The rise of the prince

Chapter 549
In the afternoon, on the back hill of the Wangfu, the sun was shining brightly, the birds were singing and the flowers were fragrant, and the important craftsmen of the Wangfu craftsmen gathered here.

An hour ago, Prince Kang brought his concubine Zhou Li, accompanied by Princess Yongming, and Shiyu arranged a grand reception.

Prince Kang probably said something to his Seventh Grandma. This time the meeting was obviously much more rigid than yesterday, probably about his identity or something.

Li Xingzhou didn't care too much, and took Gillian and Shiyu to entertain the couple warmly.

Then Zhou Li prepared to show them her family's glass-making technology in Houshan.

She just brought a bucket of fine river sand, a small white bag, a strange iron pipe, several small ceramic deep furnaces, brown in color, cylindrical, and very deep.

Li Xingzhou personally carried things for her, and everyone came to the kiln in the back mountain. The weather in early spring was fine, and there were many people present.

Zhao Siyi was still concentrating on improving his cannon, while Qiu'er was concentrating on making steam engines, so they didn't come.

Zhu Rong was in charge of these kilns. Tieniu, Guan Zhong and other craftsmen all rushed over curiously after hearing the news, and came to watch. These kilns in the back mountain are all in charge of Zhu Rong, who are responsible for firing steel graphite crucibles and producing jade bottles brewed by generals. , There is also a special porcelain bottle for perfume.

This job is not only stable, there is no need to go around trying to grab jobs like before, but the workload is also very high. The business of the palace is good, and they have endless work to solve the food problem for dozens of people in Zhu's family. .

The most important thing is that the palace has gradually regarded Zhu Rong as one of its own. Every time the steward holds a "round table meeting", he will be called, which also makes him feel more belonging.

After a while, Zhu Rong lit a fire with charcoal under Zhou Li's instructions, and then fixed the small cylindrical stove on top of the charcoal fire with a black iron tripod in the eyes of everyone.

Li Xingzhou suddenly remembered something, leaned over and asked in a low voice, "Grandma Seven, it doesn't matter if there are so many people watching." After all, this is a family handicraft, or glass making, which is extremely secretive, and many people don't like to be seen by outsiders.

Zhou Li shook her head: "It's nothing, my skills are useless in the palace, I just hope someone can inherit this skill."

Li Xingzhou nodded and smiled, "They are all the most powerful craftsmen in the palace."

Zhou Li said that the ceramic stove was almost the same, so she added fine sand to one of them, then added some white powder, and stirred it evenly with a clean wooden stick.

Everyone watched intently, including King Kang and Princess Yongming. Li Xingzhou stretched his neck and asked curiously, "What is this white thing?"

Before Zhou Li could answer, Yue'er next to her hurriedly said, "My lord, it's a mouthwash."

"Mouth alkali?" Li Xingzhou was puzzled, he had never heard of this thing.

Yue'er hugged his arm, and happily explained to him in a crisp voice: "It's something you usually use for washing clothes."

Li Xingzhou is still a bit confused, but he is ashamed to say that he is a handsome seven-foot man, he has been in this world for two years, Yue'er and Qiu'er helped him wash his clothes, and usually take care of him in various ways, he is really ashamed.
It's such a depraved life, but I love it.

Zhu Rong laughed loudly, and added: "My lord, you are a rich man. It's normal to not understand those things. This alkali is not expensive. There are a lot of buying and selling in the market, and it's cheap. It's good for washing everything. But this year the price has increased two or three times. It looks like it’s done, and I don’t know what’s going on.”

Zhu Rong said that everyone looked at it, which also aroused Kang Wang's emotion: "Yes, the old man is also strange, I don't know how much I have used this thing since I was a child, so why has the price increased this year.

There are a lot of people in my house, no matter how cheap something is, it will not be cheap if you buy more, and the increase of [-] to [-]% is not a small amount. "

Listening to them talk about these interesting things in life, it seems to be a routine, and it feels a bit like an old man next door.

But he still doesn't know what this "mouth alkali" is.

