Yan Chen and the two looked at each other, but it was the Englishman Stephen, this guy was an artillery instructor, and at the same time served as the British trade representative in the southeast province, knowing the new production of white sugar, the key was to see that the white sugar in the southeast province was pure, white, and strong, and beat all the cane sugar, so he immediately ran to ask for the full purchase!

There is a friendship between them in selling guns, and there will be two more ships next year, and Yan Changwu generously promised that the contract between the two parties would be set for five years, and the British would underwrite it.

In the first year, the British bought 30,000 quintals of white sugar and 1,000 quintals of rock sugar in Taiwan, and then gradually increased, but they still received as much as they wanted, which is amazing.

According to the British explanation, the sugar they bought was not actually sold back to the British mainland, but digested in the Indian Ocean, mainly in the Strait of Malacca --- the coastal countries of the Indian Ocean, where there are many green countries, plus the princely states of India (in fact, there was no such country as India at that time, it is a geography), as well as Arabs and Ottoman Turks, who have a great appetite and sell very good sugar (everyone likes to eat sugar).

In fact, the South and Indian Ocean regions were also suitable for growing sugarcane, but at that time, the British did not control those areas, and how could people everywhere grow sugarcane, a cash crop, when they could not have enough to eat.

If the British occupy a large area, they can be allocated, for example, this area has strong sunlight, a variety of sugar cane, another area grows grain, and the grain produced is sent to the place where the sugar cane is grown, so that everyone has food to eat, there will be no famine, the British rule can last, and the income from the sugar trade can be obtained.

At this time, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean did not have a system in the southeast, one-third of the fields were planted with sugarcane, one-third of the fields were planted with rice, one-third of the fields were planted with miscellaneous grains, vegetables and fruits, and so on, and the supply of rice as the staple food was sufficient, so it was natural to dare to grow sugarcane.

Taking a step back, even if sugarcane is grown in those areas, it is not as high as the sugarcane production in the southeast province (no one dares to call him the first when the rabbit breeds him the second), and the quality is not as high as the quality of the sugar in the southeast province.

In addition to the annual surge of hundreds of thousands of taels of white sugar and rock sugar silver into the accounts, the southeast government also sells brown sugar and a small amount of white sugar and rock sugar to the mainland, and also has an income of more than 100,000 taels of silver, and the income is very stable, which is really a sweet business.

In this way, the southeast province has its own export fist products!

And that's not all!

Sugarcane is a treasure, in addition to white sugar, in the process of producing white sugar, it will produce "molasses", which is the thick liquid left after the sugarcane juice is squeezed out by the sugar industry after heating, neutralization, precipitation, filtration, concentration, crystallization and other processes to make sugar, commonly known as syrup.

It contains more than 40% sugar, but it is not suitable for human consumption, and the appearance is not pleasant and the taste is not good. It can be used as liquid energy feed, fed to livestock, digested and absorbed quickly, such as feeding cows (added to feed), which can increase the yield and quality of milk from dairy cows, so that pigs can gain weight after eating.

But the big use of molasses is that Yan Changwu uses it to produce "rum"!

Rum is the transliteration of English Rum, which is a distilled liquor produced by fermentation, distillation and aging from sugar cane or molasses. The alcohol content is 40 degrees, which is generally not sweet, and there are also sweetened ones. The wine is pale yellow, the aroma is prominent, there is no sprint taste, and the aftertaste is long-lasting. The alcohol content is about 45%. The main production characteristics of this liquor are: the selection of special aromatic (ester-producing) yeast and the addition of organic acid-producing bacteria, fermentation together, and then distillation and aging.

Rum is one of the most consumed liquors in the world, originating from regions rich in sugar cane and sugar, such as Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, Dominica, Puerto Rico, Guyana and other Caribbean countries, among which Jamaica and Cuba are the most famous.

Now, Yan Changwu relies on the memory of a sugar production program he has done to organize the brewing master to produce rum, which is not difficult, after all, the Chinese are the ancestors of drinking and produce rum.

He had bought a lot of suitable drinking utensils in Yuegang before, and after processing, he made a complete set of winemaking utensils to make wine.

At this time, the rum produced was relatively coarse, spicy, and bitter, and could not be drunk by ordinary people except for old drunkards.

The method of Hongmaofan is to age the original wine in white oak barrels, and the ordinary wine period is 3~6 months, the high-quality wine is 9~12 months, and there are also rum wines that are 3~10 years old.

After ripening, it can be taken out and blended, and the finished wine is colorless or golden yellow.

There is no white oak in China, and it is unrealistic to import it far away, how can Yan Changwu be willing to give money to buy wood for Hongmaofan? He was very sophisticated in using "Chinese oak", that is, oak barrels for rum, which is of the same family as oak and has a similar texture, which can be used to fill up the number of rubbers.

However, the wine does not taste as good as the wine from white oak barrels, and other flavor additives can be added to improve the taste. Add cinnamon, ginger and cloves, mix with the final rum and steep for 1-2 weeks.

The taste is still good!

The British, the Dutch, the Spaniards and the Portuguese all bought quite a few rums, but the main ones were sold to the mainland! ]

Without it, the output is large and the price is relatively cheap.

In the mainland, the vast majority of distilleries can't have such a big source of raw materials as Yan Changwu!

Making wine out of grain?

That's going to be beaten with a cane!

Since the climate has entered the Xiaoice River period, the grain harvest on the mainland side has been poor for many years, and the grain is not enough to eat, and dare to use it to make wine?

As a result, the production of liquor is seriously reduced, but the drunkard does not decrease.

Even more, after all, a drunk can relieve a thousand sorrows.

At this time, rum entered the mainland, the quantity is large and the price is low, and its sales are based on "medicinal wine", the Chinese people like to take a sip of tonic the most, especially in winter, the original wine is strong, plus the effect of medicinal materials, hey, warm all over, cool on a word!

The southeastern province went to war with the Ming Kingdom, but under the escort of many staunch patriots of the Ming Kingdom, rum successfully entered the mainland region.

First sold in Fujian, then north, into Jiangsu and Zhejiang, to Henan, Hebei and Shandong, and finally was sold to the old wild boar skin tribesmen by the Jin merchants at that time, everywhere they went, it was very popular!

Soon it swept the mainland, and the silver obtained in a year was hundreds of thousands of taels!

……

To tell the truth, Tainan is not prosperous, and the entire southeast prefecture is seriously Yan Changwu's tenant farmers and long-term workers, serving him in industry and agriculture, and fighting for him as soldiers.

And business is his monopoly.

However, in recent times, Tainan Street has been crowded with many foreign businessmen with fresh faces, and they have filled an administrative center on Tainan Street with anxious faces.

They need to buy a flag to trade!

Two thousand silver dollars on one side!