Not long after Xiahou Ba and his party left, the news of Wuguan was delivered to Xiangyang, and the Qinggang Sword was indeed put to good use.
Liu Qi was overjoyed and promoted Wei Yan to General Suppressing Bandits and sent Fu Rong with 3,000 troops to reinforce him.
With the strategic location of Wuguan and the presence of these two great generals, the 10,000 defenders are enough to fight against the 100,000 Cao troops.
Afterwards, he invited Sun Qian to go to Wolonggang again to ask Zhuge Liang for advice, and go to Guanzhong to contact Ma Teng to stir up the situation in Guanzhong.
After Zhuge Liang got married, he wanted to go to Xiangyang to take up his post, but it was already winter and it was not suitable to send troops. It was the time to recuperate and there were enough people to take care of domestic affairs, so Liu Qi let him stay at home and spend his honeymoon with peace of mind.
Historically, Zhuge Liang had a son in his later years, probably because he followed Liu Bei around and was busy with government affairs all year round, he worked too hard and had no heirs, so his descendants were young and the whole family was wiped out. Although it was heroic, it was also regrettable.
Now that Jingzhou is stable, there is plenty of time for the couple to reunite. If Zhuge Liang had given birth to Zhuge Zhan in his prime and taught him carefully, he would surely have become a great man.
At this time, the Eastern Wu had also withdrawn its troops, and Guan Yu was guarding Jiangxia. Sun Quan did not dare to act rashly. Although the world seemed to be calm, there were actually undercurrents, and there would be a major war next year.
Liu Qi intensified his sword studies from Wang Yue, and exchanged ideas with Xu Shu, Shi A and others. With the addition of some of his later ideas, he made rapid progress and everyone was enjoying themselves.
On this day, Xi Guan happily brought a pot of wine and asked Liu Qi to taste it. The rich aroma of the wine was unique in this era.
The distillation method proposed by Liu Qi was used for purification, and after several attempts and improvements, it was purified a lot.
The boiling point of alcohol is lower than that of water, so the alcohol vapor rises first. Although Xi Yuan did not understand this principle, she knew it worked after trying it.
He immediately hired a winemaker at a large sum of money to give it a try, and from the initial two pots to the creation of a distillery still, the purity became higher and higher.
The ancients were not stupid, they just didn't find the method. This method may seem simple, but this step alone may require hundreds of years of exploration.
"This is just Erguotou diluted with water!"
Liu Qi still shook his head: "These distilled liquors can be purified multiple times, and different grains have different flavors."
Xi Guan stamped his feet and cried out in pain: "Oh my brother, you know that the yield of wine from this method is extremely low. This pot of wine uses ten jars of ordinary wine, and the cost is more than ten times higher..."
"What's there to be afraid of?" Liu Qi tasted the wine carefully. This was just the original liquor, so the taste was a little worse. He said, "Things are precious because they are rare. With such a fine wine, are you worried that you won't be able to sell it at a high price?"
"That's true," Xi Guan rubbed his hands as usual, "but the investment is a bit too high. A lot of food is consumed every day. Did you know that the price of food increased fivefold after the battle in Nanyang?"
Liu Qi put down his wine glass and asked with a smile: "Have you ever thought that besides grains, other things can also be used to make wine? For example, fruits, pine nuts, etc."
"This..." Xi Guan widened his eyes: "Isn't this a fantasy?"
"Practice is the only criterion for testing truth!" Liu Qi waved his hand generously: "If you don't try, how can you know?"
"Okay, I'll tell you when I get back!" Seeing that Liu Qi didn't seem to be joking, Xi Guan half believed it and said, "Your sister said that this wine will be released soon, but it doesn't have a name yet. Please give it a name, Dalang."
Liu Qi nodded and said, "I will go to the wine shop in the next few days to discuss it."
After Xi Guan left, Liu Qi immediately asked Liu Neng to drive the car and go straight to Huang's house with the distilled liquor.
The Cai family was wiped out, and only Huang Chengyan and his wife were not affected. Liu Qi knew that this matter had nothing to do with Madam Cai, and he did not want to make enemies with the Huang family.
Huang Chengyan had a very high reputation in Jingzhou, but he had no intention of fame. Liu Biao had invited him several times, but he refused. In his spare time, he liked to drink, and he never left his wine gourd all year round.
