Short video spoiler history: The beginning of modern warfare

Chapter 168 Purple Litmus Reagent
[Today's topic: Did Zhu Yuanzhang really love Empress Ma so much? ]

[In August of the 15th year of Hongwu, Empress Ma was seriously ill. She refused to allow the imperial physician to treat her, nor did she take medicine. Zhu Yuanzhang was so angry that he yelled, "If you want to die, go ahead!" Then he slammed the door and left.]

[As the Empress of the Ming Dynasty, what good doctors and precious medicinal herbs could she not find? What she feared was that Zhu Yuanzhang would be branded as a man of indiscriminate killing.]

[Empress Ma knew Zhu Yuanzhang too well. She knew how much this man valued her. If the imperial physician could not cure her illness, Zhu Yuanzhang would definitely kill many people.]

【Knowing that she would die soon, Empress Ma consoled Zhu Yuanzhang instead: "Life and death are determined by fate. Medicine can only cure temporary illnesses, but it cannot change fate."】

[Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't win the argument, so he lost his temper and said to her: "If you want to die, then die. If you die, I will immediately appoint another queen, and I will appoint three queens at once." After saying that, he slammed the door and left.]

[Before she died, she was still most worried about Zhu Yuanzhang. She used her last bit of strength to say: "I hope Your Majesty will seek out virtuous people and accept advice, be as careful as you were at the beginning, and that your descendants will all be virtuous and your subjects will be well served." After saying this, she passed away suddenly. ]

[The History of Ming Dynasty records: The emperor wept bitterly and did not appoint another empress.]

[This was not the first time that Empress Ma advised Zhu Yuanzhang to treat his ministers well. In the early days of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang would often tell his ministers about the story of how Empress Ma secretly hid a sesame seed cake in her chest and burned herself when she was imprisoned by Guo Zixing in order to bring him food. He compared it to: wu dou porridge, Hutuo wheat rice, and Empress Ma to the eldest grandson of Emperor Taizong of Tang.]

[When the palace officials often mentioned this, Empress Ma said: How dare I compare myself to Empress Changsun? It is often said that it is easy for a husband and wife to protect each other, but it is difficult for a monarch and his subjects to protect each other. She also said: Your Majesty, please do not forget that I share the same poverty and humbleness, and I hope you will not forget that the ministers share the same difficulties.]

[When the news of the Queen's death spread, everyone from the ministers in the court to the palace maids and eunuchs cried in grief, more sad than if their own parents had died.]

[They all knew that Empress Ma was the only person in the world who could persuade Zhu Yuanzhang to stop killing people indiscriminately. People like Zhu Wenzheng, Li Wenzhong, Song Lian, Li Xixian, etc. were all saved because of Empress Ma.]

【In history, Zhu Yuanzhang was praised for his great achievements, but he also killed people indiscriminately, and at least he could not be dismissed as cruel. However, when it comes to Empress Ma, everyone praises her as a virtuous woman. Even if the Qing Dynasty tried to discredit the Ming Dynasty, when it came to Empress Ma, the only thing she would be called was "Ma Da Jiao" to imply that she was of humble origin.】

[This word seems so powerless in front of her personal charm. It is generally acknowledged that Zhu Yuanzhang favored Empress Ma. Perhaps a large part of the uniqueness of Prince Zhu Biao also came from Empress Ma. ]

There was silence in front of the Fengtian Hall.

Most of those present were old acquaintances of the Duke of Wu’s Mansion and the Prince of Wu’s Mansion, so they all knew that Your Majesty and Empress Ma had a deep affection for each other, and they were also deeply impressed by Empress Ma’s virtue.

Just as Tianmu said, if he was imprisoned for some reason, the only one who could save him would be Queen Ma. No matter what he thought of Your Majesty, he would respect Queen Ma.

Zhu Yuanzhang had a wooden face, but his eyes were secretly red.

From his childhood until he got married, he did not feel much love.

Even from the time he became a monk in Huangjue Temple to the time he got married, he was a lonely man, a wandering ghost, like a beggar wandering outside, without a home. After joining the army, he had a place to live, but it was just a place to live, and he could leave it at any time.

In his opinion, the few words in history books were all about insignificant trivial matters and could not depict his state of mind at all.

When he first met Miss Ma, she was the adopted daughter of Mr. Guo. She was of noble status, gentle, kind, virtuous, hardworking and capable. She was the "graceful lady" and "good marriage partner" in the hearts of him and countless soldiers.

He had fantasized about marrying her, but he dared not say it out loud no matter what. Not only was he afraid of being laughed at as a toad, he was also afraid of tarnishing Miss Ma's innocence.

Fortunately, Mr. Guo loved them and helped them get married, but nominally, the girl was marrying down to him. He also became more powerful because of his wife.

