Chastity Layman

  Chapter 756 Highway Thief

  Puzhou Governor's Mansion.

   Qin Lang brought some things to Lao Du for Ma Zhou, and Lao Du warmly entertained him. As the son of the Jingzhao Du clan, the nephew of the former Prime Minister Du Yan, and the younger brother of Du Ruhui, Du Chuke lived in seclusion in Zhongnan Mountain for many years, but now he is an official, but he is doing very well.

  Puzhou has been under his rule for three years. The law and order has improved year by year, the population has increased year by year, the economy has become stronger year by year, and the taxation has also improved year by year.

   "This wine is good."

  Looking at the Puzhong wine that Lao Du brought to entertain, Qin Lang expressed his affirmation after tasting it.

  “Puzhou has a very long history of brewing wine. It was famous all over the world as early as the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and even served as the royal wine for the court in the Sui Dynasty.”

  Qin Lang tasted it carefully. Puzhong wine is a kind of traditional rice wine. It is brewed from glutinous rice, also known as baijiu. But it is not the baijiu of later generations. It is called baijiu because the color of Puzhou wine is clear and not turbid after brewing, compared with the turbidity of most rice wine at this time, so it is called baijiu.

  The taste is very mellow, neither spicy nor bitter. In all aspects, it is indeed a good wine among wines. Qin Lang was also the one who made the first pot of gold by making wine. He started from the earliest Guogong wine and went step by step to the present. Guogong Liquor has dozens of liquor licenses under its name, especially in the distilling of liquor, which has formed an exclusive monopoly industry, and no one else has this technology.

There are generally three types of traditional wine in the Tang Dynasty, rice wine, fruit wine and blended wine. If rice wine is subdivided, it can also be divided into glutinous rice wine, general barley wine, millet wine and other grain wines. Fruit wine is fermented from various fruits, such as Chang’an is very popular now. Wine, even salamander from Persia, is essentially a fruit wine.

  As for the prepared wine, rice wine is used as the base wine, and medicinal materials, spices, etc. are added, soaked, steamed, etc. to make it, such as Suhexiang wine, deer blood wine, tiger bone wine, ai wine, etc.

  Even the lamb wine that Changan people like to eat is actually a kind of blended wine.

Among the wines of the Qin family, there is a kind made from fattened meat. The steamed rice wine is poured into a large vat, and then immersed in two hundred catties of fat pork. After aging in a large vat, and carefully blending, the final wine body is pure and ice-clear, and the taste is particularly mellow , a Yubingyaki that was loved by drinkers once it was launched.

  Of course, Tang people also had shochu, such as Jiannan Shaochun, but this shochu is not baijiu, but refers to red wine. This kind of amber dark red wine is called shochu, which is relative to rice wine. Puzhou Baijiu is actually a kind of rice wine.

In addition, Tang people also had another kind of shochu. After brewing the wine, put it into the jar, seal it with mud, and put it on the fire to roast it again. It is said that this is for the convenience of preservation. A special fermentation method, not distilled shochu.

As for the people in the Tang Dynasty who like to use spring to name wine, such as Fulingchun, Jiannan Shaochun, Xingyang Tukuchun, all kinds of wine called spring, in fact, the original meaning is to brew in winter to make spring, so spring wine is actually called Winter wine still belongs to rice wine.

  Datang now treats wine the same as salt, and no longer prohibits brewing like it did in Wude. However, it has to levy wine tax and implement a monopoly system, which is slightly different from monopoly such as tea and salt.

The imperial government now collects millions of guan in liquor taxes a year, but it does not suppress the winemaking industry and drinking customs at all, and even makes the wine market more prosperous. A large number of national-level famous wines have appeared, and there are also a large number of local wine brands in various places. , Even a lot of foreign wine entered, and many people simply brewed it themselves.

  From nobles and princes to peddlers and pawns, wine is everywhere and the market is huge.

  But there is no market for the Qin family's wine in Puzhou, which makes people wonder.

