In the next few days, a huge pot stove was set up in the Gao family's workshop, which Xiang Gong deliberately did a treasure bag mission to obtain, which made the villagers of Gao Laozhuang stunned.

Their surprise was expected by Xiang Gong, mainly because there are mostly nomads here, and the food is generally barbecue-based, and the pots and urns used are also relatively small, which can be boiled with water or boiled wine and milk.

However, these pots and stoves in Gao Laozhuang are not used for cooking, but for refining pigments.

"Well, do you think this can really speed up the refining of pigments?" Zhu Fengchun was very skeptical of Xiang Gong's approach, he had been doing cloth dyeing for many years, and he had never heard of this method.

"Of course, I can still get you the raw materials anyway, you can experiment with it, and there is nothing to lose if it doesn't work." Xiang Gong shrugged.

Zhu Fengchun couldn't help pouting, but Xiang Gong had already started his experiment.

In fact, the refining of ancient pigments is basically carried out by using the acid-base solubility of the pigment in the pigment raw materials, such as the indigo used to dye the blue primary color or the same kind of colored cloth, you can put the blue grass into the warm lime water, cover and compact it with straw, soak it overnight when the temperature is high, impregnate it for two nights when the temperature is low, and then clear out the clear water, leaving a pigment like porridge, which is indigo.

Xanthan pigment is soluble in acidic solution, and erythrogen pigment is soluble in alkaline solution, which can be refined and extracted by adding warm water and some minerals to adjust the acidity and alkalinity.

Zhu Fengchun's pigment extraction method is this primitive method, and the reason why Xiang Gong proposed such a so-called method to speed up the extraction progress is really just to try it.

Zhu Fengchun didn't care about Xiang Gong's eccentricity, arranged for people to clear out more than a dozen large pits that had been dug a long time ago, and then poured water into it according to the original method, mixed the raw materials with lime or alum and other mediums, poured into the water and stirred constantly, and then added grass and trees and straw to cover them with stones, and then covered with a layer of grass and trees, and then waited for the pigment to dissolve and clear the water, and then the pigment could be obtained.

It's easy to say, but after all, it's a huge amount of work, so I worked until the evening.

The Nowruz Festival has not yet passed, and the farming time in the Wusi Tibetan country has not yet arrived, and the villagers of Gao Laozhuang in the agricultural leisure come to help, and they can also earn a little copper money.

"Xiao Zhu, that young man seems to have been busy for a long time, right? What is he doing? ”

"yes, it looks like you're asking us to do a similar thing, can't it be that we're also making paint?"

"Are you kidding? How much can you get in such a big iron pot at one time? Besides, you see he has prepared so much firewood and grass, where does it look like he wants to get paint? ”

……

Everyone talked about it, but Zhu Fengchun didn't say a word, he also felt that Xiang Gong's method couldn't succeed, but this was the "experiment" related to his livelihood, so he also looked at it quite seriously.

Xiang Gong mixed the blue flower with lime and smashed it fiercely, and he could already see that the lime was soaked with blue grass juice, showing a faint blue color.

Although this is all left by the ancients, and Xiang Gong has long known the original pigment extraction method, but he still admires the wisdom of the ancients, at that time there was no chemical physics and other disciplines, the ancients only based on what they saw and heard in daily life, they could find many magical laws similar to pigment extraction, it can be seen that the 5,000-year-old Chinese civilization is really not given in vain.

sighed slightly, but Xiang Gong's work did not stop for a moment, threw the mixed mud-like things into the cauldron, covered it with grass and trees, and added a layer of grass and trees after compaction, and then covered a large cauldron lid.

Lighting the thatch that ignited the fire, carefully adding some sticks of wood, and then putting on the whole firewood, Xiang Gong's eyes stared at the cauldron for a moment.

Seeing the slightest steam coming out, Xiang Gong immediately withdrew the burning firewood, and after a while, he touched the iron pot, felt that the water temperature had cooled down, and repeated it again.

Everyone looked at Xiang Gong who was busy and a little stupid like a joke, and they really didn't know what Xiang Gong was thinking, as if he was messing with a child, he didn't even eat, and he got into a big iron pot.

Xiang Gong didn't hear their complaints, Zhu Fengchun called him to eat twice, but Xiang Gong still said the same thing, "Wait a while, you can eat first." ”

Finally, Zhu Fengchun, who had just finished eating, and a few helpers of the villagers were ready to go back to their respective homes to find their own mothers, Xiang Gongcai finally unveiled the pot, and everyone was stunned and surrounded curiously.

By the light of the setting sun, which had not yet receded, Xiang Gong lifted the lid of the pot in the cauldron, the grass and trees were carefully picked out and thrown aside, and the stones were also cleared out and piled up on the side of the pot.

The faint steam was diffused in the air little by little, and everyone forgot that it was time to go home, and stayed aside, wanting to see what Zhu Fengchun wanted to do after a busy day.

I saw that the steam disappeared little by little, and the bottom layer of grass and trees was soaked with clear water, Xiang Gong shook it with his finger, did not feel the temperature too high, and stretched out another finger to try it, and the water temperature had dropped almost.

Xiang Gong picked out the last layer of grass and trees, the sky was a little dark, and when he picked out the grass and trees, some lime slurry was stirred, and the water in the pot was slightly turbid, but even so, everyone's eyes were still wide, staring at the water in the pot with a little light green color, and each of them sucked in the cold air.

"This ...... Is it really done? ”

"Wouldn't it? So fast? Doesn't it take two days and two nights to produce paint? ”

"It's too early to say, and you have to clear the water to know whether it will be successful or not."

"It's still clear fart, don't you see that the water in the pot is pale cyan?"

"Well, maybe only a little bit of water is cyan......"

……

Finally, in the midst of people's discussions, Xiang Gong's sigh came, Zhu Fengchun was stunned for a moment, and asked, "What, it can't be done, right?" Only the water is cyan? ”

Xiang Gong shook his head, held his chin and said, "It's done, but it's a pity ......"

Before Xiang Gong finished speaking, Zhu Fengchun was already in a hurry, and immediately asked a few villagers who helped to clear the turbid water in the cauldron.

After the clear water was clear, sure enough, there was a layer of indigo like porridge at the bottom of the pot, Zhu Fengchun was stunned, and the villagers were even more shocked and speechless.

Finally, Zhu Fengchun came back to his senses, grabbed Xiang Gong's shoulder excitedly, and kept shaking and said: "It's too good, brother, it only took half a day, half a day, you got the indigo, my God, how did you think of it?" ”

Listening to Zhu Fengchun's screams, Xiang Gong woke up, looked at the dumbfounded appearance of the villagers and Zhu Fengchun who seemed to be crazy, Xiang Gong said lightly: "Why are you so surprised? ”

In a word, Zhu Fengchun was confused, "Why doesn't it matter, what kind of experiment you have, it is equivalent to doubling the speed of pigment refining, that is, in the same time, the amount of pigment refining has doubled!" Tell me quickly, how did you come up with that? Why is the paint coming out so quickly? ”