Chao Yong originally did not plan to develop spirits on a large scale. He had already inquired about the wine reviews of the Song Dynasty over the years. Every year, the Song Dynasty could earn about 10 million yuan from liquor, which was also an important source of fiscal revenue for the Song Dynasty. However, the best-selling products in the Song Dynasty were
Low-concentration wine, if high-concentration wine is promoted, people who are used to drinking low-concentration wine may not be able to accept it immediately. People like Wu Song and Li Kui will definitely not be in the majority.
Even if spirits can replace low-concentration alcohol, the amount of alcohol consumed by people in the world will be greatly reduced. Wu Song could eat dozens of bowls before, but if he switched to spirits, it would only be a few bowls.
As the quantity decreases, the court's income will probably also decrease. Moreover, distilled wine consumes a lot of alcohol, but the price of alcohol cannot increase by a corresponding multiple. The most people in the world are poor people. The cheapest wine only costs more than ten yuan per pound, and the best wine
It's only a few hundred yuan per pound.
A pound of wine costing only a few hundred cents will keep most people out of the door, and the people who are most likely to change their mouth to strong drinks are definitely the poor. Most of the pampered rich people will not like spicy strong drinks.
The audience decided that spirits could not be sold at high prices, so Chao Yong gave up on the idea of developing spirits on a large scale.
However, Xu Guanzhong pointed out that the better consumer groups for spirits are the people of the Liao and Jin countries. It is bitterly cold in the north. People eat wine not only to satisfy their appetites, but also to keep out the cold. Although it has been scientifically proven that drinking alcohol cannot keep out the cold, but even in
In later generations, people still used to take a sip of strong liquor when it was cold.
The people of the Liao State knew how to make wine, and the people of the Jin State naturally knew how to make wine because they had the craftsmen of the Liao State. They only imported a small amount of expensive wine from the Central Plains, because the wine they made was actually similar to the wine from the Central Plains. But the spirits were different in terms of alcohol content.
It is taller and tastes spicier. There is no doubt that the wines brewed by Liao and Jin will lose their competitiveness once the strong liquor comes out.
Spirits are also expected to become Daliang's export weapon like tea and silk, exchanging Daliang's money for Daliang, and will not benefit the enemy, but will only hurt the enemy.
The next day, Chao Yong asked the craftsmen to start making distillers, and he also chose a manor outside the city as a liquor workshop. Not only were the regular soldiers responsible for guarding it, but also the spies under Shi Qian's command. All relevant people who could be kept in captivity were
They were kept in captivity, and those who could not be kept in captivity were also given a gag order. Once the information was leaked, it would be a death penalty.
The inner distillery was originally located in the city, but distilling liquor required the use of fire and selling spirits in large quantities. You can imagine how much smoke and dust it would emit, so Chao Yong set up the liquor distillery outside the city.
In order to reduce pollution in Tokyo City, Chao Yong proposed that all workshops that consume a large amount of charcoal firewood should be moved outside the city. This proposal has been approved, but various ministries are still investigating, and they must not only choose a place with convenient transportation, but also locate it in Tokyo City
downwind to prevent the wind from blowing pollutants to Tokyo.
The officials in power in the DPRK and the Central Government are very protective of their own lives. They had no idea of this before, but as soon as Chao Yong proposed it, everyone responded positively. However, the cost of relocation of merchants was not within their consideration.
This law has been spread in the city for a long time. Chao Yong will naturally not openly violate the imperial law. Although the world belongs to the Chao family in name.
After a busy day outside the city, Chao Yong came to the Prince's Palace in the evening and saw Li Kui sitting on the steps at the door from a distance.
When Li Kui saw the prince and his entourage returning to the palace, he stood up and ran over.
The prince's personal soldiers were also old men from Liangshan. They knew Li Kui's temperament and did not dare to ask for trouble and stop Li Kui.
Chao Yong saw Li Kui running up to him and said with a smile, "What are you doing here?"
Li Kui said with a smile: "I came to ask for some wine to eat. I came here at noon. The soldiers at the door said that you left the palace early in the morning. They didn't know where you went, so I had to wait at the door."
Chao Yong smiled and said: "I'm going to Zhang Luojian Liquor House. If you want some wine, just go in. Why wait here?"
Li Kui stared and said, "I asked my soldiers to send a message. The eunuchs inside said that only the crown prince would reward me, and there was no precedent of anyone coming to ask for it. They didn't dare to make the decision."
Although he said that he did not dare to make the decision, he refused. Although the eunuchs in Daliang could no longer interfere with matters outside the palace, they were serving the royal family, so they were inevitably a little arrogant. Moreover, no one came to ask for help. Wu Song and others They all also like strong liquor, and they are not afraid to ask for it, but they will never come to ask for it the next day.
