Top Scholar

Chapter 119 Dionysus

Commander Ma did it on purpose. He was a fifth-rank commander, and also a marquis of Baili, yet he was humiliated so badly yesterday! If he didn't get his revenge, what would his men think of him? How could he face anyone in Taiping Town?

Of course, he couldn't truly offend Magistrate Lu. After accepting the words "Erlang's Fine Wine," he presented him with an exquisite little wine jar. "This is our Erlang Wine. Your Excellency must try it!"

"Alright, alright." Magistrate Lu nodded perfunctorily, casually reaching out to take the wine jar, but he misjudged its weight and almost dropped it.

"Be careful, don't be fooled by this little bit of wine, it's over six catties," Commander Ma said in a low voice.

Magistrate Lu understood immediately.

This is a small jar that holds about a pound of wine, but the contents inside weigh more than six pounds. Of course, it's not wine, but one hundred taels of silver!

The stiff smile on Magistrate Lu's face brightened again, and he said to Commander Ma, "Look, what's going on here?"

"It's just a jar of wine," Commander Ma waved his hand and said, "The county magistrate doesn't consider me a friend."

"Alright, alright, this won't happen again," Magistrate Lu said with a wry smile.

“We can’t let this happen again; we must follow this precedent!” Commander Ma laughed and said, “When Erlang wine is sold in the county in the future, we’ll need your help, sir.”

"No problem, no problem, we'll look out for each other." Magistrate Lu nodded with a smile. Commander Ma was a shrewd fellow, and he was willing to deal with shrewd people.

~~
When the sun was high in the sky, Magistrate Lu's entourage left the academy, and Commander Ma, Headmaster Zhu, and others naturally saw them off. Su Lu and Ma Qianli, as representatives of the students, also joined the farewell procession.

Upon arriving in town, Magistrate Lu alighted from his sedan chair to enjoy the farewell performance arranged by Commander Ma—"The Song of the Bacchus"!
"Our area is mountainous with little arable land, and quite barren, but we are blessed by heaven to produce fine wine!" Ma Qianhu said earnestly. "Every year on the Double Ninth Festival, when the local people start brewing wine, they sing this 'Song of the God of Wine' to pray for the God of Wine's blessing so that they can brew fine wine every year."

"I see..." Now, whenever Magistrate Lu hears the word "alcohol," he feels like he's about to be tricked again, but since he's been paid for this, he can only force a smile and play along.

He then forced a look of anticipation and said, "Then let's enjoy this 'Bacchus' before we set off."

"Alright!" Commander Ma waved his hand.

So the old village musician, his face full of wrinkles, tilted his head back and started playing the suona!
The moment the suona horn sounded, it instantly captured everyone's attention.

The three-stringed instrument, the cowhide drum, and the cymbals also sounded in succession, enveloping the banks of the Chishui River in a desolate and majestic atmosphere.

Although Magistrate Lu had never heard this tune before, he was still captivated by its rough yet vibrant sound.

Especially along the Chishui River amidst towering mountains, the music played by the mountain people is like the very soul of their being.

At this moment, thirty-six shirtless men, lined up in six rows and six columns, holding wine jars in their hands, began to sing in hoarse, deep voices:

"On the ninth day of the ninth month, we brew new wine."

Good wine comes from our hands.

Good wine…

At this moment, the sound of the suona suddenly rose, and the men's singing also became more intense:
"Drink our wine, huh?"
Breathing is easy and you won't cough!

Have you drunk our wine?

"Nourishes Yin and strengthens Yang, keeps your breath fresh!"

Towards the end, the music became increasingly exciting, and the singing became wildly unrestrained!

"Drink our wine, huh?"
One person dares to walk into the tiger's den!

Have you drunk our wine?

You don't even kowtow to gods!
147369,
Follow me, let's return to the origin!
Good wine, good wine, good wine…

After listening, Magistrate Lu couldn't help but chuckle to himself that he had been overthinking things; it was a proper drinking song, and there was nothing fishy about it.

That's right. Commander Ma is, after all, a fifth-rank official of the imperial court. How could he possibly abandon all his integrity in public?

The song was just too catchy. He had only listened to it once, and even after the sedan chair had been far away from Taiping Town, the mesmerizing melody was still echoing in his ears.

"Good wine, good wine, good wine..."

The attendant beside him couldn't help but hum, "Drink our wine, and you won't even bow down to the gods..."

"Stop singing! What kind of behavior is this!" Magistrate Lu snapped. "The people who came to see us off haven't left yet!"

"Hey, wait until they leave before you start singing," the servant quickly shut up.

"Is it really necessary to sing?" Magistrate Lu glanced at him helplessly. "I can't help it, sir," the servant replied helplessly.

Commander Ma and Zhu Liu escorted him for a long distance, finally stopping twenty miles away from Magistrate Lu.

"Please return, everyone." The attendant lifted the sedan curtain, and Magistrate Lu waved to the crowd, saying, "Thank you for your kind hospitality. We have returned with a full harvest! Our friendship remains unchanged, and the county magistrate will prepare wine to welcome you. Please be sure to pay me a visit when you visit the county seat!"

"Good, good! County Magistrate, you must come often!" the people seeing him off also invited.

"Coming again?" Magistrate Lu felt a chill run down his spine and said with a wry smile, "It's really not easy for you to come all this way."

"It's absurd, really. Taiping Town and the county seat are connected by the Chishui River, yet boats can only travel there during the dry season in winter." Zhu Liu fully exercised his power as a local scholar to participate in politics and said in a deep voice, "Otherwise, we could travel by boat as if we were neighbors, even though we are a hundred miles apart!"

