Infrastructure Throne

Jin Da and Luo Xin caught up panting, handed over the horses to the apprentices, and followed the priest and the city lord into the alchemy workshop.

Like the smelter, the walls of the alchemy workshop are made of stone bricks poured with cement, and the ground is paved with gray stone slabs. There are respectively a washing place, a refining room, and an experimental area.

Sera combed her messy hair with her fingers in embarrassment, while leading the way ahead, she introduced the functions of various facilities to Shen Qingze and Yan Zui.

"...This is the laundromat."

Sera led a few people through a low-lying long and narrow corridor, in the middle of which was a rammed cement sloping shallow pool, no wider than an arm's length, with a wooden suction tube at one end, which used the principle of siphon to draw well water.

Two or three apprentices were sorting cleaning materials by the pool, the impurities were washed away along the water flow, and the useful minerals precipitated and were fished out one by one by them.

Several people went up the stone steps and entered the refining room at the core of the workshop.In Shen Qingze's various film and television dramas in his previous life, alchemists were often seen tinkering with strange medicine stoves in small dark, cramped, and cold rooms.

The refining room of the workshop is quite spacious and bright. Several rectangular wooden tables divide the room into several parts, and various alchemy utensils such as glasses, balances, pounding ladles, and medicine stoves are placed in a complicated but orderly manner.

Since the glass in the smelter has not been successfully fired, Shen Qingze purchased this set of utensils from Mingzhu City, especially the glass, which in Shen Qingze's view is a cup with very rough craftsmanship, but the price is astonishingly expensive.

The two apprentices wore sackcloth gloves, carefully holding the glass, pouring out the distilled extract little by little, for fear that if they accidentally broke it, they would not be able to pay for the whole year's wages.

Sera has been a servant for many years and is used to doing everything by himself. He took two cups from the apprentice, each containing colorless transparent powder crystals.

He pointed to one of them very familiarly: "My lord, I extracted the potassium nitrate you mentioned from several kinds of saltpeter and nitrate by distillation and crystallization. It tastes spicy. In addition, the one in this cup is Sodium nitrate, slightly bitter and salty."

The mysterious alchemy was displayed in front of several people. Jin Da and Luo Xin looked around curiously. Jin Da couldn't help asking: "These two are obviously similar in appearance, how do you tell them apart?"

The admiration in Jin Da's eyes was undisguised. Sera had never been praised before, and he couldn't help but feel a little secret satisfaction in his heart.

He smiled shyly: "They have different solubility at different temperatures, and they can be separated by heating..."

Jin Da was full of question marks on his forehead, and turned to look at Luo Xin, who squinted his small eyes, looking like an old god, pretending that he understood.

Serra held the natural science textbook in his hand, and flipped through the pages. His learning experience and questions were densely marked on it. Today, he finally had the opportunity to ask the priest for advice.

"There are some strange symbols in the appendix, like some kind of alchemy formula, but I haven't understood their meaning after studying for a long time..."

"For example, this semi-arc symbol is called 'carbon element' in the appendix. Charcoal contains it, diamond contains it, and it even exists in the air?"

"But isn't the world made up of the four elements of wind, fire, water, and earth?" Sera's face showed a complex expression of seeking knowledge and alternating contradictions, and he looked eagerly at Shen Qingze, eager to get a definite answer.

Shen Qingze thought for a while, and said: "There are still many unknown things in the world, and the elements that make up matter are far more than these. The conclusions of the predecessors may not necessarily be correct."

"Isn't it the charm of alchemy to raise questions and conjectures, and then demonstrate it through experiments?"

So is this the correct way to learn alchemy?

Sera's eyes widened, and he stammered: "You mean, the alchemy formula written in those ancient alchemy books may be wrong?"

"I...can I verify their fallacy with my own hands?"

Sera's heart was beating like a drum, and her cheeks were flushed: "If I can prove the existence of new elements, wouldn't I be famous in the alchemy world?!"

Shen Qingze laughed, this guy cared about fame and fortune quite frankly.

Realizing her gaffe, Sera smiled sheepishly: "No, these are obviously the knowledge you taught me, and I can't steal your credit."

Shen Qingze slowly shook his head: "I'm not an alchemist, and I won't set foot in this field. The content of the appendix is ​​just to put forward some ideas and inferences. If you can prove it, this is your achievement. It is a matter of course to become famous in the alchemy world. thing.."

"If you can apply these alchemy theories to practice and produce products that benefit the people, everyone will thank you. Maybe one day in the future, the name of the great alchemist Sera will be written in textbooks."

Sera opened his mouth wide, and forgot to breathe for a moment. The big cake drawn by Shen Qingze was too tempting, and it just hit the place he wanted most in his heart.

Thinking of the slight possibility of leaving a name in history, Sierra's whole body swelled up, full of energy and motivation, and wished to refine all the equations and assumptions proposed in the appendix to the real thing without sleep!

He couldn't help but think, if only he had met Shen Qingze earlier, his life has been rushing for decades, and he wasted such a good time in the stable of Mingzhu City, how hateful it is!

