Chapter 263 Sale and Purchase
When thinking of this possibility, some people couldn't help but show a hint of joy on their faces.
For people like nobles who hold power, it is predictable how much power and wealth they will enjoy while they are alive.
According to their thinking, the conflict between the Eastern Court and the Western Court would not affect them in any way.
Even if he really stood on the losing side by accident, the other side would never kill scholars from aristocratic families if they wanted to maintain stability in the state or county.
Those families that cannot produce one of the Three Dukes for the time being are becoming increasingly trapped in an inherent comfort zone, with no intention of jumping out of it, and they also feel that they are very safe in it.
We can see what happens during life, but what about after death?
According to today's standard concept, the emperor's afterlife should be treated as if he were alive, which leads to an astonishing number of terracotta warriors, buildings, coins, and daily necessities in the emperor's tombs.
The children of noble families thought so too.
But these treasures and models can be easily placed in their tombs, but their own bodies will inevitably become a pile of dry bones in the coffin.
If the bodies could be kept intact, would it be possible that after death they would be able to better enjoy everything they had accumulated during their lifetime and brought into the tomb?
What's more, some people think that since this high-purity wine can keep pork that should have rotted from rotting, if it is applied on the face, is it possible to delay the aging of the face?
Human imagination is amazing.
Especially when facing such unknown things, we are always willing to think in a direction that is more beneficial to ourselves.
Yang Xiu and Ni Heng, who were present at the meeting, heard a similar discussion between two older people at the neighboring table.
Ni Heng didn't seem to be bothered by the smell of rotten meat in the air at all. While paying a little attention to the experiment, he filled the bowl in front of him with wine.
Perhaps it was not Yang Xiu's illusion. He felt that after Ni Heng tried the method of drinking in one gulp and tasting slowly, he wanted to try to light the wine in the bowl and then drink it, to experience an unprecedented feeling.
Judging from Ni Heng's mentality of not caring at all even after being put in a sack and beaten, Yang Xiu felt that he was really capable of doing such a thing.
But before Yang Xiu could finish his words of persuasion, Ni Heng asked, "Does the Grand Marshal want to persuade others to quit by monopolizing the results of the new brewing technology?"
According to the amount of information Qiao Yan provided, to someone like Ni Heng who had no idea how to brew strong liquor, Qiao Yan only gave them three pieces of information:
First, the new technology she mastered has a higher wine yield than ordinary winemaking. In order to achieve the goal of saving grain, it is necessary to limit the production of wine in other ways.
Second, the wine brewed using the new process is superior to the original in purity and flavor.
High purity is not a problem, as the wine can be diluted through blending.
In short, it is more difficult to increase the concentration.
With the high-purity wine that will surely have an advantage after the promotion, it is not impossible for her to directly compete with other companies for market share, but in order to reach a more peaceful negotiation, she will implement it in the form of a liquor restriction order.
Thirdly, wine with a higher purity can have an absolute miraculous effect in preventing and treating disasters and diseases, which makes this exclusive monopoly further reasonable and necessary.
Cleaning soldiers' wounds in battle and preventing the spread of epidemics have caused wine to shift from a recreational item to a strategic material.
In addition, the appearance of Xianyu Fu and the location of today's wine discussion meeting both mean that Emperor Liu Yu will support the decision made by Qiao Yan.
Lu Zhi's testimony represents another force standing behind Qiao Yan.
They can understand it as a great Confucian scholar at the end of the Han Dynasty, or they can understand it as the righteousness of rites and laws who spared no effort to restore the Han Dynasty.
As for the knife in Qiao Yan's hand, whether it should be considered as a form of coercion or a subconscious action on her part, that is a matter of opinion.
Ni Heng touched the blue scars on his face and made a rough assessment of the situation before him.
Yang Xiu asked him, "What if I say yes?"
Ni Heng sneered and said, "If everyone in this world could put public interests above their own, why would there be two sides in the world, the Chang'an court and the Yecheng court? It is impossible to defeat these greedy people just by using strength and reason."
"Isn't Da Sima so naive?"
Ni Heng's words were merciless, but they were actually the truth.
Before he could even finish his words, someone stood up from the table and walked towards Qiao Yan.
The person who approached at this time certainly did not come to see more clearly how big the difference was between the pork fished out of the water and the pork fished out of the wine, but to speak.
He bowed to Qiao Yan and said, "The Zhongmu Ren family has something to ask you, my lord."
Most of Qiao Yan's face was covered by the mask, making it impossible to tell whether she was happy or angry at the moment. The only thing that was clear was her pair of clear and sharp eyes, which made Ren Yi's heart skip a beat when he stepped forward to speak to her.
