A secret letter from Zhangjiawan reporting on the trade situation, saying that the sky has nothing to do with emergency military affairs - Dong Haoran took Ding Yimo's letter and couldn't figure it out, what urgent military affairs could there be?

He didn't know that this letter was not from the Military Affairs Department, but should have been sent to the Commercial Office, but Xiao Zhu'er dropped the letter box when she entered the door, and stuffed the wrong letter box in a panic, so it arrived in his hand. Pen fun and pavilion www.biquge.info

After reading it several times, Dong Haoran noticed the end of the letter, that is, the paragraph where Ding Yimo categorically rejected Chu Fan's proposal.

This passage is so strange, what is "unbearable things"? Dong Haoran subconsciously rubbed his chin—he learned it from his master—and frowned and pondered.

Although he didn't see the letter, Dong Haoran could guess from this letter that his master was persuading Ding Yimo to move out of Tongzhou, and the reason was that something big was about to happen. And most of these major events are related to famine, plague, or war—something that cannot be said, isn't it a natural and man-made disaster that cannot be stopped by man?

War!

Dong Haoran's eyes narrowed suddenly, could it be that this is what the master said in his letter? This is the only thing that can be related to the Military Affairs Department!

After staring at the secret letter for a long time, he slowly shook his head again. As soon as this war comes, it is not like famine and plague, the Ming Dynasty has been peaceful for a long time, and Beijing is an important place in Gyeonggi, if there are really signs of war, Ding Yimo will never say anything "I haven't seen the clues" - these businessmen have the most sensitive sense of smell, how can they know that there is danger and still don't dodge? The second is that the outer study is a place where information gathers, and if there are really signs of war in Beijing, it is impossible for him not to hear the news at all.

But if it wasn't war but famine or pestilence, how could this ordinary business secret letter be handed over to the Military Affairs Department?

Rubbing his chin, Dong Haoran stood up, pacing and pondering like a little adult. Boldly assuming and carefully verifying, Master's words had already been deeply imprinted in his mind, and after repeating it a few times, he became more and more inclined to the war that Master's hint was referring to!

"When all other assumptions have been falsified, the last one, no matter how ridiculous it may seem, must be the truth of the matter!" This sentence had a huge impact on Dong Haoran, and the incident encountered today is an excellent opportunity to verify this statement.

Thinking of this, Dong Haoran grabbed the secret letter on the case and rushed towards Chu Fan's office.

"Wow~~"

As soon as he entered the door, Dong Haoran was startled by the fire in his master's hand. When he looked closely, he saw Chu Fan pinching an inch-long wooden stick, and the soaring flames were jumping happily at one end of the stick.

"Not bad! That's matches! After Chu Fan glanced at him with a smile, he nodded again and again and said to the smiling Lingxuzi beside him, "Dao Chief, I really didn't expect you to be able to pour out the matches so quickly...... With this, the soldiers no longer have to be angry with the fire fold that is going to die all day long, fire fold? It's time to throw it! ”

Match?

Dong Haoran reacted immediately, needless to say that this is a new gadget invented by his own master - of course, Chu Fan doesn't have to do it himself now, he only needs to tell his subordinates like Sloppy Daoist his thoughts and directions, and the latter will naturally go back happily to Zhang Luo raw materials, study steps, and put them into experiments, and many previous inventions have been made in this way.

Although he has seen too much, Dong Haoran has long lost the surprise and admiration of his master, but he still can't understand one thing: what is his master's brain made of? How can you come up with so many strange and unbelievable new things? And these things are all things that make life at home more comfortable and comfortable, such as what sofa, what Simmons, and what down and down.

There is another match today, which sounds like an object for starting a fire, and it is really thanks to Master that he can think of it. Dong Haoran was amazed, and rubbed behind the two of them, and sure enough, he saw a small bamboo basket on the master's bookcase, which was full of small wooden sticks of inches long, one by one in linen, exactly the same as in his master's hand.

Driven by curiosity, he stretched out his hand to the bamboo basket, ready to take one out and take a closer look, but before his hand touched the stick, he heard two overlapping shouts behind him, "Be careful! ”

Dong Haoran was so frightened that he retracted his hand like lightning, with a trace of panic and fear in his eyes, but he quickly recovered to the calm little adult - Chu Fan has always been kind to the disciples of the boy camp, rarely lose his temper, and will not be unreasonable and indiscriminate; I was just reckless for a while, what was wrong?

"Brother Dong", Lingxuzi stepped forward, carefully picked up an open linen cloth, pointed to the reddish-brown round head at one end of the wooden stick and said, "This thing is made of yellow phosphorus, saltpeter and salt brine, and it can produce fire by itself with a little friction, and it is the most violent." The little brother doesn't dare to play at will, for fear of causing a big disaster! ”

"That's right," Chu Fan nodded and continued his words, "Dao Chief, although this match has been made, it is not easy to carry, and its use is naturally very restricted, and it needs to be further improved." ”

"But how can it be improved?" Lingxuzi asked curiously with the "primordial match" in his hand, Dong Haoran felt very familiar - when his master was in class, wasn't the room full of senior brothers and junior brothers all looking like this?

"How to change it still has to ask the Dao Master to test more," Chu Fan shook his head and smiled, and when he saw the disappointment on Ling Xuzi's face, he added, "But Fan has a few suggestions, I hope it will be somewhat helpful to the Dao Master." ”

Chu Fan suggested that Lingxuzi should not only consider the match head, but also the match skin - only by rubbing on a specific object to make a fire, this match can be considered truly safe and usable.

In addition, he also mentioned two points, one is that yellow phosphorus is toxic and flammable, and must be transformed in a way; The second is salt brine, that is, the last remaining brine with a very high concentration of refined salt, which can also be further purified - the method of separating dissolved substances in seawater by using temperature difference Chu Fan taught him early.

Looking at the back of Lingxuzi who was frowning and contemplative, Chu Fan muttered, "This old man is so cute, and he has made a great contribution, what should he be rewarded?" …… Well? Haoran, what do you say? ”

Dong Haoran thought he was talking to himself, but he didn't care, staring at the box of primordial matches on the table and pondering, until Chu Fan called his name He came back to his senses and blurted out, "Huh? …… Oh! What to reward him...... He doesn't lack anything, does he? ”

After saying that, Dong Haoran immediately regretted it, he didn't need to look at it to know that the smile on Chu Fan's face gradually solidified, and there was a little more disappointment in his gaze when he looked at him.

"Haoran! Do you remember what the teacher reminded you of? …… Ten thousand words are better than a silent ...... You must have had a brain before you spoke! Chu Fan frowned a little sadly, "Matches are small, but rules are big...... Merit will be rewarded, and if there is a mistake, it will be punished...... Remember, it's taboo to know the rewards and punishments! There's nothing more devastating than this! ”

"Master, I know it's wrong," Dong Haoran regretted opening his mouth, and immediately bowed respectfully to make amends, "Lingxu Dao chief should be rewarded...... Last time, he improved the flint device, and Master, you rewarded him with a microscope, and he was happy to show off when he met people...... Do you want to give him another one? ”

Chu Fan's brows stretched at this time, rubbed his chin and muttered, "If you want to reward him, you have to be what he wants...... Microscope, forget it......"

Chu Fan smiled slyly in the middle of the groan, and said something to Dong Haoran that made it difficult for the latter to understand.