In the palace, Li Shimin held a banquet, and all the lords who participated in the winter hunt, including marquis and above, attended.
Lin Xuan won a seat as the first place winner in winter hunting.
Everyone attending the banquet had a higher status than him, so he could only sit at the bottom of the table.
The top three in the winter hunt were all rewarded. Lin Xuan was the first and was awarded a belt by Li Shimin.
Although the belt is exquisite, it is not used by Li Shimin and has little meaning to Lin Xuan.
It is worth mentioning that the second place winner in winter hunting was actually the King of Shu, Li Ke.
Li Shimin praised Li Ke greatly, and it was obvious that he liked Li Ke very much.
Lin Xuan was very curious about Li Ke, who was evaluated by Li Shimin as "like me".
After taking a closer look, I found that he did look a bit like Li Shimin.
But Lin Xuan felt that the reason why Li Shimin thought Li Ke looked like him was because Li Ke imitated him in his behavior.
Lin Xuan doesn't find it strange that some sons will imitate their father's behavior without knowing it.
I just don’t know if Li Ke did it unintentionally or on purpose.
In addition to Li Ke, Li Tai was also praised by Li Shimin.
Li Tai only caught one antelope, but with his fat body, it was good to be able to catch the prey. No wonder Li Shimin praised him.
But Lin Xuan guessed that Li Tai's prey was not caught by himself. It was difficult for him to walk like that, and he still hunted prey.
Li Chengqian also caught a lot of prey, but he didn't get any praise from Li Shimin.
Li Ke and Li Tai laughed happily when they received Li Shimin's praise.
Li Chengqian looked at their smiles, his face was very ugly, and he kept drinking with his head down.
Lin Xuan shook his head. If Li Shimin did this, it would not be surprising that Li Chengqian would rebel.
Perhaps in Li Shimin's view, Li Chengqian was the crown prince and he should do well.
If a person does well and is not praised, but if he does poorly he is scolded, everyone will have other ideas.
What's more, Li Chengqian's position is so sensitive, it's strange that he doesn't think more about it.
When we left the palace, it was already dark and Chang'an had already started a curfew.
…
In the afternoon of the next day, Lin Xuan invited Cheng Chumo and others to have a drink at Mingyue Pavilion.
"Come, let's wish Lin Xuan a triumphant return from the competition with the Aristocratic Family tomorrow!" Cheng Chumo said loudly, holding up his cup.
Yuchi Baolin said with a smile: "Lin Xuan will look at you tomorrow. If you win, it will be 600,000 yuan. I have never seen so much money."
"It's only 600,000 yuan. What's all the fuss about? The profit of Zuixianlou next year will definitely be much more than this." Lin Xuan said with a smile.
Cheng Chumo put down his glass and said, "I believe this. Lin Xuan, please tell me if we should open a few wineries. Many businessmen from the Western Regions have come to me and want to buy fairy wine and transport it to the Western Regions for sale, but the output of our winery is too small."
, even Chang’an is not enough.”
Shenxianzui is distilled from the wine brewed by Chengjia Distillery and purchased distiller's grains.
But after all, the imperial court has a prohibition on alcohol, and there are very few wineries that are allowed to make wine. How much wine grains can be purchased?
I received a lot of distiller's grains at the beginning, but now I can't buy much anymore.
Moreover, it is the aristocratic family that makes the most wine. Although the imperial court has a ban on alcohol, the aristocratic family does not care about this.
I started to hear that some people were buying the distiller's grains, and the people of the aristocratic family were very happy. The distiller's grains were of no use to them, so of course they had to sell them if someone bought them.
Later I found out that Lin Xuan and the others were buying it, so the family stopped selling it.
Now Shenxianzui can only be distilled by Chengjia Distillery, and the output has been reduced a lot.
As a result, the supply of Shenxian Zui exceeded demand, let alone selling it to other places, even Chang'an was not enough.
