Hongwu Survival Guide

Chapter 162 Flame Reaction
It was just the right time, and His Majesty the Emperor's triumphal fleet, which was anchored in Yangzhou, began to set sail.

On this return journey, Lao Zhu brought back [-] troops, another [-] civilian men who were in charge of handling the boats, and thousands of Yuan court captives including Emperor Zhizheng, as well as three people specially selected and brought back from Dadu by Zhu Yuan's suggestion. More than ten thousand craftsmen.

Among them, the craftsmen are only the first batch.

According to the household registration data of the Yuan court, there are more than 67000 artisan households in Dadu City, with a total of more than 33 households.

According to the plan, more people will move to the south in the future.

In addition to the population, there are also money, treasures, classics, etc. that are suitable for repatriation in various treasuries in Dadu and surrounding cities.

All of these have created a huge fleet of more than 1600 large and small ships that stretches for more than ten miles. This also means that the fleet cannot return to Jinling for more than a hundred miles a day like the express ships. Today's destination is Zhenzhou between Yangzhou and Jinling.

It will take another day to reach Jinling.

In the cold season of late autumn and early winter, on the open river covered with mist, even if the fleet is generally small inland river flat-bottomed boats, with such a number, it looks mighty.

In the fleet that was sailing steadily at a certain interval, a fast-oared light boat approached abruptly from the shore.

Two miles away, he was stopped by the sentry boat guarding His Majesty's boat. The two sides had some exchanges, and the small flag officer on the sentry boat led one person to his own boat. The soldier could only see that the person being escorted seemed to be holding some straw in his hand, probably bean straw or the like.

The sentinel boat then started, and after several checkpoints and passes, the handful of bean stalks finally arrived on the building boat where His Majesty the Emperor was riding.

Standing outside the cabin on the second floor of the building ship, Qin Yubo, waiting for Hanlin, took the handful of soybean stalks from the guards, turned his head, exchanged glances with an internal servant next to him, and then glanced at the other couple who put several buckets of water at their feet. A servant turned to the hatch.

Qin Yubo knew that the cabin which was temporarily hung with curtains was being set on fire.

How could Zhu Yuan be like this?

Extraordinary obscene skills are simply the beginning of chaos, the beginning of chaos!

In the dimly lit outside cabin, at the round table where we ate together last night, Zhu Yuan was demonstrating an experiment to Lao Zhu.

Flame reaction.

Originally, Zhu Yuan didn't want to toss about on the boat, but after talking about it last night, Lao Zhu must be eager to see it.

Six small white porcelain bowls were placed on the round table. Zhu Yuan carefully poured alcohol that he had purified himself with glassware in Dinghai, and then added sodium chloride, potassium carbonate, potassium nitrate, and copper acetate to five of the bowls. and five solutions of ferric acetate.

These are also things that Zhu Yuan tried when he was in Dinghai.

Sodium chloride is table salt.

Potassium carbonate is plant ash extract, potassium nitrate...is the fire nitrate currently used to make gunpowder.As for copper acetate and iron acetate, mainly, Zhu Yuan could only find acetic acid for a while.

In doing so, Zhu Yuan explained to Lao Zhu who was full of expectations beside him: "The official name of alcohol is 'ethanol', and its chemical composition is similar to white sugar, all of which are carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. My ancestors read the "Chemistry" , It should be known that this is called organic matter, so it can be burned. Alcohol is used as fuel, mainly because alcohol is almost transparent when burned, which can highlight the flame color of other elements. Six bowls of alcohol, one of which is empty, is for comparison and reference , This is also considered a standard procedure for chemical experiments. Heh, in fact, all kinds of experiments, whether it is physics, chemistry or biology, are like this. Without reference, it is impossible to prove that the experimental object is special."

Having said this, Zhu Yuan also made preparations.

Signaling Lao Zhu to step back, Zhu Yuan used a cotton-tipped silver swab dipped in alcohol to ignite a candle on the side, and then ignited the alcohol in the six porcelain bowls one by one.

In the dim light, flames rose.

Above the six porcelain bowls, different colors quickly appeared.

Two of them are almost colorless, two have obvious purple flames, and one has green flames.

In the flame reaction experiments in textbooks, platinum wires were dipped in compounds.

The platinum wire could not be found. Zhu Yuan tried it with silver wire in Dinghai before, but felt that the reaction was not obvious, so he directly turned on the fire, just like the one in front of him.

Very striking.

Even though he already understood the reason, Lao Zhu still looked surprised when he saw the current scene.

It feels like a door to a new world has opened up.

