Chapter 302: Quicklime

"Pale stones usually appear near water veins, such as lakes and oceans. If you look carefully, you'll find a lot of them."

Field suddenly realized: When I was in school, I only remembered its chemical properties and had no idea where it was distributed. After all, I wouldn't use it in the exam.

Yago didn't expect Field's reaction to be so big. In his opinion, this kind of crappy alchemy material was not worth mentioning at all.

After all, there are all kinds of alchemical materials, such as the old widow's foot-binding cloth and the giant's toenails. And a piece of gray-white stone has no style at all.

"Sir, when you touch the pale... er, the limestone you mentioned, be careful with your hands. Limestone will peel your hands."

After hearing this, Field became even more convinced that the person in front of him had not deceived him.

"You are right. Limestone is calcium hydroxide, which is corrosive to the skin."

Quickly gathering a mining convoy, Field lit the torch and immediately led the team to search for limestone. Although the rain had just stopped and the road was slippery, Field couldn't wait to find the raw materials for lime.

After walking downstream along the river that ran through Starry Night City, in just over two hours, everyone arrived at an unremarkable shallow lowland. The only thing that caught people's attention was that there were traces of a camp on the ground and two mercenary corpses that had been chewed into skeletons.

"I'm pretty sure this is where we camped."

Yago took the shovel from the carriage and shoveled away the sticky corrupt secretions on the ground, revealing rugged blue and white stones.

"Yes, that's it!"

Field stamped his feet excitedly and laughed loudly: "Very good, Mr. Yago, I will reward you with a gold coin as a reward. In addition, you are hired as a scholar of the Night Leader, and you can choose a room on the second floor of the winery. , as a bedroom.”

"Ah? Really, really?" Yago was stunned.

When I was in the Griffin Province, I lived in poverty. In order to get food to satisfy my hunger, I had to work to make money.

When I tried to join the Scholars Association, I produced my most proud research results, but was kicked out.

"Who would have thought that my research results could not be exchanged for a single copper, but in the northern province where death is dense, I could get a gold coin by just looking for a broken stone."

Yago was confused and didn't know whether to cry or laugh now. It just felt like a dream, and he was still very moved when he woke up.

"It just so happens that the limestone veins are very close to the territory, so we don't need to spend a lot of effort to occupy them."

With a long sigh of relief, Field felt that the big stone in his heart fell to the ground. Once cement is available, the territory's defense strength will increase rapidly.

"Everyone gathers limestone until the wagon is full."

There were no accidents. After collecting the limestone, everyone returned to the territory.

Field immediately had the pit dug, and at the same time arranged for slaves to break the limestone into small pieces and throw them into the fire for roasting.

"Sir, is this the cement you want to make?" Tisifa approached Field with a curious look on her face and grabbed Field's arm, "I heard you talk about it several times."

"There are many conditions required to make cement. It requires the construction of a factory specifically for firing cement and a complete industrial chain. I will make hydrated lime first. Hydrated lime is also one of the materials for making cement."

"To produce cement, you need to mix limestone with clay and iron powder, calcine at 1400-1500 degrees Celsius to form clinker, then mix it with gypsum, and finally grind it into powder particles for use."

Of course, iron powder, clay, etc. are all by-products of other factories and do not count as laborious.

Although she didn't understand what Field was saying, Tisifa still listened patiently: "Field, you know a lot."

"Then you must know a lot." Field showed a disdainful expression and looked around unconsciously.

"Well, stop torturing my rabbit."

Tisifa understood instantly and turned her head away with a blushing face: "I couldn't control my expression at that time.

After teasing Tisifa, the limestone in the fire was almost burned.

"Throw the burned stones into the water."

Yago looked on, and he was curious as to why the baron burned these stones and then threw them into the water.

Heating and then cooling?

What's the point of this, Yago can't understand.

"Stab~"

As the bubbles roll and the limestone melts into the water, the once clear water becomes cloudy and the stones disappear.

"Sir, do you know how to do alchemy?" Yago was shocked. "Where did the stone go? This is the first time I have seen alchemy magic up close. It's amazing."

"You can also say it's alchemy, haha."

"This is hydrated lime. Let the slaves continue to bake it and then mix it with sand. This stuff is similar to rice slurry and can be used to build houses."

In many parts of the empire, natural adhesives, such as glutinous rice and potato powder, were used to build houses. This was too wasteful. The food collected at night was not enough for people to eat, so it was impossible to use it to build houses.

Advanced places use mortar and loess, and magic materials are the best, but unfortunately they are extremely expensive.

It is worth mentioning that the Zijin Empire once excavated volcanic ash and made a natural version of cement, which was almost indistinguishable from modern cement, and thus built a large number of magnificent buildings.

But as time went by, they, who did not understand the principle, eventually ran out of rare natural materials.

After Field finished explaining, he asked someone to record it.

"Transfer the two masons from the brick factory, assign them thirty slaves, and quickly produce qualified hydrated lime for me. Supply it to the two outposts first, and quickly build a brick wall."

After that, Field returned to the rest area of ​​the castle.

"The Baron is a wise man."

After grinding the slaked lime, Yago was so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth.

"Of course." The stonemason said as a matter of course.

The next day.

After breakfast, Field went to the interior office of the winery as usual to clock in for work.

"My lord, something regrettable has happened. There are a group of slaves in the territory, and evil spirits have entered their bodies." Kao looked nervous, "They are cursed by the devil. Damn it, we should burn those bastards to death, otherwise the goddess will punish them."

"Fuck, evil spirits have entered their bodies?"

Field almost jumped up in fright, thinking that the terrifying demon had come to the night territory.

Then he remembered that in this world, colds are called evil spirits entering the body. Field sat down slowly and calmed down: "You scared me early in the morning, it turned out to be a cold."

"Tell me the symptoms, I'll confirm it again." Field pushed the eyes that didn't exist at all, and the calm eyes gave Kao courage.

"It's just that their limbs are weak and their faces are as hot as boiled eggs."

"That's right, they just have a cold. If you're worried, ask Pastor Lydia to cast Holy Light on them. It should be the heavy rain that broke the already fragile slaves."