Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

There is a courtyard in a remote part of Jingzhou City. It does not look like much, but it is heavily guarded inside. There are more than 300 strong armored soldiers guarding the place. The person leading these soldiers is Zhang Shi, the commander of the tent under the command of Xihe Gong. slave.

This place is heavily guarded, but it is not a secret business that Li Tai arranged for himself, but a workshop.

After patrolling the camp outside the city for a week, Li Tai did not go straight back to the state capital after returning to the city. Instead, he came to the workshop for inspection.

When you enter the workshop, the first thing you see is piles of sugar cane. This thing is also available in Mianbei, but it is basically wild. The plants are small and tough, and the juice is sour even when squeezed out. Therefore, the ones currently in the workshop are mainly chopped on the way during the previous attack on Xiangyang.

Previously, Linghu Yanbao led the rear army to the south with many empty chariots. Originally, Li Tai thought that the Southern Dynasty was rich and prepared to pack trophies. As a result, although Fancheng was captured, he had no reserves. In line with the principle that thieves will not escape empty-handed, they cut down a lot of sugar cane and pulled it back.

Nowadays, sugar production in Jianghan is gradually becoming industrialized. The sugarcane planting area is expanding year by year. The families of powerful families also have a certain number of craftsmen. The sugar produced is either used for medicine or for worshiping Buddha. Basically, Rarely used for dietary seasoning.

Firstly, sucrose itself is a very expensive luxury product that ordinary people cannot afford. Secondly, those who can afford it have better choices, because the current craft sucrose or stone honey has many impurities, poor quality, and heavy water content. , the crystallinity is not high, the taste is not good, it is easy to slurry, and it is not durable for storage. Compared with other types of glutinous rice cakes, it is not outstanding.

Among the military and civilian populations Li Tai brought back from Fancheng were craftsmen who made cane sugar, and these people were selected to be responsible for juice extraction, pulp boiling and other processes.

Nowadays, the extraction of cane juice in the South is mainly carried out manually first, and then the bagasse is ground with a stone mill. This method is labor-intensive, time-consuming, and the extracted cane juice contains a lot of fiber impurities. It also requires a filtering process. Naturally, Make labor costs higher.

In this workshop, Li Tai uses a sugar cart with wooden shaft gears for rolling sugar, which is labor-saving and highly efficient. The only disadvantage is that the wooden shaft gears are easily damaged. In fact, it can be replaced by a stone wheel, and he has already started polishing and manufacturing it, but the time is too short and it has not been completed yet, so he will make do with it for now.

The process of making syrup is also very simple. Just keep heating and simmering. What you need to pay attention to is the heat and constant stirring to allow the impurities to float up and evaporate faster. This process is also called catching water.

When this process is completed, the cane juice turns into dark brown syrup. After the syrup cools and hardens, it turns into dry and hard sugar cubes, which is where the name Shimi comes from. Nowadays, the cane sugar products in Nanliang are mainly of this type. There may be slight differences in quality due to techniques, heat, etc., but in fact they are all inferior cane sugar.

A further process is to add lime water or shell ash to the syrup and stir it evenly to deacidify the syrup and remove impurities, which can also help the crystallization and solidification of the syrup. The sucrose produced in this way is the brown sugar or black sugar that is familiar to later generations. Although the impurities are further reduced, it is still not de-nectared.

The various sugar-making processes in the workshop have been relatively public up to this point, and most of the craftsmen are involved. As for the subsequent honey removal and color washing of white sugar, it is the real core and must be protected and kept secret.

"Tiangong Kaiwu" contains the steps for making white sugar, which is the yellow mud water drenching sugar method that is well-known in the travel circle. It is famous for its simple operation and easy to turn over.

Such a process is going on in the large rooms at the core of the workshop. First, prepare a pottery hole, plug it with hay underneath, then pour syrup into the hole, wait for it to completely solidify, and then pour the yellow syrup into the hole. Pour the mud solution into the funnel and pull out the plug under the funnel. Wait for the yellow mud solution to pass through the sandy sucrose and drip down carrying molasses and other substances, so that the effect of honey removal and color washing can be achieved.

This process usually lasts three to four times, for more than a month or longer, and you can get relatively high-quality white sugar from the funnel. Of course, it depends on the quality of the syrup.

Therefore, making sugar from yellow mud water does not cause flooding, but leakage. If the syrup does not undergo sufficient impurity and acid removal during the brewing process, it will not have strong crystallization ability, and the final product will not be With a sandy structure, the adhesive board is hard and nothing can penetrate it, let alone achieve the decolorizing effect.

At this time, rows of tile drains were placed in the big house for the color washing process. The tops of the tile drains also needed to be sealed with mud to prevent water from evaporating.

Li Tai smashed a few mud seals to check the effect of the color-washed crystals inside. He was quite satisfied. The craftsmen brought from Shang Yuan behind looked at Master Lang with a resentful look, and then gave the smashed tiles another look. Add mud seal if missing.

Since the technology is still in the grinding and research stage, the scale and output of the workshop are not large. Li Tai asked Cai Dabao to tell Xiao Jin that he would give him ten stones. Naturally, he was just bragging. With the current output of the workshop, three Even in five years, you may not be able to collect ten stones of white sugar.

