People in Datang have been expelled from school

Chapter 249 The Mysterious Old Eunuch

Li Zheng found that the old eunuch had been staring at him, for fear that he would cut corners.

The first step of removing impurities is completed.

Dozens of buckets are displayed in front of the simple fine salt refining workshop.

Buckets of crushed salt mine.

The old eunuch Wang Wen watched Li Zheng soak the salt over and over again.

Seeing that the salt mines are becoming less and less due to the dissolution of water.

He anxiously said to Li Zheng: "Lord of the county, the salt will be soaked in this way."

"This is called removing impurities. Do you think that as long as the salt is crushed, it will be fine salt?"

"But it's not enough to bring disaster to the county marquis..."

Seeing Li Zheng's displeasure, Wang Wen quickly said, "It's the old servant who is talking too much, the county magistrate, please continue."

Li Zheng continued to soak the salt mines.

The old eunuch Wang Wen recorded Li Zheng's every move. If he couldn't extract fine salt, it would be Li Zheng's crime.

Pour out all the water that soaked the salt mines.

The water has been changed five times, and the clear water is poured into the bucket again, and then the salt mine is soaked.

The best salt used in Datang today is sea salt.

Because sea salt has the least amount of impurities.

There are many impurities in many well salt mines and lake salt.

Now the finished salt made by Datang is very rough.

As a result, a lot of salt is bitter and astringent.

Li Zheng changed the water again, this is already the sixth time.

Use normal temperature water to decompose the impurities in the salt.

In fact, it is a very simple truth.

There are two substances in the crystals of salt mines: magnesium chloride and potassium chloride.

These two substances are the real culprits that cause salt to be bitter and astringent.

In the Tang Dynasty, when chemical knowledge was scarce, people did not know how to extract these two things, and how to leave the relatively pure sodium chloride in the salt mine.

With junior high school chemistry knowledge, Li Zheng looked at the salt mine that was still bubbling with small bubbles in the water.

Sodium chloride is not easily soluble in normal temperature water.

The melting point of sodium chloride is higher than that of magnesium chloride and potassium chloride, but they are easier to dissolve in normal temperature water than sodium chloride.

Li Zheng smiled and watched, trembling, mortals of Datang!
You are about to see the cleanest fine salt in Datang.

That night, Li Shimin received his reward.

Li Zheng crushed the salt mine and soaked it all in water.

And still soak overnight.

Li Shimin couldn't understand what Li Zheng was going to do, and he just waited to see if Li Zheng could bring fine salt.

On the second day,
The old eunuch stared at Li Zheng's movements, still the same as yesterday, still soaking in those salt mines.

"Xianhou, the soaked water is salty."

"Let's go down." Li Zheng said.

"Why did you pour it? The water is salty, salt water."

"The stuff I brewed is almost as poisonous as arsenic. If you want to drink it, I won't stop you." After finishing speaking, Li Zheng felt that something was wrong, and said, "You must have already drank it."

Wang Wen's complexion turned pale, and he stepped aside and began to pinch his own throat.

After Li Zheng finished speaking, he started to cook the salt.

After a long time, Wang Wen saw that he was fine.

The old eunuch replied again: "The old slave dipped some and tasted it, but didn't drink it."

Li Zheng ignored him.

The old eunuch said again: "Huh? Why are there so many pigs missing yesterday?"

Li Zheng continued to boil the salt calmly, which is also an indispensable part of refining fine salt.

The old eunuch asked in a low voice: "Mr. County, several pigs are missing."

"Really?" Li Zheng cleared his throat with a calm expression.

"Where did the pig go?"

"Those pigs are all sows, and now it's almost spring, which is the time when sows are in heat."

Hearing this, the old eunuch blinked vigorously, "Huh?"

Li Zheng said seriously: "Maybe they went to find the boar to have fun, and they will come back by themselves in a few days."

"..."

Wang Wen looked at the situation and asked again: "Huh? Could it be that the hens are also looking for the rooster to have fun?"

The fan in Li Zheng's hand shook even faster, "My lord, do you think he ate it?"

Wang Wen counted seven pigs missing.

I thought that Li Zheng couldn't eat seven pigs by himself.

Smiling, he said to Li Zheng, "Surely the county lord is not that kind of person?"

"I kindly refine fine salt for His Majesty, but you doubt me so much." Li Zheng sighed: "People's hearts are sinister, there is a way that Lu Yao knows that his horsepower is insufficient, and he sees people's hearts for a long time."

"It is Lu Yao who knows the horsepower and sees people's hearts over time. Of course, the old slave is loyal to His Majesty." Wang Wen smiled, "The county marquis really loves to joke."

The old eunuch's smile was a bit piercing.

After chatting with this eunuch for a few more words, I realized that he and Wang Ding, the eunuch next to Li Shimin, were brothers.

He is Li Shimin's servant and Li Shimin's most loyal eunuch.

Wang Ding, Wang Wen and six trusted eunuchs are all working for Li Shimin.

Li Zheng asked curiously: "Your name is Wang Wen, is it called Wang Wu?"

"Tell him, he is in the Longwu Army..."

Realizing that he had slipped up, Wang Wen hurriedly covered his mouth.

"It turns out that they are in charge of the Longwu Army. No wonder the Longwu Army has always been so mysterious."

"..."

Wang Wen knelt down with a plop in the direction of the Taiji Palace, "Your Majesty! This old slave didn't control his mouth. When this old slave returns, he will definitely plead guilty."

After boiling the water until it boiled slightly, Li Zheng turned around and changed a pot.

Those crystals that remain undissolved after cooking are also inedible.

Next, add the soaked salt mine continuously, and just dissolve it in water. The fire should not be too high, and the water temperature should not be too high. About moderate warm water is enough. Previously, magnesium chloride and other impurities were removed by dissolving with normal temperature water. Now boiled Sodium chloride dissolves in warm water.

Sodium chloride is salt, and fine salt can be extracted by using different dissolution conditions.

Pour warm water in which salt has been dissolved into a basin and let it dry in the sun to precipitate the crystals of sodium chloride.

The salt field in Haiyan is such a truth.

It's just that there are a few more steps in making salt from salt mines.

Li Zheng sat aside shaking his fan, closed his eyes and began to take a nap.

I don't know how long I slept, but Wang Wen woke him up in the evening.

"The water in the county marquis has dried up."

Li Zheng looked at the water basin that had dried up, and gathered these tiny crystals into a pile.

The old eunuch Wang Wen looked at it and said, "Mr. County, these fine salts are so beautiful and white."

"You haven't seen it." Li Zheng handed it to him and said, "Try it."

"The old slave dare not, the county marquis will try it first."

"If you want to taste it, you have to taste it."

"Why doesn't the county magistrate taste it himself?"

Li Zheng said with a sneer: "I don't know if the things I refine can be eaten, what if I eat them to death?"

"..."

Wang Wen dipped some salt with his fingers and was about to put it in his mouth with a sad and angry expression.

At the critical moment, he still gave up. Wang Wen said with an aggrieved face, "The county lord, this old slave has to do a lot of things for His Majesty, so he can't just die like this."

The old eunuch Wang Wen called a young eunuch with a higher level of ideological awareness.

(End of this chapter)