Chapter 1270

Chapter 1270

Chapter 1270
After winter, some things can no longer be put off.

Bian Xu ordered the servants to pack up things, most of which were for daily expenses and did not involve any property, so he left them to Bian Zhan and Bian Dan.

In fact, Bian Xu had some conflicts with them recently, and it was very unpleasant because he wanted to rebury his father in Jiyin.

Bian Zhan and Bian Dan strongly opposed it, and the three brothers were arguing for a while.

What’s even more frustrating is that his brother Bian Jing also disagrees with the relocation of the burial.

As a result, three out of the four people opposed it.

Mother Pei was extremely sad and finally said that she would not return to the north to settle down, but would stay in Jianye. But she had promised Concubine Pei before, so she must go back, just to see her relatives.

At this age, this may be the last time I see many of my relatives, so it would be nice to see them.

Bian Xu was helpless.

From a selfish point of view, he actually wanted to return to the north to develop. With his aunt's relationship, it would not be difficult for him to get a middle or lower-level official position in the court. He thought it was better than being a local official.

In times of chaos, local positions are important, while in times of peace, court officials are definitely more important.

After packing some of his things, Bian Xu went out, passed the fence to the north, and went straight to the ferry. He talked with a familiar boatman and decided to cross the river to the north in a few days.

Before leaving, I saw a house southwest of the ferry being renovated. It seemed to be the manor of some clan member, which had been burned down before and was now being renovated.

"Who owns this house?" Bian Xu couldn't help but ask.

"Yuyao Yu family." The boatman said, "I heard that there is an official in their family, or a scholar, appointed by the emperor. I saw children playing at the door yesterday."

"Has someone moved in already?"

"Yes."

"Could it be the brothers Yu Xi and Yu Mao? They can't be members of Yu Tan's family, right?" Bian Xu said to himself.

"I don't know about that." said the boatman.

"That's their house." A young man came from a distance, riding a horse, followed by ten warriors with swords and bows.

The man who came was none other than Sun Xi, the son of Liangzhou Governor Sun He, who was about to cross the river by boat to Bianliang.

"How do you know?" Bian Xu asked subconsciously.

Sun Xi didn't want to say more and just walked away.

Bian Xu glanced at the group of people again.

A young man and ten warriors who looked like guards, each of them had a horse. That was not all, several warriors were holding the reins of empty horses, so there were actually 17 or 18 horses, such a grand ceremony?

Bian Xu immediately determined that this was not the son of a wealthy family in Jiangdong, but a noble in the north, and that his father and brother must have served as officials in the border areas for a long time and had a good relationship with the chieftain of the Hu people.

Sun Xi soon arrived at the riverside and looked at the scenery boredly.

He did not lie. This house of the Sima Jin royal family and the surrounding more than 20 hectares of land were all given to Yu Xi. This was told to him by the Danyang prefect Du Yi in person.

The reason why Du Yi came to visit was very simple. The emperor asked him to go north to Bianliang as soon as possible to ask for advice.

Sun Xi almost cursed when he heard this. Do you think it's easy to travel such a long distance? But there was nothing he could do. Even his father didn't dare to curse the emperor, let alone him? He could only go honestly.

Of course, he also understood what was going on before he left. When he found out that it was related to the crystal he made, he was furious. But he had no choice but to use the old method again and repeat the previous process to obtain some "crystals".

However, he looked left and right but could not see anything. He was so angry that he threw the thing into the furnace. Unexpectedly, there was another change. He couldn't tell what happened, but he felt that the color had changed, as if there were fewer impurities and more powder, which was purer...

Huh? So fun? He abandoned the busty maid again and started to study this thing until the day he set out on the journey.

Bian Xu didn't know the right and wrong of this matter, and he was too lazy to care.

Seeing that Sun Xi had no intention of talking to him, he laughed at himself and prepared to leave.

