In the early morning mist, the morning rooster crows, and a carriage slowly stops at the door of the hospital.

Bai Li opened the curtain and jumped out of the car, stretching.

She looked around, but she didn't see the thin figure sweeping the floor.

Strange, at this time yesterday, the other party was still sweeping the floor at the door, why is he missing today?

Are you sleeping?

At this time, Liang Mao'er also slowly jumped out of the carriage with Liang Gou'er on his back and walked into the medical center.

Liang Gou'er is tall, but Liang Mao'er is as light as nothing. In the past, he carried him on his back for more than ten miles, as if nothing happened.

Liang Maoer smiled honestly and said goodbye to the Crown Prince and Princess Bai Li: "Your Majesty, Princess, thank you for the hospitality. I will take my brother back to sleep first."

The prince smiled and waved his hands: "Go ahead, go ahead."

When Liang Mao'er returned to his apprentice's dormitory, Bai Li tiptoed and glanced into the dormitory, but still didn't see traces of him: "Strange, where did that black-hearted man go?"

Chen Ji was not at the hospital, he was walking on the bluestone road to Dongshi.

He walked below, while dark clouds danced lightly on the eaves beside him.

One person and one cat walk side by side, and the black cat on the roof is like an elf silently guarding the traces.

The East Market has become lively, with goods going north and south being distributed here. Muscular workers carrying sacks are constantly coming and going.

Chen Ji found a breakfast shop and sat down at a small wooden table outside the shop. Dark clouds lightly jumped into his arms and hid themselves in his clothes. Only his head poked out from his collar.

"Chen Ji, steamed buns!"

Chen Ji smiled and waved to the waiter: "Man, two cages of steamed buns with soy sauce and a bowl of hot soy milk!"

"Okay! Sir, please sit down for a moment, the buns will be here soon!"

When the buns were served, Chen Ji held the buns in his right hand and took a big bite. He held a bun in his left hand and put it to his chest, letting the dark clouds eat it in one bite.

He ate slowly and waited silently.

Just as he was finishing his second bun, a middle-aged customer came from the grocery store next door: "Boss, how do you sell saltpeter?"

The boss sat in the shop with his legs crossed: "Three hundred coins per dou, and we can have it transported to the place you specify within three miles... Sir, what are you doing buying saltpeter?"

The customer responded with a smile: "My family makes Huocun Tiao, and saltpeter is indispensable every day. I used to go to Lao Li's house to purchase goods every day, but for some reason, his house didn't open this morning. Boss, three hundred

Wen Yi Dou is a bit expensive, can it be cheaper?"

However, the boss said while cracking melon seeds: "Buy it if you like."

The customer's face darkened, he threw up his sleeves and left: "How do you do business? Do you know how to speak? There are many local saltpeter sellers in the East Market, but I don't have to buy from you!"

The boss crossed his legs and ate melon seeds, not caring: "Then go buy them elsewhere."

Chen Ji watched the customer leave. Immediately afterwards, a young man dressed as a 'tracker' in the breakfast shop didn't even eat. He immediately put down his chopsticks, got up and stood behind the customer.

The two sides were separated by more than ten steps, and the young tracker who was following him was in the crowd, staring at the customer.

When passing by Chen Ji, he saw a thick callus on the tiger's mouth of the young man's right hand, which was the mark left by holding weapons in his hand for many years.

Chen Ji realized clearly in his heart: Golden Pig has already taken action.

This golden pig is smarter and more low-key than expected. The other party knew that what Jing Chao wanted most was firearms, so after the other party came to Luo City, they quietly laid out their plans, closed down shops, installed spies and pretended to be dealers, and tracked down every one of them.

People who want to buy saltpeter!

The golden pig hid in the darkness of Luo City, like a spider, taking advantage of the opportunity when the Jingchao Military Intelligence Department relaxed its vigilance to weave a large web.

The arms handed over by Concubine Yun must have been stolen from the craftsman's warehouse by someone who cooperated with others.

If the Golden Pig is smart enough, I am afraid that it has already begun to count the inventory and recover the lost stolen goods... I wonder if Concubine Yun and the Liu family can withstand the Golden Pig's pursuit?

The Jingchao Military Intelligence Department and the Liu family finally faced their real opponents.

Chen Wei lowered his head and ate the buns calmly. He and Wu Yun finished two baskets of buns before getting up and leaving. One person and the cat burped at the same time: "I'm so satisfied!"

Chen Ji was wandering around the East Market. When passing by a sugar shop, he quickly observed the surrounding environment with his peripheral vision: the boss was seriously selling brown sugar and white sugar, and there were servants of dignitaries buying brown sugar and white sugar.

No one is following or monitoring.

