The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Chapter 170: Chapter 0170: The Leader is in Need of a Secretary
The Soap Making Workshop is soon to bring in good profits.

The peanut processing workshop is also about to yield decent profits. Among the newly purchased serfs, several chefs were assigned to study tasty peanut recipes. They have already developed peanut butter, peanut brittle, salt and pepper peanuts, and deep-fried peanuts, which are sold in small batches by the Thorn Caravan.

The response has been very good, and many nobles who have tasted these delicious peanuts have expressed their desire to purchase in large quantities next time.

The peanut yield of Fresh Flower Town is insufficient, as are the workers. The head of the peanut processing workshop, Chef Lucas, has entrusted the Thorn Caravan to purchase shelled peanuts from North Valley City.

“Well done,” Liszt gave only verbal praise before leaving. The entire peanut processing workshop was his idea; these people were mere executors, devoid of creativity.

He preferred to use gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins to encourage creativity and discovery, to establish models, rather than to encourage hard work—because the serfs were supposed to work hard in the first place.

The last stop was the Brewing Workshop.

Frank Dregs could brew fruit wine, Bording could brew rice wine, Huntera could brew beer, and now all were busy brewing, striving to produce as soon as possible to earn income for the workshop. Unfortunately, there was no one in the workshop who knew how to brew spirits or make grape wine.

Ordinary grape wine is no different from fruit wine.

But craft grape wine requires high levels of expertise and careful selection of grapes. The technology for dry, semi-dry, sweet and semi-sweet varieties of grape wine is all different.

Only the Tulip Castle on Coral Island possessed the technique for sweet grape wine brewing; their Crescent Moon Wine was sweet and sharp, famous throughout the Grand Duchy.

The Raz Manor cellar red wine that Liszt had tasted at Long Taro Castle was an exquisite example of dry grape wine.

These techniques were closely guarded secrets held exclusively by the big nobles.

It was the same with spirits.

As distillates, the production process for spirits is even more complex, monopolized by the big nobles. Spirits like juniper wine were not always available for purchase.

Therefore, the Fresh Flower Town’s Brewing Workshop could only brew some simple fermented wines.

After inspecting the workshop, Liszt began to ponder, “If I remember correctly, distilled spirits are made only by adding the step of distillation to fermented wines… It seems to involve using the difference in vaporization temperature between alcohol and water to purify the alcohol, and repeated distillation yields high-proof spirits.”

Because he did not enjoy drinking, his research in this field was limited.

He had read about distillation in many novels before; it seemed straightforward, so he had some vague recollection of it.

“Perhaps, I could get the Brewing Workshop to research distillation techniques. It’s possible they could produce spirits and add another specialty to Fresh Flower Town,” he thought.

Rice wine is a type of alcohol fermented from grains.

Spirits are also essentially brewed from grains.

Liszt wondered if distilling rice wine could result in spirits.

So he called over three brewers, “I have a task for you. Remember, this task is highly confidential, and if anyone should leak it, their entire family will be whipped to death!”

The three brewers’ buttocks tensed, and they all responded, “We swear to keep the secret of the task!”

“Good. I have obtained a formula, which claims that spirits are derived by distilling rice wine. By heating rice wine, turning it into steam, then directing that steam elsewhere to cool it into water, the water in the rice wine is removed, and what remains is the spirit… Try to figure it out several times and strive to brew Fresh Flower Town’s spirits as soon as possible!”

The three brewers were somewhat confused by the explanation.

However, they promptly responded, “Please rest assured, Lord Landlord, we will brew spirits as soon as possible.”

The task was assigned.

Liszt felt another special product from Fresh Flower Town beckoning him, and he even thought of a name for it at this moment: “Let’s call it Fresh Flower Brew. Yes, it should come in different classes. The low-alcohol Fresh Flower Brew could be known as a five-year vintage, while the higher-alcohol ones could be referred to as ten-year, even twenty-year vintages, or we could have a hundred-year cellar aged variety, or why not five hundred years…”

Suddenly, he remembered that the Duchy of Sapphire had only a history of a little over one hundred and fifty years since its establishment, and before that, the island was probably only inhabited by monkeys.

