Chapter 314: Sea of Clouds and Jade Bamboo Mountain
Zhao Yulin, holding his infant brother-in-law, followed Chen Zhongshun to the distillery and took a tour of the winery. Seeing the masters busy with their bare chests, he asked how it was and whether there was any business.
Chen Zhongshun said with a smile that business had been booming for a long time, and the silver he made from selling goods from Dali and Guangnanxi was huge. However, as the son-in-law said, the wine would taste better if it was aged for a while.
The two men left the kitchen and sat down in front of the yellow poplar tree in front of his house. The wine and food were already prepared on the stone table. His wife immediately took Chen Xiaoshu, and the two of them started drinking, one cup at a time.
Chen Zhongshun asked cheerfully how it was, saying it had been two years.
Zhao Yulin had already tasted the flavor of Moutai and kept applauding it. He asked the Logistics Department of the Ministry of War to order 10,000 kilograms.
Chen Zhongshun was very happy, laughing and saying that there was no need to spend money on the army, he would just arrange for the shipment. However, at the moment, he did not have 10,000 kilograms of wine aged for more than two years, so even if it was aged for one year, he would have to empty his warehouse.
Zhao Yulin didn't expect his sauce-flavored liquor business to be so good.
The old man said that Gujing Distillery had to do things for Renhuai. If they didn't sell wine, where would they get money to spend? They had to build roads and bridges, and also buy sorghum for wine making. Everything required real money.
After the small workshops in various places emerged in recent years, everyone knew how to distill wine. The prices of all wineries, including Wu Gu Feng, dropped, but the sales volume of wine increased a lot.
Zhao Yulin smiled and asked him to send 1,000 kilograms of two-year-old sauce-flavored liquor to the Central Court in Chengdu for use in the state banquet.
This is an advertisement for Gujing Distillery.
He told the old man to ask him to donate all the shares of Wugufeng to the government and to Yibin County.
At present, Chen Zhongshun still holds 50% of the shares of Qinfeng Distillery, but Qinfeng Qiongjiang alone has made a lot of money for the grassland people . One person cannot spend so much money.
Chen Zhongshun thought about it and did not agree.
He said that Wu Gu Feng was the distillery where he started his business in brewing wine, and he could donate it, but he had to keep it as a memory.
Zhao Yulin immediately said that it was all up to his father to decide. He just felt that we all have enough money to spend at the moment, so he wanted his father to set an example and support the country.
He saw that the government of Dali was weak and was controlled by the princes and nobles outside the imperial palace. He did not want the powerful and wealthy businessmen of the New Song Dynasty to become so powerful that they could influence and threaten the imperial court.
The old man said he understood, filled up the two cups, picked them up and drank them all.
The next day, Zhao Yulin continued southward to Guiyang, and thirty miles from the city he saw Shunzhidi, who was supervising the construction of the road. The little woman ran over desperately and threw herself into his arms.
Zhao Yulin immediately hugged her with both hands, hugged her tightly, slapped her on the face and said, "Come down quickly, the brothers are watching us."
The guards around had already turned their faces away.
Zhidi asked him why he came here?
He said with a smile, "Let's see if the general manager is slacking off."
Are you actually sightseeing?
Or working hard?
Shunzhidi asked him proudly: Now that you have seen it, you have seen what I am doing, right?
Zhao Yulin said "Well done." and carried the woman onto the horse. The two of them rode towards Guiyang City with laughter.
At that time, Guiyang was still a small, newly named town.
It was called a town, but it was no more than a market town with less than 30 households. However, a large number of craftsmen had gathered around it to build roads, bridges, ditches and canals.
Zhidi explained the situation as they walked, telling him that he had to complete these most basic things before building her new capital, Guiyang City.
He dismounted his horse and headed towards a bamboo building. Zhidi's maid had already led the guards to set up camp and tents nearby.
The two sat down to drink tea and looked out at Guishan Mountain in the north of the city. The entire mountain was covered with bamboo, lush and green. He felt that it would be more appropriate to call it Bamboo Mountain.
Shunzhidi saw him staring at her intently and asked him cheerfully, "Is she beautiful?"
These days, there are new bamboo leaves, with bright colors. Every morning, they look different and are particularly pleasing to the eye. When workers need to cut bamboo to build houses, she asks them to take turns cutting bamboo and not to shave their heads, so as to protect her.
Zhao Yulin gave Zhidi a thumbs up, feeling that this woman was a bit like an environmental enthusiast in later generations.
The woman pointed to several bamboo buildings around her and said that her temporary government office was a bit shabby. These few bamboo buildings were hastily built after the New Year.
However, the officials who came here were all capable people selected by her. They were all very hardworking and could walk dozens of miles every day to do their work without any complaints, which made the people happy.
As the two were chatting, a maid brought some fresh lychees. Shunzhidi happily peeled one for him to eat, saying it was very fresh. This tree was a late-ripening variety, and there were not many left.
Shunzhidi went south to Guiyang and started eating fresh lychees as soon as they were ripe. She laughed and said that she was better than Yang Guifei.
Guiyang itself has lychees, and it is also the only way to enter Sichuan via Guangnan West Road. The merchants passing by brought her a lot of fresh fruits from the south, so naturally she got there first.
As night fell, the couple turned off the lights. Just as Zhao Yulin was about to touch her, Shunzhidi immediately reminded him that there was a bamboo house under him and it would creak if he used too much force.