After observing for a long time, he walked to the stall and asked: "Boss, how do you sell brown sugar and white sugar?"

The boss smiled and replied: "Sir, brown sugar costs eighty taels per catty, and this white frosting costs ten taels of silver per catty."

Chen Ji was stunned, this sugar was ridiculously expensive!

But he soon figured it out: in this era, most people still use brown sugar, and the method of making white sugar is a secret of each family and is never spread to outsiders.

Nowadays, only dignitaries can eat white "elegant" icing, which is a true luxury product.

Chen Ji thought to himself, should he make some sugar himself?

Can't do it.

"Tiangong Kaiwu" records the method of decolorizing yellow mud by pouring water on it, that is, pouring yellow mud water on brown sugar to produce white sugar.

But in fact, in the era when Chen Ji lived, no one had ever successfully reproduced the "yellow mud water decolorization method", and this technology has been lost.

Chen Ji took out a piece of silver and said, "Boss, buy one tael of frosting. Only one tael."

He carried the brown paper bag and bought another bamboo tube Shaodaozi wine. At this point, he had all the materials for making gunpowder.

As Chen Ji walked among the crowd, he no longer looked like a foreigner, but more like a young man who was born and raised in Luo City and came to the market.

…

…

night.

The prince and Princess Baili were tired of playing together and did not climb over the wall again today.

Chen Ji waited until everyone was asleep, then took out the bamboo tube containing saltpeter and came to the main hall.

However, the first step in making gunpowder is not simply to mix saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal together in proportion, but to purify the materials.

This is also the reason why Chen Ji firmly believes that his gunpowder must be more powerful than Ningchao's gunpowder: Ningchao's chemical engineering discipline is not developed enough, so he probably doesn't know how to purify these materials and can only rely on local methods.

Chen Ji took a slightly larger pottery bowl and carefully placed it above the oil lamp.

Wuyun squatted on the counter, tilted his head, and meowed curiously: "Chen Ji, what are you doing?"

While preparing the materials, Chen Ji replied: "Before you become a real official, make some means of self-protection... Wuyun, you have good hearing. Whenever you hear someone approaching the main hall, tell me immediately."

He knows that there may be great officials in this world who are not even afraid of gunpowder, such as the White Dragon, Pegasus, and Sick Tiger mentioned by Golden Pig. As long as the opponent is fast enough, they can avoid you before the gunpowder explodes.

But I don't have to deal with these people, the gunpowder is enough.

However, just as he was about to pour the saltpeter from the bamboo tube into the pottery bowl... a crow suddenly flew into the main hall of the medical center!

Chen Ji and Wu Yun froze at the same time. They made eye contact for a long time without understanding.

Wuyun meowed: "Will it tell your master these things?"

Chen Ji silently closed the bamboo tube again while thinking quickly about countermeasures in his mind. Now he was making gunpowder. This was the secret of the Ning Dynasty craftsman supervisor who needed to station two thousand elite soldiers.

Even if someone discovers that he is secretly collecting saltpetre, he will probably get into big trouble.

Wu Yun looked at Chen Ji: "How about I catch it? Kill the bird and silence it!"

The next moment, the crow pointed at the dark clouds with its wings and laughed sarcastically.

The dark cloud jumped to catch it unconvinced, but the dark cloud was faster and the crow was faster.

I saw two groups of black things moving up and down in the main hall of the medical center. Sixteen fires had been lit by traces. Dark clouds were moving in and out of the main hall, making it almost impossible to see the figures clearly.

But at such a fast speed, he couldn't even touch a feather of the crow!

I don’t know how long this crow has been practicing with Old Man Yao, but it has become a spirit!

Just when Chen Ji wanted to call out the dark clouds, an old voice sounded: "Okay, you're up most of the night, why are you making such a fuss here?"

Chen Ji froze, and he slowly looked at Old Yao: "Master..."

Old Man Yao glanced at Chen Ji and saw him walking slowly to the counter, curiously looking at the oil lamp, bamboo tube, and pottery bowl, always feeling a little strange.

But even though he was well-informed, he didn't understand what Chen Ji was doing...

He frowned and asked, "What did you do with the kitchen pottery bowl here?"

Chen Ji said: "I didn't do anything, Master. This pottery bowl was what I just used to hold water for drinking."

"Oh, is that so..."

Just when Chen Ji breathed a sigh of relief, he saw old man Yao taking out six more copper coins from his sleeve and throwing them on the table.

Amidst the clanging sound, six copper coins settled down.

Chen Ji was shocked. Although Old Yao couldn't see what he was doing, the other party could tell fortunes!

