Royal road

Chapter 140

When Liang Feng came to the Taoist temple in Xishan, Ge Hong was holding a piece of thin ice with wet hands, looking absorbedly.Seeing this, Liang Feng couldn't help but smile wryly: "Zhichuan, it's cold today, be careful of frostbite fingers."

"If it wasn't for the cold weather, how would I grind the ice?" Ge Honghun didn't care, "I've already understood the magnification principle Fu Jun said. I just don't know how many times the colorless glass can be magnified?"

"It depends on the ability of the contemplator. The stars and the moon can be seen in the big, and the dust can be seen in the small. As the saying goes, the Taoist is infinite, and the skills can also be short-cut." Liang Feng replied.

Since the last attack and defense of Lucheng, Liang Feng came to the Taoist Temple more often.He spends two days a week discussing some scientific principles with Ge Hong.The more he got in touch with, the more Liang Feng discovered that the other party had a wide range of interests, and his thinking was extremely sharp, and he had a spirit of inquiring about everything.

Like this ice cube.It turned out that Liang Feng casually mentioned the method of making fire with ice.If the experimental conditions are not met, of course the experiment cannot be successful.Ge Hong, however, thought of the principle of how to make fire with the sun's flint.Yangsui is a concave bronze mirror made of metal, which is recorded in "Zhou Li".Grinding ice now is nothing more than turning a concave mirror into a convex mirror. This positive and negative comparison immediately aroused Ge Hong's strong interest.

And this extends to the refraction and focusing problems at the optical level.Seeing the situation, Liang Feng threw out a magnifying glass, a necessary tool in biology and astronomy.It's just that the current technology is not up to standard, and colorless glass can't be burned for the time being. Ge Hong doesn't mind freezing his hands. He personally made ice experiments, and it didn't take long for him to study the focal length issue.

Liang Feng hadn't touched these things for many years, and there was really not much he could do to help, so he could only give a few words of guidance.However, this can be regarded as unintentional planting willows. Even if colorless glass cannot be produced for the time being, you can find crystals as a substitute and grind them into lenses. In this way, simple telescopes and microscopes should be possible.It will be of great benefit to both military operations and biomedicine.

Hearing this, Ge Hong shook his red fingers from the cold, ignored the ice, and led Liang Feng into the alchemy room.These days, they still try to study chemical agents, mainly against strong acids and bases.These two are important raw materials for industry, and they are also essential elements for the development of yellow gunpowder.

Alkali is actually easy to say.Ge Hong himself knew a recipe. Take white charcoal ash and grass ash and fry it like ointment.Among them, white carbon ash is lime, and grass ash is plant ash, that is, calcium oxide, sodium carbonate and potassium carbonate are mixed with water to obtain sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide.Although it cannot be purified, this substance is indeed a base.As for pure caustic soda, that is, sodium hydroxide, it is estimated that it should be pondered from Glauber's salt and lime water.

But sulfuric acid is difficult to deal with.Liang Feng racked his brains until he came up with green vitriol. In the criminal cases he was handling, someone used local methods to calcinate green vitriol to obtain sulfuric acid.However, how to calcine and even where the green vitriol comes from is really a problem.

Ge Hong was not very discouraged. To him, the thoughts he heard from Liang Feng were even more fascinating.Just like what Liang Feng said about the method of reconciliation, separation and replacement.When one thing intersects with another, new things can be born; one thing can be separated from other two things; or one thing can be refined to produce another.This idea has the meaning that one life is two, two is three, three is all things, and it coincides with the method of alchemy and practice, which is very popular with Ge Hong.

He took out a red pill from the cauldron, and Ge Hong handed it over: "This is the lead pill that I just practiced the day before yesterday. The effect of combining lead and mercury can change from white to yellow, and then make it red. There is also the red pill on the tripod. Is it related to the replacement method you mentioned?"

Unexpectedly, this Ge Tianshi also practiced alchemy while studying chemistry.The fatal thing is this kind of red pill.Liang Feng couldn't help but smiled wryly: "Mercury is fake gold, mixed with lead, I'm afraid it can be used as an alloy after the transformation of bronze and red copper. Afterwards, it is another kind of decomposition, absorbing the energy in the air, and then changing the color. That's it. Chengdan is no different from swallowing gold, it may not be the way of longevity."

