When the accurate news of the Jia family's verdict reached Jinling City, it was already after the Lunar New Year, during the time known as "Dragon Raising its Head."
Ding Yun had indeed heard gossip from the Cloud Nest female Taoist priest.
However, she hadn't paid much attention to it.
Knowing the outcome, she simply went about her own business.
After all, Jia She's fate had no direct bearing on her two tasks. It was just something to listen to for amusement.
Why dwell on it too much?
Furthermore, another half a month later, Ding Yun was forced to leave Nanhua Temple once again due to the overwhelming amount of grain she possessed, which she had nowhere to store. She had to continue finding ways to deal with this surplus.
Over the past few months, the first batch of wine she had people brew was ready to drink. However, considering that low-alcohol wine was not only cheap but also difficult to sell, and the sheer volume she had brewed was immense, selling it at a fair price would take an eternity, while selling it at a low price would easily disrupt the market.
This would attract even more attention.
Therefore, Ding Yun naturally continued to build distillation workshops and had people distill and refine these low-alcohol wines.
Distillation technology for spirits had existed for a very long time.
It was the technology for high-alcohol distilled spirits that emerged later.
Ordinary distillation techniques were already present in the Han Dynasty. However, due to technical limitations at the time, the distilled spirits were generally only ten to twenty percent alcohol, with many impurities. They were still considered low-alcohol. Moreover, those who could afford distilled spirits were nobles, and nobles did not favor excessively strong liquor. Twenty-odd percent alcohol was just right for warming the stomach and warding off the cold without getting drunk. Since nobles had no such demand, the development of high-alcohol distillation technology naturally progressed slowly.
Even today, so-called high-proof alcohol is only around thirty-odd percent, and it remains a prized secret for many wineries, passed down strictly by word of mouth, and only to men!
When Ding Yun entered this world, although many of her skills were sealed, she possessed basic knowledge related to distillation. She worked with craftsmen and after a few experimental attempts, replicated the technology.
Although it couldn't compare to future distillation techniques.
It was more than enough to surpass all current wine merchants.
The spirits finally distilled were divided into two types by Ding Yun. One was the most potent, the kind that burned the throat, sending warmth from the throat to the stomach. The other was milder, around thirty to forty percent alcohol.
Although it still burned the throat.
It was considerably milder than the first type overall.
These two types of spirits were quickly sent to different locations for sale by Ding Yun's people. The higher-proof alcohol was transported to colder regions and grasslands, while the milder version was sold locally.
It was distributed and sold in small quantities at her own grain shops.
Compared to the common people in regions with a strong drinking culture, who emphasized the quality of wine, its complex flavor profile, and even its aroma and texture when drinking.
People on the grasslands and in cold regions.
Were much less particular.
For them, strong alcohol that helped ward off the cold was good.
They didn't even consider fifteen to twenty percent alcohol as particularly potent.
And it offered little benefit for staying warm.
Therefore, when Ding Yun's distilled spirits began to be sold, sales at the grain shops were relatively average. This was because Ding Yun did not sell them at a reduced price, and compared to families that had been brewing wine for hundreds of years, her wines still lacked depth of flavor.
However, the high-proof Baijiu sold to the grasslands and the cold northern regions experienced much more enthusiastic sales. Before long, Ding Yun had exchanged large quantities of high-proof Baijiu for numerous cattle, sheep, and their young. Compared to various horses, people on the grasslands did not value cattle and sheep as highly and were not stingy with their sale, as they primarily raised cattle and sheep for trade.
Furthermore, during this time, Ding Yun had also artificially incubated many chicks, ducklings, and goslings. Consequently, her poultry farms and cattle and sheep farms were soon established, and the abundant wine dregs also found a use.
The only area still struggling to gain traction.
Was pigs.
It was difficult because people on the grasslands generally did not raise pigs, and while people in various regions raised pigs, they only kept a few. In some places, wild boar meat was sold more than domesticated pork.
Piglets were prone to death during long-distance transport.