Zhu Yuan glanced at Lao Zhu, who was almost in awe, and then explained: "The essence of the flame reaction is that the electrons inside the metal are heated and transition to release energy, and the external performance is different light colors. This method is simple but primitive, and only It can verify a small part of metals. However, using a similar principle, a spectrometer was invented hundreds of years later, which can be used to detect the elemental composition of various substances, and use it as a means of mineral exploration.”

Lao Zhu nodded slightly, he had already quickly figured out the use of the flame reaction in his mind, and pointed to one of them: "This iron...why does it seem to have no color?"

"I can't remember this, Yuaner," Zhu Yuan didn't hide it: "When I was studying, I remembered sodium yellow potassium copper green, and it seemed that there was no iron. I tried it a few times before, but it didn't work. I think again, Maybe there is, but the light it emits is no longer within the recognition range of our human eyes. This is why I just said that the flame reaction can only verify a small part of the metal elements."

Lao Zhu grasped one point: "Our human eyes... recognize the range?"

Zhu Yuan thought for a moment, raised his hand and gestured: "Imagine, my ancestor, when a stone is thrown, or when the wind blows up, the waves on the water surface will sway outward..."

Old Zhu paused and hummed lightly.

Zhu Yuan continued: "Light can also be regarded as a kind of wave. Just like the ripples on the water surface, the fluctuation frequency of light waves also varies in length and length. I can't remember the exact length. What the human eye can recognize is actually only a small number of light waves within a certain frequency, and most of them are invisible to us."

Lao Zhu felt that he understood a little bit, but felt that he didn't understand, so he asked: "Why can't we see it?"

This……

Zhu Yuan was still stumped for a moment, pondered for a while, and then said: "Our human eyes... millions of years of evolution have made us only able to recognize a small part of light. It is said that humans are the primates of all things. Our ancestors, they are not. Yes. At night, many animals can see because there is light at night, but our eyes can’t see it. That’s the limitation.”

Speaking of this, after thinking for a while, Zhu Yuan continued to add: "Similarly, there is also sound. Sound waves are also a kind of wave, and we can only recognize sounds within a certain band. Those that exceed the frequency we recognize are called ultrasonic waves, which are lower than the corresponding waves. The frequency is called infrasound. For example, earthquakes, many animals can predict earthquakes in advance, because they can feel the infrasound waves from the upcoming earthquake that we cannot hear. There are also bats, whose eyes are actually invisible , by continuously sending out a kind of ultrasonic waves, and then returning to the ears, to detect everything around, heh, this is very useful, we will talk about it in the future."

Lao Zhu felt that his knowledge had increased again, and he wanted to ask questions, but he didn't rush to think about it for a while, he just sighed softly: "This...is really amazing."

Seeing that the alcohol on the table was almost burning, Zhu Yuan gestured to Lao Zhu, and after getting permission, he stepped forward and put the porcelain plates prepared in advance on the white bowl one by one, while explaining: "Alcohol burning cannot be blown out. , if it splashes out, it will burn wherever it goes, so the method of isolating oxygen should be used to extinguish the fire, that’s it, cover it, and the oxygen inside will burn out, and it will go out.”

After finishing this, Zhu Yuan turned to open the door, and asked the servants to come and remove the shade curtains on the surrounding windows, and took the handful of soybean stalks from Qin Yubo by the way.

When the servants left, only the ancestor and the distant grandson were left in the room, Zhu Yuan had already found the target, and showed to Lao Zhu: "My lord, this is the root nodule. You look at it first, and I will try to slice it. But , The stalks have dried up a long time ago, and I don’t know if rhizobia can still be seen in them. If not, go back to Jinling and look for other leguminous plants that are still alive, maybe there are.”

"You let it go."

As Lao Zhu said, he took a section of bean stalk and went to sit down at the round table. While looking at it, he watched Zhu Yuan take out the microscope and various tools from the box he brought this morning and start operating.

All of this at the moment, whether it is the flame reaction or the root nodules of the bean straw, is because of last night.

During dinner, at the request of Lao Zhu, Zhu Yuan talked about the importance of the three elements of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to the growth of crops from the duck raising industry chain, and related various things, such as how to identify potassium, and for example, where does phosphorus come from? And then there's nitrogen.

Lao Zhu didn't quite understand it. According to Zhu Yuan, there is so much nitrogen in the air that accounts for [-]% of it. Why is there still a shortage of crops?
Then there is the nitrogen fixation capacity of legume crops.

Whether he was a farmer in the past or an emperor now, Lao Zhu understands that this is definitely a big thing. After understanding these principles, he also understands the many problems that the people on this land have encountered in the process of farming for thousands of years .

Then, after solving the corresponding problems, this world, this country, can take on a new look.

Zhu Yuan picked out a root nodule with tweezers, then sliced ​​and stained it with fine steel blades side by side. While chatting casually with Lao Zhu, he quickly completed a sample slide.

