After Lin Mo opened the kit, he felt a little dazed.
I originally thought that there should be a letter inside, which said that Cao Cao was eager for talents.
Or maybe it's a priceless luminous pearl or something like that, used to attract people's hearts with money and silk.
As a result, it was neither.
There were only a few medicinal herbs in it. Lin Mo picked it up, smelled it, and murmured: "Danggui?"
Angelica...
Lin Mo smiled knowingly, "I also enjoyed the treatment of Taishi Ci today."
He looked at the pieces of Angelica sinensis and understood what Cao Cao was thinking.
I didn't send the letter because I was afraid that something would go wrong. If it fell into Lu Bu's hands, or someone else with ulterior motives got it, it might pose a threat to me.
If you don't send money, you probably think my situation is not that small.
Have a heart.
What a pity...
Lin Mo remembered an ancient poem for no reason: The beautiful pearls shed tears when they return to the king, wishing they could meet again when they were not married...
Then he shook his head again and again, as if he was not using his words correctly.
No matter what, I was still a little touched in my heart. If I could have received these Angelica sinensis in Pengcheng, I would have arrived in Xuchang long ago.
Life is like this, if you plant flowers intentionally, they will not bloom, but if you plant willows unintentionally, they will form shade.
Ever since that conversation with Xiao Guan, he had tied himself to Lu Bu, and now there was no possibility of going to Xuchang again.
There are always some things that money can't buy or a sword can't shake.
But what happened just now also made Lin Mo feel a little scared.
Cao Cao wanted to win over him, so he just sent Angelica. If the other party wanted human life and sent dead soldiers, he would have been in danger just now.
You can't be lazy in the days to come, you have to practice sword skills diligently. Not to mention going into battle to kill the enemy, you must also learn to protect yourself.
After sighing, he put the kit in his arms and walked straight to the kitchen.
The sugar cane that was delivered was piled neatly next to the kitchen, piled together with the firewood.
Perhaps out of boredom, Lu Lingqi was counting the amount of sugar cane there.
"What on earth did you get so many Zhuzhe for?"
"Here, let me do a trick for you."
After Lin Mo pulled out a few sugar canes, he entered the kitchen. Lu Lingqi blinked her watery eyes a few times and followed in.
Today we focus on a new invention, sugar making.
In fact, sugar already existed in this era, it was sucrose. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty learned it in Asana after opening up the Silk Road.
However, due to the rough workmanship and crude equipment, the taste is really not good.
Lin Mo peeled the sugarcane and crushed it on a stone mill. The green sugarcane juice flowed into a basin along the small holes.
As the five or six sugar canes were crushed into dregs, the copper basin was filled with green cane juice.
The next step is to pour the activated carbon that has been ground into small pieces, stir for a while and then filter through several layers of gauze.
In order to pursue color, this process is quite lengthy and needs to be stopped and then filtered, repeated several times to ensure that the pigments are absorbed.
The last step is to boil the sugar. The principle is to evaporate the cane juice and leave the sugar in it.
However, you cannot bake it directly over an open fire, because the sugar will scorch if it is overheated. Lin Mo filled a large copper basin with water and put it on the fire to bake, and then placed a small copper basin filled with cane juice in the water. Let it boil.
This method is slower, but the resulting sugar will be delicious.
"What on earth are you going to do?" Lu Lingqi knelt down beside the table, clasped her chin with her hands, and asked with waning interest.
"I want to build an arsenal in Xuzhou that specializes in forging sharp and light weapons using the steel filling method." After doing all this, Lin Mo knelt down next to Lu Lingqi and could only wait quietly.
"You mean these zhe can be made into weapons? How is that possible!" Lu Lingqi's beautiful eyes widened, as if she had heard a fantasy.
Lin Mo turned to look at her silly look. When she wasn't fierce, she was actually quite cute.
Then he explained with a smile: "I'm not a god, how can I turn these zhe into weapons? But to forge weapons, you need a lot of fine iron. Don't look at the expansion of the territory of Lord Yuezhang, but he is very poor. We cannot support such a workshop.”
Lu Bu was very poor.
After taking Jiujiang and Lujiang, they did get a lot of money and food, but their military strength was also expanding. The expenditure on raising war horses alone was staggering. In addition, the refugees in Huainan area had to be transferred to the three counties to open warehouses. The investment is also a matter of tightening the belt.