Zhao Yulin burst out laughing, thinking that if it really comes to that, everyone will want to experience the feeling of flying, so who cares how much effort is used.
Zhidi heard him laughing and got angry, so she started tearing his clothes off, and soon the couple pointed their guns at each other and tortured Xiaozhulou mercilessly...
At daybreak, Zhidi happily pulled him out to admire the green bamboo scenery of Guishan. The tender bamboos were green and the bamboo waves stretched for thousands of miles, which really looked like a sea of clouds on Yuzhu Mountain.
Zhao Yulin sighed that it was such a good place to escape the summer heat, but it was a pity that the transportation was not well developed, and there were no cars and airplanes like in later generations. Otherwise, this place would definitely become a tourist destination.
Shunzhidi was already very satisfied.
She told Zhao Yulin: Ever since the news came out that this place would become the administrative center of Guizhou Road, merchants and travelers coming and going from the north and south have been asking about it. Many are asking how to build a house and if they want to open a branch here.
But she was not in a hurry at all and wanted to build the city first.
Sister Ma Ling introduced her to the experience of building a new city in Fengxiang Prefecture. She wanted to take care of the people's affairs step by step first, and then build streets and new cities piece by piece to make a good fortune from the money from the merchants and travelers.
Zhao Yulin nodded, but did not completely agree with her point of view.
He said that when Fengxiang Prefecture was expanding the new city, the population of the old city increased dramatically, and there were many families in the city who earned money and wanted to buy houses. But it was different in Guiyang.
There are only 20 to 30 households in Guiyang City at present, and most of them are poor people with thatched roofs. It is difficult to make money by speculating in land like Fengxiang Prefecture.
He suggested to Zhidi that they should first introduce ten or twenty merchants. This place was a transit station for the caravan's freight, with a large number of merchants coming and going. There would definitely be business if a wholesale goods trading market was built here.
For example, merchants from Guangnan could transport their goods here to exchange with merchants from Guizhou and Shu, and no one would have to travel further. In the future, roads would be built to connect all directions, making this a transit point for merchants to barter goods. Merchants and pilgrims would need food, drink and accommodation, so some people would open restaurants and inns, and gradually the popularity would naturally increase.
He believed that the most important thing was to repair the road and build a brick and tile factory, a lime factory, and a cement factory nearby to prepare all the construction materials , so that everything needed to build the government office would be available.
Those who have bought land to build houses can buy materials nearby and call their friends, and soon others will follow.
Shunzhidi was very happy and stamped his face with hers. He hugged the woman and said that the older he got, the less he was afraid of being laughed at by others.
Shunzhidi held his face and asked if he didn't like it? Chen Chen was even more exaggerated than her.
Of course Zhao Yulin was delighted. He pointed to the bustling construction site and asked her if it had cost a lot of money. Did they rush to Guiyang to start construction right after Renhuai was completed?
The young woman said that Renhuai was poor and she relied on Uncle Chen's winery to support her. But the wages here were quite cheap. There was nothing else to do in the mountains. As long as they were well fed, the people were willing to come and work.
Even so, she still asked each county to use up all the corvee labor first .
Zhao Yulin straightened his bangs and said that this road led to Guangnan West Road and was a national highway. He would go back and ask the Central Council to discuss allocating funds for its construction and build all the post stations along the way.
The woman leaned on him and closed her eyes happily, enjoying the fresh air of Zhushan and bathing in the warm morning sun.
Zhao Yulin stayed in Guiyang for seven days, inspected the nearby prefectures and counties, and was about to return, but Liu San, who was in a favorable position, came to visit him at night and asked him to stay for two more days.
He stared at Liu San in confusion and asked if there was anything else he needed to do.
The guy said timidly that the guest from Yue State asked him to bring a message, asking him to stay here for two days. Their envoys were on the way and there was important business to discuss.
Shunzhidi immediately explained to him that the Kingdom of Yue had a branch in Renhuai, and he would definitely know about it as soon as he arrived in Renhuai.
What's the matter with them from Yue State looking for me?
The so-called annex is where the foreigners live. The guest officials are the foreigners who come to Xinsong for business.
Zhao Yulin said that no one came to tell him, so how did he know?
He saw people nearby using half a bamboo to collect water and bring it into their homes for use. He thought that since he had nothing to do, he might as well help Zhidi solve the water problem in Guiyang City.
Zhao Yulin walked through the hills around the town and found a spring halfway up a hill in the north of the town. He asked Zhidi to arrange for craftsmen to build a large pool under the spring, install bamboos with joints opened at the bottom of the pool, and then connect them one by one to bring water into the city. A long bamboo water pipe brought the mountain spring into Guiyang.
The craftsmen got the idea quickly. They used large nanmu bamboos as the main water pipes and small spotted bamboos as branch pipes. They then used wooden poles to tie them into triangular supports along the way and fixed them firmly. They actually brought the clear mountain spring water to Shunzhidi's bamboo house.
Zhidi happily pulled out the cork, took a handful of water to wash her face, and even bent down to sip the water from the spout, saying happily, "It's so sweet."
She wanted the craftsmen to bring water to every household.
Zhao Yulin said with a smile that it was okay for now as there were not many residents. But if the city expanded in the future, there would not be enough.
The water reservoir also needs to be modified. It needs to be made into a water reservoir with sedimentation like a septic tank. The water during a flash flood is extremely turbid and needs to be settled before it can be used.