There was a smell of chemical reaction floating in the air, some apprentices opened the window for ventilation, Shen Qingze and the others stood by the window, observing Sera's alchemy experiment.

Open flames are not allowed in the refining room, no fireplace is built, and there is no heating equipment such as charcoal basins.

The cold wind from outside the house seeped in through the window, and penetrated straight into his neck, Shen Qingze subconsciously gathered his collar.

Yan Zui pulled the scurrying Jin Dapa aside, squeezed himself beside him, and stood by the window.

Even in such a mysterious and unfamiliar field as alchemy, he didn't show any sign of impatience, and stayed quietly beside Shen Qingze, listening silently.

※※※

At noon, Lance came to the alchemy workshop in a hurry, presented two wooden boxes to Shen Qingze, and said happily: "My lord, we have fired porcelain and glass!"

Lance couldn't wait to open the two wooden boxes, which were filled with shockproof straw, a narrow-mouthed celadon porcelain vase, and a shallow-mouthed transparent glass wine glass, which were placed in the wooden box respectively.

Luo Xin and Jin Da showed surprise expressions at the same time, and Yan Zui was also attracted by this novelty.

Shen Qingze was not so surprised.

The high-temperature furnace of the smelter has been continuously improved, and the temperature of the furnace can reach up to 1300 degrees, which is more than enough for firing porcelain and glass.

The main city system clearly marked the locations rich in porcelain clay and quartz sand. Among the newly recruited artisans, there are not a few who are good at firing pottery. With high-quality porcelain clay and sufficient temperature, there is only a thin line between pottery and porcelain. .

Shen Qingze took out the porcelain bottle first, and gently stroked the body of the bottle.

This is the most classic shape of a porcelain vase, with smooth and simple lines, fine porcelain, and lustrous luster.

The only fly in the ointment is that due to the different iron content in the porcelain clay, the reduction of iron oxide is not sufficient during firing, resulting in a greenish-yellow glaze color, and the color is not pure enough. It is far from the white porcelain that Shen Qingze is most looking forward to.

The other glass wine glass is much more transparent than the frosted glass made of the ceiling of the Blue Sky Business Alliance, but too much gas is produced during the firing process, forming bubbles, which makes the glass not clear enough.

Seeing his regretful expression, Lance was a little nervous: "My lord, are you not satisfied? We burned countless materials, and these two are the best finished products."

Shen Qingze nodded slowly: "You guys have done a good job."

It's a pity that the meager chemical knowledge in his mind is really not enough to solve these two problems.

Shen Qingze raised his eyebrows, his eyes drifted to Sera, and said: "I see your question just now, and you have already done some research on the formula given in the appendix."

"If I ask you, find a way to reduce the content of iron oxide in porcelain to make its glaze more white. In addition, eliminate excessive air bubbles in the glass and make the fired glass more clear and transparent. How would you do it?"

Sera's heart was beating wildly: Lord Priest is testing him!

How can a person who can write such a great book on natural science be stumped by these two small problems?

Sera's heart was pounding, and his heart was full of enthusiasm and passion—if he completed the test of the officiant, would he be able to see the follow-up content of natural science?

At this moment, countless alchemy materials flashed in his mind, and when his eyes wandered to the saltpeter purified crystals on the table, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration:

"My lord! Maybe you can try potassium nitrate as an auxiliary agent! When they burn in the air, the reaction is very violent!"

Shen Qingze: "..."

Tsk, I really deserve to be an alchemist with savvy 366.

Shen Qingze thought sourly, even taller than him.

He nodded calmly, with an unfathomable expression, approving: "A child can be taught."

Seeing Sera's uncontrollable excited smile after being praised by him, Shen Qingze covered his mouth guiltily and coughed lightly.

If it is made of better quality glass and porcelain, perhaps a trial trade fair can be held in Yuanliu City, inviting foreign merchants to come and observe.

Shen Qingze stroked his chin and thought happily, the merchants are all mature and taken advantage of, and it's time to learn how to deliver them to their door.

Like pouring beans, Sera came up with the ideas he had suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Except for Shen Qingze who could barely understand, everyone else was stunned.

With Jin Da's shabby knowledge, smelting is just pouring a bunch of raw materials into the furnace for burning.

He doesn't need to understand the various complicated processes and principles, as long as he brags about the omniscient officiant!

After discussing for a while, Shen Qingze proposed to go to the test area to see the power of gunpowder.

Sera hurriedly led everyone out, Yan Zui just took a few steps when Shen Qingze who was following behind was suddenly shivered by the cold wind blowing in from the window.

When he went to close the window, he accidentally found that the window was fixed by the poles and could not be closed. Perhaps it was done by an apprentice trying to save trouble.

Shen Qingze frowned, glanced at the door from the corner of his eye, Yan Zui tucked his neck into the rabbit fur scarf, waiting for him there.

This guy actually blocked the cold wind for him all morning without making a sound...