Chapter 420: Selection

The total share capital of the Northern Liquor Group was one million taels of silver.

Of this one million taels, the two core competitive strengths—the technology and equipment provided by the Transmigrators—were forcefully valued at six hundred thousand taels.

In other words, the several dozen other major shareholders split the remaining four hundred thousand taels of share capital. This capital structure fully embodied the correctness of the saying, "Technology is productivity."

However, there was no need to dwell on this aspect.

The Transmigrators, whose aim was to cultivate national capital, supported these primitive capitalists in buying back the major shareholders' shares at any time. In fact, the Transmigrators very much hoped to see these people skillfully take control of the board of directors and use modern management concepts to run the company as soon as possible.

After the Company was established, the first thing to become operational was not the shareholders' general assembly or the board of directors, but the finance department—there was an urgent need to accurately account for some non-cash resources that shareholders had contributed as equity.

The so-called non-cash resources were actually just some workers and land. The moment the Liquor Group was established, thirteen distilleries along the Jinmen North Canal ceased operations and liquidated on the spot, incorporated into the Group by their owners.

When such a massive capital behemoth began to operate, it truly rampaged forward.

First, after a series of transactions and exchanges, the land, including those distilleries, was consolidated together, becoming a factory district integrating sales, office, and production for the Company.

After the ground thawed in early spring, this stretch of prime riverside land would be demolished, and then large numbers of laborers would be recruited to construct proper factory buildings, a folk-custom distillery street, and an office building.

As for the present, the priority was, of course, to start production immediately. The clients and shareholders were all burning with impatience, waiting to witness the legendary core technology and equipment.

And so, the final batch of hidden supplies from the cargo delivered by ten transport ships was brought out of the warehouse—brewing equipment and sheet-metal machine tools.

The brewing equipment was very simple, nothing more than some self-produced fermentation tanks, storage tanks, and copper distillation pipes from the Kiln District. This simple equipment was a dime a dozen in later generations; a set of small household brewing equipment cost only a few thousand yuan.

Once these tanks and pipes were installed in the largest temporary workshop, the Ming shareholders flocked over to see the treasures.

The appearance of the treasures was naturally very cool: over a dozen large iron tanks gleaming with a silvery metallic luster, along with the connecting copper and iron pipes, exuded a dense, mysterious aura of "I don't understand it but it feels impressive."

The next step was adding the ingredients: sorghum.

In this era, the Transmigrators naturally could not produce large quantities of edible alcohol to blend into commercial liquor. This technical chain, which would be scorned in later generations, was now firmly a complex, top-tier technology.

So, under the crude technical conditions of Tianjin, the primitive pure-grain brewing method, adopted out of necessity, was the right path.

The main ingredient for Erguotou was sorghum, and the rest, including some auxiliary ingredients like peas, were all common northern grain crops. These raw materials were all coarse grains, and their cost was not high compared to wheat, making them suitable for producing high-volume liquor.

Under the direction of technicians speaking with southern accents, the workers gathered from various distilleries began completing a series of production steps involving filling and distillation.

The shareholders observing nearby, with explanations from a dedicated person, also roughly understood the entire process: it was simply fermenting grain and then steaming out the liquor, which was not fundamentally different in principle from traditional brewing methods, except that refined steel equipment replaced the large steamers and wine cellars.

However, what the Ming people failed to grasp was precisely where the highest technology content lay: the unremarkable temperature control, alcohol content measurement, and various instruments and techniques for analyzing the liquor.

Therefore, the Transmigrators' factory was never afraid of natives coming to observe; understanding the principle was useless. Anyone trying to steal the craft couldn't even produce a single matching screw, let alone control the alcohol content.

When a continuous stream of clear liquor flowed out from that exquisite "brass dragon head," the shareholders who had been waiting for a long time collectively burst into cheers.

After tasting the finished product, everyone finally felt their hearts settle: the white liquor brewed from northern sorghum was identical in every aspect to the southern samples; this business was definitely viable!

Afterward, a brief naming ceremony began.

In this plane, the Transmigrators, possessing high style and leading fashion trends, naturally would not use such a crude name as Erguotou again. The word "Whisky," rich in connotation, was the final brand name—powerful and potent, it clearly pointed out "what the Scholar-Officials feared," subtly hinting at the liquor's high proof... there could be no more fitting name.

After the first batch of raw spirit from the Jinmen Whisky Distillery smoothly came off the line, the shareholders moved on to the Group Company's affiliated packaging workshop.

The most important thing in the packaging workshop was naturally the tinplate barrel production line.

This tinplate barrel production line included several cutting, sheet-metal, and stamping machine tools driven by animal or human power.

The production process dazzled the shareholders: skilled workers from the south first cut a piece from a roll of tinplate, then folded it, and then used the animal-powered machine tools to stamp it. After passing through one process after another like this, and finally being polished and painted, a gleaming ten-liter iron barrel body came off the line.

After seeing the entire process, the Ming people all clicked their tongues in wonder. They truly could not imagine how this "iron sheet," both thin and tough, was produced. As for these "ingenious machines" that could assemble iron sheets into iron barrels, that was even further beyond the shareholders' understanding.

This crude oil barrel production line, due to a lack of skilled workers, could only produce ten or twenty finished products per day during the trial production phase. The output would only increase once the local Tianjin workers were fully trained in the future.

Of course, many factors determined the output, among which tinplate was the key.

