In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 137 The advent of white sugar
At that time, Gu Tian was quite opposed, because it was not easy to crystallize sugar juice, and it took up to a year and a half. Once it failed, it would go bankrupt just like the frost sugar households in Suining back then.

But Zhao Yurui asked him to rest assured, because he was going to adopt a new sugar-making technique, which had a high success rate and a short time, and would definitely make money.

On the same day, Zhou Lai and Chen Feng resettled sugar households on Dapeng Island for a while, and then went to Jintang Island with Gu Tian. After a while, Zhao Yurui came with Niu Bao.

There has been a lot of construction on Jintang Island. On the one hand, craftsmen and farmers are building houses, and on the other hand they are plowing the fields to grow sugar cane.

It is actually a bit late to plant sugar cane now, but there is no way, Zhao Yurui has followed the work step by step until now, and has time to organize farmers to plant sugar cane.

Gu Tian and others visited Zhao Yurui first, and then took him to see the planting site.

While Zhao Yurui watched the farmers work, Gu Tian explained to him.

Remove the roots and shoots of the sugarcane first, and bury them in the soil (do not bury them in low-lying soil with water accumulation).Five or six days before the "rain" solar term (about February and March), when the weather turns fine, the sugarcane is dug out from the soil, the shell is removed, and it is cut into five or six inches long, with two sections reserved for each section.Arrange them on the ground, cover them with a small amount of soil, and make them overlap like fish scales.The two buds on each section of sugarcane should be placed flat and cannot be staggered up and down, otherwise the downward teeth will be difficult to germinate.When the buds grow to one or two inches long, they need to be frequently watered with clear manure water; when they grow to six or seven inches long, they are dug out and planted separately.

When planting sugarcane, it is necessary to divide the furrows, each furrow needs to be four feet wide, dig a four-inch deep ditch, and plant in the ditch.Plant three trees about every seven feet and cover with about an inch of soil. If the soil is too thick, germination will be reduced.When each tree grows three to seven buds, the soil is gradually cultivated, and the soil must be cultivated every time weeding and weeding.The soil is gradually thickened, the cane stalks are heightened and the rhizomes are deep, which can prevent the sugarcane from collapsing.Intertillage weeding should be done in a timely manner, and don't be afraid of trouble. The amount of manure pouring depends on the fertility of the land.When it grows to a height of one or two feet, soak the dried sesame cake and rapeseed in water and fertilize it. The fertilizer should be sprinkled in the fields.When it grows to two or three feet high, it must be plowed in the rows of sugarcane fields by oxen.Plow the field once every half month: once to turn over the soil and plow off the side roots; once to cover the soil and bacon.At the beginning of September, the roots should be cultivated to prevent the cut cane roots from being damaged by freezing.

"We planted a little later this year, but the impact is not big. Anyway, there are still few fields available for planting now. Let's prepare for next year." Gu Tian finally said.

The main purpose this year is to plow and plow the fields, and to expand the planting next year.

Zhao Yurui nodded after reading it: "Let's go and see Sugar."

Gu Tian also looked forward to it.

Frost sugar (rock sugar) in the Southern Song Dynasty takes more than a year from sugarcane planting to crystallization, and the time span is long, and it will fail. That's why Gu Tian opposed Wei Wang's purchase of sugar juice. Now Wei Wang said that there is a new method, and he is also looking forward to it. I don't believe it.

At this time, most sugar producers in the Southern Song Dynasty used the method of dehydration to solidify sucrose. The disadvantage of this method is that it cannot remove the acid in the sucrose, and the sugar is difficult to solidify. Otherwise, the sucrose will be carbonized at high temperature, and it will fail.

The original space-time was not improved until after the Yuan Dynasty captured Fujian, and the Egyptians taught the ash technique.

When Zhao Yurui first came to the Southern Song Dynasty, he wanted to make money and didn't know what he would do. Fortunately, after seeing the candy in the Southern Song Dynasty, he finally thought of what to do.

It is also beneficial to read more Mingchuan novels. There are various sugar-making techniques, gunpowder and even artillery-making techniques.

Reading Qidian novels in the previous life, most of the gunpowder and candy were made in the Ming Dynasty, which also accumulated some knowledge for Zhao and Rui.

Everyone soon came to the east of the island. The mountains on the east are relatively high, effectively blocking the typhoon at sea, making the temperature in the middle surrounded by the mountains relatively high, which is more suitable for sugar and sugarcane production.

The Siming sugar households who came earlier had already built houses together with the help of local craftsmen. Due to time constraints, Zhao and Rui adopted the construction methods of the coastal areas near Southeast Asia, including the natives of North and South America.

Bamboo and wood are used as a frame, and after being raised up, a wooden house is built.

Elevation can prevent moisture, and the wooden house can be built quickly.

In the early days, the houses were built first, and after they settled down, they were slowly replaced with mudstone houses.

On an open space at the site, there is already a sunshade built with wooden frames.

Many sugar households are making sugar.

They are still using the method of the Southern Song Dynasty at this time.

First boil the juice extracted from sugarcane on the fire until it has a consistency similar to malt glutinous rice, then insert a few bamboo sticks into the large vat, pour the boiled sugarcane pulp into it, and cover it with a bamboo and rattan lid.The next step is to wait for the sugarcane pulp to crystallize and adhere to the bamboo strips and the walls of the vat.In the fifth month of the lunar calendar, these crystals are taken out. This procedure is called "draining jar". The "drained" sugar crystals are then exposed to the sun to obtain the final icing.However, not all of a tank of syrup will crystallize into frost, and a considerable proportion of "sugar juice" will be left, that is, residual syrup.There are two places for these sugar juices, to sell directly, "or to make granulated sugar by yourself".