“Who says otherwise?” Magistrate Lu said with a wry smile, “I have read the county annals. In the fourth year of Hongwu’s reign, the imperial court dredged the Chishui River. At that time, warships could travel directly from the Yangtze River to Erlangtan.”

"My parents are absolutely right." Su Youjin had done a great service by delivering medicine yesterday, and now he had a say in the matter. "I am a military household member from Erlangtan. Our ancestors landed at Erlangtan by boat."

"Then why can't navigation resume now?" Zhu Liu asked.

"There are many reasons. First, over the years, dangerous rocks have frequently collapsed along the riverbank, causing 'open sections to be blocked again, and passageways to be blocked once more,'" Magistrate Lu, being a capable official, explained with great knowledge:

"Secondly, the mountain people along the river have made a living by carrying salt for generations. There is a folk saying: 'I don't hope my son will become an official or sit in a government office, as long as he can carry 140 or 150 tons of salt!' They mostly believe that once the Chishui River is reopened to navigation, the land route for transporting salt will disappear... Therefore, they often throw huge logs and rocks down from the top of the cliff, killing countless boatmen and merchants on the Chishui River... The county takes on several such unsolved cases every year."

"And this is only for one season a year. You can imagine what those troublemakers would do if it were fully open!" Commander Ma said with a wry smile.

“Yes, we’ll clear the blockage during the day and block it up at night,” Li Baihu agreed.

"And the most troublesome part is that the Chishui River section is divided among one county, one department, and three guards. Dredging it alone is meaningless; all five of them need to work together," Commander Ma concluded.

"It's difficult, extremely difficult!" Magistrate Lu immediately interrupted, "The five families belong to the military and civilians, Han and Yi peoples, and even belong to two different provinces. Unless Emperor Taizu were alive, even a god couldn't coordinate them!"

"Sigh..." Zhu Liu saw that as soon as he opened his mouth, the two local military and political officials hurriedly presented their difficulties, and he knew that the matter was completely hopeless.

It seems that bringing benefits to the people isn't so easy after all, especially since some people don't want you to bring them benefits...

Magistrate Lu finally called Su Lu over, took his hand, and gave him some more words of advice: "Study hard, see you at the end of the year."

Only then, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, did he depart in a sedan chair. Li Baihu would continue to lead the escort all the way to the county border.

~~
For the next month, people sang "The Song of Bacchus" everywhere in the streets and alleys, at the docks and temples of Taiping Town!
Moreover, the version sung in town now is different from the one performed for Magistrate Lu that day; the lyrics are:
"Drink Erlang wine, and your breathing will be smooth and you won't cough! Drink Erlang wine, and it will nourish your yin and strengthen your yang, and your breath won't smell bad..."

Although it's no longer the original "drank our wine," the brainwashing effect is the same. After a month, the men, women, and children of the town would spontaneously utter phrases like "new wine brewed on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month" or "drank Erlang's wine..."

Even the students at the academy were infected; Su Lu heard Li Qiyu singing "Good wine, good wine, good wine..." in his sleep.

This made him, the culprit, feel extremely apologetic. He never imagined that the catchy tune that had infected him in his childhood would be so effective on his fellow countrymen in the Ming Dynasty...

So he would never admit that he put together the song himself. Even when his classmates were criticizing Erlangjiu for causing widespread spiritual pollution, he would still join in the criticism.

~~
But to be fair, the results are fantastic.

That evening, after dinner and before class, Su Lu's godmother told him that the merchants who had accepted the invitation and agreed to attend the order fair on the fifth day of the ninth lunar month had already filled ten tables!
"So many?!" Su Lu was taken aback. There were four merchants at the table, but there were a total of forty people!
"I thought that since this was the first time this young lady had married, it would be good if she could attract twenty men," he said with delight.

"What are you saying? Your mother and I have been doing this damn 'ground promotion' since the beginning of July, and we've been doing it for two whole months now. Are forty people a lot?" Su Youcai said irritably. "Besides, we don't even know how many people there are. They're just here to give us face and have a free meal."

"Indeed, we can't be too optimistic," the proprietress agreed. "Everyone was happy when we gave away the wine for free, and they all gave our wine very good reviews, but very few people actually placed orders in advance."

The "pre-order" offer is a gimmick devised by Su Lu. If customers wish to place their orders before the price is revealed, they will receive a 20% discount!
Moreover, it's not a reservation, it's a pre-order, the kind where you can get your deposit back if you decide you don't want it later. This isn't innovative; it's just a very common transaction method these days.

For example, if a grain merchant and a rice shop agree to sell rice, the rice shop will first pay a deposit to the grain merchant. However, if for various reasons the grain merchant fails to receive the rice, he must return the deposit to the rice shop, but he will not have to bear any other responsibilities.

So this is purely a matter of merchants having doubts. Even if there's no risk of loss, they're unwilling to place an order in advance.

"Because everyone values ​​reputation in business. Once a deposit is paid, the transaction will proceed unless there are special circumstances. Besides, many competitors will be present on the day of the trade fair, and nobody wants to lose face," the godmother explained.

"Furthermore, apart from particularly cheap bulk wine, customers tend to stick to old wines rather than new ones and are not easily willing to change their tastes. So it's normal for people to have concerns."

"It seems we need to come up with some drastic measures to dispel everyone's concerns..." Su Lu pondered.

"The most ruthless trick is the price. Nothing is more effective than good quality at a low price!" The proprietress comforted him. "No matter how much the customers have asked me these past two months, I haven't revealed the price. I've insisted that the price will be revealed that day, but I guarantee a surprise. That's enough to keep them in suspense!"

"Hmm." Su Lu nodded. It seemed that the outcome of the order fair was not a foregone conclusion, but rather quite suspenseful.

(End of this chapter)