But when it comes to profit, what Qiao Yan said before is not enough to convince them.
Zhongmu is located in Henan Yin, and has not yet been completely under the jurisdiction of the Chang'an court. After the rebellion in Luoyang in the past two years, the Ren family of Zhongmu gathered more than a thousand guests and family soldiers, and they are much more confident when speaking than ordinary people.
He said, "We all know what you mean. Looking at the current situation, the secret recipe for brewing wine should not be leaked to prevent Yuan Benchu in the east from knowing it and causing trouble for us. Also, there is only a small amount of grain available for brewing wine. If we want to meet the needs of epidemic prevention and military needs, we should not drink wine for fun. At most, the government can supply us with a small amount to satisfy our craving. This is inevitable due to the current situation."
This statement was a response to what Qiao Yan had said earlier.
But he immediately changed the subject and asked, "May I ask you, sir, have you ever thought about how the servants originally employed here will make a living if we stop operating the winery and close the wine koji shop? Are you going to recruit them all into the army?"
"Besides, the income from our winery has helped many homeless people in these chaotic times. Your Excellency should have a rough idea of it. If we lose this source of income, where will they go?"
He bowed again, "Your Majesty and the Lord have been working to establish order in Chang'an and manage Guanzhong for less than a year. It will be difficult to move all the people to Guanzhong. Please think twice."
Qiao Yan was almost amused when he heard him speak so confidently.
If what he said was true, they took in refugees and enslaved them in their own industries, and they were actually sharing the pressure of taking in refugees for Chang'an City, then she would still have to say that he was devoted to the country, had good intentions, and was bringing blessings to the people?
If now was not the time to turn against them, and there were many people who shared the same idea as him, she could have ordered troops to turn the Zhongmu Ren family's fort upside down.
No, no hurry...
There is no rush at this time.
Isn't the reason why she wants Liu Yu to be in charge to fully tap the value of these people?
His behavior at this time actually did not go beyond her and her subordinates' deduction of the situation.
If that's the case, why should she be angry about it?
The corners of her mouth were tightened under the mask, and then slowly relaxed, revealing a smile that no one saw.
When she opened her mouth to answer, she said calmly, "Why should the conscription of troops in Guanzhong affect Henan Yin? This place intersects with Yanzhou. If we make a mistake, they will defect to Yanzhou. I have considered your reliance on wine shops for survival long before the idea of limiting alcohol was proposed. Please go back to your seats. I have a few things I would like to ask you to look at."
Qiao Yan waved his hand and asked someone to take away the pork and the jar.
The sunlight is not strong today, and the hot wind of the fresh summer is blowing through the southern suburbs of Chang'an. The smell of corruption that remains here dissipates quickly, and soon the smell will no longer be detectable.
Soon after she returned to the main seat, she saw her attendants bringing tightly covered trays and tableware to them.
If Qiao Yan hadn't asked them to have eaten before coming, they would have almost thought that -
She specifically invited them to have dinner together in the suburbs.
With the drinks on the side, it seems more like this.
However, whether the scene before them was a dinner party or not was another matter. Qiao Yan's well-prepared appearance made people look at this young and powerful official with more caution.
As soon as Ren Yi sat down, he heard someone next to him ask, "Didn't you really make an appointment with the Grand Marshal?"
He shook his head quickly.
No matter how much this scene looks like a concerted effort, it was definitely not an agreement.
Can't you see that he is also confused about what the thing in front of him is?
If he had known in advance, he would not have behaved like this.
While the two were talking, the first plate of food had been opened in front of them, and inside was the lotus leaf pancake with marinated pork that Qiao Yan had invited Fu Shou to eat that day.
Then came the second plate, which contained a pair of chicken wings smothered in brown sauce.
Without a pause, the third dish was opened.
Surprisingly, there was only a bowl of millet rice, but a spoonful of brown sauce was poured on the rice.
Ren Yi frowned, "This doesn't look like black bean sauce?"
In today's seasonings, because most dishes are stewed, black bean sauce plays a very important role.
But the spoonful of sauce poured on the millet rice was darker in color than the black bean sauce, and looked more like the remaining juice after filtering out the residue of the sauce.
This judgment he made made him lose interest in tasting the three plates in front of him even though he smelled a peculiar fragrance coming from them.
It is common knowledge nowadays that when the sauce exists alone, its taste is definitely not as good as that of black bean sauce.
It’s not that Ren Yi has any prejudice, but today’s sauces such as bean paste, meat paste, and shrimp paste all have a lot of salt added during the fermentation process.
