Be a master through ancient times

To purify brown sugar, the modern method is to use activated carbon adsorption.But there were a lot of charcoal in ancient times, but activated charcoal couldn't be made for a while. Chuci thought hard for a long time last night, and finally thought of a method.

This method comes from Song Yingxing's "Heavenly Creation of Things". It is mentioned in the book that the brown sugar prepared by washing with yellow mud water can also remove the impurities in it, thereby purifying the white sugar.

Chu Ci thinks that the big families that sell frosting sugar now probably use this method, but it may be some kind of method that he doesn't know.But no matter which one it is, there must be very few people who know it, so the price of frosting sugar remains high, making it a luxury that can only be enjoyed by wealthy families.

"My lord, here is the brown sugar." Old man Chen asked the people in the Zhuangzi to go door to door to ask for it, and finally got a crock of brown sugar, which looked like it weighed about five catties.

The old man Chen was afraid that Chu Ci would be dissatisfied, so he explained: "Not long ago, those merchants came over and bought all the brown sugar they made. These are the leftovers we squeezed out, and each family shared some. Occasionally, they gave sweets to the children. Mouth, that's all that's left."

"It's okay," Chu Ci said, "I'm going to try it with a small amount of brown sugar first, and if it doesn't work, it won't be too wasteful."

"Yes, my lord, I want to turn this brown sugar into frosted sugar, but I need something else. I will prepare it right now, my little old man." Old man Chen is very active. After all, if this sugar can be made successfully, it will be a big deal for them. great thing.

"Yes, may I ask Chen Weng if there is yellow mud in our village?"

"Yes, not far from the sugarcane field, there are a few pieces of yellow mud land, but this land is not fertile and can't grow anything, so it's not as good as black soil." Old man Chen said without hesitation. He has been here since he was a child. Everything in the village is like a treasure.

"That's all right, please ask Chen Weng to bring some yellow mud over, and then sift out the grass roots and stones in it, making it as fine as possible."

Old man Chen was puzzled, but he still called a young man who was pulling weeds nearby to carry a load of yellow mud, and set it aside according to what Chu Ci said.

During this period, Chu Ci took the old man Chen for a walk around Zhuangzi, and then got a jar and a tile slip in the kitchen. This tile slip is actually a big funnel made of tiles, which will be used for filtering later.In the end he pulled a handful of straw out of the cowshed.

The more old man Chen looked at it, the more confused he became. Is Frost Sugar supposed to be made of these things?Why do you feel a little... unreliable.

Chu Ci didn't notice his small thoughts, and when he saw that everything was ready, he was ready to do it.Before doing anything, old man Chen suddenly drove out all the people in the yard, and then retreated to the door himself, preparing to close the door and wait outside.

In his opinion, this is a unique skill, no matter who masters it, it is a great thing, and no one can steal it.

Chuci stopped him: "Weng Chen, other people are fine, you can come in, it's okay." He had checked the accounts of several school fields in the past ten years, and the school fields managed by old man Chen had the most output , he himself doesn't think a lot like other Zhuangtou, he is a real and honest person.

The old man Chen who was stopped was very excited, he hesitated for a moment, stepped into the yard anyway, turned around and closed the door cautiously.

"My lord, don't worry, the little old man must keep his mouth shut and don't tell anyone!"

Chu Ci smiled: "This is not possible, Chen Weng learned it today, and I will leave this matter to you in the future, and you have to teach other talents."

When the old man heard it, his face turned red, his mouth trembled and he couldn't speak: "Master...you mean, you want to teach this craft to the little old man? To everyone?"

In his heart, he would be satisfied if they could help them make frosting sugar. Who would have thought that adults would teach them such an important craft?

"Of course, I can't be here by myself every day, can I?" Chu Ci laughed again. He looked at Old Man Chen who didn't know what to do, and added, "Chen Weng, let's make frosting sugar first. .”

Old man Chen said "Ai Ai" repeatedly, and then followed Chu Ci's instructions step by step.He listened very carefully, and was cautious when he did it, as if he was doing something noble.

The old man Chen first stuffed the tile hole with straw, and then placed it on the tank.Pour in the brown sugar again and wait for it to set.During the waiting process, Chu Ci was not idle. He poured the yellow mud into the water and stirred it vigorously. When the brown sugar was attached to the tile, he asked old man Chen to remove the straw from the leak, and then picked up the wooden bucket and poured the yellow mud water slowly. into it.

Seeing his move, old man Chen stretched out his hand to stop him, but he was a step too late, and he couldn't help but exclaimed, obviously he felt that he was ruining something.Once the yellow muddy water is poured, let alone the frosting sugar, even the brown sugar is probably unpalatable!

However, before he opened his mouth to say anything, he saw that the top layer of the tile drenched in yellow mud was covered with something, its color was like snow, it was white and crystal clear, and it looked extremely beautiful.The middle layer is brownish-yellow, and the bottom layer is black.

"This... is this frosting sugar?" Old man Chen stammered, staring at the white layer.

Chu Ci also breathed a sigh of relief: "Yes, this is Frosting Sugar."

