It was getting dark, and Rumia was arranging her boots and leather jacket in preparation for tomorrow's grazing.
Rurik did not continue to review the knowledge on the wooden board.
He approached Verya, who was sitting in meditation, and caught her attention.
"Is something wrong? My child."
"There is one thing, grandma. I... I want to make a good thing. I think I can succeed. With it, we can wash our hands very clean. If you wipe your body with it, it will kill the insect eggs on the hair. , can make the body absolutely clean without any dirt. In this way... when performing sacrifices like this, we can face Odin with absolute purity."
Hearing this, Vilia suddenly opened her eyes.
Although Rurik's words are very abrupt, what exactly is the invention he is referring to?
It would be interesting if so-called inventions could bring about "absolute purity."
"My child, what do you want to do? Don't hesitate to tell me."
"Yes! I think..." Rurik suddenly thought about it. It seemed that there was no proper noun to describe soap in the Norse language.
He thought for a while and simply called it "soup". In order to make it more clear, Rurik simply called it "soupa".
"We can make it. I need some seal oil, ashes of charcoal, and some salt. Through some means, the seal oil can be made into a dry solid. Rub it on your palms, and your hands will not become greasy. Remove the tiniest speck of dust from between your fingernails?”
"Really? Wait! I really want to know what you're talking about."
Vilya immediately said a word, and Rurik sounded like "kasa", which also proved that Norse has related words.
"It is the fruit of a plant. It is said that as long as it is ground into powder and applied on the linen, even the dirty linen can be cleaned."
What's this? Rurik guessed it might be soap locust. He thought about it carefully and was suddenly sure that she was talking about Zaojiao.
The word called "kasa" by Villa was the word commonly used in ancient Europe to describe wild saponins. What Rurik called "soupa", he understood, was derived from the classical Latin "sopa", which was the official abbreviation of soap by the ancient Romans.
But saponin is not soap. They have different origins but share the same goal.
Vilia stretched out her withered right hand, but there was dust in the gaps between the long nails that was difficult to pull out. It required an iron needle or a fish bone to carefully pull it out.
"It's true. So, I need some oil, and I believe I will succeed. What I need is not any special plant, I especially need some oil, and I will succeed in the end."
"Is it better than kasa? My child, in fact, I just heard that I have never seen it. Maybe the Danes have this kind of good cleaning product, but we don't have it. My child, you always have fresh ideas. , you go do it. I will give you some grease tomorrow, you try your best, and I will help you."
Vilia called over to Poona, the lower-level priest who cooked the oil, and whispered a few words to her, meaning to prepare some oil as a "toy" for the child tomorrow.
Welia didn't have any intention to question it. After all, it would be too boring to just boil oil in winter.
After saving Rumia's life, this little girl has been recognized by Odin and has become a member of the tribe.
Obviously, it is also objectively proven that Odin is still blessing the lovely Rurik.
Then, children’s whimsical ideas need support.
Besides, the results of the inventions Rurik described were an interesting sight.
"Ah! That's great!" Rurik pretended to be as excited as a child and jumped up and down in front of Vilia, making the priest giggle.
From the corner of his eye, he also noticed that Rumia, who was still adjusting her leather clothes, was also giving him a happy smile.
A new day has arrived.
Last night, Rumia used a novel steel needle from Novgorod to easily sew the thickened leather jacket.
Vilia felt that the girl's illness was partly due to her thin clothing, so Rumia needed to take care of the gifted leather coat herself.
The clothes became a double-layered structure, with some messy hair and even discarded linen heads roughly stuffed into the middle layer.
Early in the morning, after breakfast, Rurik rushed to the priest's longhouse in high spirits.
When he returned home last night, he told his parents the good news of Rumia's recovery.
Of course, the parents were very happy to see Rurik's smiling face, but Rurik was more concerned about the change in his mother's attitude towards Rumia.
"Congratulations very much."
"Yes, Mom. She is recognized, and we should all treat her well in the future."
