Chapter 393: Sake makes wine and jujube wine
Sent Wang Yi and his family away, Zhao Zhen plans to go to the brewing workshop. Today is the day when the first batch of jujube wine brewed by Zhu Fu will be turned into wine.
The wild jujubes all over the mountains and plains, in addition to the original ones, are also produced by the wild jujubes that Bai Sheng brought back from Tokyo. These wild jujubes are scattered on a hill in Dongxi Village. It would take three to five years for these wild jujubes to bear fruit. Due to cunning horns, only a small amount of fruit will bear fruit this year.
Compared with the local wild wild jujubes, the wild jujubes brought back by Bai Sheng are larger.
Because Cheng Wan'er likes to eat, when this wild jujube forest was growing, Zhengtang Tian of Dongxi Village also changed the name of the place and called it wild jujube hill.
This jujube hill does not need to be managed on a daily basis. This year, the beekeepers collected jujube nectar here. After the fruits were harvested, no one was allowed to pick them randomly. When the dates were ripe, several children were hired to pick them and deliver them to the village every day.
Although there was only a small amount of fruit, the village could not finish it, so at Cheng Wan'er's suggestion, it was brewed into wild jujube wine.
Zhao Zhen gave Zhu Fu the recipe for preparing jujube wine and asked him to brew a batch. Seeing that it was not troublesome to make the wine, Zhu Fu just wanted to collect wild jujubes, so he went to the county to find Xiao Rang and posted a notice in the county to purchase mature wild jujubes.
The wine shop purchases the wine at a price of 2 cents per catty. The dates are not big, and they have to be picked all over the mountains and plains. One person can pick only ten kilograms a day, which is a lot, but the farmers are not very interested in it. On the contrary, it is the children from the village who go up to the mountains in groups to pick.
Clean the purchased jujubes, dry them, mix them with wine in a 50-50 ratio, and put them into a jar to seal. The first batch of eight large vats, containing 1,600 kilograms of jujube wine, was stored in the cellar for a month and was unsealed today.
Just as Zhao Zhen was about to ask Cheng Wan'er to go with him, he heard Jin Cuilian on the side say: "Officer, do you know the origins of your two sisters, Guiqing and Guijie?"
After hearing this, Zhao Zhen said doubtfully: "Didn't Dong Ping comb it out from the Goulan tiles? Why, is there any hidden secret?"
Jin Cuilian nodded and said: "I have been interacting with your dear and your sister a lot these days. These two people are from Qinghe County. It’s the countryside with Wu Dutou under the command of the official.”
“Why, these two people have something to do with Wu Erlang?” Zhao Zhen asked.
"That's right. Last year, Wu Dutou in Yanggu County killed his sister-in-law to avenge his brother, but these two people had something to do with the adulterer Ximen Qing. Since Ximen Qing's death, his family has been unable to live in Yanggu County. After going down, the mistress Wu Yueniang sold her family property and returned to Qinghe County with her son Ximen Xiaoge, and went to seek refuge with her brother Wu Shunchen, the envoy of the Qinghe regiment. "
"The two nobles did not want to go together, so they went to Dongping Mansion to sing, and then they met Dong Dujian."
"I heard from your nobles that Ximen Qing has several wives and concubines, and only the big one." Wu Yueniang left with Ximen Qing's family property. Li Jiaoer, the second wife, was Li Guiqing's aunt. Together with Sun Xue'e, the fourth wife, they stole a lot of gold and silver from Ximen Qing. Now they both live in Yanggu County. "
< br>"Meng Yulou, who has three bedrooms, has a lot of property, and she also returned to her home with her dowry. Pan Jinlian, who is in the fifth bedroom, and Li Ping'er, who is in the sixth bedroom, died."
"These three girls were in their youth. She is beautiful and has a lot of wealth. My husband is not looking for a good match for his heroes, so why not ask someone to marry him? "
Zhao Zhen hesitated and said, "Do you know the origins of the three of them? "
"Li Jiao'er also grew up in Waseli. Meng Yulou had a tough life and defeated three husbands in a row, leaving only money. Sun Xue'e was the dowry of Ximen Qing's wife and raised her to have a fourth wife."
