Daming: Stealing Chen Yuanyuan at the beginning

Chapter 276 Your Majesty, it's time for the draft

In the blink of an eye, it is late April, and the warm and cold weather in March has completely changed, and the temperature is rising day by day.

Fortunately, the plague in Nanjing City was under maximum control at this time. Although the plague had not been completely eradicated, fewer and fewer patients were infected in the city, and no one died for several days in a row.

It is estimated that before the arrival of summer, Nanjing City will be able to completely curb the momentum of the plague, and the lives of the people will be able to return to normal.

The School of Medicine owes a lot of credit to such a major victory.Of course, it is also inseparable from the wise leadership of His Majesty the Emperor, as well as the full support of officials and people.

However, Li Cunming feels that there are still many things to be done, and that he will gain wisdom by learning from the pitfalls. Only by constantly learning from experience and lessons can the Ming Dynasty continue to develop and progress.

The School of Medicine has not yet relaxed the measures of blockade and isolation. In order to set an example, Li Cunming kept the palace in a state of blockade.As an emperor, he worked so hard that he couldn't be free at all. He led his three children to tinker with the development of soap.

In the evening of this day, the courtyard of the Imperial Dining Room was extremely lively.

The maids and eunuchs stood in the distance holding their breath, stretching their necks and watching.In the center of the courtyard was a large stone jar. Several eunuchs covered their faces with white gauze held smooth rolling pins in their hands, and under the command of Prince Zhu Cijiong, they were stirring vigorously in the stone jar.

"Strength, speed up!" Zhu Cijiong exclaimed excitedly.

"Prince, stand a little farther away, and be careful that the liquid in the tank splashes on your face." Li Cunming reminded, grabbing Zhu Cizhen and Princess Zhaoren who were also very excited with both hands, preventing them from coming forward.

The liquid in the vat is a mixture of lye obtained by adding water to plant ash to remove impurities, and boiled lard. The temperature is still about 40 degrees, and it is easy to cause injury when splashed on people.

After a long time, the eunuchs slowed down.

Li Cunming walked to the stone vat and saw that the mixed liquid had been completely saponified, and said: "Take it and boil it until it becomes thick, pour the boiled soap liquid into the prepared mold, and take it out after cooling. Let it sit for a while and it will be fine."

Zhu Cijiong personally supervised the eunuchs to complete the final steps. Princess Zhaoren asked: "Father, what is soap?"

"Soap is similar to soap. It can be used for washing hands, face, bath, and clothes, but the effect is much stronger than that of soap." Li Cunming explained.

Since the Qin Dynasty in my country, there have been records of people using acacia.In the Song Dynasty, the social economy developed greatly and the degree of urbanization was very high. On the one hand, it was inconvenient for many urban residents to collect acacia, and on the other hand, they were no longer satisfied with the primary product of ordinary acacia, so soap balls came into being in time.

Merchants who specialize in the soap ball business first mash the acacia locusts and grind them finely, then add different spices and make them into orange-sized soap balls for sale.This kind of soap ball is also called scented soap because of the fragrance added when making it, which has a fragrance.

This kind of soap is expensive, and it has become a high-end washing product specially bought by the rich to wash their face and hair. In the novel "Jin Ping Mei", it is written that Ximen Qing uses "jasmine soap" when washing his face.

The ancients of our country invented bath beans again. Bath beans are actually similar to current soaps, and they are all made by saponification reaction.

Bath beans first appeared in the Western Jin Dynasty. They are small balls or powdery items made by grinding pig pancreas into a paste, adding soybean powder, spices, and drug powder, so they are also called pancreas.According to literature records, Hexianglou, which specializes in pancreas, was opened in the fourth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty.

However, the pancreas produced in the Ming Dynasty still has technical defects, the purity is not high, and the decontamination effect cannot be compared with the soap of later generations.

Li Cunming bought the formula for making soap from the system mall, and the technology is naturally very advanced.

When Zhu Cijiong came out of the imperial dining room with a smile, Li Cunming said: "It seems that the soap has been made successfully! Prince, please come and summarize the entire production process, and I will see if you have fully grasped it."

Invention and creation is Zhu Cijiong's strong point, just listen to him eloquently: "First, take the ashes of wood and weeds after burning, add water that is more than twice the weight of plant ash, and stir well; secondly, filter with cloth to remove Impurities, get the filtered mixed liquid, which is the lye that the father said; "

"Thirdly, heat the filtered lye to remove water to increase the concentration of the alkali. The method to judge the concentration is to use the egg float method; finally, add the boiled lard to the alkaline water, heat the oil alkali and stir until saponification Finish."

Li Cunming smiled gratifiedly and said: "Very good, there is nothing missing, you have become a teacher. Prince, I promulgated the Patent Protection Law, you can apply for a soap patent."

"No, the soap patent should belong to the father, not my son. After my son has thoroughly developed the sextant, he will naturally apply for a patent." Zhu Cijiong said.

"You boy, you have a backbone!" Li Cunming laughed loudly, and said again, "If you add spices to the soap, or add milk and honey to make soap, and then engrave patterns and poems on the surface, it will be more perfect."

Zhu Cizhao asked: "Father, what is the name of this soap?"

"Shufujia!" Li Cunming laughed.

……

Li Cunming led the children to Kunning Palace for dinner. Empress Zhou looked at their disheveled faces and said with a smile, "Everyone has become a cat with a painted face. Their bodies are covered with dust. Wash your hands and face."

