Chapter 622: The Luxurious Life of the Nobles, the Improvement of Gunpowder that Doubled Its Power!
"Eckart, order a refreshing smoke without adding random herbs. Get some vanilla snacks and make a cup of herbal cocoa tea!"
"Yes, head of the family!"
The bright moon hangs high, and the king's tent is tightly guarded. Shulot held the letter, turned his head, and gave instructions to the captain of the guard who was holding an ax on guard. Then, he closed his eyes, rubbed his eyebrows, and waited patiently.
Soon, the scent of tobacco rose from the purple pottery smoke stove and spread in the ventilated tent. These whole tobaccos come from the Mayan city-states and are of high quality. When burning, a light oil will exude from the surface of the dried tobacco leaves, making the tobacco smell particularly mellow.
Shulot took a deep breath, feeling the floral fragrance and faint sweetness in the smoke, and his spirits immediately lifted. He has served as a high priest for many years, often holding celebrations and ceremonies, and has some intuitive experience and feelings about the quality of sacred smoke.
"Well, it should be Tabasco tobacco. After simple fermentation, it has lost some astringency and bitterness. Oh! It has some flavors of almonds and raisins, which means it has been settling for several years. It is good, very ripe, and also It smells like flowers!"
Shulot closed his eyes and took a breath of the rich smoke. He held his breath, savored it for a while, and then blew out the smoke. The smell of this kind of tobacco is completely different from that of later cut tobacco cigarettes. Schlott is hard to describe, but intuitively, it might look more like the cigars he's heard of, burned here in boxes.
After a moment of relaxation, Shulot's sleepy brain finally became active. Eckart also returned with a sonorous and vigorous return carrying a plate of vanilla snacks and a pot of green grass cocoa tea.
This plate of vanilla snacks was invented by Shulot specifically in order to improve his life. That's beating and grinding aged vanilla pods into real vanilla powder. Then add the vanilla powder to honey, cornmeal, and turkey eggs, and then bake them after fermentation.
Simply put, it’s “Vanilla Honey Cornmeal Cake.” After adding expensive vanilla powder, it became a precious snack unique to America in this era. As for the taste of natural vanilla powder, take a sip.
"Very good! Natural tulle fragrance, endless aftertaste, not at all comparable to synthetic vanillin!"
Shulot nodded with satisfaction and ate two pieces of vanilla cake. However, although vanilla is delicious, it is produced in small quantities. Even in its native Mexico, vanilla is still expensive. The probability of natural pollination of its plants is usually only one in ten, and it requires bees unique to Central America for pollination.
Therefore, in history, it was not until 1841 that Edmond, a slave from Reunion Island, discovered the method of artificial pollination of vanilla. Since then, through artificial pollination, vanilla has finally been able to reproduce normally outside of Mexico, and its yield has been greatly increased. In the following decades, vanilla gradually moved from being a royal tribute that was worth more than gold to being used by ordinary nobles and big businessmen. As for ordinary people eating it, they have to wait another hundred years.
"Well, even if it is just to eat more vanilla cakes, we must teach the alliance the method of artificial pollination to increase the bean-bearing rate of vanilla several times! Of course, this method should be given first to Avitt, who has the largest share of Chinampa. The king, and the high priests of the capital.”
Shulot pondered for a moment and wrote down the matter. Then, he picked up a cup of slightly hot green grass cocoa tea, took a few sips, and felt instantly refreshed.
Although the Alliance's grass tea has a strange name, it is a drink that many people in later generations have tasted. That is "sarsaparilla" made from Mexican sarsaparilla. This is a medicinal drink first created by Native Americans. It is mainly used to relieve fever in summer. It can also be used to treat colds, rheumatism, gout and reduce fever.
The indigenous people of Brazil will be more serious. They added the zesty Brazilian cocoa (guarana) to herbal tea as a refreshing drink. As for Shulot, he is more accustomed to adding a little cocoa to green herbal tea to refresh himself.
"Cigar smoke, vanilla snacks, grass cocoa tea, this is the luxurious life of the Mexican aristocracy!"
Shulot smiled and laughed at himself. Then, he finally picked up Talea's letter again, concentrating on it, drawing pictures and recording it, and thinking about new gunpowder improvements.
"My Most Highness. After obtaining the soil salt, sulfur and charcoal, the craftsmen need to weigh the proportions. According to my experiments in the past few years, the explosion of caltrop is most stable at about 5:1:1. The most powerful. This ratio is easier to prepare than the 15:2:3 you calculated. Of course, if you want to burn poisonous smoke, you can increase the sulfur ratio, and the gunpowder arrows that set fire do not need so much soil salt. .”
