There may be many people who despise candles and subjectively think: how much is a candle, and how much can it feed a smelting bureau?

However, Zhao Hongrun has already done some investigation on this matter.

In those days, there were no electric lighting devices, so when the sky darkened, every household needed to light oil lamps or candles to light the house.

The people of Wei, even those who lived in the royal capital of Daliang, were almost mostly engaged in farming.

These honest Wei peasants had to toil in the fields until nightfall, and when they could hardly see anything, they returned to Daliang at the last moment with their farm tools on their backs.

And by the time they returned to their respective homes, it was already around the time of unitary and the end of the year.

At this time, the women of the family will light oil lamps or candles in the house, and the family will finish their dinner in harmony with the only light they have.

Afterwards, the men sat in the house drinking a cup of tea and scalding their feet, while the women sat next to them, making the most of the artificial light, sewing and mending their clothes in the house, and the children, playing on the beds in the house.

A scene of harmony and family.

In fact, a candle only illuminates for about a quarter of an hour, which is almost two candles per household.

This huge consumption made Zhao Hongrun feel itchy.

Therefore, in the first few days of May, Zhao Hongrun made a rare effort to drill into the smelting bureau, urging the craftsmen in the smelting bureau to make candles according to his requirements.

The raw materials of the candles made in Wei are still mainly animal fat, and this kind of candle can be eaten.

But the problem is that this kind of candle made of animal fat as the main raw material will produce a puff of black smoke when lit. In addition, there is an unpleasant stench, as if something is burnt, and it stinks.

In this regard, Zhao Hongrun was really puzzled, after all, he had used candles in his palace for more than ten years. But I've never encountered anything like this.

It wasn't until Wang Fu, the director of the Smelting Bureau, explained to Zhao Hongrun that Zhao Hongrun understood: It turned out that the palace candles in the palace were not made of animal fat, but used another more noble raw material, beeswax.

Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun suddenly realized, no wonder he had smelled some sweet fragrance.

"Is it expensive to make candles made of beeswax?"

Wang Fu of the Smelting Bureau glanced at His Royal Highness King Su, who had lived in the deep palace for a long time, and said with a wry smile: "That is the tribute candle specially provided by the Internal Creation Bureau to the palace. ”

Wang Fu pronounced a sentence on Zhao Hongrun's idea of replacing animal fat with beeswax: candles made of beeswax instead of grease are sold to the people? At what price? It's expensive, and ordinary people can't afford it at all. This makes this candle have a price and no market; And if the land is sold cheaply, the smelting bureau will definitely vomit blood at a loss.

"Is there nothing that can replace grease? The cost should not be so outrageous to beeswax. Zhao Hongrun asked helplessly.

Hearing this, Wang Fu thought for a while and said: "There is a kind of tree in Pakistan, and there are many white insects living on the tree, called 'ash worms', and they are cut off in pieces during the harvest season. If you heat it slightly, you will get "white wax oil". Last year, when His Royal Highness King Su supervised the examination venue, he asked me to make the batch of white wax made by the Metallurgical Manufacturing Bureau, including the white wax on the examination site, which was the wax oil secreted by those "white ash worms". ”

Zhao Hongrun was stunned when he heard this, frowned and asked, "Then this kind of tree is in my Great Wei ......?"

Wang Fu shook his head. He smiled bitterly and said: "Those trees are regarded as 'treasure trees' by the Ba people, and the Ba people still hope to earn a steady stream of profits from my Great Wei, how can they teach me how to cultivate the Wei people?" Only by trading. ”

"Deal?"

"That's right! My Great Wei has a caravan dedicated to trading with Pakistan, and some of the materials that my Great Wei lacks are transported to Great Wei, such as this brocade robe on your Royal Highness. It is made of brocade from Shu, although my Great Wei also has a spinning process, but it is not as good as the people of Baguo. ”

"Caravanserai in charge of trading with Pakistan......

Zhao Hongrun smacked his lips, because if nothing else, it seems that this kind of caravan with extremely rich returns must be controlled by some famous and wealthy families in the Great Wei Dynasty, and even, maybe the people of the Ji family are also involved, and if you think about it, you will know that it must be a huge chain of interests.

"What do the Ba people want?" Zhao Hongrun asked.

I saw Wang Fu brushing his beard, and said in a low voice: "Gold!" …… To be precise, it is jewelry and utensils made of gold, which is a symbol of dignity in Pakistan, but all powerful Pakistani people are eager to wear gold utensils. ”

『……』

Zhao Hongrun glanced at Wang Fu in surprise, after all, according to his judgment, there would be no shortage of gold mines in the land of Baqian and Shu, no matter how it was not less than the gold mines in the territory of Great Wei, but why did the Ba people trade gold from the side of Great Wei?

Thinking about it, Zhao Hongrun only thought of one possibility: maybe the gold mines in the land of Baqian and Shu were buried deeply, so the people of Ba didn't know that they actually stepped on a lot of gold mines under their feet.

This is good news, after all, as long as the Ba people do not realize the gold mines under their feet for a day, it means that the gold of the Great Wei still has value in those countries, and can be exchanged for more things.