Experienced sauce makers have found that if too little salt is added, a disgusting sour taste will appear in the food, and this can even happen when the salt is unevenly distributed. So in order to ensure that the sauce making does not fail, they would rather add more salt - at least more than when making fermented black beans.
However, the salt used by most people is far from comparable to the refined salt used modern times, which means that the sauce must be mixed with the condiments in the sauce before it can be eaten, and it can hardly exist alone, otherwise the taste will be extremely strange. On the contrary, black bean sauce has a very high status when used alone as a seasoning.
Ren Yi looked around and saw that everyone's chopsticks paused for a moment, confirming that this was not just his judgment.
However, thinking that Qiao Yan had assured him that this was the answer to his question, and that the wine she had taken out earlier also had the power to break the previous situation, he pondered for a while, and still picked up his chopsticks under Qiao Yan's gaze.
The sauce in the lotus leaf pancake with braised pork had a strange color, and the millet rice topped with the sauce lacked some style. The first thing he picked up was the chicken wing.
Qiao Yan didn't do anything cheating, such as using pepper, something she herself was reluctant to use, on the chicken wings. Instead, she only used onions, ginger, garlic, salt and...soy sauce to complete the dish.
In the future, soy sauce would be considered just an ordinary thing, but nowadays it has become something incredible due to the lack of a process.
As soon as Ren Yi took a bite, his eyes suddenly lit up. His reaction was even greater than Fu Shou's when he had just eaten the lotus leaf pancake with marinated pork that day.
You know, he was not in a state of hunger now, he was not that hungry, and his appetite was ruined because he had just seen the rotten pork.
Even so, when the chicken wing entered his mouth, he suddenly felt his lips and teeth watering, and he wished he could leave a little more space in his stomach for this food.
After finishing the chicken wings and the lotus leaf pancake with marinated pork, he picked up the rice in front of him without thinking.
It was not until he took a bite of the pure soy sauce rice that he suddenly realized what was so appealing about the previous two dishes.
This was definitely not a modified version of black bean sauce, nor was it any kind of sauce he knew. It must be another kind of sauce!
He turned his head and looked around, but no one could answer his puzzlement. His quick eating posture was enough to make others pick up their chopsticks as well, and then they all immersed themselves in this new seasoning.
When they picked up their chopsticks to eat, they still had some aristocratic demeanor.
But this speed... is really different from my usual habits.
Only when there were only bones left on everyone's plate did Qiao Yan speak: "I'm going to name this soy sauce, and I hope that those of you who run wineries will start making this. As for the corresponding production method, I'll tell you all."
"If the servants you hire can accurately complete the wine-making process, I think the production technique of this product can be mastered quickly, because it is made from fermented beans. At best, compared to the original sauce-making process, the production of this soy sauce requires you to master the process of making koji with all ingredients."
What is koji making with all ingredients? It is a method of adding beans and flour to the koji-making process at the same time, which can effectively improve the enzymatic hydrolysis and the utilization rate of raw materials, thereby reducing the inhibition of lactic acid production by adding salt without restraint in the original sauce-making process.
She raised her chin, with a look of certainty in her eyes.
The people in front of her had proved to her with their actual performance that it was not that they disliked soy sauce, but that the previous taste of the sauce greatly inhibited their possibility of producing soy sauce.
But there must be a reason why some things can have a wider audience than wine.
Moreover, there is another reason to propose replacing the winery with a soy sauce workshop at this time.
She said: "Before I became the governor of Bingzhou, I avoided locust plagues in Leping by planting beans among grains. Although we have not experienced such disasters for several years, the three auxiliary areas and Liang and Bingzhou have all suffered greatly. We must take precautions before it happens. Therefore, I hope that you will plant more beans in your fields and use beans to produce soy sauce to prepare for the locust plague."
"The other sauce in this braised pork lotus leaf pancake is also made from soy. I will also send you the recipe for this to promote the alcohol restriction order."
For a long moment after she finished speaking, no one spoke, only the sound of the wind passing by, making a noise.
They were not still immersed in the fresh taste, but were weighing, according to Qiao Yan, how much profit they could get from soy sauce after they completely gave up the wine-making business and turned it into something run by the government.
Soy sauce can be mixed with rice, making the originally tasteless millet rice delicious. This alone means that it can be promoted in thousands of households.
If she had rashly suggested that each family plant more beans on their fields, or had directly asked them to hand over all their wine-making industries, they would probably have chosen to turn hostile on the spot. But when the two were combined, and a new industry was handed over to them, this resistance had long disappeared.
Perhaps, instead of continuing to fight for the wine industry share and facing a blow from Qiao Yan's winemaking advantage, it would be better to go with the flow and seize another market share.
