"Sir, what is this cement?"
How do these people understand this?
Liu Zheng laughed and said: "Things that strengthen my house and city walls!"
Regarding slag cement, Liu Zheng was relatively familiar with it in his previous life. In addition to traditional Portland cement, slag cement also occupies a very important position. In a narrow sense, slag cement is a finely ground mixture of gypsum, cement clinker and blast furnace slag.
This slag contains a large amount of cement components. The main process is to mix liquid slag from the reduction process and steelmaking process, such as blast furnace slag and converter slag, and add lime and clay when necessary...
Of course, the specific process still needs to be explored slowly! But Liu Zheng is very confident. The craftsmanship of Shen Gongfang's lime workshop and steel-making workshop has become more and more sophisticated. Liu Zheng believes that as long as he tries a few more times, this cement can really be made!
Everyone heard Liu Zheng's confidence and did not doubt him.
Qingyang Shuo smiled and said: "If there is such a strong thing, then Loulan will probably regret it!"
Everyone laughed.
The reason why Loulan was willing to sign a desert ownership agreement with Liu Zheng was because they felt that no one could manage the desert for thousands of years. If the Loulan people couldn't do it, could Liu Zheng do it? As everyone knows, with Liu Zheng's own cement, he can build stations and inns along the road in a short period of time. If he has sufficient funds, he can even consider paving the road... The next step is to plant trees.
But when he thought of this, Liu Zheng asked about Yinzhou's accounts during his absence in the past few months.
As soon as these words came out, Liu Dahao's face fell.
"Son, we don't have any money anymore!"
boom!
Liu Zheng just stood up and almost fell to the ground, his face collapsed: "Are you poor again?"
Liu Dahao grimaced: "My son, you can't blame me for this. This Silver Beach City is really too expensive! It's simply a bottomless pit!"
Liu Zheng looked at Qingyang Shuo, who also nodded.
This left Liu Zheng speechless.
You started a stall as big as your own, but still couldn’t make ends meet? Next, everyone sat down and settled the accounts, which made Liu Zheng feel chilled.
Recruitment is something that has been ongoing in Yinzhou.
So far, the number of serious soldiers who can be taken out to fight has reached 50,000, and there are still 30,000 militiamen. Although Yinzhou has a military garrison system, what about the weapons and equipment these soldiers need? Even if you can build it yourself, isn't iron ore money?
Raising troops costs money, which is currently a large part of Yinzhou's expenditure.
But so far, Yinzhou's military expenditure can be equal to the income from refined salt.
Then what?
The construction of Silver Beach City has wiped out all the profits from brewing, perfume, and soap, and it’s not enough! Liu Zheng looked at the accounts and found that Baiyajun had already paid five batches of refined salt, but only three batches were delivered here...
In other words, Silver Beach City is still in deficit!
Liu Zheng shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Well, it seems that we can only save money for the time being. The next batch of refined salt must be transported to Loulan first, and all the silver there must be transported back..."
When everyone heard that Loulan still had nearly ten million taels of silver, they all became excited. Liu Dahao jumped up even more: "My son is just trying to live up to his expectations. Dad, I can eat meat again!"
Liu Zheng rolled his eyes. Suddenly he remembered something and quickly called Liang Erfu over.
"What's the matter, sir?"
Liu Zheng took out a handful of red things from his package. Everyone looked at each other and asked what they were.
"Chili, the most delicious in the world!"
Liu Zheng laughed.
At this time, pepper had not really been introduced into the Longyan Dynasty, but Liu Zheng saw it in Loulan. For a guy like him who had nothing to do with sex in his previous life, this thing is simply a savior!
Liu Dahao came over with eyes shining, grabbed a handful and put it into his mouth, chewing hard: "Dad, let's try it first..."
Everyone else looked at Liu Dahao one by one.
It was too late for Liu Zheng to stop him. Liu Dahao's face changed from excitement, to confusion, to horror, to a red face with tears running down his face.
"Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!"
"Water, water, water, where is the water!"
"Give it to me quickly!"
Liu Zheng was laughing so hard that he couldn't even straighten his waist.
At this moment, a subordinate of Liang Erfu ran in excitedly: "Master Liang, sir, the first batch of sweet potatoes in our Yinzhou experimental field has been successful!"
"What?"
Liu Zheng and Liang Erfu looked at each other in surprise.
Everyone arrived at the experimental field that belonged to Liu Zheng. Some farmers were already digging sweet potatoes. It is the season of May, and at a glance, the sweet potato seedlings are eye-catching. After the farmers dug up the sweet potato seedlings, they found huge sweet potatoes, no matter their size or appearance, they were quite pleasing to the eye.
"How's the yield per acre?"
Liu Zheng asked happily.
An old farmer laughed loudly: "Sir, it weighs six thousand kilograms!"
"What?"
The group of people who followed Liu Zheng were all stunned.
The yield per mu is six thousand catties? Two seasons a year! What kind of magic crop is this?
Liu Zheng said happily: "Okay, okay!"
"Sir, I just took a bite. Even if it's not cooked, it's still sweet!"
a child yelled.
"Sir, how do you eat these sweet potatoes?"
