Chapter Sixteen: Drunken Return to the Immortal's Tower
After the Long River Brewery was established, Zhao Xing used the grain obtained from selling furniture to brew wine, but he no longer persuaded the villagers of Li's other courtyard to take out the grain they had divided in winter. Why is that?
Originally, Zhao Xing thought that the Long River Brewery would become a major pillar industry for his own power to gain wealth in the future, but it was not suitable for large-scale brewing. Especially with the Yellow Turban Rebellion about to erupt in two years, food would be more precious than gold at that time, and it couldn't be wasted on wine-making. He wanted to take the high-end route with his wine sales, earning popularity, heroes, and money from corrupt officials and wealthy families, but not harming ordinary people. The villagers of Li Jia Zhuang could go a year without drinking wine, but going a day without food would be dangerous. Zhao Xing planned to hide wealth among the people and hide grain among the people. Although he didn't plan to bring in the tenant farmers from Li Jia's other courtyard as shareholders, he planned to hire them to help him brew wine, which also counted as doing good deeds.
At first, Zhao Xing got a total of 23,000 stones (600 tons) of grain. Later, he sold some to maintain his daily expenses and his own wedding banquet. Now, he still has about 21,000 stones of grain left. He plans to brew 20,000 stones into white wine and use the remaining 1,000 stones to support his family members Zhou Cang and Pei Yuanshao. The Xu family's winery is currently moving near Li Jia's courtyard, but Zhao Xing doesn't intend to reveal his secret to the world.
On this day, it was already August 8th. The scorching weather had passed, and the cool autumn breeze blew the chaff on the threshing ground into swirls. The tall grain stacks around the threshing ground fully showcased that this autumn, the tenants of Li's estate welcomed a bumper harvest that they hadn't seen in many years. As for the reason, it was still related to Zhao Xing. But why? It was because the wind-powered and human-powered dragon bone waterwheel he made played a big role!
The Li family's courtyard was built on a slope, with its back to the mountain and its front facing the water. However, this provided great convenience for Zhao Xing's plan to store white wine in an underground cellar. After the busy farming season ended, Zhao Xing hired strong laborers from nearby villages to help him dig cellars behind the house, on a half-slope not far away. The local soil quality was still dominated by a layer of yellow earth with good verticality, making it particularly suitable for digging cellars and not requiring too much effort. Within a month or so, ten cellars were dug in a row, but the internal layout was strictly executed according to Zhao Xing's drawings. Unfortunately, no one understood military defense, otherwise they would have noticed that the ten large cellars could be used as hiding caves for soldiers, and it would not be a problem to hide two or three hundred people in each cave. Zhao Xing was very low-key about this matter, but he was actually very careful. Jokingly, having hiding caves that could hide an entire independent regiment, just thinking about it makes one's scalp feel numb - isn't this clearly showing rebellious intentions?
After the cellar for storing wine was dug, the new Xing's winery was also settled. In this matter, Old Master Li Tingfang of Lijiazhuang gave strong support. Not only did he allocate thousands of acres of land around Lijiabieyuan to Zhao Xing for management, but he also provided a lot of financial assistance. Why is the old master so enthusiastic? Firstly, the "rocking armchair" sent by Zhao Xing was really likable; secondly, Li Tingfang, who had a nose more sensitive than a dog's, saw that Zhao Xing was not an ordinary person from his furniture sales; thirdly, although Lijiazhuang was a big family with a large business, there were not many excellent young people like Zhao Xing, and Li Tingfang hoped to use the current investment to exchange for Zhao Xing's support in the future when Lijiazhuang survived in the troubled times.
Everything is now in order. The Li family's other courtyard has been renamed "Wohu Manor" by Zhao Xing, meaning that this place is a land of hidden dragons and crouching tigers. The surrounding tenant farmers were re-assigned tasks by Zhao Xing, with the young and strong laborers entering the wine workshop to help with work, women taking care of household chores and managing the estate, while the elderly were tasked with raising a litter of piglets according to Zhao Xing's requirements. Zhao Xing's Wohu Wine Workshop adopted a flow-line management approach, and two ancillary industries - livestock breeding and wine houses - emerged around the entire brewing industry. Even the manure from the livestock was not wasted by Zhao Xing, but was instead used as fertilizer in the fields.
According to Zhao Xing's arrangement, Xu Mantang took Li Jinsi to the city of Jin Yang in Shangdang County, planning to open a wine house there. The name had been thought out by Zhao Xing, who was notorious for his habit of writing couplets everywhere: Drunken Immortal Building, with the implication that one would not leave without getting drunk. At the same time, Zhao Xing brought Li Jinwu to Changzi County and staged another play of offering fine wine to "Pig County Magistrate". With the precedent of "Dafenqi Furniture Store" before, it didn't take long for Zhao Xing to buy a wine house in the bustling area of the county town.
After a renovation, the flagship store of Dahanyuan "Zui Xian Lou" reopened on the Double Ninth Festival on September 9th under everyone's attention!
