At this time, candles are very valuable, but they are made of beeswax and animal fat, and ordinary people can't afford to use them.

Ji Qingling still remembers that when she first joined the Great Jin Dynasty, she and Gu Yanzhang fled all the way and were destitute. After becoming the jade pendant of the Li family, in order not to sit and eat empty, she went to pick up the manuscript to copy.

At that time, when I copied a book, the shop gave 700 yuan, not including pen, ink, paper, and inkstone.

There are many literati in Jixian County, and there are many literate people, copying books is not valuable, if it weren't for her beautiful handwriting, she wouldn't be able to get that price.

However, copying a book, if it does not stop from sunrise to sunset, it will take at least four or five days.

At that time, a candle in the shop cost 300 yuan.

A pen can be used for a long time, the ink strip is bought cheap, add more water, and adjust it lightly, in fact, it is okay, but the paper is not cheap. In fact, if you copy a book, the money you can actually get in your hand is more than 500 wen at most.

Tired and tired, I spent four or five days copying books, and I couldn't even afford two candles!

But she clearly remembered that in her previous life, when she was helping her mother take care of the housework, she saw the price of candles in the account book, which was about thirty or forty yuan.

She was not here at the time, only thinking about how to make more money, and soon threw the matter away, and did not dwell on the reason, just honestly bought tung oil to light the oil lamp, endured the black smoke, endured the pain in her eyes, and just that.

Later, the fifth brother entered Liangshan, just relying on the prize silver for the first place in the examination in the tenth of each month, and the rest of the inputs, the two of them can live comfortably, and it is not difficult to raise a few girls, but it is habitual, except for the wax when reading at night, the rest of the time is lit with oil lamps. Later, when I got the Huiyuan and lit the champion, I slowly replaced all the candles with oil lamps.

Because it was gradual and she was used to it, she didn't think much about it, and she didn't think about it.

It was only at this time, when she suddenly remembered the comparison between the candles of the two lives, that she gradually connected the matter.

Yes, the price of the candle in the previous life is gradually falling. I still remember that when I first got into family affairs, it seemed that I needed sixty or seventy wen wen, and then it dropped to thirty or forty wen, almost half. The Ji family's various uses are of the highest quality, and the candles are naturally more expensive than the usual ones, and it is speculated that I am afraid that ordinary candles are only one or twenty cents.

Could this calculation be the result of the promotion of ash insect storage everywhere as mentioned in the eldest brother's letter?

Ji Qingling's mind kept spinning with all kinds of thoughts.

At this time, half of the Thai people in the world lit oil lamps, there was a lot of black smoke, not to mention the smoked eyes, the light was also flickering, and it was very troublesome to cut the wick from time to time.

Candles, on the other hand, are stable and bright, and they are many times better than oil lamps.

Ji Qingling has always felt that the candles in his previous life are better than the candles at this time, not to mention that the light is brighter and more resistant to burning.

I think it's because the raw materials are different, one is beeswax and the other is insect wax.

The climate and geography of Ganzhou are almost the same, since Huichang can wild ash insects, then the rest of the places must be able to store ash insects, and in the future, they will be able to produce wax in the future, which will definitely increase the wealth of the local area.

You must know that the sources of tax payments in various places she saw in her father's study in the past, the wax-producing states in Sichuan and Shu, and more than half of the income of the state yamen came from the candle industry!

It's just that......

If, according to the letter, you want to use privet trees and ash trees to raise ash worms, what is the method of raising them?

It's not about raising insects, you don't have to care about anything, since it's a living thing, it will definitely get sick and die, how to produce more wax, how to not get sick or get sick less, how to raise it well, this must be a very deep knowledge, just like Si Nong, it sounds like planting fields, but where is it so simple!

If you really raise it, but you die quickly and produce less wax, it is not good.

And one more ......

How can I tell the fifth brother about this?

What you have at this time can be borrowed in the name of your father, but what you don't have at this time, how can you borrow your father's name?

Ji Qingling had a headache.

She thought for a while and asked Gu Yanzhang, "Fifth brother, have you ever heard of ash worms?" ”

Gu Yanzhang shook his head and asked, "What is that?" ”

Ji Qingling began to talk nonsense.

"I always remember reading it in some book...... I didn't think it was like it, but when I thought about it at this time, it seemed to be a bit similar to the insect we just saw! She frowned, looking serious.

"Fifth brother, do you remember?" She looked at Gu Yanzhang expectantly, as if she wanted to hear the word "remember" from him.

Gu Yanzhang asked which "white ash" it was, and began to think about it.

He has always had an excellent memory, and although he can't forget it at a glance, if he has seen something, he will never have an impression at all.

After thinking for a while, he shook his head and said, "I really haven't read a book like that." Then he asked, "Why is that bug's name so strange?" Where is it white? ”

"It is said that when it grows into a moth and lies on a tree, it can produce something like a white candle, so it is called an ash worm." There was caution in her tone, and she asked, "Fifth brother, I remember that the book seems to say that the white ash produced by this kind of insect can really be used to make candles, which is better than the beeswax we are used to, but it is very rare to see. If so, can we ask the people of Huichang to try to raise one? In the future, it will be used to make candles, and it will be bigger, and more than a dozen counties in Ganzhou can also be raised, and it is not a good idea, anyway, it is not troublesome, and it does not occupy the field, compared to Gancheng, it is actually not bad! ”

"Gan orange is eaten, others don't eat your place, there are also oranges in the next place to eat, don't eat oranges, and pomegranates, warm oranges, ringo, Huima grapes, but this candle is different, to light at night, do not light candles, can only light oil lamps, you also know how inconvenient oil lamps are...... Besides, this thing ...... I always feel that if I take it to the Western Regions to buy and sell, I can also earn interest! ”

Gu Yanzhang's face was very relaxed at the beginning, but after listening to it, he gradually became solemn.

Ji Qingling saw that he was considering, so he didn't make any noise about him, just rang the bell and called the woman who came from the inn yesterday.

When the other party heard her ask, he replied, "Did the girl mean that the worm gave birth to white silk?" It was only in April and May, but now it is gone, and after one or twenty days, these insects are all dead, and next year they will become eggs again. ”

He also said: "Because some guests said that there are a lot of mosquitoes at this time, yesterday our master's house smoked herbs in the yard, I think it is because of this, this moth was smoked in, there is no such thing today, the girl should not worry." ”