Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 160 Brewery

160 Brewery

Nanny Chen's husband, Steward Chen, has also prepared everything needed for the winery.

That day, Madam Pei took Nanny Chen to the farm on the pretext of staying there for a few days to stretch her muscles. Hua Lei also arrived at the farm early the next morning, and brought Aunt Fu with her as well.

Mrs. Pei picked a few reliable servants from the farm and began to learn the wine-making skills from Hualei. Because the weather temperature was suitable, there was no need for additional heat preservation, and the fermentation speed of the wine yeast was relatively fast. After seven days, the first batch of rice wine was ready.

Mrs. Pei tasted the first glass of wine. It was spicy at first, with a strong aroma and a sweet aftertaste. It was indeed very delicious.

Madam Pei packed 100 jars of 5-jin rice wine and asked the merchant caravan of the Marquis' Mansion to deliver them directly to the border where Marquis Pei was stationed. She packed another 100 jars of 1-jin and 3-jin rice wine and left Shangjing City, exploring the way from town to town along the official road.

Lei'er said that this was done to understand the situation of restaurants and inns in major towns, and to find out if there were any local breweries in each town, and what the taste was like. By the way, bring back a jar and try the taste, so as to know ourselves and the enemy.

If you come across a restaurant or inn that shows interest in rice wine, you can ask their owner to buy a small amount first to see how customers react. When you come back, go back to the restaurant or inn to hear the owner's reaction and then decide whether to place an order.

If you come across a restaurant that is skeptical, you can open a jar and try it. If you like it, buy it. If you don’t like it, that’s fine too.

Although this is more troublesome, Hua Lei is thinking that although the sales volume from Marquis Pei will not be small, every time the goods are delivered to the border where Marquis Pei is stationed, they will pass through these towns. Instead of passing by directly every time, it is better to ask by the way. In case there are orders, they can be delivered together at that time. In case the caravan of the Marquis' Mansion is too late, Liang Xiangyi's fleet can be asked to help deliver the goods.

Moreover, Hualei also thought that the chickens, ducks, geese and pigs in her Yuanying Manor would be ready for sale in a few months. If they could not be sold in the capital, they could be transported here for sale. If the restaurant or inn ordered rice wine, it would be easier to sell chickens, ducks, geese and pigs at the same time. After all, these go well with wine.

For this matter, Hua Lei specially looked through the regional records of the Great Sheng Dynasty. According to the records in the regional records, more people in the dozen towns north of Shangjing City eat beef and mutton, while chicken, duck, goose and pig are relatively rare. It's not that they don't eat it, but there are too many cattle and sheep, especially sheep, and people who are used to eating beef and mutton may get tired of it. If they want to change their taste, then their chickens, ducks, geese and pigs will have a way out.

Besides, Hualei didn't have to sell only fresh chickens, ducks, geese and pigs. She could also sell cured chickens, cured ducks and so on. As long as she could make money, Hualei was willing to try.

However, what Madam Pei and Hua Lei never expected was that the caravan that traveled along the official road came back after five days, saying that after leaving Shangjing City, they went to two towns and all the 100 jars of rice wine on the car were sold out, so they had to come back and reload.

Hua Lei thought that rice wine should sell well, but she didn't expect it to sell so well. Old Madam Pei was even more surprised. She immediately packed another 200 jars and the caravan set off again.

This time it took a little longer, but he came back half a month later, saying that this rice wine is particularly popular in the north, and the price is cheaper than ordinary sake, but the taste is strong and long-lasting. Some men who like to drink like to drink stronger flavors, so this rice wine hits their taste buds. Of course, the most important thing is that compared with sake, rice wine is much cheaper.

After more than a month, the caravan that was sent directly to Marquis Pei returned with a message from Marquis Pei. He sent a thousand jars directly, which made Madam Pei laugh. Even if they sent some river water directly to him, there was no pottery jar to put it in. Not to mention that the wine was too late, the pottery workshop in the North City District of the Marquisate could not even make wine jars.

Although it could not be delivered immediately, on the one hand, more manpower was added to speed up the firing of wine jars in the pottery workshop, and the winery also added more steamed glutinous rice. After half a month, 500 jars of rice wine were collected and sent to the Marquis. In this way, the Marquis's winery can be said to have had a good start.

During this period, Hualei and Aunt Fu can be said to be in the winery every other day. The reason for this is that the canned fruit at Baihua Manor has also started. Although Hualei does not need to keep an eye on it all the time this year, he will go there frequently to check the quality and so on. The rest of the time is spent in the winery.

Because the wine was so popular, the few masters who were trained at the beginning were able to operate it themselves, but they were not able to train apprentices, so Hualei and Aunt Fu opened another training class and brought in another group of wine brewing masters.

By the time the winery was able to run normally, it was almost the end of October. Hualei was busy for another month and a half. However, when he received a stack of banknotes from Madam Pei at the end of the year, he was still surprised and opened his mouth wide.

Did you earn so much in three and a half months? Madam Pei smiled and nodded. She explained that Marquis Pei happened to meet a caravan that was trading with Beichen State in the north of Mobei and bought 500 jars of rice wine.

Lord Pei was also very smart. He raised the price three times before selling it to the other party. He also asked them to pay a deposit and agreed to send another 500 jars before March of the following year. So he made a lot of money in one go.

Recently, when Lord Pei's family letters came back, the first line of the letter was not greetings to the family, but directly asked when the next delivery would be, whether it could be delivered earlier, or whether more could be delivered. Along with Lord Pei's family letters, there were banknotes.

The restaurants and inns along the official road were no less popular, with orders of all sizes pouring in like snowflakes. After the winery had been open for two months, Madam Pei made a prompt decision to expand the scale of the winery.

At the same time, the pottery workshop, which had not changed much in more than ten years, also received a large order, ushering in a qualitative leap. They were too busy making wine jars and canned fruit jars every day.

It turned out that from the beginning, the pottery workshop and blacksmith shop that Hualei had ordered were under the name of Dingbei Marquis Mansion. And the rice grain shop that sold yellow and white sugar on East Street was under the name of Mrs. Pei herself.

After Mrs. Pei learned about this, she was once again moved by Hua Lei's thoughtfulness.

In this way, the Marquis' Mansion began to make a fortune, and Hualei would receive the silver bills handed over by Old Madam Pei on time at the end of each season.

Pei Rongjin, the eldest son and grandson of Marquis Dingbei, did nothing and knew nothing, but within a year he became the richest man in the mansion.