Tinplate, which could only be produced at the Kiln District's Steel Plant, needed to be shipped a thousand miles by sea to Tianjin; this was the greatest limiting factor.

For the same reason, the price of Whisky in iron barrel packaging would be much higher. These easy-to-transport iron barrels would eventually become a special model for long-distance sales, exclusively supplied to areas with difficult transportation like Kouwai, Shanxi, and Menggu.

Meanwhile, the Beijing-Tianjin Region and the Canal Route would continue using the old-fashioned jarred liquor method to lower costs and expand the market.

The Transmigrators also had a plan in this regard: the reason it was called a Liquor Group was that, once they had the spare capacity later, they would naturally acquire several local porcelain kilns.

Like the distilleries, the acquired porcelain kilns would, with the support of advanced technology, produce high-quality, low-cost specialized liquor jars to perfect the industrial chain.

In short, once this capital beast, the Northern Liquor Group, chaotically charged into the ancient market of the seventeenth century and passed its incubation period, an earth-shattering transformation was bound to follow.

The beast manipulated by the Transmigrators would purposefully influence and change the old, archaic structures. The traditional merchants centered on Tianjin would all be swept up in the great tide, either actively or passively, and the best among them would ultimately transform smoothly and become the winners of this chaotic era.

As the saying goes, everything is hard at the beginning. After a flurry of activity, once the Transmigrators' northbound King's Rescue delegation had gained a firm foothold in Jinwei, sorted out their basic operations, and secured the local allied interests, half a month had unknowingly passed.

During this half month, the delegation had also done many things: repairing the base, purchasing horses, establishing various organizations, and constructing workshops—in short, very busy and very fulfilling.

However, when people get busy, they tend to forget things.

By the time the distillery began operating, certain individuals finally slapped their thighs: Oh no, damn it, they had completely forgotten about the Emperor.

One wondered what the Emperor, far away in Beijing, would feel if he learned that at this critical moment, a group of loyal officials was still holed up in Jinwei.

In any case, ever since the Transmigrators came ashore, Kong Peng, the Military Defense Circuit Assistant Surveillance Commissioner of Tianjin, who had been at odds with this group, had been telling everyone he met these days that Regional Commander Cao had no regard for sovereign or father, and under the pretense of rest and reorganization, was shamelessly engaging in commerce, spreading this news far and wide.

Well, since they had remembered the Emperor, they had better quickly check on the situation.

The current time point was already January 25, 1630. And the situation in the Capital had reached its final juncture.

From November 20 of the previous year to today, two months later, the Eight Banners Army led by Huang Taiji had fought a series of battles around the Capital's multiple city gates against the various armies coming to the King's Rescue.

During this period, the Ming Army had consistently suffered more defeats than victories, allowing the Eight Banners troops to rampage in the outer areas, and could only rely on the cannon fire from the city walls to defend to the death.

In this process, the Capital Region's defense system suffered heavy damage, with six military officers of the Regional Commander rank alone killed in action or captured.

And over a month earlier, Yuan Chonghuan had finally been seized by Chongzhen at the city wall and thrown into prison. This Ming-era satellite statesman, the great charlatan who boasted of the Five-Year Pacification of Liao, would be executed by slow slicing by Chongzhen in August of the latter half of this year.

So, at this point in late January, a major event about to occur was: Huang Taiji was going to withdraw his troops.

Yes, in the upcoming February, Huang Taiji would personally lead his troops, turn around, and capture a series of cities blocking his rear path, such as Tongzhou, Qian'an, and Zunhua. After this, the Eight Banners Army would slowly return beyond the passes, laden with the vast wealth and population they had plundered.

Therefore, it was time to organize the troops and prepare to strike a blow against the Eight Banners soldiers!

So how to organize the troops... naturally, by posting notices.

On this very day, the 25th, notices were posted in all the bustling spots throughout the streets of Jinwei: Recruitment.

At first glance, the content of the notice was very simple: Grand Regional Commander Cao from the south would soon be setting out to fight the Tartars, and therefore needed to recruit 600 Auxiliary Soldiers locally to assist the Main Soldiers under Lord Cao.

However, upon closer inspection, the content of this recruitment was anything but simple.

The conditions for Auxiliary Soldiers on the notice required "Marksmanship and Horsemanship," "superior martial skill," and "priority for those who have seen blood and been on the battlefield."

What kind of Auxiliary Soldier recruitment was this? Even personal troops and household retainers weren't treated this well! …No onlooker could help but scoff.

But as they read further down, the onlookers could scoff no longer.

The compensation for these 600 Auxiliary Soldiers was as follows: all who passed the selection would receive a settling-in fee of one hundred taels of silver (paid immediately), and General Daren would be Responsible For providing a full set of armor, horses, and weapons (One Person, two horses).

In addition, the Auxiliary Soldiers' Monthly Salary was a jaw-dropping thirty taels of silver per month (paid daily). The important part three times: paid daily, paid daily, paid daily.

Note, the above was merely the Wages for assisting — they would not need to take the field and join Battle.

At the very end of the notice, General Daren also made a public promise: if any Temporary Battle occurred while on campaign, then regardless of victory or defeat, General Daren would distribute an extra bonus in the Aftermath. If anyone could render meritorious service in battle, then General Daren would Be Sure To recommend him for an official post.

Finally, the time and address: tomorrow morning, at the Old Parade Ground.