Jin Kaila still followed.
Now, he had not only been inside the Forbidden City, but also followed the emperor into the Qianqing Gate, passed the Three Palaces and Sixth Courtyard of the later dynasties, and passed through the Imperial Garden.
I didn’t even dare to raise my head, I didn’t even dare to glance around from the corner of my eye!
Tao Zhongwen was better. Although he did not lower his head, his eyes remained calm and did not move, and he walked forward unhurriedly.
He was still thinking about this unexpected situation in his heart: the emperor did not seek immortality through Taoism, nor did he pray for food, but for...the way of physics?
All the way to Qin'an Hall, Zhang Zuo was already waiting there.
"Everything is ready?"
After Zhu Houcong asked, Zhang Zuo immediately replied: "Onions, garlic, icing sugar, alkali powder, dry sand, and spirits are the four treasures of the study. My slaves have ordered them to be prepared."
"How many times did the strong wine steam?"
"It didn't work last time. Your Majesty said that the mellower it is, the better. I ordered you to steam it again and again. Now, even a very good soju drinker would not dare to put this strong liquor into his throat. I have already tried it just now." , it is true that it ignites at the slightest moment, and the situation after that is like a nightmare!”
He was so frightened when he said it, but Zhu Houcong nodded. It seemed that after trying it several times, it worked this time.
If you understand it carefully, you will know that the method of distillation appeared very early. However, its use in winemaking only happened in the past two hundred years. The alcohol content of today's wine is much higher than that of the Tang and Song Dynasties. This may be why there are fewer and fewer records of people drinking like Li Bai and Wu Song in literary works after the Ming and Qing Dynasties - they can't stand it.
The word shochu refers to this steamed wine.
But what Zhu Houcong wanted was higher alcohol, which was quite useful. But currently, progress is much slower than Zhu Houcong imagined. The reason is probably due to various problems such as poor temperature control and sealing. And when there was not enough food to eat, Zhu Houcong did not want to rashly promote the preparation of this thing when the wine production rate was not high.
I only have a vague memory. If it is to be used for disinfection, the alcohol content must be controlled.
Fortunately, Zhu Houcong is not using it for disinfection, but for igniting it.
When we arrived at the open space behind Qin'an Hall, there were two small desks placed there.
"These two experiments, one is moving and the other is quiet. Let's look at the quiet one first, Zhang Zuo, come on."
In the Forbidden City, although Zhang Zuo is the Chief of Ceremonies, the things he is currently responsible for are very casual and leisurely, not as important as Huang Jin.
It's rare that the emperor has a special errand assigned to him, so Zhang Zuo has become a "researcher" these days.
Now he was working extremely hard, rolled up his sleeves, walked to a table, and started peeling onions and pounding garlic.
"Come and take a closer look." Zhu Houcong walked forward with Tao Zhongwen and Jin Kaila, "Common green onions and raw garlic."
"...Your Majesty, I wonder what this...experiment is?"
Zhu Houcong smiled: "It's not some kind of cultivation method. Tao Taoist Master just keeps reading."
I saw Zhang Zuo quickly mashing the onion roots and garlic cloves separately, and then filtered out some juice with a cloth handkerchief, and put it on a small plate.
Then, Tao Zhongwen watched him pick up two new brushes, dip them in different juices and write on two pieces of paper.
There was still a wet mark at first, but after a while, the mark dried, and the white paper looked almost as if there was nothing written on it.
"Bring the candle."
Zhang Zuo turned around and gave instructions, then picked up a piece of paper and looked at the emperor: "I will try one piece first."
He now asked for permission first for everything. After receiving permission, Zhang Zuo carefully held the piece of paper, placed it at a certain distance above the fire, and ironed it back and forth.
Jin Kaila's eyes widened. He could no longer see the wet printed white paper before, but now brown and yellow writing slowly appeared on it. Although the strokes are not as neat as those written with ink, they are easy to read.
This scene looked a bit magical, but Tao Zhongwen was still quite calm.
"It's done!" Zhang Zuo seemed to be even more excited than him, "Your Majesty, if you write a secret letter in this way, it will be of great use!"
Zhu Houcong chuckled: "Why bother with so much effort? Taoist Master Tao knows this method?"
The two audiences had different reactions, and Zhu Houcong naturally noticed it. Tao Zhongwen heard the words and bowed: "I heard a little bit."
"Do you know why? Why onion juice and garlic juice have this effect, but the juice of some things does not?"
