Carefree Prince In Tang Dynasty

At lunch that day, there was only half a fish in Li Xin's bowl. It is said that Wang Gui specifically told the kitchen to do this, and said that the remaining half would be served at night when the prince wanted to eat. Li Xin picked up fish meat with his chopsticks with a speechless expression, and put it into his mouth while thinking: "Damn it, my majestic King Chu is really so poor that I have to cut down on food and clothing? It seems that money must be spent, otherwise even It's too miserable to eat a fish in two meals, what's the point of being a prince?"

Two days later, the two blacksmiths asked to see Li Xin as promised. Li Xin was very excited to meet the two outside the kitchen, his eyes passed over the shoulders of the two, and landed on the cart behind them. There are some things on the cart, covered with oilcloth, only rough outlines can be seen.

"My lord's things have been built, please take a look at your lord." The two said respectfully.

Li Xin nodded and walked to the side of the cart, lifted the tarpaulin covering it, and the iron objects under the tarpaulin were displayed in front of his eyes. He picked up a metal pipe, looked left and right, and nodded with satisfaction. These two blacksmiths were really skillful, they were able to forge such useful iron sheets without the assistance of a stamping machine, and rolled these iron sheets into the kind of iron pipe Li Xin wanted. .

"Not bad, not bad, very good. Wang Gui, everyone will be rewarded with a consistent amount of money!" Li Xin waved his hand and generously offered a large bounty.

The two blacksmiths didn't expect to get a consistent reward for just making a set of pots and a few iron pipes. They almost fainted on the spot, their brows and eyes were full of joy, and they quickly thanked: "Thank you for your generous reward, thank you for your generous reward!"

Li Xin waved his hand with a smile, and carefully inspected the other components.

The only person present who didn't look so happy was Wang Gui.

He took out two silver pancakes from his pocket with no expression on his face, distributed them to the two blacksmiths one by one, and then watched them leave with gratitude. Afterwards, he showed a bitter face, looking at Li Xin who was as excited as if he got a new toy, and silently calculated in his heart where to get the two money back.

"My lord, I really can't be so generous!" Wang Gui lamented softly. However, lamentation is lamentation, no matter how much he had an opinion on the lavish behavior of the prince just now, he would never say it in front of outsiders, so as not to embarrass the prince, this is the duty of a servant.

Li Xin was amused by the pitiful expression on Wang Gui's face, and said: "Okay, don't feel bad, after a while you see how powerful this thing is, you will think that a reward of two pens is really not much! "

Wang Gui expressed doubts about this. However, my prince had already started to assemble these things, and he couldn't help, so he didn't say any more, and quietly stepped back to do other things.

When it was almost dusk, a servant girl came to Wang Gui and said, "Housekeeper, my lord told you to go find him in the kitchen." Wang Gui put down what he was doing and hurried to the kitchen.

When Li Xin saw Wang Gui, he immediately waved with a smile, and brought a bowl of wine-scented liquid to Wang Gui, saying, "Try it."

His lord would definitely not poison him, Wang Gui did not hesitate, he immediately picked up the bowl of wine and smelled it, the strong aroma of the wine entered his lungs along his nostrils, making him feel refreshed. He looked at Li Xin in surprise and asked, "The prince made this? With that pot?"

Li Xin nodded and urged, "Drink quickly, drink quickly."

Wang Gui was not too polite, he took a big gulp as soon as he raised his head, his face flushed immediately, and he exclaimed in surprise: "What a strong wine!" However, the wine he drank just now was stronger than any wine he had ever drunk before. Compared with it, I am afraid that most of the spirits on the market can only be regarded as clear water with some wine taste.

Li Xin laughed out loud. He had known for a long time that Wang Gui, who was used to drinking Tang Dynasty wine, would be embarrassed if he drank the famous Erguotou for the first time, so he urged Wang Gui to drink so much, which was a small prank.

"How is it? Does it taste good?" Li Xin asked with a smile.

Wang Gui smothered the rest of the wine in the bowl, then let out a long breath and said, "Good wine! It's the best wine I've ever had in my life."

Li Xin gave a thumbs up and praised: "Taste!"

That's right, in fact, what Li Xin asked those two blacksmiths to build was a simple device for distilling wine. After assembling it, he sent his servants to buy two or three buckets of wine at random in the distillery outside, distilled it twice, and obtained the legendary Erguotou.

If it weren't for the low quality of the original wine, and Li Xin didn't have time to cellar the wine well and wait for it to age, he could still make wine with a more perfect taste and flavor.

"What do you think is the right price if I sell this wine?" Li Xin asked with a smile.

Wang Gui thought for a while and replied: "At least eight or nine guan coins per bucket."

Li Xin patted Wang Gui on the shoulder, and said proudly, "You still think I paid those two blacksmiths too much?" Wang Gui's price was about the same as Li Xin expected. According to his estimation, the simple Erguotou he made cost about 8guan per dou, and the cost did not exceed 500 cash, which was nothing short of huge profits.

Wang Gui said convincingly: "Not much, not much. The prince has a wonderful idea, and I really can't keep up with it."

This flattery made Li Xin feel comfortable all over, and the exhaustion from working all afternoon disappeared completely.

"Looking back, you can find out where there is a poorly managed winery in Chang'an City. If the price is lowered, then you can find a blacksmith to make a few more sets of this still pot. It is still very easy to produce dozens of buckets of wine every day." Li Xin did the math casually. , said, "You can earn at least hundreds of guan in a day, which is enough for our palace's expenses."

"My lord wants to manage this wine by himself?" Wang Gui asked.

Li Xin gave him a blank look, and said, "That's right, otherwise, if I worked so hard to make this thing, could it be that I want to give it to someone else for business?"

Wang Gui hurriedly said: "That's not what I mean. What I mean is, this wine is really good, and our Chu Palace alone may not be able to handle such a big business."

Li Xin frowned and asked, "Why?"

Wang Gui smiled wryly and said: "All these big restaurants in Chang'an City are backed by big families. The wine tastes great. Once it is released for sale, it will definitely have a great impact on their business. At that time, they will definitely be jealous. It will be very difficult to deal with the prince once you gather together."

Li Xin originally thought that he had Li Shimin's backing behind him, and he was an incomparably noble prince, which was enough to support his ambition to monopolize the wine industry in Chang'an. Listening to what Wang Gui said now, it seems that this is not the case.