big song poppi

Chapter 28 0027 [Make money?Alchemy! 】

Under the weird gazes of Fang Sansan and the others, Han Zhen carefully carried the pot back to the backyard and put it in the small warehouse.

Don't dare to put this thing casually. Although it doesn't have much weight, it is worth thousands of gold.

There was white sugar in the Northern Song Dynasty, but it was very rare.

Part of it comes from tributes from Dashi and other countries, and part of it is self-made by sugar merchants.

When the sucrose is boiled and cooled, a very thin layer of frost will form, and the craftsman needs to use a special bamboo stick to carefully scrape it off.

Often hundreds of catties of sucrose are boiled to collect a tael of white sugar.

This kind of white sugar hardly ever appears on the market, even if a wealthy businessman wants to spend a lot of money to buy it, there is no way.

It belongs to the real price without market.

Since it is not available on the market, Han Zhen has no way to refer to the price, but considering that rare things are more expensive, he thinks that it should be reasonable to sell 20 guan ones or two at that time.

These two jars of granulated sugar, after deducting the loss, can produce about 8 catties of white sugar, which is more than 2560 guan.

The cost is only 15 guan, and the profit is as high as hundreds of times.

What is profiteering?

This is the real profiteering.

Of course, when the number of sales goes up, the price of sugar will inevitably fall.

Therefore, Han Zhen intends to strictly control the output, which can also have the effect of hunger marketing by the way.

This kind of top-level luxury is not suitable as a pillar industry, and can only be done incidentally.

Refined salt is different. Although the profit is not as high as white sugar, it is a long-term business and can drive a series of industries.

After leaving the small warehouse and locking the door, Han Zhen planned to start making refined salt.

Back in the second courtyard, I saw Fang Sansan and others holding bowls, drinking in small sips, their eyes full of enjoyment.

Han Zhen asked curiously, "What are you drinking?"

"syrup."

Fang Sansan pouted and replied.

She was still aggrieved why Han Zhen would rather pour the sugar into the mud jar than give it to herself.

It turned out that when the granulated sugar was boiled just now, the pot was still a little sticky, and Chef Shen couldn't bear to waste it, so she added water to rinse it.

The shabu-shabu syrup didn't have much sweetness at all, but to Fang Sansan and the others, it was like fine nectar.

Han Zhen ordered: "Go to the village to find some children, and tell them that I want to collect shells, and the shells cost five cents a catty."

shell?

Fang Sansan felt that Alang was acting weird today, pouring sugar into the mud jar for a while, and collecting shells for a while.

Shells are useless, and if you grab a handful by the river, they are worth five cents a catty.

As if afraid of Han Zhen's anger, Fang Sansan didn't dare to say anything, and went out with sugar water.

There are quite a few children in the village, and the adults have all gone up the mountain to find escaped households, leaving them to play by themselves.

At this time, when the children in the village heard that five cents a catty of shells were collected, they all went crazy and ran to the river with their baskets.

Taking advantage of the time when the children in the village were catching shells, Han Zhen left the house with a hoe on his shoulder.

Finding a small slope, he wielded a hoe and quickly dug out a one-meter-square pit.

After digging a vent at the bottom of the pit, an extremely simple small earthen kiln was completed.

At this moment, Ma Sangou and others on patrol found him, and couldn't help but stepped forward and asked, "What is Second Brother Han doing?"

"Firing the kiln."

Han Zhen responded casually, and then ordered: "By the way, help me find more firewood."

"it is good."

Ma Sangou and the others nodded and turned to look for firewood.

Soon, the five of them found a tall pile of firewood.

"Second Brother Han, we're going on patrol."

"Go."

Han Zhen waved his hands, buried his head and spread small stones on the bottom of the kiln.

After a while, a child came with a shell.

Fang Sansan also came with her. After so long, she still hasn't finished her bowl of shabu-shabu syrup.

"Come here to get the money."

Fang Sansan held the bowl, looking like a king of children.