Mercury looks like a liquid, but it is actually a metal. Because of its ability to dissolve metals, it is very popular among alchemists.The legendary method of turning stone into gold is exactly what mercury does in it.Lead, mercury, and cinnabar are the most commonly used substances in ancient alchemy, and they are all highly poisonous.Liang Feng only eats this kind of thing because he thinks his life is too long.

Ge Hong frowned: "Nine-turn golden elixir is naturally more than lead and mercury. But your deduction method is indeed somewhat mysterious. It's just that there are many things, and it is difficult to exchange them with others."

"That's why catalysts are needed, conditions are needed, and thousands of refining methods are born." Liang Feng has forgotten a lot about chemistry, but he still remembers the most basic common sense. There are always conditions to be achieved in chemical reactions. , or the catalyst catalyst can have all kinds of changes.The lofty status of ancient alchemists is also why, it is indeed a bit uncanny to transform one thing into another.

Ge Hong was quite satisfied with this, and did not continue to pester him. He put on gloves made of fine cotton cloth and a thick mask, and began to demonstrate to Liang Feng the experiments he had done these days.Danfang doesn't have any suitable tools now, and most of them use porcelain as containers.But in this way, methods such as distillation and condensation are much more difficult.It is also fortunate that Ge Hong is an authentic alchemist with a lot of local methods, so he can barely do it.

Ge Hong was extremely taciturn in nature, and Liang Feng himself had almost lost his background in chemistry, so he was afraid that he might say something wrong and mislead the direction of the experiment.The two of them were so quiet, there was quite a tacit understanding.Occasionally, when Ge Hong talked about some perplexities in the experiment, Liang Feng tried his best to support him with a few words, which could also broaden his mind and let Ge Hong come up with some new ideas.

Going back and forth like this, within an hour, Ge Hong did all the experiments at hand.

After leaving the alchemy room, the two took off their protective equipment, washed their hands, and rinsed their mouths before sitting aside drinking tea and chatting.

Sighing lightly, Ge Hong said: "After groping like this, I always feel that there is a layer of gauze. If the glassware you said can have miraculous effects, you should first think about its production method."

This is what Liang Feng urgently needs.After thinking for a while, he said, "Why don't you go back to the Liang Mansion with your teacher after a while. The kiln will not be closed this winter. You can try to purify the glass raw materials to see if you can make something more useful."

Ge Hong hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Is it just Assistant Professor Liu returning home alone?"

Both Liu Jian and Li Xin have the titles of teaching assistants now, and they teach arithmetic in the Chongwen Museum.However, Li Xin is basically immersed in trigonometry and can't extricate himself. Most of them are taught by Liu Jian, and he also serves as a consultant for the workshop.When the students had their winter vacation, Liu Jian would go to the Liang Mansion to deal with some problems on the spot.Instead, he can go back with Ge Hong.

"There is only one teacher..." Liang Feng suddenly realized, "Could it be that Zhichuan is not happy with Zile?"

Li Xin is a baby bump when he doesn't speak, but he becomes a provocative person when he speaks, and he has offended countless people long ago.Liang Feng didn't expect that even Ge Hong could mess with this guy.

Sure enough, Ge Hong looked a little worried: "Assistant Li and I have some conflicts in astronomy and geography, but it's not a big deal."

To provoke him like this is probably not an ordinary conflict.However, Liang Feng consciously didn't ask too much. One of them majored in mathematics, the other majored in chemistry. Astronomy and geography could at best be regarded as hobbies, and entanglement was useless.

With a gentle smile, Liang Feng persuaded: "Zile Luzhi has no bad intentions. Zhichuan doesn't have to take it to heart. However, the water cone made by the master may replace the manual blast and increase the furnace temperature. If it works, it will be a piece of cake. event."

The water cone is to use water power to hustle the grain.It began in the Eastern Han Dynasty, was improved by Ma Jun, and flourished in the Wei and Jin Dynasties.In Luoyang City, it is used to pound rice.According to this idea, Liang Feng asked Liu Jian to cooperate with Mufang to develop more hydraulic machinery and equipment.The Liang Mansion is still short of manpower, and having water power is of course more convenient than relying solely on manpower.