Lin Xuan shook his head and said: "I don't plan to expand the scale of Shenxianzui. Although I can only produce about 100,000 jins a month, I still have an income of 700,000 to 800,000 jins a year, which is quite a lot. The imperial court has a ban on alcohol.
As ordered, even if we use grain to make wine, His Majesty will not agree to it."
It's not that Lin Xuan doesn't want to make this money, ordinary people can't afford it. He has no burden at all to make money from the rich and aristocratic families.
The output of grain in ancient times was not high, and natural disasters continued to occur in the Tang Dynasty in recent years, so Li Shimin issued a ban on alcohol.
He believed that if he dared to make a large amount of wine, Li Shimin would definitely deal with him.
Unless one day the food supply in the Tang Dynasty can be increased to meet the needs of the people and there is still a surplus, I believe the imperial court will not ban alcohol.
Lin Xuan was suddenly startled, wouldn't it be enough as long as the grain yield is high?
He thought of the famous Champa rice in history.
Zhancheng rice, also known as Zhanhe, Zaozhan, is an improved upland rice variety. It is characterized by drought tolerance, long ears without awns, small grains, and grows regardless of the location. It also has a short growth period, with only about 50 years from planting to harvest.
day.
"It's such a pity that we can't earn the money delivered to our door." Cheng Chumo said with regret.
"That's not necessarily true. Have you ever heard of a country called Lin Yi?" Lin Xuan asked.
He remembered that the place where Champa rice was produced was Linyi State, but he was blinded by where Linyi State was.
Cheng Chumo shook his head and said, "I haven't heard of it."
Lin Xuan looked at Yuchi Baolin and others expectantly, and Yuchi Baolin and others also expressed that they did not know this country.
Lin Xuan was a little disappointed. Is it possible that Lin Yiguo is not called by this name now? Otherwise, Cheng Chumo and the others would never have heard of it.
"Lin Xuan, why are you asking about Lin Yiguo?" Cheng Chumo asked curiously.
"I heard that there are rice seeds grown in Linyi State, which can be harvested twice or even three times a year, and the yield is much higher than the food output of our Datang. Do you think if we get this kind of seeds, the Tang Dynasty will still be short of food?"
If the Tang Dynasty is not short of food, will His Majesty lift the prohibition on alcohol and we will be able to make money!" Lin Xuan explained.
Cheng Chumo exclaimed: "Are you telling the truth?"
Yuchi, Baolin and others all stared at Lin Xuan, waiting for Lin Xuan's answer.
"Of course what I said is true, but if I don't know where that country is, it's useless to say it."
Lin Xuan was a little depressed. It was hard for him to remember some things, but he was still half-clear.
Cheng Chumo and the others were all a little discouraged. They knew it was there but didn't know where it was. It was really depressing.
Qin Huaidao suddenly said: "Just because we haven't heard of it doesn't mean we can't find it."
"Brother Huaidao, do you have any idea?" Lin Xuan and others looked at Qin Huaidao in surprise.
"Honglu Temple in the countries surrounding the Tang Dynasty should all have registrations. Even if not, Honglu Temple has many envoys to the Tang Dynasty, and someone should know about it." Qin Huaidao said.
Yes, why did I forget about Honglu Temple?
Honglu Temple was the central authority of the Tang Dynasty in charge of ethnic affairs, foreign affairs reception activities and funeral rites.
Envoys sent from foreign countries to the Tang Dynasty were received by Honglu Temple, and some information about neighboring countries was registered in Honglu Temple.
Just because Cheng Chumo and the others had never heard of the Linyi Kingdom did not mean that it did not exist. After all, the Linyi Kingdom was a small country and had no friction with the Tang Dynasty. It was not surprising that they had not heard of it.
"Brother Chu Mo, it's up to you to go to Honglu Temple and ask about Lin Yiguo's affairs." Lin Xuan said.
Although he is an earl, Honglu Temple really doesn't necessarily favor him. It would be best to let Cheng Chumo and the others go.
"Okay, after you finish competing with the aristocratic family tomorrow, I will go to Honglu Temple to inquire." Cheng Chumo nodded.