Gan Long went to Jiangnan six times in his life, each time with a huge team and spent millions of dollars. Everywhere, flags cover the sky, and gongs and drums are loud. Due to the long distance and bumpy land, the southern tour routes mostly take waterways, such as the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and the investigation of river water transport has also become the focus of Gan Long's previous southern tours.
When it comes to canal water transport, we have to mention the two Huai salt gangs that flourished because of water transport. Two Huai salt gangs, represented by Anhui Huizhou merchants, defeated Shanxi and Shanxi merchants in the early Qing Dynasty, monopolized the salt industry in Huaihe River, and lived in Yangzhou, where they were invincible for a while. Huizhou merchants have a characteristic in doing business. They are good at establishing good relations with officials, and they are often called "red-top businessmen". For example, Hu Xueyan is the representative of Huizhou merchants.
The biggest Lord came to Jiangnan. Usually the sharp-eyed salt gang giants are reluctant to give up this great opportunity. As long as they can make the elderly happy, it is worthwhile to pay more. Qianlong loves to taste delicious food, and Huaiyang cuisine represented by Yangzhou should not be missed. Therefore, salt gangs represented by Cheng Kezheng looked around for Huaiyang cuisine masters, just to make the old man happy and give him some benefits when he left.
It's a pity that Ganlong went to Jiangnan several times and ate Huaiyang dishes cooked by salt merchants, but they all felt that the taste was not good. Is that what famous chefs do? The mind may think so, but it won't say it. So the salt merchants didn't know that Qianlong was dissatisfied with the food, and wondered why they didn't summon the salt merchants to praise him.
The more I think about it, the more I feel strange, so Cheng Kezheng and others bought off the little eunuch who served the imperial cuisine. They didn't know until they asked this question. No wonder he ate Huaiyang food cooked by the masters, but he was not satisfied. It turns out that the accompanying chef during the Qianlong period was a ghost. Fearing that Qianlong would like Huaiyang cuisine, the chefs took them back to the palace and took their places. So every dish is served with a spoonful of sugar, which is too sweet. As a northerner, Qianlong naturally doesn't like it.
However, even if Qianlong is happy, the salt merchants in Huaibei may not get any benefits. When Qianlong went to the south of the Yangtze River, except for the money from the state treasury, most of the expenses were contracted by salt merchants, and millions of dollars were used at every turn. In the later period, many salt merchants were also fat, and their assets shrank seriously. With the end of Ganlong's trip to the south of the Yangtze River, the glory of the past is gone forever.