"Why does the eldest brother want to keep his husband in the imperial city?" The most tormented these days is not Hong Tao who is trapped in the palace, but the princess who stays in the Pony Mansion.

The two of them entered the palace together and came back, but the husband was left in the palace by the emperor for ten days.

"Don't worry about the lady, the official family wants to arrange a new errand for her husband, and the stakes are so high that she has been in the palace for a few more days." How not to let the princess know is also a small part of the plan, and it is only possible to hide it from others if she hides it.

"Then why did these forbidden troops come to the mansion?" The more relaxed the husband said, the more unbelieving the princess became, she grew up in the palace, and she could see at a glance that the two teams of forbidden troops who came back with the horses were not ordinary guards outside the imperial city.

"This is sent by the official family to protect the husband, and now the husband has a new position, to raise insects and make wax for the palace, this skill is incompatible." Since it was a planned thing, it was naturally made up in advance, and it had to be a whole set, one link after another, and it was the same as the real thing.

"Waxing? My husband can also make wax! "The princess has begun to get into a daze, first badminton, then abacus, and now she is playing with candles, can she learn so much by kicking a horse?

"Well...... I don't know where I came from, but when I wake up, I will be gone. These days in the palace is to demonstrate the wax-making process for the official family, and after seeing the wax for the husband, the official family is very happy, so he sent this errand down. Hong Tao simply got off the donkey, affirming the princess's idea, that is, the ability to be kicked out by a horse, the emperor recognized it, what's the matter!

"Official, why do you need to raise insects when making wax? Is wax made from bugs? ”

The princess is no problem for the time being, as long as the husband is fine, it doesn't matter what she does, not to mention that it is an errand sent by the emperor, it will definitely not be a bad thing. But Lian'er had a new question, she didn't want to interrogate anything, just out of curiosity.

"Hey, hey, hey...... Lian'er is really right, the candle of the official is indeed transformed from insects. ”

Faced with this question, Hong Tao couldn't help laughing. Just a few days ago, I couldn't think of the relationship between insects and candles like this little girl, and stupidly made Wang Anshi and Sima Guang, two old things, laugh shamefully.

It turns out that the candles of the Northern Song Dynasty were not chemically refined from oil, but made use of natural materials, such as beeswax. First, the honeycomb is heated and melted, the foam impurities in the upper layer are removed, and the yellow wax is condensed into a lump floating on the water surface.

Because this kind of candle is obtained from the beehive, it is also called honey candle. The technique of refining yellow wax from beehives was also not invented by the Song people, it is said to have existed since the Han Dynasty.

However, because the melting point of yellow wax is low, it cannot be made into a columnar candle, so when using it, the wax block must be melted into a liquid first, and then lit like an oil lamp. In addition to the fact that there is no oil smoke and the brightness is relatively high, it is not very convenient to use, and the brightness is not too high.

The main thing is that the amount of wax obtained in this way is too small, after all, the raw materials are limited, where are there so many beehives that can be used to burn and play. So at this time, the honey candle is still a luxury, even in the palace, it can't be used casually.

Hong Tao can testify to this, he stayed in the palace for ten days, and only half a bowl of honey candles could be used every day, which was specially approved by the emperor.

However, this situation will be greatly improved in the Southern Song Dynasty, especially in the middle and late stages where Hong Tao stayed. At that time, not to mention the palace, even the larger restaurants could afford to use candles. Although it is not particularly popular, lighting a candle is not related to luxury, and at most it is relatively wealthy.

Mind you, it's a candle, not a honey candle anymore. There is basically not much difference from the candles of later generations, and there are not only white candles, but also dyed red candles.

Why is that? Hong Tao also used whale oil to make candles and soaps chemically, which must be studied in detail. The candles of the Southern Song Dynasty were no longer yellow wax, but became white wax with a higher melting point.

So where do these white waxes come from? The answer is very interesting, it is a secretion of insects, which the Southern Song people called white wax worms.

It is not clear what the specific family and order are and what genus Hong Tao has, but he has seen this kind of insect, both male and female. In the Southern Song Dynasty, there were already farms that artificially cultivated white wax worms on a large scale, which were specially used for the extraction of white wax.

Originally, Hong Tao planned to use the excuse of making incense to plant rice sac flowers on a large scale, but he was very uncomfortable with smearing the general writing plan every day, and inadvertently paid attention to the problem of candles, which made him suddenly think of a more obscured method, that is, to plant rice sac flowers while breeding wax insects to get wax.

In this way, it is not only easier to conceal their true purpose, but also to obtain more precious white wax, which can then be made into candles to be trafficked to the Western Xia and Liao States, and by the way, it can also be used as goods with flower ointment, which is really a wonderful way to kill three birds with one stone.

It's really not a boast, this comment was given by Sima Guang, and the emperor and Wang Anshi also thought so.

When Hong Tao said that he would also raise insects and make wax, the emperor's expression was wonderful, just a simple question was accurate, and a very suitable planting land was specially approved, located outside the Xinzheng Gate in the outer city, called Qionglin Garden, which is a royal garden.

Far is far away, better in less people, secluded and easy to control, and safety is guaranteed. There is a forbidden army camp nearby, except for the emperor who sets up a Qionglin banquet in it every year to entertain the Jinshi of the department, there will be no idle people to enter at ordinary times.

Now even the Qionglin banquet is saved, and the emperor plans to move the banquet to the royal garden in the eastern suburbs, and the entire Qionglin Garden is temporarily used by the horse as the first cultivation base of the rice sac flower.

As for the matter of wax insects, there are two prime ministers who have sent documents to various states, roads, and armies to find them, and as long as there are insects similar to Hong Tao's description, they must be sent to Beijing as soon as possible.

"Official, what should the Flying Eagle Society do?"

Whether the candle was changed by insects or not, no one present could tell, Lian'er had already begun to pout, and she seriously suspected that the colt was lying. Fu Ji is relatively rational, she is not sure about things that are too far away and too illusory, and she is more willing to do the work in front of her in a down-to-earth manner.

"The Flying Eagle Society naturally can't be abandoned, but if you want to send some more people, can you find it?"

Rice sac flowers need to be planted, wax insects must be raised, and the Flying Eagle Club cannot be delayed, Hong Tao is even thinking about the position of doctor of the academy, and he has no intention of abandoning it. If you want to ask him if he is busy, in fact, he is just listening to busy, in fact, these things are not in the same time period.

The seedling work can be left to the Goro Rokuro brothers and the royal florists in the Qionglin Garden, and even if they are in a hurry, they will not be able to harvest the flowers on a large scale, and if it goes well, they will not be able to see the first batch of finished products until the early summer of next year.

The work of raising white wax insects is the same, in order for the insects to secrete white ash, they must be provided with a suitable living environment, such as an ash tree. Only by inhabiting this plant can the wax worm develop its characteristics.

Since it is a tree, it has to be planted, and like the rice sac flower, all the work of agriculture and forestry must be urgent, and the shortest must be counted according to the years.

Even if the ash tree is not a rare species, it can be propagated by cuttings from young branches, but from a small sapling, it will not become a forest without a year or two. Without trees, there are no insects, and without insects, there is no wax, and even the impatient emperor has to be convinced.