But to him, status and other people's opinions are not that important.

The important thing is that he will never be homeless like a lonely ghost again. He knows that no matter how late it is every night, there will always be a light at home for him, and not far from the light, there will be someone waiting for him while mending shoes and clothes, and from time to time, she will look in the direction of the light and squint her eyes to thread the needle.

No matter how late it is, there will always be someone preparing food for him, and waiting for him until the rice, vegetables and soup have cooled down one by one.

With her, someone would mend his torn clothes, wash his stinky clothes, and his quilt would finally smell like the sun instead of sweat. He finally didn't have to envy others for having a happy family. With her, the house would be tidy and he would see with his own eyes that the empty house was filled with household items.

At home, if she can't find something, just ask her and she will always take it out from every corner.

Every day when he goes out, someone always reminds him to come back early.

Whenever there was a war, although he could not go home for several months, he knew that there would always be someone at home who was worried about him and there would be a light on until midnight.

She would chat with him about family matters and listen to his troubles. When the relationship between him and Mr. Guo was tense, she would always come forward to intercede for him and smooth things over.

Later, she would take his hand and put it on her belly, letting him feel the heartbeat of the baby in her belly. Later, he would see her feeding the baby, coaxing the baby to sleep, teaching the baby to walk, teaching the babbling baby to speak, and teaching the baby to read. When he pricked the baby with his beard and it hurt, she would take it over with a smile and scolding.
In order to help him, she did not hesitate to ask questions. Every time she saw a word, she would ask others what it meant. Afraid of being laughed at, she could only hide secretly and pick up a branch to draw on the ground.
That year he did not listen to Liu Ji's advice and insisted on rescuing the young Ming King and attacking Luzhou. Chen Youliang took the opportunity to invade on a large scale. The people of Jiqing were in panic, and it was she who came forward to stabilize the people's hearts.

The words "virtuous" in history books and "good wife" in later generations are so empty. She was embodied in countless days and nights, countless times of adding oil and lighting lamps, countless times of needle pricks on her fingers, countless times of coaxing the children to sleep and then secretly getting up to mend shoes and clothes for the soldiers, countless times of yawning while waiting for her husband to come home.

Before, whether it was the eldest, the second, the fourth, or the fifth, they were all mentioned more or less in the sky curtain, except for the younger sister. He thought that she had a good end.
"Why is there no information about the symptoms!!!" Zhu Yuanzhang was furious and really wanted to kill himself in the 15th year of Hongwu!
At the same time, I felt a little aggrieved. Is this my fate?

Tang Dynasty, Chang'an City.

Wei Zheng, Xiao Yu and others were full of praise. Empress Ma was friendly to others, advised the emperor to treat his subjects well, and was even unwilling to see a doctor and take medicine in order to avoid implicating the imperial physician. She was truly a virtuous queen.

Li Shimin was also extremely happy. People in the sky compared him to the maid of Guanyin, which was a great compliment. He was happier than hearing himself being praised.

The Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, Zhu Di and others are so dazzling that they are highly discussed in the world. Zhu Biao is famous for labels such as "Vice Emperor", "The Most Stable Prince in History", and "The First Prince of the Ming Dynasty".

Now that I have seen the truth, I can no longer ignore it.

"First love, white moonlight, goddess, sharing weal and woe, Bozhou hostage, first child boy. Which man can bear this?"

"After Empress Ma died, Zhu Yuanzhang, an emperor with a miserable life, suspicious nature, and decisive killing, put away the last bit of tenderness in his heart! Then he killed the corrupt officials!"

"The day Empress Ma passed away, the ministers cried more sadly than when their own mother passed away [covering their faces]"

[Last time I talked about why blueberries are blue. There is no blue substance in blueberries. It is because the fruit wax scatters blue light that they are blue.] [But today my friend said I was wrong because she used blueberry peels to write on paper and the words were blue.]

[In fact, it is not wrong. Tear a bunch of blueberry skins and soak them in alcohol to get this blueberry beer extract. You can see that it is purple. This is the original color of the pigment in blueberries.]

[These are white vinegar, water and soap. Drop the extract into three different liquids. You can see that it turns pink when it is dropped into vinegar, but it is still purple when it is dropped into water, but it turns blue when it is dropped into soapy water]

[This is because the anthocyanin in blueberries is just like the purple litmus reagent we learned in junior high school. It is an acid-base indicator, and its color change is also very similar to that of purple litmus. It is purple under neutral conditions (water), turns red when it encounters acid (vinegar), and turns blue when it encounters alkaline (soap water)]

[Purple litmus reagent is extracted from lichen plants. It is weakly acidic overall.]

