Chapter 103: "Material for brewing wine?" Too...
"Ingredients for winemaking?" Taiyi Zhenren pondered for a moment, stroking his beard. "Have you ever drunk wine?"
The Drunken Swordsman was stunned: "What are grapes?"
It turns out that there are no grapes on the two fairy islands of Yingzhou and Fangzhang.
In fact, there are no such grapes in Shuzhong. The grapes in Fuli are all grown by themselves, with seedlings brought from far away places.
Taiyi Zhenren said, "My disciple's subordinates brought back these roots from the far west. The fruit they produce is sour and not very tasty, but the wine they make from it is quite good."
He seemed to be savoring the taste of the wine and couldn't help smacking his lips.
It was this action that convinced the Drunken Swordsman that the grapes were indeed a good material for making wine.
He raised his head slightly to look at Ling Zhuzi, and without turning around, asked, "That's your disciple, right? He's really a handsome man!"
Taiyi Zhenren coughed and whispered, "That is indeed my disciple, but I'm talking about Fuli. She is Lingzhuzi's Taoist partner and she also calls me Master."
"Oh~" Drunken Swordsman understood and knew who to look for.
He was a little absent-minded afterwards, until Taiyi Zhenren half-bragged and half-lamented about the lack of successors to his newly created mechanical art, he casually asked what mechanical art was.
Creating one's own lineage was something to be proud of, and when he met an interested outsider, Taiyi Zhenren naturally talked incessantly and showed off a lot.
Unexpectedly, the more the Drunken Swordsman listened, the more interested he became. At the end, he clapped his hands and said, "If you don't mind, I have someone to recommend you."
Taiyi Zhenren hurriedly asked, "Who?"
The Drunken Sword Immortal said, “That child was originally the transformed form of a purple yew grass in my cave. Seeing that she had nowhere to go, I kept her in the cave as a servant and asked her to look after the flowers and plants on weekdays.
That child doesn't have much talent for cultivation, and hasn't become an immortal in all these years. He likes to tinker with small things on a daily basis, which is somewhat similar to you, the organ number."
When Taiyi Zhenren heard this, he became interested. After the banquet that day, he followed Jiujianxian back to Yingzhou and personally tested the boy Ziyun.
The Drunken Swordsman was of course not happy about this and wanted to stay and ask Fuli for grapes, but Taiyi Zhenren promised him that if Ziyun was truly a good candidate, he would speak on his behalf, and he immediately agreed.
The result was naturally a happy one for everyone. The boy Ziyun was indeed the good seedling that Taiyi Zhenren wanted.
After staying on Yingzhou Island for three days, the two returned with Ziyun.
Since he has been rooted in the Jinjiang tribe for many years, the art of machinery was also researched and developed in the Jinjiang tribe. For Taiyi Zhenren, this place is his second dojo.
Ziyun wanted to learn mechanical engineering from him, so he wanted to hold the apprenticeship ceremony in the Jinjiang tribe.
As for the Drunken Swordsman who followed, participating in the apprenticeship ceremony was secondary. The most important thing was to ask Fu Li for grape seedlings.
Taiyi Zhenren is not a person who would go back on his word to enrich himself, so his previous promise naturally worked, which made Jiujianxian very grateful.
This is the information gap between the two sides.
Taiyi Zhenren lived in Jinjiang all year round and spent every day with Fuli. Of course, he knew that as long as he asked, she would not be stingy with some grapes or even vines.
But the Drunken Swordsman didn't know. He only knew that grapes were a very precious material for making wine, and that they were not native to the Central Plains. They were treasures that Fuli specially sent people to bring back from the West.
It was easy for others to drink his wine, and he was very happy and would not ask for any payment. But the materials used to make wine were no less important to him than a roast chicken in the hands of a beggar or gold in the hands of a poor man.
He judged others by his own experience and felt that Fuli would definitely not give away such precious wine-making materials easily.
But no matter what, both parties feel that they have gained the upper hand in this matter, which can be regarded as an alternative win-win situation.
Fu Li knew nothing about this, but she clearly felt that the immortal from Yingzhou who came with Taiyi Zhenren was too polite to her.
