Jiang Zhi plans to have villagers help collect leaves from Vitex negundo, camphor trees, cypress trees, elm trees, willow trees, mint, and mugwort, and then dry them in the scorching sun.
Then they used the village's large stone mill, large stone roller, and wooden and stone mortars to grind it into powder.
The powder was then sent up the mountain, and the remaining processes were completed by two families living on the mountain.
Although the method of making mosquito coils is not some high-tech thing worth hiding.
Incense has long been an essential item for ordinary households, while sandalwood is a decorative element in the lives of wealthy families.
Making mosquito coils is just a change in practical use; Jiang Zhi simply didn't want others to disrupt the market from the start.
Picking various leaves is easy; in just one day, the drying ground in the village was piled high with them.
Women could also participate, helping to dry various tree bark and leaves on the drying ground, earning ten coins a day.
In this way, someone in every family can find a job without interfering with the work in the fields.
After settling matters in the village, Jiang Zhi returned to the mountain and rested for a whole day.
She couldn't compare to Errui and Xiaoman. They ran a hundred miles, and while the young people could recover after a nap, she was so tired that her back ached even while sitting still.
Now, the mosquito coil making on the mountain is completely handed over to Chunfeng and Dazhu, while the village work is handled by Errui, Xiaoman, and Li Laoshi, so she can finally free up her hands completely.
In the county town, Miss Huo said that Xiao Yao was fierce, and Jiang Zhi naturally knew this.
She lives on a mountain where the temperature is a bit lower, so there aren't too many mosquitoes. Plus, she wears long sleeves and pants, so they're not as annoying as mosquitoes that disturb her sleep.
The main ingredient in modern mosquito repellents is lemon eucalyptus.
The formula consists of lemon eucalyptus hydrosol, mugwort hydrosol, honeysuckle hydrosol, and peppermint hydrosol.
Of course, regular eucalyptus leaves have the same effect, just in different amounts.
Lemon eucalyptus, belonging to the genus Eucalyptus in the family Myrtaceae, is also known as the eucalyptus tree. Native to Australia, it is now cultivated in southern China, Fujian, Sichuan, and other regions.
To make mosquito repellent, you need to distill the hydrosols of various herbs.
This was not a problem for Jiang Zhi, who needed to make medicine. She had seen the steamer here when she visited the Huo family's pharmacy before.
In traditional Chinese medicine, molecular distillation is often used to extract active ingredients from plants, such as essential oils, aromatic substances, and alkaloids.
These active ingredients can be used to make products such as traditional Chinese medicine decoction pieces, medicinal wines, spices, and cosmetics.
Traditional Chinese medicine distillation uses low-temperature distillation, carried out at a temperature of 50-100°C, which is suitable for current conditions.
Western medicine distillation requires high-temperature purification, at a temperature of 200-300°C.
Finely chopped eucalyptus leaves are placed into a steaming clay pot, submerged in water, and then an iron pot is placed on top of the clay pot. A thin copper pipe for drainage is then placed on top, and a device similar to a brewing pot is completed.
Not worried about others seeing them, these things are placed in the open yard.
Qiaoyun placed the water-filled pot in place and then sealed the gaps with burlap. Jiangzhi held Xiaocaixia and pointed out how to operate it.
Little Caixia bit her finger, watching her mother and grandmother play house with a look of amazement.
Seeing Qiaoyun start a fire, the little guy got excited and struggled to slide down: "Mom! I...I...I!"
The one-year-old girl is very agile, but she speaks one word at a time.
Seeing that she was busy going to cook, Jiang Zhi could only put her on the ground and remind her, "Be careful the child doesn't touch these pots and pans."
Qiaoyun pulled the child back and said with a smile, "Caixia is also an obedient child."
It's too early to tell whether the child is obedient or not, but Jiang Zhi knows that Peiqi is an obedient child.
Now that there are piglets on the mountain, Peppa has suddenly become more sensible.
At this moment, Peppa, who had been sleeping outside the fence, twitched her ears and immediately got up.
