Sofia and Aspasia were also somewhat helpless.
They felt that Hilde should be doing something serious, but Hilde didn't go home every day. It was really unbecoming for a king to stay with the craftsmen every day. Sophia was a little confused at first, but think about it, isn't this also Hilde's way of doing things? Isn't Hilde always like this, never caring about her identity.
"Alcibiades."
At this time, Aspasia said to Alcibiades who was busy behind him:
"His Majesty is not in the palace, why don't you take a rest."
"No, I can't slack off just because your majesty is away!"
Alcibiades was holding a piece of linen and wiping things in the palace. He polished all the bronze products until they were shiny and swept the floor. In the half month since he came back, Alcibiades had grasped the methods of doing these things and became proficient. Now, he alone could do everything in the palace.
"Really? When will His Majesty stop you from doing this?"
Sophia was also a little helpless.
And Alcibiades smiled and said:
"I can do it for the rest of my life!"
"If I really do this for my whole life, wouldn't that be a waste of my talent?"
"It's alright! His Majesty told me that if you can't even clean your room, how can you clean the world!"
“…This isn’t a room anymore.”
No matter how small the palace is, it is still a huge house.
However, Alcibiades took Hilde's words as his guiding principle, and it seemed that he truly admired Alcibiades.
The first chapter of the ninth chapter: the mysterious winemaking workshop
(Wrong again...)
However, Alcibiades took Hilde's words as his guiding principle, and it seemed that he really admired Hilde.
Everyone is like this.
Aspasia felt that there was nothing she could do.
"How about we go see what Sissi is doing?"
Sofia thought about it for a moment and asked Aspasia.
And Aspasia nodded.
"Well... I'm worried that Sissi might be too tired or something since she's always in the workshop."
"Okay, let's decide it then!"
After that, Sofia and Aspasia planned to go to the mysterious workshop to see what was happening with Hilde.
Now, the workshop where Hilde was was busy with a job. This workshop was different from other workshops. The floor was not made of mud, but was paved with blue bricks. This made it look clean and tidy. In addition, the walls were painted with chalk. The whole workshop looked clean and tidy, and there seemed to be no problems. Hilde walked barefoot on the ground, carefully checking the big jars.
"Your Majesty, I have brought you the original liquid you requested."
At this time, Diony ran over happily.
She held a cup in her hand and brought it over carefully.
"Did you take it out from bucket number one?"
"Yes!"
"it is good……"
Hilde took the cup and smelled it.
Then, without thinking too much, she took a sip.
Well……
"His Majesty?"
Dione looked at Hilde with some concern.
"No, it's okay. I just haven't recovered yet... Ah, it looks like it's a success." Hilde looked at the transparent liquid in the cup and couldn't help but smile. She had been working on this thing since last year, and now it was finally a success. Hilde was extremely happy. "I thought this thing would be very complicated and would take at least three to five years to realize. But I didn't expect it to be that complicated... Hahahaha."
"Your Majesty, what is this?"
Dione also looked at Hilde curiously.
“This is wine.”
"Wine? But the taste seems very strong."
"Yes, because this is distilled wine, it is not the same as the wine we usually drink. So, you are still a child, you can't drink it now... That's not right." Hilde suddenly remembered that Diony is no longer the little child she used to be. She is now a young girl, but... the child's development is indeed a little slow. Maybe because she is in front of her every day, she didn't notice that the child has grown up.
"Would you like to try it?"
Hilde asked curiously.
And Diony nodded quickly.
"Okay! Okay!"
"Okay, then you try it."
Hilde handed the wine glass to Dione, and Dione took it carefully, put it to her lips and took a sip. Soon, the expression on Dione's face became strange. She couldn't help but frowned tightly, and then quickly stuck out her tongue. It seemed that the alcohol was spicy. Hilde laughed, then took the wine glass and said to Dione: "This is distilled wine. To be honest, it's a good thing."
"W-why is it so spicy?"
"Because you are not used to drinking."
Hilde shrugged.
Just at this moment, a craftsman came over.
