Chapter 235: Correcting the Golden Toad

Xu Jia, however, did not know that he could actually rely on a bit of the reputation of the Heavenly Master Xu from back then to scare this old flood dragon into such a state of terror.

In fact, Xu Jia also felt some pressure in his heart about going to Poyang; after all, Xu Jia had previously had a dream about beheading a dragon, and it was incomparably real.

It seemed to be his destined path, that he had such a mission to complete the finishing work left behind by Heavenly Master Xu Xun.

However, Xu Jia also had to go there once. Regarding the matter of governing demons in the Jiangnan West Circuit, once this flood dragon was subdued, he imagined there would be no others left unsubdued.

But not right now.

Xu Jia discussed the Dharma with his mother again. Xu Mu said, "My heart has become increasingly withered and silent lately. I used to always say that chanting the Buddha's name was chanting to oneself, to pray for blessings and safety for you all, but now I actually have some thoughts of becoming a nun."

"Becoming a nun or staying at home, it is all the same." Xu Jia did not want his family to be scattered and separated, with one in a Daoist temple, one in a Buddhist monastery, and one in an academy.

"Besides, where could an outside Daochang be as comfortable as our own family's Daochang?"

Xu Jia said, "You also said before that Dizang An is not a good place. Places with many people are full of scheming and intrigue. Monks are not necessarily able to discard the seven emotions and six desires. If you go there, apart from becoming disillusioned with Buddhism, identifying with Poxun, and feeling sorrow for the Dharma, I really don't know what you could gain."

Xu Mu changed her tone: "You live in seclusion anyway. If you want to build a Daoist temple on the mountain and move there to live, why can't I go to a Buddhist monastery?"

"These family assets and wealth will all be invested under your Daoist temple's name. Once your father passes the provincial examination, he will naturally have his own clan assets invested under his name."

"Mother, if you have something to say, just say it directly."

"I don't want a fake grandson to fool me," Xu Mu said. "I want a real grandson."

The fake grandson was naturally Xu Jian, the Caiyu Earth Immortal True Person, who was like a three-year-old child from an ordinary family after only three months.

There was also another fake grandson, Sheng Ying, who was a Fire Essence drought demon, also a monster-type character, and extremely mischievous.

Xu Jia thought about it: "A real grandson is fine too."

He then tentatively called out: "Grandmother?"

Xu Mu almost blacked out.

Xu Jia had already slipped away, heading to Xianzhi Valley.

Since the Ginseng Fruit, this type of internal medicine, was not easy to give away to others, he would see if the small Spirit Horse could enter the Inner Landscape Heaven and Earth and also serve as some kind of Spirit Root to grow a type of small medicine.

Xianzhi Valley had changed its appearance now. The original look of Lan Shi Huo could hardly be seen anymore. Here, there was the Jin Chan Miao, and secondly, the Shishen Miao; it was the Daochang of Jinchan Duobao, Hai Sanniang, and Lao Zhupo. Even though it was rainy, humid, and sultry, no Miasma Qi had grown.

Outside Xianzhi Valley were several hundred acres of fertile fields, with streams gurgling past, and waterwheels transporting water to higher ground, forming terraced fields.

By the edge of the opening, there was a newly built manor. The manor was like a small village, with over a hundred households inside. At this moment, they were peeling persimmons, stringing up the persimmons that had grown large but were not yet fully ripe, and hanging them on the drying ground.

If the sun was not out, they would be moved to the adjacent shade-drying room, where baking them with a stove was about the same.

These persimmons were generally dried for about ten days, by which time they were relatively dry and could be stored for a long time.

The aroma of the persimmon sugar from the drying persimmons attracted quite a few bees. These bees were kept here in hives set up by people who specialized in beekeeping, and when the persimmon flowers bloomed, they could pollinate the persimmons.

Next to the persimmon drying ground was the persimmon wine yard. The fully ripe persimmons, which were hard to sell for money and could not be made into persimmon cakes, were brewed into wine here.

Some women and children were here cleaning and drying them. After drying, they were transported inside. The Daoist from Shanju Guan who was best at brewing wine, along with Niu Dafu's family, were here doing the work of brewing persimmon wine.

Persimmons, mixed grains, rice husks, and a messy pile of ingredients were all piled together to ferment.

This wine was not farm-style rice wine; it was "distilled spirits," meaning distilled wine. The Daoists of Shanju Guan themselves were masters of the distillation process; they were very proficient in alchemy, making gunpowder bombs, or even Daoist music.