Jiang Zhi took a few steps, then looked at the wild boar following her again and said with a smile, "I'm not going to feed the piglets, you're watching too closely."
Now, Peppa is no longer running wild in the mountains. At home, besides begging for food, she just wanders around the mountainside.
They dug rabbit holes, searched for snake dens, patrolled and kept watch, working diligently to widen the roads from their homes to the fields and villages.
As long as Jiang Zhi is home, he walks around her constantly, always trying to appear well-behaved.
When he heard there was no food, Peppa pretended not to understand and continued to whine and nuzzle Jiang Zhi's drooping hand with her wet nose.
"Alright, let me scrub your back!"
Although a 200-pound wild boar is anything but cute and docile no matter what it's done, Jiang Zhi was still amused by Peppa Pig and grabbed a bamboo brush to scratch the pig's itch.
They are currently extracting eucalyptus hydrosol. Although Qiaoyun is guarding the area, Jiangzhi doesn't dare to leave and simply tries to appease the wild boar.
Then they brought Caixia over and played sepak takraw with Peiqi, something both families enjoyed doing.
The rattan ball was specially woven by Jiang Zhi from kudzu vines. It can roll when kicked and is not afraid of being bitten by wild boars.
Soon Nini arrived, and the two little girls quickly started playing with Peppa Pig.
The child kicks at it, and it nudges back with its mouth, following the rules both ways.
The rattan ball rolled down the hillside by accident, and the wild boar immediately scurried down the mountain to retrieve it, making Nini and Caixia laugh nonstop.
As time passed, the distilled water in the eucalyptus leaves began to condense and drip into the ceramic jar through the duct.
After steaming the eucalyptus leaves, it's time for mugwort and mint leaves.
Several different medicines were used in the pot, and the cooling liquid in the pot also needed to be changed frequently once it was heated.
Four days later, Errui and Xiaoman drove the old mule carrying the first batch of medicinal powder up the mountain, and several kinds of hydrosols were also extracted.
Once the steamer was put away, the two families on the mountain started pressing mosquito coils.
Nowadays, everyone who makes mosquito coils is a skilled worker. Xiaoman and Errui do the physical labor, first kneading various powders into a wet mud according to the proportions, and then pressing it into strips in bamboo tubes.
As long as there are enough raw materials, making mosquito coils is quick. After finishing one batch, Xiaoman would take a break and then drive the old mule down the mountain to the village to collect the ground grass powder.
In less than ten days, with the joint efforts of more than a dozen villagers, 10,000 plates were completed.
Since the old mule could no longer transport 10,000 mosquito coils, Jiang Zhi sent mosquito coils and mosquito repellent to Zhang Juntou this time.
When they patrolled, they also had to camp at roadside inns, where they suffered greatly from mosquito attacks, especially the large mountain mosquitoes, which had big mouths and a few of them could make a dish.
The only way to get them to leave the post station was to burn smoke, but sometimes when they were so tired, they would wake up with big bumps on their face and hands.
Upon hearing that this small dish could repel mosquitoes and that the lotion could also be applied to repel them, Zhang Juntou readily accepted the offer, though he still complained a few times: "You've been selling for so long and you only remembered me, Old Zhang now? Are you afraid I won't pay you?"
Zhang Juntou's statement was truly unfair to Jiang Zhi.
The concern about not receiving payment was only a minor factor; another reason was to let the Huo family test the effectiveness of the treatment.
Zhang Juntou's customers are all from out of town, unlike those selling tender corn, which involves carefully selecting items and offers little after-sales service.
This mosquito coil is only on its first sale, and the formula is still being adjusted. If it damages the reputation, it will be difficult to regain people's trust.
This also caused Zhang Juntou and his team to lose the promotional effect of "military supplies, high quality" with the vendors.
Jiang Zhi didn't want to tell Zhang Juntou these business details, and just smiled and said, "The mosquito repellent used to be less effective than the current one. You're using a special one, so naturally it can't compare to those that use incense in the city."
Zhang Juntou thought about it and agreed. Wild mosquitoes are different from those kept in the city; they require more potent insecticides.
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