At the same time as the escort team was training, the Juzhou soap shop opened on March 12.

This time, the scale of the Juzhou soap shop has expanded more than tenfold, from the original 18 people to more than 200 people. Together with the raw material warehouse, finished product warehouse, and logistics staff of the house, there are a total of 220 people, and almost every household in the village has someone working in the soap factory.

The secrecy of soap recipes for so many people has become a problem. In fact, He Zhiyuan knew that the leakage of soap formulas was a matter of time, because the raw materials were too simple, and it was impossible for grease and lime to keep secrets. In order to keep it secret, He Zhiyuan suggested that his father find four or five reliable people and grind the soda into powder in advance, so that it would be impossible to distinguish it from the appearance.

According to He Zhiyuan's suggestion, Xu Tangyi took turns to guard the courtyard every day with two small flags, patrolling and guarding the workshop, among which there was a small flag focused on guarding the plant essential oil distillation and extraction shed, which was not so much a shed as a small courtyard.

The shed is surrounded by a fence and guarded by two courtyards, which are strictly forbidden to unrelated personnel. Because essential oils are an important raw material for making soap, it is now important to focus on protection. In this small courtyard where essential oils are extracted are four stoves, each with a large cauldron with four layers of steamers, and at the top of the steamer, there is a wooden pipe, which passes directly through a tank filled with water, sticks out at the other end of the tank, and at the lower end a porcelain bottle containing essential oils.

In fact, this is the same principle as distilled spirits, and even the equipment is similar. In his previous life, He Zhiyuan traveled to Zhejiang one year and had seen this traditional method of distilling liquor, but he didn't expect to be able to use it immediately when he came to the Ming Dynasty.

Five days before the opening of the workshop, He Zhiyuan discussed with Zhou Fuliu, and used the Zhou family's stores all over the province to buy a large number of flowers, branches and leaves of peonies, roses, azaleas, and lavender.

On the morning of the opening, He Zhiyuan instructed the employees to start the flavor extraction in this small courtyard. He first had the flowers, branches and leaves of the four plants chopped up with a knife, filled the cauldron with water, and then placed the chopped materials in layers in a cage, covered and sealed.

When he had done all this, he instructed his hired servants to start the fire, and when the steam came out, it was slowly burned over a low fire, and then the steam began to smell faintly. But in the wooden tube above the porcelain vase that received the essence for a whole hour, no liquid appeared for a long time, but the fragrance became stronger and stronger.

Everyone watched and discussed, and He Zhiyuan was also anxious. Wouldn't this work? In his previous life, he had also read this information, and in principle, it was completely correct. Could it be that something went wrong?

After waiting for another half hour, a drop of liquid finally dripped out. He Zhiyuan leaned over to the bottle and smelled it, a rich fragrance came to his nose, there is no doubt that this is the essence! He Zhiyuan's hanging heart finally let go.

After a while, there was another drop. And then the drip goes faster and faster. The aroma in the yard also became stronger and stronger, and lasted for about half an hour, the fragrance became lighter, and the liquid dripped more and more slowly, until finally no more essence dripped out.

He Zhiyuan picked up the porcelain vase and looked at it, he was worried, there were about less than two taels of essence, but the fragrance was very strong, and he could smell it far away from the porcelain vase. He Lao Liu was distressed when he saw that he had just steamed such a little essence, and asked: "Big brother, these more than ten taels of silver, more than two hundred catties of flowers are steamed out of such a little?" That's more expensive than gold. The yard is full of fragrance, is it all running away with the steam coming out? We have to think of a way to make the steamer sturdy and not let the steam escape. ”

He Lao Liu is the elder brother of the family who did not come out of the five suits, and he is six at home, so everyone calls him He Lao Liu, and he is the same year as He Zhigao of his uncle's family. He is honest and responsible, and he is also smart and capable, so his father put him in charge of flavor extraction.

"Sixth brother, you're right, but this method is right. You can change this steamer again, make it more tight, and the flavor can be extracted more. He Zhiyuan said to He Lao Liu.

After arranging the things in the flavor workshop, he left the workshop, and the future things will be done by the sixth child. He wanted to go to the library to replace the young lady, and the things in the school were thrown to her, and he almost never went, and the old lady kept muttering in front of him, urging him to go to the school to see more.

In the Qi Mansion, Xie Er stood in the living room and said to Qi Honglie: "Master, Niu Erdan, who is from the same village as me, found me and wanted to come here as a nurse. He said that he used to build a reservoir in Hejia Village, and he had also been to the workshop, and he was very familiar with that village. ”

Qi Honglie heard that he had been to a soap workshop, and immediately became interested: "Oh? You bring him and I'll ask him. ”

"Yes, sir. He was right outside the door, and I called him over. ”

Xie Er said as he walked with Niu Erdan: "Master Qi is a loose rank undertaker, and he is an official rank of the seventh grade, and you have to kneel and bow when you see Master Qi." ”

Niu Erdan came to the living room, like a little daughter-in-law, lowered his head, slowly walked in front of Qi Honglie, knelt on his knees and said in a trembling voice: "The villain has seen Master Qi. ”

Qi Honglie looked at his servile appearance, not like a martial arts practitioner, and felt a little disdain and disappointment in his heart, but said lightly, "Get up, get up and speak." ”

"Master Xie Qi." Niu Erdan stood up and stood grovelling in the living room waiting for Liu Honglie to ask.

