Chapter 91: Brewing Liquor (Part 2)

There is nothing to say about this period; it was nothing more than waiting.

It was about time. Zhu Gaoxu extinguished the fire and then began the third step: fermentation!

He instructed the servants to first spread out the steamed sorghum to cool, and after half an hour, Zhu Gaoxu touched it with his hand and felt that it should be about right now.

Afterwards, Zhu Gaoxu had people pour all of this cooled sorghum into the fermentation barrel.

Next, Zhu Gaoxu began the distillation.

He set up the distillation equipment he had prepared; this equipment was made using bamboo as the raw material, and both the upper and lower outlets had been trimmed.

After everything was ready, Zhu Gaoxu began to instruct people to roast it with a large fire.

During this time, Zhu Gaoxu kept a close eye on the temperature, occasionally adding clear water to the upper inlet to cool it down.

As time passed, the lower outlet began to produce liquor.

And Zhu Gaoxu had been prepared for this, having someone place a large barrel at the lower outlet.

As more and more liquor came out, a fragrance of liquor began to permeate the room.

Zhu Gaoxu saw that the liquor coming out was somewhat cloudy, so he instructed someone to tie a layer of cotton cloth at the lower outlet to filter it.

After waiting for another hour, they finally collected less than half a barrel of liquor.

Zhu Gaoxu did not need to taste it; just by smelling the scent of the liquor, he knew it was about right.

However, Zhu Gaoxu had to try this thing no matter what.

After all, people in ancient times had never drunk high-proof liquor, and they did not know exactly what the proof was.

Zhu Gaoxu asked someone to bring a pair of washed chopsticks, dipped them slightly into the liquor, and tasted it on his tongue.

Success!

From the sweetness and spiciness of the liquor on his tongue, Zhu Gaoxu knew it was at least around sixty proof.

Zhu Gaoxu knew this was because the liquor distilled later had a lower proof.

If he only took the first half, the proof could be even higher.

At this moment, Ada and the others were already unable to stop themselves from swallowing their saliva.

They had lived this long and had never smelled such a rich liquor fragrance.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu taste it first, they were all eager and ready to give it a try.

Seeing this scene from the group, Zhu Gaoxu smiled faintly at the corner of his mouth, then nodded and signaled, "You drunkards can have a taste too."

Upon receiving Zhu Gaoxu's instruction, the group rushed up impatiently; they couldn't be bothered to find any wine cups, and Ada hugged the liquor barrel and took a drink first.

They were all men from a military background and really had no resistance to things like liquor.

After Ada took a big gulp, he put down the large barrel and shouted, "Refreshing, good liquor!"

A'er and the others on the side, seeing their big brother already drinking, immediately snatched the large barrel from Ada's arms and followed suit, drinking as well.

The group went on like this, one sip after another, and in just a few sips, they had actually finished the liquor in the barrel.

And the group still looked like they hadn't had enough.

Ada looked at the empty barrel and finally came to his senses at this moment.

One must know that even without Zhu Gaoxu saying it, they could imagine that this liquor was definitely worth a fortune.

Their own lowly lives might not even be as valuable as this liquor.

Thinking this, Ada blushed and patted his brothers on the head with his hand.

The other three brothers, who were already tipsy, finally came to their senses as well.

The group looked at each other, walked unsteadily to Zhu Gaoxu, knelt down, and pleaded guilty: "This subordinate deserves to die for being greedy and ruining the Prince's important business; please punish us, Your Highness."

Looking at the group swaying and looking like they had drunk too much, Zhu Gaoxu laughed loudly and said, "It's fine, just consider it a reward for you. Since you've drunk too much today, just rest here; come find me when you've sobered up."

After speaking, Zhu Gaoxu waved his hand, letting several servants help Ada and the others down to rest.

As for himself, he took Li Quan alone to the main room.

The main room was the residence of Li Quan and his daughter, which Zhu Gaoxu had never entered before; as soon as he entered, a large bed came into view.

From Li Quan, he learned that Li Quan lived outside, while the little girl lived inside the room.

From this, one could see that Li Quan truly doted on his daughter very much.

Zhu Gaoxu nodded and, at Li Quan's invitation, sat on a stool at the dining table.

Looking around, he found that the room was very simple; Zhu Gaoxu nodded inwardly, knowing that Li Quan had not taken the opportunity of renovating the shop to improve his own living environment.

Zhu Gaoxu, who understood this in his heart, did not say it out loud, but instead brought up the matter of brewing liquor.

"You saw the whole process just now; do as it should be done from here on out. If there is anything you don't understand, feel free to send someone to ask me."

Hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, Li Quan nodded to indicate he understood.

Afterwards, Zhu Gaoxu said again: "You also saw just now that this liquor is no small matter; it is the key to your and my path to wealth. Although for the sake of security, I have used people from the Wangfu, to be on the safe side, you must handle the confidentiality work well."

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu bring up this matter, Li Quan also looked serious, nodded heavily, and said, "Master, rest assured, this one will definitely keep this matter tightly sealed."

Zhu Gaoxu knew a little about Li Quan's methods and knew that every profession has its own specialty. Li Quan had been a manager for so many years, and he had held a place since the time when the Wangfu only had three managers; from this, it could be seen that this Li Quan indeed had some skills.

Seeing that Li Quan understood the severity of the matter, Zhu Gaoxu did not say much more, then took out a five-hundred-tael silver note from his bosom.