But the granulated sugar at this time was not packed in granules. Zhao Yurui saw it in the palace before, it was relatively sticky, like paste, and it was the current granulated sugar.

Of course, if carbonization occurs in progress, it will fail.

When Zhao Yurui arrived, there were already barrels of sugar juice on the scene, and the drain had not yet started.

Because Zhao and Rui wanted to use a new method.

Zhao and Rui waved their hands, and there were two people carrying a large vat not far away. Gu Tian saw that the large vat was about half a person tall and about half a foot wide. Two people carried it on a shelf, and there were others supporting it.

After being carried to the site, Zhao Yurui asked the craftsmen to place the shelves that had been made a long time ago in a wooden house that had just been built nearby.

The wooden house was relatively large, about fifty or sixty square meters, and there was no overhead, because it was not used for living. The tank was placed in the middle, and the tank was supported by a shelf.

Only Gu Tian and his sons and daughters entered the house at the scene, including Gu Ying, Chen Feng, Zhou Lai, Zhao Yurui and others. The wooden house of fifty or sixty square meters looked a bit empty.

Gu Tian discovered that there was a small hole in the bottom of the tank, but something was stuffed in it, and it didn't leak out. It was only later that he found out that grass was stuffed in it.

"Come on, bring a basin." Zhao Yurui asked someone to bring in another empty basin, put it under this vat, and then took

Then someone brought in the barrels of sugar juice.

Then ordered "fall down from above."

The farmers poured the sugar juice from the vats.

After the farmers finished pouring, they left one after another. Zhao Yurui said to Gu Tian: "There are some things in this tank, including clay and paper. These are used to filter the impurities in the sugar juice."

But Zhao Yurui would not tell him that there is lime in the middle, which is specially used to prevent carbonization.

He made a tank on purpose, just to prevent people from opening it and not letting them see what was inside.

Gu Tian really had a strange expression on his face, he really wanted to see what was in the tank.

It takes time for the sugar juice to solidify, and the craftsmen on the side carried another tank and set up another shelf.

At this time, Gu Tian discovered that the words, 001, 002, were written on the back of the tank.

At this time, the Arabic numerals have not been transmitted to the Southern Song Dynasty, so Gu Tian looked at it in a daze.

Zhao Yurui said at this time: "This is the No. [-] tank, and this is the No. [-] tank. Each tank can be used for about ten days (based on ten times of filtration per day)."

"Zhou Lai and Chen Feng are in charge of using new tanks to come here every ten days or so and taking back the old tanks."

Gu Tian's family members listened carefully.

"During the transportation process, you must not open the tank, let alone break it deliberately to open it. Whoever breaks the tank—chop—" Zhao Yurui said sharply.

Surrounded by fear, Gu Tian also looked serious, knowing that King Wei wanted to keep it a secret.

Zhou Lai was very cooperative at this time, hurried forward, and said cautiously: "What if I accidentally knocked down?"

Zhao Yurui glanced at him with a dissatisfied expression, but still said: "After the vat is broken, no one is allowed to go forward, let alone look at it, and all leave twenty steps away. At the same time, Zhou Lai will be notified immediately. If anyone peeks, you can report it." , the whistleblower, for great merit, this king can recommend him as an official."

Everyone in the Gu family at the scene was moved, and they were sure about the secrets in this vat.

Then Zhao Yurui explained in detail the transportation and storage of the Xiajintang Island tanks, which was indeed very strict.

Each tank comes from the Dinghai County Coastal Manufacturing Department. After being filled by the people in the palace, it is transported to the pier by the guards of the palace, and then boarded a boat and crossed the sea to the Jintang Island military camp Zhoulai.

Both ends of the vat were sealed when it arrived, and when it was time to use it, Zhou Lai, Chen Feng, and a guard from the Palace opened it at the same time.

Zhao Yurui will select and send palace guards here for a long time, and they will rotate one every five days.

After use, the old ones are recycled when replacing them, and Zhou Lai and Chen Feng seal the cylinder mouth, and then transport them back to the manufacturing department for reprocessing by the manufacturing department so that they can be reused.

Due to the fact that Jintang Island has just started and the output is not high, Zhao Yurui first prepared [-] tanks, and will gradually increase in the future.

About an hour or so, their second cylinder was almost solidified.

At this time, Zhao Yurui asked someone to bring a large pot, which was filled with yellow muddy water, and poured directly from the top.

At the same time, take out the grass in the small hole at the bottom.

"Slow down, slow down, slow down." Zhao Yurui asked the craftsmen to pour slowly, and it took about 1 minute to pour a tank.

After a while, black dross appeared in the small hole below and fell into the bottom basin.

Gu Tian took a few glances at the yellow muddy water, but didn't see what it was.

He is just a sugar householder. If he was a mason, he would probably be able to recognize the yellow muddy water.

Next, it is time to witness the miracle.

Although Zhao Yurui had tried it first in the production department, it was still quite exciting.

He personally stepped forward, looked into the tank, and finally heaved a long sigh of relief.

"Let's see."

Everyone stepped forward and probed.

"Hiss" was followed by various gasping sounds, and even screams.

Gu Tian stretched out his hand in disbelief to touch it from inside.

"Ahhh" the sugar was still a little warm, a little bit hot, but he didn't care about it, he just grabbed a handful and blew on both hands back and forth.

"So white?"

"What kind of sugar is this?"

"Sandy."

Not only did Zhao Yurui directly turn the sugar juice into real granulated sugar (sand-like), but it was also as white as snow. White sugar, which only appeared in the Ming Dynasty, had already come out ahead of schedule.

"My god, my god, how did King Wei do it?" Gu Tian couldn't believe it.

(End of this chapter)