Anyway, Xia Hongsheng's words also successfully aroused Li Laoer's curiosity, and he also wanted to see if the role of business was really as big as Xia Hongsheng said. Therefore, for Xia Hongsheng's business, he will no longer pursue it, but only warn him that he cannot use the royal name to do things that violate the law, and second, he must pay taxes in full.

Now that the emperor has relented, there is no other problem, after leaving the palace, Xia Hongsheng was full of energy, and first went to the barracks to call Duan Zan to inspect a group of pigeons.

"Old Gong, how is the pigeon training?" Xia Hongsheng rushed to the pigeon trainer that Li Lao Er found for them.

"Oh, meet the two generals!" That old Gong saluted Xia Hongsheng and Duan Zan first, and then replied: "Lord Duwei, the pigeons are not in a hurry, they haven't used this place as a nest yet!" The best thing is to let these pigeons lay the little pigeons here, and then train those little pigeons, but it will be twice the result with half the effort! ”

"I know that!" Xia Hongsheng spread his hands: "But time waits for no one, aren't we in a hurry to use it!" You still have to bother more, first train a batch to be usable, and keep the rest of the pigeons, don't you think? How long will it take, I want to be able to use it! ”

Lao Gong calculated, and replied: "If you estimate it, you will have to spend at least a month!" The first pigeons can be trained! ”

Three months, Xia Hongsheng estimated, three months or so, more than a dozen special forces selected from 800 people, as well as 30 elites sent by Duan Zhixuan, still need to be trained, their foundations are very good, so the training is twice the result with half the effort, and three months is enough time for them to become a qualified special forces.

Leaving the place where the pigeons were trained, Duan Zan went back to the barracks, and Xia Hongsheng took Qi Yong back to Jingyang with him. Since the business of the winery has been approved by the emperor, the next step is to make the finished product as soon as possible, so that those gentlemen can honestly make up the capital.

Return to your own mansion in Jingyang County. The winemaker who invited him was dealing with the distiller's lees, Xia Hongsheng went to the specially modified distillery, the distiller had been basically formed, and the craftsman patted his chest and assured. In another day, it will be ready for use.

When Xia Hongsheng heard this, he simply didn't go back to Chang'an, anyway, there was Duan Zan in the barracks, and there was no need for Xia Hongsheng to worry about it. Now Duan Zan already knows everything about the training. Xia Hongsheng got off to a good start, he just needed to follow the training. I stayed in Jingyang for a day, and by the way, I went to see the skeleton of the greenhouse that had become, and explained that the people on the Zhuangzi began to weave grass, and the weather gradually turned cold, and I am afraid that it will become cold in a few months, and this vegetable greenhouse will be able to come in handy. Originally, I wanted to harvest some earthworm loose soil, but the land in Jingyang County is fertile, so I can't use it for the time being.

A day passed quickly, and Xia Hongsheng finally waited for the news of the craftsman. Say that the still is ready to use.

He didn't call anyone else, but called a few trusted soldiers and the brewer. The brewing master is the person Xu Xiaode found, because Xia Hongsheng has no other people around him who can be particularly trusted except for these personal soldiers, and the brewing master who went to find it temporarily was afraid that he would steal the school, so he asked Xu Xiaode for help, and Xu Xiaode immediately sent the old man who made wine in his family to Xia Hongsheng, also surnamed Xu. There are still some relatives with Xu Xiaode, since Xu Xiaode can trust him, Xia Hongsheng feels that he can also trust Xu Xiaode.

As the saying goes, raw incense depends on fermentation, and Titian relies on distillation. The sake lees have been fermented by the brewing master in the past few days, Xia Hongsheng did not rush to steam the sake lees directly as soon as he went up, but first got some water to try it, and looked at the effect of the distilled water. The distillation effect is very good, the still and condenser, as well as the arrangement of the metal tubing are very reasonable.

The principle of distilled spirits is actually not complicated. It is to extract a high-alcohol liquor from fermented brewing materials through one or more distillation processes. Since the temperature required for the vaporization of alcohol into steam is lower than the temperature required for water vaporization into water vapor, the alcohol components in the brewing raw materials are vaporized by heating the high temperature, and then the alcohol vapor rises, enters the conduit for condensation, and after condensation, it is re-liquefied and flows into the condenser along the conduit. If you want to extract distilled spirits with a higher alcohol content, you can reheat the condenser as a distillation bin directly after collection, and condense it through the conduit into another condenser, so that it can be distilled several times in a series to finally obtain alcohol with a high alcohol content.

Unfortunately, there is no thermometer to continuously control the temperature of the heating below in an intuitive way at the temperature at which the alcohol vaporizes, which requires a potter with rich kiln experience to control the heating temperature with experience.

