A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 821 Exchanging Poetry for Wine
At lunchtime,
Li Yi specially summoned Wang Ji to the canteen of the Secretariat.

What kind of wine does Scholar Wang like to drink?

Scholar Wang looks very much like the portrait of Du Fu in Li Yi's textbook when he was studying. He has a thin face, many wrinkles, and a weathered expression.

A sparse beard, a melancholy gaze.

The blue robe he was wearing was somewhat worn, and there was even a small patch in an inconspicuous place.

"Any kind of alcohol will do."

"How about the Sangluo wine from Puzhou?" Li Yi took out a jar of wine, broke the seal, and the aroma of the wine filled the air.

Wang Ji sniffed his red nose, his eyes shining.

"Good wine, this is authentic Pucheng Sangluo."

He couldn't wait to pour himself a bowl, and took a big gulp.

"Yes, this is not only Pucheng Sangluo wine, but also wine brewed with water from the old well in Sangluofang in the city. It's a fine wine."

Li Yi was very impressed. "Scholar Wang is truly remarkable. He can tell what kind of wine it is just by smelling it, and after tasting it, he can even tell which winery it comes from."

"Nothing special, I used to drink a lot of this wine, but now I'm poor and destitute, and I haven't had it in a long time."

Li Yi smiled and extended an invitation, asking him to take charge of the official documents in his government office from now on.

He was granted a special allowance of one dou (a unit of volume) of fine wine daily.

"A supply of such fine wine every day is too extravagant. A cup of millet wine, which costs three coins at the West Market, would be enough for a whole dou." Wang Ji picked up his bowl and drank another cup.

The most common millet wine in the West Market costs three coins a bowl, the medium-quality wine costs eight coins a cup, and the better wine costs twenty coins a cup.

As for this kind of high-quality mulberry, the price is very expensive.

Some famous wines can even sell for ten thousand yuan a jug.

Scholar Wang enjoyed wine, but he wasn't particularly picky about it.

Li Yi admired his drinking capacity. He drank a dou (a unit of volume) a day. Although a dou in the Tang Dynasty was equivalent to only six sheng (another unit of volume) in modern times, six sheng of wine, whether it was millet, glutinous rice, or barley wine, still required a good capacity for drinking and a large stomach.

After a few large gulps of wine,

Wang Xueshi blushed slightly. He sat down and gladly accepted Li Yi's invitation, agreeing to work for Li Yi on writing from now on.

"This mulberry wine was first mentioned in the Commentary on the Waterways Classic and the Essential Techniques for the Common People. There was a man named Liu Duo in Hedong County who would make koji every winter by hanging a rope and brew wine with well water when the mulberry leaves fell. This wine was fragrant and sweet, and that was mulberry wine."

Although Sangluo wine contains the character "Sang" (桑), it is not made from mulberries. This wine is brewed from millet. The best time to brew this wine is when the temperature is low, so it is most suitable to brew it when the mulberries fall in the tenth month of the lunar calendar each year.

Since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Sangluo wine has been a famous wine in the north and was deeply loved by nobles and princes.

Even today, the mulberry wine brewed by the old well in Sangluofang, Pucheng, and the surrounding distilleries is even more precious. There is one distillery that claims to be a centuries-old brand, and its mulberry wine is almost always pre-ordered and bought up by princes and nobles every year.

The jar that Li Yi took out came from that winery.

Back when Wang Ji's family was doing well, he often drank that family's mulberry wine.

But now we're poor, and sometimes we can't even afford a bowl of millet wine that costs three coins.

He endured this job as a court attendant, which he disliked, only because of the three liters of millet wine he was provided with daily by the Secretariat.

Wei Zheng also came to freeload a drink.

"Good wine."

Wei Zheng was also quite familiar with Wang Ji. Back then, Wei Zheng had also gone to Longmen to listen to Wang Tong's lectures.

Li Yi then took out another gourd.

"Try my mulberry wine too."

The gourd was opened.

Pour the wine into the bowl.

It's purplish-red.

"This is a fruit wine made from top-quality mulberries, also known as purple wine. It has a fragrant aroma, a sweet and sour taste, a smooth body, and melts in your mouth."

It also has distinct layers, with a delightful interplay of sweet and sour flavors.

"This wine can also replenish blood and nourish health. If a woman has cold hands and feet, drinking this wine can improve her condition."

Seeing how amazing Li Yi described it,
Wang Ji took a sip and tasted it.

"It's somewhat similar to wine, but tastes even better." "This wine is good, but it's a bit too sweet for me. It might be more suitable for my wife." Wang Ji looked at the gourd. "May I ask for the rest of this purple wine to take back for my wife?"

Wang Ji's wife also enjoyed drinking.

When Wang Ji was living in seclusion in his hometown of Donggao, he wrote a poem hoping to meet a suitable partner.
The gist of the story is that on a breezy evening, he was drinking alone under the moon. This beautiful night was inevitably tinged with loneliness, and he longed for a confidante to play the zither and sing in the quiet night, and to talk and drink wine under the moon.