As a result, after using the waterwheel for pulp beating and porcelain clay grinding, Liu Jian came up with a method of hydraulic blowing.Going back this time is to cooperate with Mufang's trial production and strive for a breakthrough.

With this, if a blast furnace can be built again, whether it is for burning glass or making iron, it will be of great help.

Hearing Liang Feng's persuasion, Ge Hong nodded slightly and agreed.

After dealing with the Taoist matter, Liang Feng saw that it was still early, so he went to the library again.This library has also just been built, but a corner of the prefect's mansion has been remodeled, and there are currently only four rooms.One of them is an ordinary borrowing room, with only books and pens and ink for people to copy letters.One is the VIP lending room with warm pavilion pavilions for those VIPs who provide books.There are also two rooms for storing paper books and bamboo slips, and registration is required for entry and exit.An additional ear room is attached to provide hot water.Basically a simple library.

The nominal leader of the library is Cui Ji, but there is also a curator named Xu Xian.This son is also quite good. He studied under Jingzhao Duyu, specialized in "Spring and Autumn", "Zheng Shiyi", etc., read a lot of books, was talented and good at writing, and was also proficient in legal and criminal books, so he was extremely talented.

Because of this library, he was willing to serve as an official in the prefect's mansion.According to Liang Feng's suggestion, a set of regulations that are quite effective were formulated.Whether it is book storage or borrowing and copying, there are express regulations.At present, the library does not allow books to be borrowed, and does not accept readers who do not copy or donate books. It is quite easy to manage.

Seeing that the big leaders of the Shangdang came to inspect, Xu Xian also showed a flattering attitude, just saluted respectfully: "Is the Fujun here to read the book, or to check it?"

Liang Feng didn't dislike his businesslike attitude, and said with a smile, "Just looking around."

Xu Xian nodded, followed Liang Feng, and inspected the new library.

In the borrowing room, six scholars were copying books desperately, refusing to lift their heads.There is a stove in the room, which is not too warm, and it will not freeze people.The chimney is also well placed. Although it burns coal, it doesn't smell too much.There is an earth dragon in the warm pavilion, which is much warmer than the reading room, and there are only two people leaning against the window to read.The room has an incense burner, a table, and a servant girl.Putting up the screen is like staying in your own study.The two library rooms have also begun to take shape, and the bookshelves have begun to be classified.Confucian classics, history, arithmetic, agriculture, law, and other geographical records, foreign matter records are divided into categories.There are also military books, but they cannot be copied at will. Only those who have contributed military books can borrow them to read.

After reading the catalog, and carefully checking the records of borrowing and copying, Liang Feng nodded in satisfaction: "The curator Xu is really careful in his work. You still need to pay attention to fire prevention in the library and do more inspections. By the way, it's cold these days, I will order people to Send hot soup, two meals a day, for the scholars to take."

Those who can come here to copy books are not rich people.In order to save time, most of them bring their own dry food and finish the work with two bites.It is quite considerate to provide hot water, not to mention hot soup in winter.Xu Xian sighed: "The Lord's considerations are really thorough, and the next official will make proper arrangements."

"Those who can come here are all dedicated to learning, so don't neglect them." Liang Feng asked again, "Has there been an increase in the number of copyists recently?"

Xu Xian replied: "The library was first built, and not many people heard about it. When more people come to take exams and borrow books in the spring of next year, I'm afraid there will be insufficient desks in the library."

Now that the end of the year is approaching, and we are far away, even if we hear the news, we will not be able to go out for a while.When the news spreads next year and the weather gets warmer again, it will be the time for the library to truly exert its influence.Even if you want to pick someone with outstanding calligraphy, a large number of scholars will come to copy the book.I am afraid that there is not enough space in the small borrowing room.

"If there is not enough space, just build a few more rooms. The government will fully cooperate." Liang Feng still clearly distinguishes which is more important. "There are also books, and there should be as many editions as possible. It should be large and comprehensive. Then Fang Jing. This museum is the book of the county's preface, and the director of the sequel should be careful."

These words caused a warm current in Xu Xian's heart.How many years has it been since you were an official, why have you ever thought about the importance of Xiang Xu?Whether it is the Chongwen Museum or the library under it, there is an extraordinary atmosphere.Such a Shangguan is the one who can assist me just now!

Bowing deeply, Xu Xian said solemnly: "Your official should do his best."