The fermented lees are spread out in the still, and a fire is lit in the stove underneath, and as the temperature rises, the lees begin to heat up and rise.

"This fire must be optimistic, it can't be too big, it can't be too small, if it's too big, it will come out of the water, and if it's too small, it won't steam." Xia Hongsheng explained to the people he had with him.

"Childe, it's not the old and the young who rely on the old and sell the old here, the old and the young have learned to make wine since they were young, and they have been brewing wine at home for a lifetime. I've seen steamed vegetables, I've seen steamed buns, but I've never seen such steamed sake lees! Childe, this is the old boy who took out the ability to take care of the house and fermented the sake lees, so steamed, but all of them are wasted! The brewing master on the side watched Xia Hongsheng put the lees into the still and steamed it with a painful face, and said faintly.

Xia Hongsheng turned his head and smiled, and did not refute, but said to the brewing master: "Master, you will know later." ”

After a while, Xia Hongsheng probably thought that the wine head should have come out, so he asked Qi Yong to take out a jar and put it under the tube that stretched out next to the condenser, and then carefully and slowly pulled out the plug in front of the tube, and immediately, a small stream of clear liquid slowly flowed out along the thin tube and flowed into the wine jar. In an instant, a rich aroma of wine immediately diffused throughout the workshop. The brewing master was dumbfounded, Qi Yong and the few soldiers kept sucking their noses hard, as if they wanted to suck the air in the entire workshop into their stomachs, and they stared at the small trickle of the catheter exit in their eyes, and that look was like a wolf who had been hungry for half a moon and suddenly found a fat sheep.

Xia Hongsheng smiled secretly, this wine at the beginning, there is actually no alcohol in it, and it needs to wait for the alcohol vapor to cool down again in the condenser, and then the wine will flow out.

The distillation over there is still continuing, and here Xia Hongsheng changed the jar and began to pick up the real distilled spirits. Connected half of the jar and re-plugged the catheter mouth.

"Qi Yong, bring the bowl!" Xia Hongsheng hugged the altar and commanded.

Qi Yong's eyes lit up, this is to let them taste it! So he immediately shouted excitedly: "Hey! Go get the little ones! ”

shouted, turned around and rushed out, and soon ran back with a stack of white porcelain bowls, and put the bowls on the table in front of Xia Hongsheng.

Xia Hongsheng opened the wine jar, and then poured a bowl in the white porcelain bowl in front of him, and he picked it up and tasted it first.

Putting down the bowl, Xia Hongsheng smiled and put the bowl in front of Mr. Brewer.

"This ...... This is water?! The brewing master looked at the clear and translucent liquid in the white porcelain bowl with some distraction: "No, no, how can the water have such a strong aroma...... But how can wine be so translucent? ”

"Master, try it." Xia Hongsheng picked up the bowl of wine and handed it to the winemaker.

The brewmaster stretched out his hands tremblingly and took the bowl and looked at the clear liquid in the bowl steadily. On the side, Qi Yong and the soldiers looked at the brewing master with greedy eyes, their eyes were full of expectation and hope, and they always hoped that they could be the same taster.

The brewing master lowered his head and sniffed it shallowly, then took a long breath, and suddenly his face was a little flushed.

"Fragrant, so fragrant! It's more fragrant than anything I've ever seen! The brewmaster exhaled slowly, sighed, and then leaned over again, opening his mouth to take a bite. In an instant, the brewmaster's face suddenly turned red, his eyes widened suddenly, and he quickly put down the bowl and took a few breaths to calm down: "This is really wine!" …… Violent! It's so strong! Enough taste! That's enough! ”

Xia Hongsheng laughed, nodded with satisfaction, and then nodded at Qi Yong and the others. Qi Yong and those pro-soldiers were already scratching their ears and cheeks in a hurry, and now they got Xia Hongsheng's signal, and immediately went over and grabbed a bowl, Kuang raised his head and poured it in a few sips.

"Ahem, cough, cough ......" were spicy one by one, and they kept coughing.

"Gong, childe! …… This wine ...... Good! All right! Wine! Qi Yong didn't have many adjectives, so he knew that he was coughing and applauding: "It's too strong!" It's much stronger than the small one that drank Sanle pulp! It's like a mouthful of fire running down your mouth and into your stomach! And it looks like water, Childe is really a god! ”

Xia Hongsheng smiled, looked at the winemaker again, and asked, "Master, you have been brewing wine all your life, tell me, if this wine is put on the market, can it be sold at a good price?" ”

"The son is ingenious, and the old child is convinced! There is no one in the world who can compare with this wine! The brewing master bowed to Xia Hongsheng and said.

"Hurry up and make more in the next few days, I'll be useful." Xia Hongsheng looked at the wine in the bowl and said with a smile. (To be continued.) )