Chapter 19 Distilled Liquor
Wanhua Tower.
No, it should be called "Fengming Tower" at this time.
At this moment, the aftermath of Liu Zheng's commotion was still there. First, his piano skills were amazing, then his literary talent was outstanding. And then he bought a restaurant. Is this Liangzhou's number one dandy always so high-profile wherever he goes?
The literati were still shaking their heads, pondering over these three couplets.
Zheng Yueru returned to her own room again, frowned slightly, and then smiled softly: "This young master of the Liu family is quite interesting."
The shopkeeper of Fengming Tower, called Lao Cuitou, was a shrewd old businessman. He stood next to Zheng Yueru and asked in a low voice, "Miss, are we going to let this kid mess around with our Wanhua Tower?"
Businessmen of this era are still relatively honest and upright, and they are actually a bit disdainful of Liu Zheng's series of promotional methods.
They think that when doing business, one should just do business honestly. If they keep messing around, the Wanhua Tower will become a mess.
"Hehe, do you think he's making trouble?"
Zheng Yueru smiled faintly, took a sip of rice wine, and shook her head: "I am a little worried. His bet may very likely lead to the loss of our Wanhua Tower..."
"ah?"
Old Cui looked depressed.
Zheng Yueru chuckled: "Of course, his methods are indeed unique, but there must be an introduction. After all, this is a restaurant, either beauties or wine... Otherwise, just relying on a few couplets and this multi-story idea, you want to attract people to this barren place of Yinzhou?"
"He asked us to terminate our cooperation with the previous wine merchant. It seems that he is planning to make a fuss about wine!"
Old Cui nodded repeatedly as he listened.
But no matter what, Liu Zheng's ideas were indeed ahead of their time in this era, and Liu Zheng gave a real sum of five thousand taels.
The next day.
Wanhualou was closed for renovation, inside and out, all in accordance with Liu Zheng's requirements. To take half of Wanhualou's shares would be five thousand taels of silver, and the renovation would cost another thousand taels of silver!
For a moment, the whole Yinzhou was watching the joke.
News came from Liangzhou these days that the Liu family father and son brought 10,000 taels of silver to Yinzhou. 500 taels for logs and 1,000 taels for renovation of the county mansion and dinner. After all the calculations, Liu Zheng had squandered 10,000 taels and only had 1,500 taels left!
The four prominent families suddenly felt that the crisis was over and everyone was happy.
"How long can he stay in Yinzhou at this rate of squandering? When he squanders all his savings, I will show you how I will humiliate him!"
Chen Xiang, who had been slapped in the face by Liu Zheng several times in a row, spread such harsh words everywhere, as if he wanted Liu Zheng to hear them on purpose.
Of course, it's not just him.
Almost everyone in Yinzhou is not optimistic about the current county lord, and thinks that Yinzhou will soon return to its previous state of "ruling by doing nothing."
And on Liu Zheng's side.
In fact, the situation is worse than it appears to outsiders.
The county mansion was renovated and rebuilt.
But we need people!
Maids, servants, gardeners, grooms, carriages, all these things cost money, and monthly wages had to be paid to them! Liu Dahao was so busy that his purse was getting thinner and thinner.
"Son, why don't you go to Liangzhou again and visit my old friends to see if you can help them?"
Liu Dahao was almost at his wit's end.
If this goes on, we won't be able to hold out for a few days.
Liu Zheng smiled slightly: "Dad, which of your old friends would look down on us now? Don't worry, just follow what I said, use the money in your hand to recruit 300 soldiers, remember they must be young and strong! Changfeng will assist you in this matter, as for the rest, I will find a way!"
"Ah? Still need to recruit soldiers?"
Liu Dahao was in tears.
Liu Zheng nodded and said, "How can we collect taxes if we don't recruit soldiers? Dad, you have to remember one thing: in prosperous times, culture is valued, while in troubled times, martial arts are valued! Without soldiers, it will be difficult for us to gain a foothold in Yinzhou!"
Wanting to collect taxes is like pulling teeth out of the tiger's mouths of the four prominent families!
Without the government soldiers, all this is just empty talk.
then.
The county magistrate's mansion began to recruit soldiers with great fanfare. This matter still caused some waves in Yinzhou. Who are they recruiting to deal with? The four great families must be the first to get restless. But this mansion soldier is the standard configuration of the county magistrate's mansion. Although you are a local tyrant, you cannot interfere with the county magistrate's mansion by law or reason.
After some inquiries, they found out that there were only 300 soldiers from the palace, so the prominent families left one after another.
three hundred?
Each of them has two thousand private soldiers!
Thus, the news that the county mansion was short of money was confirmed once again.
Liu Zheng, on the other hand, has been doing his own research these days.
He had several ideas about wine. The first was to make a more advanced koji. The koji of this era was still the oldest method, using naturally moldy grains to make koji. As for artificial koji, there was no technology at that time.
But Liu Zheng does!
