Chapter 78: Chapter 74: Breath of Frost
At night, inside the new tavern log cabin in Frost Leaf Town.
"In the name of the Lord, I welcome you to the Frost Breath Tavern."
Luo De’s eyes swept over everyone’s faces.
Durant, Lawrence, Doron, Otto, and so on.
The tavern’s trial opening welcomed only Luo De’s confidants and close associates.
Luo De raised his glass and raised his voice, "To celebrate the town’s first tavern, tonight’s drinks are on the Lord!"
"Long live the Lord!"
Everyone cheered and was filled with joy, especially the soldiers, whose voices almost pierced through the roof.
Despite Durant’s instruction that each person could drink at most three glasses, they were still enthused by the Lord’s generosity.
Durant stood up and raised his glass, "To the Lord!"
"To the Lord!"
Everyone raised their glasses together and drank the liquor.
"Drink to your heart’s content!"
At Luo De’s command, the waitresses in the tavern began to get busy.
The tavern not only had wine but also delicious food and the beauty that everyone liked.
Luo De didn’t have to worry about these; Lawrence had already selected some age-appropriate girls willing to mingle with the crowd to fulfill everyone’s pursuit of beauty.
"Thank you for making my dream come true, having a tavern with only my wine."
By the bar, Katie personally filled Luo De’s glass and raised it to him.
It must be said, Katie’s wine was quite good, with a rich fruity aroma, full of natural fragrance.
"Just a bit sour, maybe girls would prefer it."
Luo De couldn’t help but comment after drinking it.
"You’re right, my Lord, actually I had to modify the recipe a bit because of the scarcity of honey in the territory."
Katie explained helplessly.
"Hmm, I will solve this issue in the future."
Luo De knew that there were currently very few things in the territory that could add sweetness.
But once the wheat and barley were in, this issue would be partially resolved.
"Actually, you can solve this issue now by adding some fruits to enhance the sweetness."
Luo De further explained, "The taste of wine doesn’t have to be what it comes out as; you can add different things to change it."
"For example, juice squeezed from crushed fruits, herbal juice, or birch sap, and so on."
"I’m just giving some examples; you can try out and taste the specific flavors by yourself."
"Once you blend some suitable flavors, even if Frost Breath only has Wild Strawberry Wine right now, it won’t only have one flavor."
Luo De’s words made Katie’s eyes gradually brighten.
"Using various foods to blend special flavors with the strawberry wine, I get it!"
She exclaimed with delight, "You are truly brilliant!"
Luo De smiled without saying anything.
Although he hadn’t been to a bar in his previous life, he had watched television, so it wasn’t surprising.
"In addition, come up with some nice-sounding names and write some touching stories based on them."
"For example, this Wild Strawberry Wine with its alluring fruity aroma and sour yet slightly sweet taste, wouldn’t it have a bittersweet flavor similar to the love story of young children from two opposing noble families?"
Luo De slightly altered the love story of Romeo and Juliet and narrated it at ease.
However, Luo De didn’t have the heart to mistreat them, and just changed the ending to the two being regretful for life.
"You can name it, Early Spring, Forbidden, or Pleasure and Pain, something like that."
"Once you add some honey fruit pieces to the blend, you can name it Gentle Fragrance, along with Katie and Doron’s love story..."
Luo De spoke eloquently, adding a bit of artistic flair, which everyone listened to with great interest.
Especially the waitresses, who were all drawn to Luo De’s storytelling, and Avril rested her chin on her hand, listening intently, occasionally frowning or sweetly smiling along with the rhythm of Luo De’s story.
As for Katie, the protagonist of the story, her cheeks were rosy, showing a sweet smile, and she glanced from time to time at Doron, who was seated at the next table.
"The Lord is truly amazing; how come I didn’t taste these flavors and stories?"
Doron held his glass, puzzled as he tasted the wine and smacked his lips, "I still find beer more satisfying to drink."
Durant chuckled without saying anything, as his companion Stella was also attentively listening.
Next to him, Lawrence rolled his eyes at Doron.
"What do you know?"
"Is this story for you to hear? How many Silver Coins do you have? These are stories for the aristocrats and ladies!"
"The Lord is simply a genius businessman!"
Lawrence looked at Luo De with admiration, "At banquets, the aristocrats talk about politics, while the aristocratic ladies prefer to discuss love.
When an aristocratic lady swirls her glass and listens to a beautiful and tragic love story hidden in the wine, who can resist tasting a glass of such wine?
Not every aristocratic lady likes to drink, but they all long for love.
When all the aristocratic ladies grow fond of our wine, will we still fear not having any Gold Coins?"
"No, I must quickly get some paper and write down these stories to sell them along with the wine when merchants come next time!"
Lawrence got up and hurried back to the estate.
...
The simple trial opening didn’t last long.
Luo De, not having a habit of drinking, left after finishing his storytelling.
Although the girls hadn’t heard enough, Luo De needed to rest early.
The next day, Luo De still got up early to arrange new tasks.
With the October harvest approaching, many things needed to be arranged ahead of time.
The first to be built was the threshing ground, followed by temporary warehouses, and for future storage, a large number of barrels and sacks were still needed.
The threshing ground is the core site for grain processing, where drying and threshing are to be carried out.
If Black Pine Ridge harvests more than 1,200 tons of grain this year, the previous small wheat ground won’t suffice.
To quickly dry these grains, an estimated minimum of 10,000 square meters of threshing ground is needed, and best if 15,000 square meters are available.
Such a large area cannot be built in one place, so Luo De plans to construct five threshing grounds.
One at the downwind side of the town, and the other four near the fields outside the town, to be processed collectively after the autumn harvest and then transported back to town.
Since threshing is required, the ground must be dry, hard, and clean.
The threshing ground must be built on relatively flat land, then dug half a meter deep, with the bottom layer paved with crushed stones to ensure drainage and moisture-proofing.
The middle layer is rammed with clay and quicklime, providing a solid foundation while absorbing moisture.
Quicklime cannot come into direct contact with the grain; the top layer is a mixture of lime and fine sand, compacted and ground smooth to form a practical threshing ground.
Fortunately, the construction period is long, so Luo De temporarily dispatched thirty people to build the first threshing ground and to familiarize themselves with the process.
Quicklime is the most practical desiccant and can also kill bacteria.
Frost Leaf Town needs not only to build above-ground granaries but also underground cellars.
The cellars are dark and damp, which is exactly where quicklime is needed to absorb moisture.
In the future, road construction will also require a large amount of lime, so Luo De immediately increased manpower.
Luo De instantly assigned thirty more people to quarry and calcine limestone.
Such work is largely simple and brutal, left to the Wildman, while the rest, which requires a bit of technical skill, is handled by other slaves.
Once the threshing grounds were arranged, Luo De arranged for the stone mason to make millstones for pressing wheat.
Another thing Luo De wanted was a windmill.