"Your Majesty, the princess and Lady Aspasia are here."
"They've arrived just in time, let them in."
"Yes."
At this time, Sophia and Aspasia were still standing at the door. Neither of them knew what was being produced inside. They even had to report to Hilde before coming in, and only after Hilde's consent could they come in. It seemed that it was something really confidential. At this time, the craftsman came over and said to them with a smile, "Your Majesty said, please come in, but before you come in, please wash your feet and hands first, and then come in barefoot."
"Ok?"
What kind of strange request is this?
But since that's what Hilde said.
Then just do it like that.
Sofia and Aspasia followed the craftsman's request, washed their hands and feet beside the clean water, and then walked into the workshop barefoot. When they walked in, a wonderful fragrance attracted their attention. The whole workshop was filled with this fascinating fragrance, which was a little like wine, but wine didn't taste like this, and people really couldn't figure out what it was.
"You are here."
Hilde also came over barefoot.
Sophia looked at Hilde's flawless white feet stepping on the bluestone slabs, and suddenly she felt a throbbing feeling.
"Ah, we were just thinking that you've been very busy lately. We didn't know what you were busy with, and we were a little worried, so we came to take a look." Sophia wanted to look away, but found that she couldn't do it at all. She didn't feel anything when she was at home, but when she saw Hilde showing her feet outside, Sophia felt an indescribable restlessness. In addition, the beautiful feet formed a sharp contrast with the dark bluestone slabs, which made people feel the beauty more directly.
"That's it..."
It wasn't as if Hilde didn't notice Sophia's gaze.
She had a faint smile on her face.
Then he said to the two of them: "Actually, I have been busy making wine during this period, so I haven't been back much."
"Make wine? Sissi, do you want to make wine?"
"It's not winemaking, to be precise it's distilled wine, which is to put the brewed wine into a still to distill a stronger wine. Of course you won't understand what I'm saying, so why don't you come and have a taste?" Hilde said to Dioni beside him, "Please help me get two more glasses of the original liquid, thank you!"
"Okay, Your Majesty!"
Dioni walked barefoot to the other side with a clattering sound.
"Distilled liquor? What's that?"
"How should I explain it to you... the wine we drink contains something called alcohol. This is the substance that makes our faces turn red and even makes us drunk when we drink. It is also a substance that makes us feel happy when we drink, so it must be in the wine... and the purpose of distilled wine is to increase the proportion of alcohol in the wine. The proportion of alcohol in the wine we drink now is only about 10%, but after distillation, the alcohol proportion of the original liquid of distilled wine can reach 60% to 70%."
Chapter 10 The significance of distilled wine
"If this thing is the culprit that makes us drunk, then after you distill the wine, the alcohol content is so high, doesn't that mean it's easier to get drunk?" Sophia frowned and asked, "Wouldn't everyone drink less alcohol in this way? Originally everyone could drink a lot of alcohol and be happy, but in the end they can only drink very little."
"Hahaha, you are indeed right."
Sophia's answer is so cute
Hilde couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"This problem cannot be viewed in this way. Increasing the alcohol content of wine from a low alcohol content to a high alcohol content is not just to drink less and get more alcohol. It also has many other effects. People are dependent on alcohol. The low alcohol content of wine is indeed enough for us, but for many people, it may not be so stimulating. If we provide them with this high alcohol content wine, they will like it very much because it is more stimulating."
At this time, Dioni came over with a cup.
"Your Majesty, I have already brought it."
"Ok."
Hilde held the wine glass and continued, "The higher the alcohol content, the greater the stimulation, and the more addictive it will be. You see, everyone, especially ordinary people, is so happy drinking wine, not because the wine is delicious, because the wine that ordinary people can afford on the market is of poor quality. We drink good wine, so we think it tastes good, but the wine they drink is of poor quality, so they like to drink wine because it contains alcohol, and everyone's purpose is to take in alcohol. And this purified wine will better meet their needs."
"That's it..."
Sophia didn't quite understand.
But Aspasia could hear the logic in what Hilde said.