Niya didn't say much. She feared the gods. Maybe she was wrong to give the girl a bad look now.
Rurik was in a great mood. When he approached the longhouse of the priest, he saw Rumia dressed in furry clothes, driving the deer to the foothills with a small leather whip. There were also several priestesses who were also holding whips and pulling on the reins to prevent the deer from escaping.
He hurried over and greeted Rumia happily.
Seeing Rurik, Rumia felt like seeing her biological brother.
After a brief exchange of greetings, Rurik finally told him: "You must graze well and come back as soon as it gets dark. My sister, I have something important to do today, so you can help me when you come back. If I succeed, maybe we will be together every day in the future." There is wheat porridge to eat.”
The words were spoken so quickly that Rumia could only understand a little bit. In short, Rurik was going to finish herding and come back to help him.
"Okay, I will, my brother."
He calls her sister and he calls him brother. To outsiders, it seemed like a violation of the master-servant relationship, but she knew that Rurik liked such a term of endearment.
The more this happened, the more Rumia felt the desire to help him.
Rurik actually thinks very far. In the future, the deer herd will multiply and grow, and the tribe will make a lot of money from selling the deer. It is said that it is the tribe's deer herd, but in fact the entire deer herd is the property of the family. In the end, the leader's family will naturally have even more considerable wealth based on the existing huge wealth.
If soap could be produced, more would be earned from selling it.
The success of soap will be a new beginning.
The situation of the Ross tribe determines that the development of the tribe is very dependent on trade. Violent plundering and large-scale hunting are all actions of sitting on nothing.
The production and trade of economic goods was an efficient means of accumulating wealth at the time.
Drinking wheat porridge every now and then should be the most normal thing.
Breeding deer and making soap are different from the past actions of quickly accumulating wealth, starting from this winter.
Rurik happily entered the priest's cabin, and soon a pottery was placed in front of him.
What is inside this pot is the semi-solidified seal oil that has been boiled.
His little hand tentatively reached into the water, feeling its viscosity.
"How's it going? Is this oil what you want?" asked the bored Vilia.
"It seems possible, but..." Rurik stretched out his finger, and there were still some impurities remaining on the attached grease. "Maybe I need to refine the oil and get rid of the residue."
The so-called oil residue is actually excess components of seal fat cells and even some muscle tissue.
Based on the principle of make-do, the priests do not pursue perfection at all when boiling oil.
"What else do you need besides grease? I'm curious, the sticky grease that coats your hands can be turned into something great for cleaning?"
"Of course, grandma. I will do it now, and she will help me when Rumia comes back."
"Really? Maybe I thought I could help you."
"Let me think about it...it's not necessary. If you must help, please ask other priests to come."
Vilia nodded, and immediately asked Bona, who was still boiling oil, to come over, and she gave some more orders.
But Bona was obviously reluctant, she just wanted to continue doing her own thing.
Rurik did not embarrass this person, so he just asked: "Bona, please help me boil a jar of hot water. I want to see it boil."
"Just boiling hot water? That's easy. I hope there's nothing else complicated, boy, but I'm going to have to keep boiling oil. It's Hanukkah soon and I'm stressed out with all the grease you've taken away." Bo Na endured the dissatisfaction in her heart, and it was true that the grease in Tao Wengli was the success of these lower-level priests.
The backwardness of oil refining technology and the difficulty in obtaining materials have greatly restricted the production of earth soap.
Rurik somewhat understood why Bona was shaming him. The oil in the vat was the result of her hard work.
During Hanukkah, a large number of oil lamps are lit for sacrifice, which naturally consumes a lot of fuel.
Bo Na hopes that her job will be easier, but how can she do so?
Rurik didn't say much. The saponification reaction required frantic stirring of a mixture of lye and fat. In an era without automatic machinery, it was really a laborious task.
Poona probably couldn't count on it. The most he could do was ask her to boil hot water.
At this time, the only one who is absolutely reliable is Rumia, who is still grazing.