There is no scale here, and she didn't plan to weigh a catty by the catty. She counted directly by the basket, and gave five cents for a full basket.

Even so, Fang Sansan still felt that Alang was at a loss.

The children don't care, shells are useless at all, they are everywhere by the river, and I am very happy to be able to exchange a few pennies.

After receiving the money, they laughed and laughed around to watch the fun.

Quicklime is needed to purify refined salt, but Han Zhen only has a general understanding of the steps, and has never actually operated it in his previous life, so today is in the experimental stage.

Therefore, he simply dug an earthen kiln, and it would not be too late to build an earthen kiln for burning limestone after the experiment was over and it was confirmed that it could be successfully mass-produced.

As for why shells are used, it is because shells are burned quickly and can be cooked in more than half an hour.

If it were replaced with limestone, it would probably take at least seven or eight days to burn.

According to a layer of firewood and a layer of shells neatly stacked, Han Zhen took out the fire folder.

After igniting, the clay kiln ignited a raging flame.

"Let's go!"

Han Zhen patted the dust on his hands and beckoned Fang Sansan to go back.

Taking a sip of sugar water, Fang Sansan finally asked the doubts in his heart: "What is A Lang doing all this for?"

"make money!"

Han Zhen said in a mysterious tone.

This can make money?
Fang Sansan felt that his brain was not enough.

When she was approaching the house, she realized that it must be A Lang who was lying to her.

……

……

Three in the afternoon.

Han Zhen and Fang Sansan came to the earthen kiln again carrying the pots.

After so long, the kiln has completely cooled down.

Picking up the thick ashes, Han Zhen picked out the complete shells.

There were five or six baskets of shells, but in the end only less than one can was selected, and the rest were burned to slag and mixed with plant ash, so they were useless at all.

Back in the house, Han Zhen ordered Aunt Shen to pour coarse salt into the pot while filling the earthen pot with water, add water and boil it.

As the water is added to the clay pot, it quickly reacts with quicklime and emits bursts of white smoke.

After a quick stir with a wooden stick, a jar of lime milk is ready.

Seeing this astonishing scene, Fang Sansan suddenly thought of something, lowered his voice and said, "Isn't Ah Lang doing alchemy?"

If it weren't for the Taoist method, how could bubbles and white smoke come out when some water is added to the shell?

The same is true for the sugar in the morning.

Well, it must be so.

The more Fang Sansan thought about it, the more reasonable he felt.

Alchemy?

Han Zhen glanced at her in surprise, and couldn't help joking, "That's right."

At this time, the voice of the cook Shen came from the kitchen: "Ah Lang, the salt water is boiling."

"it is good!"

Han Zhen nodded and walked into the kitchen carrying three wooden barrels.

Since it was an experiment, he prepared three barrels of brine and wanted to test the optimal ratio of lime milk to brine.

Returning to the yard with three buckets of salt water, Han Zhen picked up clay pots and began to add milk of lime to the salt water one by one.

Add while stirring with a wooden stick.

三个木桶的盐水与石灰乳比例分别是1:1，2:1以及3:1。

Coarse salt tastes bitter because it contains impurities such as magnesium ions and calcium ions.

Milk of lime reacts with magnesium and precipitates.

Soon, the milk of lime reacted with the brine and a precipitate began to appear.

After waiting for half an hour, he filtered out the sediment in the brine, and put the three wooden barrels in the yard to stand still.

According to the steps, carbon dioxide should be introduced into the brine at this time.

But due to the limited conditions now, Han Zhen can only use the original method, which is to leave the salt water quietly for several hours to let the carbon dioxide in the air react with it.

You can't take a reed and blow air into the salt water all the time, right?

Lifting the three buckets of water under the eaves, Han Zhen ordered: "Fang Sansan, I have an errand for you. Watch the three wooden buckets carefully and don't let anyone touch them."

"Don't worry, Ah Lang, I won't let anyone touch it."

Fang Sansan nodded with a serious expression.

(End of this chapter)