Chao Yong couldn't say that the people in the palace had done something wrong, so he smiled and said: "There isn't much wine left in the steaming the day before yesterday, otherwise I would have people deliver it to you all. You can follow me into the palace, and I will have people take the rest." I'll send you all the wine you ordered. The spirits shop will be producing tomorrow, and I'll send the others to you then."
When Li Kui heard this, he immediately said happily: "They don't need to send it away, I will just move in with you."
Chao Yong led Li Kui into the Prince's Palace, and asked people to bring all the spirits he drank yesterday to Li Kui. He also asked two soldiers to escort Li Kui back, so that Li Kui would not get drunk and cause trouble on the way and be arrested by the Kaifeng Prefecture. .
Nowadays, there are really no people who dare to cause trouble on the streets of Tokyo. Regardless of whether they are civil servants or military generals, as long as they violate the laws, they will be shackled and taken back. The officials themselves do not care about their dignity, and the Kaifeng government will not save face for them.
With the support of Emperor Liang and the prince who hated evil, the Kaifeng government had no scruples, and the people were not afraid of revenge from the powerful.
The liquor distilled in the spirit house also needs to be made from the brewed wine. However, this year was in chaos. A lot of the tribute rice in Shouzhou was stolen by local officials and people, and the internal wine brewed by the palace was also much less. Chao Gai only allocated 10,000 yuan to Chao Yong. Let him distill the wine inside the jin.
The liquor shop wanted to sell large quantities at a high price, so naturally they could not buy liquor from the market. After Chao Gai tasted the liquor, he also fell in love with it, and immediately transferred all the internal liquor shops to the liquor shop. Chao Yong asked them to start selling large quantities of liquor. Naturally, the raw material for making wine cannot be Shouzhou’s glutinous rice, but making these wines well does not take a day.
During the Song Dynasty, there were countless famous wines in the world, but the most famous wine came from Tokyo. The most recognized wine in the world was the internal wine of the imperial palace. The imperial palace had a specialized brewing institution, an internal winery and a French wine warehouse.
The brewing method of the inner wine in the inner wine shop originated from Puzhou in the middle of the river. It was the brewing method obtained by Chai Shizong when he broke into the river. After the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, this method was also used, and many improvements were made. It’s getting better and better, so it has the reputation of “the best wine in the world”.
In the Northern Song Dynasty, the output of Neijiu increased year by year. In the early Song Dynasty, only 800 shi of glutinous rice was used for making wine in Neijiu. This increased to 3,000 shi in the reign of Zhenzong and 80,000 shi in the reign of Renzong.
Not only the technology of the inner wine shop is constantly improved, but also the raw materials are also refined. After several generations of comparisons, it was found that the glutinous rice from Shouzhou on Huainan Road is the best for brewing. From then on, all the glutinous rice used to brew the inner wine was paid tribute by Shouzhou.
In the end, only more than 1,000 jins of wine were distilled out of the 10,000 jins of wine. Chao Yong had people deliver ten jins to each of the generals' houses in the city. Three hundred jins were kept in the palace of the prince, and the rest were sent to the palace for rewards.
It was Chao Gai who decided which civil servants would be appointed.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is here in a blink of an eye, and Daliang is also celebrated on this day. Rich people decorate their pavilions and pavilions to enjoy the moon, while ordinary people go to restaurants to grab a seat to enjoy the moon. On this day, restaurants in the city will redecorate their doors with colorful decorations.
The building is decorated with new silk flowers.
In the early morning, the seats by the window are filled with guests. These people wait until night to admire the moon by the window. They will spend the whole day in the restaurant. Otherwise, once they leave, someone will grab the seat by the window.
You have to order the wine in the evening in advance, otherwise by noon, all the new wine will be sold out, and the wine sellers will have to leave the restaurant.
This is the case every Mid-Autumn Festival. Every restaurant will brew more wine, but the increase in production cannot always meet the needs of the millions of people in the city.
Probably because the alcohol with more than ten degrees of alcohol can be said to be suitable for both men and women. This day is a day of carnival in the whole city.
Sitting in a restaurant for a day is not boring. In order to attract drinkers, the restaurant is full of drums and music all day long. There are also many "rushing" people to serve, play flute, play ruan, sing and play. Just for the sake of entertainment.
The wine blogger smiled and asked for some reward money. Often, when citizens had no means of life, they chose to go to restaurants to "catch up".
These "rushing" people and restaurants promote each other. Restaurants will not drive away these "rushing" people.
