The legend of Luyi wine

Some people say: "The fine wine in Luyi is a fine nectar, and it takes three days to drink a cup of it." This is not an exaggeration. Luyi wine is not only like fine nectar, mellow and delicious, but also has a strong aroma. Sweet and pure. As long as you take a sip, the fragrance will linger around your throat and linger for three days. However, people only know that Luyi wine is particularly delicious, but they don’t know the mystery behind it. There is also a legendary story about it.

According to legend, a long time ago, there lived a member of the Zhao family in Zaoji Town, north of Luyi City. His family had hundreds of hectares of fertile land, millions of properties, and many children and grandchildren. He was considered a blessed person in Zaoji Town. Although he is over seventy years old, he still has fair hair and a rosy face, his eyes are not blurry and his ears are not deaf; he speaks with a loud voice and walks as fast as flying. He looks like a Taoist priest from the Immortal Mountain. Someone asked him for advice on the secret recipe for longevity. He stroked his beard and said cheerfully: "There is no secret recipe. I just like to drink a few cups of wine." In fact, he is indeed a drinker by nature. He regards wine as his life and keeps his hands on the pot and mouth all day long. He can't live without a cup, and can't do without wine for three meals a day, so his family members often go to the hotel to get him wine. And this little family member is a slanderer. Every time he was on his way back from drinking, he couldn't help but want to try it. As time went by, I slowly became addicted. However, his family was so poor that he had no money to buy wine, so he had no choice but to grab a wine gourd and enjoy himself secretly on the way back from fetching wine for his master. Once, he couldn't hold back the energy and drank too much. There was only half the wine in the gourd. How should I explain to the master when I get back? Xiao Zhaoxiang got into trouble on the road. At this moment, he suddenly found a puddle on the side of the road. Although there was not much water, it was crystal clear. Zhao Xiang's eyes lit up, and he quickly ran to the pit and poured wine into the gourd without any effort. It was full, and he took it back nervously and handed it to Yuanwai Zhao. After the member drank the wine, he not only did not blame Zhao Xiang, but also praised the wine as delicious. He also said that the wine he drank today was more delicious than the wine he drank in the past. From then on, Xiao Zhaoxiang began to drink boldly. The more wine he drank, the more water he added, and member Zhao kept praising the aroma of the wine. Xiao Zhaoxiang was also puzzled. He thought to himself that he had obviously added so much water, so how could he say that the more he drank, the better it would taste?

One day, Zhao Yuanwai called Zhao Xiang to him and said: "Zhao Xiang, you have been drinking for many years, running a lot of legs, suffering a lot of fatigue and beating me." The wine is getting better and better every day, and I don’t know which hotel it comes from. I want you to take me to that hotel today to see how they make the wine so delicious.” Saying this frightened Zhao Xiang. Zhao Xiang muttered in his heart, I obviously added Tanshui. What good wine is there? Let me take you there. He had no choice but to tell the truth. Not only was Zhao not angry after hearing this, but he felt strange and asked Zhao Xiang to lead him to the pool and taste the water for himself. As a last resort, Zhao Xiang anxiously led the old man to the edge of the pond, where he had a sweet and delicious meal. Zhao Yuan thought, since this water is like wine, it is really a oar given by God, why not buy it with money. So he asked his family to get utensils and set up a stall by the pond to buy wine. The wine bought by Zhao Yuan was cheap and delicious, and there was a steady supply. Villagers nearby came to buy it, and business was booming for a while. After a few days, someone finally discovered the secret. Once the secret was discovered, the water in this pool no longer smelled like wine when you drank it, but it was still much sweeter than water elsewhere.

Zhao Yuanwai thought of God’s gift of Jiuquan, so he led his family to build a family, completely abandoned farming and doing business, and built a wine making workshop - Zhaoji Old Winery next to the pond. Using Tan water and wheat, soybeans, sorghum and other raw materials to make wine, the taste is particularly mellow. As a result, the business is still booming, the wealth is rolling in, and the family is getting richer. Later, when local merchants saw that Zhao Yuan was making a fortune by making wine from Tanshui, they came to Tanzhou to build workshops. At its peak, there were as many as eighteen wineries in Quanzaoji Town, which were called "Eighteen Old Breweries" by the locals. "The fine wines are sold all over Henan and as far away as Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, Hubei and other places. So much so that Zaoji Town has the reputation of "the wine is fragrant and intoxicating even if you don't drink it." It’s no wonder that people in Zaoji are good at drinking and tasting wine, so much so. Even outsiders who come here are not impressed by the large number of people in Zaoji. They marvel: the fragrance of wine is everywhere in Zaoji, and even a sparrow can drink four taels!

People may ask, why does the water in the pond smell like wine? According to legend, one time, Tieguai Li, one of the Eight Immortals, went to attend the Queen Mother's peach gathering and secretly packed a calabash of Xiantian Palace wine back to the lower realm. Walking to Luyi Zaoji, I felt unbearably thirsty and could hardly walk. Suddenly I saw a clear spring on the roadside. I hurried to the spring to drink water to quench my thirst. I accidentally slipped the wine gourd into the water. Because the water in the pool was deep, I went through all the trouble. Couldn't fish it out either. From then on, the taste of the water changed.

The place where Zhao Xiang added water was the pool where Tieguaili fell into the wine gourd, and the spring at the bottom of the pool was connected to the ancient Song River, which had excellent water quality and was pure and sweet.