After the goals are clear, it’s time to take action. After sending away his uncle Zhang Siwei, Gao pragmatically called the only person under his command who could go out, the book boy Gao Xiaozhuang, to his study room and asked him to go out and inquire about the prices of several things.
Gao Xiaozhuang is fifteen years old this year, and he looks as his name suggests. Although he is still young, he is tall and strong among his peers. According to Gao's pragmatic estimation, based on the weights and measures of his previous life, this kid is estimated to be over 1.7 meters tall. Five, and he has broad shoulders and thick arms, probably weighing a hundred and fifty pounds. In Gao Qingshi's previous life, it was not unusual for him to grow to 1.75 meters at the age of fifteen. As for his weight... haha, it is safe to exceed the standard. After all, the nutrition is simply too sufficient. But Gao Xiaozhuang, who was born in the Ming Dynasty, is just a "home-born son". Although he is still guaranteed to have enough food, he is probably overthinking how nutritious he can be. He can only grow to this size. Genetic problem - his father, Gao Laosi, is quite burly and one of the few strong men among the servants of the Gao family in Xinzheng.
Gao Xiaozhuang did not originally work in Gao Gong's family. He was the son of the sixth family of the Gao family, and he was the person chosen by Gao pragmatically and his father Gao. However, Gao Chou is away from home all year round, but Gao Xiaozhuang has always stayed in Xinzheng, and has been with Gao Pragmatic for a long time. This time Gao Gong brought Gao Yongshi to the capital first, but Gao Xiaozhuang and several other servants were later sent by Gao Yongshi's mother, Zhang, to take care of Gao Yongshi. After all, in Zhang's view, Gao Xiaozhuang and the other four servants served Gao Yongshi. Years, both familiar and reassuring. Among the four people sent by Zhang, in addition to the book boy Gao Xiaozhuang, there was also a groom and two servant girls.
Gao Pragmatic was still young and had no chance to ride a horse. The groom actually used it as a handlebar on weekdays, and he was a bit older, in his early forties. He was usually silent. Gao Pragmatic knew nothing about his driving skills. Not bad and quite strong, but I haven't communicated much with him, and I really can't say that I understand him. Obviously I won't leave this kind of purchasing to him.
As for the two servant girls, they are twin sisters. Even they themselves can't remember their original names. Anyway, one is named Shangyue and the other is named Tingqin. They were named by their pragmatic mother. Logically speaking, it is not unusual for maids to go out to buy some things, but unfortunately, these two sisters are also very young, and they are only eleven years old this year. In fact, they were sold into the Gao Mansion as maids when they were four years old. They are considered "old people" around Gao Pragmatic. Of course, there is no problem with their loyalty, but letting two little girls do this is... Not quite appropriate anymore.
In this case, Gao pragmatically had no choice but to recruit generals from among the dwarfs and let Gao Xiaozhuang go for a run. Gao Pragmatic asked Gao Xiaozhuang to inquire about the prices of several items, which were basically related to making soap. Of course, they also came with several spices that could be used to make fixatives.
As we all know, the basis of modern chemical industry is "three acids and two alkali", the "three acids" are sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and nitric acid, and the "two alkali" are caustic soda and soda ash (sodium carbonate). Perhaps in many people's minds, only sodium carbonate is a commonly used chemical material in ancient China. After all, who makes dough and makes steamed buns without adding alkali? But this impression actually underestimates the wisdom of the ancient Chinese. In fact, in ancient China, sulfuric acid, nitric acid and even caustic soda could be produced, and some people actually produced them.
The main raw material for manufacturing sulfuric acid in ancient China was green vitriol, also called green vitriol. Green vitriol can decompose to produce iron oxide, sulfur dioxide, sulfur trioxide and water when the heat reaches above 500℃; sulfur trioxide can react with water to produce sulfuric acid. Its chemical equation is: 2FeSO4·7H2O=(high temperature)Fe2O3+SO2+SO3+14H2O
The product contains sulfur trioxide. When sulfur trioxide dissolves in water, it becomes sulfuric acid. Since this sulfuric acid is obtained by calcining green vitriol, it was called "green vitriol oil" in ancient China. Green vitriol is a traditional Chinese medicine in ancient China. It is recorded in many pharmacopoeias. The method of calcining green vitriol is not difficult: put green vitriol and rice vinegar in a casserole, cover it, put it on a charcoal stove and calcine it. When melting, use bamboo chips to stir evenly to fully mix the alum and vinegar, then heat and simmer until the mixture turns purple, take it out and let it cool. [Note: The proportion recorded in ancient times is "100 jins of green vitriol and 20 jins of rice vinegar for each time." ]
How did Gao Pangshi obtain nitric acid in ancient China? He was not very clear, but he knew that in the eighth century AD, the Arab alchemist Jabir ibn Hayyan discovered and Nitric acid was produced, which seems to be the earliest human record of nitric acid. At the same time, he was also the discoverer of sulfuric acid and aqua regia. Therefore, China may have obtained the method of manufacturing nitric acid through the Silk Road or Maritime Silk Road during the Tang and Song Dynasties.
