The one hundred and seventieth chapter of the wine that kills three birds with one stone
Ye An found that the atmosphere in the Song Dynasty was relatively peaceful and not too restrictive, but if you wanted to enter the palace, you still had to follow the rules, especially working on etiquette.
What's more, he only has a rough understanding of the etiquette of this world.
In his opinion, "rituals" are very unique! Naturally, the things he saw in his two lives were different.
Whether it is the East or the West, whether it is a thousand years ago or a thousand years later, "ritual" has been throughout the history of human civilization, and it is even an important link to maintain the relationship between human beings.
There must be courtesy between people, and there must be courtesy between countries.
"The Master said: Etiquette, courtesy, frugality, and respect are the foundation of a good life. If you are polite, you will be safe; if you are not, you will be in danger. Therefore, if you don't learn etiquette, you will not be able to build a good life."
"The Master said: If you don't know destiny, you can't be a gentleman; if you don't know etiquette, you can't stand up; if you don't know faith, you can't know people."
These are the summaries of Chinese civilization and its sages on etiquette.
Naturally, Lan Jizong would not teach Ye An the rules, and Xuan Chengzi could not interfere with this matter. Even if he knew that, even though he was Ye An's master, he could not overstep his authority.
Conferring gifts is a major event for Confucianism. If Xuanchengzi dares to overstep his authority, Wang Yuan can go directly to the Shangqing Palace to fight him.
Seeing that Ye An didn't believe it, Lan Jizong looked at the roof of Taixu Hall and said quietly: "Mr. Yuanbo may be able to lift all the beams of Taixu Hall!"
After Lan Jizong conveyed Liu E's decree in the Shangqing Palace, he refused to leave. Xuan Chengzi said very strangely: "Isn't the high official going to Mr. Yuanbo's house?"
Lan Jizong smiled and said: "Of course there is no need. Mr. Yuanbo's decree has already been issued. Today I just came to read the edict to this "Yelang"."
Ye An is still busy with his plans to make a fortune, and he doesn't want to talk nonsense with Lan Jizong, who just continues his brewing business. Fortunately, everything is going step by step, and he doesn't need to worry about it at all. The only thing he needs to do seems to be to continue his "research"
Already.
Seeing Lan Jizong's half-smiling expression, Ye An could only hand over the "paper" in his hand: "You can drink for free, but you have to answer the questions!"
This novel method was very attractive to Lan Jizong. After taking a sip of the wine, he nodded slightly and said: "The wine is still fragrant, but your questions are quite weird. How can you sell it for thousands of dollars?"
Drinks! Do you know how much it costs? Tens of millions of dollars!"
Ye An waved his hand: "The high official only needs to answer the questions. The questions were also written by the boy..."
Lan Jizong didn't believe that Ye An would write these seemingly meaningless things randomly. He had already seen suspicions in these titles.
The choice of the strength of the drink, the choice of texture, the choice of taste, and what needs to be changed about the drink he is drinking, etc. These are all things that Ye An wants to know.
Although Lan Jizong didn't know how to make wine, he knew the saying "Know yourself and the enemy and you will never be in danger of a hundred battles."
If you know what most people like, wouldn’t the brewed wine be what most people like?
But there is one thing Lan Jizong is full of doubts about. Can Ye An really control the taste and taste of wine?
Making wine is not a guaranteed success even for an experienced "wine master". How come it is so simple and easy for him, Ye An?!
Lan Jizong didn't know how Ye An "made wine". In fact, he was purifying wine rather than making wine.
Ye An just used a large amount of bad wine to re-distill and purify it. This technology may seem complicated, but the principle is very simple. As long as a qualified condensation tower can be made and the heat is controlled well, anyone can make high-quality liquor.
But sometimes, it is often the core "secret" that becomes a stumbling block. If you just cross a simple hurdle, you will see a new world. If you cannot cross it, you can only stick to the old rules.
Ye An is a bit "cheap". He stands at a different level from people of this era. He doesn't need to step up at all when others can't overcome the hurdles that they try their best to overcome.
Lan Jizong has a very good evaluation of the liquor Ye An is brewing now. The reason is very simple, because the aroma of the liquor is strong enough and the taste is not bad. It is not particularly strong. At least it is much better than the liquor he drank in Yangcheng County.
The main reason is that bad wine is not brewed poorly, but has too much dregs and the ingredients are not good, but the fermentation time is well controlled.
Winemaking has never been a simple matter, there are too many issues to consider, and even luck is very important.
Ye An has no plans to brew his own wine yet, but if he wants to open his own bar business, he must have his own brewery.
In his opinion, the size of the winery is still a bit small. He has visited wineries in Tokyo before, whether they are government-run or private. Of course, he only looked at them from a distance and wanted to enter.
Which is absolutely impossible.
Both official and private wine shops were very secretive about their own wine-making techniques, but even from a distance, Ye An discovered many problems.
These wineries are small in scale, but there are many in number. It is said that there are more than a hundred wineries in the entire city of Tokyo, both large and small, and with various techniques.
For example, the most expensive lamb wine I bought was the wine from Gaoyangzhengdian, and the Yinping wine from Yuxianzhengdian, both of which were considered fine wines.
As for these main wine shops, you can't even see them face to face, let alone from a distance.
If you want to own your own winery, you need land, factories, and equipment. According to the current situation, you need to make these yourself. But what is the purpose of such a large investment?
Of course, it is to monopolize the drink market in Tokyo. This is Ye An's most ambitious goal. Opening a bar is just to make a name for his drinks.
How much money can you make just by drinking every day? The worst thing you can do is buy some food. Two flowers are the way to go!
Where is the bulk of the capital? Of course it is in the upstream. The downstream ones are not making no money, but they are making too little, and they are being squeezed by the upstream ones.
Of course, if you want to open a winery specifically to brew wine, you need to obtain authorization from the court, that is, obtain a manufacturing brand. This thing Laojun believes is a reward from Emperor Zhenzong.
But Ye An cannot use it, because the brewing brand is only suitable for specialty stores. Obviously this is to prevent someone from speculating on the brewing brand of the wine.
Unlike what later generations would see as the Song Dynasty’s wine franchise, what Ye An saw was a completely different side.
Why the Song Dynasty listed wine as an important commodity and levied high tax rates was first to increase tax revenue and secondly to control the domestic economy.
Wine is made from grain, and the price of grain almost dominated the entire economy of the Song Dynasty. The price of grain was the basic price of all goods, which affected the entire market to a great extent.
When Liquor Liquor became the exclusive domain of the imperial court, most of the liquor production was controlled by the imperial court. Zhengdian had the right to brew liquor, but the distiller's yeast had to be purchased from the government.
There is a certain relationship between the amount of koji and the amount of wine brewed. In this way, the court can control the brewing of wine, indirectly control the consumption of grain, and at the same time collect taxes.
This is to kill three birds with one stone. In Ye An's view, the wine tasting system is one of the most advanced systems in this era.