"Everything has its own nature. The pungent things like onions and garlic are of the nature of fire. Paper is made of vegetation and has the nature of wood. Fire overcomes the wood, and the juice of the onions and garlic and the slow fire attack internally and externally, and the paper will be scorched, revealing the writing."
Jin Kela admired Tao Zhongwen's talk very much.
Zhu Houcong could only be speechless.
It sounds reasonable, but it's not the case at all.
Zhu Houcong found these so-called "simple and easy-to-do chemical experiments" interesting and memorized them when he read some popular science articles and short videos.
This is obviously because the vegetable oil and other ingredients in their juices have a lower ignition point and are burned first.
"Then let's do the next experiment and see what Tao Tao has to say."
Zhang Zuo became more nervous when he heard this, because he had tried this "experiment" many times, and it was the only one before.
Now, he remembered His Majesty's instructions and took the spoon.
Four spoons of sugar, one spoon of alkali powder.
Zhu Houcong watched him operate silently.
At this time, people still ate a lot of "sour noodles".
Is it because they don’t know that adding some alkali powder will taste better? of course I know. "Qi Min Yao Shu" records the method of making alkali: take a bucket of barley straw and soak it in water for seven days. Take it out, dry it and mash it into powder. Add three liters of lime, boil it, and remove the residue to obtain about two kilograms of alkali.
Weeds are everywhere on the edges of the fields, there is no shortage of them at all. In a sense, if people now want to eat steamed buns with good taste, what they lack is never alkali, but noodles.
There is not much demand, so there is not much research on alkali production.
But Zhu Houcong also roughly knew that bases are very useful, at least what acids and bases are. This is a very deep point in his few chemical memories.
Now, what Zhang Zuo is preparing to demonstrate is a beggar's version of the experiment called "Pharaoh's Snake".
Zhang Zuo's demonstration was very sacred, because he had been successful once before and the effect was a bit shocking to him.
After laying out the sun-dried fine sand, Zhang Zuo opened the lid of the tightly sealed porcelain jar, and the strong smell of alcohol hit his nostrils.
He looked at Zhu Houcong and said, "Your Majesty, you'd better step back. I'm worried."
"...It doesn't matter." Zhu Houcong knew that the beggar gang's reaction would not be so violent and would not produce poisonous gas.
"Huang Jin, please protect His Majesty." Zhang Zuo could only say this, and then ordered the henchman next to him, "As soon as the wine pours down, light the fire, and be quick!"
He didn't know what the reason was, but after trying it a few times, the key was to be fast.
Otherwise, the fire will burn out before the incredible things come out of the icing sugar mixed with alkali powder.
Some highly distilled alcohol was poured on the fine sand, and the little eunuch next to him hurriedly approached it with a torch.
As expected, it was both on fire and ignited.
Wine can burn, Tao Zhongwen knows this. But when the wine burned, the color of the flames was different.
Then, Zhang Zuo quickly poured the mixed sugar and alkali powder onto the burning fine sand.
There was nothing unusual at first, but after a while, brown things suddenly slowly protruded from the powder, as if old tree roots were growing from the fire, and indeed like some monster crawling out of the fire.
"Your Majesty, be careful!" Huang Jin only knew that Zhu Houcong had arranged for Zhang Zuo to prepare these things. How could he have known that this scene existed?
"No problem."
Zhu Houcong turned to look at Tao Zhongwen and Jin Kaila.
Jin Gaolu's eyes were filled with shock and his mouth opened wide, while Tao Zhongwen's eyes were also bright and he was thinking about something.
Because the materials used in this beggar's experiment were different, the reaction was far less violent than those with truly high-purity materials. Now Zhu Houcong only arranges one or two demonstrations, and does not carefully study the skills or enhance the atmosphere.
But Tao Zhongwen's expression was obviously not simple. As an "alchemist", he was very experienced in both the "fire elixir" and "water elixir" techniques, and he had seen how many things looked like after being burned.
However, Tao Zhongwen had never seen such a reaction that seemed to be spiritual and like a living creature.
Isn't the purpose of alchemy to complement the physical body with immortal objects such as gold and stone so that it can become immortal? At this moment, Tao Zhongwen was actually shocked that the dead thing was alive, but his expression management was extremely good.
After the two experiments were over, Zhu Houcong asked: "Does Taoist Master Tao know what this means?"
