The winter solstice is the shortest day and longest night in the Northern Hemisphere. After the winter solstice, the days will get longer day by day. Therefore, in the "Book of Han", there is "the winter solstice yang qi rises, the monarch is long, so he congratulates." ". The Book of the Later Han Dynasty also mentions, "Before and after the winter solstice, the gentleman is quiet, the officials are desperate, they do not listen to the government, and they choose auspicious days and then save trouble." "The Book of Jin is even more straightforward because its status is elevated to the end of the first year of the New Year," the winter solstice of the Wei and Jin dynasties was congratulated by all countries and hundreds of bureaucrats...... Its ritual is inferior to Zhengdan. It can be seen that since ancient times, the Winter Solstice Festival has been one of the three most important festivals of the year. In this festival, also known as the "Long Solstice Festival", "Winter Festival" and "Ya Sui", not only the government has to rest for three days as usual, but even the vast majority of merchants and shops will give the guys a full day off. So on the day of the winter solstice, Yanzhou City was as quiet as the thirtieth day of the Chinese New Year's Eve.

On the winter solstice, the whole sheep should be used to sacrifice to the heavens and the earth, and mutton should be eaten and mutton soup drunk. This is a custom handed down from the Spring and Autumn Period, even the common people who can't afford to buy live sheep will cut two catties of mutton or lift a tulu haggis, and then take buckwheat noodles or white noodles to knead into the shape of a sheep, roast or steam them before serving them to the gods of their ancestors. Of course, these sacrificial offerings end up in the stomach. In Yanzhou City in the past few days, there is a lingering smell of mutton everywhere.

It is precisely for this reason that the day before the winter solstice, Shang Cheng held a family banquet in the mansion to entertain the two brothers, Huo Lun and Huo Shiqi, and the main dish was a roast whole sheep.

The sheep was carefully roasted by Suza and a few Hachagan guards. When the four soldiers brought up two large wooden trays containing the whole sheep, the golden brown whirlhorn sheep immediately attracted a round of applause.

Shang Cheng stood up, first picked the best piece of lamb loin for Huo Lun, and then selected a good piece of mutton for Huo Shiqi, and used chopsticks and a small silver knife to put a large piece in the bowl of Ran Tao, who happened to be at the meeting, and did not sit down, raised the pot with both hands and turned around, saying, "I couldn't drink." But this glass of wine cannot be left undrunk. First congratulate the six uncles, congratulations to the six uncles for the high-concentration liquor we brew. ”

Huo Shiqi and Ran Tao and the seventeenth aunt at another table led the eldest girl Yue'er and their daughters, everyone stood up with the lamp, and said to Huo Lun together: "Congratulations to the sixth brother (sixth uncle)!" ”

Huo Lun held the wine cup, and his white face turned red. In September, he was recommended by Huo Shiqi and received an order from the Admiral's Mansion to try to brew high-strength liquor in Yi County. With the drawings and craftsmanship provided by Shang Cheng to lay the foundation, and the large amount of money and grain allocated by the Nanguan Battalion instructed by the Admiral's Office to backing him, he was full of confidence and meritorious service, and simply did not even engage in the process of the small stove experiment, and directly built a workshop by the Huojiabao Girl River, and recruited a group of old craftsmen who were familiar with brewing and began to steam and burn in a large stove. He is also lucky, in mid-October, the first ignition of the four stoves was completed, ten loads of grain came out of more than 100 catties of liquor, and the rich aroma of wine floated out a few miles along the girl's river. It wasn't until the next few ignition returns that he had the bottom in his heart, and he didn't even write a letter, so he took two carriages and brought ten urns of wine to Yanzhou to report the good news. He arrived in Yanzhou around Shenshi this afternoon, and happened to meet Huo Shiqi who was going home to visit relatives on the winter solstice at the gate of the city, and just in time for the Shang and Huo families to reunite today, so the two of them went straight to Shang Cheng's mansion with wine.