Maybe Bo Na will change her mind in the end. Her hands will be greasy and fishy after boiling oil. These nasty stains are difficult to remove and require frequent hand washing, but are easy to fix with soap.
After a while, a jar of boiling water was placed in front of Rurik, and he poured some gray charcoal ashes into it.
Rurik had no clear idea of how much ashes should be poured in.
He tentatively understood that if enough ashes were poured out, the key potassium nitrate content would be higher.
He held a wooden stick in his hand and stirred vigorously. After a while, the clay vat became a jar of hot black water.
The priests just looked at it curiously but did not interfere in any way.
The next thing is actually waiting, for which Bona is a little relieved, the child will not disturb her work for a while.
"This way you can take a rest." Rurik stretched his arms and threw the stirring stick aside.
The plant ash in the pottery urn forms a very thick suspension in which the rich potassium nitrate component is being dissolved, including a small amount of sodium nitrate. In a high-temperature environment, these substances are undergoing chemical changes, that is, they gradually turn into highly alkaline liquids rich in potassium nitrite.
The corrosive ability of this kind of lye to ceramic urns can be ignored.
It still has too many impurities, and its concentration is difficult to estimate.
Rurik had his own way, which was to wait for the liquid to cool down and all the suspended impurities to sink to the bottom. Then he poured the clear solution into another clean pottery urn, and then boiled it again.
The waiting process was a bit boring, and Rurik was not idle.
The crude sea salt used by the Ross tribe is mainly table salt, but also contains bad substances such as magnesium chloride that gives it a bitter taste. However, these substances can all play a beneficial role in the process of making soap.
Rurik got half a palm-sized piece of salt crystal from Vilya. God knows how long they had to boil the low-salinity seawater to get such a piece of salt.
He pounded the salt vigorously into a very fine powder, which could be quickly blended into the liquid during subsequent work.
Those small particles of suspended plant ash took the entire day to gradually settle, so Rurik waited until Rumia returned from grazing.
There was a burst of noise outside, and after a while, a very tired Rumia returned to the big wooden house with the priestesses who were monitoring her.
Her nose was keenly aware of something strange in the air in the room. Then she looked at her beloved Rurik. The child was staring at a pottery urn.
Rumia was sensible and didn't say much. She cautiously approached the pen-obsessed Priest Vilia, sat down and reported the completion of her work.
"Very well, you can't rest now. Go eat something first, then go to your master and obey his new orders."
"Yes." The girl replied softly.
"Bona, bring some dried meat." Villa continued to close her eyes and ordered casually.
Rumia is a ten-year-old child after all. She is cautious but also full of curiosity. She noticed that the breath was coming from the pottery urn that Rurik was staring at. What on earth was that?
She walked over quickly, carrying a small wooden tray with some thick dried fish and marinated meat in it.
"Rurik. Do you want to eat?"
Rurik glanced at the sister and stood up quickly.
"I have noticed that you are back. You came just in time. Rumia, please wait now while I go get another urn."
She doesn't need to have doubts now, she just needs to work hard.
An empty pottery urn was placed on the ground, and Rumia was ordered to hold it firmly with both hands. Rurik carefully held the plant ash solution that had basically settled, and poured the upper clear liquid into the empty vat.
Under the dim light of the oil lamp, a brownish-yellow liquid with a unique smell that was visible to the naked eye was poured into the empty vat. Rurik hoped that it would be pure enough, but in the end some dregs were poured in, but that was irrelevant.
"What is this?" Rumia asked curiously, "Water? It's very strange."
"It's not water. It's very dangerous. Do you smell a strange smell?"
Listening, Rumia nodded vigorously.
"That's right." Rurik smiled confidently, "In order for us to gain wealth from this, Rumia, remember what you see now, and I will order you to make these in the future."
The basic separation of the solution and the slag is still the beginning. Next, the help of a flame is needed to evaporate the excess water, and to turn the semi-solidified seal fat in another pottery urn into a slight amount that can be barely touched by the index finger. High temperature liquids.
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Chapter 84 Starting from the Ashes of Plants and Trees
