Chao Yong originally did not plan to develop spirits on a large scale, but he had already inquired about the wine of the Song Dynasty over the years, and the Song Dynasty could earn about 10 million yuan from wine every year, which was also an important source of financial revenue for the Song Dynasty. However, the best-selling wine in the Song Dynasty was low-strength wine, and if high-strength wine was implemented, people who were used to drinking low-strength wine might not be able to accept it at once, and people like Wu Song and Li Kui would definitely not be the majority.

Even if spirits can replace low-strength alcohol, the amount of alcohol consumed by the world will be drastically reduced. Wu Song used to be able to eat dozens of bowls, but when he switched to spirits, it was only a few bowls.

As the number decreases, I am afraid that the income of the imperial court will also decrease. Moreover, distilled spirits consume a lot of alcohol, but the price of alcohol cannot rise by a corresponding multiple. The most people in the world are still poor, the cheapest wine is only a dozen wen a catty, and the best wine is only a few hundred wen a catty.

A pound of wine for a few hundred wen will keep most people out of the door, and the people who are most likely to change their stuttering to eat spirits must be the poor, and most of the pampered rich people will not like spicy spirits.

The audience decided that spirits could not be sold at a high price, so Chao Yong gave up the idea of developing spirits on a large scale.

However, Xu Guanzhong pointed out that the better consumer groups of spirits, that is, the people of Liao and Jin, the north is bitter and cold, and people eat wine not only to satisfy their appetite, but also to keep out the cold. Although it has been scientifically proven that drinking alcohol does not protect against the cold, even in later generations, people still used to take a sip of spirits when they were cold.

The people of Liao will make wine, and the people of Jin will naturally make wine if they have the craftsmen of Liao. They only imported a small amount of precious wine from the Central Plains, because the wine they made was actually similar to the wine of the Central Plains. But spirits are different, with a higher alcohol content and a more spicy taste, and there is no doubt that once the spirits are released, the liquor made by the Liao and Jin countries will lose their competitiveness.

Spirits are also expected to become the same export weapon as tea and silk, and exchange for the money of the Liang. And it will not be an enemy, it will only hurt the enemy.

The next day, Chao Yong asked the craftsmen to start making the stills, and chose a manor outside the city to be used as a spirits workshop, which was guarded not only by the regular army, but also by the spies under the command of Shi Qian. All relevant people and others who can be kept in captivity are kept in captivity, and those who cannot be kept in captivity are also given a gag order, and once the news is leaked, it is a capital offense.

The inner sake brewery was originally located in the city, but the distillation of liquor required fire. To sell spirits in large quantities, you can imagine how much smoke and dust must be emitted, so Chao Yong set up a spirits shop outside the city.

In order to reduce pollution in the city of Tokyo, Chao Yong proposed that all workshops that consumed a lot of charcoal firewood move outside the city. This proposal has been adopted, but the ministries are still in the process of inspecting it, and it is necessary to choose a convenient place for transportation and to set it up at the downwind of the city of Tokyo, so that the wind does not blow all the pollutants into Tokyo.

The officials in power in the DPRK and China are very protective of their lives. There was no such concept before, but as soon as Chao Yong put it forward, everyone responded positively. The cost of relocation is not a consideration for them.

This decree has already spread in the city, and Chao Yong naturally will not openly violate the imperial decree. Although the world is nominally the Chao family.

After a busy day outside the city, in the evening, Chao Yong came to the palace, and saw Li Kui sitting on the doorstep from a distance.

Li Kui saw the prince and his party returning to the palace. Then he got up and ran over.

The prince's personal soldiers are also old men in Liangshan and know Li Kui's temperament. didn't dare to ask for hardships and stop Li Kui.

Chao Yong saw Li Kui running to him and said with a smile: "What are you doing here?" ”

Li Kui smiled and said: "I came to ask for some wine and food, I came at noon, and the soldiers at the door said that you left the palace early in the morning." They didn't know where you went, so I had to wait at the door. ”

Chao Yong smiled: "I'm going to Zhang Luojian Liquor Workshop, if you want wine to pass the word in, why wait here." ”

Li Kui glared and said, "I asked my own soldiers to pass the word, and the eunuchs inside said that only the prince was rewarded, and there was no precedent for anyone to come to the door to ask for it, so they didn't dare to call the shots." ”

Although he said that he did not dare to call the shots, he refused. Although the eunuchs of Daliang can no longer interfere in matters outside the palace, they serve the royal family, and they are inevitably a little arrogant. Moreover, it is true that no one came to the door to ask for it, Wu Song and others also liked spirits, and they were not afraid to speak, but they would never come to the door to ask for it the next day.