Their method of brewing wine did not take long; in seven or eight days, they could start distilling, and they had already produced quite a lot of distilled spirits.

It was just that the equipment and facilities were scarce. Working without rest, in three shifts, they could only produce a little over a hundred catties of wine a day. Now they were expanding production.

The distilled spirits were strong, and since they were brewed from persimmons, they carried a unique flavor. Through the marketing of Jinchan, they could already be sold for two taels of silver per jar, with each jar holding ten catties. Selling a hundred catties a day meant a daily income of twenty taels, which was already considered quite good—six hundred taels a month. Even counting labor and factory costs, it would be earned back in just a month or two.

Niu Dafu was in the manor at this time. He was grinning, with a smile on his face. Doing the medicinal herb business required traveling all over, but doing this distilled spirits business carried absolutely no risk.

He had previously thought that his own son had been bewitched by evil spirits, but now he only wanted to say that it was fortunate he had not obstructed him.

It was not just this distilled spirits that made money; the few formulas Xu Jia had given were also continuously making money, just not as quickly as selling this wine.

He saw Xu Jia and immediately put on a fawning face: "Virtuous nephew, this is truly..."

Xu Jia saw that his wealth was flourishing and knew that Jinchan had lent him Yin Debt, and would collect interest and principal later, though he imagined it would not turn into a debt ghost.

"True Person, selling these distilled spirits so ordinarily is the biggest waste. Distilled spirits are potent; using them to soak medicinal herbs is the best." The Daoist who brewed the wine was named "Liu Zhenju," a man with a red face like Guan Gong, and a tall, thin build.

He said, "This distilled spirits, without adding persimmons and purely brewed from mixed grains, is the essence of grain. It is the best for soaking Nine-Refined Solomon's Seal, and also excellent for soaking the Five Poisons. Solomon's Seal wine taken internally can strengthen kidney essence, while Five Poisons wine used externally can dispel evil Qi, clear meridians, and treat bruises and injuries."

"Taking this wine to offer to ancestors, these spirits receive the wine vapor and are actually more nourishing than receiving Dharma Water or nectar; it is a superior offering."

"Then develop a few more products." Xu Jia did not like to manage these things too much and only said: "Wine is a thing that is both good and bad. If you consume it for health, you have strength; if he consumes it, he beats his wife and children. You must not be unscrupulous just for the sake of selling things, boasting that this cures all diseases or strengthens the yang and tonifies the kidneys."

Niu Dafu laughed: "Virtuous nephew need not worry about this. We sell it at a high price. Ordinary commoners brew their own rice wine. Those who can afford our wine at two taels a jar are all wealthy families or large restaurants. They don't have to sell it by the jar; even if they sell it by the pot, can't they sell a pot for eighty or a hundred wen? Our wine is pure white, and those scholars call it 'Wine Spring.' Our manor is now called Jiuquan Manor."

Xu Jia thought that was true. Nowadays, a household's monthly expenses were only two taels of silver; how could they afford wine at two taels a jar? He immediately summoned Jinchan. Jinchan was already here, but he saw that it could already leave the Treasure Basin and move freely.

"You left the Treasure Basin, what about the Yin Demon?"

"That Yin Demon has already signed a slave contract with me," Jinchan Duobao said with a grin. "Thanks to you, Master, for refining the Three Sovereigns Ten Thousand People Umbrella, that Yin Demon Daojing sensed the fate of those three demons and was scared to death, begging to work for me, fearing being refined into a magic treasure and never having a day of relief."

"Heh," Xu Jia sneered. "Don't be fooled by the Yin Demon."

He then asked about the wine.

Jinchan looked regretful: "I sold it too cheaply. I'll go to Jingdezhen to get a batch of beautiful bottles, pour the wine into them, and one bottle will hold one catty. This one catty could sell for two taels of silver; now a whole jar is only two taels."

"I'm currently hoodwinking the officials. If officials don't drink Jiuquan wine, aren't they failing to be officials?"

"I've already given it a new name, called Palace Jade Liquid Wine."

"One hundred and eighty a cup?"

"Master Xu, you are truly amazing! This wine should be sold by the cup!"

Xu Jia immediately chanted the toad's true name several times, and immediately cursed the toad until it was dying.

"Master Xu, stop chanting, stop chanting! I was wrong! I was wrong!"

Xu Jia chuckled: "Are you really wrong, or falsely wrong? I granted you this ability to benefit the people, and you are here playing scams on me."

