I open a history tutorial class in Daming

Chapter 89 Can burning the knife save our sister and Biao'er? !

Zhu Yuanzhang leaned over to look at the white cloth sign hanging next to the store door.

"Selling Shaodaozi".

Such a simple, straightforward name. You can tell what is sold here at a glance.

After he finished reading, he walked over to the table where Song Shen and the others were sitting and sat down in a very familiar manner.

Zhang Wei didn't dare to speak.

Song Shen quietly turned his head towards Zhu Yuanzhang's direction and keenly noticed that there was more than one person coming.

He smiled:

"Uncle Chen, did you bring brother Chen Biao here?"

Zhu Yuanzhang was a little flattered——

Oh, now he has been promoted to Uncle Chen's level? It seems that it's not him who is familiar with others, but Song Shen also feels that they are familiar with each other!
He quickly said:

"No, my brother Biao is not free every day. He needs to study. The first few times I brought him here to meet people and get to know them. It's better for him to come here by himself on weekdays."

"Hey, since you call me Uncle Chen, I'll shamelessly call you Nephew. Nephew Song, why are you here today?"

"You scholars probably don't come to the vicinity of the three camps very often. There are a lot of scoundrels around here. If it weren't for business, I wouldn't come here very often."

While talking and greeting each other, he also made some updates on his schedule for today.

Zhang Wei was a little amazed as he listened to this. He was worthy of being His Majesty, he could lie so easily!

He saw Jiang Lin in black clothes next to him and thought he looked familiar. He guessed that he was someone from the Yiluansi who had reported to the emperor in advance, so he helped to patch the wall.

"Yes, Ziwei, Uncle Chen has a big business and travels all over Yingtian Prefecture. The person he brought with him was not Chen Biao, but his family's servant."

"By the way, Uncle Chen and the others might know the shopkeeper here. Why don't you talk to him about the matter you just mentioned and let them think of a solution?"

Song Shen was somewhat surprised:

"Really? Uncle Chen, can you really talk to the owner of this Shaodao shop?"

As soon as Zhu Yuanzhang heard what Zhang Wei meant, he knew something was wrong.

He continued:

"Of course it's true. I, your uncle Chen, may not have any other skills, but I am definitely good at socializing. Tell me, nephew, what's the matter? If it's not too presumptuous, I can ask my guy to talk to him!"

"Is that right, Jiang Er?"

Zhu Yuanzhang gave a look to Jiang Lin, who was standing nearby waiting for orders, and gave him a random name.

The latter immediately bowed his head and said:

"Don't worry, sir. Many of the materials in this shop are purchased from our family. You haven't met them in person, so I will go there."

Song Shen was very happy.

It’s like there’s a pillow whenever I feel sleepy!
He thought about it and decided that Chen Guorui was not an outsider anyway. They all violated the maritime ban together. Moreover, Chen Guorui was also a relative of Zhang Wei's family. With such a relationship, he would not be sold out.

So Song Shen covered his mouth with his hand and whispered to the others:
"To be honest, I want to go into the backyard and take a look."

have a look?

Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked.

You are a blind man, what are you looking at in the backyard of someone's shop? Even if there is something there, you can see it, can you steal its knowledge?
He was troubled:

"Oh, my dear nephew, this is not a good thing to do. It's not easy to go into the backyard of a shop like this. Even with our relationship, it's not easy to talk about it."

"Why don't you tell me what you want to do today? There has to be a reason, right?"

Song Shen thought about it in his mind and said:

"I've seen a method in a book that can make the burning knife more intense. Maybe it can improve it a little bit."

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed when he heard it:

"I know this, isn't it just to repeat the process?"

"But this Shaodaozi is already very strong. The number of times it has been steamed is just right. If it is boiled a few more times, not only will a lot of wine be wasted, but it will also be too spicy to drink. Even the best drinker will get drunk after one glass. Why bother?"

"Even if it's sold near a military camp, the soldiers would stagger back home after drinking one bowl and get scolded. Do you think anyone would buy it in the future?"

Zhu Yuanzhang himself didn't drink much, but the reason he issued the ban was because he knew the process of brewing wine and how much grain it consumed.

If it was the heyday of the country, it would be fine to use part of the high grain yield to make wine. But now that the country has just been stabilized, the people need to recuperate, and the grain reserves are not much, so it is a waste to use them to make wine.

The raw materials for wine are all grains, there is also fruit wine, but it is relatively rare.

The raw material of Shaodaozi is a grain that is less grown nowadays, called Shushu, which is also called millet rice, and later called sorghum rice. In addition to making wine, this kind of rice can also be used to make maltose and vinegar. Of course, it can also be eaten, but only poor families eat this, while the richer ones eat refined rice.

Zhu Yuanzhang was born a farmer and knew more about these things. So after knowing that the brewing process required multiple steaming and boiling to increase the strength and consume a lot of grain, he was even more reluctant to do more of this thing. He made the Shaodaozi in Yingtian Prefecture an imperial merchant, and even let people brew wine directly in the backyard, with the fragrance wafting ten miles away, just to warn others - this business is exclusive to the royal family, if you want to do it, don't blame me for being rude!
Song Shen was a little surprised when he heard his words.

"Do you know that this wine is made by steaming?"