Chao Yong couldn't say that the people in the palace had done wrong, and said with a smile: "There is not much wine steamed the day before yesterday, otherwise I will have someone send it to the door for you." You come with me into the palace, and I'll have the rest of the wine sent back to you, and tomorrow the spirits shop will be produced, and I'll give it to the others then." ”

When Li Kui heard this, he immediately said happily: "I don't need them to send it, I'll just move in with you." ”

Chao Yong led Li Kui into the palace, asked people to bring all the leftover liquor he drank yesterday to Li Kui, and asked two personal soldiers to escort Li Kui back, so as not to get drunk and make trouble on the way and be arrested by Kaifeng Mansion.

Nowadays, there are really no people who dare to make trouble on the streets of Tokyo, whether it is a civilian official or a military general, as long as they violate the law, they will be shackled and brought back. The officials themselves do not care about decency, and Kaifeng Mansion will not save face for them.

With the support of the jealous and hateful Emperor of Great Liang and the crown prince, Kaifeng Mansion has no scruples, and the people are not afraid of retaliation from the powerful.

The distilled liquor of the liquor workshop also uses the brewed liquor to make it, but this year, the war is in chaos, and the tribute rice in Shouzhou has been stolen by local officials and civilians, and the liquor brewed in the palace is also much less. Chao Gai only allocated 10,000 catties of liquor to Chao Yong and let him distill.

Spirits shops have to sell a lot of liquor at a high price, so naturally they can't buy liquor from the market. After Chao Gai tasted the spirits, he also liked the spirits, and immediately transferred all the inner liquor workshops to the spirits workshop, and Chao Yong let them start to make a large number of wines, the raw materials naturally could not be the glutinous rice of Shouzhou, but these wines were not brewed in a day.

During the Song Dynasty, there were countless famous liquors in the world, but the most famous sake came from Tokyo. Recognized as the world's No. 1 liquor, the Imperial Palace's internal liquor is the Imperial Palace's internal liquor brewery, which has a special brewery and a French wine warehouse.

The inner liquor brewed by the inner liquor workshop originated from Puzhou in the river. It is still the wine-making method obtained by Chai Shizong when he broke the river. After the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, this method was also followed, and then a lot of improvements were made, and the wine was getting better and better, which gave it the reputation of "the first wine in the world".

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the production of internal liquor increased year by year, and the rice used in the sake brewery was only 800 stone of glutinous rice at the beginning of the Song Dynasty, which increased to 3,000 stone in Zhenzong and 80,000 stone in Renzong.

Not only is the technology of the inner brewery constantly improved, but the raw materials are also kept improving, after several generations of comparison. Discover the best glutinous rice brewing in Shouzhou, Huainan Road. Since then, all the glutinous rice used to brew the sake has been paid tribute by Shouzhou.

In the end, only more than 1,000 catties of liquor were distilled, Chao Yong asked people to send ten catties to the generals in the city, and the palace left three hundred catties, and the rest were sent to the palace.

In the blink of an eye, it is the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the day of Daliang is also celebrated by the whole country, the rich and noble people decorate their pavilions and pavilions to enjoy the moon, and ordinary people go to the restaurant to grab a place to play the moon. On this day, the large and small restaurants in the city will redress the color building in front of the door, and decorate the color building with a new silk flower.

Early in the morning, the window seat was full of guests. These people are all waiting until the evening to admire the moon by the window, and they will spend the whole day in the restaurant, otherwise once they walk away, someone will take the window position. The wine in the evening must be ordered in advance, otherwise by noon, all the new wine will be sold out, and the hope of selling wine in the restaurant can only be withdrawn.

This is the case every year in the Mid-Autumn Festival, where each restaurant makes more wine, but the increase in production is always unable to meet the needs of the millions of people in the city.

The reason for this is that the wine of more than 10 degrees can be said to be suitable for both men and women. This day is a day of carnival for the whole city.

Sitting in a restaurant for a day is not boring, and in order to attract drinkers, the restaurant is full of drums and music all day long. There are also many people who "catch up" to serve,, play ruan, sing, and play. Just for the sake of a smile and a reward, there are often citizens who choose to go to the restaurant to "catch up" this road when they have no means of life.

These "rushing" people and restaurants promote each other. Restaurants don't drive away these "rushers".

Jin Cuilian that Lu Zhishen met in Weizhou was desperate, so she could only go to the hotel to "catch up" and make money to live.

The liquor in the liquor shop still didn't make it to this festival. In order to recreate a brand of the world's first wine, Chao Yong decided to ensure his pure bloodline. Moreover, buying a large amount of wine from the market is also easy to be seen by people with a heart.

