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 governor of the tent under the command of Xihe Gong.
slave.
This place is heavily guarded, but it is not a secret villa arranged by Li Tai 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, but came to the workshop to inspect it again.
When you enter the workshop, the first thing you see is piles of sugar cane. This stuff is also found in Mianbei, but it is basically wild. The plants are small and tough, and even when the juice is squeezed out, the juice is a bit sour. Therefore, the main sugar cane in the workshop is
It was chopped down 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. However, although Fancheng was captured, there were no reserves. In line with the principle of thieves not leaving empty vehicles.
, he cut a lot of sugar cane and pulled it back.
Nowadays, sugar production in Jianghan is gradually becoming industrialized. The area of sugarcane planting 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 degree of crystallization is not high, and 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 soldiers and civilians 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, sugarcane juice in the South is mainly extracted by hand first, and then the bagasse is ground with a stone mill. This method is labor-intensive, time-consuming, and the extracted sugarcane 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 very efficient. The only disadvantage is that the wooden shaft gears are easy to damage. In fact, it can be replaced by stone wheels, and he has already
The workers went to polish and manufacture it, but the time was too short and it was not finished yet, so they will just use 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, so that the impurities can float up and the water can evaporate faster. This process is also called rushing.
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 the origin of the name stone honey. Today, the main cane sugar products in Nanliang are
It's this kind of sugar, and there may be slight differences in quality due to techniques, heat, etc., but in fact they are all inferior sucrose.
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 what future generations will know.
Although the familiar brown sugar or brown sugar has further reduced impurities, it still has not been stripped of honey.
The various sugar-making processes in the workshop have been relatively open up to this step, and most of the craftsmen are involved. As for the subsequent dehoning and color washing of white sugar, it is the real core and must be protected.
Keep it 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 the 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 is not a flushing process, but a leakage. If the syrup is not sufficiently removed from impurities and acid during the boiling 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, and 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 sugar with him when he gave the gift for the first time, 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 released 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, it comes with huge risks, which can make people crazy and irrational.
Once Li Tai is able to 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 to fully conceal the origin of this product.
As for the bullshit I told Xiao Qing, it’s just talk, how can I take it seriously? If you really believe me so much, then I have to say, I am your father!
Although Li Tai was prepared to act rogue, he had to say that the effect of this cowhide was really good. Cai Dabao and his entourage left less than ten days before they returned in a dusty way. Calculating the time and distance, they almost turned around just after they returned to Xiangyang.
Go north.
This time Cai Dabao still didn't come empty-handed, and the gifts he brought were much more plain and simple than the last time, only fifty kilograms of gold bran 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 so stunned by King Yueyang's generosity that he lost his temper.
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 them. But it is difficult for Xiao Jin to get some money back from himself, but he doesn't mind at all.
, still spending generously.
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 superficial European calligraphy can still fool people in Kansai, but compared with the figures of the Southern Dynasties, except for the structure of the strokes, he 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 imperial court and let his grandfather taste the taste of the Western Dynasty. Xiao Qing said that he thought that the emperor did not have the sugar at such an old age.
After tasting this delicious food, he was so worried that he could not sleep or eat. He hoped that Li Tai could help him fulfill his filial piety, and he could buy a small thirty-stone piece of sugar with gold and silver.
After Li Tai read this letter, not to mention whether the price offered by Xiao Qing was reasonable or not, just seeing the figure of thirty stones made him a little nervous. He seriously doubted that this buddy had also come from time travel? Are you?
You know that your grandpa didn’t even take a bite of sweet food 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 very 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. The efficiency of communication back and forth in ten days is too low. However, he cannot lead an army to attack Xiangyang again just to meet. Besides, now
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 then asked Cai Dabao to send a message back, hoping to meet Xiao Wei before the end of the year.