Fan Zhen was stunned: "Stolen the recipe for making wine here? How could the Wu family do such a thing? I said it clearly before that except for the wine lees used by official wine lees to make vinegar, all the wine lees in the county are made by the 'Zuixianju'. They buy rice and porridge to help the poor. This is a kindness to make money for them and not forget to help the poor. There is a unique method of making wine."

Mei Yaochen shook his head repeatedly: "Those merchants in the market only recognize money, how could they think of this? Just now, Du Xiaoguanren said that 'Qixiangju' stole their method of making wine and was selling strong wine in their own restaurant."

Fan Zhen's face was extremely ugly: "Wu Xiaoyuanwai falsely accused the household of being drunk and used lynching in the government office to violate the law. It was just because Dr. He, the chief slander, just scolded him and did not be imprisoned. He taught him a lesson last time, but he still didn't know how to restrain himself!"

At this moment, Du Zhongxiao brought in two bottles of wine and put them on the table and said, "This is what I accumulated a few months ago. The wine is rich and not comparable to the spirits sold outside. I decided not to drink this kind of wine outside, so the two officials tasted it."

Before Du Zhongxiao could pour wine, Fan Zhen said, "Little official, sit down and talk. I have something to ask you."

Du Zhongxiao was puzzled and sat down, bowed and said, "The magistrate has something to ask, just give me instructions."

"I'll ask you, just now Mei Shengyu said 'Qi Xiangju' to steal the method of making wine here. I wonder if it's true?"

Du Zhongxiao looked at Mei Yaochen and replied carefully: "This matter is absolutely true. Yesterday we made wine in the backyard, and we saw a figure climbing out of the wall. In the early morning of this day, there was a report to sell strong wine in "Qixiangju". The method they said they made from me, and the wine was exactly the same. I even went to buy some and tasted it. The method of making is correct, but the craftsmanship was not perfect and the taste was a little light. Practicing this kind of thing makes perfect. When they make too much and find the trick, they can always make the same wine."

Speaking of this, Du Zhongxiao sighed: "Oh, we small agents all rely on a unique craft. Now that we have learned the craftsmanship, we can only think of other ways, otherwise how to support the expenses of restaurants? The Wu family is a big family, rich and powerful, and has a lot of capital. How can we make them live like business? A few years later, the magistrate will be full, and it will be even worse if we change to a county magistrate like Shi."

After saying that, Du Zhongxiao opened the wine bottle and filled the two of them with wine and said, "Officials can taste it. The old strong wine has a unique fragrance."

The three of them drank a glass of wine. Fan Zhen pondered for a while and said, "Little official, you don't have to worry about this. I said it, and let your restaurant make wine from the lees and not be allowed to make wine. In the past few months, I have asked people that you have served porridge every day, and remember what you said at that time. If you do business seriously, how can you let the powers bully by means? When tomorrow, I have confirmed that you and the people from "Qixiangju" go to the county government and make the matter clear. Except for your family, other restaurants are not allowed to make wine from the lees!"

Du Zhongxiao was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but be overjoyed and said, "Official, is this what it means?"

"Of course, let's not count what the government said! The last time I let the Wu family go, I gave Dr. He face. They continued to make trouble, and Dr. He couldn't speak. In this matter, Su Tong was not convenient for him to come forward, so the county would just settle it."

Du Zhongxiao nodded, then turned around and persuaded the two of them to drink with him. This kind of thing stopped and kept asking him endlessly, which made people feel annoying. To be ironic, even if Du Zhongxiao came up with many ways to compete with "Qi Xiangju", the effect would not be as effective as Fan Zhen's words. How can the people fight with the officials? As long as the government can stand on their own side, they will be invincible. In the past, Wu Kejiu was arrogant and domineering, and the confidence gave him was not to control the food and clothing of the Han family, but to the government stand on his side. Now that the officials have changed, the government's position has changed, and the initiative has naturally changed.

