Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 572 Cost reduction and efficiency improvement
It was September 9th, the Double Ninth Festival, the day for climbing mountains and drinking.

Compared with last year's curtain group, this year Ganquan Mountain has spacious houses built on various platforms on the hillside.

Since dawn, the invited representatives of workers and peasants drove three or five people in each car and slowly headed towards Ganquan Mountain.

The workers include all kinds of work, and three people are nominated for every thousand people. They select those with superb skills, those who are good at teaching apprentices, and those who are good at improving skills and increasing production efficiency.

Farmers are elected by county, with each county nominating three people. The selection requirements are similar to those for workers: one is the one who is best at cultivating his own fields, one is good at persuading farmers, and the last one is the one who likes and is good at improving varieties and tree species.

Among them, there are also military settlers and herdsmen in various hundred-household units.

Considering the additional quota, there are nearly two thousand people, big and small.

There were also some people who were just filling in the numbers. After all, this time the officials were isolated, and there was no experience to follow when selecting them, so it was inevitable that the job was done in a hasty manner.

Sitting together with workers and peasants... this was a bit challenging for Kong Rong.

But thinking that he could still drink with them, and not wanting to provoke the black bear because of this matter, Kong Rong climbed Ganquan Mountain when it was light, and directed his subordinates to cooperate with Sima Zhang Ding in hosting a banquet.

The invited workers and peasants were easy to manage. Basically, they followed the motorcade to the corresponding banquet area, took their seats, and waited for the meal to start and for them to drink.

In Kong Rong's eyes, these people who came to the banquet would not record anything, let alone write any poems.

Just get these people fed and drunk, and don't let them fight or make a fool of themselves and that's it.

As the sun gradually rose, Ganquan Mountain was bustling with activity. Steam from cooking dishes was everywhere, spreading like fog, connecting with each other and interweaving into pieces.

At the highest point of Ganquan Mountain, a three-story banquet hall was built in one summer. It was sixty-four steps wide from east to west and thirty-six steps deep from north to south.

When Kong Rong inspected the place, he saw rows of long tables, equipped with long chairs.

Not counting the second and third floors for rest and office use, the lobby on the first floor alone can accommodate eight hundred people dining at the same time.

When Kong Rong saw that the tables and chairs were neatly arranged in the hall, he went to the second floor to check the wine and drinks temporarily stored there.

If possible, he would like to secretly pick up a few chrysanthemums to soak in wine.

After several banquets, he had concluded that this kind of royal chrysanthemum soaked in wine was very strange.

Basically, after every banquet, his wives and concubines would give birth to two or three children for him; what surprised him most were the extra babies in Dongxiang and Xixiang.

In Dongxiang, there is the eldest son, Hei Rui, who has been given a name and announced to all places, but many women are still pregnant; and in Xixiang, more than a dozen children were born at once. According to tradition, they only have nicknames, and only when they reach the age of seven will they be given names and their existence announced to the public.

What does Da Sima mean in ethnicity?

No matter how many ethnic groups there are, which son can you trust?
As long as the Grand Marshal holds his seat in Guanzhong firmly, these young princes will be scattered all over the place in twenty years. Even if one of them is granted a farm, it will be difficult for the Guanlong tyrants to recover.

In less than a hundred years, in forty or fifty years, the clan will be everywhere. Who will dare to say that the "ethnic group is small"?
Just as Kong Rong was tapping the wine jar gently and sniffing the aroma of wine, he suddenly heard footsteps.

He turned his head to look at Xu Gan who was following him. Xu Gan had a puzzled look on his face. They both looked at the guards here, who also had no idea what was going on.

A few people exited the wine storage room and saw a tall figure in a white robe and golden armor standing in the wide corridor.

Kong Rong was shocked for a moment, then smiled: "General Taishi."

Lu Bu just stretched out his arms to signal, then turned and left.

Kong Rong nodded to Xu Gan and several guards. Seeing that the guards were also surprised, he said, "Don't say anything to the outsiders, and wait here."

He followed Lu Bu to the end of the corridor and climbed the stairs to the third floor.