As the governor, Du Chuke can see clearly that the Qin family's wine not only monopolizes the unique baijiu category, but also rice wine, fruit wine, and blended wine, and even the Qin family's blended health wine is quite famous. It is even more famous in Chang'an, but it can't be sold in Puzhou.

  The key reason is that the wine merchants here do not sell wine.

Wine also has to be sold through wine merchants. If the wine merchants in Puzhou don’t distribute it to you, you can’t sell it on your own. If the wine merchants in Puzhou boycott one’s wine, all kinds of slander and so on are normal. It is even more impossible to have a good market in the local area.

   "Not authentic, Puzhou people." Qin Lang smiled and said to Du Chuke, "Du Gong, you are the official of Puzhou parents, you must be fair and just."

   "This is a non-governmental commercial activity. As the governor, I can't take care of so much." Du Chuke said with a smile, but he obviously didn't want to take care of it. In other words, his Du family must have already had a stake in Puzhou's wine making industry.

"I, Qin Lang, like competition. Only with competition can we develop. I plan to buy some local restaurants in Puzhou and build a landmark restaurant. I want Puzhou people to taste the real good wine of the Qin family, instead of just listening to it." False rumours."

  Du Chuke disapproved, "Qin Lian is also thinking about this little Puzhou?"

   "Puzhou is not small, with a population of 100,000 households."

  Du Chuke poured wine for Qin Lang, and for a moment he didn't understand Qin Lang's real intentions. The dignified Lord Wei, did he really want to argue with Puzhou wine merchants and buy land here to build a big restaurant to sell wine? Among Qin Lang's many industries, wine should not be considered a big deal. The Qin family's more profitable industries in the past two years should be sugar, then tea, paper and book making, and shipbuilding.

   "If Mr. Wei has any thoughts, it's better to tell them directly." Du Chuke couldn't figure it out, so he just cut to the chase.

"I said, I want to build a big restaurant in Puzhou, and I want to promote the wine of my Qin family to Puzhou people. The Qin family has produced hundreds of good wines. I believe there will always be one that Puzhou people will like. .Even if I lose money and earn money, I still want to make some friends in Puzhou."

  Du Chuke didn't believe it.

   "Mr. Wei wants a share of the Puzhou wine market? Or is he interested in the benefits of Puzhou's salt and iron? Want to get a share?"

The land is divided after many years of operation. There will always be some people who quit halfway, and some people join halfway, but no one will easily give up their own land and share. Now the status quo of Puzhou's various industries is good, and the development is very good and very stable. .

  Du Chuke is actually not very willing for Qin Lang to come in. Puzhou does not lack capital, what it needs is stable development.

  He reminded Qin Lang that it is customary for him to inspect provinces when he goes out of Beijing, and Puzhou in Hedong is not within the scope of inspections.

   "I, Qin Lang, am not the kind of person to overwhelm others. Things in the mall follow the rules of the mall. I'm just very interested in Puzhou, and I won't break the rules."

  In the next few days, Qin Lang really made a move.

  He first talked with the Pei family for a long time, and then bought a lot of land from the Pei family, both outside Puzhou City and inside Puzhou City.

   Then Qin Lang transferred people to build a restaurant and winery, and even started to set up an ironware business, etc. The peaceful Puzhou suddenly became lively, and many families including Xue Liu, Zhang Lu, etc. began to run to Pei's house.

   thinks that the Pei family broke the rules and should not have brought the Qin family in to wait.

But when the Pei family fell in Pei Ji, when Pei Ju was the head of the family, they had already reached a tacit agreement to form an alliance with Qin Lang. Now Qin Lang personally talked with the head of the Pei family and promised a lot of good conditions that he couldn't refuse. Of course the Pei family was willing. Let the Qin family come in.

  As for whether other people agree or not, the Pei family doesn't care too much.

  As the parent officer, Puzhou Inspector Du Chuke, after entertaining Qin Lang that day, just quietly watched the development of all this.

  He has never figured out what Qin Lang is going to do, so he is not in a hurry to take action easily, and just waits and sees what happens.

