Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 16 Sources of Raw Materials (Part [-])
Once the goals are clear, it’s time to take action.After sending away his uncle Zhang Siwei, Gao Wushi called Gao Xiaozhuang, the only man under his command who could be dispatched abroad, to his study room and asked him to go out and inquire about the prices of a few items.

Gao Xiaozhuang is 15 years old this year, and he looks like his name. Although he is not very old, he looks tall and strong among his peers. Gao Xiaozhuang is estimated to be more than 1.7 meters five according to the weights and measures of his previous life. Moreover, the shoulders are broad and the shoulders are thick, maybe it weighs a hundred and fifty catties.In Gao Yushi's previous life, it was not uncommon for him to grow to 15 meters five at the age of 1.7. As for the weight... Hehe, it is guaranteed to exceed the standard, after all, the nutrition is simply too sufficient.However, Gao Xiaozhuang, who was born in the Ming Dynasty, was just a "family-born child". Although it is safe to eat enough, I am afraid that it is a bit too much to say how sufficient nutrition can be. It can only be said that he can grow to this size. Genetic problem—his father Gao Laosi is quite burly, and he is one of the few strong men in the Gao family in Xinzheng.

Gao Xiaozhuang didn't originally work in Gao Gong's family, he was the son of Gao's sixth family member, that is, the person chosen by Gao Pragmatic's father Gao.However, Gao Cai was away all year round, while Gao Xiaozhuang stayed in Xinzheng all the time, and was by Gao Yushi's side very early on.This time Gao Gong brought Gao Yushi to the capital first, but Gao Xiaozhuang and other servants were later sent by Gao Yushi's mother Zhang to take care of Gao Yushi. After all, in Zhang's view, Gao Xiaozhuang and the other four served Gao Yushi Years, both familiar and reassuring.Among the four people sent by the Zhang family, besides the book boy Gao Xiaozhuang, there was also a groom and two servant girls.

Gao Yushi was still young, so he had no chance to ride a horse at all. The groom was actually used as a handlebar on weekdays, and he was a bit older, in his early forties. He was usually silent. Apart from knowing his driving skills, Gao Yushi Not bad and a lot of strength, but I haven't communicated with him much, and I can't really understand him. Obviously, this kind of purchase will not be entrusted to him.

As for the two servant girls, they are a pair of twin sisters. They can't even remember their original names. Anyway, now one is called Shangyue and the other is called Tingqin, and they were chosen by the pragmatic mother.It stands to reason that it is not uncommon for maids to go out to buy something, but helplessly, the pair of sisters are also very young, and they are both only 11 years old this year.In fact, they were sold into Gao's mansion as maidservants when they were four years old. They are considered to be the "old people" around Gao Yushi. Of course, there is no problem with their loyalty, but letting the two little girls do this is not a problem. Not quite right.

As a result, Gao Yushi had no choice but to pull out the general from the dwarf and let Gao Xiaozhuang go for a trip.Gao Pragmatism asked Gao Xiaozhuang to inquire about the prices of a few items, which were basically related to making soap, and of course they also came with several spices that could be used as fixatives.

As we all know, the basis of the modern chemical industry is "three acids and two alkalis". The "three acids" are sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and nitric acid, and the "two alkalis" are caustic soda and soda ash (sodium carbonate).Perhaps in many people's minds, only sodium carbonate is a chemical material commonly used in ancient China. After all, who makes steamed buns without adding alkali?But this impression actually underestimates the wisdom of the ancient Chinese. In fact, in ancient China, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and even caustic soda could be manufactured, and they were actually manufactured by people.

中国古代制造硫酸的主要原材料是绿矾，也叫青矾。绿矾加强热达到500℃以上就能分解生成氧化铁、二氧化硫、三氧化硫和水；三氧化硫与水反应就能生成硫酸。其化学方程式为：2FeSO4·7H2O=(高温)Fe2O3+SO2+SO3+14H2O
Its product contains sulfur trioxide, which becomes sulfuric acid when dissolved in water.Because this sulfuric acid is obtained by calcining green vitriol, it was called "green vitriol oil" in ancient China.Green vitriol was a blind traditional Chinese medicine in ancient China, and it is recorded in many pharmacopoeias. The method of calcining green vitriol is not difficult: put green vitriol and rice vinegar together in a casserole and cover them, put them on a charcoal stove for calcination, and wait for vitriol When it melts, stir it evenly with bamboo slices to fully mix the alum and vinegar, then heat it and then calcine it until it is all crimson in color, then take it out and let it cool. [Note: The ratio recorded in ancient times is "for every 100 catties of calcined green vitriol, 20 catties of rice vinegar is used". ]
Gao Pragmatism is not very clear about how the ancient Chinese method of producing nitric acid was obtained, but he knew that in the eighth century A.D., the Arabian alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan discovered and produced nitric acid during dry distillation. Nitric acid was produced, which seems to be the earliest human record of nitric acid.At the same time, he is also the discoverer of sulfuric acid and aqua regia.Therefore, China may have obtained the method of manufacturing nitric acid through the Silk Road or the Maritime Silk Road during the Tang and Song Dynasties.

