After Yan Shuping finished speaking, he looked at her with great interest. Song Anxin, inwardly sweating profusely, quickly said:
"Lord Yan, you misunderstand. This is just a little story I read in some gossip books. I am just a woman, how would I know anything about military strategy?"
Yan Shuping said, "The story of Hui Ru's family is truly unique. How about I come every day from now on and you tell it to me?"
Song Anxin: "...Huh?!"
(⊙o⊙) What nonsense are you spouting!?
Seeing her like this, Yan Shuping suddenly burst into laughter, and then said:
“I won’t joke with you, Madam Hui. Actually, I’ve come to ask for military strategy. As you know, the war in the northern frontier is ongoing, and strategy and tactics are extremely important on the battlefield. This military strategy is like a thirsty person finding a spring for us military generals. I also believe that it will bring a positive turn for the war in the northern frontier. I cannot go to the battlefield to fight, so this is what I can do for the soldiers in the northern frontier.”
His subsequent words were extremely sincere, and Song Anxin truly felt his concern for the border war. She then spoke:
“The soldiers in the northern border protect our peace and tranquility. If these can help the war in the northern border, how could I not give them to them?”
Song Anxin pondered for a moment and continued, "Lord Yan, what I've read is really a jumbled mess. Could you give me a few days to organize it? Once I've written it down, I'll have my servants deliver it to the county office for you, would that be alright?"
Yan Shushu clasped his hands in thanks: "Thank you, Madam Hui." He seemed to remember something and then said, "Recently, I was playing a sand table game with the students at the academy. Your Third Young Master performed exceptionally well. He is skilled in strategy and can even apply the military tactics he heard about from stories. I wonder if Madam Hui has any idea of sending your Third Young Master to the Northern Frontier?"
Song Anxin knew that her third son was smart. She had noticed his cleverness during the snowball fight last time. However, he was also very good at studying. Children should choose their own path, not be controlled by her. If Feng He really had this idea, she would definitely not object.
Lord Yan's insistence on the academy must stem from his desire to send some strategic individuals to the Northern Frontier. Anbang mentioned that several students did go this year; he must have spoken to Feng He about it. However, since Feng He hasn't told her, his mother, it means he doesn't have this idea for the time being. Therefore, she said:
“I never force my children to do anything. If they want to do something and like it, I’m willing to support them.”
Yan Shushu understood her meaning, and he was not disappointed. Lin Fenghe indeed had no such intention, and his studies at the academy were excellent. The academy's teachers said that he was a rare talent for studying, and such a person could serve the court whether he pursued an official career or a military career.
February arrived in the blink of an eye. The temperature warmed up, and wild bamboo shoots and fresh wild vegetables began to sprout on the mountain. Meanwhile, the distillery at Dafeng Factory had resumed normal operations.
Lin Fengshou is very capable; he's practically the only one working at the distillery now, and An Lu is being gradually trained as well. Song Anxin only needs to go to the distillery for half a day now, mainly to check the quality of the wines.
Because the quality of baijiu produced in the same pot of distillation is not the same, apart from the first and last distillations, the quality of baijiu produced at each stage of distillation is different. She has to distinguish the different qualities of the baijiu. Her family divides it into three grades, which is called "quantitative and quality-based distillation". This is her job.
At this moment, Song Anxin was in her courtyard, experimenting with various wines. She had previously drawn up interior design plans and designs for wine vessels and sent them to Master Liu. Later, she was busy with the winery's opening and spent a few days helping Magistrate Yan with the Thirty-Six Stratagems of War, so she put the matter aside. Fortunately, many of the wine vessels needed to be specially made, and the winery's unique decoration also required time; otherwise, it would have been awkward if Master Liu had already prepared everything while she hadn't even finished mixing the wine.
A long table in the courtyard was covered with various bottles of liquor, as well as fruits and mint. Song Anxin was focused on it and had already mixed quite a few drinks.
“Mother, you’re still mixing drinks.” Lin Fengshou walked into the courtyard and said, “Yesterday the first batch of wine came out of the distillery, and this morning all the shopkeepers in town came to pick up their wines. Today, a total of 4,588 catties of wine were shipped out. 823 catties of first-grade wine, 1,679 catties of second-grade wine, and 2,086 catties of third-grade wine were shipped out. The total income was 1,152 taels and 884 wen. Here are the accounts, Mother, please take a look.”
Song Anxin wiped her hands with a handkerchief, took the ledger, and examined it carefully. The ledger was made using the data sheets she had prepared before, and all the quantities were clearly visible.
Her family's wine is now called Quanqing Wine, which signifies both its quality and its shared origin with Tianqing Wine. Since it's a wine from the same source as the imperial wine, it naturally won't be cheap. Li Bai famously said that a cup of fine wine costs ten thousand coins, but her family's wine isn't that extravagant. The highest quality first-grade wine is priced at 498 coins per catty, the second-grade wine at 286 coins per catty, and the third-grade wine at 126 coins per catty.
Song Anxin secretly admired the wine business, which was incredibly profitable, earning over a thousand taels a day. Her family's business had reached a new level.
Having earned such a large sum of money in a single day, Song Anxin was naturally overjoyed. Looking up at Lin Fengshou's tense expression, she said:
"Just be happy if you want to be. Don't be so tense. Of course you should be happy to have made so much money. Let's ask Granny Zheng to add two more dishes today so our whole family can have a good celebration. From now on, our family will have a prosperous future."
Lin Fengshou scratched his head sheepishly and said, "I just wanted to remind myself not to get carried away."
He grinned and chuckled a few times, clearly pleased.
Song Anxin chuckled. Although her second son had become much more composed, he still sometimes seemed tense, and Song Anxin worried that he might be overly cautious after being bitten once. However, seeing how relaxed he was in front of her now, she felt reassured. This child knew what he was doing. She said:
From now on, you'll be like your sister-in-law; you don't need to come to me for expense reports every time. Just show me the ledger at the end of the month.
Lin Fengshou said, "Alright, Mom, I'll be going now. We'll celebrate properly tonight."
"Don't rush off yet, come on, Fengshou, I've mixed a few new wines for you to try," Song Anxin called out.
Upon hearing this, Lin Fengshou ran even faster: "Mother, I suddenly remembered that there seems to be something very important waiting for me at the winery, so I won't taste it for now. Why don't you let Uncle Bai and Granny Zheng taste it for you?"
After saying that, they ran off in a flash. His mother didn't just want them to taste the wine; she also wanted them to describe the taste and differences between the different wines.
Isn't this wine just like those other wines? Of course, their Quanqing wine is different, but what other differences could there be? I don't understand. Every time the wine tasting girl looked at him expectantly, he felt a lot of pressure and ran away.
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