Now Zhu Wen also became interested, because in ancient times wine and salt had always been the main sources of tax revenue. Since such fine wine is produced here, why not sell it in large quantities across the country? Since it is tribute wine, it can also be sold in limited quantities.

Rare is the most expensive, so that the price can be increased to the maximum extent and the profit margin can be increased.

Zhu Wen carefully tasted the Jiutan Spring Wine, also known as Gujing Gongjiu, and felt that it was sweet, mellow and refreshing, with a full and smooth texture, but also a faint fragrance.

Zhu Wen asked the shopkeeper: "I wonder where this wine comes from?"

The shopkeeper smiled and said: "Sir, you don't know, this ancient well tribute wine is produced in Jiadian Ji not far from the north gate of Bozhou. There is an ancient well in the Jiji. The water in the well is sweet and clear, which is especially suitable for making tea.

As early as the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao brought over the production method of "Jiutan Spring Liquor". It gradually developed and after years of improvement, the liquor produced in Jiadianji became famous far and wide. Because this liquor is famous for its sip

Gujing is famous all over the world, so the Jiadianji was changed to Gujingji. And because this wine has been the royal drink of the palace for a long time, we among the people call it Gujing Gongjiu."

While Zhu Wen and the other three were eating, they chatted with the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper was very talkative and kept talking about the origin and development history of Gujing Gongjiu, as if he was talking about Bozhou's long wine culture. "Worst Water

In the legend of "Mandarin fish, Su Shui, carp, Huqin and banquet for distinguished guests", "jiujiu" refers to the Gujing tribute wine produced in Jiadianji.

Zhu Wen and others paid the bill after dinner, and then followed the shopkeeper's instructions to go to Gujingji in the north of the city. In Zhu Wen's impression, it should be called Gujing Town in later generations. But in the late Tang Dynasty, the word "town" was not

Indiscriminately, only military fortresses with heavy troops can be called towns, and the generals who guard them are called town envoys. Generally, there are three to five "capitals" under the command of a town envoy, each with a thousand people, which is more than the average county garrison.

, almost one town is responsible for the guard work of several nearby counties.

Zhu Wen and others came to Gujingji and saw busy people everywhere. There were a lot of high-quality wheat and high-quality sorghum piled up in the brewing workshop. Xu Huaiyu stopped a worker and said: "Call your person in charge to come over."

.”

The man saw that Zhu Wen was dressed in rich clothes, and Xu Huaiyu and Pang Shigu were also dressed in brocade robes. They looked like they were not ordinary people, so he did not dare to neglect them and hurriedly notified Wang Huan, the person in charge of the brewing workshop.

Wang Huan is a middle-aged man in his forties. He looks shrewd, but his face smells of alcohol, but he still can't hide the shrewd look in his eyes.

Wang Huandao: "I don't know that the three distinguished guests have arrived, but they are far away from us. I hope that the distinguished guests will understand."

Zhu Wen said straight to the point: "Are you the steward here? Where is the wine supervisor in Bozhou?"

Wang Huandao: "The wine supervisor has gone to Bozhou City. Now the young ones here can make the decisions. I wonder how many of them are there?"

Zhu Wen nodded to Xu Huaiyu, and Xu Huaiyu said: "This is Mr. Zhu, the military envoy of the Xuanwu Army. He drank the wine made in your workshop today, so he came here specially to inspect it. Why don't you, the wine supervisor, come out to greet him?"

"

Then Wang Huan accompanied him: "To be honest, the wine supervisor is indeed not here. On weekdays, the things in the workshop are all small matters. The wine supervisor is only responsible for official correspondence. How can he take care of so many specific affairs.

"

Zhu Wen said with a cold face: "Since you are in charge of the specific matters, wouldn't it be more worthy of the name to leave the position of wine supervisor to you in the future?"

Wang Huan said with a look of sincerity and fear: "I don't dare. If the wine supervisor finds out about this, why don't you kill me?"

Zhu Wen said: "How can a small ninth-grade wine supervisor have such great prestige? How dare he kill people openly?"

Wang Huan smiled bitterly and was about to speak, when the sedan chair of the wine supervisor was carried into the yard. The wine supervisor's name was Li Quan. As soon as he got off the sedan, he shouted loudly: "What do you three do? I didn't know this was a workshop for tribute wine to the imperial court.

No? No one else is allowed in, so you three should leave quickly."

When Zhu Wen and others were about to have an attack, Wang Huan hurriedly said: "Master Wine Supervisor, why don't you come and see Master Jiedushi soon?"

Li Quan didn't react for a moment, and said with a confused look on his face: "What? Lord Jiedushi, which Lord Jiedushi?"

Wang Huan said anxiously: "Who else can be the military governor? Of course it is Master Zhu, the military governor of the Xuanwu Army who just recaptured Bozhou."

When Li Quan, the wine supervisor, heard this, he hurriedly put away his arrogant expression, knelt on the ground and kowtowed like pounding garlic, and cried: "Sir, I have seen you in this humble position. The puppet troops occupied it a few days ago.

