The volcanic military city is very small, with the yamen in the middle, and a street in the north and south. Du Zhongxiao entered the city from the south gate, passed by the soldiers in the array, and almost in the blink of an eye, he arrived in front of the Yamen gate. As Du Zhongxiao and his entourage entered the city, the soldiers outside the city cheered loudly.

Dismounted in front of the yamen, Du Zhongxiao breathed a sigh of relief. Although as soon as they arrived, these troops showed off their strength and invited rewards, but fortunately, the military discipline was still passable, and there were no accidents.

Cheng Wenli and a group of officials surrounded Du Zhongxiao to sit down in the official hall, and a group of officials from the Volcano Army stepped forward to pay respects. The officials withdrew, and the leaders of several small Tibetan tribes in the territory offered gifts to each other. It's nothing more than furs, goats, the place is barren, and there are no good things.

The officials were divided into civil and military forces on both sides, and Wu Wenzuo, the commander of the forbidden army, stepped forward and said: "The new official of the Zhijun has taken office, and Guangrui commands the four hundred horse army under his command, and obeys the orders!" With our horse army here, thieves cannot afford to be thieves for hundreds of miles, and the people do not close their doors at night, Shangguan can rest assured! ”

After speaking, he looked at Du Zhongxiao with a blank eye, obviously wanting to be rewarded.

Du Zhongxiao said: "The command is hard. I am a newcomer to the Volcano Army, and I don't know anything, and my affairs are complicated, and I will wait for tomorrow to check the treasury to see how much I have left, and give a reward as appropriate. Thou hast commanded thy men to guard the barracks and not to cause trouble! ”

If the reward can't be given, where is Wu Wenzuo willing? He stood there with his hands crossed, neither singing nor retreating.

The other three commanders of the Xiang army went out together, learned from Wu Wenzuo, and sang a big promise. Pang Xun, the commander of Xuanyong in the middle, said with a smile: "Our border army is different from the mainland, and it generally has to go into battle to fight, fight to the death. It's just a military salary, just a fraction of the forbidden army. Fortunately, the small ones are not greedy, the volcano army is located in a remote borderland, money and food are difficult, and it is not easy for the army to give rewards. If each team can drink well and get drunk today, then they will be satisfied. Knowing the grace of the army, all hopes will be fulfilled! ”

After speaking, he glanced at Wu Wenzuo who was standing in the middle, took the other two and retreated with a smile, obviously looking at Wu Wenzuo's jokes.

Wu Wenzuo was teased by several generals of the Xiang Army, annoyed in his heart, glared at them, and then retreated.

Seeing Wu Wenzuo's pass, Du Zhongxiao said: "The reward in the army must be checked and then issued after the treasury." Today, when my new official takes office, it is always inevitable to celebrate. Push the officer, if there is still good wine in the yamen, send it to the army, count me as a little heart. ”

Cheng Wenli stepped forward and said in a low voice: "Zhixian, although this army is a small city, because of the large number of garrisons, there has always been a lot of wine. It's just that the north is very cold, and since a few years ago, liquor has been popular and loved by the local military and civilians. When they say good wine, they actually mean liquor, and there are really not many of them in the city. There are still a lot of water and wine, but the army doesn't like it, and if it is sent down, I'm afraid that they will make trouble. ”

Du Zhongxiao was stunned for a moment and said, "Since there is water and wine, how can there be no liquor?" ”

Cheng Wenli patiently explained: "I don't know that the liquor is steamed from the lees, and I don't get much. In places like this county, there are too many water and wine to be sold, and only the lees can be steamed and the liquor is a good thing. ”

When Du Zhongxiao heard this, he couldn't help laughing and said: "How could I not know that this method of steaming wine from sake lees is still offered to the court by my family!" It's just that you don't know, there are sake lees, there is water wine, and it is not easy to make liquor? The liquor that comes out is still as strong as bad liquor! ”

Cheng Wenli listened to it and couldn't help but be stunned, he didn't expect the new Zhijun to be an expert in winemaking. The method of steaming liquor was issued by the imperial court, and the state is like this, and I have not heard that liquor can also be made from water wine.

The Volcano Army had only more than 3,000 households, and there were nearly 2,000 forbidden army troops, and the army accounted for a very high proportion of the population, and the sales of liquor were far from being comparable to those of the inland state army. The reason why this is the case is that the army has good wine, and they have military salaries every month and have money to spare. Again, although not intentionally, the imperial court also used the material of wine to recover cash from the hands of soldiers, which was a small economic cycle.

After asking about the large stock of water and wine in the city, Du Zhongxiao said to Cheng Wenli: "Don't worry about this matter, I will teach you how to make liquor from water and wine in a while." This method is extremely easy, and I will give out wine today, so as not to make the soldiers in the city angry. ”

Cheng Wenli sang a promise. After retreating, I wondered how to make liquor from water wine.

Pan Zhen, who joined the army, stepped forward and reported to the people of the Volcano Army, Qian Gu, and gave a rough idea. When Sun Dan stepped forward, he reported to the Ding Zhuang archers of his army and the surrounding forts. The commander of Zhuangcheng in the third command of the Volcano Army was actually under Sun Dan, but Pang Bing was domineering and attracted the commander of Zhuangcheng, and Sun Dan, the commander of Zhuangcheng, could not easily command.