Seeing that Du Zhongxiao took the initiative to stop talking about the restaurant and was well-behaved, Mei Yaochen and Fan Zhen nodded secretly. The businessmen in the city were inevitably only staring at the small profits in front of them, but scholars should not do so. The regime used high officials and generous salaries to attract the people to study and become officials, but scholars should not get into the eyes of money. This is the mainstream of the times, and it is this pair of entangled contradictions that constitute the theme of the times.

The scholars at this time were different from those of the later gentry. Compared with the Ming and Qing dynasties, the salary and treatment were higher, but fewer property were bought. The most common thing for officials was to bring a family around to travel around, and only when they were old would settle down in one place and continue to provide for the next generation of scientific research. For example, Mei Yaochen, whose hometown was in Xuancheng, but since he was a child, he had no family property. His father and brothers were in his hometown, relying on Mei Xun to provide support, and they had a large family. One day, when he was old, most of them built a new home in a place where he had been an official, and they had a family.

After reading the book and becoming an official, everything will come. If you can’t become an official, everything will become empty, and everything about an official is in that official.

After talking about a few words of knowledge, I turned the topic to the hottest topic at this time, the Northwest War.

Mei Yaochen said: "The northwest chaos has started, and everyone in the world talks about war. In recent years, I have spent countless efforts to pay attention to "The Art of War" and have read the manuscript for Jing Ren. I wonder what you think?"

Fan Zhen said: "There are many people who have annotated "Sun Tzu" in all dynasties. Sheng Yu's annotation of "Sun Tzu" is unique and detailed than his predecessors. He is a master. But I am a scholar, and I don't know that Sheng Yu has time to show it to the generals in front of me."

Mei Yaochen said: "Weapon is a trick. The major affairs of the country must be investigated in detail. In the past few years, the imperial court was mostly greedy and incompetent in the northwest, which led to the loss of troops and territory, and the situation was so depressed. Now the imperial court used Han and Fan as the commander, and the Gun Gong Han was determined to make progress, but unfortunately there was no one under his command. Gun Gong Fan was determined to stick to his feet and stayed in front of him. Where can he see the shadows in the northwest pacification!"

At this time, Mei Yaochen was dissatisfied with Fan Zhongyan, and his tone was not so respectful. He was frustrated many times in the imperial examinations, and the battles began in the northwest, and he placed his hopes on making achievements. He spent countless efforts to write "The Art of War". He did not know that he asked his friend Ouyang Xiu to recommend him to Fan Zhongyan, but there was no news at all, and making achievements in the northwest became a sham. Such people are most likely to be extreme, and their careers in their careers are in disguise.

Fan Zhen has been studying in the Pavilion for many years and has been intimate with Fan Zhongyan and others. After listening to Mei Yaochen's words, he just made a fuss.

Mei Yaochen drank a sip of wine and said to Du Zhongxiao: "Little official, have you ever heard of the war in the Northwest?"

Du Zhongxiao replied carefully: "Why can everyone not know about such a major event? I heard that the court has been losing money in recent years, and Dangxiang has become increasingly unscrupulous, and the situation is getting worse day by day. The war cannot be fought. I heard that the court wants to negotiate peace."

Mei Yaochen sighed: "Oh, why are there no one in the world? Dangxiang is a small country and a poor land, but the northwest is so decayed! If there is a long-term leader, why worry about destroying this clown in one go! Unfortunately, those who are intent are powerless, and those who are powerful are unintentional!"

Du Zhongxiao didn't know who Mei Yaochen said was powerless and who was unintentional, so he dared not discuss those. After thinking about it, he said: "I am just a scholar in a small place. I don't know much about the great power of the court. However, when talking about the battle between the two armies, generals are important, and soldiers should not be underestimated. The county also has imperial guards to feed the food. When they see them on weekdays, although they are dressed brightly and have distinctive armor, they lack the murderous aura that the army should have. After all, the army itself cannot fight. Even if Sun Wu reborn, what can it be? In history books, Sun Tzu tests the generals and takes the palace maids to correct the military discipline and clean up the military appearance, so that they can have various strange plans and tricks in the military books. The army of a country must first have the appearance of an army to be invincible."
Chapter completed!