The affairs of the Cai family were related to politics, and could even rise to the level of imperial power. Liu Qi could not explain much, so he could only take the pot of wine with him, hoping to eliminate the barriers and help Zhuge Liang alleviate his concerns.
Liu Qi of the Huang family had also come several times, but later with the strong suppression of Mrs. Cai, Huang Chengyan also deliberately kept his distance from Liu Biao and had not come again in the past few years.
The carriage stopped, and I saw that the gate of the courtyard was more mottled than before, and the earthen wall was covered with weeds. However, the old plum tree in the courtyard became more lush, and its branches extended out of the wall.
Liu Neng went forward and knocked on the door. A middle-aged man opened the door. It was Huang Huan, the second son of Huang Chengyan. He was slightly startled when he saw Liu Qi, but his expression was indifferent: "I wonder what brings you here, General? What can I do for you?"
Liu Qi clasped his fists and said with a smile, "Excuse me for disturbing you. I came here specially to visit you... Senior Huang, I wonder if your father is here?"
Huang Chengyan used to be called uncle, but now that the brother-in-law has become an enemy, this title is a bit awkward.
Huang Huan frowned slightly, as if he wanted to refuse, but Liu Qi was the current ruler of Jingzhou, and he was in his prime, so he did not dare to make a decision on his own. He paused and said, "Please wait!"
Seeing Huang Huan actually closed the door, Liu Neng was furious and was about to kick the door: "What a big shot, who gave him the courage?"
Liu Qi stopped him and said with a smile: "We are here to pay our respects to Mr. Huang, why should we bother with others?"
After a moment, Huang Huan opened the door and greeted him: "My father is in the study, please come in, General."
Liu Qi nodded and walked in. Liu Neng, holding a wine pot, muttered as he passed by: "It's really easy to see the King of Hell, but it's hard to deal with the little ghost."
Liu Qi turned around and scolded: "Liu Neng, you are getting cocky now!"
Liu Neng chuckled, lowered his head and stopped talking, thinking that half a year ago, when he and his son followed Liu Qi, even eating became a problem.
Liu Fu asked someone to buy a few acres of land so that he could settle down in his hometown. He almost married the widow Wang from the neighboring village. Who would have thought that he would be as successful as he is today
When I arrived at the door of the study, I smelled the aroma of wine. Huang Chengyan had white hair and beard, but he was in good spirits and was concentrating on brewing wine.
The wine people drank in the Han Dynasty was fermented wine with a very low alcohol content. The lower quality wine had to be filtered through gauze. Good wine would also have sediment if left for a long time, so the wine had to be boiled temporarily.
Liu Qi was not in a hurry and stood quietly at the door. After a while, Huang Chengyan raised his head, shook his head and smiled, "I really get more confused as I get older. As soon as I touch the wine, I forget everything. It's really rude of you to have such a distinguished guest here!"
Although both were famous scholars in Jingzhou, Huang Chengyan and Sima Hui were very different. They were straightforward in their actions, not bound by etiquette, and wore short shirts and straw sandals when they went out. They could not be recognized among the common people and were quite cynical.
"No problem!" Liu Qi walked in with a smile, clasped his fists and said, "I know that you like wine, so I recently got some good wine and sent it to you. You don't have to cook wine anymore."
"Wine that doesn't need to be boiled?" Huang Chengyan's white eyebrows twitched, and his eyes stared at the wine pot in Liu Neng's arms. He stroked his beard and said, "It's just this small pot. The general is a bit stingy."
Liu Qi smiled and said, "Although it's only half a catty, I'm afraid you'll get drunk!"
"Hahaha—" Huang Chengyan stroked his beard and laughed, "I have been drinking for decades. I used to drink a lot of wine without getting drunk. Now, although I am a little older, I can still drink a thousand cups without getting drunk. This small pot of wine is nothing to worry about."
Liu Qi smiled faintly, knowing that Huang Chengyan was not bragging, the alcohol content of these liquors was about the same as that of beer.
Being able to drink without getting drunk sounds like a high alcohol tolerance, but it's just about a bottle of beer. In later generations, there were many people with this kind of alcohol tolerance in barbecue stalls, bars and other places.
But what he brought today was liquor with an alcohol content of 40 or 50 percent. Who would dare to drink it like that