The rise of the prince

Chapter 338 Is it going to work?
"My lord, there are people from the west side of the city again." Wu Lie hurried into the inner hall, sweating profusely and reporting to He Zhao helplessly.

He Zhao sighed, the summer was sweltering, he put down his pen and fan, and Li Xingzhou's song "Xiaomei in the Mountain Garden" was still hanging behind him.

He stood up and paced, thought for a while and shook his head and said: "I know about the west of the city. The stench is so foul, it's like purgatory on earth, and it's listed every year, but the emperor doesn't allow it. How can it be a matter of overnight to repair the underground waterway?" , One hair will move the whole body, one move to the west of the city, the whole city will move, without a million taels of silver, one or two years will not move at all!
Now that the Great War in the South has just ended, the Liao people in the north are staring at each other with heavy armor and supplies, and there are places to eat money everywhere. Your Majesty will not agree. "

As he said that, he waved his hands helplessly, "A half-official wants to take care of the matter of surprising the common people, but he can't do it. Go to the back door to prepare a sedan chair. This official can go through the back door."

Wu Lie nodded, and then said, "Go home directly?"

He Zhao thought for a while, and was about to nod his head when he seemed to remember something, and asked, "Where did Xiaoqian go?"

"This." Wu Lie was embarrassed, hesitantly said: "I went to Prince Xiao's Mansion again." He didn't know why he habitually added the word "".

He Zhao was taken aback for a moment, and his face darkened.

Wu Lie tentatively said: "Master, the lady often goes to the palace, and now everyone around the palace knows about it. When I went to the restaurant yesterday, I heard people talking about whether the master had promised the lady to the king of Pingnan County in private. From the subordinates' point of view, for the sake of Miss's innocence, it's better to simply promise it to King Pingnan."

He Zhao glared at him, his expression became even uglier.

Wu Lie took two steps back in fear, but after so many years with the master, for the sake of the master's reputation, he still had the courage to say: "Master, the young lady is at the age of youth, and she runs to the palace every day, Ping Nan is also a young hero, Not to mention being mighty and handsome, she has a prominent status and superhuman status, so she must be worthy of Miss, then...then you have to hesitate a little longer, maybe in the future, the He family's reputation may not be guaranteed."

Wu Lie bravely finished speaking, and carefully looked at the master.

Noticing that the flesh on the master's face was trembling, Wu Lie hurriedly slipped away as soon as he raised his hand, and before he went out, he heard the master behind him say: "Stop, prepare a sedan chair for me, and go to Prince Xiao's mansion!"

As soon as Wu Lie was clever, he quickly came to take orders, and then went to the back door of the palace to prepare the sedan chair.

On the mountain behind the Wangfu, it was scorching summer and the charcoal fire was strong. After burning for about an hour, Li Xingzhou was so hot that he took off his clothes and his arms were shirtless.

As soon as the fire was extinguished, he couldn't wait to get someone to open the furnace door to check. When he opened it, hot air came rushing towards his face. Li Xingzhou was too anxious to get close. The temperature inside the furnace is estimated to still exceed [-] degrees.

Everyone had to wait on the side, waiting for the heat to dissipate.

"Ah! Dengtuzi" came an exclamation from behind.

Li Xingzhou looked back and saw that it was He Qian and Yue'er who were holding smoothies. There was an ice cellar in the palace, and what was kept were ice cubes from winter.Originally, nitrate could also be used to make ice, but it was too wasteful.

Li Xingzhou taught them to grind it into smoothies, and then eat them together with fruit cubes and rose sugar sauce. The little girls became addicted once they ate them.

"What are you doing here?" Li Xingzhou asked.

Yue'er was not shy, He Qian covered her eyes desperately.

"We're delivering smoothies to the prince, it's too hot today."

Since a long time ago, dignitaries have had the habit of storing ice cubes in winter and using them in summer. The earliest record can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period. It was even recorded in the Tang Dynasty that ice cubes were fried to be as expensive as gold of the same volume during the scorching summer. .

