Ambergris, also known as gray amber in the West, is a solid wax-like flammable substance with a dark or black appearance, produced by intestinal obstruction of the whale's digestive system. Ambergris has its own unique sweet earthy aroma, similar to the smell of isopropyl alcohol.

Ambergris has historically been used primarily as a fixative in perfumes, and its value is high. Due to the special human preference for various fragrances, there is a great market demand for spices. Although the various ingredients in ambergris in modern society can be synthesized, it still cannot completely replace the ambergris given to human beings by the sea, because human technology has not yet reached the wonder and harmony of nature, especially the ambergris in natural ambergris, which will form a thin film on the skin after being added to perfume, which can make the fragrance last for a long time.

The first country in the world to discover ambergris was ancient China. As early as the Han Dynasty, fishermen caught some gray-white and fragrant waxy drift in the sea, which is the finished ambergris that has been naturally denatured for many years. Weighing from a few kilograms to tens of kilograms, it initially has a strong fishy smell, but when dried, it emits a long-lasting aroma, and when lit, it is even more fragrant, more fragrant than musk.

Therefore, some officials purchased it and presented it to the royal family as a treasure, usually used as a spice or medicine in the court. At that time, no one knew what kind of treasure it was, so they consulted the "chemist" alchemist in the palace, and they thought that it was the saliva of the "dragon" in the sea when they were sleeping, dripping into the sea water and solidifying, and after a long time, it became "ambergris". But some people say that as early as the Yin Shang period and the Zhou Dynasty, people had mixed ambergris and musk with plant spices to make sachets and hang them on the head of the bed or on the body.

Another theory is that as early as the 18th century B.C., the spices used in religious ceremonies in Babylon, Assyria and Persia included ambergris in addition to plant spices such as cinnamon, sandalwood, benzoin, etc. Ancient Hebrew women also soaked ambergris, cinnamon and benzoin in oil to make a perfumed oil and applied it to their bodies.

As for the origin of ambergris, of course, Lu Ren, a traverser, knows it more clearly, and he naturally scoffs at the saying "dragon saliva...... This thing is obviously formed by the intestinal secretions of sperm whales being excreted again, okay?

Ambergris discharged into the sea by sperm whales is light black at first. Because ambergris is lighter than water and does not sink, the ambergris excreted by sperm whales will float and soak in seawater, and then gradually turn gray, light gray, and finally white under the action of seawater. White ambergris is of the best quality, because it has to be soaked in seawater for more than 100 years to float out all the impurities before it can become the top grade of ambergris. The lowest value is the brown one, which has only been soaked in seawater for about ten years, but it is quite rare.

Ambergris has been used as a high-grade spice since ancient times. The fragrance company graded the acquired ambergris, ground it into a very fine powder and dissolved it in alcohol, and then prepared it into a 5% concentration ambergris solution for the preparation of perfumes or as a fixative. And ambergris is expensive, almost equivalent to gold.

Unfortunately, due to the large number of sperm whales killed by humans, the resources of ambergris have been decreasing year by year, and the annual trade volume has been reduced to less than 100 kilograms in modern times. There is even a certain shameless country that just changed the name of the whaling ship and called it a scientific research ship. Sperm whales, which are already protected by United Nations legislation, are still being hunted on a large scale.

This is the end of popular science, after all, these have basically nothing to do with Lu Ren, who is now in the late Han Dynasty. And four or five catties of ambergris are actually less than two kilograms, compared with the "normal" harvest of "a few kilograms or dozens of kilograms", it is really a pitiful amount.

Ambergris is very valuable. This is needless to say, but now Lu Ren is not interested in the high value of ambergris. Taking a step back, even if these catties of ambergris are sold for the same weight of gold, it actually doesn't make much sense. The fleet sent out by Lu Ren's small city of Yizhou, which time will make less money?

Since Lu Ren is not interested in the value of ambergris, what is Lu Ren interested in? The answer is that this thing can be a very useful diplomatic item in Lu Ren's next plan.

People have a natural love for aromas. A variety of spices are also emerging, but valuable spices such as ambergris are not available to everyone, and are generally used as royal tribute.

Lu Ren had been in the Xuchang Imperial Palace for a while, so he learned a lot of things that he was unlikely to hear during his casual conversation with Emperor Liu Xie. For example, it is true that Emperor Liu Xie is Cao Cao's puppet, but that is a later matter, and Emperor Liu Xie still has some prestige in the early stage. After Emperor Liu Xie moved the capital to Xuchang, and the situation gradually stabilized, he wanted to re-establish the prestige of the Han family more than once.

There are also two clear records of this in the historical materials, one is that when Cao Cao went to see Emperor Liu Xie, he used to be "the old system, and the three dukes led the troops into the meeting, and they all crossed their halberds and crossed their necks in front." At the beginning, the general begged Zhang Xiu, entered the pilgrimage to the Son of Heaven, and began to repeat this system. The public has never seen him again"; Another place is that Cao Cao acted a little too much after gaining power, and Emperor Liu Xie shouted in a fit of anger, "If you can help me, help me well, if you can't help me, let me go back to Luoyang", which scared Cao Cao into sweating. So if you really treat the early emperor Liu Xie as a useless person, it would be a big mistake.