"Oh, that's right. You supply the raw materials, either by selling them distiller's yeast, or by supplying them with wine jars and wine barrels, or by selling them kaoliang rice..."

After thinking for a while, Song Shen said truthfully:

"Uncle Chen, you are right. If this wine is processed a few more times, it will indeed be too strong to drink. But this is the kind of wine that is too strong to drink."

"I just drank a little of this Shaodaozi, and it feels like it should be around 40 degrees - this is my calculation, don't mind it - anyway, if it can be boiled and purified a few more times, Shaodaozi will not just be a drink, it can also be something that can save lives."

Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned when he heard this.

What the hell? Burning a knife can save lives?
He said suspiciously:

"When you say rescue, you don't mean the kind of rescue that one would do when they go out to drink to warm themselves up during the bitterly cold winter in the north, right?"

Song Shen smiled and waved his hand:
"No, no, of course not."

"What I'm talking about is not wine, but alcohol. It's said that wine is the essence of grain and the more you drink, the younger you become. But if wine is really brewed into alcohol, its effect will be very different."

"For example, many soldiers were injured on the battlefield. They were fine at the time and their wounds were not serious. However, if the weather is hot, the wounds will easily swell and ooze pus quickly, and then rot. If the wounds are not completely dug out, they may even die inexplicably. If it is winter, the probability of wounds rotting is less than in summer. Am I right?"

Among the four people at the table, apart from Song Shen who was speaking, only Zhang Wei was a civil servant. Zhu Yuanzhang had fought his way out of the battlefield, and Jiang Li, who was standing next to him, was from the Yiluansi. In addition to monitoring the officials, he also encountered many situations where he needed to fight.

The latter two were very clear that what Song Shen said was true.

Zhu Yuanzhang became more excited and asked:

"Yes, that's right. My family has a convoy that goes out to transport goods. We always encounter bandits and get hurt in the fights. The speed at which wounds decay in summer and winter is completely different. Even some identical sword wounds heal quickly in winter but can kill people in summer. There's nothing we can do if the medicine is applied one day late."

"You mean to say that burning the knife would be useful in this situation?"

Song Shen nodded:

"Yes, it works, but it has to be boiled several times before it works. I call it alcohol."

"If you get seriously injured in the summer, rubbing alcohol on the wound will be very painful, even more painful than when you got injured. But if you keep applying it every day, the wound won't rot or swell. You don't need gold wound medicine, just use this."

"Alcohol can be used not only to treat external injuries, but also for patients with high fever and cold."

"For most patients with fever, applying alcohol to the armpits, thighs, neck, etc. can reduce the temperature within half a day."

"I know that the imperial court's ban on alcohol is very strict now, but if we test it out first and then report this method to the imperial court, the imperial court should be willing to make a batch of alcohol specifically for use in hospitals and the military, right?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's hands were shaking a little.

Alcohol can treat external injuries and prevent the wounds of injured soldiers from becoming red, swollen and rotten, which is of course great.

But what he cares more about is that this thing can cure colds and fevers!
When Zhu Yuanzhang heard that Zhu Biao would die of a cold in the 25th year of Hongwu, he asked the people in the Imperial Hospital about it. If it was just a cold, and he still died despite careful care, it was either because of a persistent high fever or tuberculosis. If these two conditions did not improve, then no matter how good the doctor was, he would be unable to save him.

Now, Song Shen took out the alcohol that was improved by Shaodaozi. At least it can treat the high fever.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the two people next to him.

Zhang Wei was slightly excited, because although he was a civil servant, he knew that alcohol had a huge effect and might be a good thing that would benefit the country and the people and save countless lives.

And Jiang Li's dead face, which had always been calm, finally showed some movement at this moment.

He stared at Song Shen fanatically——

If alcohol really has this effect, then many of the brothers in the Yiluansi who have been through life and death and always come back covered in blood could avoid the pain of losing limbs after their wounds rotted, and could even save their lives!
The importance needs no further explanation!

Zhu Yuanzhang coughed twice to calm down his excitement and made his voice calmer:
"Ahem, if this method really works, and the court doesn't grant you land, I, Old Chen, will write my name backwards!"

Written backwards? Chen Guorui's pseudonym?
Zhang Wei and Jiang Li looked at him strangely, but Zhu Yuanzhang ignored them and continued:
"But nephew Song, is this the only use of alcohol? Does it have any disadvantages? You need to explain it clearly."

Song Shen scratched his eyebrows:
"Besides not being able to drink, there's no harm in that..."

"Oh, yes, there is one more thing. After it is made, I can use it to make a medicine that is useful for many diseases."

"You can try anything from colds and flu to wound ulcers to pneumonia. Does this count?"

Zhu Yuanzhang's hands were shaking like a sieve.

Good, good, good, good!
You can try it for any kind of disease...

If this medicine could really be developed, not only would Biao'er be able to be cured of future colds, but there might also be hope for curing the illness that his wife might get!

"Count it, count it, count it!"

Zhu Yuanzhang did not even ask Jiang Li to ask the shopkeeper, but made the decision on the spot:
"Don't worry, nephew. I'll take care of this. If I can't make the alcohol you like, I'll give you Jiang Er's head to kick around like a ball!"

Jiang Li, Zhang Wei: ???

(End of this chapter)