"Can't do without me?" Duke Eberlock looked at Zhang Li puzzled: "How can I make them inseparable from me?"

Zhang Li didn't answer directly: "What do you think is the most attractive thing in your territory to attract merchants?"

"Grain. Duke Eberlock replied without thinking, "Once my realm was famous for all kinds of exotic fruits and crops, and when the sky was not yet covered by night, and there were not so many wolves and spiders in the forest, there was almost nothing in those days, honey for beekeepers, milk for herdsmen...... My ancestors also gained a great deal of wealth because of this, but now ......" the Duke sighed: "Since the orcs came, my family's wealth has been plundered, and this abominable cloud curtain has drifted from the upwind path, and now the environment here has begun to deteriorate terribly, and it has long since become an ordinary grain producing land, and the yield per mu is not high, and I have to greatly reduce the commission to keep those hired farmers." ”

As he spoke, the Duke smiled bitterly, "My territory has not produced as many minerals as the Red Ridge Mountains since ancient times, and now there is nothing to attract those merchants except cheap grain. ”

Zhang Li: "From this, Lord Duke, you haven't figured out what your greatest wealth is, food, land, no, no, your greatest wealth is actually people." ”

"People?"

Zhang Li: "That's right, people, wealth is created by people, we pick up a piece of wood, it's not valuable, but if it is handled by a carpenter, then it is worth a piece of furniture money, if it is handled by an artist, it is a more valuable work of art, the biggest difference between humans and beasts is that because we have wisdom, we can change the world, we can turn useless things into useful things, and all this needs to be transformed by human hands, the more people, the more wealth you create, as a lord, the most important thing you need is people." ”

The duke frowned and said, "You want me to mobilize the people to become carpenters?"

"What kind of carpenter, I'm just a metaphor!" Zhang Li said with a smile: "Carpenter, blacksmith, or some other workshop worker, do you think these things can attract merchants? These craftsmen are everywhere, they can't attract anyone at all, you need some unique, monopolistic goods that only you can produce to force those merchants to comply." ”

"Only I can produce it?"

"That's right. ”

"But where do I go to find something like this?"

At this time, Zhang Li suddenly showed a mysterious smile, he did not continue to speak, but took a sip of someone's drink under Althea's creepy gaze, and then spoke: "Actually, I do know some such things, but I can't contribute them in vain." His smile was conceited, as if the world was in his hands.

The Duke felt very ridiculous at this time, his gaze at Zhang Li had begun to become unnatural, and his expression had changed from amusement and confusion at the beginning, and finally to the expression of looking at a liar.

Just when he looked unhappy and wanted to start driving people, Zhang Li hurriedly said.

"Don't rush to get rid of people just yet! you might as well wait for me to make it and show you, you won't lose anything anyway, and if I succeed, maybe you'll get a good chance to revitalize your territory." ”

..................

Next, Zhang Li rented a room with a cellar in the city, and then began to prepare various raw materials.

He bought a cauldron, then some lard, went to a nearby hillside to collect some stones, and went to the forest to find some tenacious flowers, and then began his retreat.

Seeing these raw materials, everyone may have guessed what he wants to make, that's right, it's soap, the protagonist of the time-traveling novel has made this kind of thing nine times out of ten, Zhang Li found out when he was directing those night watchmen to dig holes, the mountains near here are indeed not many minerals, but there is a lot of limestone.

Limestone is calcined into quicklime at high temperature, quicklime is added with water to become mature lime, that is, sodium hydroxide, and then mixed with grease, waiting for six or seven hours, the soap can be out of the pot, which is the saponification reaction of one of the compulsory courses in high school chemistry.

The simple lard soap must not smell good, Zhang Li pressed the collected flowers in the most primitive way, squeezed out the essence and mixed it with the lard soap, and the first batch of soap in the history of Azeroth was conceived in this humble environment.

"Hmm...... It's a bit hard, and it looks like a magazine, but overall it's passable. Zhang Li looked at the brick soap in his hand with satisfaction, because the essence is pressed, there are inevitably a lot of flower crumbs in the soap, and the color is not uniform due to this, but it doesn't matter, the first batch of samples doesn't need to be exquisite.

"That's what you're talking about?" At the dinner table at the Duke's house, the Duke, his wife, and Althea looked at the thing in the middle of the table with strange expressions.

"Just a piece of butter full of magazines?" the corners of the Duke's mouth twitched several times, he now thought that he would believe Zhang Li, and even a hint of anticipation was too stupid.

"No, no, no, it's not butter. Zhang Li sternly vetoed: "This thing is called soap, it can't be eaten, it's used to wash clothes and clean the body." ”

"Hehe, wash your clothes and clean your body?" anyone could hear the suppressed emotion in the duke's tone, like a volcano about to erupt.

"Yes, don't underestimate it, as far as I know, most of the people here still use honey locusts or animal ashes for laundry, and it is difficult to wash the stains with this kind of thing, and it is often necessary to rub vigorously when washing, and it is okay to wash linen clothes, such as wool and silk, which can be broken if you are not careful, and the situation will be very different with my thing. Zhang Li confidently took out a piece of silk, then walked up to Althea with a smile and rubbed it lightly against her half-eaten meat steak, which was instantly soaked with sauce and oil.

Then Zhang Li didn't see Althea's trembling figure with anger, and walked to the duke's side with the dirty silk.

"Look, I've consulted a few aunts who wash clothes at the well, and they all said that it's basically impossible to wash a stain like this one thoroughly, and you shouldn't deny that, right?"

Before the duke could speak, the duchess spoke first: "No, I have a long dress that I like very much, and I threw it away because it stuck to the meat sauce." The Duchess had a very sorry look on her face.

"Then you will never have such regrets again. Zhang Li smiled and took the washbasin in the hand of the servant on the side, which made the people look confused, and they said yes and two, it was for the duke to wash their hands after eating, Zhang Li ignored him, he put the basin on the table, and then picked up the soap.

"Now...... It is the moment to witness a miracle...... "Just washing a piece of clothing can also be a miracle, and a miracle is really worthless."