But Lin Mo knew that the matter of filling steel and forging weapons could not be delayed any longer. The war with Cao Cao was approaching day by day, and the disparity in strength between the two sides would not be greatly shortened just because Lu Bu won two counties.
This is like a scale with two ends that are originally asymmetrical. If you want to make it as balanced as possible, you can only keep adding weight to the high-rising end.
Soldiers, horses, cities, grain, grass and ordnance, Gan Ning and Liu Ye are all weights, but they are not enough and more need to be added. The problem is that the external weights are almost used up. If you want to add more, you have to change it from the inside.
Innovating the equipment of the troops is an option, so the matter of pouring steel and forging weapons cannot be delayed any longer. If you don't have money, you have to earn it yourself.
"You know so much..."
After describing the cause and effect, Lu Lingqi felt tired just listening to it, and the long process of boiling sugar made her yawn again and again. She stretched out, displayed the proud weapon, and then leaned directly on the table, letting This heavy love can have a support.
This scenery made Lin Mo's mouth go dry. He called Lu Bu his father-in-law all day long. The wedding day was not on the schedule. To prevent himself from being fascinated by it, he could only look away and said casually: "How about that?" My father-in-law is chasing me to Xiaoguan."
Lu Lingqi, who was lying on the table, glanced at Lin Mo with her clear black and white eyes, her red mouth moved, but in the end she said nothing.
Lin Mo tilted his head and looked at the fire, his mind not stopping for a moment.
An invention like white sugar with a wide audience can definitely bring in a lot of money, but I don’t know if it can fill a bottomless pit like an arsenal.
However, he still has a preliminary plan. After returning to Xuzhou, he will open a glaze factory to manufacture some glaze products. This kind of high-end utensils is of course intended for wealthy families.
Anyway, these guys have a lot of money. If you don't take advantage of them, you would be sorry for them.
An hour and a half passed, and finally only white crystals remained in the copper basin.
Lin Mo carefully took out the copper basin and scraped off all the crystals with a spoon.
It seems that the effect is still very good.
"Is this the white sugar in your mouth?" Lu Lingqi yawned, and finally there was some light in her sleepy eyes.
"Taste it." Lin Mo scooped some with a spoon and put it in front of Lu Lingqi.
She instinctively stepped back, looking at the firmness in Lin Mo's eyes, she frowned slightly, her red lips slightly opened and pursed a little.
When the sugar melted in her mouth and the sweetness spread, her whole face changed from disgust to shock. Finally, she pursed her lips and said with a smile: "It's so sweet!"
Lin Mo also took a sip, nodded slightly and said, "Well, this is the taste."
After confirming that this process can produce white sugar and that the taste is right, we need to start preparing for mass production.
There is no factory, no machinery, it can only be run manually.
But there are no technical barriers to this kind of craft, and it can be easily learned, so choosing people here is extremely critical.
In the past, when he was in Xuzhou, he didn't care about being taught whether it was a plow or a horseshoe, because he considered that his reputation would be built with these things, which would make it more convenient for him to vote for Cao Cao.
Now that the location is different, there are naturally more things to consider.
It is unreliable to find civilian husbands unless you use force to lock these people up and prevent them from leaving for the rest of their lives and become tool men on the assembly line.
"Do you remember how I made these candies just now?" Lin Mo raised his eyes and asked.
"certainly."
Lu Lingqi proudly raised her chest and said, "It's not difficult at all."
"Then you go to the military camp and find some absolutely trustworthy sergeants, teach them, and then make sugar in the camp." Lin Mo felt that if the confidentiality work was to be safe, it would require a group of people who lick blood from the edge of a knife.
My father-in-law has been in the army for many years, and he must have a group of loyal subordinates under his command.
"Absolutely trustworthy..."
Lu Lingqi pursed her lips and said attentively: "Then we can only find General Gao."
Trapped in camp?
The world's first-class army was assigned to boil sugar...Lin Mo thought this was a bit too much.
"To be absolutely trustworthy, apart from the hundreds of personal guards under Uncle Zhang's command, they belong to General Gao's camp. The Bingzhou cavalry led by my father is no problem, but they all have military affairs."
Seeing Lin Mo's doubtful expression, Lu Lingqi explained.
"You look at the arrangements." Lin Mo shrugged. Let's make the transition now and then select some trustworthy people from the military camp later. After all, this is a long-term business.