Chao Yong also gave the spirits a name, calling it "Haohan Wine". It not only shows the strength of the wine, but only a good man can eat this wine, and it is not without the meaning of remembering the Liangshan era.

There are roughly three forms of the liquor system in the Northern Song Dynasty: first, Sijing and Sichuan, Guizhou, Liangguang, Fujian and other places implemented the Rongqu system, that is, the folk brewing was allowed and a strict monopoly system was implemented for the "qu". The second is to implement "official brewing" for all roads, prefectures, prefectures, and armies outside the above-mentioned areas, that is, to implement the monopoly of official brewing on the basis of Rongqu. Third, in areas where the population is not very dense and the production and sales volume is not large, the practice of "official supervision and liquor business" or "buying and selling" will be implemented.

The Song Dynasty's liquor system can be said to be used flexibly, which can not only ensure the income of the imperial court, but also not waste too much manpower. The best place to sell koji is to control the koji, and if you want to monopolize the official brewing, to meet the demand of the market, the number of people who make sake in the imperial court will be an unbelievable number. Where the sales are average, the imperial court directly brews the wine and sells it monopolly. In places with poor sales, the imperial court did not waste manpower and directly contracted to merchants.

On this day, the palace was also full of lights, and it also undertook an important task, and the five hundred palace maids were preparing to perform a song for the subjects of Tokyo in Jinmyeongchi.

Since the Song Dynasty, this project has been performed by the palace maids, but when it came to Daliang, Chao Gai became the emperor, and only a few dozen palace maids were left in the palace to serve the He family. The rest of them were sent to the Tai Gong, so this task was transferred to the Tai Gong.

On this day, hundreds of officials do not need to go to court.

Chao Yong came to the palace with all the concubines early, Hu Sanniang took the concubines to the harem to meet the He family, and Chao Yong feasted with the hundred officials in front.

Chao Gai was originally a person of luxury, but after becoming the emperor, he was forced to advocate frugality due to financial pressure. This is like most of the founding emperors, every time there is a change of dynasty, there is a waste to be done, and the founding emperor has to lead by example.

The exemption of agricultural taxes and all forced labor by the Great Liang greatly increased the pressure on the treasury, so Chao Gai took the initiative to reduce the use of the palace and gave all the palace maids and eunuchs to Chao Yong, originally wanting Chao Yong to choose some of them to stay, and the rest to be dismissed. He is not a woman, and the task of opening up the Chao family can only be handed over to Chao Yong.

But I didn't expect Chao Yong to come up with a ticket number, which not only solved the use of the imperial womb, but also had a large balance. Now the money of the palace is no longer spent from the treasury, but from the profits of the royal ticket number.

The palace doesn't need the money from the treasury, so Chao Gai can't care about the affairs of the palace anymore, so he can only let Chao Yong leave thousands of palace maids and eunuchs in the palace.

As long as he is not greedy or possessive, Chao Gai is not opposed to official extravagance. The Song Dynasty was extravagant, the wine vessels of the seventy-two main shops were all silverware, and the people in the city were also accustomed to eating grain, which was also one of the reasons for the development of commerce in the Song Dynasty.

The girder has just changed the dynasty. Chao Gai can't change this atmosphere, and he has no intention of changing it. Everyone desperately followed him to conquer the country, just to enjoy the wealth, and he didn't want everyone to enjoy it, so he didn't care about Chao Yong's extravagant life, which was regarded as showing his attitude to everyone.

However, the use in the palace was very frugal, and the round tables and trays invented by Chao Yong were introduced into the palace.

There were many round tables set up in the banquet hall early, who was at the same table with whom, which table was in front, and just arranging the seats made the officials in charge of the banquet white-headed.

Chao Yong is naturally at the same table with the generals. Everyone sat down, and Li Kui said, "What you ate today is a good man's wine?" After eating Haohan wine, and then eating other wines, the bird can fade out of the mouth. ”

Wu Song also said: "Tie Niu is right, after drinking Haohan wine, after drinking other wines, I feel as light as water, and it is difficult to swallow." ”

Chao Yong said with a smile: "I sent five hundred catties of the first batch of Haohan wine to the palace, if the emperor didn't finish the reward, today's banquet." There should be good Chinese wine. ”

Li Kui shook his head and said, "How can there be so many people, hundreds of catties of wine." Next time I have a new wine, give me more. ”

Chao Yongqi said: "I just gave you ten catties of wine a few days ago, won't it be gone?" ”

Li Kui scratched his head and said, "Eat some every day." I finished it yesterday. ”

Chao Yong sent everyone wine for only five days, but Li Kui ate more than two catties of wine every day. Chao Yong invited them to eat and drink that day, and Wu Song, Li Kui and others were drunk after more than two catties.