Li Xingzhou was bare-chested, and his strong muscles were arranged in an orderly manner. He was about to reach out to pick it up, but found it was full of dust, so he had to let Yue'er feed him a few mouthfuls, drink some smoothies, and dispel the summer heat all at once, how cool it is.

On the other side, He Qian finally didn't cover his eyes, but still avoided him shyly, just took a few peeks: "You are so shy, you don't wear clothes in broad daylight."

Li Xingzhou spread his hands: "If you don't agree with it, don't wear it, and you have to take it off on a hot day."

"Stinky rascal!" He Qian kicked him angrily, but was dodged.

Li Xingzhou glanced at her, and said jokingly, "Did your father give up on you completely?"

"Hmph, Miss Ben can always go wherever she wants." She proudly raised her pretty chin, then poked her head to look at the dark stove behind: "What are you doing?"

"Hey, burn the stone." Li Xingzhou smiled triumphantly.

Cement has no difficulty in materials, mainly limestone and clay, both of which can be found everywhere. The key is that the calcination temperature is very high. Without refractory materials, the temperature of firing cement cannot be reached.

However, Zhu Rong’s method of making the graphite crucible into graphite refractory bricks and then building a kiln seems to be effective, because after burning for so long, the heat in the furnace has accumulated, and the temperature should be very high, but there is still no crack or damage on the outside. Signs, this time there should be no problem.

"Burn stones?" He Qian was puzzled.

"That's right, a stone that can deform at will." Li Xingzhou added: "But I don't know if it can be done."

He Qian stopped stalking, and everyone waited while talking and laughing.

After waiting for more than an hour, the temperature in the furnace finally dropped. Zhu's family stepped forward and scraped out a layer of white fine powder that was still warm at the bottom of the furnace.

When Li Xingzhou saw it, his heart turned cold, and he frowned and said, "That's not right."

"What's wrong?" Seeing that he was anxious, He Qian also became anxious.

He smiled wryly and said, "The color is wrong, it's too white." Then he bent down and grabbed some, and rubbed them with his hands, "It's delicate enough, and it doesn't look like a failure."

"Is it finished?" He Qian leaned over and asked.

Li Xingzhou spread his hands: "Success or no success, that is a question."

He Qian was taken aback for a moment, realized that he was being teased, and kicked him angrily, Li Xingzhou burst out laughing.

Immediately, someone brought a bucket of clear water over, and then poured it into the white ash and stirred it up. Whether it was cement or not would not be known until after testing, although the color did not look right.

After the mixing was almost done, Li Xingzhou asked people to randomly find a few stones with different rules, and built a small knee-high wall with cement.

"Okay, I'll know if this thing is useful tomorrow." Li Xingzhou clapped his hands, feeling nervous, because the color is completely different from the cement seen in later generations, it is whiter and brighter.

Zhu Rong, He Qian, and Yue'er, Zhu's family members were very surprised by his actions, but of course they could only follow what the son wanted to do.

"Tell me, what do you want to eat when you come to the palace this time?" Li Xingzhou turned around and asked.

He Qian's thoughts were seen through, so she smiled embarrassedly, and then said, "Last time you made that ice cream, as well as canned yellow peaches, hot pot, fruit wine, lotus leaf chicken, and beef jerky."

"Stop, stop." He hurriedly stopped the little girl from continuing, "I really thought the palace was your kitchen. Also, what kind of hot pot do you eat on a hot day?"

Li Xingzhou shook his head. Making ice cream is time-consuming. The reason why he can do it is because the palace can be refrigerated with saltpeter.

Many people think that saltpeter refrigeration is a technology that the ancients knew, but in fact, according to records, the ancients had only one way to make ice, that is, to use deep-dug cellars and cotton wool to store ice in winter, and the method of saltpeter refrigeration was not developed until the [-]th century. Discovered by the British, but not popular either.

Li Xingzhou can use saltpeter for refrigeration, so he can make ice cream naturally.

(End of this chapter)