After the establishment of the shogunate, Li Congyan spent more than ten days examining the officials of the shogunate's various departments and officials at all levels in one city and four counties of Dengzhou, and in these ten days, more than 20 people were dismissed, and 19 people were promoted and appointed, so that he completely controlled the entire Dengzhou.

At this time, the shogunate had moved out of the original Assassin's Mansion as a whole and moved to the West Street of Dengshu City. This street is full of rich people in Dengzhou, either rich or expensive, Penglai Li family and Huangxian Chen family each have a house on the street, and they are next to each other.

Li Congyan spent money to buy these two mansions, and after opening them up, they were used as the office of the shogunate. The original Thorn Mansion was changed to Li Congyan's mansion, and of course, the plaque at the gate is still Dengzhou Thorn Mansion.

On this day, Sun Yi, director of the Military Medical Department, reported that the Military Medical Department was collecting and storing battlefield debridement medicines, but the number of wound medicines that could be purchased and prepared at present was limited, and it was simply not enough for more than 5,000 officers and men of the New Army to spare.

After Li Congyan learned about it, he called Si Cheng Sun Yi and asked about the situation of the trauma medicine, only to know that the wound medicine was to grind some traditional Chinese medicine with anti-inflammatory effect into powder, and then spread it on the wound to reduce inflammation.

"Can't you buy enough medicinal herbs from all over Dengzhou?"

Sun Yi forked his hand and said: "The Lord doesn't know, Dengzhou is not a place to produce this kind of medicinal materials, it needs to be purchased from other states and counties, and the price is expensive, and the money allocated by the Ministry of Military Affairs to the Military Medical Department is not enough at all, and it is impossible to buy enough medicinal materials." ”

Li Congyan nodded, thought for a while, and then said with a smile: "Since this is the case, then cancel this chicken-like trauma medicine and replace it with something else." ”

Sun Yi has been practicing medicine for many years and has always used this kind of trauma medicine, and at this time he asked in surprise: "The Lord still knows medical science?" I don't know what kind of drug it is? ”

The corners of Li Congyan's mouth rose and said, "I will tell you about this medicine in the future, but for now, I will first find Minister Wu of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and let's talk about the preparation for the establishment of a brewing workshop." ”

"Huh? Winemaking? ”

Two days later, Li Congyan took Wu Conghan and Sun Yi to a deserted mansion in Dengzhou City. This house is located in the north of the city, a total of three into two courtyards, covering an area of not small, originally owned by a businessman, later the businessman left for some reason, the house was gradually deserted, no one cared.

Li Congyan took Wu Conghan and Sun Yi into the courtyard, and at this time, dozens of people had been stationed here in advance, and they were busy under the command of the officials of the Industrial Department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, repainting and repairing the house.

"The front yard is the front of the brewery and is used to sell distilled spirits, the middle yard is used for offices, and the back yard is used for sake brewing. As for the left and right two courtyards, they can be used to store finished wine and sorghum for sake brewing. ”

At this time, most of the liquor drunk by the people was rice wine, as well as some wines, and sorghum wine was also available, but there were very few of them, because there was no distillation technology at this time, and the sorghum wine produced tasted bitter, and it was easy to get on the head after drinking, which made people have a headache, so it has always been considered inferior wine.

When Li Congyan proposed to build a sorghum wine factory, almost everyone objected to it, and no one drank this kind of wine, which was obviously a waste of money and grain. However, Li Congyan overrode public opinion and directly ordered the construction of a winery in this house.

At this time, Li Congyan inspected the purchased sorghum, more than 2,000 catties of sorghum were piled up in the houses across the courtyard, and a large amount of sorghum was being transported in a steady stream.

Wu Conghan said on the side: "Lord, the price of this sorghum is very low, and it is eaten by the extremely poor people, and the slightly richer people will not eat it, but use it to feed livestock. Can this thing make wine? ”

Li Congyan said with a smile: "Believe me, it will work!" ”

Li Congyan secretly said in his heart: "Joke, with distillation technology, even if I can't brew ~ Taizi, I can make a second pot head, and then you will all become drunkards!" ”

When everyone came to the backyard, Li Congyan asked, "Are all the things I want ready?" ”

"Rest assured, Lord, everything is ready."

"Hmm!"

Saying that, Li Congyan led everyone to the main room in the backyard, only to see that there were steamers and other utensils in the house, and there was a dug wine cellar outside the house.

Wu Conghan introduced: "Lord, please see, according to the Lord's requirements, the koji of our winery is the best, and the sorghum is also the best, but the wine cellar is newly dug and cannot be compared to the old cellar that has been inherited for a long time." ”

"At the beginning, the sake was bought, but it was of high quality, and according to the winemakers who recruited it, it would make good wine, even if it was sorghum, and the quality would be much better."

Li Congyan nodded, didn't say anything, but looked at the apprentices of the winery next to him, and saw that everyone was shoveling the wine and grain into the wooden barrel with a wooden shovel, and then transported it to the winery.

When everyone saw Li Congyan saluting, Li Congyan said with a smile: "You first rehearse the process of winemaking, I want to take a look." ”

"Whoa!"

Li Congyan stopped everyone after watching for a while, and then pointed to the steamer on the side, and said to everyone: "Okay, the brewing process of this rice wine is not suitable for sorghum wine, and from today onwards, you will have to learn your skills from scratch!" ”

Everyone was stunned when they heard this, and looked at Li Congyan at a loss.

I saw Li Congyan take out many contracts and say to everyone: "After signing this contract, you will work in the winery for three years, and you will be subject to extremely strict restrictions in three years." But on the other hand, I will teach you another brewing technique, and I will pay you ten times the original salary, how to choose, you can do it yourself! ”

The winemakers and apprentices did not hesitate for long, and immediately chose to stay. However, Wu Conghan, Li Sisheng and others were a little worried, thinking that Li Congyan was a little rash this time.