He was originally a very good rhetorical person, but now he was a little overwhelmed, and he held back for a long time before he stammered a little: "Happy, everyone happy." ”

Everyone laughed kindly, and then followed Shang Cheng's example, and drank the liquor in the bowl very proudly. However, almost all of them immediately had a strange look. How did they know that the wine smelled fragrant, but when it came into the mouth, it was spicy; This is not a fragrant "Shili Xiang" or "Seven Zhenli", let alone a shallow and light taste of private liquor, this is the best grade carefully selected by Huo Liu from several batches of liquor before and after according to the standards set by Shang Cheng, it is a real liquor, and it is a special military supply for the guards.

Several girls couldn't help it first, they sprayed the wine in their mouths, and left their seats one by one with tears in their eyes and coughing, so panicked that several maids and servants in the hall hurriedly came over and patted their backs and chests. The seventeenth aunt's face was burned red, and she wiped her eyes and said, "Sixth brother, this is also wine you brought?" Why do I think it's more choking than the garlic juice squeezed out of Huangzhou garlic? ”

Huo Shiqi's appearance is no better than that of Aunt Seventeen, where to go. He had heard from Shang Cheng and Huo Lun that this liquor was powerful, but first, he drank it well, and secondly, he drank the liquor in the bowl without frowning, and he inevitably despised the words of the two people in his heart, although he didn't tilt his neck down like Shang Cheng, he sucked two sips of wine against the edge of the bowl and swallowed it, and when he landed, he felt that it was hot from his throat to his stomach as if he was being burned by flames, and this third sip couldn't be swallowed no matter what, and he didn't spit it out in front of the good people. One end wrinkled his brows and desperately suppressed the tumultuous stomach that turned over the river and the sea, and the other end held a bowl to drink, and it was not a no-drink.

The only person at the banquet who didn't know the details of this wine and didn't suffer was Ran Tao. He is a native of the south, and since he came to Yanzhou, he has been suffering from stomach problems for a long time because of the water and soil, and it was not until he was forcibly transferred out of Dun'an by Shang Cheng, who went to inspect the local area, that his health gradually improved. Because the doctor told him that he must avoid eating and eating carefully, he just dipped the wine on his lips, so he did not suffer this crime.

Shang Cheng and Huo Lun, who had tasted it, glanced at each other and laughed together.

Shang Cheng asked someone to bring a lit candle and put the fire in the wine cup where most of the bowl was poured, and in an instant, a layer of transparent blue flames swirled against the surface of the water.

He smiled and said, "This is not your usual wine. If you haven't drunk it, you naturally find it spicy and difficult to eat. It's good to get used to it. And he said, "Even if you can get used to it, you don't dare to drink too much of it." The concentration is too high, and you will get drunk if you drink a little more than two sips. "He can't get used to drinking this kind of soju made from pure grain, and he hasn't drunk much for a long time.

Of course, not everyone doesn't like this taste, like Erya, after she vomited and coughed for a long time, she immediately started to try something new with great interest. Now, she has adapted to this "high-concentration liquor", others are still wiping tears, but she is so happy that she smiles, takes a sip of wine and eats a mouthful of food, eats and drinks happily by herself, and doesn't even pay attention to Shang Cheng's little tricks.

Everyone was frightened by the blue flame emitted when the alcohol burned. Emperor Bodhisattva, this thing that can be ignited with a touch of the fire head, if a person drinks it, then it must not burn all the internal organs?

Huo Shiqi stared at the flames for a long time before he swallowed and salivaed. He had heard Shang Cheng say early on that it would be useful to brew a wine pie that could be ignited by an open flame. At that time, he thought that Shang Cheng was talking about it, but who knew that this was true...... The question is, where did the monk know that there was such a thing in the world, and where did he learn how to brew it? Also, how did the monk know that the household utensils, stoves, pipes, flues, and a new word that he still didn't quite understand the meaning of were distilled one by one......