Jin Cuilian, whom Lu Zhishen met in Weizhou, had no choice but to go to the hotel to "catch up" and make money to survive.
The spirits shop's wine still hasn't caught up with this festive season. In order to create the best wine brand in the world, Chao Yong decided to ensure his pure bloodline. Moreover, buying a large amount of wine from the market can easily be detected by interested people.
Chao Yong also gave the strong wine a name, calling it "hero wine". This not only shows the strong nature of the wine, but also means that only heroes can eat this wine, and it also means remembering the Liangshan era.
There are generally three forms of the quejiu system in the Northern Song Dynasty: First, Sijing, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and other places implemented the quequ system, which allowed private brewing but implemented a strict monopoly system for "qu". The second was the quejiu system in the above-mentioned places.
All roads, prefectures, prefectures and militaries outside the district implement "official brewing", that is, they implement official brewing monopoly on the basis of quequ. The third is to implement "official brewing" in areas with less dense population and small production and sales.
” or “buy pounce”.
The Song Dynasty's wine-making system can be said to be flexible, which can ensure the income of the court without wasting too much manpower. Where sales are best, the wine yeast is controlled. If the official wine is to be sold exclusively, it must meet the needs of the market.
The number of people making wine would be an incredible number. Where sales were average, the court would directly brew the wine and sell it exclusively. Where sales were poor, the court would not waste manpower and directly contract out to merchants.
On this day, the Tai Palace was also decorated with lanterns and decorations, and it also undertook an important task. Five hundred palace maids were preparing to perform step songs for the Tokyo subjects at Jinming Pond.
Since the Song Dynasty, this event has been performed by the maids in the palace. However, when Chao Gai became emperor in Daliang, there were only dozens of maids left in the palace to serve the He family. The rest were sent to the Taigong Palace, so this
The task was then transferred to the Taiwong.
On this day, officials do not have to go to court.
Chao Yong came to the palace early with all the concubines. Hu Sanniang took the concubines to the harem to meet the He family, while Chao Yong was in front having a banquet with the officials.
Chao Gai was originally a luxurious person by nature, but after he became emperor, he was pressured by financial pressure and had to advocate frugality. Like most of the founding emperors, every time there was a change of dynasty, there was a lot of waste to be done, so the founding emperor had to
Lead by example.
Daliang's exemption from agricultural taxes and all corvee services greatly increased the pressure on the treasury. Therefore, Chao Gai took the initiative to reduce the palace expenses and gave all the maids and eunuchs to Chao Yong. Originally, he wanted Chao Yong to choose some of them and keep the rest.
He was dismissed. He was not good at women, so the task of opening up the Chao family could only be left to Chao Yong.
But unexpectedly, Chao Yong came up with a ticket number, which not only paid for the expenses of the Crown Prince's palace, but also made a huge balance. Now the royal palace's expenses no longer come from the treasury, but are drawn from the profits of the royal ticket number.
.
Since the Taiwong did not need any money from the treasury, Chao Gai could no longer take care of the affairs of the Taiwong. He could only allow Chao Yong to keep thousands of maids and eunuchs in the Taiwong.
Chao Gai did not object to officials' extravagance as long as they were not greedy or possessive. The world of the Song Dynasty was extravagant, and the wine vessels in the 72 main stores were all silverware. The people in the city were also accustomed to eating and eating grain, which was one of the reasons why the Song Dynasty's business developed.
Daliang had just changed dynasties, and Chao Gai could not change this trend, and he had no intention of changing it. Everyone risked their lives to follow him to conquer the country, just to enjoy the wealth, and he had no choice but to let everyone enjoy it, so he did not care about Chao Yong's extravagant life.
, it can be regarded as showing attitude to everyone.
However, the expenses in the palace were very frugal, and the round table and tray invented by Chao Yong were introduced into the palace.
Many round tables were set up in the banquet hall early. Who sat at the same table with whom, and which table was in front. Just arranging the seats made the official in charge of the banquet turn his head.
Chao Yong naturally sat at the same table as the generals. When everyone sat down, Li Kui said: "What we are eating today is Haohan wine? After eating Haohan wine, if you eat other wines, birds will appear in your mouth."
Wu Song also said: "What Tieniu said is right. After drinking Haohan Wine, any other wine will feel as bland as water and difficult to swallow."
Chao Yong smiled and said: "I sent five hundred kilograms of the first batch of Haohan wine to the palace. If the emperor has not finished the reward, there should be Haohan wine in today's banquet."
Li Kui shook his head and said: "How can there be so many people and hundreds of kilograms of wine? Next time there is new wine, give me more."