Li Congyan ordered the people to put away the signed contract, and then led everyone to the steamer, ordered a fire to be lit and began to demonstrate: "...... Steaming wine should be steamed slowly and carefully in order to steam out all the wine, if the fire is too big, it will be too fast, but no wine will come out. ”

Everyone saw a large cauldron with a diameter of seven feet placed on the stove, but only the edge of the pot could be seen outside, because there was a large wooden barrel more than five feet in the pot on the pot, and the pot was completely covered in it. This is the distillation appliance designed by Li Congyan in advance.

In the upper part of the barrel there are several small openings, and several copper pipes protrude from it, and directly above the barrel is a large cauldron with a shallow bottom, and a wooden ladder is erected on the side.

"The cauldron below is called the earth pot, the middle one is called the steaming barrel, and the one above is the heavenly cauldron, and so on the ground cauldron is covered with wine, grain and wine mother, and then slowly steamed, the wine will rise, and the cold water is placed in the pot that day, and the wine gas is condensed into wine on the heavenly cauldron, which falls on the terrace below the cauldron, and then flows out along the copper pipe, which makes wine. And this liquor is called distilled spirit. Li Congyan explained in detail.

Everyone listened very attentively, especially those brewing masters and apprentices, who obviously saw the process of distilling and making wine for the first time, and listened very carefully, and some people's eyes lit up, as if they had seen a new world, it turned out that wine can still be brewed like this!

After waiting for a while, Li Congyan stepped forward to touch the steaming barrel, looked down at the fire in the stove, and then raised his head and said loudly: "You can steam wine!" Steaming barrels, wine and food! Keep an eye on the incense outside, wait for the incense to burn out, and go outside to fetch water from the well. ”

There were wooden bars on the steaming barrel, and several apprentices went over, shouting together under the command of Li Congyan, and exerting their strength in unison to lift the steaming barrel smoothly.

At the same time, some people looked at an incense burner placed in a dry and sheltered place, which was not a common stick of incense, almost about a third shorter than the length of the incense stick of their own incense burner.

Someone shouted to put down the steaming bucket, and carefully wrapped the wet cloth that had been prepared long ago around the junction of the steaming bucket and the pot to prevent the steam from being exposed.

At this time, an apprentice kept watching the steaming bucket, and when the fifth person came in with water, steam began to come out of the upper part of the steaming bucket, and Li Congyan shouted: "Add water!" ”

Immediately, several apprentices climbed up on a wooden ladder, and then passed by hand, pouring buckets of cold well water into the cauldron.

"The water is full!"

After a shout, the barrel was no longer passed below, but someone handed a stick to the man on the wooden ladder.

"The heat is baking underneath, and the cold water will soon be hot, and you have to keep stirring it to last longer." Li Congyan explained as he commanded the apprentices.

Outside, firewood was brought in, and two apprentices squatted on the edge of the stove and stared at the fire, arranging for firewood to be added or the speed of the bellows to change from time to time.

At this time, there are four copper pipes sticking out of the upper part of the steaming barrel, and a wine jar has been placed under each copper pipe.

Although the ventilation in the winery is good, the heat is still pressing, the people in the winery are busy working shirtless, and Li Congyan is also shirtless.

"It's out of the wine!"

Suddenly, someone shouted, and everyone in the brewery showed excited expressions, how long the brewery can do it is hard to say, and it is hard to say whether it will taste good or not after the sake brewing comes out, but after all, it was rebuilt from the ruins, from scratch, and everyone had a sense of accomplishment in their hearts when they saw the liquor flowing out of the copper pipe.

Wu Conghan, Li Sisheng and others were also excited, and they all stared at the brass pipes, and a strong smell of wine permeated. This smell is very strong to the nose, not fragrant at all, Li Congyan's expression is quite normal, but everyone else frowned.

Li Congyan saw everyone's expressions and explained with a smile: "The wine head of the wine is like this, this wine is not immediately filled with jars, you have to wait for this pot of wine to be steamed, and then mix all the wine and store it for a few days before you can sell it." ”

Everyone looked at Li Congyan when they heard this, but they saw that Li Congyan's expression was still indifferent and calm, without the slightest disappointment, and even there seemed to be a look of joy between his eyebrows.

"Stir it up hard!"

Just when Ma Lijun was puzzled, suddenly Li Congyan shouted, only to see the apprentice standing on the wooden ladder holding a wooden stick to stir the water in the heavenly pot vigorously, and the wine in the copper pipe continued to fall into the wine jar.

At this time, the temperature in the winery was getting hotter and hotter, and the wine dripping from the brass pipe was getting less and less, and the apprentice standing on the wooden ladder shouted loudly: "The cauldron is steaming!" ”

"Stop the bellows, change the water quickly!"

At this time, the apprentices of the winery had roughly understood the process, and it became more and more comfortable to do it, and some people pushed other wooden ladders forward to scoop out the hot water in the heavenly pot, and some people carried well water into the inside to change the water, and everyone was a busy scene.

Soon the water in the heavenly pot was filled, and Li Congyan shouted again: "Pull the bellows, add firewood!" ”

The bellows agitated, the fire slowly grew larger, the steam that diffused through the cracks of the steaming barrels became thicker again, and the dripping wine from the brass pipes began to increase.

Li Congyan suddenly laughed, and everyone who had been paying attention to Li Congyan was startled again, and everyone found that Li Congyan was smiling extremely happily, as if he had encountered something extremely happy.

"Get a new wine jar!" Li Congyan suddenly spoke.