Chapter 90 Luo Chong digging a pit (please collect and recommend)

The current population of the Black Rat Tribe is 137 people. This is the number after several trades with the Han and Li tribes, plus the number of casualties in this battle. It is not a small number of people, equivalent to two-thirds of the current population of the Han tribe. So many people suddenly poured into the Han tribe, and it was also a problem to settle them.

The caves were no longer able to accommodate them, so everyone had to set up some tents in the open space inside the wall for living. The people of the Black Rat Tribe did not care about anything. They originally lived in tents and did not object to such an arrangement.

In addition, after they came, they saw all kinds of good things in the Han tribe. Let alone other things, the reserves of meat and animal skins alone were enough for them to be happy. In addition, there were so many large live animals. Not to mention letting them live in tents now, they would not mind sleeping in the cowshed, so they set up tents by themselves, and set them up next to the animal pen.

"Stop, stop, stop, wait a minute."

Luo Chong saw the place they had chosen and hurriedly shouted to stop them.

"Chief, what's wrong? Are there any problems with these places?" Rat Da was directing everyone to work, and when he heard Luo Chong shouting to stop, he asked curiously.

"People shouldn't live too close to the animal pens, otherwise they will get sick easily, and we are afraid that children will be kicked by the big animals. In addition, those places have other uses. Let's set up the tents near the cave." Luo Chong explained.

"Oh, so, then, what are the other uses of those places?" Rat Da nodded in understanding, and then asked in confusion.

"Don't worry about this now. You won't understand even if I tell you. What I need is not that piece of land, but the soil on that piece of land. Also, you have to go there to pee and poop in the future, don't do it anywhere." Luo Chong didn't want to explain too much, this fact was really unclear to them.

"Oh."

Rat Da nodded in confusion. He didn't know what the soil next to the animal pens was used for, but he understood the latter one, don't pee and poop in the living area. Everyone did this when they were in the Black Rat Tribe before. Although he didn't understand what it meant to keep hygienic, at least the living area wouldn't be too smelly.

The tent setters changed places, and Luo Chong also breathed a sigh of relief and began to prepare other things.

"Cripple, you should make more pottery these days for the new tribesmen, and also make more water jars, which I need." Luo Chong turned around and arranged for Cripple.

"Oh, chief, we have brought back so many copper mines, so don't we refine copper now?" Cripple asked back. Compared with making pottery, he now prefers to refine copper. Hearing that Luo Chong did not let him refine copper, he was a little disappointed and could not help but remind Luo Chong.

"Let Dazui and others do the copper refining first, and you can do it when it comes to the final purification. Now go and make pottery first. You are the best pottery maker in the tribe, so I let you do it. I don't like what others do." Luo Chong praised Cripple a few words like coaxing a child.

"Hehe, yes, chief, I promise to make the pottery well." Cripple was really pleased to hear Luo Chong's praise, and he quickly promised.

Everyone was busy with their own work. In the evening, a simple pointed-roof round thatched house was built. At night, the new tribesmen tied their hair under the command of the elders, and distributed pottery bowls and chopsticks to everyone. Everyone had their first dinner together, and the relationship between the tribesmen became closer.

After dinner, everyone gathered around several bonfires to communicate. The men studied the weapons and tools of the Han tribe, and the women exchanged the methods of weaving straw sandals and rattan baskets. The elders were mainly teaching, and the newcomers were learning. In the process, the vocabulary of Chinese was slowly infiltrated into these newcomers.

Just as the afterglow of the evening was about to disappear, a man carrying a copper shovel and pushing a cart also got busy.

"Chief, why are you digging a pit? Is there any use for the things in it?" The elder asked puzzledly.

I'm digging your uncle's pit. Which eye of yours saw me digging a pit? I'm digging the soil next to the pit.

When Luo Chong heard the elder's question, he was so angry that he said unhappily, "What I dug was not manure, but the soil next to the toilet."

"Chief, what's the use of that soil? It's not used for making pottery. You'd better think of a way to mine salt. So many tribesmen have come. We can't hold on to the salt we have stored." The elder continued to nag.

"Can't you see I'm preparing? What do you think I'm doing digging this soil? It's to open a salt mine. Okay, okay, don't worry about it. I know what to do."

Luo Chong was working there enduring the stench. He was holding his breath and didn't dare to breathe. Now that he was disturbed by the elder, he immediately became impatient.

"Can digging soil open a salt mine?" The elder suspected that Luo Chong was covering up his real purpose of digging the pit.

If Luo Chong knew that the elder thought so, he would definitely spray him to death with a mouthful of salt soda, yes, if there was salt soda.

What's in the soil next to the pit? The answer is saltpeter. What's the use of saltpeter? Of course, it's to make explosives and open salt mines.

If you can't find natural minerals like saltpeter, the best way to get it is to look for it near the toilet, because animal excrement contains this ingredient.

Some people may have seen that in some rural dry toilets, pig pens, cow sheds, and even at the base of some old adobe houses, in spring and autumn, when the temperature is low in the morning and evening, a layer of white frost will form on the ground. In fact, it is the reaction between the saltpeter in the soil and the condensed dew, which produces an endothermic phenomenon, so the dew on the nearby ground will condense into frost.

In some cases where the content is relatively high, saltpeter will also directly precipitate crust-like or salt-like crystals in these places, also known as "ground frost".

It is estimated that Li Bai's sentence "The moonlight in front of the bed, I suspect it is frost on the ground" was made up by Li Bai after he drank too much and saw the saltpeter frost on the ground. Who knows.

The purification and use of saltpeter were very familiar to the ancients thousands of years ago. The ancients had already mastered the preparation of saltpeter and the method of making ice with saltpeter, which was generally enjoyed by the nobles. After all, not everyone in ancient times could enjoy ice in summer.

In addition, saltpeter was also called "Xiaoshi" by the ancients. It was said that it could eliminate everything. Therefore, it was loved by all kinds of alchemists. No matter what it was, they liked to throw it into the furnace with saltpeter to refine it, and then blow themselves up. However, it was also thanks to them that gunpowder was one of the four great inventions.

The preparation of saltpeter is very easy and it is not a secret. Put the soil containing saltpeter into a water tank and dilute it with water. Clarify and filter the dissolved muddy water, and then heat and boil the filtrate or directly dry it in the sun to get pure saltpeter crystals, which is similar to the method of refining saltpeter.

These refined crystals are nitric acid potassium.

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(End of this chapter)