"How long have you been working in Hejia Village? Familiar with that workshop? ”

"The villain has worked at the reservoir construction site for a month, and I have also been in the new workshop, so I am very familiar with the situation inside."

"And you know what soaps are made of?"

"The villain doesn't know much, he only sees lard, lime or something pulled into the courtyard, but how to mix it is not very clear."

Hearing him say this, the look of disappointment on Qi Honglie's face became even heavier, he also knew this, but he couldn't make soap with these alone.

Niu Erdan looked at Qi Honglie's expression, and hurriedly said, "But a distant brother of Xiaomin works in the new workshop. If I had asked him, I would have been able to find out. ”

At this time, a family member named Liu Xigui from Qi Mansion walked in with a tea tray. Qi Honglie said: "Master, your tea is cold, I'll change a cup of tea for you." ”

Just when Liu Ergui was changing tea, Niu Erdan said flatteringly: "Master, the villain still knows the big boss on Ma Qi Mountain's 'Wind Chasing Whip'......"

Qi Honglie glared at him and said, "What does knowing a ringing horse have to do with me?" ”

When the family went out after changing the tea, Niu Erdan flattered: Master Qi, the villain has an idea. I don't know if to talk about it? ”

"Tell me about it."

Niu Erdan glanced around a few times and said: "The villain knows the second master on Ma Qi Mountain, his name is Chu Ying, and he is a military advisor who chases the wind whip, we can ask them to help......

At this time, a figure outside the house was pressed against the door, listening quietly.

Early in the morning, Zhou Xuhai sat in a carriage and hurried to He's house. He Shaoyun saw that he was in a hurry, there must be something, so he hurriedly welcomed him into the house and ordered Yulian to serve tea. At this time, the He family had just had breakfast and were still at home. Zhou Fuliu asked anxiously and worriedly, "Father, but what's the matter?" ”

"There's an urgent matter, let's discuss it." Then he said to He Shaoyun: "Brother Xian, please also invite your nephew to come over and discuss together." ”

He Shaoyun knew that the matter was urgent when he saw Zhou Xuhai's expression, so he hurriedly called He Zhiyuan, retreated from the others, and closed the door. After everyone sat down again, Zhou Xuhai said: "The Qi family may be unfavorable to our workshop, I came today to tell you to be more careful these days." ”

He Shaoyun chuckled in his heart, his heart should have come, but he still came, and his expression immediately panicked.

He Zhiyuan didn't panic, and said easily: "Uncle Zhou, don't worry, let's talk about the details first." ”

"Our Zhou family and the Qi family are rivals in business, this Qi Honglie is ruthless, and he doesn't pay attention to the rules of the business field. I've suffered a few losses before, and just in case, I arranged for spies to be in his house early on. ”

"Last night, the spy informed the shopkeeper Xu that there was a housekeeper named Xie Er yesterday who took a person to see Qi Honglie, and the two talked sneakily in the house for a long time. The spy didn't listen very carefully outside, but he generally heard them talking about the soap shop in Hejia Village, as well as the recipes, raw materials, and so on. ”

"The spy took the opportunity to change tea to the house, and heard the man say, 'The villain still knows the big boss on Ma Qi Mountain', and was interrupted by Qi Honglie before he finished speaking. Later, he heard them outside the door asking for help. ”

After listening to Zhou Xuhai's story, everyone basically understood the general situation. This must be the recipe for the Qi family to get the soap, and they plan to ask the Xiangma on Ma Qi Mountain for help, but as for how to help, there is no way to know.

He Zhiyuan asked again: "Does the person who met Qi Honglie know who it is?" ”

"I don't know about this, that spy is also the first time to see him in Qi Mansion."

"What does that guy look like?"

"According to the secret agent, he was more than six feet and an inch tall, burly, slightly fat, and about twenty-three or fourteen years old. The face is a little obscene, the eyes are not big, the skin is yellow, and there is a long scar on the left forehead of the face. ”

"Niu Erdan!?" He Shaoyun's father and son shouted at the same time: "Isn't this the second egg who came to the interview a few days ago and competed with Ma Wu?" "Both had an impression of him.

Then, He Shaoyun told everyone about the competition that day.

Zhou Xuhai thought about it for a while and said: "Now that the matter is basically clear, it is the Qi family and Niu Erdan who colluded with the ringing horses of Ma Qishan to steal or steal the formula of the soap workshop. The next thing is how to deal with it, judging from the current situation, the Qi family will never come forward, and it will definitely let Xiangma come forward. ”

He Shaoyun said eagerly: "Let Xu Tangyi lead the escort team to patrol day and night, especially to strengthen patrols at night!" ”

Zhou Fuliu said: "This is not the way. We are in the light, and the horses are in the dark. As the saying goes, guns are easy to dodge, hidden arrows are difficult to defend, and the escort patrols day and night, and there are always times when they are negligent. If we were the slightest negligent, we would have suffered a great loss if the horses had a surprise attack. Besides, if the Qi family wants a formula, he doesn't necessarily have to attack the workshop, if he kidnaps the hired workers in the workshop, or kidnaps one of us at random and asks for the soap formula, how will he deal with it? ”

When everyone heard this, it was true, and then they all fell silent, bowing their heads and thinking about what to do.

After a while, He Zhiyuan said slowly: "Then we might as well come up with a plan, kill two birds with one stone, and let the Qi family lift the stone and hit their own feet." ”