Chapter 164: Unexpected

Wang Youshan often taught his son that when dealing with others, one should be neither servile nor overbearing, neither flaunt one's status nor belittle oneself, and treat friends with integrity. If you are always trying to curry favor, people will actually look down on you.

Ever since getting to know Zhao Jin, Wang Zhaojing found himself constantly praising the other. He had lost count of how many times he had said "the capable are capable of anything." He wondered if this would eventually make people look down on him.

But sometimes Wang Zhaojing could only smile wryly and mock himself. It truly wasn't flattery or currying favor—it really was that the capable are capable of anything. From the very start, he had not been optimistic about the distillery venture, and had even privately coordinated with their companions to pool money and bail Zhao Jin out. He never expected that Zhao Jin would actually brew a fine liquor praised even by his own father, a man of vast experience who had attended grand occasions. Good liquor never lacks buyers, but the series of moves Zhao Jin made multiplied the ease of selling it countless times over.

It clearly looked like Zhao Jin's methods were leaving money on the table—things like purchase limits and number tickets. Yet once these measures were implemented, customers from outside flocked to them all the more eagerly, further fueling the frenzy.

And what was rare was that, amid such a red-hot market, Zhao Jin remained calm, thinking long-term, thinking about how to sell even more. Wang Zhaojing had put himself in Zhao Jin's shoes and thought it through: if it were him, seeing so many people frantically scrambling for this liquor and its reputation so immense, he would certainly have prepared to position it as a top-tier premium brand. Yet Zhao Jin consistently insisted on the concept of making it a commodity for the masses. Upon careful analysis, that philosophy was the correct one.

How could such planning not be called "turning stone into gold"?

Born into a military household, the son of a constable and executioner, trained in martial arts since childhood, yet knowledgeable in astronomy, geography, and the principles of investigating things to extend knowledge, understanding of business, and seemingly having secretly read many books as well—how could such a person not be described as "the capable are capable of anything"?

After Mid-Autumn passed, the days seemed to speed up considerably. The people of Xuzhou, who had not enjoyed the heat for many days, quickly felt the chill, and everyone began adding layers of clothing.

The second and third steamers at Floating Fragrance Distillery also began producing liquor, with three more steamers under construction. The price of Han Well Famous Liquor was voluntarily lowered to fifty wen per jin. Everyone sighed in admiration at Zhao Jin's benevolence, though few remembered that when the liquor first went on sale, it had been thirty-five wen per jin.

However, adding two steamers more than doubled the output, since everyone's skills had grown somewhat more practiced. But the base volume had never been large to begin with; doubling it only meant about thirty more jars of liquor per day. As a result, the price slowly crept back up to around seventy wen.

They earned a great deal, but just as much flowed out. Floating Fragrance Distillery bought up several neighboring plots of land, razing the houses and courtyards to rebuild. Fortunately, the distillery was located in the south of the city, where land was extremely cheap, and there had been few households around the original distillery site anyway, so this was fairly simple.

Then Zhao Jin placed deposit orders with the grain merchants in the city, and through Dong Bingfeng's side, also made arrangements with the people of Xuzhou Garrison. The distillery's consumption of sorghum was growing larger and larger—if the supply were cut off, it would be a huge problem. The grain merchants naturally bought and sold grain, while the Xuzhou Garrison were major landowners with grain to sell.

The Commander and the Chiliarchs held the garrison's military farmlands, driving the military households to till them, and each year they collected vast amounts of grain. But now it was autumn, when grain was cheap and cash was dear—in spring it was the reverse. These prominent figures of the garrison had no worries about food or clothing, yet they always took a loss when it came time to sell for cash. Zhao Jin placing large deposit orders for bulk purchases—though the unit price was not high, the sheer volume made up for it—felt like a good deal to both sides.

It wasn't just the Dong family that benefited from Zhao Jin opening this distillery. The stills and steamers required firewood and fuel. There wasn't much to burn within Xuzhou city itself; firewood and coal had to be purchased. This brought a major business opportunity to Chen Sheng's family charcoal yard. Their family already had the corresponding supply channels, so it was mutually beneficial and convenient.

Shi Manqiang's family forged all kinds of implements and tools. Nowadays, among the artisan workshops inside and outside Xuzhou city, who didn't know that Master Shi of the south city had extensive connections and booming business? Anyone wanting to get work had to properly curry favor with him.

Ji Xiang's side was not idle either. The Ji family had contracted the logistics and meals for the freight yard and the distillery. Managing the daily meals for several hundred people—the comings and goings of that alone was a huge business and operation. Ji Xiang's father had plenty of ideas. Seeing that Zhao Jin insisted on feeding his hired hands meat, he simply set up a pig farm near the south gate and raised pigs himself. The reason for this business wasn't that the meat could be sold for money, but that the distiller's grains used as pig feed were cheap. When he calculated it all out, the profit was truly not low.

The distillery's hired hands expanded to over eighty people, plus six craftsmen who had worked in distilleries before and possessed the skills. With more people inside, there were also more outside. Some of them looked like unfamiliar faces, not at all the idle loafers of the city, constantly trying to sneak their way in for one reason or another. If the guards and household troops hadn't been keeping strict watch, they would have gotten in.

To guard against these people, and also to better gather outside information, Liu Yong's men grew more and more numerous. Aside from a dozen or so core trusted operatives, there were also many who were simply paid to gather news. As things stood, Liu Yong could be considered someone who commanded over a hundred men.

With an operation like that, he was already a figure of some note in the south city. At some point, the address used by the south city hoodlums and ruffians for Liu Yong had undergone several changes, from Little Yong to Brother Yong, and now it was already Master Yong.