After listening to her, she could feel that the distilled wine that Hilde was talking about would probably have some very far-reaching effects. As Hilde said, everyone likes wine, whether men or women, they are fascinated by wine, but do they really like the aroma of wine? You know, ordinary people would rather not drink the low-end wine they drink, but this kind of wine has never lacked buyers. Many people, even those who are relatively poor, will take out part of their money to buy wine in the market.
This type of wine that has been purified and distilled can better meet the needs of ordinary people for alcohol, which will cause some unexpected things to happen when drinking. After Hilde finished speaking, he continued to explain:
"And you all know that after wine is brewed, it will spoil if it is taken out of the jar for a short time, and then it will become undrinkable. But this is not the case with distilled wine. Once the wine is distilled, the alcohol content in it increases, so even if you leave it in hot weather, it will not spoil. In this way, the strong liquor produced in Byzantium can be easily transported to the whole world."
(PS: The oldest way of making wine in ancient Greece was not to brew it in wooden barrels, but in pottery jars. This ancient brewing method is still popular in the Caucasus region.)
"Really?"
Aspasia heard this.
You can feel that this is Hilde's real purpose.
If Hilde really achieved this, it would be a revolution in the wine industry. Once the wine breaks through the huge difficulty of storage and can be preserved for a longer time, then it is obvious that this will make some merchants who brew and distill wine gather in a specific area and then be responsible for shipping these wines to the world. And wine is something that everyone in the world likes, so naturally it can be easily sold and earn a lot of wealth. It can be said that this is also a way to get rich.
But there’s more to spirits than just that.
For Hilde.
The importance of spirits is probably very high.
In human history, especially during the colonial period, the role played by strong liquor is probably no less than that of guns and cannons. Strong liquor can improve the morale of soldiers, sterilize and disinfect, and is also one of the main commodities of trade. For some uncivilized countries, they lack the ability to distill strong liquor and will not be able to resist the temptation of strong liquor. They are likely to become dependent on strong liquor, thus falling into a disadvantage of national alcoholism.
That's what the Indians did back then.
The colonists from Europe brought a lot of strong liquor to the place where the Indians lived. The Indians loved strong liquor very much, and would even drink it when negotiating business. When they were drunk, the European colonists could easily make them agree to some conditions that they would not agree to. Even until the time before Hilde traveled through time, the Americans used this method to make the descendants of Indians in the management area almost lose their ability to climb up by supplying a large amount of strong liquor.
Because of this, Hilde takes spirits very seriously.
The revolution it brings to human lifestyle is extremely terrifying.
Hield also has to be careful.
In Hilde's eyes, strong liquor is a drug to some extent, but it is not that harmful to humans. In addition, drinking has been around for a long time in human history, so everyone knows that drinking is harmful, but everyone is drinking. If the Byzantines fall into the trouble of alcoholism because of his invention of strong liquor, then his sin will be great. Once alcohol begins to spread, even issuing a prohibition will have no effect. After all, a country before Hilde had already tried it and saw what the result of issuing a prohibition was.
But knowing the risks, Hilde had to do it. This was a very important thing, especially when dealing with the Scythians later, the role of strong liquor would be even more obvious. When the Byzantine Kingdom and the Scythians began to trade, strong liquor would become the favorite of nomadic peoples. The reason why Hilde built this workshop was to produce relatively high-quality strong liquor specifically for the Scythians. Ordinary Scythians did not need to drink it. As long as the officers, nobles, and even the king of the Scythians fell in love with strong liquor, many things would become very simple.
After all, the Scythians couldn’t even make wine.
Second adjustment, first section, key products of trade
Seeing that Sofia and Aspasia seemed very interested, Hilde handed the wine glass to Sofia and said to her, "You can have a sip, but don't drink too much, or you'll choke."
"Ok."
Sophia was not afraid at all.
Rather, she was very curious about what the liquor Hilde was talking about tasted like. Since it was made from wine, it must be drinkable. Sophia thought so. So she took the glass and took a sip. As a result, she behaved just like Dione just now. Her face wrinkled up all of a sudden.
"Oh! That hurts!"
