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Chapter 805 Bleach

"Bring it closer!" Hong Tao didn't take the bottle. He waved to the eunuch holding the wooden basin, and stood up to carefully examine the branches and leaves of the cotton.

"I followed His Majesty's instructions and added five parts of slaked lime. I used a bamboo tube to spray it evenly. After three hours of observation, most of the insects were dead."

While the emperor was observing the cotton, the young eunuch holding the bottle came over and described the experimental process and results in detail, and he couldn't help grinning as he spoke.

It was not a smile of complacency. Everything from raw materials to processes was ready for this experiment. There was nothing for us to be proud of except memorizing and strictly following the emperor's instructions.

This is a smile for the vast majority of cotton farmers. As the demand for fine cotton cloth grows, the output of spinning mills and cotton mills also increases, and the income from cotton planting naturally increases step by step.

As long as there is money to be made, people will not mind even if it requires a lot of sweat. But in addition to hard work and praying for good winds, cotton planting also has a troublesome problem: insects!

When the leaves of cotton seedlings are growing vigorously, some small insects will appear on the back of the leaves for no reason. They neither eat leaves nor branches, but if they reproduce too much on the cotton, the growth will immediately weaken, seriously affecting the yield.

Moreover, these insects are difficult to kill using traditional methods, and farmers don’t know how to deal with them. They can only watch their beautiful lives being eroded by the little insects day after day, and their hearts are broken.

This is not the first year that this has happened, but the farmers were not used to it and did not know who to complain to. It was not until the beginning of the year that the woolen mill's purchasing staff reported it to local officials and eventually the Ministry of Agriculture learned of it.

After the emperor saw this in the memorial, he cursed at the roof for a long time, most of which was directed at God, and a small part was directed at God's father and mother. The words he used were so vicious that they were unprecedentedly vicious.

But scolding alone obviously could not solve the problem, so the emperor went to Qiong Island and fiddled with a pile of bottles and jars for several days, and then claimed that he had found a way to deal with the insects.

Since ancient times, farmers have relied on the weather for their livelihood. Apart from the government, their biggest enemies include wind disasters, floods, droughts and insect plagues. If any of these disasters occur, the harvest may be poor or even completely gone.

That’s why there is a saying that one depends on heaven for his livelihood. Every year, the emperor would solemnly go to the Temple of Heaven to worship, hoping that God would have mercy and bring less disasters to the world which was not very peaceful.

But I have never heard of anyone who can fight against God, including the emperor. Although he is the son of heaven, he is just a child of God, and he may even be an illegitimate child, so he has no say in front of his father.

But this time, the Cuju players finally opened their eyes and saw the power of the emperor. Not only did the emperor dare to curse the heavens without being punished, but he also made a magic medicine that could kill small insects quickly.

What does this mean? It means that His Majesty is the true Son of Heaven, and most likely the direct descendant of God, or even the eldest son!
"Don't be so quick to laugh. Making a small batch doesn't mean it can be mass-produced. Even if it can be mass-produced, there is still the cost issue. It's useless if it's too expensive for farmers to afford. Since you laugh the happiest, then you should be responsible for perfecting the life participation process and cost calculation. If you can't come up with the correct answer within a month, you will be demoted to a lower level!"

If you dare to be happy when you are unhappy, you must be prepared to pay the price. So the young eunuch suffered retribution in this life, his smile immediately disappeared, and his face was full of solemnity. The magic medicine made by the emperor was not complicated. You only need to heat the iron filings and water in a lead pot to 50 degrees, then add a certain proportion of concentrated sulfuric acid and continue to heat to 80 degrees, and keep adding iron filings until it can no longer melt.

The solution was cooled naturally, and translucent crystals appeared within two or three days. The emperor said that this was called ferrous sulfate, which could be mixed with slaked lime in a certain proportion and sprayed on a large area in the cotton field to kill the insects.

If ferrous sulfate is mixed with human urine and used to irrigate the land, it can also kill grubs, cutworms, mole crickets, yellow ants, and termites. Whether it is true or not, there is no time to test it yet, so these tasks naturally fell on the shoulders of the young eunuchs, and they were only given one month, which was a long way to go.

"Wait, take it and mix it together to see the effect... Don't grin, it's not within a month, but the sooner the better, it must be completed before next year's spring plowing!"

In addition to ferrous sulfate, Hong Tao also made copper sulfate these days. Although both compounds can be used as pesticides, the effect is better when mixed together. But the specific ratio is a delicate job, and as the chief designer, of course I don't have the time to do it, so I'll hand it over.

"Your Majesty, is there also a magic medicine in the room that exploded?"

Wang Chengen was a little envious and jealous when he saw that his Cuju team members got the opportunity to make meritorious service, but he knew in his heart that he had no chance to compete, so he had to inquire about it in advance, which was also a satisfying experience.

"Well... not much different, but it's not for crops. This thing is called bleaching powder. It can keep boiled water from rotting for many days. It can also kill small insects in raw water, so people won't get stomach upset after drinking it."

After hearing Wang Chengen's question, Hong Tao was not annoyed. He even felt lucky in his heart that it was a wise decision to let this unlearned guy stay with him so early. His IQ was only enough to be a follower. Not only would it be useless to stay in the Cuju team, but it would also be a burden to others.

"Ah..." This answer made Wang Chengen very disappointed.

After several days of hard work, and even nearly killing two convicts by bombing, it turned out to be not worth it just to kill the bugs in the water. He also thought that the bugs in the water might be a trick of His Majesty. If there were really bugs, why didn't he feel any pain in his stomach after drinking the water for so many years?

"Don't just stand there, go to the next yard and see if what I want is ready. It's been almost four days, we can't keep failing!" Seeing Wang Chengen's unsatisfied character, Hong Tao simply sent him away.

Explaining science to stupid people is a stupid thing in itself. Bleach may not seem very useful, but it is more important to the navy than installing ten more cannons.

No matter how it is heated and sealed, fresh water cannot be preserved for a long time. Long-distance voyages must be replenished midway, and even with a direct voyage chart, one cannot travel too far at one time. This is because fresh water that has rotted will cause stomach upset, which is basically a terminal illness at sea.

With bleach, regardless of whether it has any long-term toxic effects on the body, it can at least keep fresh water on board for more than twice as long. This is equivalent to doubling the maximum voyage, and fewer or even no supply points can be set up along the way, and a small medicine can cure a serious disease.

(End of this chapter)