There are many boats parked in Jiangpu, and they seem to be preparing to set sail. They are definitely not going out to sea because they are all "big-bellied flat-bottomed boats".

According to Bian Xu's understanding, this type of ship has a "flat bottom" and a "big belly" and can carry a lot of cargo, but the side of the ship is not high, and when sailing in rivers, the water almost overflows the side of the ship.

If this thing goes to the sea, it will take in a lot of water if the wind and waves are a little strong, and then it will capsize and sink.

But the gentry in Wu liked to build this kind of ship. If their manor was big enough, produced enough, and had a river leading directly to the Yangtze River, they would buy a few of them.

The ship looked quite old, and was obviously the inventory of some manor. The cargo carried in the cabin might also be inventory.

"These ships..." Bian Xu stopped walking and asked out of curiosity.

"Shao's soldiers went south and robbed many of our manors. There were a lot of valuables in the manors, which were worthless in the south of the Yangtze River, but could be sold for a high price in the north. They should have been sent to the north to exchange for money. Maybe they will bring back something else. We can't have an empty boat." said the boatman.

Bian Xu nodded. Eating and taking at the same time, what a feast!
"It's not Shao Bing, it's Wang Shi." Bian Xu corrected him: "Now the whole world is united, it all belongs to Daliang, why should we differentiate between us?"

The boatman was stunned and then sighed silently.

Even if the scholars who moved south stayed in Jiangnan for twenty or thirty years, they could not be tamed. A fool is still a fool.

******
On March 15th, a large number of ships had gathered outside the city of Bianliang.

There are not only cargo ships going north and south from the Yangtze River, but also merchants from all directions.

The Bianliang Market will open in April, and merchants are gearing up and making their own preparations. In this context, Sun Xi came to the Dragon Scale Hall to answer questions.

Prime Minister Wang Yan was also there, but he did not look very happy and looked much older. Sun Xi greeted him one by one.

"The child of Sun He's family." Shao Xun said with a smile, "When your father was selling peaches on the street, he was about this age."

This is not a very kind thing to say. Only Shao Xun and a few senior generals can say this.

Sun Xi didn't know his father had such a story. After hearing it, he couldn't help but imagine the scene of selling peaches. This was quite inconsistent with his father's usual serious and heroic image, and he almost laughed out loud.

"Do you have a courtesy name?" Shao Xun asked Sun Xi as he sat down.

“Not yet.”

"Then I'll call you Sun San." Shao Xun said, "I heard you burn some plants and get some crystals last time. I'm quite interested. I wonder if you've continued to study it recently?"

"I have been working day and night and have made some progress." Sun Xi said. In fact, he had been mainly hunting and Cao Pi in the past two or three months, and had not put his mind on the right path at all. But later he got a little bored. When Du Yi found him, he didn't know what to do, so he started studying this thing again.

How should I put it? After calculating all the manpower and material resources spent, it cost several thousand dollars, which is equivalent to the wages of a skilled craftsman for most of half a year.

When his brother heard this, he blamed him for not doing his job properly, but he didn't take it seriously.

Now - well, he is even less concerned, because the emperor has summoned him!

"What did you get?" Shao Xun asked as he ordered the palace servants to serve tea.

Wang Yan just glanced at Sun Xi, then looked away and continued to sit there with a gloomy look on his face.

"Is there any real thing?" Shao Xun asked.

"Yes." Sun Xi took out a paper bag, handed the crystal over, and explained the process.

Shao Xun watched and listened, and then recalled carefully.

If it is thrown into the furnace without contacting the charcoal, then it is equivalent to being calcined again and becoming purer? Or is there some other chemical reaction?
Shao Xun didn't know. He only knew that the main ingredient was potassium carbonate, the powdery stuff - or he guessed it, he didn't know if it was correct.

"What do you think this thing is?" Shao Xun asked.

"If it can remove oil, it must be alkali." Sun Xi said confidently.

