant pepper from the Americas. This imported product is very spicy and so spicy that it almost caught fire, so it quickly became popular all over the world.

Chili peppers were quickly promoted and grown everywhere, which impressed diners with the "spicy" flavor in the dishes.

Chili peppers are edible plants grown in large quantities by Native Americans, while tobacco is a rejuvenating plant that locals are accustomed to, just like tea leaves in the Central Plains (formerly mainly in the south).

The Beiyang Trading Company's trading team knew about the existence of tobacco two years ago, but did not rush to the Central Plains. Instead, they spent time exploring the "medicine effect" of this plant and how to plant, process and take it.

Now, a complete set of planting, processing technology and taking methods have been initially studied. The Beiyang Trading Company's fleet transported a large amount of American tobacco back in early summer this summer, so the time to promote tobacco to the Central Plains is ripe.

Today is the "American Tobacco Promotion and Introduction Conference" jointly organized by the North and South Trading Company. The invited guests will have the opportunity to enjoy the new feeling brought by various tobacco products and experience what "smoking" is (smoking).

The waiters responsible for displaying tobacco first stated to the guests: "Over smoking is harmful to health, please control it." Then, they began to introduce several types of cigarettes used by Native Americans when smoking and how to smoke.

The first type of tobacco tool is a reed tube or a hollow grass pole. Cut the dried tobacco leaves into the reed tube, ignite it for a while, then inhale from the other end of the reed tube, and inhale the smoke generated by the burning tobacco leaves into your mouth.

The second type is a stone short pipe. Cut the tobacco leaves into shreds, fill the tobacco bowl, ignite it, and inhale it from the wooden cigarette holder to "smoke". This stone short pipe is brittle and is heavier in the mouth.

The third type is a pipe made of corn cobs. One end of the dried corn cob is hollowed out and the dried corn cob is cup-shaped. Then, a wooden pipe is inserted into a side wall, and the tobacco is placed in a bowl made of corn cobs to light it, and smoke from the wooden pipe cigarette holder.

This pipe is very light and people can smoke easily with their pipe in their mouths.

The fourth type is a wooden short pipe, and the fifth type is a long pipe. The smoking methods of these two pipes are similar, but the shape and material of the pipes are different, allowing smokers to obtain different smoking flavors.

When using a long pipe, you must hold the cigarette rod with your hands.

The organizer made careful preparations for this promotion conference, so the guests had many cigarettes, and they could choose tobacco at will, and they could experience the subtle differences brought by smoking with different cigarettes, and the flavor brought by different varieties of tobacco smoke.

The long and short pipes prepared by the organizer are naturally carefully crafted products, including wood, metal, ceramic, and special materials (jade, coral, etc.). Even if they are not used to smoke, they can be regarded as an exquisite craft.

Following the waiter's instructions, the guest held the pipe in his hand, took out some fragrant tobacco from the jar with a spoon, filled the tobacco bowl in three rounds, and then lit the tobacco with a match.

Then he held the pipe in his mouth and sucked it gently. A strange fragrance entered his mouth, making people feel energetic.

This feeling is a bit like drinking strong tea, but the effect comes faster.

The smoke produced by the burning of tobacco stays in your mouth for a while and is gently spits it out, making the smokers look like they are smoking, which is quite interesting.

When smoking with a pipe, the frequency must be well controlled. If the frequency of smoking is too fast, the tobacco in the pipe will burn too fast, which will lead to too thick smoke and make people feel "choked".

If the frequency of smoking is too slow, the tobacco in the pipe will turn off, so you have to light the fire again.

When the waiters taught smoking techniques, they did not forget to remind the guests that "excessive smoking is harmful to health". Whether the guests could listen or not is not their business.

People who smoked with pipes, under the guidance of the waiter, mastered the smoking skills one by one, and couldn't help but smoke, while "swallowing clouds and fog", talked to others and talked about this magical American tobacco.

We are all businessmen, and they are smart businessmen. Last year, we basically came into contact with American tobacco on a small scale and experienced the flavor of American tobacco. Therefore, we know that Beiyang Trading Company has found an amazing money tree.

Smoking is similar to drinking tea and can make people addicted. So, since tea can be in short supply, tobacco can do the same.

Tea can make tea gardens, tea merchants make a fortune, and tobacco can do it too.

However, tobacco is more "stronger" than tea and has faster effect on refreshing effects. However, due to the harsh growth conditions (relative to tea), the yield is limited (relative to tea).

Everyone believes that tobacco will inevitably be popular all over the world, but supply is limited to demand. Therefore, there is no need to worry about selling tobacco products, and the price will not be too low. As for the purchase channels, of course, it will not be available casually.

Some directors and managers of the North and South Trading Company also held a pipe in the banquet hall. They smoked and talked with the wealthy merchants attending the meeting, revealing the most authoritative news to everyone: the court will implement tobacco franchise in the future.

This is different from tea and chili.

The court wanted the people of the world to drink good and cheap tea and eat good and cheap chili peppers, so they would not specialize in these two plants. However, tobacco is a luxury product, which is different from tea and chili peppers.

Beiyang Trading Company spent a huge price to find the profitable crop tobacco in the Americas. In return, the court wanted to make the Beiyang Trading Company rich by tobacco.

Together with Nanyang Trading Company, control the purchase channels of overseas tobacco.

The Beiyang Trading Company's trading team has negotiated cooperation with the chiefs from all over the Americas (mainly Central America) to exchange for the tobacco in the other party's hands with specialties from the Central Plains and ironware.

At the same time, Beiyang Trading Company planted tobacco on a large scale in the Jiazhou area on the west coast of North America, using it as a stable tobacco production site.

The tobacco brought back by Beiyang Trading Company from the Americas will be sold to Nanyang Trading Company for part of it.

This is the sales method of overseas tobacco. If dealers want to purchase goods, they can only talk to Liangyang Trading Company.

Secondly, the imperial court has begun to select locations in various parts of the Central Plains to grow tobacco. The tobacco cultivation area is currently under the responsibility of four major trading companies, namely, Liangyang Trading Company, Xichuan Trading Company, and Hanhai Trading Company.

Beiyang Trading Company's tobacco cultivation area in the Central Plains was initially designated in Henan and Qingqi areas; Nanyang Trading Company's tobacco cultivation area was initially designated in Jinghu and Lingnan areas.

The planting area of ​​Xichuan Trading Company is mainly in Nanzhong and Shu areas; the planting area of ​​Hanhai Trading Company is mainly in Longyou area.

In various planting areas, farmers who grow tobacco can only sell the harvested tobacco to the corresponding companies and are not allowed to buy and sell them privately.

It can be said that tobacco sold in the country in the future can only be purchased from these four major companies and their distributors.

Of course, this is just the first phase of the plan. If tobacco is successfully promoted and planted, the court will establish a trading company to be responsible for the cultivation, processing, transportation and sales of local tobacco, which is a special "tobacco company".

Then, everyone should be prepared to successfully invest in the tobacco companies when they are established. Even if they are not a director, they should strive to be a supervisor as a major shareholder.

The wealthy merchants and giants holding pipes to suck the clouds and mist, listening to authoritative news, feeling the flavor of tobacco, and imagining a bright future, only feeling energetic.
Chapter completed!