This is just a ceremony, and the subordinate military attachés came up and showed their faces, saying that from now on, Du Zhongxiao will be the commander of the Volcano Army.

Everyone retreated, and Du Zhongxiao said: "If you want to do something, you will handle it tomorrow." Tonight, the government will hold a banquet and invite you to drink a glass of wine. In addition, wine was brought from the yamen treasury to the army, and a team and an altar were planned to celebrate. Each supervisor restrains his subordinates and does not get drunk and make trouble. Those who violate military orders will be killed! ”

Everyone sang a promise with their hands and withdrew from the official hall one after another. The Volcano Army is a small place, and there are mainly military generals among the officials, and this extremely hasty welcome ceremony is also not serious, and before it leaves the official hall, the officials are giggling, which makes Du Zhongxiao frown.

Pushing the official Cheng Wenli walked at the end, looked at Du Zhongxiao's face, shook his head and said: "Zhijun, the border area is hard for the officials, and ordinary officials are reluctant to come here." These officials in the yamen don't know the etiquette of the upper and lower levels, so don't be surprised. ”

Du Zhongxiao got up and said casually: "It's okay, there is nothing to be careless in etiquette, just don't mess around." Let's go, let's go see the wine. ”

Cheng Wenli walked out of the official hall quickly, called Pan Zhen, and led Du Zhongxiao out of the yamen together.

The small city is not big, only a decent restaurant "Jiuqu Pavilion", which is next to the yamen. This is also the official restaurant of the Volcano Army, and the wine consumed by the people in the city and the army is all brewed here.

Today, Du Zhongxiao's new official took office, and Jiuqu Pavilion deliberately closed the color building, and there were even a few female prostitutes standing at the door, leaning lazily on the side of the color building. A few wealthy families in the city, in the name of welcoming the new officials to take office, set up a wine feast here, and they don't know who to invite.

Several people entered the backyard of Jiuqu Pavilion from the back door, and Zhou Xintian, who was also the director of the restaurant in front of the active yamen, greeted him and saluted and sang a promise.

Cheng Wenli said: "This is the new Zhijun Du Guan, who came to you because of the lack of liquor in the city." How much water and wine do you have here, all of them will be moved to the place where the wine is made, and the officers will teach you how to make liquor. ”

Zhou Xintian smiled all over his face, and said: "The officials are joking, I have never heard that water wine can be made into liquor. The price of one pound of liquor can buy nearly ten catties of water wine, if it can be made into liquor, which one will make water wine? ”

Cheng Wenli glared at Zhou Xintian, Zhou Xintian hurriedly shut up and beckoned the little guy to carry the water and wine in the warehouse.

At this time, it is the time to make sake, and the place where sake-making is noisy, and dozens of people are busy. This is the largest source of income for the Volcano Army Yamen, in addition to the supervisor Zhou Xintian, there are also officials who specialize here every day. Seeing Du Zhongxiao and his entourage coming, he hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

As soon as he entered the door, Du Zhongxiao saw a large number of wine lees piled up in the middle, and there were two large retorts next to them, and the fire was burning brightly.

Cheng Wenli pointed to the big retort and said: "Knowing the army and seeing, the local soldiers and civilians love to drink liquor, and a lot of water wine is brewed to make sake lees, in order to steam liquor from sake lees. I don't know what kind of magic the army has to make liquor from water wine? ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled: "How do you make liquor from the lees now?" ”

Cheng Wenli arched his hand: "Back to the Zhijun, it is to add water to the retort, and the liquor in the lees is forced by water vapor, and it is put away later." ”

"Well, since you add water to the retort and steam the lees to make liquor, then you don't use water to make liquor from water wine? It's so simple, it's just that you don't think about it! ”

Cheng Wenli was stunned for a moment and muttered, "How can this work?" If you replace water with wine, won't you even have water and wine left? ”

Du Zhongxiao laughed: "The water and wine are gone, but there is more liquor produced!" Moreover, to make liquor from sake lees, it is useless to steam the liquor. If you use wine instead of water, the lees of steamed wine can still be used, which is much more convenient. ”

The purpose of steaming sake is to steam the alcohol out, whether it is on the lees or in the underlying wine. The reason why sake lees is used is because of the physical properties of sake lees, which can just filter and flavor the alcohol, and what happens to come out is liquor. This method goes one step further, that is, it does not make water wine, but directly distills the fermented distiller's grains, which is the solid fermentation and solid distillation that are later formed.

Du Zhongxiao was the first to make liquor from lees, in order to make use of distiller's lees waste, not only from distiller's lees to make liquor. Because of the geographical customs, the Central Plains region does not like strong and choking liquor, so it has always insisted on making bad liquor. This method spread to the north, the folk customs are different, everyone prefers to drink spirits, and then stick to the preparation method of bad liquor, it is not appropriate.

Although Cheng Wenli didn't believe it, he didn't dare to refute Du Zhongxiao's words, so he had to order the workers to replace the water in a big retort with wine and steam it.

Seeing that the workers wanted to replace the distiller's lees in the retort, Du Zhongxiao said: "It's good to replace the water below with water and wine, and the dregs don't need to be replaced." Now there is too much water and wine in the city, and there is not enough lees, so I have to use it. ”