"What alkali?" Shao Xun asked.

Sun Xi was stunned, and answered subconsciously: "It is salty soil that the people of the Han Dynasty picked up."

"Salt?" Shao Xun was stunned. From a chemical point of view, it was correct.

"So, is this alkali really the same as the salt soil that the people in the Han Dynasty picked up and brought home?" Shao Xun asked.

Sun Xi hesitated a little and said, "I licked it once, and it tasted a bit bitter and salty."

Shao Xun called Huan Wen, the Imperial Censor, and asked him to go to Fangzhou Pavilion immediately to get some lake alkali sent from the grassland.

Wang Yan raised his eyelids.

Huan Wen was a scholar from Henan, and his father Huan Yi was friends with Yu Liang. But we cannot simply classify him as a descendant of the crown prince, as that would be pushing him towards the crown prince, which is too stupid.

Besides Huan Yi and his son, there is also Wen Taizhen. Wang Yan pondered silently, his mind was no longer here.

After a while, Huan Wen brought some lake alkali over on a tray.

Shao Xun invited Sun Xi to come over and see.

It is obvious that both of these "bases" are not pure, and the naked eye can distinguish more than one thing, but the main ingredients are still very obvious.

"They are actually different..." Sun Xi said, "They can both remove fat, so why are they different?"

"There are more than one way to remove fat in the world." Shao Xun said, "There are Hu people in the grassland who use urine to remove fat from wool."

Sun Xi nodded silently and accepted this statement.

At this point, Shao Xun finally revealed his true intentions. He said, "Sun Sanlang, you can give this thing a name."

Sun Xi looked at Shao Xun.

Shao Xun nodded and said, "You have the qualifications since you made it."

"Yes." Sun Xi responded and asked tentatively, "Since it comes from wood ash, how about calling it grass alkali?"

"Don't ask me, it's up to you. Once you decide, don't change it." Shao Xun said, "Then call it grass alkali."

After that, he added: "You can write down the process of obtaining caustic soda in detail, describing its color, taste, shape and efficacy. I will print your article and publish it in the Wanxiang Academy's collection of articles."

"Compilation of articles? A collection of essays?" Sun Xi was a little surprised.

"That's right." Shao Xun said, "The collection of articles will be sent by post to--"

At this point Shao Xun got stuck.

Currently, only Yu Xi and Ge Hong have been "pulled into the group" by him, and this document on the preparation process and uses of alkali can only be sent to them for reading.

After thinking about it, he decided to invite a few more people to join the group.

Yang Ben is one, the fifth brother of the Bian family whose name he forgot is one, and maybe there are others. He needs to think carefully and sort out the list.

To put it bluntly, Shao Xun just wanted Sun Xi to "publish a paper."

A paper was published on potassium carbonate, and a paper can also be published on its uses.

This collection of articles is scheduled to be published on April 1st. The first issue only has two articles, one is about grass alkali, and the other is the "precession of the equinoxes" calculated by Yu Xi. They are completely unrelated but have been forced together.

"You can think more about the use of this thing." Shao Xun said, "You can put anything in it and try it out. You can also study other things."

After that, he told Huan Wen: "Sun Sanlang has presented the method of preparing grass alkali, and I will give him 100 pieces of silk as a reward."

"Yes." Huan Wen replied.

Sun Xi left quickly.

Shao Xun thought secretly. He remembered that the traditional wood ash soap was a soft soap, which was only one step away from this one. He didn't know how it was made.

But it doesn’t matter, as long as you keep experimenting, it’s not difficult to get this thing.

After collecting his thoughts, Shao Xun looked at Wang Yan and said, "Yi Fu, I am going to hold another Qing Tan. Before that, I need Yi Fu to write a great article."

Wang Yan cupped his hands and said, "I obey your order."

Shao Xun smiled.

Lao Wang seems to be in a bad mood. What's going on?

(End of this chapter)