Chao Yong glared at Li Kui and said, "You don't get drunk every day, do you?" ”

Li Kui patted his chest and said, "How come, I just eat more than a pound of good wine for each meal." Otherwise, the ten catties of wine would have been eaten long ago. Now if I eat two or three catties of wine, I must not get drunk, and I still want to see how much good wine I can eat today. ”

Eat more than a pound of wine at a meal. Everyone was also shocked by Li Kui's bold words.

Chao Yong was stunned, stared at Li Kui, and said: "From now on, you are not allowed to eat wine every day, you can't eat more than half a catty at home alone, and you can't find someone to feast and drink every day." ”

Li Kui opened his mouth to speak, but when he touched Chao Yong's stern eyes, he had to close his mouth again.

"A good man can't afford to eat like that. We are fighting with our lives to fight the country, seeing that the world is unified, and we are about to enjoy wealth together. If you overeat like that, your body won't be able to stand it in a few years. Twenty or thirty years from now, we're going to have to eat and drink together, and I don't want to miss anyone. ”

When everyone heard the prince say this, they were all secretly moved.

Li Kui bargained and said: "My body is stronger than that of a cow, otherwise I eat half a catty every day?" ”

Chao Yong glared at Li Kui and said, "Eat half a catty every other day, or eat four taels a day, you choose." If you can't control yourself, I'll send someone to keep an eye on you. ”

When Li Kui heard this, he hurriedly waved his hand and said: "Don't stare at me, I eat four taels a day, there is no wine, and the meal is not fragrant." ”

After Chao Gai arrived, he said a few words casually, and then announced the beginning of the banquet, and exquisite court dishes were served.

Among them, there are also some Mid-Autumn Festival specialties, such as orange stuffed crab, and there are also crab stuffed oranges. Put the big orange with yellow ripe branches, cut off the top, remove the pulp, leave only a little juice, and then put the crab roe, crab oil, and crab meat in the orange, still cover the original section with the top of the orange with the branch that has been cut off, put it into the small retort, steam it with wine, vinegar, and water, and mix it with vinegar and salt to eat.

Oranges and new wine are just available in the Mid-Autumn Festival, and crabs are also the fattest time, and orange stuffed crabs are a fusion of the three, and people can taste all the flavors of new wine, oranges and crabs in one dish.

After the banquet in the palace was dispersed, Chao Gai took the hundred officials to Jinmingchi in the west of the city.

Jinmingchi is also full of lights, a celebratory atmosphere.

The emperor took hundreds of officials to the Linshui Hall to continue the banquet and drink, preparing to play with the moon.

This time, there is no big fish and meat, and if you still have an appetite, you will eat palace cakes.

At this time, the palace is eating palace cakes, and the folk are called small cakes, moon balls, these Mid-Autumn Festival special cakes are also called "lotus leaves", "golden flowers", "hibiscus", etc., the production method is very exquisite, in fact, it is the moon cakes of later generations.

Su Dongpo praised it in a poem: "Small cakes are like chewing the moon, and there are crisps and dumplings." ”

Crisp is puff pastry, and starch is sugar, which is basically the same as the moon cake filling in later generations.

The people of the time not only paid attention to the taste of mooncakes, but also designed a variety of patterns related to the legend of the Moon Palace. At first, the pattern on the cake surface was drawn on paper, then pasted on the cake surface, and later, it was pressed directly on the moon cake with a mold.

The palace cake is carefully made by the imperial chef, not only the taste is delicious, but the patterns on it are vivid, and the patterns painted by everyone are perfectly presented on the palace cake through the mold made by the skillful craftsman and the imperial chef who is familiar with the fire.

What is drunk is to play with moon soup, which is carefully cooked with longan, lotus seeds, lotus root flour and other raw materials.

The sky is slightly dark, and the ten thousand Chinese lanterns in the Jinming Pond are lit together, illuminating the Jinming Pond brightly.

As soon as the lights were turned on, the singing and dancing began on the platform in the center of the pool.

The east bank of Jinmingchi has long been crowded, and the main purpose of the people who come out of the city to Jinmingchi is to watch the court singing, and admiring the moon is secondary.

People who don't like crowds and want to admire the moon stay in the city, those who don't have money go to restaurants, and those who have money go to their own pavilions, look at the moon and drink, and enjoy a leisure. (To be continued......)