"..." Tao Zhongwen thought for a while and spoke again, "Brewed from fine wine and food, it has the nature of water and wood. Sugar frost has the nature of wood and earth. Alkali powder, metal, earth and wood are all present. When exposed to fire again, the five elements are complete and endless. Your majesty's technique has never been heard of by poor people. I wonder if you are right?"
Zhu Houcong only felt that it was a cross-server chat. Regardless of the phenomenon, he always relies on the Five Elements.
However, what he said was so convincing, coupled with his cool and unrestrained appearance as a "master of Taoism", if Zhu Houcong didn't already have some mature and stable knowledge concepts, he would probably believe it.
So Zhu Houcong could only say: "Master Tao, your alchemy path has gone astray."
"..." Tao Zhongwen said nothing, but he was not convinced.
"Go into the palace and talk in detail."
…
With the current various materials and Zhu Houcong's very limited knowledge of chemistry, Zhu Houcong could not arrange an experiment with abnormally explosive effects.
With the inherent thinking of people in this era, it is unrealistic to expect that one or two small experiments will shock them incomprehensibly and abandon their old experience accumulation.
But Zhu Houcong could deny his Tao, express his own truth, and then use other methods to try his accumulated knowledge in another direction.
In Qin'an Hall, the two pieces of paper were brought in. One of them had been baked, but the other had not.
The plates that still contained those "ferocious growths" were brought and placed on the low table in the hall.
"The one who moves is the pivot of Tao."
In order to move the ideological understanding of various groups of people in the right direction, Zhu Houcong has been looking for countless ancient classics to read in his spare time.
Anyway, the Six Classics pay attention to me.
Now the words from the "Book of Changes" were first spoken, and Tao Zhongwen nodded.
"Hengqu Zhang also said in "Zhengmeng" that forms gather into objects, and objects collapse and return to their original state. The fire of chariot fire is fierce and vigorous, and it must return to its destination; mercury flies away when it encounters fire, and does not know where to go. It all comes back to the earth. It gathers, disperses, and changes, but its body does not gain or lose from it." Zhu Houcong said another paragraph, and then asked, "Just now, a huge thing was born in the sugar-frosted alkali powder, several times the size of the original thing. Is it possible? Did it come out of nowhere?"
Tao Zhongwen couldn't answer this question. Jin Kaila couldn't understand what the emperor said even more.
"Gold does not burn when it enters the fire, does not rot when it enters the water, and remains immortal for thousands of years after entering the earth. It is said in "Shen Tongqi" that warlocks can live longer if they take it. Cinnabar is as red as blood, so it is also regarded as the source of life. When mercury meets Fire will fly, and alchemists also thought that taking it would help them ascend. When famous alchemy masters made alchemy, they placed the furnace in accordance with the five elements. The article states that secrets cannot be revealed." Zhu Houcong smiled and asked, "Am I right?"
"...Your Majesty knows the Dan Dao very well."
Zhu Houcong really wanted to know something. In this era, a large number of people searched for it for him.
What he is talking about now is the alchemy Taoist priests' thoughts from the source to the specific practices, from the normal state of the industry to the personal psychological status.
To try to condense the "Taixu", "Yuanqi", "Taiji", "Tao" and other various titles that are condensed in all things in the world according to the guiding ideology of Yin and Yang and the Five Elements, the theory of "profit and loss" has also been It is understood that if you want to seize the opportunity of heaven and benefit yourself, you must not reveal the secret of heaven or "damage" the world too much, so everyone has a secret name and method.
The same thing is called differently by different people.
There is another point that Zhu Houcong cannot explain: there is a problem with the fundamental purpose of alchemy. Is there such a thing as refining elixirs for immortality and cultivating Taoism for ascension?
But Zhu Houcong has no way or evidence to refute this. Now he himself is an example: How did he get here?
There was a brief silence in the Qin'an Palace, and then Zhu Houcong put aside all these things: "In my opinion, these are all obsessed with the surface and forgetting the essence. With the magnificence of heaven and the complexity of all things in the world, how can it be simple? Divide it into five elements and fully describe its principles? Taoist priest, if you only rely on the theory of five elements to make alchemy, you will not be able to fully understand its essence. Take today's two experiments as an example, and I will explain the principles."
One is because the temperature at which it is fired changes: This is easy to explain. If the same clay is fired at different temperatures, different things such as pottery and porcelain will be obtained. Lead, iron, etc. can be burned and melted at different temperatures.