The reason why he didn't bring white sugar with him when he first gave a gift, giving Xiao Zhen a chance to show off his wealth, was because at that time, this thing had not been seen at all, and the sugar cane cut from the south had not yet been unloaded. , let alone making it into white sugar.

In addition, there is another thing that makes him uneasy about releasing this thing at this time, that is, this thing is a bit out of control, and he can't control it at the moment.

Although white sugar is not as essential to life as table salt, it is more addictive. Once it is available and mass-produced, the sensation it will bring is no less than the discovery of a huge salt well or gold mine. Huge benefits naturally come with huge risks, which can make people crazy and irrational.

Once Li Tai can supply this kind of product stably and continuously, it will inevitably attract powerful people to spy on and covet it, and it will definitely cause more trouble than benefit.

Although he was not afraid of challenges, he still had to score points. When he came to Jingzhou, he had not yet established a stable footing. The entire Mianbei area was in turmoil and desolation. His subordinates were all Guanlong guest masters. It was enough to bully Xiao Jin, who was in a similar situation. If he really wanted to Xiao Laoqi from Jiangling came up with his troops, and now he has to run away with a bucket.

Therefore, Li Tai does not intend to provide this product to the market in batches until his power is strong enough to deter all parties, or until his power distribution can be connected into a network and the origin of this product can be fully concealed.

As for the bullshit that Xiao Qing was bragging about, it was just talk, how could it be taken seriously? If you really believe what I say, then I have to say, I am your father!

Although Li Tai was prepared to act rogue, he had to say that the cowhide effect was really good. Cai Dabao and his party left less than ten days before they returned in a dusty journey. Calculating the time and distance, they almost turned back north again just after returning to Xiangyang.

This time Cai Dabao still didn't come empty-handed, and the gifts he brought were much more plain and simple than last time, only fifty kilograms of bran gold and ten buckets of pearls.

So he always had to pay back when he came out to fool around. When Li Tai first entered the state, it was really cool to throw money at people, but now he was dizzy and lost his temper after being shaken by King Yueyang's generosity.

Moreover, he is really rich. No matter how much Li Taisa goes out, there will always be eggs in the pot. It is easy to recycle it. But it is difficult for Xiao Jin to get some money back from himself, but he doesn't mind at all. , still generous.

Cai Dabao came back this time, naturally, for the frosting sugar. On behalf of King Yueyang, he hoped to purchase a batch, and respectfully presented Xiao Qi's personal letter.

Li Tai took the letter and unfolded it. He couldn't help but sigh that the Nanliang clan's cultural level was very high regardless of their IQ. Xiao Jin's handwriting on this letter was fluent, and his calligraphy skills put Li Tai to shame.

His European-style calligraphy, which is so shallow, can still intimidate people in Kansai, but compared with the figures of the Southern Dynasties, except for the structure of the brush strokes, it is useless in other aspects.

Although Xiao Jin gave Li Tai a small shock to the Southern Dynasty with his calligraphy, the tone of this letter was very modest. First, he thanked Li Tai for two gifts, and especially expressed his love for the latter gift.

This letter specifically named frosting sugar, hoping that Li Tai could provide a batch so that he could donate it to the court and let his grandfather taste the taste of the Western Dynasty. Xiao Jin said that he was so worried that he could not sleep or eat because he thought that His Majesty the Emperor had never tasted this kind of delicacy at such an old age. He hoped that Li Tai could help him fulfill his filial piety and give him thirty shi of sugar. Purchase with gold and silver goods.

After Li Tai read this letter, not to mention whether the price Xiao Jin offered was reasonable or not, just seeing the figure of thirty stone made him a little nervous. He seriously doubted that this buddy had also traveled through time? Do you know that your grandfather didn’t even take a bite of sweets before he died, so you’re going to kill him with sugar while he’s still alive?

Not to mention that Li Tai didn't have Thirty Stone White Sugar at all. Even if he did, he wouldn't be able to sell it all to Xiao Qing.

In the eyes of ordinary people, sugar may be a cherished and luxurious condiment that can make a fortune, but in Li Tai's eyes, it is a first-class strategic material that can help him rebuild the Nanyang Basin into a prosperous world. The famous city has become the solid foundation for his great career!

Xiao Jin was extremely enthusiastic about sugar. He had already proposed a relatively high price in his letter, but then said that if Li Tai felt that the price was still not high enough, they could meet in person.

Li Tai felt happy again when he saw this. It seemed that no matter how wealthy a person was, money was too hot to handle. He had been rejected when he asked to meet this person before, but now that he saw the sugar product, Xiao Wei couldn't help but take the initiative to invite him.

Of course, he also hopes to meet with the other party and finalize a mid- to long-term cooperation plan. Such a ten-day round-trip communication is too inefficient. But you can't just lead an army to attack Xiangyang again just to meet him. Besides, it is already the middle of winter, and there is no sugar cane to cut in the fields.

So Li Tai proposed a location and meeting process, and asked Cai Dabao to send a message back, hoping to meet Xiao Wei before the year.