Zhao Zhen said: "Although I have some looks and money, I am not good enough to be my brother's eldest wife."
"When did I say that I wanted to be the eldest wife? I heard what you said, and I can do it." It’s good to have a concubine. There are so many good men here, and if you are interested, I’ll tell you and ask him to write a letter and send it to me.”
Zhao Zhen nodded and said: “ You asked Dong Ping's family to explain in the letter that most of my people here are rough men who are fighting in the battlefield and don't know the style, but there are no handsome young men. It won't make her dissatisfied. "Jin Cuilian said: "That's natural, I want to do it. There is always something you like. My husband also likes the good man in the county."
Zhao Zhen listened and nodded. Not mentioning that Jin Cuilian sent a woman to look for the sister Guiqing who had just left recently, Zhao Zhen took Cheng Wan'er, and the two of them rode horses, escorted by Yu Baosi and others, to the Xixi Village brewing workshop.
In the workshop, Zhu Fu, Zhong Rang, Hua Yue, Zhong Mu and other brewing masters were waiting aside. When they saw Zhao Zhen, they all came forward to greet him.
Zhao Zhen said: "Brother Zhu Fu, what can you say about this wine?"
Zhu Fu said: "Official, madam, this jujube wine is just soaked in wine. I brewed two jars each of the large and small wines from [Chengjiu], [Yimeng Mountain Wine], and [Huajia Baijiu]. Today I opened the vat and asked the officials and ladies to taste it. Which of the four jujube wines is better? ."
As he spoke, he asked people to come forward and open the vat. For a moment, the aroma of wine filled the air.
A few ladles of wine were scooped out from each of the four jars and poured into four large white basins. The wines were all red in color. It was impossible to tell which wine was best just by looking at the color.
The four kinds of jujube wine were filled with jugs and poured into wine glasses. Zhu Fu brought them to Zhao Zhen. Zhao Zhen took them and tasted them one by one. He didn’t say whether they were good or bad, so he asked Cheng Waner and Zhu Fu Many winemakers also drank it.
Then he asked: "Which one do you think is the best?"
Cheng Wan'er said: "Husband, this second vat of wine has the strongest jujube aroma, which is similar to the one I drank in Bianjing. . The fourth tank of wine was followed by the first tank, and the third tank had the weakest jujube flavor."
Zhu Fu and others also agreed. Zhao Zhen asked: "Brother Zhu Fu, What kind of wine is used in this second vat of wine?”
"[Yimeng Mountain Wine]. The fourth vat is the big wine of Huajia Baijiu, the first vat is [Yicheng Liquor], and the third vat is the small wine." Zhu Fu replied.
"In this case, from now on, we will use [Yimeng Mountain Wine] for this jujube wine. Don't waste the other jujube wine. Together with the other three cylinders, send them all to the medical clinic. An Daoquan told me last time , jujube can calm the five internal organs, lighten the body and prolong life. Jujube wine can nourish the liver, warm the heart, replenish qi and strengthen the spleen, soothe the mind and help sleep. "
Zhao Zhenzheng. As he said that, An Daoquan, Bai Duo and his son came in together.
After the ceremony, Zhao Zhen asked: "Doctor An, I was just about to send the jujube wine to the hospital, but I didn't want you to come first."
An Daoquan said: "Yesterday I heard Mr. Bai say that the wine is open today, and the wine is so fragrant, I naturally know that the wine shop is open, and I come here to ask for a drink."
Zhao Zhen asked someone to pour wine and let everyone taste it.
Zhao Zhen asked: "Miracle doctor, how is this wine?"
This good wine cannot be concealed from others. The three of them all said that the second vat of wine was better. I heard that Zhao Zhen planned to use the second vat. The wine was sent to the hospital, and An Daoquan and the other three agreed with a smile.
An Daoquan said: "High officials don't need so much wine. Only these three tanks can be used for a long time. The rest can be kept in the cellar."
Zhao Zhen said: "That's it, there is no need to store these three tanks of wine. One tank will be sent to Baozhu Temple, one tank will be sent to Shouzhang County, and the remaining tank will be sent to Wangtai Township. The brothers in these three places are the most important. Good wine will satisfy their cravings.”
(End of this chapter)