The struggling Maokeng movement was blasted open by gunpowder, and the guy who nearly dragged down Phuket's fragile finances was finally subdued.

For half a month, the city of Phuket exploded incredibly, and hundreds of bombs were put into use, destroying countless hard rocks.

At first, everyone was terrified, especially the children, who screamed in fright, but when they got used to it, they were all amazed and amazed at the power of gunpowder.

In this way, toilets began to be built, although they are still relatively primitive stone hut thatched pits, but most of the sanitation problems have been solved, and the work of fermenting and fertilizing manure can also be put on the agenda.

Luo Lan is very satisfied, he is also busy with the workers these days, and he is tired of moving stones and ramming earth.

And in the meantime, news came from the winemakers.

"Your Highness, the first barrel of rum has been brewed, and it should be ready to drink after two or three months of fermentation."

Ji Ge, the winemaker who came to report, said excitedly, the old winemaker leader was so happy that he seemed to see countless gold coins piled up in front of him.

However, Luo Lan was surprised: "Only a bucket? It's been a month since you started making it. ”

Luo Lan felt that the efficiency was too low, only one barrel a month, and only three barrels after three months? And it needs to be fermented, so low efficiency is simply not feasible.

Jige was splashed with a basin of cold water, and said with a wry smile: "Your Highness, that's sweet stalk juice, sweet stalk is hard and big, the previous juice extraction tools are not applicable, we can only let people use stones to collect juice, a bucket is already very good." ”

Juice smashing?

Hey, that's primitive technology.

Luo Lan was a little speechless, but if you think about it carefully, there is nothing you can do, rum is an emerging industry after all, and it is a bit too fantastic to produce usable tools within a month.

"Gig, take me to the rum factory, and I'll see your juicing tools."

"Yes."

Ji Ge was excited again and ran out of the city with Luo Lan.

The city of Phuket is not large, so the two of them quickly left the city, and the outside of the city is basically farmland, but there are some abandoned buildings in the east of the city.

It was a thriving fishing village, but now it is used by winemakers as a base for joint workshops.

Luo Lan also sent people to repair this place, and also invested 51% of the capital.

Luo Lan was quite excited, after all, this is the first state-owned enterprise in Phuket. But when he saw the appearance of the joint workshop, there was only a wry smile on his face.

The dilapidated stone houses, the wooden barrels piled up haphazardly, the ground where sewage flows, and the salted fish hanging on the beams of the houses......

Look at the interior of the workshop, the messy furnishings, the dirty-clad workers, the sugar cane poured into the stagnant water, and the stone pans covered with gray sand......

Where is this a state-owned enterprise, it's just a black-hearted small workshop, and it is made of spicy noodles in modern society, no, those who make spicy noodles are not so dirty.

The corners of Luo Lan's mouth twitched, and he looked at the winemakers and workers who came around and said, "Don't make wine yet, clean up the sanitation here, and dig a few small ditches to drain the sewage and lead it to the sea." ”

Everyone looked at each other, and Luo Lan spread his hands, "It's too stinky here, it will affect the taste of rum, if you can't sell a gold coin, you will be the ones who will suffer." ”

Suddenly, everyone rushed to clean up and dig drains.

And Luo Lan, led by Raj and several winemakers, went to the deepest part of the workshop to check the barrel of rum.

A huge wooden barrel nearly one meter high sits in the gloomy house, the mouth of the barrel is sealed with a special black cloth, and it cannot be opened for the time being.

But the air here is already filled with the aroma of syrup, and the rum in the barrels is fermenting.

Luo Lan nodded with satisfaction, and then went to look at the tools used for juicing.

It is better to say that it is a tool, but it is better to say that it is a stone plate.

In the case of a stone tray for grinding beans, the workers put the sugar cane on it, and then the rest of the people smashed the sugar cane with a stone hammer, and the sugar cane juice was smashed out and into the stone pan, and when it was full, it was put into wooden barrels.

This kind of craftsmanship makes you want to cry.

To squeeze a sugarcane, it takes at least three people, one to hold the sugarcane, one to smash the juice, and one to pick up the debris, and because it is smashing the juice, it will inevitably splash off a lot of juice, resulting in serious waste.

"No, it's too inefficient, and the juicing tools have to be improved."

Luo Lan said solemnly, and the winemakers glanced at each other and said, "Your Highness, we are already thinking of a way, but we can't think of a better way for the time being." ”

Everyone was helpless, Luo Lan paced with his hands and began to recall his knowledge in the 21st century.

He couldn't understand every specialty, but the knowledge that modern people had been exposed to was very broad, and Luo Lan vaguely remembered that he had seen some kind of tool used to extract sugarcane juice.

But he thought about it for a long time, but he didn't think about it.

The winemakers were disappointed to see him like this. They knew about gunpowder, and they admired Luo Lan very much, thinking that he must have a magical method, but it seemed that Luo Lan was also at a loss.

"Let's get hygienic first, and I'll think about it later."

Luo Lan waved his hand and walked out with a frown.

As soon as he went out, he saw two long, thick wooden pillars leaning against the door. In an instant, Luo Lan's memory was ignited.

"Yes, that's it, the method used by the Miao people!"

Luo Lan finally remembered that he had been to a Miao village when he was traveling before, and had seen the Miao people squeeze sugarcane juice with an ancient and efficient tool.

"What are these two wooden pillars for?"

Luo Lan turned around and asked, a group of winemakers didn't understand why Luo Lan was suddenly happy, and hurriedly said that the pillar was used to reach the door, and they should arrive at the door after finishing work to prevent thieves.

"Wash these two pillars, and, with the help of a few blacksmiths and carpenters, we can make an efficient juicing tool."

Luo Lan couldn't wait to give orders, and all the winemakers were surprised and delighted, Prince Luo Lan really thought of a way?

They immediately went to the blacksmith and the carpenter, while Luo Lan ran back to the city.

He went back to the palace to draw drawings, and there was no pen or paper available in the workshop.

According to his memory, Luo Lan quickly drew a behemoth.

In fact, it is not reasonable to say that it is a behemoth, mainly because the two pillars are relatively tall.

Luo Lan didn't know the name of this thing, its basic principle was similar to that of a millstone - fixing two pillars with carved gear protrusions so that they could rotate without collapsing, leaving a gap between the two pillars, extending the sugar cane into the gap, turning the gear pillars, and squeezing the sugar cane juice.

It looks huge, but it's actually very easy to make, because it has wood and stone.

If you want to use a metaphor, this thing is actually two vertical gears that bite each other, turning round after round, crushing and squeezing the juice of the sugar cane sandwiched in the middle.

Luo Lan clapped her hands, grabbed the drawings and went to the workshop again.

That's when he realized that Ellie didn't know when she was watching him.

"What are you messing with? Take a break. ”

Ellie asked, she knew that Luo Lan was tired these days, and she didn't want him to make new things up.

"Haha, this is the core technology of our state-owned enterprises, and whether we can monopolize rum depends on it."

Luo Lan smiled heartily, pulled Ai Li away, and asked Ai Li to also go to see the "high-tech", and she would have to help take care of the state-owned enterprises in the future.