  Qin Lang stayed in Puzhou for less than ten days in total, and after leaving behind a design blueprint of a large restaurant and a business plan for Puzhou, he continued to take his troops northward to Taiyuan.

  All the families in Puzhou felt as if they were facing a big enemy, and felt that the Qin family was invading barbarically, but to Qin Lang, this was just a small arrangement that was dropped along the way, and it didn't have any deep intentions.

   I just fancy Puzhou's future development prospects, so I also want to squeeze into this market.

  Continuing from Puzhou to the north, the scenery along the way is very good. Although Hedong is blocked by the Yellow River in the west and surrounded by the Taihang River in the east, there are many basins, large and small basins and plains, so that Hedong has always been a very rich place.

Of course, along the way, Qin Lang did not forget that the place that was later renamed Shanxi was still a province famous for its coal resources. At one time, there were countless coal bosses, all of whom spent hundreds of millions of dollars to marry a daughter. Marrying a daughter-in-law He can spend hundreds of millions, and he is famously rich.

  Datang’s coal industry has just started, and the use of coal is just an introduction. However, the market has a huge prospect, including smelting and manufacturing, and coal for daily use. The prospect of coal is very promising.

  Compared to Jiechi's cornucopia of salt, it is more valuable.

Think about it now that there are already several big cities with more than 100,000 people in Tang Dynasty, and super metropolises like Chang'an and Luoyang are still developing. In the future, Puzhou, Taiyuan, Youzhou, etc. will definitely have more super big cities, Especially with the development of industry and commerce, there will be more and more agglomeration industries, and the demand for materials such as coal will increase.

  However, coal mining and transportation are also big problems. At this stage, we must choose and give priority to those open-pit coal mines that are close to big cities, have abundant reserves and are easy to mine, so that they are more valuable for mining.

   Otherwise, if you go to Mobei to find a large coal, even if it can be loaded directly into the truck, your transportation capacity will not be able to keep up, and the transportation cost will not be worthwhile.

  Traditional firewood and charcoal are all about selling charcoal without selling salary for ten miles, and the transportation cost has exceeded the value of the goods themselves.

   "Sanlang, we found a bandit in front, something happened."

  Niu Jinda's son, school lieutenant Niu Jianhu rode to the front of the team, jumped off the horse, walked in front of him with slightly disabled legs, and his face was full of excitement.

Niu Jianhu, Cheng Chumo, and other disciples of honored relatives are the same. They are not short of money, and they don't ask for money. They are more interested in horse racing and hunting. Find the thieves.

  But the dignified prime minister went out to Beijing to inspect the province, and he brought a thousand elite imperial troops with him. Who the **** would dare to come and rob him, and retreat before hearing the news far away?

   "Bandit? This is near the commercial road, where did the bandit come from?"

This is not the end of the dynasty, and this is not a barbaric frontier. This is the heart of Hedong, not far from Taiyuan. As the home of the Li family, the number of Zhechong mansions established is second only to Guanzhong, and even higher than that of Henan. And some more.

  Which one of these would not open his eyes and run to such a place and become a bandit? Will be wiped out in minutes?

"I really met bandits. That group of people didn't come for us. They robbed a passing caravan not long ago. After we found out, we asked for some information and followed the clues all the way into the deep mountains to find their lair. It's a cottage."

  Qin Lang is not interested in this.

   "There are quite a few thieves, and they are all Turks."

This is surprising. They are now located near the junction of Jinzhou and Fenzhou. Along the north of Fenzhou is Fenzhou. There is a dangerous area in Fenzhou called Queshu Valley. Tang Jun's Yindi Pass and Jiahu Fort are two military pass forts, and further north is Lingshi County.

  In this kind of place, the mountains are high and the waters are dangerous, but there are more imperial soldiers. How could the Turkic people actually occupy the mountains and become kings here?

   "You read that right, are you really Turkic?"

   "That's right, there are Han people in the cottage, but most of them are Turkic people. There are several hundred people in total."

  Qin Lang became a little interested.

  (end of this chapter)