[Blueberries are of course acidic. If you squeeze a little blueberry juice and measure the pH, you can see that its pH is around 3. Therefore, anthocyanins in blueberries are mainly red and purple, and definitely not blue.]

[There is really no blue substance in blueberries, so why do they turn blue when rubbed onto paper? ]

[This is because many papers are alkaline in nature. The cellulose in the paper will be hydrolyzed by acidic substances, causing the paper to age and become brittle and yellow. In order to extend the life of the paper, some alkaline substances are added during papermaking. The anthocyanins in blueberries turn blue when they encounter alkaline paper.]

[In life, there are many magical examples of anthocyanins changing color when encountering acids and alkalis. For example, bayberry juice splashed on clothes will turn blue when it encounters soap, boiling purple potatoes in hard water will produce a strange blue potato, and mung bean soup will turn red when boiled, etc.]

In front of the Fengtian Palace, everyone calmed down. After all, the Empress's matter would not happen for eleven years, and perhaps they could come up with a solution in the meantime.

"Acid-base indicator?" Everyone watched as the man in the sky smeared blueberry juice on a piece of "reagent paper". They could see that the part that touched the paper quickly changed color.

根据对照表可以知道。红色（pH=1或2）、橙色（pH=3或4）、黄色（pH=5或6）、绿色（pH=7或8）、蓝色（pH=9或10）、蓝色（pH=11或12）、紫色（pH=13或14）。

The test paper smeared with blueberry juice shows a color between red and orange, which means its pH should be between 2-3.

"I remember that one of the most important things in Tianmu for agricultural production is to improve the pH value of the soil," Liu Ji said with a frown, and gave some examples at the time, showing that quicklime can be used to improve the soil.

"Yes, by improving the soil, we can make land that is not suitable for growing food crops suitable, and we can grow a lot of food."

"But, I've never seen blueberries in real life. Have you ever seen them?"

Everyone looked at the fruit in the sky, which was the size of a grape, but blue in color and covered with a layer of white frost, and shook their heads.

"Come to think of this as the only blue fruit?" Someone noticed this bright spot.

".? It seems to be true."

Everyone thought about it after hearing this. In nature, there are many fruits in white (lychees and dragon fruits), green (grapes, tomatoes, olives), red, and yellow (mangoes and bananas), but only blue...?

"It's so unique. Could it be a product of the American continent?"

"America is a brick. You can stuff anything into it?"

"Alright, alright, stop arguing. Even if we can't find the blue, we can still get it through lichens. Although the sky curtain doesn't say what lichens are, there are at least a few clips and pictures. Is there a record?" Zhu Biao saw that his father was still in a daze and did not dare to disturb him, so he presided over the scene.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Someone immediately presented it. Thanks to the fact that the sky curtain stayed still for some time, everyone was able to copy it.

"What kind of plant is this? It looks like weeds growing on rocks and on the ground?" Zhu Biao was not a prince who grew up in the deep palace, but even he could not recognize these weeds that he had never paid attention to?

"It doesn't look like weeds, but more like moss?" Everyone scratched their heads. This really hit their blind spots in knowledge because since ancient times, scholars have regarded reading as their responsibility and have not even done much work like farming, let alone some weeds and mosses under their feet and in the corners?
No one noticed at all, and everyone felt a little embarrassed.

In fact, it's not just them. There aren't many people in the countryside who know each other, and even if they have names, they may not be universal.

"You can always find it by following this pattern."

No one had any objection. They could not think of many scenarios for pH testing. However, it could provide a new indicator for studying food production (measurement of crop pH preferences), so they turned their attention to the comments section to see if there were any other clues.

“No, as long as you are out of school, you can listen to anything.”

"You only need to stop here for a moment to know that "blue is purple litmus solution", and the starting point in school is 45 minutes"

"The water time is long, I also do this when writing novels [covering face]"

"The mung bean soup I cooked in Guangdong is green, but the one I cooked in Henan since I was a child using the same method is red.?"

"Guangdong's coastal areas have a developed economy, advanced water treatment, and abundant rainfall, so the water is softer and has less magnesium ions. Back to mung beans, mung beans contain flavonoids, which will complex with flavonoids to form red substances, so the mung bean soup you cook in Henan is red."

Jinling City.

"Ah? Mung bean water turns red when boiled? The one I cooked a few months ago was also green!" Many women were confused as this was not in line with their common sense.

"Tianmu said that the water quality varies in different regions," said a scholar. He didn't understand what Tianmu was saying.

I just roughly know that the water in different regions is different.

As he was talking, the sky screen played a few more videos and then went dark.

Everyone laughed and slowly returned to their own lives. The Chinese New Year was just over a month away, and if they met again, it would probably be in the spring of the fifth year of Hongwu.

(End of this chapter)