Chapter 45: Three Grades of Fine Wine

"It is absolutely true; the ice that has been selling like wildfire in Jinling recently comes from Yan Wang's trading firm."

"Oh, interesting. Since that is the case, then let him stay in Yanzhou." Zhao Heng walked forward, as if this matter had nothing to do with him.

Liang Cheng was stunned.

He wondered to himself if he had guessed this emperor's intentions wrong.

Or perhaps this emperor had truly become completely immersed in wine and women, losing interest in state affairs?

Staring at Zhao Heng's back, he muttered, "Ninth Prince, it is not that I, your servant, took the silver and did not get things done; it is truly that you do not catch the Emperor's eye."

Shaking his head, he instructed a young eunuch to deliver a letter to Noble Lady Mi, then turned back.

Zhao Heng, who was heading toward the Hougong, stopped in front of a rockery at this moment.

He sighed slightly and whispered to himself, "Xu, do not blame your Imperial Father for being heartless. In today's world, the ministers are strong and the sovereign is weak; the Yuan Family of Yanzhou are wolves and tigers! If your Imperial Father were to show you closeness now, I fear the Yuan Family would surely view you as a thorn in their side. Ignoring you is the only way to treat you well."

At this, he sighed again.

Although he did not value Zhao Xu much in the past.

Hearing Liang Cheng say that Zhao Xu had gained control of Yan Commandery still made him happy.

After all, no matter what, Zhao Xu was still his son, connected by blood.

Furthermore, the imperial family is the most heartless of all; he himself was once not favored by his own imperial father.

But what of it?

Given the current situation in the world, only an Imperial Prince with sufficient power can inherit the throne.

What use is it whether he likes it or not?

He believed Zhao Xu would understand this point.

It was just that he still did not expect Zhao Xu to be able to check the Yuan Family in Yanzhou.

Doing this was merely to save his life.

"If you were foolish, you might still live; but now, sigh..."

He glanced toward the North Territory and flicked his sleeves as he left.

Yancheng.

Ever since the Huang and Du families were dismantled, the gates of the Prince's Mansion were visited by guests almost every day.

Besides the Rich Clans from various counties of Yan Commandery coming to offer gifts and pay visits, there were also merchants who came by reputation to purchase Wine.

During the days when Zhao Xu was struggling against the Rich Clans, the footsteps of the merchants never ceased.

They had already sold the Prince's Mansion's Wine to every corner of Yanzhou.

Once the pure and sweet Wine from the Prince's Mansion was launched, it immediately crushed the locally famous Fine Wine and dominated the region.

And this attracted even more merchants to come to the Prince's Mansion to purchase.

The influence of the Prince's Mansion's Fine Wine in Yanzhou dispelled their final doubts.

Some merchants even borrowed Silver to buy Fine Wine to sell elsewhere, competing for their first pot of gold.

"Disperse, disperse, today's Wine is sold out."

Standing in front of the gate, Zhou Yi drove away the merchants who had blocked the entrance so tightly that not even water could pass through.

"Oh my, I've waited all day and still didn't get any, I'm furious."

"Me too, I'm not going back tonight; I'll sleep at the Prince's Mansion's gate until I get some."

"..."

The enthusiasm of the merchants who did not get Wine did not wane.

In this day and age, businesses that make a steady profit without risk are rare, and the Prince's Mansion's Fine Wine was one of them.

It is said that a merchant took one thousand jars of Fine Wine and exchanged them for one hundred horses.

One thousand jars of Wine only cost one thousand five hundred taels of Silver.

A horse can be sold for thirty taels, so with this one flip, three thousand taels of Silver were in hand, a net profit of one thousand five hundred taels.

Once this news spread, the merchants' eyes turned red, and they all thought of selling the Wine to even further places to make a fortune.

"Go, all of you go." Zhou Yi frowned and shouted again.

Seeing that the merchants were lingering and refusing to leave, he ignored them and closed the gate of the middle courtyard.

Entering the East Courtyard from the side gate of the middle courtyard, he found Yan Wang in the pavilion of the East Courtyard.

At this time, Yan Wang was writing something, and Feng'er and Luan'er were standing by watching.

"Your Highness, we should build more distillation tanks; there are truly too many merchants ordering Wine," Zhou Yi said.

