The contract negotiated with Zhao Yanke clearly stated that this time Li Wanming didn't need to brew a thousand jars of the wine. She only needed to do her best to brew one jar.
All the research and development costs would be borne entirely by Zhao Yanke.
As for the wine for the New Year's Palace Banquet, they could just use the Jinyutang wine from the Li Family Winery. Of course, the money for this would be paid separately.
So Li Wanming's top priority now was to figure out how to brew the Longgao Wine.
According to Xiao Jingnan, the Longgao Wine could replenish qi and blood, strengthen muscles and bones, and nourish the heart and lungs. From this perspective, it must be a tonic medicinal wine.
Li Wanming thought and thought, and decided to start from the approach of medicinal wine to find the brewing method.
However, the commonly seen medicinal wines on the market, such as tiger - bone wine, ginseng wine, and antler wine, all used the soaking method. They would clean the precious raw materials, boil them at high temperature, put them into jars filled with wine, seal them for several months, and then they could be made.
But the Longgao Wine was different.
Ancient records said that it was as black as ink. This color was so impressive that it meant it couldn't be a simple soaked wine.
Ordinary soaked wines couldn't achieve this color.
In the following few days, Li Wanming tried every means. She added alligator meat to the wine in the ways of grinding, distilling, and fermenting respectively.
The wines made by these methods had different shades of color and were also very nice, but they always fell into colors like amber, rose - red, and crimson - orange. No matter what, they couldn't be as black as ink...
After three days of hard work, it ended in failure.
Li Wanming fell into deep thought.
Black...
A color as black as night.
How was this achieved?
The alligator meat was dark red in color. Even when dried, it was a deep maroon color. If only such materials were used in the wine, no matter what, it couldn't produce a color as black as night.
There must be something else in the Longgao Wine besides alligator meat.
It was a pity that due to the long - standing time, the ancient books and poems that had been passed down to this day only described the appearance and effects of this wine, and didn't leave a single word about the production method.
Li Wanming squatted in front of the wine vat, resting her chin in her hand and thinking hard.
The Longgao Wine was produced in the Shanli State in the Western Regions.
So besides the estuarine crocodile, what else was unique to the Shanli State?
It was no good to just sit in a closed room and make decisions like this. She needed more information.
After figuring this out, Li Wanming did two things:
One was to ask Xiao Jingnan and Qinglan to look through Xiao Jingnan's collection of books to see if they could find any records related to the products of the Western Regions or the Shanli State.
The other was that she, Chuntao, and Liu Yiyi visited all the major freight stations in the capital, asking the Hu merchants who traveled between the Western Regions and the Dacheng Dynasty to gather information.
After a few days of running around, they did find two interesting things.
The first thing was that when Xiao Jingnan came to the capital to take the imperial examinations back then, he didn't bring a single serious book.
The bookcase he had carried all the way from Langya was filled with all kinds of miscellaneous books, such as "Old News of the Six States", "Travel Notes in Jinchuan", "Strange Tales of the Southern Dynasties", "Stories I Have to Tell about the Holy Filial Empress Dowager" and so on.
Local customs, anecdotes, food, and entertainment... They were all kinds of things, but there wasn't a single book needed for the imperial examinations.
Li Wanming stared at the miscellaneous books all over the table, her emotions a bit complicated. "Is this how you came to take the imperial examinations in the capital?"
Xiao Jingnan let out an "ah", and then replied brazenly, "My lady doesn't know. Your husband has a good memory and is well - informed. All the books are already in my head, so I don't need to bring them."
"Don't need to bring them?" Li Wanming pointed at the books on the table and asked, "You mean you don't need to bring serious books, but you must bring miscellaneous books, right?"
She and Xiao Jingnan had lived in the same courtyard for almost two years, and she had never rummaged through his bookshelf. She didn't know that the bookshelf in his room, which looked very erudite and full of cultural flavor, was actually filled with these things!
Xiao Jingnan secretly hid "Stories I Have to Tell about the Holy Filial Empress Dowager" in the corner of the table, and said calmly, "The journey to take the imperial examinations is long and boring. These books are for entertainment."
While pushing Li Wanming out, he added, "My lady, every book is beneficial. As for books, no matter what kind they are, as long as you're willing to read them, they're good. For example, these miscellaneous books of mine are helping you now, aren't they?"
It seemed... He was right.
When it came to all kinds of miscellaneous books, the bookstores in the capital probably didn't have as complete a collection as Xiao Jingnan's.
Li Wanming thought for a while and felt that he made sense. Just as she was about to step out, she suddenly thought of something. "Will you still take the spring imperial examinations next year?"
In a blink of an eye, three years had passed, and it was time for the spring imperial examinations again.
He had missed the spring imperial examinations because of illness back then, and then was brought back home by her after she "caught a son - in - law under the list". At that time, he had said firmly that he would fight again three years later.
Xiao Jingnan stopped in his tracks, and said calmly, "Of course I will! With your husband's talent, I will surely win the top - scorer title for my lady!"
"Are you sure... you can pass?"
Li Wanming obviously didn't quite believe him, but she also felt that she couldn't dampen her husband's confidence too much. So her expression changed for a moment. "With your talent... it should be no problem to pass the examinations and become a Jinshi. I... Well, I still believe in you. But forget about the top - scorer title. I feel that the top - scorers in our dynasty are a bit strange."
She said the last two sentences very smoothly. As soon as the image of Pei Yanqi's unreliable appearance popped up in her mind, she couldn't help but feel a toothache.
And that parade on Horseback during the Flower - Worshiping Festival, when she almost became a target... It was still terrifying to think about it now.
Xiao Jingnan knew what she was thinking, and held back his laughter. "Okay, my lady wants me to be a Jinshi, so I'll just aim for that. By then, I don't need to wait to be an official. I'll just stay in the capital and do business with my lady. We'll make the Li Family Winery famous and become the richest people in the Dacheng Dynasty."
Li Wanming thought his words made sense, so she nodded and walked out of the wing - room.
Xiao Jingnan let out a big sigh of relief behind her, and whispered instructions to Qinglan behind him. "Quick! Put all those books away. Don't display them again... Which books? The ones with very long names!"
Fortunately, Li Wanming was busy at that time and didn't have time to care about his books.
All her energy was focused on the second thing:
They learned from the Hu merchants that the Shanli State was located beside the Zaluo River Valley back then. It had sufficient sunlight and a dry climate, and was rich in a kind of grape with a unique flavor.
These grapes were as big as longan fruits, completely black, with a strong fruity aroma. Hanging on the branches, they were like crystal - clear black agates, and were called Heiyuzi grapes.
The Shanli State had once used these grapes to make wine, which was sold all over the Western Regions and was very popular.
However, these Heiyuzi grapes had extremely high requirements for soil and sunlight. They were only produced in an area on the west side of the Zaluo River Valley, so the yield was extremely low. Only some royal families and wealthy people in the Western Regions had tasted them, and not many people knew about them.