And transporting just a few back and forth wasn't cost-effective.
Influenced by these practical difficulties, Ding Yun had to slow down her pig-raising efforts, taking a gradual approach. She would use the recently acquired batch of piglets as breeding stock.
After three to five years.
The scale should be approximately sufficient.
Once these farms were all established, Ding Yun began to formally increase the volume of wine brewing. Although she had been brewing wine before, she had to consider that wine dregs did not preserve well, and without a large number of poultry or young livestock, it was difficult to consume such a large quantity of dregs. Therefore, she had been relatively restrained in her overall brewing volume.
Now that a large number of poultry and young livestock were available.
She could naturally brew to her heart's content.
Grain could also be consumed freely.
Over these past few months, her granaries were, for the first time, no longer overflowing. For the first time, a granary was completely depleted.
It was a pity that this was not the end.
Because next, she began to worry about producing agricultural fertilizer from the manure of livestock and poultry.
In short, she was busy almost every moment.
But there was no alternative. The trial requirement for this golden finger was to clarify the specific data of all the crops within the golden finger and to understand the various limitations and requirements during the use of the golden finger.
And to clarify all crop data.
It was necessary to upgrade the farm to the maximum level. Without upgrading to the maximum level, how could all crops be unlocked? And without unlocking all crops and planting them one by one, how could the specific data be known? However, wheat and rice still yielded the most experience points. Coupled with the limited capacity of the farm's warehouse, Ding Yun had no choice but to be busy.
If she wasn't busy with so much grain, it would be wasted.
Moreover, without being busy, it would be difficult to earn more merit.
If the farm energy were insufficient, and the farm crashed, she would still be unable to write a good trial report.
These reasons, combined.
Caused Ding Yun to be so busy.
And Ding Yun's busyness lasted for a full three years.
During these three years, she not only busied herself with planning various farms, wineries, distillation workshops, and fertilizer production plants but also with filling loopholes, particularly those related to the source of her grain and the various workshops.
Wineries, distillation workshops, and fertilizer production plants had few loopholes to fill; basic attention to the operational model was sufficient. However, the farms truly wore her out.
The imbalance between male and female poultry, the problem of too many males that couldn't be sold, and the issue of a surplus of chicken, duck, and goose eggs that ordinary people couldn't afford or didn't have the inclination to consume, leading to inventory problems.
These were minor issues.
What was even more difficult was the problem of diseases affecting poultry and livestock. Large-scale intensive farming of livestock and poultry in later generations was built upon the availability of a large supply of antibiotics.
Although Ding Yun had taken precautions regarding hygiene and disease prevention, these problems were difficult to avoid once poultry and livestock were gathered for large-scale farming. Over these three years, she had lost count of how many poultry and pigs, cattle, and sheep she had culled. Considering all the costs, she hadn't made any profit in these three years.
In fact, it could be considered a significant loss.
The only contribution was probably lowering the selling prices of pigs, cattle, sheep, and poultry domestically.
Allowing the people to eat a little more meat.
But fortunately, after three years, she was not entirely without gains. After multiple lessons learned, she had finally summarized some experience in collaboration with folk physicians.
She developed some traditional Chinese medicine for epidemic prevention.
And formulas that could treat diseases in poultry and livestock.
Although it couldn't guarantee 100% safety.
It at least managed to lower the incidence rates.
Reducing the proportion of poultry and livestock that fell ill, died from disease, and the transmission rates.
The next step was to continue raising them and continue experimenting. Anyway, she was no longer lacking in money or grain. Moreover, she was not yet twenty years old this year, so she had plenty of time and energy to take her time. However, she herself genuinely did not want to continue being so exhausted. Therefore, she only issued some rewards.
Instructing those under her to persevere.
Those who achieved success would be rewarded, hoping for rapid improvement.
As for herself, she could finally rest and, at the same time, plant the new seeds that had accumulated from farm upgrades and she hadn't had time to sow, one by one, and record their relevant data.