Daqin Fusu: It is difficult to start the battle

Chapter 71

Seeing that his father was frightened, Feng Jie hurried forward to help him, and then glared at Young Master Yan.

Young Master Yan bowed his hands to apologize, but Feng Quji shook his head, indicating that it's okay.

Meng Yi walked over, took a drop with his hand, and then twisted it with his fingers, his face full of surprise: "It's really oil!"

To be honest, before this, he never thought that oil could be extracted from rapeseed. The reason why he firmly believed what Fusu said was because the Meng clan had already been deeply tied to Fusu. Under the premise, Fusu will do what she says.

The ministers in the room were also stunned. In their original impression, fats and oils were all extracted from animals, but they didn't expect rapeseed to be fried, then crushed and put in the equipment, it could be used This method squeezes out the oil!
Seeing this, the public transportation rail placed a filter made of sackcloth under the oil tank to filter the dripping rapeseed oil.

Meng Yi asked: "I don't know how much oil can be squeezed out of rapeseed?"

Fusu thought for a while, then hesitated slightly: "There should be one out of five."

The oil content of rapeseed in later generations is generally above 30.00%. Considering that the rapeseed varieties in the Qin Dynasty were relatively primitive, the oil content should also be above 20.00%...

Meng Yi, Qiang Yan and others looked at each other, nodded frequently and said: "If the residue left over from oil extraction can be used as fodder, rapeseed is really a rare thing!"

Feng Jie, Gong Ziyan and others also talked about it.

"Yo, this oil is getting more and more!"

"Vegetable oil looks much clearer than ointment, but I don't know how it tastes?"

"According to the old man, it should not be as good as Gao Xing, but better than Gao Sao..."

"Doctor Yushi's words are wrong..."

……

Zheng Guo looked at Fusu and said seriously: "When rapeseed grows, it can be used for cooking, and when it is mature, it can also be pressed for oil. I immediately sent a message to all counties and counties to let people grow rapeseed outside the farmland!"

Fusu nodded, the crown on his head rattled, which made him feel a little reluctant to speak.

Persuading farmers and mulberry classes is part of the internal history of millet.

Unlike other feudal dynasties, farmers in the Qin Dynasty cultivated under the guidance of Tian Dian.

"Cang Law" writes that when sowing seeds, use two and two-thirds buckets per mu for rice and hemp; one bucket per mu for millet and wheat; two-thirds buckets per mu for millet and beans...

Not only that, but there are also detailed tutorials on how to weed, fertilize, water, etc. per mu of land.

This is the national policy of farming and warfare that Qin has pursued since Shang Yang's reform.

The promotion of rape planting can serve multiple purposes.

Needless to say, pressing rapeseed oil and using oil-pressing residues to feed livestock or fertilize the fields, the fallen flowers, leaves, roots and a small amount of stubble left in the field during the growth stage of rapeseed also play an important role in improving soil fertility. (Note 1)

The most important thing is that in Lingnan counties, it can be rotated with double-cropping rice to form rapeseed-early rice-late rice-rape...such three crops a year!
Coupled with a stable central government to regulate, after the population explosion, Lingnan can assimilate the Yue people around, and then wait for the opportunity to land on Hainan Island and sweep across Southeast Asia...

Not only the southeast coast, but also central Shu and Guanzhong.

Fusu remembered reading "The Four Skills of the People of Qi" written by a person from the Qing Dynasty, which described the cultivation of rapeseed in detail.

The article suggests that if all the fields are planted with wheat, it will consume too much fertilizer and labor. One-third of the field should be planted with rapeseed, because rapeseed can squeeze oil and fertilize the field. One acre of rapeseed cake can fertilize three acres .

After Fusu discussed the information in his memory with Zheng Guo, he decided to interplant and rotate rapeseed. He would try planting rapeseed in Guantian and Nanhai County around Xianyang first, and then spread it to the world after harvesting next year.

Amidst the discussions among the crowd, the first squeeze ended.

According to later generations, the first oil squeezed out is called "first squeezed oil".

It's just that the first-press oil contains more water and the color is not translucent enough, but there are not many problems for cooking.

When there is no more oil dripping from the oil tank, the first pressing process is considered complete.

The next thing to do is to press the remaining oil residue for the second time.

The same as the preparation before the first pressing, the raw materials are still ground and steamed in a pan, then pressed into round cakes and sent to the oil press for oil extraction.

However, during the demolition, several sweaty palace gate guards had some difficulties.

The oil cakes in the press bed have been completely squeezed together, and it is almost impossible to break them apart by hand.

Seeing these soldiers scrambling under the gaze of the emperor, Gong Zhugui felt amused.

A craftsman came up with a wooden hammer and a slender wooden wedge. He inserted the wooden wedge into the gap between the oil cakes and tapped it lightly a few times, and the squeezed oil cakes were separated from it.

Several hidden officials and ministers walked in with their heads down, and walked out holding the pancakes.

Seeing that the purpose of the exhibition had been achieved, Fusu felt that there was no need to waste any more time here.

So he took Feng Quji and others and turned around and walked out. When he was about to leave the door, he ordered: "Wait, give these palace gate guards who are doing their best, each of them two catties of vegetable oil."

Hearing these words, the corners of Feng Jie's mouth twitched unconsciously.

The two catties that Fusu mentioned should be the same as the two bars of soap that Fusu mentioned yesterday.

Feng Jie recalled that when he left the palace yesterday, the eunuch ordered Han Rang to chase him out of the palace, and stuffed two pieces of two-inch square soap in his hands, he couldn't help but exchanged glances with Zheng Guo, and they both saw the same expression on each other's faces. look.

About an hour later, the convoy crossed the Weishui River and entered Zhangtai Palace.

After a busy morning, it's time for lunch again.

Unlike the first emperor who didn't care about food, Fusu often ate with ministers in order to gain his prestige.

At this moment in the Zhangtai Palace, the ministers who watched the oil extraction with him gathered together, waiting for the meal.

Because there were not many followers, many Qianshi officials who could only participate in the banquet outside the hall were also sitting in the hall at the moment.

Lunch is very simple, stewed meat, fried meat, pickled vegetables, just to develop the habit of eating pasta, everyone has a steaming bowl of lo mein in front of them.

According to the book of rites, Meng Dongzhiyue should eat pork, so the topping of lo mein is fried pork with shiitake mushrooms.

Although shiitake mushrooms are a tribute and were rarely seen in the past, people's attention is not on them, but on a plate of sauce with oily and spicy smell on the table.

"The name of this thing is 藙 [yì], and it's a good accompaniment from Sichuan." Fusu scooped up a spoonful, put it into the noodles, and stirred it gently.

Cauliflower is cornel.

A few days ago, Fusu discovered that there are several types of cornel. Among them, the cornel sent from Sichuan, although the taste is not as good as the peppers in later generations, but for him, a slightly spicy party, the degree of spiciness is just right.

So, there is this Qin Dynasty version of 'oily and spicy' in front of everyone...

PS: Note 1, from "Historical Materials of Chinese Science and Technology Rapeseed Production in Ancient my country", author Cao Longgong.

(End of this chapter)