Bozhou City took away hundreds of jars of aged wine from us. Fortunately, I was more thoughtful and only told them a small wine cellar with the least ideas. The other four larger wine cellars were not discovered.

Our years of aging have been preserved.”

Zhu Wen said: "I heard that the ancient well wine here is only supplied to the palace. Is it a special supply for the palace?"

Li Quandao, the wine supervisor, said: "That's true. However, after the Puppet Qi invaded Bozhou, they forced me to provide them with good wine. I had to tell them a small wine cellar, saying that all the aging wine was there, so that small wine cellar was

They moved it empty."

Zhu Wen continued: "Then how do you explain the 'Jiu Tan Spring Wine' sold in the taverns on the street? You must not tell me that the 'Jiu Tan Spring Wine' is not Gujing tribute wine!"

Li Quan shuddered fiercely. Selling tribute wine privately was a crime of beheading. After this incident, even if he had nine heads, it would not be enough. He had an idea, turned around and pointed at Li Huan, saying: "It's all

He, he was the one who asked me to sell wine privately to the tavern. All these ideas were his, I was just deceived by others."

Wang Huan had always been Li Quan's confidant. How did he know that Li Quan would use him as a shield at a critical moment? He was so angry! But this idea was indeed Li Huan's. He couldn't quibble even if he wanted to, so he had to bow his head and admit his guilt.

Said: "This idea is indeed a small one. Now the road is difficult for the imperial court to travel westward. It has been three or four years since the documents for the requisition of tribute wine have come. Without the protection of the imperial army, they would not dare to transport the tribute wine privately to Xingzai.

We can only wait here day after day, but now the workers can't get paid, and the old wines in the cellar are of little use, so the younger ones will order people to buy those with slightly lower vintages.

The wine was sold to major restaurants and wine shops in the city, but I didn't expect that the adults would discover it. I made a mistake and was willing to be punished."

Then Wang Huan knelt down directly on the ground without defending himself, just waiting to be punished.

At this time, the workers in the workshop heard the commotion and came out to watch. They saw Wang Huan kneeling on the ground silently. When they learned about the situation, they all said: "The imperial court has not used tribute wine in recent years. There is no wine in our workshop at all."

The income is so low that everyone can’t even afford to eat. Thanks to Wangfangzhu’s idea to sell some of the wine in stock, we are able to earn wages and the workshop can buy raw materials to continue production.”

A young man said: "The wine supervisor is also in favor of this idea. Even the money from the sale must be divided into 30% by the wine supervisor, and 20% has to be paid for taxes. The remaining half is used to buy raw materials and open it for everyone.

wages.”

Zhu Wen turned to the wine supervisor Li Quan and said: "You only take 30%, which is 10% more than the taxes paid to the treasury, and you even put the responsibility on Wang Huan. You are really good! Since today

Starting from now, you will be removed from the position of wine supervisor and will never be hired. All illegal gains obtained from the previous position of wine supervisor will be confiscated."

There were also about a dozen soldiers in Li Quan's wine-supervising yamen, who were usually Li Quan's confidants. Seeing that his master was in trouble, and seeing that there were only three people including Zhu Wen, he thought of restraining them first, or simply sending Jiedushi to Jiedushi.

If he is killed, he can then take away the property of Supervisor Li and his family and run away together.

A dozen people winked and moved closer to Zhu Wen and others. Wang Huan saw that the situation was not right and said hurriedly: "Li Quan, what do you want to do? This is the Jiedushi Master. If anything happens, you can bear it."

?”

Li Quan jumped up and said: "It has not been easy for me these past few years. Since he doesn't want me to live, I will simply stop working as a supervisor, but he can't confiscate my property! At the worst, it's just a matter of death and destruction. Wang Huan, everyone

Brother, if you want to follow me, then go with me. As long as you have money, you can't survive anywhere? Why do you have to hang yourself from a tree?"

At this time, more than a dozen of Li Quan's men had already picked up sticks and iron rulers in their hands, waiting for Li Quan's order to capture Zhu Wen and others.

Zhu Wen glanced at these people contemptuously, turned to Pang Shigu and said lightly: "You have to deal with all these people for me. You can't let any of them escape, and you can't hurt their lives."

Pang Shigu agreed and walked out. These people saw that he was bare-handed. Although he was tall and burly, how could they withstand the attack of more than ten of them? They were trying to attack Master Pang with the iron rulers and sticks in their hands.

However, Pang Shigu snatched the stick from one person's hand. This ordinary stick was as agile as a swimming dragon in Pang Shigu's hand, pointing east and west, specifically hitting their knee joints and elbow joints.

, hitting these two places is to make them lose their ability to attack and escape.

In just a moment, more than a dozen people were lying on the ground in a mess and wailing. Seeing that something was not going well, Li Quan was about to take the opportunity to run away, but Xu Huaiyu grabbed him by the shoulder. Li Quan hurriedly said: "Sir, please spare my life. Let me go."

This time, my dear, I have one hundred thousand taels of silver at home. If you let me go, I will give it all to you."
Chapter completed!