Chao Yong asked curiously: "I just gave you ten pounds of wine a few days ago. Isn't it all gone?"
Li Kui scratched his head and said, "Eat some every day. I finished it yesterday."
Chao Yong gave everyone wine for only five days, but Li Kui drank more than two kilograms of wine every day. Chao Yong invited them to drink wine that day, and Wu Song, Li Kui and others got drunk after drinking more than two kilograms.
Chao Yong glared at Li Kui and said, "Aren't you drunk every day?"
Li Kui patted his chest and said: "How could it be possible? I just eat more than one kilogram of Haohan wine with my meal every meal. Otherwise, I would have finished the ten kilograms of wine. Now I eat two or three kilograms of wine, and I will definitely not get drunk. I still want to watch it today.
Let’s see how much good man’s wine I can eat.”
After eating more than a pound of wine and food, everyone was shocked by Li Kui's bold words.
Chao Yong was stunned, stared at Li Kui, and said: "From now on, you are not allowed to drink alcohol every day. You cannot drink more than half a catty of wine alone at home, and you are not allowed to have dinner with others every day."
Li Kui opened his mouth to speak, but when he saw Chao Yong's stern eyes, he had to close his mouth again.
"Even a good man can't bear to eat like you. We fought for our lives to conquer the country together. Seeing that the world is unified, we are about to enjoy wealth and wealth together. You eat and drink so much that your body won't be able to bear it in a few years. Twenty years, thirty years
After the New Year, we will have wine together, I don’t want to miss anyone.”
Everyone was secretly moved when they heard what the prince said.
Li Kui bargained in an awkward manner: "My body is stronger than that of an ox. How about I eat half a catty every day?"
Chao Yong glared at Li Kui and said, "Eat half a catty every other day, or four taels a day, it's your choice. If you can't control yourself, I'll send someone to keep an eye on you."
When Li Kui heard this, he waved his hands and said, "Don't stare at me. I only eat four taels a day. Without wine, the food will not taste good."
After Chao Gai arrived, he casually said a few words and announced the start of the banquet, and exquisite palace dishes were served one after another.
There are also some Mid-Autumn specialties, such as orange-stuffed crabs, also called crab-stuffed oranges. Cut off the tops of large ripe oranges with branches and remove the flesh, leaving only a little juice. Then put the crab roe, crab oil and crab meat in the
In the orange, still use the cut off orange top with branches to cover the original cut, put it in a small steamer, steam it with wine, vinegar and water, then mix it with vinegar and salt and eat it.
Oranges and new wine are just available during the Mid-Autumn Festival, and crabs are at their most plump. Orange-stuffed crab is a fusion of the three. In one dish, you can taste all the flavors of new wine, oranges, and crabs.
After the banquet in the palace was over, Chao Gai took all the officials to Jinmingchi in the west of the city.
Jinmingchi has also been decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, creating an auspicious atmosphere.
The emperor took the officials to Linshui Palace to continue the banquet and prepare to play with the moon.
This time, there was no big fish or meat. Those who still had an appetite would eat palace cakes.
At this time, palace cakes are eaten in the palace, but among the people they are called small cakes and moon cakes. These special cakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival are also called "lotus leaf", "golden flower", "hibiscus", etc. The production method is very exquisite.
In fact, it is also the mooncake of later generations.
Su Dongpo praised it in a poem: "Small cakes are like chewing the moon, with crispy and sweet fillings in the middle."
The pastry is pastry, and the glutinous rice paste is sugar, which is basically the same as the mooncake fillings in later generations.
People at that time not only paid attention to the taste when making mooncakes, but also designed various patterns related to the legend of the Moon Palace. The patterns on the cakes were first drawn on paper and then pasted on the cakes. Later, they were directly pressed on the cakes with molds.
On the moon cake.
The palace cakes are carefully made by the royal chef. Not only are they delicious, but the patterns on them are also vivid. The patterns drawn by everyone are perfectly presented on the palace cakes through the molds made by skilled craftsmen and the royal chefs who are familiar with the fire.
The drink is Wan Yue Geng, which is carefully cooked with longan, lotus seeds, lotus root starch and other raw materials.
When it gets dark, thousands of lanterns in the Jinming Pool light up together, illuminating the Jinming Pool.
As soon as the lanterns were turned on, singing and dancing began on the platform in the center of the pool.
The east bank of Jinming Pond is already crowded with people. The main purpose of people coming out of the city to Jinming Pond is to watch the palace singing, and admiring the moon is secondary.
People who don't like crowds and want to admire the moon stay in the city, those who don't have money go to restaurants, and those who have money stay in their pavilions, watch the moon and have a drink, enjoying a leisurely time.