Chapter 1473: Alum

Even if it were given to Baifeng, Baifeng would not be able to recognize what this thing was. After all, in the natural world, there are simply too many things that can crystallize like this, and there is no shortage of things that look like this. He did not have much contact with them in the past, and now that so many years have passed, he had long since almost forgotten them completely.

Looking at these small, transparent particles now, Baifeng could feel that it should be an important thing and might be useful to Huaxia. As long as it is a product refined by artificial means, it must be useful. This thing is either alkali, saltpeter, or something else—a compound of some sort—but it definitely cannot be separated from those two things, or it is some kind of sodium compound. With Baifeng's shallow knowledge, he could only make such a guess.

"Have many people tasted this thing? Besides feeling astringent, are there any other symptoms? Has anyone experienced poisoning?"

The person who came just shook their head, because everyone had basically licked or tasted it, but up until now, not a single person had been poisoned.

Baifeng decided not to test it himself. Who knows if these things had been licked by others, and the danger was still quite high; it would be bad if he threw his own little life away.

"Then, besides these, have you discovered any other characteristics of it?"

Since Baifeng could not recognize the object, he could only know what its actual uses were after a large number of trials, and the person who came also mentioned the special situation they had encountered.

"King, after we discovered this situation, we prepared to use it to make a saturated solution and then precipitate crystals from the remaining ash. However, we discovered that it seems to be able to make water clear. We don't know the reason, and we are still experimenting. We also don't know if that water can be drunk. If it can be drunk, it could be taken as military supplies. When encountering dirty water, just put a little bit in, and it can turn the dirty water into clear water."

The characteristics of this thing suddenly gave Fang Qi a bit of a clue, but having not been in contact with that thing for so many years, it made him unable to recall what it was for a moment. In any case, it must be a very important thing; he had already remembered its uses, he just couldn't remember the name.

"King, King? What is wrong with you? Are you alright? Have you been poisoned?" Seeing Baifeng's such irritable and frantic expression made the people from the Ministry of Works a bit panicked, and Baifeng's servants also stared with nervous faces. If Baifeng said he felt any discomfort, they would immediately carry Baifeng to the Hospital.

It was just that, looking at it now, it seemed to be the expression and behavior that would appear when the master was thinking about something quite difficult or something that made people frantic, so there was no need to be too nervous.

After racking his brains for a long time, Baifeng felt that he was just a tiny bit away from remembering what the thing was. Since he couldn't think of it now, then so be it. First, go and verify whether this thing was the one he knew. If it really was, then for Huaxia, it would be a great, great, great good thing.

"I can't remember the name. Let's go, take these things first, and we will go out to experiment!"

Baifeng's sudden decisiveness left the people from the Ministry of Works a bit dazed, but it looked like the King probably recognized what this thing was. This was a great thing, oh! This way, they could save a lot of trial-and-error time and also be able to earn merit.

The first place Baifeng went to was not somewhere else, but the Fangzhi Chang. Now, the Fangzhi Chang was not just purely weaving; it was also dyeing cloth. It was just that they had found many kinds of dyes now, and as long as something looked colored, it was all taken to be used as dye. After various attempts, a few types were kept, but currently, the color-fixing effect was very poor; the color would fade every time it was washed, and the variety of colors was also not rich enough.

A very important reason was still the weaving technology. The Hemp Cloth produced now was already much finer and denser than the previous kind of Hemp Cloth, and it was also softer. Those coarser Hemp Cloths were all used for industrial purposes, such as making sacks, which were relatively sturdy. What people wore on their bodies was the relatively fine and soft kind.

The production of Silk was not enough; after all, it was spat out by worms, and that production was not high, so only the Noble could possess a relatively large amount of Silk. Commoners could also afford to buy it, but they were a bit reluctant. Every year, a large amount of Silk still flowed into the market, so Huaxia people had basically all seen Silk, it was just that they were usually reluctant to use it.

As for the colors dyed, they were still just those few types, and there was still no change, but at least they looked much better than those of other tribes. They didn't even consider the issue of dyeing because they felt there was no need; being able to wear it was the most important thing.

Miaoyin had now basically let go of the music Regiment and completely handed the music Regiment over to the Ministry of Rites to manage. She herself did not practice musical instruments much either, because she felt that in this line of work, she would not make any more achievements. Many musical instruments had already been created, and the music theory had also been completed. What could she do now? She couldn't do anything.

Looking at the Fangzhi Chang side, she felt there were too many new technologies to explore. Embroidery already had a prototype and was still being improved; this point was a major technological breakthrough. There were also different needle techniques explored at this time, used to sew different positions to make clothes more sturdy.

As for dyeing, it had now completely entered a bottleneck period. All kinds of plants had been tried, but they could never dye a truly beautiful color. The colors of her favorite peach blossoms and begonia flowers could not be dyed at all.

Added to the material of the Hemp Cloth, the colors dyed were even stranger and difficult to fix. In any case, due to various reasons, the matter of dyeing was at a standstill.

Baifeng had people go and find most of this kind of crystal now, preparing to do an experiment. While on the road, he also remembered that name: Alum. If it really was Alum, then it would be very important for Huaxia.

It could also be used in small amounts in food, especially when making noodles; one could add a little to make them form well. After all, Huaxia had a lot of soybean starch, and then it could be used to make vermicelli. After drying, it could be stored for a long time. Alum could increase the toughness and make it not so easy to break.

Although Baifeng had not done it, he guessed it should be about the same. He had only made potato starch noodles before, and he was the kind who participated in the whole process, so he could teach everyone the experience in this aspect now, allowing the soybean, which had the highest yield, to be successfully eaten into people's stomachs.

The most important function of Alum was color fixing. When dyeing, with Alum, it could make the dyed cloth stop fading, and it could also make the dyed colors look better through reactions.

Baifeng was able to know this entirely because he had been in contact with a little bit of meticulous brushwork painting before, among which there was the saying of "three alums and nine dyes"—paint once, then apply a layer of alum water, then apply color, then apply alum water, and repeat this. Only in this way could the meticulous brushwork painting present that delicate, layered feeling, and it would not lose color—at least, it would not lose color so easily.