As for saltpeter (potassium nitrate), it has been considered a specialty of China in ancient times, because only the Chinese can refine naturally occurring potassium nitrate.
It is recorded in "Tiangong Kaiwu": "All saltpeter is produced by Hua and Yi, but China specializes in the northwest. If the southeast seller does not introduce it to the official, it will be regarded as private goods and guilty. Nitrate and salt have the same mother, under the earth Moisture evaporates and appears on the ground. Those near water and thin soil become salt, and those near mountains and thick soil become saltpeter. Because it dissolves when entering water, it is called "nitrate". To the north of Chang and Huaihe River, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the living room Among them, sweep the floor every other day and take a little for cooking.
There are three most common sources of saltpeter: those born in Sichuan are called Sichuan saltpeter, those born in Shanxi are called saltpetre, and those born in Shandong are called earth saltpeter. When scraping and sweeping the saltpeter (from the wall or in and out), put it into the vat and soak it in water for a night. The dirt and debris will float on the surface. When it is snatched away, it is then put into the cauldron and filled with water for decoction. The nitrate water is dried and poured into the vessel. After one night, it will form nitrate. The one with the upper surface is called Glauber's salt, the one with the longer awn is called Horse's tooth salt (both come from the essence of Fangzang), and the one with the dirty lower part is called Pu salt. If you want to remove impurities and return it to purity, add it to water and decoct it. Add a few pieces of radish and cook them together, then pour it into a basin. If it turns into white snow over time, the basin will be filled with salt water. When making gunpowder, tooth salt and basin salt have the same function.
When taking saltpeter to make medicine, a small amount is baked in new tiles, and a large amount is baked in an earthen cauldron. As soon as the moisture dries up, grind it into powder. If the iron is not crushed into the stone mortar when grinding saltpeter, it will cause fire and the disaster will be unpredictable. When mixing saltpeter with Dinghe, the medicine is divided into two parts. Add the Huanghuang and grind it at the same time, and add the charcoal later. After the saltpeter is baked, it will regenerate with moisture over a long period of time. Use huge cannons and load them frequently. "
Although "Tiangong Kaiwu" will not appear forty or fifty years, its technology has already existed - in fact, there is no need to say more about this, otherwise how would the gunpowder come from?
To put it simply, potassium nitrate is calcined in a closed container to generate nitrogen dioxide, which dissolves in water and becomes nitric acid. Mixing nitric acid and sulfuric acid produces highly corrosive aqua regia. The Arab alchemist must have used the above method to produce sulfuric acid and nitric acid.
As for the production method of caustic soda, it is even simpler. The chemical composition of slaked lime, which is often used in building houses nowadays, is calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2). By mixing it with a solution of alkali (Na2CO3), you can get caustic soda. The chemical reaction equation is: Ca(OH)2+Na2CO3=CaCO3 (precipitation)+2NaOH
Caustic soda has many uses. For example, Kovuchi now uses it to make soap. The production of soap sounds very simple. In fact, it uses the caustic soda generated by the reaction to saponify fat and turn it into soap. But it is also a coincidence. The reason Gao Pragmatic remembers it clearly is because when he was the mayor of the town, he inspected a primary school in the town. The primary school was doing some comprehensive practice and interest cultivation. Gao Pragmatic happened to see those children one by one. I made many fancy little soaps with great enthusiasm. In order to show the great image of caring for the flowers of the motherland, Mayor Gao Da enthusiastically made several pieces of soap with the children... Of course, in various time-travel novels, soap-making is a common skill for the protagonist, and it is highly pragmatic. You can learn it by reading novels when you have nothing to do.
As for soda ash, today’s soda ash is not industrial soda ash made by the famous alkali-making methods of later generations, but natural soda ash. This thing has always been available in China, and the distribution of its production areas is relatively wide. Of course, in the capital at present, the "mouth alkali" produced in the Hetao area of Mongolia should mainly be used - most of it should be produced in Okto, Inner Mongolia in later generations. Qijian Lake Zone. The soda ash in the alkaline lake is the same as the salt in the salt lake. It does not require any skills and can be sold directly by loading it on a truck. Moreover, since the Mongolians have little use for the soda ash themselves, it is used as a simple means of generating income and is sold. The price isn't great either - or rather: shockingly cheap.