Yan Shen, who happened to be returning to the palace from the barracks for a rest today, came over to have a look: "My lord, you might as well ask General Di about this, he must know a lot about it."

"why?"

"Because the army also needs a lot of caustic soda. He ordered a lot last time in Luzhou. Now the army uses it every month, not just for washing." Yan Shen said.

Li Xingzhou became curious, "Then what else can I do?"

Yan Shen shook his head and spread his hands in bewilderment, "I don't know, I only care about military training, and Di Zhi is in charge of major military affairs."

"Then is he in the palace?" Li Xing asked,

"Yes, I came back with me." Yan Shen nodded.

"Why didn't I see him?"

"I don't know. After the lord and the princess came, he suddenly said that something happened, so he went to the backyard to help Mr. Zhao test the artillery." Yan Shen didn't think so much, he didn't know how to think about what he said, and he was unrestrained. When Princess Yongming heard it, his expression became bad.

Li Xingzhou opened his mouth to say this, but finally waved his hand and said, "Go and find him."

Yan Shen nodded and hurried to call Di Zhi.

Li Xingzhou understood that Di Zhi was avoiding his sister-in-law Princess Yongming.

After a while, Di Zhi came and bowed his hands to salute the crowd. Li Xingzhou then asked about the "mouth alkali".

he asked, and everyone looked over.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Di Zhi cupped his hands and said, "My lord, this stuff is used to make leather in the army."

"All the armor in the army needs leather, but the hide collected from the hunters cannot be used directly. We call it raw hide. It needs to be processed with caustic soda to make mature leather. This kind of leather can be sewn into armor. Armor in the army Repairing also requires leather, so a lot of caustic is also needed.”

After listening to Di Zhi's words, Li Xingzhou suddenly realized, and he also had some guesses about the composition of this "bad mouth".

"Just now Zhu Rong said that the price of caustic soda has risen this year, do you know what's going on?" He continued to ask.

Di Zhi said with a smile: "Your Majesty, although I also produce this thing in Jingguo, I don't produce much of it. It was originally agglomerated, like a mine, but most of it is exposed on the ground, and it is generally found in places with water reserves in the northwest.

Most of them are white or off-white lumps, and those that can be bought in the market are all processed and cut into regular cubes.Like the one used by the princess, it is the purest soda block and then crushed into powder. It looks like salt, and it is almost as pure as snow. It is of the best quality and the most expensive. "

Everyone listened intently, feeling like an eye-opener.

"I didn't expect you to know so much." Li Xingzhou laughed. After all, Di Zhi is his subordinate, this is to give him face.

Di Zhi just cupped his hands, and continued: "My lord, I happened to see the place of production when I was young, and in addition to managing the whole army, I used a lot.

In my view, most of the domestic production of kaline is in the upper reaches of the Huaihe River, but more koline is bought from many Tubo tribes in the northwest and the Liao Kingdom in the north, especially the merchants of various ministries of Tubo. No one uses it, but there are many, but they found that they can sell it for money if they bring Jingguo.

So every year, there are many Tubo merchants and even people who have nothing to do, collect ash blocks, carry them to Sichuan and Shu into the scenery, and then buy a Jingguo merchant at a cheap price in exchange for life money.

There are also a lot of alkali deposits in the north of Liao Kingdom, which will also be sold to Jingguo. Therefore, Liao merchants were unable to transport alkali to the south due to the war in Liao this year, so the price of alkali naturally increased. "

"So that's what happened." Prince Kang nodded.

"I just said that my daughter-in-law has complained to me several times, and I don't know how to tell him. Now that General Di has agreed, I will teach her like this when I go back at night." Zhu Rong laughed.

Li Xingzhou listened to Di Zhi's statement, and had some guesses about what this alkali was, or its main ingredients.

On the other side, after about half an hour of baking, the sand in Zhou Li's small ceramic furnace with alkali fines started to become viscous, and then slowly turned into a dark red semi-liquid state!
Zhu Rong, Tieniu, Yue'er and others all stretched their necks and widened their eyes!
"What is this!"

(End of this chapter)