These few days, he first bought a set of wine-making equipment, various utensils, ceramic jars, leaking jars, wine jars, etc. Originally, these processes in Liu Zheng's wine-making technology were very backward, but there was no way, because the conditions in that era were like this.
better than nothing.
He first moistened the various grains, ground them, and processed them in various ways. He then added water and stirred them to artificially make the koji, which was much more advanced than the natural mold production method.
By controlling the temperature and studying the proportions, we can produce koji with different flavors.
Liu Zheng prepared one set each for the strong aroma type, light aroma type, and sauce aroma type.
Of course, this is not something that can be accomplished overnight.
The production of half of the daqu takes at least a month.
Therefore, Liu Zheng also has to study another thing in the process of making koji.
Distiller!
For him, now he needs something that can produce results immediately to help him make money! So, since it takes a long time to make wine yeast, he can only use a distiller to distiller the existing muddy wine of this era. Although the effect is not as good, it is equivalent to nectar compared to those muddy wines.
In fact, the principle of the distiller is also very simple. For a scientific researcher like Liu Zheng, it is just like a child playing house. It can be done by putting a few bottles and jars.
Connect several sealed jars together. The first jar is responsible for distillation, the second is responsible for cooling, and the third is responsible for collection.
But the most important thing...
It’s just that these bottles and jars are hard to find.
Liu Zheng searched in the market for several days before he found a few that he was satisfied with. This made him smile bitterly. It was really hard to live in an era of material scarcity.
The pipes connecting several tanks became a headache for him.
In the end, Liu Zheng had to go to several butchers before he could barely find some cow intestines, which he could use after washing. This mysterious operation made him laugh and cry.
But no matter what, everything is ready.
Even if the distiller is made.
"Son, what are you doing?"
Liu Dahao ran into the house in the backyard of the county mansion, and was stunned when he saw what Liu Zheng was tinkering with.
"Haha, Dad, this is good stuff. Come on, let Changfeng fetch ten kilograms of muddy wine!"
"Ah? My son, ten catties of wine is a lot of money!"
Poor Liu Dahao, once the richest man in Liangzhou, now frowns over ten taels of silver.
Liu Zheng smiled and said, "Dad, listen to me and go ahead! If this goes well, the profit will not be just a few dozen taels of silver!"
"profit?"
Liu Dahao looked at Liu Zheng with some suspicion, as if to say, you have been losing money since you were born, when have you ever made a profit?
But he naturally wouldn't say this out loud, and immediately asked Qin Changfeng to get some wine.
"Call Wei Tiezhu over and ask him to bring a few smart craftsmen with him!"
Liu Zheng suddenly said again.
Liu Dahao never questioned what his son said. Soon, Wei Tiezhu came with his two brothers.
Qin Changfeng also bought ten kilograms of turbid wine.
"Tiezhu, can I trust you?"
Liu Zheng looked at Wei Tiezhu and asked calmly.
Wei Tiezhu's eyes immediately turned red: "Sir, what are you talking about? Sir, treat me like a king and a subject, this head is yours!"
"good!"
Liu Zheng warned again: "I called you here because I trust you. Remember, keep everything that happens here to yourself! Don't tell anyone!"
Naturally, there was no problem with Wei Tiezhu's two brothers.
Liu Dahao was amazed to see Liu Zheng being so cautious.
So, Liu Zheng began to teach Wei Tiezhu and the other two how to use and operate the distiller. At the beginning, they didn't understand what they were doing.
But under Liu Zheng's guidance , he gradually mastered the key points.
The turbid wine began to enter the distillation process. Liu Dafu and Qin Changfeng watched from the side and sometimes helped.
In such a short time , the turbid sorghum wine gradually became clear, like a spring. More importantly, the aroma of this ancient low-alcohol wine is incomparable to that of the high-alcohol wine. When the distillation is almost done, the whole room is filled with a strong aroma of wine.
"this……"
"What is this? Such a strong smell of wine!"
Liu Dahao’s eyes widened.
Qin Changfeng also said excitedly: "The aroma of the wine alone is intoxicating. Is this the wine of the gods?"
People of this era are used to drinking crudely made low-alcohol liquor. Where have they ever seen such a high-purity liquor?
Wei Tiezhu was also stunned: "This wine, this wine..."
Liu Zheng smiled slightly: "Wait a moment, then you can try it."
Several people were drunk and their mouths were drooling.
When the distilled liquor is distilled, cooled, and then collected in the final jar, the whole house is filled with the intoxicating aroma of liquor.
"This...Zheng'er, is this wine?"
Liu Zheng poured out a few glasses of wine, and Liu Dahao was reluctant to drink it.
This is purer than spring water!
"What do you think? Drink it!"
Liu Zheng laughed out loud.
Liu Dahao, Qin Changfeng, Wei Tiezhu and others, after drinking a glass of wine, immediately felt as if their souls had left their bodies and were drunk.
“Good wine!”
"Zheng'er, Zheng'er, how did you do this?"
Liu Dahao was like meeting his own son for the first time and was immediately struck by his beauty.
This is not just about making a profit, it's about getting rich overnight!
