After a week of preparation, the first Apricot Blossom Cup Poetry Competition in Chang 'an was held at Qujiang Lake.
The small Qujiang River was packed with scholars and literati. Li Yin's purpose was to promote his apricot flower wine. On the stage, a banner about five meters long and one meter wide was eye-catching. It read: Apricot Flower Wine is the sole sponsor.
On the other side of the stage, Cheng Huailiang had arrived early. He had organized people to set up more than a dozen tables here. On the tables were exquisite white porcelain bowls. He brought a few servants from the Liang residence to stand guard at the side. From time to time, they would stare vigilantly at the passers-by. Behind him were five jars of apricot wine. This was what Li Yin had let out for free today.
"Your…Highness, I…can't take it anymore, I…have to sleep for a while!”Lu Boyan walked in a saggy manner. His face was flushed red and his tongue was swollen. This guy had secretly drunk half a kilogram of white wine in the Liang residence. He thought that this white wine was no different from ordinary rice wine and was drinking it like cold water!
"Get lost!" Li Yin kicked him to Cheng Huailiang's side, and this guy fell to the ground and fell asleep.
Looking at the sun and the sea of people at the scene, Li Yin felt that it was time to start. He gave Xiao Rui a look, and Xiao Rui understood. He took the script that he had discussed with Li Yin and went on stage.
" First, let's warmly welcome the talented scholars and beautiful women of Chang 'an to our Apricot Flower Wine Cup Poetry Competition. We are very honored to have you here. The participants of the competition, regardless of gender, can go on stage to recite the first poem. The four people sitting below the stage are the leading figures in the poetry world that we have invited, who are also today's judges..."
The four white-bearded old men below the stage stood up and raised their hands to the contestants and audience behind them. This was what Lee had asked them to rehearse before the conference.
"Aiya, the one on the right is Mr. Liu. I was lucky enough to appreciate his poems!”Poet A said.
Poet B: " It seems that this competition is quite interesting. I was worried that it was just a joke!”
" No matter what, His Highness the Prince of Liang is still a prince. Would he act recklessly?" A noble child had jumped out to defend the class image.
Xiao Rui, who was on the stage, continued to spittle as he explained the rules of the poetry competition. Finally, he said the important part of the speech," This event is exclusively sponsored by the Apricot Blossom Cup Baijiu. Free Baijiu has been prepared for everyone to taste. Each person is limited to one glass. The free wine tasting is on the right side of the venue. Next, please enjoy the song and dance brought by the Li Chun House..."
"Good!"
Xiao Rui's last sentence had completely affected the atmosphere of the scene. Everyone stretched their heads out to look at the stage. Some people who did not care about their image even climbed up the trees like monkeys looking at the moon.
The classical music sounded. Dressed in a low-cut dress, a dancer from the Lichun Brothel walked onto the stage with her slender waist. She smiled charmingly, and her veil fluttered like a butterfly.
The meeting had officially started, and the atmosphere was unprecedentedly lively. Cheng Huailiang was also busy. Sima Tu stood in front of the table like an iron tower, staring at every person who was tasting wine. Once he saw someone repeat the tasting, he would throw that person out like throwing a chicken. After a few times, the people who were tasting wine became obedient. Some people who were not satisfied could only watch others drink happily.
"I've lived half my life in vain. I actually only tasted such delicious wine today!”An old man with a wine trough nose was heartbroken.
"Sigh, after drinking this wine, I'm afraid I won't be able to drink any other wine in the future!”Another person sighed.
"Boohoo…I even called myself a master wine connoisseur. Only after drinking wine like this did I understand what wine is!”
“……”
Li Yin walked back and forth in the crowd to listen to the current evaluation of white wine. The result made him very satisfied.
On the other side, after the singing and dancing performance ended, the poetry recital was also in progress. In order to save time, Li Yin made four wooden tablets for the four judges. The front side was a circle, and the back side was an x. The circle represented approval, and the x represented rejection. According to the rules of the competition, the competition was divided into three stages: preliminary, semi-final, and finals. Only when the judges lit up three passes could they advance. It was simple and fast.
In Qu Jiang Hu, a pleasure boat sailed across the lake and rippled over. In the pleasure boat, a young girl around the age of 28 was wearing a green muslin and a pink dress with narrow sleeves. She sat quietly in front of the window. Beside her stood a little maid in green clothes. At this moment, the little maid was looking at the lively scene on the shore with her round eyes.
"Miss, it is said that His Highness the Prince of Liang is also here!”The little servant girl's eyes rolled around as if she was thinking of something.
The young girl looked at the little servant girl in rebuke." What does this have to do with me?!"”
"Hee hee, master said that the emperor has proposed marriage to our Cui family. It seems to be His Highness the Liang Prince!”
"My father hasn't agreed yet!" The young girl blushed and said angrily. Besides, even the Emperor can't force the marriage of the five families. Besides, this King of Liang is said to be extremely stubborn. I won't marry such a person.”
Sticking out her tongue, the maidservant continued,"But it's said that His Highness the Prince of Liang's temperament has changed greatly, and he's already very different from before!”
"A leopard can't change its spots. Who can guarantee that he didn't put on an act after hearing that the emperor proposed marriage to our Cui family?”The girl had a very bad impression of the rumored Li Yin.
Although he had already made sufficient preparations, Li Yin still underestimated the enthusiasm of the people of Chang 'an. He had completely forgotten that this was an era that lacked entertainment. A little bit of wind and grass would attract a large crowd to watch. Before the morning was over, the wine that Li Yin had brought had run out. As a last resort, Li Yin could only let Jin Daqian return to Prince Liang's residence to transport a few more jars.
However, in general, his marketing strategy was very successful. Many restaurants had already come to discuss the purchase of the Apricot Blossom Wine. The following matters were very simple.
As the sun set, Chang 'an's first Apricot Blossom Wine Poem Competition ended successfully. Xiao Rui represented Li Yin on the stage and gave prize money to the top three contestants, making the audience envious. Some of the scholars who were not selected vowed to go home and study hard to fight again in the future.
A busy day had spread the reputation of the Apricot Blossom Wine throughout Chang 'an. There was an endless stream of merchants who came to buy the Apricot Blossom Wine. At present, the best wine in Chang' an could be sold for 250 wen per bottle. Li Yin had weighed it and found that the bottle was at most a catty of wine. After thinking about it, Li Yin set the price of the Apricot Blossom Wine at 500 wen per catty. A jar of wine was about 100 catties, which meant that a jar of Apricot Blossom Wine could be sold for about 50 strings.
"Big profit!" After calculating the price and production, Li Yin sighed with emotion. With the proficiency of the servants in the Prince's residence, they could now produce 30 jars of white wine a day, which was 1,500 strings of income per day. That was 45,000 strings of income per month. Adding the retail income from washing water, the Prince of Liang could now earn 50,000 strings of money per month, and his life was heading straight for a well-off life.
After the price was set, Li Yinquan threw the rest of the matter to Jin Daqian and told him to close the door for the next two days. He didn't want to see anyone and didn't want anyone to disturb him.
This conference made Li realize how blocked the flow of information was during the Tang Dynasty. He could only rely on word of mouth to pass on information. Therefore, a bold idea brewed in his mind. He wanted to run the first newspaper of the Tang Dynasty and tightly grasp the fishing wheel of the Tang Dynasty.
Of course, a printing press was needed to run a newspaper. The movable type printing technique of the Tang Dynasty could not be counted on. Another thing was paper. Now, slightly better paper was very expensive. Li's newspaper was for the public, which was obviously not suitable. Only by producing cheap paper could the newspaper industry be run.
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