As for saltpeter (potassium nitrate), it has always been considered a special product of China in ancient times, because only the Chinese can refine the naturally occurring potassium nitrate.

It is recorded in "Tiangong Kaiwu": "Every nitrate is produced by Huayi, and China is exclusively produced in the northwest. If the southeast sellers do not give official quotations, they will be guilty of private goods. Nitrate and salt have the same mother, under the earth Moisture evaporates and is now on the ground. Those near water and thin soil become salt, and those near mountains and thick soil become nitric acid. It dissolves when it enters the water, so it is called "nitrification". To the north of Changhuai River, after the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is the living room Among them, sweep the floor every other day, and take a little for decoction.

There are three most common nitrates: those from the middle of Sichuan are called Sichuan nitrates, those born in Shanxi are commonly called salt nitrates, and those born in Shandong are commonly called soil nitrates.When the nitrate is scraped and swept away (in the wall or in and out), it is soaked in water for one night in a vat, and the dirty things float on the surface.The nitrified water is dried and poured into the container, and after one night, it will form nitrate.The floating one is called Glauber's salt, the tall one is called Maya's salt (both come from the essence of the prescription), and the one below is called Pu's salt.If you want to remove impurities and restore purity, then add water to decoct and refine.Add a few pieces of radish and cook together, pour it into a basin, and after a night it will form white snow, and it will be called a pot of nitrate.For making gunpowder, tooth nitrate and pot nitrate have the same functions.

When taking nitrate for medicine, the few are baked with new tiles, and the many are baked in earthen kettles. Once the moisture is dry, the powder is taken.If you grind nitrate without grinding it into a stone mortar with iron, it will cause unpredictable disasters.Where the nitrate is prepared and the medicine is divided into two parts, and it is used for the same research as Huang, and the charcoal is added later.After the nitrate is baked, it will be revived after a long period of time.Use cannons, and load them from the temporary period. "

Although "Tiangong Kaiwu" is still four or fifty years away from appearing, its technology has already existed-in fact, there is no need to say more about this point, otherwise how did the gunpowder come from?

To put it simply, potassium nitrate is calcined in a closed container to generate nitrogen dioxide, which dissolves in water and becomes nitric acid.The mixture of nitric acid and sulfuric acid is extremely corrosive aqua regia. The Arab alchemist should have produced sulfuric acid and nitric acid by the above method.

至于烧碱的生产方法，就更简单了。眼下盖房子经常要用到的熟石灰，其化学成分是氢氧化钙（Ca(OH)2），把它与碱（Na2CO3）的溶液混合，就能得到烧碱。其化学反应方程式为：Ca(OH)2+Na2CO3=CaCO3(沉淀)+2NaOH
There are many uses of caustic soda, for example, Gaowushi now uses it to make soap.The manufacture of soap is also very simple to say, in fact, it is to use the caustic soda generated by the reaction to saponify the fat and turn it into soap.But it is also a coincidence, the reason why Gao Yushi remembers it clearly is because when he was the mayor of the town, when he inspected a certain elementary school in the town, the elementary school was engaged in comprehensive practice and interest cultivation, and it happened that Gao Yushi saw those children one by one. With great enthusiasm, I made a lot of fancy little soaps.At that time, in order to show the great image of caring for the flowers of the motherland, the mayor Gao Da enthusiastically worked with the children and made a few pieces of soap...Of course, in various time-travel novels, soap making by the protagonist is a common skill, highly pragmatic You can also learn by reading novels in your free time.

As for soda ash, the current soda ash is not the industrial soda ash made by the famous soda making method of later generations, but natural soda ash.This thing has always been in China, and the distribution of production areas is relatively wide. Of course, in the capital at the moment, it should be mainly used from the "mouth alkali" produced in the Hetao area of ​​​​Mongolia-most of which should be produced in the later generations of Inner Mongolia. Flag alkali lake belt.The soda ash in the soda lake is the same as the salt in the salt lake. It does not require any technology, and it can be sold directly by loading it into a car. Moreover, since the Mongols take the soda by themselves, it is not very useful, so it is used as a simple means of generating income. It's not expensive either -- or rather: shockingly cheap.

(End of this chapter)