She and Lingzhuzi were helping Taiyi Zhenren prepare Ziyun's apprenticeship gift, and they also prepared a gift for Ziyun.
Ziyun has been transformed for seventy-eight years, but her cultivation is not high. She looks like a little girl of about twelve years old. She wears a round-necked robe and two buns. The ornaments on her hairband and the patterns embroidered on her clothes are all various fairy herbs, which is very consistent with her identity.
Until the day before the apprenticeship ceremony, Taiyi Zhenren privately told Fu Li the purpose of Jiujianxian's visit and asked her to give whatever she thought was appropriate.
Fu Li understood and realized that Taiyi Zhenren was trying to show off in front of Jiujianxian. While she felt amused, she also decided to help him pretend to be cool.
Therefore, all the drinks served at the apprenticeship banquet were replaced with cellared wine.
When the Drunken Swordsman learned that what was in front of him was wine, he felt like he had found a treasure. He quickly picked up the wine glass and took a small sip, savoring it carefully on his tongue.
The expression on his face was first surprise, then regret, and finally almost heartbroken.
If he had not been concerned about the large number of people present, he would have almost jumped up again and accused Fu Li of wasting such a great gift.
Yes, in his opinion, Fuli’s winemaking skills were a waste of grapes, which were a perfect material.
This apprenticeship ceremony was not grand, far inferior to the time when Fu Li became Zhao Gongming's apprentice and Ling Zhuzi became Taiyi's apprentice.
It’s not that Taiyi Zhenren doesn’t like his second disciple Ziyun, but as the calamity of the Conferred Gods approaches, the Golden Immortals of the Orthodox Sect and several high-level disciples of the Demon Sect have all gone into seclusion.
Of the fellow disciples who came to offer their congratulations, the most prominent was naturally the Great Master Xuandu of the Human Sect. From the Orthodox Sect, only Yun Zhongzi, the God of Fortune and Righteousness, and Huang Long Zhenren came. From the Demon Sect, Zhao Gongming brought several wealthy outer disciples.
Taiyi Zhenren felt very sorry for his young disciple as he had not done a good job in the ceremony of becoming his disciple.
But Ziyun didn't care. She just wanted to end the banquet quickly and send all the guests away so that she could ask her teacher for advice on the art of mechanical devices.
Once upon a time on Yingzhou Island, she was ordered by the Drunken Sword Immortal to care for the flowers and plants in his cave, and she figured out a way to make irrigation easier. It consisted of a bamboo tube connected to a mechanism that pumped water and controlled its opening and closing.
The participating real person was very surprised and decided to take her in as his disciple and teach her the art of mechanical engineering.
After the banquet was over, Zhao Gongming pulled his disciple aside to talk to him. Seeing this, the Drunken Swordsman, who was about to step forward, had to retreat.
After all, he needed help from someone, so how could he disturb the relationship between master and disciple?
Fu Li glanced at him, said a few words to Zhao Gongming, and then left alone. The Drunken Sword Immortal was afraid that she would run away, so he was about to chase her, but Ling Zhuzi stopped him.
He could only suppress his anxiety and explain, "Lord Lingzhuzi, I have no ill intentions. I just want to ask for a favor."
Ling Zhuzi said, "Li'er and I already know the Immortal Lord's purpose. Please wait a moment."
Jiu Jianxian didn't know what he was going to do, but the situation was stronger than him, so he had to be patient and talk to him.
But Lingzhuzi didn't want to talk to him at all, and a look stopped him in his tracks. The Drunken Swordsman was embarrassed for a moment, and the two of them stared at each other.
Fortunately, Fu Li came not long after, holding two grape vines in his hand, and gave them directly to Jiu Jianxian, and told him how to promote rooting, how to plant, and how to cultivate.
Of course, the most important thing is to specifically point out that Taiyi Zhenren went to Fuli several times in succession to ask for these two grape vines for him.
Finally, he entrusted the matter, "Immortals are experts in winemaking. As far as I know, the sweeter the grapes, the better the wine. If you can cultivate sweeter grapes, please give me two."
"Don't worry, don't worry. I will, I will."
The Drunken Swordsman's eyes were glued to the grape vines. No matter what Fu Li said, he would agree without hesitation.
