Chapter 336 Preparing to Sell Sorghum Liquor

After leaving the study, Shen Xiangwan took Yuanyue to the warehouse at the workshop. Before leaving that day, she filled all the warehouses with sorghum and medicinal materials, which were enough for the brewing workshop and the ointment workshop to use for two or three months. Therefore, even though she was not at home, the two workshops resumed operation on time on the ninth day of the first lunar month under Yue Ruyan's arrangement.

"Late night."

Seeing her from afar, Aunt Wang greeted her more enthusiastically than before. The villagers working in the workshop also raised their heads one after another, and everyone's face was filled with bright smiles. Who in the village was not grateful to her now? Because of her, they not only got rid of poverty, but also every household had at least dozens of taels of silver in savings, which was something they had never dared to think about before.

"Aunt Wang."

Seeing her, Shen Xiangwan also curled up the corners of her lips. She had always maintained a good relationship with Zhao Dashan and his wife.

"You are finally back."

Coming up to her, Aunt Wang smiled sincerely and said that she hadn't seen her for more than a month and she missed her a lot.

"I've wanted to come back for a long time, but I have too many business partners and can't come back. No matter how prosperous the capital city is, it's not as good as our Yong'an Village."

Yuanying had reported this to her before, and they all told others that she and Wei Chengyi went to the provincial capital to visit their elders and business partners.

"You always say nice things. How can our Yong'an Village compare with the capital city?"

Aunt Wang was amused by her and didn't take her words seriously at all. What kind of place is the prefectural capital? It is even larger and more prosperous than the county town. Yong'an Village is simply not comparable to it.

"Why can't we compare?"

Raising her eyebrows, Shen Xiangwan walked into the workshop while speaking. Everyone would take the initiative to greet her and then continue to work hard. She would also respond with a smile and casually check on their work status. Even though every household had extra money, they still worked as hard as before and were not lazy at all. Although Shen Xiangwan didn't say it, she was very satisfied in her heart.

"Aunt Wang, I heard you are going to build a new house?"

After checking the working status of each group, Shen Xiangwan chatted with Aunt Wang again. There was still a lot of idle space in the workshop, so she planned to start the wine workshop next. The army was already recruiting soldiers on a large scale. The more soldiers there were, the greater their expenses would be, so they had to make more money.

"Yes, the old man plans to find the master who helped you build the house before, and build a bright blue brick and tile house for your family."

Speaking of this, Aunt Wang's face is about to break with laughter. Last year, before they started slaughtering pigs, they decided to build a new house after the New Year. At that time, they thought of building a small green-tiled house. Who could have thought that the pigs they raised could be sold for so much money? So after discussing with their sons, they decided to go all out and build a large green brick and tile house. They also wanted to buy some more residential land and build a bigger house than the current one, and cover the entire backyard with pig pens.

"The cost of a brick and tile house is a little high, but it is strong and durable, much better than a mud and thatched house. It will be no problem to pass it down to your grandchildren from generation to generation."

Hearing this, Shen Xiangwan said half-jokingly and half-seriously that all the houses in the village were low mud and thatched houses, and many of the walls were cracked. If there was an earthquake or something, they would collapse in an instant, causing unimaginable casualties. She still agreed with them being willing to use the money they earned to build large blue brick and tile houses.

"Haha... you're right." Aunt Li laughed even more happily. Then Shen Xiangwan chatted with her about some family matters, and left with Yuanyue at almost You time.

The next day, when Shen Xiangwan woke up, Wei Chengyi had already left, and Ji Shaohan left with him. This time they were only hunting down the masters of the Dragon Shadow Guard, not destroying them, so it would be better to have a good group of people rather than a large number. Only Yuan Shu and two guards went with him, and everyone else stayed in Yong'an Village to protect Shen Xiangwan and the Wei family.

Since they had decided to open a wine workshop, there was no need to procrastinate. Shen Xiangwan asked Yuan Yue to find the kiln factory that had been cooperating with them and ordered 10,000 two-jin porcelain bottles. He also personally took Yuan Ying to visit the house in the county town and brought back dozens of carts of grapes. He asked Aunt Wang to dispatch a dozen people to help wash and remove the seeds.

After two days of hard work, Shen Xiangwan finally put all the grapes into the wine vats for fermentation. By the time the ordered porcelain bottles arrived, the fermentation was almost done.

"As soon as I knew that the brewery was changing to brewing sorghum wine, I bought the shop opposite and renovated it, waiting for the sorghum wine to mature."

After the New Year, what they brewed was not alcohol, but sorghum wine. At present, the first batch of sorghum wine has been matured. Shen Xiangwan called Cheng Yusheng back. She wanted to discuss with him about buying a shop and opening a winery, but she didn't expect that he had already arranged it and she didn't need to worry about it at all.

"Okay, then you decide on the arrangements."

Her subordinates are capable, and she is happy to be a hands-off boss, but...

"I don't plan to make money from Kaoliang wine. I'll sell it in bulk at 20 wen per catty. People who need to buy wine can bring their own wine jugs to hold it. In addition, we will make hardcover editions of 5 catties, 10 catties, and 50 catties. The prices are 200 wen, 400 wen, and 4 taels of silver respectively. What do you think?"

The wines of this era were basically brewed from grains and were expensive. The worst ones cost more than ten cents per pound, while the better ones could cost several taels or even dozens of taels per pound. Compared with those wines, she felt that her pricing was already very reasonable. Moreover, the quality of their sorghum wine was particularly high, enough to compete with all the good wines on the market.

“Isn’t it too cheap?”

Cheng Yusheng couldn't help but frown. He had also drunk sorghum wine. He wasn't bragging, but their sorghum wine was in no way inferior to the imperial tribute wine. Twenty cents a catty was too much of a waste of such a good thing. Moreover, many parts of the country were suffering from drought, and the price of grain was rising again and again. Naturally, the price of wine brewed from grain also rose. As far as he knew, sorghum flour was already selling for seven cents a catty, and ten catties of sorghum could only make three catties of wine. At this price, they couldn't even recover their costs.

"It's not cheap anymore. I want to make it affordable for the people."

Shen Xiangwan had no intention of wavering. After thinking for a while, he continued, "How much money can ordinary people have? If we want to make money, we'll make money from the rich. When the wine comes out, it will be their turn to bleed heavily."

On the surface, the price she set was indeed not enough to cover her capital investment, but she grew the sorghum in the space, and at most she only spent some seeds. Even if she added the labor costs for brewing and selling, she still made a profit. However, there was no need to explain these things one by one, she just needed to know the number in her mind.

"Ok."

Seeing her insistence, Cheng Yusheng had to compromise. Then the two discussed some matters about opening a shop. That afternoon, an endless stream of horse-drawn carriages carried the sealed sorghum wine to the county town.

【End of this chapter】

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