Qingyang Shuo was more and more shocked by Liu Zheng.
Liu Zheng smiled and said: "Eat whatever you want, boil it, bake it, steam it, grind it into powder..."
When it came to grinding flour, Liu Zheng had an idea. Another way to make money came to his mind! It's just...he laughed as he thought about it and couldn't stop. Do you really want to get into the catering industry? Of course, what Liu Zheng wants to do right now is to get rid of his greed first.
"Quick, quick, pick some big sweet potatoes and follow me!"
Just do it.
Liu Zheng called Liang Erfu, Zheng Yueru, and even Hu Xier to join the team of picking sweet potatoes. Liu Zheng specifically asked to choose sweet potatoes with a smooth surface, no insect damage, no green heads, and medium-sized sweet potatoes.
"What are you doing again!"
Hu Xier covered her hands with mud and didn't care. She looked at Liu Zheng curiously.
Liu Zheng first washed all the sweet potatoes and removed both ends of the sweet potatoes. Then use an old farmer's millstone to crush the sweet potatoes, add water while crushing, then filter it again with gauze, and let the filtrate settle in a small pool.
When all the water in the pool is clear, drain the water, take out the surface oil powder, take out the lower starch and hang it into powder weights, and put them on the drying field for exposure. When half of the water in the powder has evaporated, cut the powder into several parts and expose them to the sun. The drying area should be located in a leeward and sunny place to prevent dust pollution.
"What on earth is this?"
Hu Xier looked confused.
Zheng Yueru also looked strange.
Liu Zheng smiled and said: "It's delicious food in the world, don't drool when the time comes!"
Hu Xier looked unbelieving, and said after a cut: "Is it just this white thing? How delicious is it!"
But everyone was fine anyway and wanted to see what Liu Zheng wanted to do.
After the exposure was completed, Liu Zheng began to beat the paste. Mix starch and alum with cold water, put it into a basin, put the basin into the pot and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. The maturity level reaches 90%.
And the most important step is to miss the thread.
Before leaking, you can try it first to see if the vermicelli is suitable. If the leaked vermicelli is not thick, not thin, and continuous, it is suitable. If the speed is too fast and the strips are broken, it means that the slurry is too thin. Dry starch should be added before kneading to make the dough moderately tough; if it is difficult or the speed is too slow and the thickness is uneven, it means that the slurry is too dry and more water should be added. some wet starch. It is advisable to adjust the powder in one go before leakage. The temperature of the dough should be over 30 degrees. Prepare two pots, two cold water jugs, and colanders.
When the thread leaks, stir the paste evenly and add warm water while stirring. The water temperature should be 50 degrees. When the starch ball leaves your hand, grab a ball (handle) and let a little bit fall naturally. If it keeps falling, the thread will leak. When leaking the wire, prepare a pot of boiling water and only leak the wire when the water in the pot boils. When the silk strips sink to the bottom of the pot and resurface, they are ready to be taken out of the pot. They are cooled once by a cold water tank, tied into bundles by hand and threaded onto a wooden stick. They are cooled by another cold water tank and kept swinging until the vermicelli is loose. Then put it indoors and take it out to dry the silk after it cools down.
The last step is to dry the silk.
"Wow! So beautiful!"
Hu Xier's eyes were bright when she saw it, and she wanted to touch it with her hands, but Liu Zheng hit her back: "Don't move!"
that's all.
Hu Xier comes over every day to see if the sweet potato vermicelli is dry enough.
Three days later, Liu Zheng touched the fans and smiled: "Call everyone here, today I will treat you to the first bowl of hot and sour noodles from the Longyan Dynasty!"
Soon, Qingyang Shuo also came, Liu Dahao also came, Zheng Yueru also came, Jiang Xuan also came, Qin Changfeng also came... As long as everyone in Yintan City came, everyone came.
Liu Zheng had already prepared all the materials based on his memory. I have chili peppers, vinegar, of course, as well as coriander, peanuts brought back from Loulan, local peppercorns, star anise...
After boiling a large pot, Liu Zheng put a handful of sweet potato vermicelli into the pot.
Everyone was amazed when they saw the sweet potato vermicelli gradually softening in the boiling water but not breaking, like noodles but crystal clear.
In a short time, more than ten bowls of hot and sour noodles were ready.
"You, you come first..."
Liu Dahao, who had almost lost his sense of taste because of the chili pepper, no longer dared to be the first to try it.
Qingyang Shuo smiled faintly, picked up a bowl, picked up a vermicelli with chopsticks, and put it into his mouth.
Others looked nervous.
Qingyang Shuo pursed his lips and tasted carefully. He felt that several flavors were mixed together in his mouth, but they were distinct. Each had its own impact. He couldn't help but his eyes lit up: "What you said is true, the delicious food in the world should be like this." !”
"What?"
Liu Dahao picked up a bowl.
Everyone laughed and started eating.
When they first entered the mouth, there was still a spicy taste, and Hu Xier took a few sips, but the more they ate, the more they felt that the taste was infinitely wonderful.
Liu Zheng couldn't help but look confident: "What do you think? Can I sell it for money?"
"ah?"
