Under the orders of the Emperor Taishang, more than 30 little eunuchs hummed and painstakingly moved all the drinks out of the treasury of the Daogong Palace, and filled them in the small courtyard in front of the dining room.

The brewing process of rice wine is not bothersome, it is a low-alcohol brewing wine, and the alcohol content is generally between 14% and 20%. In later generations, there are famous Shaoxing old wine, daughter red, champion red, Huadiao wine and so on.

Rice wine is brewed from almost all grains, but Guanzhong is generally brewed with corn.

Fengjiu, an old brand that has been handed down from the Western Zhou Dynasty, has always been a royal wine, although it is sake (the wine tank is separated from the liquor), but the degree is still not high, but the taste is more sweet than rice wine.

However, no matter how expensive the wine is, it is like boiled water in ordinary people's homes here in the Emperor Taishang.

The Emperor Taishang was also not stingy in using it, poured two cans of rice wine into the retort, and then set up a boiler.

After a while, Si Zhong was sweating profusely, but he still insisted on waving the pu fan, the opportunity to get close to the Emperor Taishang was hard to get, how could he give up so easily.

The fire under the boiler became more and more intense, and the retort lid continued to emit steam, but most of it condensed into a liquid after passing through the simple cooler placed by the Emperor Taishang on it, and flowed down the pipe into the small clay pot.

Li Yuan put his fingers into the small clay pot, dipped some of the wine that had been cooled, and tasted it, but his face was a little unsightly in an instant.

After purification, the wine is indeed more alcoholic than before. But this improvement is minimal.

After a moment's thought, he figured out why. The simple still he made out of retorts, although it was able to purify the alcohol content, was undoubtedly too disturbed by external conditions.

For example, he can only collect a small part of the steam that comes out of the pores of the retort cover, and more of the steam runs away, and rarely touches the cooler.

The boiling point of ethanol is about 78.5 degrees Celsius, which is much lower than the boiling point of water.

Seeing the dissatisfaction on the face of the Emperor Taishang, Si Zhong shook the pu fan with more strength. After a while, the jar of rice wine in the retort quickly evaporated, leaving only less than a third of the previous appearance in the small clay pot.

An hour later, a can of rice wine is only about the amount of a small bottle of perfume in later generations.

The alcohol content has indeed reached the point where it can be smelled in the nose:

"It's a pity...... The distillation and purification of the liquor is too little and too little, and it is a little less than up to standard. Li Yuan smelled the smell inside the small clay pot, and felt a little pity in his heart, so he couldn't help but sigh.

The distiller made of retorts is too inefficient and wastes raw materials. This jar of rice wine costs nearly 100 yuan, but how much can this small bottle of perfume be sold for?

What's more, perfumes don't just contain ethanol, they must also be fragranced. The most common spices are flowers, peonies, chrysanthemums, jasmine, etc., and of course, there are also spices imported from the Western Regions.

But without exception, the price of spices is not cheap.

"This simple still has to be improved, and it is urgent." Li Yuan thought secretly in his heart.

He owes the Ministry of Works a total of 1,430 yuan, and must find a way to fill this hole within a month.

If the distiller is not improved, the purchase price of each bottle of perfume will first account for about 100 yuan. Perfumes are aimed at the aristocracy, the upper class, so it is understandable that the price is higher.

Even if the sky-high price of 500 wen is set, if it is not improved to improve efficiency, it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice!

But something unexpected happened to Li Yuan, Si Zhong touched the sweat on his forehead, gasped and said intermittently: "Three years ago, my mother was seriously ill, and I had no choice but to go to Yingtianguan in Chang'an to seek medicine.

On the way to ask for medicine, I saw two Taoist leaders with two boys. The boy is responsible for lighting the fire in the alchemy furnace, just like a certain now, except that what flows out of the alchemy furnace is not gold pills, but mercury! ”

"Mercury?" Li Yuan's heart exploded in an instant, since ancient times, Taoist priests in China have been indispensable for alchemy in every dynasty and generation.

The four major inventions of gunpowder may have been recorded as early as the Qin Dynasty. It was a alchemy, and then the medicinal properties clashed, and finally it was gone.

But in the end, it was discovered by Sun Simiao in the early Tang Dynasty, Sun Lao Immortal when he was refining pills.

I just don't know if Sun Simiao has eaten the golden pill he practiced?

It stands to reason that sooner or later the heavy metals will exceed the standard. But it's helpless, Sun Simiao is still quite comfortable.

"What Dao Jun said is extremely true, the price of mercury is already expensive, and a certain person has carefully observed the scene of the alchemy of the Taoist priests of Yingtianguan, and often the ground vermilion dansha is poured into the alchemy furnace, and the precious ......mercury can be obtained in the end," Si Zhong recalled diligently.

Cinnabar, generally speaking, the main ingredient is mercury sulfide, after the alchemy of Taoist priests. Mercury sulfide, also known as salsa, is gradually decomposed into sulfur dioxide and mercury (mercury).

"So what do you mean...... Is there a complete distillation apparatus like this in the Taoist temple? Li Yuan said suspiciously.

Si Zhong frowned, hesitated for a long time, and said: "I saw it a few years ago, although the time is a little long, but the memory in my mind is very familiar, vivid, as if it was last night......"

"Since this is the case, then I have to go to find Sun Simiao, after all, when it comes to the Taoist priest in Guanzhong, who is the most powerful, it belongs to him...... Let's see if he has a way. ”

Sun Simiao's main business is a Taoist priest, not Langzhong, who is just a hobby of his amateur.

The four major inventions in China are papermaking, the compass, gunpowder, and printing.

Among them, the gunpowder technique was as early as the Qin Dynasty, and there was a monk who made alchemy for the first emperor, and it was discovered that the alchemy furnace exploded for unknown reasons.

Later, Sun Simiao failed in alchemy many times, and finally summed up the refining method of black powder.

If the Emperor Taishang wants to find complete distillation equipment from the Taoist priest, except for Sun Simiao, there is probably no one in Guanzhong who has this ability.

After all, alchemy is not something that can be practiced if you want to, this thing is extremely expensive, and only a Taoist celebrity like Sun Simiao has the ability to play.

And at the moment.

Royal College of Physicians, Vice-President of Chang Dao Yuan.

Sun Simiao looked at the alchemy furnace that exploded in front of him and shattered into pieces, and his heart suddenly dripped blood.

There were all kinds of materials in it, such as lead, zengqing, realgar, mercury, copper, etc., but suddenly it was a mess.

These materials that are refined add up to a lot of money.

"Who is harming the old way, when the old way is finally refined, when he sneezes, what is it...... What the...... Not anymore. ”

"Uh-huh, if it weren't for the dog's thousands of killings, the ...... The elixir of immortality would not fail like this, if it hadn't been for this failure, E's mood would not have been so depressed, and if his mood hadn't been so depressed, E's mood would not have been ......."