The third floor was more spacious and suitable for the various offices of the shogunate, unlike the second floor, which was only for officials to rest. Kong Rong followed all the way to the meeting room on the third floor, and saw Black Bear sitting quietly on the windowsill in front of the hall, holding a white jade goblet in his hand. The jade disk was so thin that Kong Rong could see traces of swirling wine when he shook it gently.

Seeing that the black bear was not wearing a mask, Kong Rong excitedly rushed forward and kowtowed: "Your Majesty!"

"Sit down and talk, and don't speak up. I came here suddenly, and I have to return to Daidi after the banquet."

Black Bear stood up, grabbed the armchair and slightly adjusted the direction, half facing Kong Rong. At this time, Lu Bu also brought a armchair.

Kong Rong dared not sit up completely, so he put his butt on one-third of the seat, and sat upright to calm his excitement: "Your Majesty, although today is a festive day, I still want to speak frankly and give you advice. Your Majesty is concerned about the most important thing in the world, but you took the risk lightly, disappointing the people's expectations and making all the ministers worried."

"I am indeed a little willful, but if I don't go, Liu Xuande will definitely be manipulated by the Youzhou tyrants. I am going to save him, how can I hesitate?"

Black Bear took the wine and was about to drink, but felt that Kong Rong's serious look didn't fit in with the atmosphere today, so he tilted his head to look at Lu Bu.

Kong Rong also glanced at him and watched the whole process as Lu Bu brought him a glass of wine.

It was also a goblet made with the same craftsmanship. Kong Rong took the wine from the wooden tray with both hands and saw that it was red wine: "Your Majesty, is this wine from Liangzhou?"

"Well, Zhang Xiu sent it here three or four months ago. I hope it can be served at the Double Ninth Festival banquet this year. If the guests like it, Liangzhou wine can be considered an industry in the future."

As Black Bear spoke, he took a sip and held it on the tip of his tongue to savor it carefully. He had a sensitive taste buds and could not stand the sourness of the wine. It was no better than the cheap blended wine in his memory.

With his current taste buds, he still can't stand blended wine.

Kong Rong was different. He also shook the wine glass, sniffed the wine, and his eyes lit up: "Although this is not as good as Huangju wine, it is also a product of Liangzhou... The last time I drank wine was during the reign of Emperor Ling."

"From what you said, sir, this is a drink that can only be enjoyed in a peaceful world?"

"Yes, it is nowhere to be found in troubled times."

Kong Rong took a sip and savored it carefully. In his opinion, the wine did not have any obvious sourness or astringency, but rather a rich taste after being mixed with alcohol.

After swallowing the wine, take another sip, letting the wine flow between the teeth in your mouth, so that you can feel the wine more intuitively.

Comparing it with my memory, it still can't compare to the wine I drank in Luoyang that year.

Soon after finishing the glass of wine, Kong Rong asked, "Your Majesty, are you going to host a banquet?"

"I'll just watch from here. It's not appropriate to alarm the subjects."

Black Bear reached out and took the wine pot from Lu Bu to pour wine for Kong Rong, and continued: "Zhang Xiu sent fifty jars, and I kept twenty jars for myself. Twenty-five jars will be used for today's banquet, and you and Zhang Ding will each take one jar for the remaining ones, and three jars will be distributed to the officials left behind in the shogunate. This year is a period of workers and farmers, and even if you like this wine, it will be difficult to buy it in the future. But I still hope that you can promote this wine and promote it again next year."

He didn't like wine very much, but expanding the wine industry in the four Hexi counties would intensify the economic exchanges between the people of Xiliang and Guanzhong.

By strengthening the Xiliang wine industry, the wine industry here will also play a significant military role in future expeditions to the Western Regions.

How should I put it? If you let the Liangzhou army go through the Hehuang Road to capture the Sheng Qiang, there might be some people who would hinder them.

If the Liangzhou army were to capture the raw Qiang people and use them as slave laborers in the local wine and mining industries... then the people of Xiliang would be united, have high enthusiasm and efficiency in fighting, and it would also reduce military costs.

Supporting local industries and increasing demand for labor can reduce military costs and increase efficiency.

In his current position, Black Bear increasingly feels that slaves are excellent lubricants and that it is worth digging deeper into the mines.

For the times to develop and the empire to be stable, there must be a group that acts as a lubricant, rubbing repeatedly between the gears and steel.

(End of this chapter)