As Qiao Yan said later, if the proportions in this method of making koji with all ingredients are adjusted, the resulting soy sauce will have different flavors, just like there are various categories of wine, each with its own development channel.
The magical effects of soy sauce are not limited to the two dishes she prepared; the rest need to be further explored by them.
With these thoughts in mind, they just accepted Qiao Yan's words about sending people to collect the wine koji and remaining wine stocks in the winery and having the official sell the wine for a limited time. At most, they hoped to get a portion of highly pure wine first and clean up their house inside and out.
"You can rest assured about this. After all, we need to trouble you to extend this order to every corner of the three states and counties."
The wine industry was finally taken over by the government, and Qiao Yan had a stable channel to regulate grain and balance profits. A big stone in his heart finally fell.
As long as they don't do anything stupid and drink this batch of high-purity wine, Qiao Yan won't bother with them even if they really use it to soak the remains of their ancestors.
She added: "In addition, I will provide you with a batch of new paper. I hope you can give me some suggestions on how to use it. It will be available for sale in Chang'an soon."
Everyone suddenly realized that after smelling the soy sauce, they had momentarily forgotten the existence of the paper.
The previous Chang'an manuscript solicitation activity had already made them realize the wonderful uses of these new papers, and they had wanted to purchase more from her. Now that she had taken the initiative to offer these as gifts, why wouldn't they do it?
Once this paper is sold in Chang'an, they will definitely be the most loyal users to show its value.
There would be no suggestions. At most, they would use this paper to show their loyalty to the Chang'an court.
By the time they were half drunk with the 50-proof liquor that was served at the beginning and were helped down the platform by their subordinates, the sky was already getting a little dark.
They turned their heads and looked towards the platform. They could only vaguely see Qiao Yan standing with his hands behind his back, watching them go away. Beside him were the two subordinates who were responsible for receiving them this time.
"Who can say that this is not a happy occasion for both the host and the guests?" Qiao Yan looked at the backs of these people and said, "Dezu, you will lead the people to rectify the wine industry from now on. When you confiscate the wine, take the opportunity to recruit more people for me."
She withdrew her gaze and looked at Yang Xiu, the subtext of her words was self-evident.
She said that she wanted all these people to change their careers, but she had given up so many benefits in order to implement a policy. Shouldn't they return the favor by sending some manpower?
In short, the competition for talent should not exceed this limit.
She added: "Bo Ju, please keep an eye on the development of this soy sauce market for me. Once it is on the right track, I will formally submit a letter to the emperor to request that you be appointed as You Fufeng."
Wei Ji nodded and accepted the task.
But he couldn't help but ask a question he had wanted to ask before: "The emergence of soy sauce is bound to squeeze the market for black bean sauce, and many of the black bean sauce businesses are small vendors. Now that you have considered changing the business of the wine shop, what do you think of them?"
Although Wei Ji came from a noble family, he was very concerned about the people of Sili.
Hearing his question, Qiao Yan replied: "Doesn't Bo Ju have the confidence to work with me to build Sili into a place where the people have hope and the government has something to do? They will find a more suitable position here."
Even though there is still a long way to go, at least a good harvest is in sight this year.
At the end of May, one could already see the signs of a good harvest in three months from the ridges in the fields, making Qiao Yan's promise sound like real talk.
"Okay, let's not talk about this here. Let's talk about it when we get back." Qiao Yan changed the subject and looked at the young man who had not left the stage not far away. He asked Wei Ji, "You are responsible for registering the list of participants for this meeting. You should know better than me. Who is that person?"
He looked at the person Qiao Yan pointed at, and after a moment's hesitation, he replied based on his memory: "If I remember correctly... this person is a descendant of the Zhang family from Nanyang."
Nanyang is the nearest county to Jingzhou and Sili. Since Liu Biao, the current governor of Jingzhou, has a good relationship with the court in Chang'an, it is not surprising that young men from Nanyang would come and appear here.
After all, this cocktail party does not restrict the identities of the people who come and go, and anyone can give a reason for wanting to participate.
But Nanyang Zhang Clan...
Qiao Yan thought of the special reaction this person had just made after hearing about the effect of alcohol disinfection on the epidemic, and his heart was slightly moved. "The Nanyang Zhang family you mentioned, is there an official who is engaged in medicine named Zhang Ji?"
The name Zhang Ji may be unfamiliar to some people, but he has a character that is more familiar to people than his name, called——
Zhongjing.
Zhang Ji Zhang Zhongjing!
Zhang Zhongjing, who wrote the masterpiece of prescription medicine "Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases"!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