But in my heart I was very happy and happy, thinking to myself that this plague would also be beneficial, His Majesty would relax, and the whole family would stay together in harmony and enjoy family happiness, this is a day that has never been seen before!

After dinner, Queen Zhou arranged for the children to sleep, and when she returned to the dormitory, she saw that the emperor was still writing under the lamp.

"Your Majesty, it's time for you to rest." The queen said.

Li Cunming waved his hand and said, "Queen, come here. This is the production process manual for making soap. Tomorrow, you send people to the Military Academy to ask Bi Dengfu to lead the artisans to produce more, and then hand them over to the Jiangnan Leather Factory to sell to the people in the city. The price should be as low as possible, and the cost can be recovered.”

"During the meal, the concubine listened to the crown prince's explanation, saying that soap is soap. Your Majesty, don't worry about such trivial things in the future."

"No, this is not a trivial matter! I want ordinary people to use soap and develop the habit of paying attention to hygiene and cleanliness. In this way, many diseases will be reduced. This is the lesson we have to learn from the outbreak of the plague. If the people are clean and healthy, our Ming Dynasty will be full of vitality."

"I've made up my mind. When the plague subsides in a few days, I will install running water and invent flush toilets in Nanjing, making Nanjing the most luxurious and hygienic city in the world!"

Empress Zhou understood Li Cunming's good intentions, and said solemnly: "It is indeed a blessing for the people of the Ming Dynasty to meet such a holy king as His Majesty! But Your Majesty, you should not only worry about the trustworthy people, you should also worry about it." Worry about your own affairs. Your Majesty, it's time for the draft!"

"Draft?" Li Cunming smiled, "Aren't you jealous if you tell me to find another woman?"

Empress Zhou said: "It's the empress's duty to draft for Your Majesty, enrich the harem, and strengthen the royal bloodline. This is a major national event, how dare the concubines have selfish intentions? After the death of the concubine Yuan's sister, the concubine is the only concubine left. It's not proper, not to mention that the people in the world are talking about it, what will the courtiers and concubines look like after a hundred years to meet the ancestors?"

Li Cunming waved his hands and said: "No, Concubine Yuan has just died, less than a hundred days ago, and the plague has not yet subsided, and the people are still living in dire straits. How can I be so arrogant and extravagant?"

"Then don't choose a large-scale draft, and select a few people from among the maids to serve your majesty. Or if your majesty lets Chen Yuanyuan enter the palace, and the concubine hears that she has made great achievements in fighting the plague, and your majesty is also interested in her, why don't you go along with it?" What about income in the harem?"

Li Cunming thought of Chen Yuanyuan's arrogant appearance, and his scalp went numb: "I don't want to talk about shitty love right now, I just want to beat Jiannu!"

"Your Majesty, why are you so stubborn?" Empress Zhou had no choice but to be forceful, "No, Your Majesty must obey the arrangement of my concubine tonight. Come, bring someone in!"

"What are you doing?" Li Cunming said, and saw several eunuchs carrying two women in.

"They are two court ladies carefully selected by the concubine. They are charming and young girls. Your Majesty, let them sleep together tonight." Queen Zhou said.

Li Cunming couldn't laugh or cry: "Queen, are you going to exhaust me to death? And these two people are too young, I can't take it."

"Your Majesty dislikes the young age of these two palace maids, but Chen Yuanyuan is just the right age, but you don't take the initiative to pursue it, and the concubine is really in trouble." Queen Zhou turned to the door and called, "Black Peony, come in!"

Hei Mudan walked in with a smile, and saluted, "My family has met His Majesty and Empress."

Li Cunming jumped up and said, "Hei Mudan, why did you enter the palace?"

Empress Zhou knelt down and said sincerely: "Your Majesty, it was the concubine who ordered Hei Mudan to enter the palace without her own initiative. She cannot be blamed. The concubine has only one wish, and that is to ask His Majesty to formally bring Sister Black Mudan into the harem so that the concubine can enter the palace." She served His Majesty in good faith."

"If His Majesty refuses to agree, the concubine will not be able to kneel for long!"

Li Cunming complained secretly. He realized that he had stepped into the trap set by the empress step by step. The draft, announcing Chen Yuanyuan's entry into the palace, and letting two maids serve the bed were actually the queen's foreshadowing. Let him agree to enter the palace with Black Peony.

Queen, queen, how do you know the heart of Black Mudan? After she enters the palace, will there be peace in the palace?

"Hei Mudan, you are so powerful, have you given the queen a ecstasy soup?" Li Cunming gritted his teeth and whispered.

Hei Mudan pretended to cry and said, "Your Majesty doesn't like the slave family, so I just need to leave the slave family, woo woo woo... The slave family has a hard life!"

"Your Majesty, everyone knows about your relationship with Black Peony. If you don't bring her into the harem, all the subjects in the world will say that Your Majesty is irresponsible!" Queen Zhou said earnestly.

"Forget it, I promise." Li Cunming sighed helplessly, but seeing Hei Mudan sticking out her tongue and blinking her eyes at him, he couldn't help feeling a headache.

Empress Zhou stood up and said in a loud voice: "I respectfully send Your Majesty back to the Qianqing Palace for rest. Black Peony, take good care of Your Majesty!"

"I understand!" Hei Mudan took Li Cunming's hand and said with winking eyes, "Your Majesty, go to sleep."

(End of this chapter)