The other one involves another issue. Zhu Houcong naturally found it difficult to explain the molecular structure, so he just gave a simple example: the same bucket of water may burst if it is tightly covered and frozen in winter.
His limited knowledge could only explain a little bit, but in the end he said: "For all things, first understand their properties and record them in a book. Then do more experiments to know their changes. Only by persisting in this way can you get a glimpse of the Dao One or Two. Dao gives birth to one, gives birth to two, Two generates three, and three generates all things. The principle of the Great Dao needs to exhaust all things before it can be seen. I said that if you only distinguish between yin and yang and the five elements, and try it aimlessly, you are trying to take a shortcut. Is there a shortcut to enlightenment?"
Tao Zhongwen just doesn't know how serious it is now, and it's mainly because the other party is the emperor: "Your Majesty's words make sense..."
Zhu Houcong then gave an effective method: "The Taoist Priest presides over the Qin'an Hall, and you can still make elixirs according to the old method. However, for my worship, the Taoist Priest must also try my method. The days are long, and I will still be with you. There are many opportunities for discussion. But if you follow my method, if Taoist Taoist really achieves something else, wouldn’t he be a famous master in history? Taoist Taoist must not think that fertilization is a small matter. Crops are also living things. If you understand it thoroughly The principle that all things nourish crops, doesn’t it mean that the next step is to nourish the body?”
Tao Zhongwen was shocked when he heard this: That's the truth. Crops are also living things. If you understand why things benefit crops, you can indeed learn from them.
And, there’s no need to risk trying some medicine.
As a professional, he naturally knows that some of the things he makes are dangerous, so he has the idea of subduing fire to remove their toxicity.
"If this thing is done, I can really rely on Taoist Master Tao to understand the Great Dao together. At that time, all Taoists in the world will be under the command of Master Tao. With my help and the strength of the world, the Great Dao can be expected, Master Tao Do you think so?"
Alchemy is actually very expensive, and many things are not cheap. Tao Zhongwen knew how long it would take him to accumulate the materials to start a furnace.
The pie that the now wealthy emperor drew was much more effective than the previous two small experiments.
"Your Majesty has great faith, and a poor man should do his best. A poor man is also determined to seek the truth. Just as Your Majesty said, a poor man should not be greedy for shortcuts and vainly hope for a single elixir to ascend to heaven."
Zhu Houcong laughed: "Just as I want to recreate the Ming Dynasty, we cannot do it overnight. In this case, today I will start to take a closer look. I am also puzzled by the idea of using gold and stone to fertilize crops. Taoist Master Tao, Don't hide your secrets. From today on, I will see you every day to join the road together."
"...I see poor people every day?" Tao Zhongwen thought to himself if this matter spread, wouldn't he have the status of a "national master"?
"That's natural!" Zhu Houcong still has many things, and he needs to be brainwashed slowly.
However, three members of the Taoist sect, Taoist Master Jiajing who no longer practiced Taoism, Taoist Tao Zhongwen, an expert in alchemy, and Taoist Master Jin Kaela, a manure man, still established an alchemy research group.
The first research topic is: the principle of the heavenly benefit (fertility absorption) of metal and stone materials (inorganic materials) to crops.
In the Gongyuan, the candidates were answering the examination questions on their answer sheets.
Over at the Wenhua Palace, Fei Hong looked at Huang Jin in astonishment: "Your Majesty, don't you discuss this matter with your ministers first?"
"Chief Assistant, Your Majesty is also thinking about this matter, but today is inconvenient. Your Majesty ordered me to come over and get the strategy drawn up by the Chief Assistant and all the ministers of state. I will study it tonight and discuss it tomorrow."
"...I heard that the famous Fangshu Taoists who were ordered to search by the Department of Rites and Daolu entered the palace today?"
As the prime minister, Fei Hong felt that he still needed to express his concerns. After all, the emperor had rarely declined the very important previous cabinet meeting and the current state meeting.
Huang Jin immediately said seriously: "Chief Assistant, please don't get sidetracked. Although your Majesty is indeed having a detailed discussion with Master Tao, the only thing your Majesty cares about is the fertilizer. I don't know how many times your Majesty has lamented that if my Ming Dynasty has a large amount and With easy-to-use, easy-to-transport, and cheap fertilizer, Ming Dynasty’s fields will be able to harvest just a few percent more grain. Chief Assistant, that’s a big deal!"
However, Fei Hong really doesn't understand what the relationship between Taoists and fertilizer is?
(End of chapter)