But the problem is that the gold mine output of Dawei is not much, and with this non-renewable mineral, even if it is just gold that Zhao Hongrun thinks is flashy, in exchange for light handicrafts such as white wax and silk, which can be produced continuously, Zhao Hongrun feels a little at a loss no matter how he thinks about it.

What's more, the cost of making candles with this kind of pure imported white wax cannot be low at all, and if one is not good, it will become a part-time job for the Ba people.

After thinking about it, Zhao Hongrun still decided to use grease as a raw material for the production of candles: if the smell is unpleasant, it will not smell, at least the cost can be controlled in the future, right?

However, for the so-called treasure tree parasitic with "ash worms" in Pakistan, Zhao Hongrun also remembers it in his heart.

After all, paraffin wax (obtained by decomposing oil) is simply not available with the current process of Dawei, so white wax is bound to become the main raw material for candles, which means that Zhao Hongrun is bound to completely replace animal oil with white wax one day, so that the ash trees and ash insects in Pakistan. It became something he was bound to take.

And in response to this matter, robbing is not a good way, after all, the Ba people may directly destroy those trees in line with the broken can and broken mentality of "I can't have it and you can't get it", then Zhao Hongrun will probably be dumbfounded.

After all, it takes at least ten years to cultivate a tree. And how many decades does he Zhao Hongrun have?

Therefore, Zhao Hongrun still prefers to obtain those things by peaceful means, if he can.

As for the case that you can't get it, you can only honestly make candles from animal fat.

It has to be said that the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau are indeed very skilled, although they do not have much experience in making candles, but they have a certain sense of bypass, they will buy a large amount of pig fat from the market, pour it into a large pot, and fry the fat. Filter out the impurities on the surface, and then mix in some pine resin and some other powder that Zhao Hongrun can't name.

Finally, according to Zhao Hongrun's request, add some salt, and then continue to stir evenly.

After that, it is poured into a pre-prepared mold.

I saw that those molds were all semi-circular depressions.

Before the candle oil in these molds had cooled, the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau put the cotton threads they had prepared in advance. When the grease is about to fully set, quickly cover it with another unadded cotton thread. And on the mold filled with the candle oil that has not yet condensed, after the candle oil in the two molds has cooled, the smelting bureau obtains a candle.

"Your Highness, I've kept you waiting."

Jucheng Wang Fu handed over the first candle after solidification to Zhao Hongrun.

Zhao Hongrun took the candle and looked left and right. Even compared to other candles that have not yet solidified.

It has to be said that the work done by the craftsmen of the Metallurgical Bureau is rigorous, especially after Zhao Hongrun improved the weights and measures, and the convenience of measurement has become especially accurate. No, I saw that these dozens of candles looked almost identical from the outside, and the workmanship was fine, it was hard to imagine that they could only sell for ten copper coins a candle.

But even so, Zhao Hongrun still found all kinds of problems.

First of all, this production method takes a long time, the process is complex, and the manpower required is large, unless Zhao Hongrun recruits tens of thousands of people to participate in the manufacturing, and it is made day and night, otherwise, he wants to use the candles produced by the Smelting Bureau to become the mainstream of candles in the Dawei market, don't think about it.

Without him, because the output per unit time is insufficient, it is far lower than Zhao Hongrun's estimate.

It is no wonder that even candles made from animal fats and fats remain high in the market, due to their production.

The problem of output made Zhao Hongrun, who originally had ambitions to occupy the mainstream of the Dawei market, feel as if he had been poured cold water on his face, and the enthusiasm in his heart was completely extinguished.

"If you want a faster and more convenient way to mass production!"

Handing the candle to Wang Fu, Zhao Hongrun picked up two empty molds not far away, and observed them repeatedly.

After a long time, he asked: "Wang Fu, if my smelting bureau builds a few large molds to produce candles, can it be done?" ”

Wang Fu hesitated for a moment when he heard this, and said in a deep voice: "I'm afraid it can't solve the cotton core problem." ”

Zhao Hongrun was silent.

Yes, the reason why the process of candles is complicated is the cotton wick in the middle, without which anyone can easily produce in large quantities.

This is also the reason why for a while, the Dawei market was flooded with a batch of fake candles without cotton cores.

"Let's put this project on hold for now."

Zhao Hongrun put down the two molds in his hand and said with some disappointment.

Behind him, Wang Fu was stunned when he heard this, and his expression was a little embarrassed: "Your Highness, don't you want to give up this way to make money?" ”

"Give up?"

Zhao Hongrun glanced back at Wang Fu and said with a smile: "Why give up?" The smelting bureau in charge of this king has talents! …… Gather all the craftsmen in the bureau to discuss this matter together, and if anyone comes up with a wonderful way to solve this problem for this king, this king will reward him with two thousand taels of silver! ”

"Two ...... A thousand taels? Jucheng Wang Fu swallowed in shock, after all, it was a huge reward equivalent to a year's worth of his salary.

"Yes!"

On that day, the craftsmen of the entire smelting bureau were boiling after hearing this reward. (To be continued.) )