Seeing this ratio, Shulot pondered for a moment and nodded with satisfaction. The alliance's sulfur purification technology is limited, so you need to add more. He secretly gave Talea a thumbs up and couldn't wait to read on.
"After the preparation is completed, the three ingredients must be thoroughly mixed, placed in a ceramic mortar, and slowly ground with a ceramic pestle. From here on, the craftsmen must be careful not to allow any kindling. When the gunpowder is completely ground After it is powdered, it must be sealed in a large clay pot according to your instructions, and the seal must be wrapped with a ring of rubber. "
"Since the Eastern Expedition, the kingdom's gunpowder has been transported by water, and it has also experienced precipitation in the rainy season. Once the gunpowder is soaked in water in the open air, it will lose its power. You reminded me of the reason. This is because soil nitrate dissolves in water. , the result of being carried away by water.”
"Last year's rainy season was very wet, and the gunpowder in some large clay pots was improperly sealed and got damp during transportation. After the craftsmen found out, they transported them back to the kingdom. However, the gunpowder in this batch of clay pots was not seriously affected by moisture, and the gunpowder inside was not seriously affected. The soil salt has not been taken away by the rain.”
"At the end of last autumn, when the rainy season ended, I and the craftsmen dispersed this batch of gunpowder in pottery boxes and carefully dried it. After drying, some powdered gunpowder formed into small balls. I used the gunpowder to pack some pottery, and I wanted to test whether it could still be used. As a result, an accident happened! The power of the gunpowder was surprisingly strong, and the broken pottery pieces even penetrated the blocking cloth bag and cut me. cheeks."
"What?!"
Seeing this, Shulot stood up suddenly. He thought of Talea's beautiful face, and his heart suddenly tightened. After a moment, he took a deep breath and continued reading.
"My Highness, my Sun God. I have lived up to your expectations. I finally discovered a way to improve gunpowder!"
However, Talea didn't mention much about the injury in her letter. Her handwriting is very light, the tail pen is upturned, and the excitement almost overflows from the paper.
"Your Highness! As long as you add a little water and dry it into small balls, the power of gunpowder will be doubled! I will never lie to you, it will be doubled or even more!!"
"I couldn't believe it at first, and I did many experiments. It was really powerful, and I almost hurt myself. Add water to the gunpowder and mix it slowly. As long as the gunpowder has the texture of thick clay, it's ready. ! The ratio of adding water is between one part in twenty and one part in ten!”
"After adding water, the gunpowder will stick to the medicine ball. At this time, use a pottery sieve to divide the gunpowder ball into many small parts and into many small particles. Finally, put them on the straw paper to dry in the sun, and their shape will be They will remain in the form of small particles, and their power will be like the thunder in the hands of the Lord God! My Sun God, I will kneel on the ground and dedicate the thunder to you."
After reading this, Shulot pursed his lips. His expression changed: he was worried, happy, moved, and a little enlightened.
"That's it! Add water, dry, and form granules. This is black powder granulation! This is a real improvement in gunpowder. It is a secret recipe that only appeared on the European battlefield at the beginning of this century!"
"After black powder is granulated, it will maintain uniform gaps and fully maintain the influx of oxygen, which facilitates the spread of flames and the burning of gunpowder! In other words, this will greatly improve the burning efficiency of gunpowder and will not be like powdered gunpowder. Likewise, it cannot burn completely, and the doubling of the combustion efficiency means the doubling of the power of the gunpowder!"
"From now on, the firing of the kingdom's artillery will be stable, and it will no longer require superb gunpowder loading skills. And after granulation, the gunpowder will not be separated into sulfur powder, charcoal powder and saltpeter powder due to the bumps of long-distance transportation. Layer, there is no need to mix it again before the war and one of the technical foundations of the heavy matchlock gun appears! ”
In the curling smoke of the gods, Shulot wrote furiously, writing down the thoughts in his mind one by one. After a while, he had only one last thought left. He raised his pen, but could not put it down.
"Talaiya, my loyal person. How should I reward you for your efforts and contributions over the years?"
The divine smoke slowly burned out, rising from the top of the tent and drifting towards the bright moon. The king lowered his eyes and put down the pen and paper. A full moon shone in his heart, flickering for a long time before falling into the depths of the heart lake and disappearing into the dust and smoke.