Hearing that Li Linfu wanted to borrow Zhou Jun's money, Pang Gong asked him to find out the reason.
But Li Linfu smiled and did not answer. He was asked too many questions and just said: "The plan has not yet been decided. Rong will speak cautiously."
Seeing that Li Linfu didn't want to say more, Pang Gong stopped urging him. He just told the latter in a very vague way that Zhou Jun had just been promoted and it was inconvenient to get involved in political struggles.
Li Linfu nodded and said: "Prisoner Zuo is at ease, and I know for sure that Mr. Zhou will only settle the case this time and will not be involved in party disputes."
Pang Gong nodded, Wei Jian was the prince's brother-in-law and had a good relationship with Li Shizhi, the left prime minister. If he was allowed to gain power, it would be detrimental to King Shou. It would be good if he could suppress his arrogance.
After the banquet was over, Zhou Jun accompanied Li Linfu for a tour of the garden, and the latter left afterwards.
Returning to the small courtyard where he lived, as soon as Zhou Jun entered the central hall, he saw a mountain of old garlic piled on the ground.
Zhou Jun was a little dumbfounded. He saw Hua Yue playing with the distilling equipment and asked, "What are you doing?"
Huayue raised her head: "Didn't you say that we want to make allicin? I brought all the old garlic from the kitchen over."
Zhou Jun stared at the pile of garlic and said with a wry smile: "I also said before that the allicin issue can be slowed down...and distilled garlic is not as good as distilled garlic. The two are not the same."
Hua Yue was stunned and asked: "Is distilling garlic more difficult than distilling Shaochun?"
Zhou Jun: "It's not a question of difficulty, but..."
Having said this, Zhou Jun had a headache and didn't know how to describe the smell of allicin.
Seeing Zhou Jun's expression, Huayue said: "When I was distilling soju, the smell was indeed very pungent, but as long as I controlled the heat and time, enter the house at the right time, adjust the air valve and water valve, and then go out quickly
, then there will be no serious problem. Besides, I have already made several protective equipment, look!"
Zhou Jun looked at Hua Yue and took out four items from the house.
One is an insulating glove sewn in layers of thick linen, the other is a cloth wrapped around the mouth and nose, the other is a robe used to wrap the whole body, and the last one is two wads of paper wadding. Upon closer inspection, it turns out that it is used for blocking.
of the nostrils.
Seeing these four things, Zhou Jun thought for a while and asked Huayue: "Can you move the distillation equipment to a small courtyard in the open air?"
Huayue replied: "I have tried distilling in an open-air environment, but Bachuan is adjacent to the river and the surrounding area is empty. Strong winds occasionally pass through the yard, which will affect the persistence and balance of the distillation firepower, causing the water valve and air valve to malfunction.
Numerical fluctuations are difficult to control.”
Zhou Jun was helpless after hearing this.
Next, Zhou Jun wrapped his mouth and nose with a thick cloth, first chopped the old garlic, and then put it into a stone mortar and pounded it.
With his eyes red and swollen and weeping, Zhou Jun poured all the garlic paste and garlic liquid collected in the stone mortar into the moon-painting still.
Waiting for everything to be ready, Huayue lit a fire under the still and began to use water vapor to distill garlic. Seeing the garlic liquid in the vessel gradually boiling, she quickly understood why Zhou Jun said that distilling garlic is better than distilling.
Soju is more difficult.
There is no other reason, it's just that the smell of distilled garlic is too strong.
A smell of garlic that is so strong that it can almost make you faint, is like a small insect invisible to the naked eye. No matter you cover your face or block your nostrils, it can rush into the nasal cavity and penetrate into the brain, making people miserable.
After only staying in the room for a few minutes, Hua Yue couldn't hold on any longer and stumbled out.
After waiting outside the house for a while, the smell of garlic wafting from inside the door became stronger and stronger. Huayue wet a cloth with water, wrapped it around her mouth and nose, took a deep breath, rushed into the house, and adjusted as quickly as possible.
I checked the air and water valves, added more firewood, and then ran out again while vomiting loudly.
Seeing this, Zhou Jun said to Hua Yue: "Tell me how to adjust the valve and how much firewood should be added."
Huayue retched while explaining the details of the distiller's adjustment.
Zhou Jun first waited outside the door. When the time came, he entered the house and began to adjust the still according to Hua Yue's instructions.
After finishing his work, Zhou Jun couldn't stand the smell of garlic and rolled out of the room.
In this way, the two of them took turns with each other, and finally completed the distillation of allicin.
Looking at the half-full bottle of dark yellow liquid in her hand, Hua Yue opened her eyes that were still red and swollen with tears, and asked Zhou Jun: "Is this allicin?"
Zhou Jun nodded and said: "It should be, but it is too irritating. It can only be used as medicine after adding diluted alcohol."
Hua Yue: "Alcohol? Is it the liquid that is distilled and burned?"
Zhou Jun: "Yes, but the alcohol concentration is too high and needs to be diluted with distilled pure water."
Huayue: "How much should I add?"
Zhou Jun: "I calculated that 95% alcohol is mixed with 75%, and one pound is sixteen taels. So one pound of alcohol extracted from Shaochun should be mixed with four ounces of distilled water to turn it into medical alcohol."
According to Zhou Jun, Huayue first blended medical alcohol, then mixed medical alcohol with allicin, and finally obtained garlic essence.
After sealing the light yellow garlic essence, Zhou Jun had a headache and said, "The medicine is ready, but who can we find to test it?"
Huayue interrupted him and said: "Erlang, compared with who to test the medicine with, we have a bigger trouble now..."
Zhou Jun lowered his head and looked at Huayue, who turned his head and looked into the room.
I could see that the pungent smell of garlic lingered in the residence, no matter in the hall or in the wing.
Tonight, let alone entering the house to sleep, even staying in the house is a problem.
Finally, out of desperation, Hua Yue went to Qu's courtyard and stayed in the same room with Rou Xing.
Zhou Jun didn't want to trouble others, so he made a temporary bed on the floor in the back room of the small courtyard and slept all night with the smell of garlic all over his body.
Soon, the day of leave was over, Zhou Jun returned to Chang'an City from Bachuan Villa, and began to review the history of the capital official's book.
A few days later, a big event came from the court.
Right Prime Minister Li Linfu sent a censor to expose the illegal activities of Quancao (the military attaché) of the Ministry of War.
A total of more than 60 people, including the chief of the Ministry of War and subordinates, were arrested and imprisoned. The sage ordered the Jingzhao Mansion and Yushitai to jointly try the case.
After hearing the news, Zhou Jun instantly understood what Li Linfu meant by "setting up a trap" when he came to Bachuan that day.
In the selection of officials in the Tang Dynasty, the Ministry of Civil Affairs was responsible for civilian officials, while the Ministry of War was responsible for military attachés.
Since Wei Jian, the Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, dared to use the official selection as an excuse to attack the Ministry of Civil Affairs controlled by Li Linfu, then Li Linfu would use the military officer selection as an excuse to drag down the Ministry of War controlled by Li Shizhi, the left prime minister.
Wei Jian and Li Shizhi were both cronies and allies. Li Linfu's attempt to divert trouble to the east was the fire that Wei Jian lit in front of the official department and burned into Li Shizhi's military department.
Moreover, a total of more than 60 officials from the Ministry of War were thrown into prison. It can be seen that Li Linfu must have some evidence in his hands, otherwise Li Longji would not have issued an order to detain so many officials without any reason.
Zhou Jun recalled carefully, but remembered this case in the history books, which was the "Military Deployment and Officials Case" in the fourth year of Tianbao.