Zhao Xu stopped his brush, "Do not be anxious. Once the courtyard behind the Prince's Mansion is tidied up, the Wine Workshop can be expanded;

there will be fifty distillation tanks inside."

These days, he naturally realized the level of popularity the Wine had.

So he bought a piece of residential property behind the Prince's Mansion.

These properties were all under renovation, and in the future, besides the Wine Workshop, other things would be produced there.

Zhou Yi nodded, "Your Highness, I will set off with Wang Yanzhong tomorrow. As for the affairs of the Prince's Mansion..."

Zhou Yi was only temporarily in charge of the miscellaneous affairs of the Prince's Mansion; his main task was still to go to various commanderies with Wang Yanzhong to recruit people.

Moreover, he himself did not like these trivial matters.

These past two days, Wang Yanzhong told him that preparations were ready, and he was so excited he didn't sleep last night.

Zhao Xu frowned; having taken back the power of the Government Office, Liu Fu was now a quasi-tutor to the Prince and was very busy.

Zhou Yi also had his role.

But this way, there would be no one to manage the miscellaneous chores of the Prince's Mansion.

The other servants were either clumsy or dull, and none of them pleased him.

"What is difficult about this? Your Highness might as well hand the management of the Prince's Mansion's miscellaneous affairs to this servant." Feng'er rolled her eyes and generously volunteered.

Zhao Xu had a sudden realization; Feng'er's sharp-tongued nature was indeed well-suited for management.

Moreover, she was close to him, making her the most suitable choice, and most importantly, he could trust her.

"That is true, how could I have forgotten you." Zhao Xu looked up at Feng'er, "Since that is the case, you shall take up the post now."

Zhou Yi breathed a sigh of relief, his whole body feeling light.

After taking his leave, he vanished in the blink of an eye.

"Come, Feng'er, let's handle this matter first." With only the three of them left, Zhao Xu pointed to the paper.

The Prince's Mansion's Wine still did not have a name.

It didn't matter when it had no reputation before.

But now that it was popular in Yan Commandery, not even having a name was too beneath its status.

In the present day, even if a product is terrible, one must pay attention to packaging.

After all, whether in ancient times or modern, having money is all about style and prestige.

At the same time, based on the merchants' reactions.

He intended to target different consumption levels by dividing the distilled Wine into three grades.

The highest grade was, of course, the current Wine, at fifteen Silver per jar.

For the second grade, he prepared to sell it at ten Silver per jar.

This type of Wine would have a lower alcohol content, followed by the third grade, with an even lower content, at five Silver per jar.

In this way, the Prince's Mansion's Wine could capture the entire high, middle, and low-end market.

Therefore, he had just been naming the main brand of the Wine, with three sub-names underneath.

For example, the official name of the Prince's Mansion's Wine was the two characters "Yan Dream".

From now on, the bottles containing the Prince's Mansion's Wine would be marked with the characters Xuan, Huang, and Hong below the name Yan Dream to distinguish the grades.

"Yes, Your Highness." Feng'er took the paper and went off happily.

She loved managing things the most, and having received this task, she was overjoyed.

Luan'er felt a bit envious; she also wished she could joke around with Yan Wang as openly as Feng'er.

However, her gentle nature made it impossible for her to let go.

She was looking at Feng'er when she suddenly felt her ear itch.

It turned out that Zhao Xu was blowing air into her ear.

Luan'er's face instantly turned bright red from shyness.

Zhao Xu laughed: "Do not be envious, I treat you and Feng'er equally."

Since Zhao Xu had woken up, Luan'er had become accustomed to Yan Wang's flirtatious remarks.

She and Feng'er had also wondered why Yan Wang's personality was so much more frivolous than it had been three years ago.

But there was no answer.

Zhao Xu's smile became increasingly mischievous.

Having been reborn, he made no effort to hide his true nature as a man.

Ruling the empire and having a Beauty by one's side—this is what life is about; why pretend to be a saint like Liu Xiahui while looking at two delicate Beauties?

Just then, as he was about to continue teasing Luan'er, he suddenly saw Feng'er turn back, her expression displeased.

Arriving before Zhao Xu, she handed a name card to him, "Your Highness, the Yuanzhou Prefect, Yuan Li, is outside requesting an audience."