He hoped that he and she could live a secluded life in the countryside together, like Zhang Feng and Yuan Shi, and Lao Laizi and his wife, and grow old together.

Like Liang Hong, I am looking forward to marriage. If you, like Meng Guang, are also unmarried, then you may consider marrying me, so that we can live in seclusion in the mountains, love each other, and live in harmony.

This poem seeking a husband,
Later, he actually found a virtuous wife.

His virtuous wife accompanied him in his secluded life in the countryside, drinking wine with him under the moon and listening to him compose poems.

She personally brewed wine for him, and even got drunk at a wine-making festival in the countryside. Wang Ji didn't mind at all, and even wrote a poem for his wife.

Last year, he accepted the imperial court's summons to serve as an official, leaving behind his secluded rural life. In reality, it was only because he had a wife and children and didn't want to see them suffer so much.

For the sake of his wife and children, he was willing to humble himself and bow down for a meager living.

Every winter, his wife's hands and feet would get cold. When Li Yi told her that this purple wine could improve her cold hands and feet, she didn't care about being impolite and asked for the wine.

"I will send ten jars of mulberry wine and ten jars of purple wine to the scholar's family later."

“I can’t afford that,” Wang Ji quickly refused.

"I need to trouble you, Scholar, with the help of soldiers to handle documents. This is nothing. Besides, I have a request."

"Please speak, Situ."

"I would like to invite Scholar Wang to taste the various wines in my household. If you find them good, please write a poem in response. I will not pay Scholar Wang any fee; we can exchange the poems for the wine. How about that?"

Wang Ji liked the suggestion very much and agreed with a smile.

Exchanging poems for wine is a refined pastime for scholars.

Selling poems for money is a completely different matter.

The prime ministers of the State Council had differing reactions to Li Yi's proposed plan for wine permits and wine taxes.

Wei Zheng felt that if it involved raising taxes, then it had to be done with utmost caution.

Du Ruhui directly supported Li Yi, believing it to be a good strategy.

Wang Gui then asked Li Yi about the scope of this wine tax collection. Li Yi's family was also a major wine producer, but in the past, they mostly used persimmons, pears, grapes, mulberries, and even sweet potatoes to make wine instead of grains.

Therefore, the alcohol in Li Yi's house was not included in the previous prohibition order.

Now that a liquor tax is to be levied, should the liquor in Li Yi's house also be subject to a liquor tax?
If Li Yi's wine is still not taxed, is that unfair?
Faced with Wang Gui's aggressive questioning, Li Yi simply stated that although his family brewed fruit wine instead of grain wine, since it was still wine, it should be taxed equally.

The Li family is willing to pay the same wine tax as the others, with a tax of two liters for every dou of wine.

They were even willing to follow the new policy and transport grain from the south to the five major granaries in the north in exchange for grain.

Li Yi had no intention of using public office for personal gain; he was even willing to take the lead in exchanging grain for permits and paying wine taxes.

Wang Gui could only shut up.

Yuwen Shiji believed that since there was no wine tax in the past, levying a wine tax now would eventually lead to higher wine prices, which would ultimately be borne by the common people.

Li Yi, however, said that alcohol is not a necessity for people's livelihood; firewood, rice, oil, salt, and cloth are the necessities for people's lives, not alcohol.

If you have the means and enjoy drinking, buy more; if you don't have the means but still enjoy drinking, buy less. Anyway, not drinking won't do you any harm.

The practice of exchanging grain for wine permits allowed for the use of civilian resources to transport grain from the south to the north, which could help resolve the impending food crisis.

This year's drought is mainly in the north, especially in the Guanzhong Plain and the Three Rivers region. The drought is not as severe in the Jianghuai Plain, Lingnan Plain, and even the southern Sichuan Basin. Therefore, the transfer of grain from the south to the north is crucial.

The key is how to solve the transportation capacity problem. Relying solely on the imperial court is not enough; we need to mobilize the enthusiasm of all parties.

Exchanging grain for official titles, posthumously bestowing honors upon ancestors, and granting official or student qualifications to children and grandchildren were all ways to utilize the power of the common people to transport grain. Now, having wine merchants transport grain in exchange for wine licenses is the same thing.

Wang Gui's understanding of Li Yi was insufficient; although Li Yi was involved in many industries,
But Li Yi was someone who wanted to make money, but he was even more willing to pay taxes. He was even willing to share a portion of the profits with his managers, employees, and apprentices.

We should all make money together, and if we do, we're willing to give a portion of it back to the imperial court.

Li Yi was never the type to keep things to himself.

Therefore, Li Yi will definitely pay the wine tax, and not a penny less. He will also pay the grain tax he is required to exchange for the permit, not a single grain less.

(End of this chapter)