180 Vicious Means

Three days later, Ping An was still proud when he saw the distiller, condenser and receiver he designed put together.

"Master, let me try. There is a trick to heating it. You have to heat it slowly, otherwise the liquor will explode easily."

Xiao Wu's heart skipped a beat when he heard this: "Master Ping An, let me do it."

Da Wu was the first to rush forward.

Ping An shook his head: "No, I have an idea in mind."

The liquor we bought is only about 15 degrees. If it is purified into 75 degrees of alcohol, only two taels can be obtained from one catty. Liquor is not cheap nowadays. Such liquor costs one hundred coins per catty.

But Ping An knew that with his recipe, one pound of grain could produce five pounds of such wine, which meant that one pound of grain could create a value of five hundred coins. Wheat and sorghum were not valuable.

Winemaking is a highly profitable business.

When Ping An told this to his master, Sun Sicheng and Ming Wanli were dumbfounded.

In other words, the cost of making alcohol from purchased liquor is about 600 wen per catty, so there will always be some losses, not to mention other costs such as labor costs, firewood costs, etc.

But if it is home-brewed, it is basically around twenty cents, so the price difference is thirty times.

How big is a thirty-fold profit? Ming Wanli and Sun Sicheng certainly knew this.

Sun Sicheng was already thinking about how to divide the profits among his young apprentice. He wasn't sure if he could give him face, but the profits had to be divided in half, otherwise it would be against the will of heaven.

Sun Sicheng looked at his busy little apprentice with complicated eyes. The Sun family had gained too much from this child, but this child had never thought about giving back.

He had not expected that accepting this apprentice would lead to such a result.

Ming Wanli stared at this little god of wealth with his eyes sharp. When the alcohol is produced, if the effect is really that good, it can definitely be used in the military camp. There is no need to sell the liquor. Just the alcohol produced by themselves will be so abundant that they can't use it anymore.

Sun Sicheng naturally thought of this problem as well.

The liquor of the Great Zhou Dynasty is concentrated in the hands of a few big merchants, and behind these merchants, without exception, are nobles. He does not want to touch the interests of these people, and will not brew and sell liquor for the time being.

As long as you keep the alcohol recipe and sell the liquor you produce yourself, and it's your only product, you can make 100,000 taels of silver a year even if the amount used is small.

This is just the obvious benefit, and the hidden benefits it brings to the Sun family are even greater.

He needs to think carefully about how to help his apprentice gain more benefits and make him willing to accept these benefits.

If Ping An knew that his master was thinking about these things in his heart, he would smile and say that he was overthinking.

Giving some property or sharing the profits is fine. After all, the profits are too huge and the Sun family is not short of money.

But he lacks these yellow and white things.

As for the rest, he is too young to bear the reputation. No matter which of the two fathers gives it to him, the other one will be sad. It is better to keep the matter a secret and pretend it never happened. How nice it would be to live in harmony.

An hour later, Sun Sicheng and Ming Wanli looked at the alcohol in the receiver and were very excited.

Ping'an opened the receiver, poured a little for the master to taste, and took a little himself, his face wrinkled. This is not good, but it was just the ordinary liquor in his previous life, only about 40 or 50 degrees.

"Wow, this is awesome, young master. Even the coldest weather won't be cold after drinking this."

Sun Sicheng took a small sip and felt a fire burning in his abdomen. It was indeed very powerful.

"Master, Uncle Ming, this is not good enough. At this level, when I have brewed my own wine, I can distill some for my own drinking, but it is not good enough as alcohol yet, so I have to distill it again."

"Ping An, I'll listen to you. Let's distill it again."

He carefully recorded the time, method and approach of Ping'an's operation just now, and would ask Ping'an to do it again for the people led by Master Ou, just as he told Ping'an, improper operation would be dangerous.

He didn't take it seriously at first, but now with such a strong liquor, he believed it and thought it would really catch fire.

Ping An did the same operation again without getting tired of it, and finally the ten kilograms of liquor became about two kilograms of alcohol, estimated to be around seventy degrees. It was hard to say exactly, but it was enough to be used as medical alcohol.

Sun Sicheng only smiled a little bit and felt overwhelmed: "Ping An, this is too amazing."

"Master, this is medical alcohol. Use the prepared medical cotton and apply a little bit of it to wipe the wound. This will largely avoid the risk of infection, prevent the wound from becoming red, swollen, inflamed, and rotten, and minimize the risk of death."

Sun Sicheng took a deep breath.

Xiao Ping'an would definitely not have been taught by Taoist Master Hu for only a few days. It should have been several months or even a year, otherwise he would not have such medical knowledge.

But the child doesn’t say anything. He has his own difficulties and he won’t ask.

It was a great bargain for him to be this child's master.

Master Hu, I’m sorry.

"Ping An, I have noted down what you did just now. Wanli bought 200 kilograms of this liquor this time, which should be able to produce less than 40 kilograms of alcohol.

The white wine master is already brewing it. He said the wine will be ready in a month and can be used after 40 days, but it will take some time to settle before you can drink it at home. It can also be used before the New Year. "

Ping An nodded and said, "Master, it will be too late to wait for the homemade liquor. It is better to buy more ordinary liquor and brew more first. For the time being, it is not convenient to deliver to the distant medical clinic. We must prepare some nearby. This is definitely better than good medicine."

"Of course, I'll have Wanli take people to buy some tomorrow. We don't need good wine, just 100 coins per pound."

The good wine of the Great Zhou is very expensive. Two liang is normal, and there are also five liang and eight liang per catty. However, what ordinary people drink usually costs around one hundred wen.

Sun Sicheng took his little apprentice out, and the whole morning passed like this. The child would not grow if he was hungry.

"Ping An, I will take you to Huainan Prefecture in a few days and pick up your junior sister. But we won't come back for now. I will take you around along the way, otherwise little Awu will always say that she has never played here."

"Young Master, Magistrate Bai and his men are waiting in the main courtyard. They look worried and I don't know what happened." Jixiang came over hurriedly.

"I understand." Sun Sicheng strode towards the main courtyard, and Ping'an followed with his calves. However, when they reached the main courtyard, he turned to the wing rooms. The master had important things to do, so he could not follow.

Sun Sicheng recognized the person who came with Prefect Bai at a glance: "Minister Zhao, Prefect Bai."

Both Magistrate Bai and Minister Zhao stood up and said, "Master, I have something to talk to you about."

After dismissing his subordinates, Minister Zhao said, "My Lord, something has happened in the southwest."

When Sun Sicheng heard the news that soldiers of the Southwestern Army were poisoned one after another, he couldn't help but frown. It was really vicious to use such despicable means when the two armies were facing each other.

"My Lord, the military doctors can only manage to keep the patients stable. The most seriously ill ones have already died. The court has recruited several imperial physicians who are good at poisons, but the antidote cannot be prepared at the moment. Everyone has thought of you, so there is really no time to prepare it. The imperial physicians are staying in the inn now. We have to leave in a few days, and I have to go this time too."

"Minister Zhao, I don't have many antidote pills here, do you know what poison Xi Nan was poisoned by?"

Minister Zhao shook his head: "I don't know, but the poison is not strong. I'm just afraid there will be a backup plan."

"I understand. I'll wait for you at Baicao Hall within three days."