“Forget the five-hundred-year vintage. Why not just make a vintage as old as the country itself? Just say that in the year the nation was founded, a brewer came to Coral Island and personally made a barrel of wine… There’s only one barrel, but we can produce a barrel every year, just like the ’82 Lafite that’s been drunk for so many years and never seems to run out.”

Thinking of wine sales, many classic examples immediately sprang to his mind.

But he also saw the risks: “In such a lucrative industry as liquor, it’s hard to ensure security without strong backing. We must cooperate with Tulip Castle.”

Business would be easy with the Tulip Castle’s banner flying overhead. As an Earl granted his title by the Grand Duke, Li Weiliam Tulip was most certainly one of the high-ranking figures in the Duchy of Sapphire.

Moreover, he also served as the Grand Duke’s horseman, having close contact with him every year.

Liszt didn’t mind having to share profits with Tulip Castle to fly its flag—it was indeed becoming clearer to him the more he integrated into this world, the importance of noble connections.

Levis, Li Vera, and even Lidun—all of them, no matter how much they might scheme against each other, were family. In times of crisis, they could provide help.

The Viscount of Little Papa Island was wiped out, and the separated Viscount of Da Pa Pa Island was still actively inquiring, urging the Grand Duke to find the murderer.

Liszt certainly hoped that the Tulip Family could grow strong, becoming a formidable tree that shielded against wind and rain.

The Li Dragon Horse moved so smoothly that there was hardly any feeling of motion.

Astride his horse, Liszt could think things through very well. His mind raced from one idea about profit sharing to another: “Speaking of monkeys, perhaps I could hype up some ‘Monkey Liquor’? It doesn’t matter if Monkey Liquor actually exists, what matters is the gimmick.”

Nobles love extravagance.

Extravagance not only encompasses wearing gold and silver or owning gemstones and prestigious horses but also includes art and the pursuit of rare novelties. Monkey Liquor would certainly be considered a rare novelty.

“However, there are few nobles with deep roots—most are simply nouveau riche, not rich beyond three or four generations, including the Tulip Family, which has only risen to prominence in recent generations. They might not necessarily fancy something like Monkey Liquor; they are probably more interested in gemstones and Gold Coins.”

In any case, he could start by generating some buzz when selling the fruit wine.

Afterward, Liszt inspected a few other shops and workshops.

For the moment, Fresh Flower Town’s commercial district comprised only a bakery, a grocery store, and a barber. The workshop district had just a Smithy, Tanners’ Shop, Locksmith Store, Tailor Shop, Cooperage, the newly built Brewing Workshop, Soap Making Workshop, and Peanut Processing Workshop.

Many completed wooden houses stood vacant.

If not for the numerous Serfs paving roads, constructing buildings, and planting grass, Fresh Flower Town would look like a ghost village.

The addition of four hundred and seventy-six Serfs, distributed to the various settlements to farm the land, didn’t make much of an impact. The hundred or so skilled laborers who had been eagerly anticipated were mostly workers unable to independently support a shop or workshop; they could only go to work in the fields temporarily, wasting their artisanal skills.

“For the time being, the commercial district can only serve as a marketplace to accommodate the occasional caravans that pass by,” he said, looking at the empty houses with a sense of contemplation. “We need to focus on developing the workshop district first. After establishing it as a center for production and processing, we could then drive the growth of the commercial district.”

He gestured towards the commercial district.

He very much wanted to discuss how to build this or that here, but when he turned around, he saw that only Servant Thomas and a few Retainer Knights followed behind him.

They were all men of simple tastes.

His ambitions to elaborate grand plans were promptly stifled.

“A leader’s inspection usually entails local officials and people gathering around, or at the very least a couple of secretaries should follow me with little notebooks, ready to jot down whatever I say…”

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