The Wang family did not exactly bask in reflected glory, but then again, the Wang family had no interest in such things. Aside from occasionally participating by writing signboards and inscriptions, Wang Zhaojing spent most of his time on his studies.

Sun Dalei's family were businesspeople, so he had a family-learned familiarity with such matters. The moment this liquor was produced, he knew there was big money to be made. He bought several jars out of his own pocket and sent them to Yutou Town to be sold, thinking he could open up a sales route. He never expected that no news would come back from there, which left him quite dejected.

As the distillery expanded and the craftsmen and hired hands increased, the household troops guarding the distillery also had to increase. The household troops were expanded to two hundred men. There were actually many more qualified candidates, but Zhao Jin did not recruit them all. He knew he had to maintain a sense of proportion. Having several hundred able-bodied men under his command, and armed at that, training openly and in grand fashion every day—no matter how you put it, that would make people wary. If he went too far, he would certainly invite suspicion.

What others found strange was that Zhao Jin's most important concern at present should be the distillery. With such a treasure bowl that raked in gold daily and could build connections in all directions, he ought to be tending to it wholeheartedly. Yet no matter how busy Zhao Jin was, he would always set aside half a day to personally train these household troops.

It was still grueling, but somewhat easier than with the first batch, because those first household troops had already been trained to a passable standard and could now teach and guide the newcomers.

As the weather turned cold, the sales growth of Han Well Famous Liquor accelerated. The price written on the signboard in front of Floating Fragrance Distillery had risen to eighty wen per jin, and supply still could not meet demand. This was because the total monthly supply was still not large, while awareness of it spread further and further. People across Xuzhou Prefecture—one prefectural seat and four counties—all had demand. Aside from the prefectural city itself, Feng County, Dangshan, Xiao County, and Pei County all now had carts coming regularly to purchase.

The expanded distillery had enclosed another well. However, according to Lu Xiangjiu, at most four more steamers could be opened within the city. If they wanted to further increase production, they would have to find a location outside the city. This was because transporting large quantities of sorghum and firewood in and out incurred costs for shipping and storage. Not to mention that airing the brewing grain required a large open yard, the fermentation cellars for the brewing grain also needed a great deal of space, and in winter they required artificial heating. All of this demanded large grounds. No matter how much they expanded in the south city district, there would always be limitations.

Moreover, at the current rate of sales, large-scale expansion and increased production was not a blind move. The buyers who came to purchase liquor now could no longer be bothered to taste it, because after all these days, while the flavor of each jar might vary slightly, it never varied by much. Everyone had come to trust that Floating Fragrance Distillery could consistently produce such fine liquor. Trust was followed by an expansion of demand. Many shopkeepers and merchants sought out Zhao Jin, saying they hoped the distillery would expand and that they were willing to fund it by paying silver in advance.

According to Chen Hong's rough calculations, if all this advance money could be realized, building a distillery twice the current size might not even require Zhao Jin to put up his own money.

This was silver placed right before his eyes—not taking it would be foolish. But Zhao Jin restrained himself. He understood clearly that within this city of Xuzhou, he could more or less protect his parents and his family's property. If he left this city, there would likely be trouble. For now, caution had to come first.

On the seventh day of the ninth month, not long after Zhao Jin arrived at the trading company, an unexpected guest came to visit.

Handsome and refined like jade, with an effortless, graceful bearing, he was a middle-aged man who looked even more like the scion of an aristocratic family than Wang Zhaojing. Yet this man was a Buddhist monk—none other than Monk Ruhui, who had previously represented Cloud Mountain Temple in negotiating peace with Zhao Jin.

The area around the freight yard was now encircled by a fence, giving it quite the appearance of a military encampment. Monk Ruhui stood alone by the gate, peering inside. Not far behind him was a parked carriage, and two other monks stood off to the side chatting idly.

Monk Ruhui was very interested in the drilling of Zhao Jin's household troops. What others found dull, he watched with rapt attention for a long while. At first, Zhao Jin did not notice his presence. Even with the veteran troops teaching and guiding them, these new recruits still couldn't tell left from right, and still had the problem of panicking at verbal commands. No matter how much Zhao Jin tried to keep his composure, he couldn't help but roar loudly, swinging his staff and lashing out fiercely. It was only when Lei Cai came over to pass on a message and alert him that Zhao Jin noticed Monk Ruhui.

Although Zhao Jin harbored deep loathing for everyone at Cloud Mountain Temple, his impression of Monk Ruhui was not bad, because this monk, who resembled a celebrated scholar, was completely different from the overbearing, strongman-style monks like Runan and Ruding.

Noticing Zhao Jin looking his way, Monk Ruhui smiled, pressed his palms together in greeting, and saluted him from a distance.

Since he had come calling, and the two sides had already made peace before, Zhao Jin was not going to shut the door in his face. He directly invited Monk Ruhui into a detached courtyard within the freight yard.

All the houses and courtyards around the original freight yard had been bought up. Some were used as barracks, and some had been specifically converted for receiving guests. In truth, it couldn't really be called conversion—they had merely tidied up and rearranged the original rooms.

After Monk Ruhui took his seat, someone brought in a tea set and hot water. Zhao Jin personally rose to brew tea for his guest. Monk Ruhui smiled and thanked him, glanced around the simple and spartan reception room, and said leisurely, "Young Master Zhao is now renowned throughout Xuzhou, with a vast fortune. I never expected your personal accommodations to be so simple, without even a single attendant to serve you."