"No scam, no scam!" Jinchan said pitifully: "I was wrong!"

Xu Jia chanted for a while before letting him off: "Just sell the wine honestly. Don't drag in any official wine culture; it's easy to ruin the country."

He then said: "Develop production more, encourage the expansion of production. Playing with financial concepts is fine, but finance itself does not create value; it is the value of exploited laborers gathered into capital. Most of your capital's methods are not necessarily bright, so I want you to turn evil into good. Currently, it seems you lack righteous energy and need supervision and regulation."

"Besides, there is another Yin Demon beside you causing confusion. This Yin Demon, I want to refine it into the umbrella, which is indeed a bit redundant... but it's not impossible to refine something else."

The Golden Toad wore a look of "I am already honest, please let me go."

Xu Jia said, "Wealth is secondary; only with virtue can one win the hearts of the people. A business like yours cannot last long; it is merely a game of passing the parcel, and it sets a very bad precedent. This distilled liquor is already very expensive at two taels a jar; there is no need to hype it up any further."

"Otherwise, when the common people think about how a single pot of your wine costs a month's worth of expenses, I fear our support among the people will dissipate."

Upon hearing this, the Golden Toad finally realized, "Master Xu, you are the one who thinks long-term!"

"After gradually expanding production, you should lower the price of this distilled liquor so that ordinary commoners can afford it too. That way, their sense of happiness will rise—thinking that while only officials could drink it before, now I can drink it too."

The Golden Toad had directly opened the door to a new world.

"Whatever it is, it doesn't matter if it's expensive when it first appears, but it cannot remain expensive forever. If you keep selling expensive goods, you must keep innovating and developing. Constant development is my goal. Now it is persimmon wine, later it will be Solomon's seal wine, mulberry wine, green plum wine, waxberry wine..."

"Of course, I am not just talking about wine, but also other things. For example, weaving. If the current looms can be improved, the quality of the cloth will be higher and the output greater; wouldn't that mean more money can be made? Once it is promoted everywhere, it will naturally become cheaper, and then there will be new categories. First it was coarse cloth, then fine cloth, and after that, things like silk and satin..."

Speaking of this, Xu Jia began to think that perhaps the next time he returned to the America Tongtian Temple Daochang, he could have them burn some blueprints over, such as the Spinning Jenny and its revised versions... to set up cloth factories and porcelain factories in Jiangnan West Circuit, then pass through Poyang, enter the Yangtze River, and from the Yangtze River enter the sea to be sold overseas.

Then, preaching should not be limited to Jiangnan West Circuit; Min and Nansheng should be preached in even more, as those two provinces are also the ones where the Longevity Sect is most rampant.

There are high-quality ports there, as well as people who understand maritime technology. Although Xu Jia is a Heavenly Master who understands many folk minor arts, when it comes to navigation, aviation, and aerospace, he is truly completely ignorant.

Xu Jia talked to the Golden Toad about the Silk Road, about maritime trade, and also about trade deficits and how to make money...

The Golden Toad listened and thus found a goal: "So our primary goal is the shipbuilding industry."

"Build small boats here, and build large ships when we reach Poyang." Xu Jia thought for a moment and said, "Shipbuilding can count as a goal."

The Golden Toad immediately understood: "Big Bao Ships, right? What we take out is silk, and what we bring back is silver and gold."

Xu Jia felt that the Golden Toad's awareness was still insufficient, but it could already be considered corrected; otherwise, if it continued to dig deep into the white liquor industry, he feared something would go wrong. Let's not have white liquor become the primary financial industry by then.

It was truly somewhat magical.

After talking with the Golden Toad, Xu Jia arrived at the Mushroom Forest.

At the center of the Mushroom Forest was that huge Stone Spirit Mushroom, and scattered around it grew some spirit mushrooms, all of which were intentionally cultivated.

The mud doll Liuziheng was guarding here. The Spirit Horse had been sucked by Xu Jia twice before and was already somewhat afraid of him, refusing to come out.

Moreover, this time Xu Jia wanted to cultivate a Spirit Root within his Inner Landscape Heaven and Earth, which meant swallowing the Spirit Horse into his belly. This little thing could naturally sense malice, so it kept hiding and refused to come out.

But this did not matter at all. Xu Jia sat cross-legged on the Stone Spirit Mushroom, sensing the Qi of the earth from the stone mushroom, and began to close his eyes to preserve his spirit, sensing the Earth Three Treasures.

(End of this chapter)