Seems a bit far-fetched? Not really. Didn't Emperor Liu Xie want to re-establish his prestige? And in the royal prestige of the time, spices were an indispensable thing, and of course they could not be used as bargains. It's just that what kind of virtue was Emperor Liu Xie when he moved the capital to Xuchang? If you can't eat rice, how can you care about what spices are not spices?

Therefore, when Emperor Liu Xie was chatting with Lu Ren, he once sighed bitterly and said that it would be good if there were precious spices such as ambergris to make some royal prestige more presentable. This is not that Emperor Liu Xie wants to engage in pomp and circumstance, in fact, Emperor Liu Xie has endured hardships, so his daily life is very simple.

But the problem is that it was like that back then, and it was naturally a good thing to keep daily life simple, but some major royal activities, such as worshipping the heavens and the earth, and worshipping the ancestors, still had to have some pomp and circumstance. Not to mention that in that era, even in modern society, when the country received a foreign guest or something, it couldn't just arrange to go to a small restaurant for the sake of simplicity, right? Isn't that face all lost?

It's just that with the situation of the royal family at that time, it was a little unrealistic to get valuable spices. And Lu Ren had the mentality of being a flashman when the time came, and he never took it seriously. But the current situation is different, and when the time is ripe, it is necessary for Lu Ren to seek an official position from the Han family and obtain a reasonable and legitimate political status. And at that time, among the things that Lu Ren can get his hands on, what kind of tribute can be more suitable than these ambergris?

The most important one is that Lu Ren has been mixed under Cao Cao's hands, and he knows that with Lao Cao's character, he will not be very interested in ambergris, which is a little flashy in Lao Cao's eyes, so he will be happy to be a favor when the time comes, and let these ambergris incense be sent to the royal family in a lot or two. But if it's money and food...... It's hard to say whether Lao Cao will deduct some of them.

In short, the political significance of these ambergris in the future is far greater than its value significance, and some time ago, Lu Ren already had a plan to go to Xuchang next time he went to Jingzhou, and what is missing now is precisely these things with certain political significance. Gan Ning picked up a few catties of ambergris for Lu Ren at this time, didn't this make Lu Ren meet the pillow when he wanted to doze off? So......

“…… These catties of ambergris will be of great use to me later. Brother Xingba, I won't say much kind words, your contribution this time is not small, what do you want in return? ”

Although ambergris is precious, Gan Ning really doesn't care about it, and it's not something he's interested in, so Gan Ning smiled at Lu Ren very casually and said that he didn't have to care. But after thinking about it again, Gan Ning said with some concern: "Since Lu Servant said that you are not welcome, then Gan is really welcome." To tell the truth, when Gan went to pick up the current five sea ships, he saw three large ships being built in the dock, and Gan was quite moved after seeing it......"

"Are they the three in dock three?"

After getting Gan Ning's affirmation, Lu Ren laughed: "Brother Xingba, if you want, you can go there and get one now." To tell you the truth, one of those three large ships was originally prepared for you, and I was afraid that you would not want it. ”

Gan Ning was overjoyed when he heard it: "Really? ”

Lu Ren spread his hands: "Can this still lie to you?" But I have to make it clear to you first, these three big ships are not complete as a whole because I still have some things missing here, so when they are ready, you have to send your ship back to be rebuilt and improved. ”

After speaking, Lu Ren thought about it again and added, "These three big ships...... In fact, it is a warship. ”

At present, there are more than 40 official ships in the small town of Yizhou, and it should be noted that they are officially in the preparation of ships, and those small fish and shrimp that are fishing in the offshore sea are not counted among them. However, these ships can only be regarded as merchant ships or armed merchant ships with certain combat effectiveness in the strict sense, and only a few can be called commercial and war dual-purpose ships, such as Mi Zhen's flagship Seahorse. But even so, there is still a big gap between it and the real warship. It's just that if measured by the standards of ships at that time, the existing ships in Yizhou only need to be slightly modified, and they will be warships with more people and weapons.

But this situation obviously does not meet the standard in Lu Ren's heart. After all, with the geographical location of Yizhou, the coastal defense fleet will inevitably be the top priority, and if we don't take precautions now, there will be big problems in the future. It's just that with the current situation in the small city of Yizhou, for the time being, only three warships in the true sense of the word in Lu Ren's heart can be built, and the rest of the production capacity is still mainly based on the construction of conventional ships currently used and the maintenance of existing ships.

In addition to this, these three warships lacked two of the most crucial things to become real warships, one was the ship's guns, and the other was the steam engine. It's a pity that neither of these things can be made in the current Yizhou...... (To be continued.) )