They gently remove the tiles from the vat and gently sweep the top layer of congealed frosting into the pan.Old man Chen weighed it, and found that after removing the plate, there was still about a catty of frost sugar, and the rest was brown sugar and brown sugar, and the impurities were about five taels.

Chu Ci looked at the data, and then put them together with the data obtained from asking old man Chen before.He had asked old man Chen about the amount of sugar produced by the sugarcane here. Old man Chen replied that about one hundred catties of sugarcane can produce about six catties of sugar, and the probability is about fifteen to one, that is to say, fifteen catties About one pound of brown sugar can be produced from sugar cane.

And the probability of producing white sugar from five catties of brown sugar is about [-] to [-], and it takes almost two and a half catties of brown sugar to produce one catty of white sugar.

After finishing the calculation, Chu Ci couldn't help but sigh with emotion, white sugar is not so expensive, the amount of sugar produced is really not much, it is considered good if one hundred catties of sugar cane can produce three catties of white sugar.

Modern white sugar is cheap, mainly because people have better means of purification, and the sugar cane specially grown in modern times for sugar extraction also has a high sugar yield.

However, the amount of sugar produced is not enough, so the price comes together.The price of brown sugar on the market is around 960 cents, while the price of frosted sugar is comparable to that of ordinary tea.The price of ordinary tea in the teahouse is about 16 Wen per catty, which is about [-] Wen and one tael based on [-] taels per catty.

If the original five catties of brown sugar can be sold for 520 renminbi, then the refined white sugar can be sold for 440 [-] renminbi.At first glance, it seems that there is still less, but don't forget, there are also brown sugar and brown sugar that are purified.

Brown sugar is slightly more expensive than brown sugar, about 25 ren, and brown sugar is cheaper than brown sugar, about 900 or [-] ren, so the remaining brown sugar and brown sugar can be sold for more than [-] ren.

Calculated in this way, five catties of brown sugar can be sold for more than 800 Wen more than before after purification!

Once the accounts were settled, Chu Ci instantly felt that Baitang's future was extremely bright.

He ordered old man Chen to open up some places where he planned to replant fruits and vegetables to grow sugar cane.

Old man Chen looked at the crystal clear and white frosting sugar on the plate, how could he still be unconvinced?Even if Chu Ci didn't say anything, he still wanted to find a few more dollars to grow sugar cane.

The two were enjoying the prospect of Baitang, when there was a sudden knock on the courtyard door.As soon as the door opened, a group of children rushed in.All of them blushed and their eyes were full of excitement. They thought that this trip to the sugarcane field would also give them a lot of rewards.

After the group of children greeted the adults, they were attracted by the things in the courtyard.They surrounded the big tank, constantly guessing its usefulness.

Chu Ci walked over with the sugar in his hand, and patiently told them about the adsorption experiment he had just done...

After having lunch in the academy, Chu Ci took a group of people back to the Tixue Division.In addition, he also brought back the plate of white sugar that was purified in the morning.

In the afternoon, the Tixue Division rang the long-lost bell.The officials counted the bells with their ears upright, and when they found that it stopped at the fifth stroke, some officials breathed a sigh of relief and continued to work, while others grabbed paper and pens and rushed to the meeting room.

When they arrived at the conference room, Chu Ci was already sitting there.

"My lord, I don't know why the officials came here?" Wang Ming asked.This time, all the officials who came to manage the accounts, and Wang Ming, as the head of the finance department of the Department of Education, of course had to take the lead in making inquiries.

Chu Ci originally wanted everyone to come over, but he was still training recently, and the number of people was destined to be uneven, so he simply let the person in charge of this matter come over.

"My lords, please come and take a look at this thing first." Chu Ci asked them to gather around, and then pushed the plate of white sugar forward.

"Isn't this frosting sugar?" Someone said, all of them had seen and eaten frosting sugar, so they recognized it at a glance.

"This frosting... seems to be whiter than the ones sold in the shop." The ones in the shop always have a slightly yellowish tint.

"Yes, my lord. I don't know which shop I bought it from? I'm going to let the servants at home buy it there too."

"I didn't buy this," Chu Ci said deliberately, "What do you guys think?"

"Of course it's good. It's just that the officials are dull. They really don't understand why your lord wants us to see this plate of frosting?" Wang Ming asked suspiciously. Their lords have always spoken and acted neatly, but now they have become unpredictable. up.

"What if I say, this frosting is made in Zhuangzi?" Chu Ci dropped a bomb.

"What?!" These officials really reacted as Chu Ci expected.They are all engaged in finance, so they are naturally more sensitive to this matter.

"This means that in the future, instead of selling brown sugar, we can sell the most expensive frosted sugar?!" Wang Ming was very excited.

Chu Ci smiled and nodded, agreeing with him.

Wang Ming and the other adults were enjoying themselves when they suddenly thought of a question.

"My lord, who made this thing in Zhuangzi? Why haven't I heard of such a person in the past?" Everyone was very curious. Except for Wang Ming who took over last year, everyone else was from the financial department. I am an old man, and they still have a lot of dealings with the school below, so I have this question.

After carefully observing Chu Ci's expression, Wang Ming said with certainty, "This thing must have been made by an adult, right?"