Old man Yao muttered the hexagram explanation, and Chen Ji felt uneasy, as if he was waiting for the trial, not knowing what the other party could figure out.

After a while, Old Yao shook his head: "It's strange, why can't you see it?"

After that, he came to the window again, pushed open the window, held on to the window lattice, looked towards the starry sky at night, and murmured: "It's great Qianyuan, all things have begun, and it is the unification of the sky..."

The next moment.

Old Yao suddenly turned around and looked at Chen Ji: "What is so strong and domineering!"

Chen Ji: Huh?

No, old man, are you really wrong?!

Chen Ji didn't know the meaning of this hexagram, but old man Yao said "strong and domineering", wasn't that the characteristic of gunpowder?

Old Man Yao stared straight at Chen Ji: "I didn't expect you to have such ability to make such a thing. Why are you making this thing? Do you want to rebel?!"

Chen Ji quickly said: "No, no!"

But I heard Old Man Yao say: "Do you know that if this matter is revealed, you will die without a burial place? Don't say that I won't protect you, even the Ning Dynasty will not tolerate you."

Chen Ji was silent. He was not sure what Old Man Yao's stance was. If the other party really wanted to report him, he would have no choice but to escape.

It's a pity that he has just established himself in this medical center and thought he could settle down and live here.

Chen Ji raised his head and said, "Master, I didn't think about it..."

Old Man Yao interrupted: "The hush money is six taels."

Chen Ji: "?"

…

…

The main hall of the medical center was dim, and a cool autumn night breeze swept through the windows, causing the flames of the oily lamps to sway, and the light and shadow cast on Chen Ji's face.

"I've said so much with you, just for hush money?" Chen Ji said calmly.

"No," Old Yao said calmly, "I'm not doing it to make money, I'm doing it to save your life."

Chen Ji was heartbroken: "Did you know that six taels of silver can buy a lot of things?"

Old Yao stroked his beard: "I know, I can buy you to build a ladder for Princess Baili."

Chen Ji: "..."

The co-author knows everything, so no wonder the amount is exactly the same as the two tolls!

Old Man Yao sneered: "The hospital is my hospital. The prince and the princess pass by me. Is there anything wrong with paying the toll to me?"

Chen Ji said: "Then I also worked hard, I moved the ladder for them!"

But he saw old man Yao return to the main room, and actually brought a bamboo deck chair out and placed it on the corridor between the main hall and the backyard: "I am here to let you relax, and I have also done my work. Pay me six taels."

, you can do what you want to do with peace of mind, as long as I am watching over you, no one can find out."

The huge bamboo lounge chair was as light as a toy in the hands of the ninety-two-year-old man.

Chen Ji: "...Is this still possible?!"

Old Man Yao didn't care about that, he just stretched out his hand firmly: "Where's the silver peanut?"

Heartbroken, Chen Ji took out the six silver peanuts from his sleeve and patted them on Old Yao's hand.

Old Yao happily put it into his sleeves, hummed a little tune and lay on the bamboo couch with his eyes closed to rest: "Abiding by the law makes you depressed in the morning, but Qiangliang sings joyfully every night..."

Chen Ji looked at the other party in silence for a long time, confused as to what to do with the old man.

Finally, he gritted his teeth and said: "Master, don't say I didn't warn you. If you accept the money, you will be an accomplice in the future!"

Old Man Yao chuckled softly: "Threaten me? You are still young, I want to see what you can make."

Chen Ji stopped talking. He added white water to the pottery bowl and placed it over an oil lamp to slowly heat it until the water temperature rose to about seventy-five degrees.

There was no formal way to measure temperature in this era. Chen Ji only knew that when the water reaches 80 degrees, the bottom of the bowl will start bubbling. Once it starts bubbling, remove the oil residue lamp and wait for the water temperature to slowly cool down for five minutes.

The temperature he wants.

Chen Ji also took soil saltpeter and plant ash, put them in a pottery bowl at a ratio of 8:1, stirred them slowly with a bamboo skewer for a quarter of an hour, and then filtered them slowly with rice paper.

Old Yao didn't know when he got up, but he stood aside and watched attentively.

Chen Ji ignored him and boiled the soil and salt water again until only one-third of the water was left in the bowl.

He removed the oil residue lamp and concentrated on waiting for the thick liquid in the bowl to slowly cool down.

When the liquid in the pottery bowl dropped below human armpit temperature, Chen Ji took a drop of the liquid in the bowl with a bamboo skewer and tapped it gently on the counter.

But when the drop of liquid met the cold counter, it instantly condensed into transparent crystals, just like pouring water into ice!

Old Yao's eyes suddenly widened.

Chen Ji breathed a long sigh of relief: It’s done!

…

Today's chapter
Chapter completed!