Operate the microscope again.

After a while, the result appeared.

Zhu Yuan first observed for a while, and saw that Lao Zhu couldn't wait to come over, so he stepped aside: "There are still some, please look at the ancestors... The cells of plants and animals are different. The cells on the outside are soybean cells, and the cell walls are obvious. The cells on the inside are round. Yes, without cell walls, it should be rhizobia. However, it should also be dead."

Lao Zhu stared at the eyepiece for a moment, then nodded, without taking his eyes off the microscope, but said: "Just...these, rhizobia, can produce that nitrogen fertilizer?"

"Yuan'er has never planted land, but that's how it is taught in textbooks. Moreover, it is recorded in agricultural books such as "Qi Min Yao Shu" that on the land planted with beans, other crops will be more prosperous Some. The writer doesn’t know the reason, but in fact, it’s this. This rhizobia can convert nitrogen in the air into nitrogen compounds that can be absorbed by plants. for later use by other crops."

Lao Zhu listened carefully, observed for a while, finally straightened up, and said with emotion again: "It's really... Heh, when we return to Jinling, we will make a special decree to let the people grow beans to fertilize the fields."

Zhu Yuan nodded: "Under the current conditions, this is very necessary. Because traditional manure basically comes from the same piece of land, after several reincarnations, various nutrients will continue to be consumed, and eventually a piece of land will completely lose its ability to support crops. And then barren. This bean is one of the few crops that can naturally produce fertilizer. Well, but it is limited to nitrogen fertilizer."

Old Zhu pointed inwardly, and the two of them came to the study next door again, sat down to discuss the case, and then continued: "This phosphate fertilizer, according to what you said, can be used for the strategy of the guano island, and then there is potassium fertilizer, this potassium... What's the use?"

Nitrogen and phosphorus, I talked about both at dinner last night, but I forgot to ask the last one.

Zhu Yuan no longer rested his arms on the desk in front of him. Hearing this question suddenly, he thought for a while before saying, "Perhaps, it's similar to the salt we eat."

Old Zhu was puzzled.

Zhu Yuan thought about it for a while, and said, "Does your ancestor still remember the periodic table of elements?"

Old Zhu nodded: "You... have forgotten so many things."

Zhu Yuan filled in twenty or thirty of the forms that could accommodate more than a hundred elements.

All kinds of documents sent by Zhu Yuan are in this study, and Lao Zhu didn't get up to look for them, they were already in his mind.

Zhu Yuan just smiled and did not argue, but said: "Potassium and sodium..." As he spoke, the void drew a vertical line: "... belong to the same family of elements, and they are very active elements that do not exist in the natural world. Elements. We humans must eat salt, because sodium ions widely present in body fluids are needed to assist the body to operate nutrients. Similarly, this potassium element, for plants, is equivalent to sodium in the human body, and is used to help transport various nutrients to the whole body .Heh, these are my guesses based on common sense, and I don’t know if they are accurate, but there is a high probability that this is the case.”

Speaking of this, Zhu Yuan remembered one more thing.

For humans, or animals, why sodium?
This starts with the evolution of organisms, and the evolution of organisms from the sea to the land... Well, the old calendar of billions of years will not be turned over for the time being.

Lao Zhu also understood this time, pondered for a moment, and looked over: "Your... glass or something, it's better to burn less. The ash and alkali just now took away all the potash in the grass ash."

This……

Why did you switch here suddenly?
However, Zhu Yuan nodded: "My lord, when Yuaner finds natural sodium carbonate alkali mines, potassium carbonate will not be used, and the grass ash can be directly returned to the field in the future."

As Lao Zhu reached out to rummage through some memorials beside him, he asked, "Then how to solve the potash fertilizer?"

Zhu Yuan said: "We can only look for potash ore, by the way...fire nitrate, I mean, saltpeter ore is actually a kind of natural compound fertilizer, which contains both potassium and nitrogen. However, whether it is saltpeter ore or There are not many other potash mines in the Central Plains. I remember that the largest potash mine in China...was in Xinjiang, um, in the Western Regions."

"According to what you said, the land of the Western Regions may have to be taken down as soon as possible," Lao Zhu muttered a very domineering sentence in a normal way, and then warned: "Since it was you who proposed it, the fertilizer matter will be dealt with later." After Jinling, I will hand it over to you to manage, and set up another yamen."

Zhu Yuan: "..."

can i say no

I haven't been able to take off one of the original burdens on my body, and it's coming again.

Donkeys in the production team dare not use it like this!

On the other side, Lao Zhu had found several memorials and handed them over: "Look, it was just delivered this morning, and it's all about impeaching you again."

(End of this chapter)