After getting the grapevines, he didn't want to delay for a moment and immediately said goodbye and left.
"Eh?" He held Li Erkang's hand, but could only watch him fly away on a cloud. "He really is a drunkard! I was thinking of negotiating a business deal with him."
Zhao Gongming sneered, "That immortal is unlucky. Li'er, don't worry about him."
He changed the subject, leaving Drunken Swordsman a thousand miles away, and pulled Fu Li aside to ask, "What difficulties are you facing here? Are you short of manpower or funds? Forget it, I'll have someone send some food and herbs over later. You always need those things here."
Under Fu Li's leadership, the Jinjiang unit has achieved self-sufficiency in supplies and can be said to have no shortage of anything.
But she also knew the teacher's good intentions. If she insisted on refusing, it would make the teacher sad, so she accepted it with a smile and acted coquettishly and flattered Zhao Gongming, so that Zhao Gongming couldn't suppress his smile until he left.
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Time flies, year after year.
It took Fu Li ten years to unify Shu, but it took Ji Meng fifteen years to control the floods.
In fact, if she had used magic, it wouldn't have taken so many years.
But she knew very well that the human race was the protagonist of heaven and earth, and the deeper the human race participated, the more merits would be bestowed by heaven.
Therefore, she really only supports the planning, and all other projects are done by humans.
Fifteen years later, the water veins between Sichuan and Tibet were completely opened up. Fu Li personally led the army into the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, intimidated and subdued the wild people there, and taught them farming, writing, weaving, music... Within ten years, Sichuan and Tibet were completely connected.
The people of the two regions exchanged what they had and intermarried. Sharing the same culture and intertwined bloodlines, the Tibetans, once a savage people, were integrated into the Chinese population, and within a few years, the regional differences were eliminated.
And Fu Li was finally elected by everyone and ascended the throne, becoming the first King of Shu in this world.
She ascended the throne as a woman, and the Sichuan-Tibet region was a matriarchal society before her. Although under her leadership, the transition from tribal group marriage to marriage was made, it was completely different from the Central Plains, with men marrying women.
This is normal in the local cultural circle.
After all, men cannot have children. If a man marries a woman, how can he guarantee that the children born will continue his own bloodline?
Compared to the uncertainty of "biological birth", it is of course safer to marry the man off and leave the woman to "biologically give birth".
When Fu Li ascended the throne of King of Shu, the first thing he did was to honor Hua Jing Yuanjun as the Grand Lord, the second thing he did was to make Ling Zhuzi the queen, the third thing he did was to establish the faith in Shu, and the fourth thing he did was to issue a new version of the almanac.
The first two are obvious, but the third is a priority because it's crucial to establish faith early on. This is, after all, a world of gods and demons, and it's in the early stages of social development; the people under your rule need faith!
In fact, as early as the middle of the Jinjiang tribe's expansion, her subjects had asked her about faith more than once.
But at that time, Sichuan and Tibet had not yet been unified, and establishing faith too early would have caused resistance from those who came later. She had been suppressing it until now, when she had no choice but to establish it.
She personally issued an edict to build Nuwa Temple and Sanqing Temple in various places in Sichuan and Tibet. After consulting Zhao Gongming and Taiyi Zhenren, she established a "Temple of the God of Wealth" and a "Temple of the God of Works" for them respectively.
It is worth mentioning that she only promoted the faith among the people, but did not plan to hold a national-level sacrifice.
The only national-level sacrifices are to heaven, earth, and ancestors.
However, Fu Li was the founding emperor and had no ancestors at all, so this sacrifice was postponed for the time being.
After receiving congratulations from the courtiers, Grand Lord Hua Jing did not stay but returned to the foot of Mount Emei. Fu Li simply carved out Emei County, which had grown into a county, and made it a fiefdom for the Grand Lord.
Huajing's fiefdom, both in terms of territory and prosperity, far surpassed Dai State. I wonder if the deceased Dai Boqingbi would have regretted it so much if he knew his sister, whom he had forced away, had such a fate?
If he had left a way out when he did things and not been so cruel, given Hua Jing's character, he would definitely have taken care of his motherland after he became successful.
But now, even if he regrets it, it's too late.
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