The investment in whiskey will take years to bear fruit, at least. Although only half-finished products are available now, the slightly smoky new liquor has great appeal, more directly, the attraction of relatively high alcohol content. These days, even Chunnan, where the wine culture is far ahead of Dongping, does not have any famous distilled spirits. To make up for the expenses of fully expanding the planting of brewing crops, the construction of wine cellars, brewing workshops, and so on in several farms, Ye Tao had to come up with another kind of wine that could produce quick results, and this kind of wine was absolutely not troubled by the age of cellaring. This kind of wine, in the original time and space, is called vodka.

Compared with whiskey, the craftsmanship of vodka is too simple. Basically, it is repeated distillation and filtration. Ye Tao chose birch to make charcoal for filtration and completed the complete set of vodka technology in just a few days. Vodka and whiskey are completely different. What is most attractive about whiskey is its extremely unique aroma and taste, while vodka is so pure. Ye Tao's familiarity with distillation technology allowed the concentration of the original vodka liquor after repeated distillation to exceed 80 percent, and no one dared to drink it without dilution. However, when this kind of wine was first produced, its colorless, odorless, pure, and transparent appearance really confused many people. And the hundred tribal warriors around Ye Tao seemed to be immediately fascinated by this extremely pure thing.

The production of vodka is not as troublesome as whiskey, so Ye Tao soon began to arrange for the purchase of grain, the production of vodka, and the deployment of a sales network next year. Compared with Dongping, which has been hoarding grain for future wars, Yunzhou's grain reserves have been at a relatively low level. When General Xu was the Pacification Commissioner, he spent a lot of energy and money directly purchasing a large amount of grain from Chunnan, but according to Ye Tao's calculations, it would still not be enough if he encountered a more troublesome situation. Since he took office, the purchasing representatives originally directly under the Pacification Commissioner's Office, but now transferred to the Commerce Bureau under the Pacification Commissioner's Office, have been given greater power, and they have been clearing out the inventory in almost every county and town in Chunnan's major grain-producing areas and transporting it to Yunzhou. It seems that in order to form the scale of vodka brewing, Ye Tao has to transfer a batch of grain from the Yunzhou Commerce Bureau.

Whiskey can be called Bai Ling Tan when it comes out, so what about vodka? Ye Tao racked his brains and couldn't figure it out, and finally had to use the private name of the brewing craftsmen: Jingjiu (essence wine). In fact, this is also very much in line with the characteristics of vodka, especially the original vodka liquor before dilution with distilled water, which in this time and space is already a complete industrial alcohol. Since glass has not yet been mass-produced, Jingjiu is now packed in long cylindrical pottery bottles with blue glaze. And on the pottery bottle, there is a faint gray goose (hui yan) signature. This is also plagiarism, but it is much more obscure. Didn't there used to be a very inexplicable vodka in the original time and space that claimed to be the luxury of vodka? That brand was called Grey Goose.

As the first batch of products of Hui Yan Jingjiu began to be bottled, Ye Tao finally renamed the farm where they settled as: Hui Yan Winery, completely positioning this place, which may become a spirits production base in the future, further and further away from the original function of the farm.

Sun Jin and Chang Huaiyin finally arrived outside the Hui Yan Winery at noon on the third day after two and a half days of travel.

Although the land in southern Yunzhou has always been dominated by agriculture, due to the limited strength of Yunzhou itself and the continuous wars, a lot of development has not been fully carried out. All the way from Bonan Town, local farmers can be seen everywhere being organized to carry out the construction of farmland water conservancy facilities and dredge ditches, which are easier to carry out during the dry winter season. There are also many people repairing ridges, widening the roads between fields, and even planting trees on both sides of the roads. Even this dirt road, which is not yet in the current plan of the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner's Office Road and Bridge Department, is neat and wide.

At a considerable distance from the Hui Yan Winery, Sun Jin and his party encountered tribal warriors who came out to patrol and walk their horses. The combination of horses with excellent physique and temperament and riding skills that have penetrated into the blood and become an instinct, and after quite formal military-style discipline training, the tribal warriors have almost paranoidly achieved something that stunned everyone in terms of formation, recording, and consistency of action: they can always maintain a fairly tight formation during high-speed riding.

When Sun Jin and Tan Weixin watched thirty cavalry rushing to them at an extremely fast speed in two columns and reining their horses into a neat formation under the reminder of the astonished captain of the guard, their eyes almost popped out.

Sun Jin couldn't help but raise his evaluation of Ye Tao a few points. Such a personal soldier team is no longer just described by the word elite. Heaven knows that Ye Tao usually doesn't have time to take care of these tribal warriors at all. These are the results of the tribal warriors observing the training of other troops and groping on their own.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" the tribal warrior squad leader leading the team asked politely.

"This is the chariot of the Ju Xian Prince's Mansion of Chunnan. Please trouble this brother to inform Pacification Commissioner Ye." Xie Chao, the deputy chief steward of the Prince's Mansion, replied politely.

"Please come with us. The village has already received news that Princess Highness and Prince Consort are coming here. Lord Ye is waiting. He ordered us to prepare to welcome you." The squad leader said with a smile. After nodding to Xie Chao, he turned his horse and ran slowly in front, while the tribal warriors naturally spread out in a protective formation, sheltering the entire convoy in their defense circle.

Hui Yan Winery had not had time to make a new gate plaque. But through the narration of the guards, Sun Jin and Chang Huaiyin have understood what Ye Tao came here to do.

