Song Dynasty Cannon Fodder Counterattack Record

Chapter 95 Development of the Proving Ground ([-])
The third division finally took the method of making sugar from the Queen's hands, and Zhao Zhen's money was immediately tight without such a large income.At this time, another way to find money for the emperor would be to send charcoal in the snow.

However, the sales of white sugar are gradually expanding, and it is not easy to find an industry with the same level of profit immediately.But fortunately, Li Buqi knew that there were actually quite a few glass-making craftsmen in Jiangzuo Prison - called Liuli in the Song Dynasty.

In fact, the Chinese made glass in the pre-Qin period, but for a long time, the glass made of lead-containing compounds was popular in China, which was called colored glaze, and the silicate glass obtained from the West was called glass.The advantage of firing glass with lead-containing compounds as the main raw material is that it only requires a lower temperature, but the resulting glass has poor transparency.Therefore, in China, colored glaze is mainly imitated by jade as decoration.

Being a glass worker is a necessary skill for those who study chemistry, and I also learned a lot about glass back then.Li Buqi believes that in the Song Dynasty, in order to make good glass, only a few recipes and a suitable glass furnace are needed.As long as the liquid glass is fired, it's up to the craftsmen to do what they want. They have been playing with colored glaze for decades, and their skills in shaping and annealing are superb.

Doesn't it require higher temperature to make silicate glass? Isn't it enough to get a copper furnace?Among the craftsmen who came this time was a coppersmith, who built a small copper melting furnace according to Li Buqi's request.

But the ingredients are also critical.Li Buqi personally directed the flotation of the purest river sand, and set up a large urn to recrystallize trona to obtain pure sodium carbonate.Then Li Buqi instructed to fill the copper furnace with river sand, sodium carbonate, lime, fluorite, pure saltpeter and arsenic according to the proportion, and then ignited it and blasted it. Amidst the exclamation of the craftsmen, these mixed solids gradually melted Into a viscous translucent liquid.

Li Buqi ordered the head glass craftsman: "Now stir vigorously until it is transparent and no obvious air bubbles can be seen."

Li Buqi is now considered a heavenly man by the craftsmen, and his orders are carried out to the letter. The craftsmen take turns stirring the glass.With continuous stirring and further rise in temperature, the molten glass in the furnace gradually becomes transparent, and no obvious bubbles can be seen with the naked eye.The following is not something that Li Buqi can teach the craftsmen. They skillfully take out some glass and make it into various shapes, and then put it into the annealing kiln for annealing.

The first furnace of glass made an aquarium, two Guanyin vases and a tray.When these four things cool down, people hold them on their hands and look at them and let out admiration: "It's so transparent!" "It's better than the glass from Dashi." "The color is so light." How much can this thing sell for?" "Are you kidding me? This is priceless!"

This is priceless, huh, huh.Li Buqi waved his hand chicly: "It's up to you how to make this kind of glass and how to make it cheap. I hope that things like this will enter the homes of ordinary people soon."

After finishing a major event, Li Buqi called two veterinarians: "How is the matter assigned to you?"

The two veterinarians quickly replied: "According to the lifting instructions, we selected 220 small, thick and particularly strong piglets from 35 seven piglets as breeding pigs, and all of them have been registered."

"Okay, then let's start. Remember, I will demonstrate it to you a few times, and then watch you do it a few times. You can handle the rest by yourself. When you are familiar with it, you will have apprentices. You must study hard. .” Li Buqi confessed.The two veterinarians kept talking.

The domestic pigs in the Song Dynasty still retained too many wild boar genes, and they were basically lean pigs, but what was lacking in this era was fat, so Li Buqi had to improve the pig breeds himself.His plan is to first select breeding pigs that are closer to domestic pigs for breeding, collect high-quality pig breeds from different regions for crossbreeding, and strive to breed high-quality breeds such as Yorkshire and Large White pigs within 50 years.Only by eating meat can one have combat effectiveness. Without good breeds of pigs, how can soldiers have meat every day?

Those who are not used as breeding pigs cannot be wasted, so they should be castrated.Before crossing, I saw that all the pigs raised in the countryside were castrated. Many people bought piglets in the market and castrated them on the side of the road.At that time saw a lot of barrows.

Soak the specially made surgical instruments in medical alcohol, and at the same time use the alcohol to scrub the parts of the pig that are going to be operated on, and then perform the operation, and then suture the wound with silk thread soaked in medical alcohol.It's that simple, two veterinarians can do it very skillfully in one day.Three people castrated more than 20 pigs in one day.

In this era, because pork has a relatively strong fishy smell, it is regarded as cheap meat.Castrated pigs are not only less fishy, ​​but also because pigs are greedy for food, sleepiness and reluctance to move, they are the easiest to grow fat, and the meat contains more fat.In addition, there is an alcohol workshop next to it, and so much distiller's grains are always consumed, so it is just right to feed the pigs. I believe that by this time next year, we will be able to eat delicious pork.

When the weather turned cold, there was already a wave of glass fever in Tokyo.A batch of crystal-clear and exquisite glassware on the market has driven people into a frenzy. Although the guy in the glass shop has repeatedly stated that glass will be very cheap in the future, some people still bought a glass fish tank with a lot of money when they rushed to buy it. Go home and hide it for future generations.

The emperor and a few nobles who knew the inside story were just having fun, but it was just some sand and alkali burned things that could be exchanged for a small mountain of copper coins. Who would have thought of the speed of making money?Now Li Buqi is a cash cow in their eyes.

It is precisely because of this that in the proving ground Li Buqi said what he said, and no one dared to beep.So Li Buqi asked the craftsmen to build a larger glass kiln, but the order to only maintain the low-speed production of glassware was also faithfully implemented.A large amount of glass was made into small flat plates for the windows of the imperial palace. As for fish tanks, vases, dishes, etc., it didn't matter how expensive it was.Only by selling it expensively can Li Buqi have enough profit support to develop new formulas and improve the process.

These things are mainly done by craftsmen. When the weather cools down, Li Buqi shifts his focus to the breeding of horses and donkeys.

Now the testing ground has more than 70 stallions, including Qingtang horses, Hexi horses and Khitan horses.Tan Baosi, who has retired horses, said that Qingtang horses are good at running mountains, but not on flat ground; Hexi horses are tall but have poor stamina;Among these three kinds of horses, especially Khitan horses are obtained by smuggling, so the quality is relatively poor.Therefore, Tan Baosi actually disapproved of Li Buqi's crossbreeding of Khitan horses with Hexi horses and Qingtang horses.

But the so-called Khitan horse is a Mongolian horse, which is not only strong in endurance but also resistant to rough materials. Back then, the large-scale maneuvering of the Mongolian army relied on him.

The territory of Western countries is small, and it is divided into fragments by lords. Western warhorses mainly fight in small territories. They do not require high long-distance mobility and rely heavily on logistics. The shortcomings are not easy to be exposed.Therefore, western warhorses are developing in the direction of large size and high strength, but there are serious shortcomings in long-distance endurance and environmental adaptability.

However, the combat characteristics of the Chinese army require large-scale maneuvering. Therefore, war horses must have strong endurance and must minimize their dependence on logistics.Therefore, the Mongolian horse is the best hybrid female parent.

The shepherds left by Chunzejian are more experienced than Li Buqi in breeding horses and donkeys.Li Buqi just needs to tell them which horses to mate with each other.Professionals do professional things, just worry about it.

(End of this chapter)