A senior official, a Pacification Commissioner who governs the entire Yunzhou and has the power of life and death, actually ran to such a shabby place to study brewing before another wedding? When Sun Jin and Chang Huaiyin learned about the various experiments that Ye Tao and Tan Weixin were conducting in this winery, they couldn't help but look at each other. This is really beyond their understanding of a minister.

Ye Tao and Tan Weixin have completed their task in stages after successfully trial-producing vodka, which is now Jingjiu, and are preparing to return to Ningyuan. And at this time, it is naturally very pleasant for people who have not seen each other for a long time and can only see them in the correspondence and documents of the Intelligence Bureau to appear in front of them. Moreover, I am afraid that there are no first batch of appraisers with higher style than these two.

"Brother Sun, this winery has not been bought for a long time, and many facilities have not been completed. It is really a bit simple. I made you laugh." Ye Tao apologized to Sun Jin in a calm manner. The current scale of the winery is still very small, especially a large number of craftsmen and experimental equipment occupy a lot of space. Sun Jin and Chang Huaiyin came here in a mighty manner. If Liu Yong hadn't reacted immediately and let the guards of the Pacification Commissioner's Office squeeze in, turning the four-person rooms into six-person rooms, then the guards of the Ju Xian Prince's Mansion might have to set up tents or sleep in horse-drawn carriages, and that would be too much suffering in this weather. But Ye Tao's verbal apology did not mean any guilt, but rather quite helpless, as if to say that I can't help it if you want to come yourself.

"Lord Ye is being polite." Sun Jin cupped his hands and said with a smile. They are also prince consorts. Ye Tao is the son-in-law of the Dongping Lord, while Sun Jin is just the son-in-law of a prince; Tan Weixin is a well-known financial expert and has a great influence on state affairs, while Chang Huaiyin is just a leisurely noblewoman. If it weren't for the favor of the Chunnan Queen Mother, she might not even have the title of princess; Ye Tao is a world-renowned master craftsman and can now be regarded as a well-known historian, and with his current position and the power he can control, it is an understatement to say that he is a local hegemon, while Sun Jin is now just one of the staff of the Ju Xian Prince's Mansion. Sun Jin has no position to dislike Ye Tao's poor hospitality on any position. On the contrary, Ye Tao's simplicity and self-willingness is more like a temperament and a style, which makes Sun Jin feel that Ye Tao is an interesting person.

"Brother Sun, you came here just in time, try the wine that I just made and taste it." Ye Tao suddenly said while sitting in the garden basking in the sun after the luncheon.

"It would be impolite to refuse." Sun Jin happily agreed.

The freezing point of alcohol is much lower than that of water. The vodka in the cellar has been below freezing point, condensing into a porridge-like thick semi-fluid. When poured out of the bottle, the slowly flowing liquid droplets seem to condense the warm sunshine.

"Good wine." The fierce and pure taste and the impact of the strong and thick alcohol made Sun Jin dizzy for a while, and then he put down the cup, licked his lips, and said sincerely. After gulping down a small glass of Jingjiu, Sun Jin closed his eyes and sat for a while before suppressing the dizziness. He said half-jokingly: "Lord Ye, you are really attentive. You even ran here to make wine before the wedding. The taste of this wine is indeed very suitable for the brave men in the army or the bold warriors in the martial world. I think the herders on the northern grasslands can also use it to keep out the cold and will like it very much. It is really a blessing to be your subordinate."

Ye Tao smiled noncommittally and said: "This is not for the wedding. I can't intervene in this wedding at all. I just need to prepare the money bag. The elders of the Dai family, the officials of the Ministry of Rites, and my subordinates are very enthusiastic about it. Let them toss it. I guess there will be no shortage of wine at the wedding banquet. This Jingjiu has just been successfully trial-produced here, and there are only about twenty bottles in total now being bottled. Moreover, is such a strong wine suitable to be brought out at the wedding? Isn't this just making things difficult for yourself?"

Ye Tao's relaxed humor made Sun Jin chuckle and said, "Then what are you rushing here for at this time, Lord?"

Ye Tao said sternly: "For time... Brother Sun probably also knows that there are many things I have to do as the Pacification Commissioner in this term. Various crops will be fully planted in the entire southern Yunzhou next spring. The Veterans Farm, the Department of Agriculture and Trade, and my directly affiliated farms, as well as various private farms, will be fully mobilized. Not only has the agricultural tax been lowered, but also a large number of high-quality rice and wheat seeds have been mobilized, and a large number of farmland water conservancy projects have been launched. As long as there are no natural or man-made disasters, Yunzhou's grain output next year should not only be able to be self-sufficient, but also have a considerable surplus. After all, the original foundation was too weak. And in this case, making the surplus grain generate greater benefits is what I have to consider. Therefore, in addition to meeting the planting area needs of grain crops, I must plan for the remaining land area. What to plant and how to plant it to generate the greatest benefits. I have an idea here one day earlier, and the Department of Agriculture and Trade and the Veterans Farm will have one more day to prepare, and they will have one more chance to harvest more. Now various crop seeds are hidden there in Thunder Cliff, waiting for my opinion to be distributed proportionally. The Veterans Farm is urging, and the Department of Agriculture and Trade is urging, so can I not be anxious? Fortunately, there is now a plan, and the Department of Agriculture and Trade will be able to make a plan and start implementing it in the next few days."

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Updated, am I still considered dedicated?

Thank you for your blessings, and I wish you all a happy new year