The next day was dark.

Young Master Zhao got up early and went to see Master Xu pouring out the night incense... No way!

Recently he has become obsessed with running because Zhao Shizhen in Kunshan asked Zhao Shixi to send him a pair of running shoes.

What? You're asking where Xiwa came from? She was the one who wore a bun with Mr. Liu's son that day and served as Zhao Hao's zither boy.

Back to this pair of running shoes, its upper is made of soft and delicate calfskin, the cutting and stitching are perfect, and a pair of "Zhao" characters are embroidered on the upper with gold thread, which is very cool.

But what really excited Mr. Zhao was that the black sole of the shoes was made of Eucommia gum!

When making hot air balloons in Beijing, Mr. Zhao discovered that the craftsmen who made Aoshan lanterns would use a special glue, which would be heated and then brushed onto the silk skin. The glue would repel water, become flame retardant and make the silk impermeable.

He initially thought it was fish bladder glue, but after asking the craftsmen, he learned that the main raw material of this glue was actually extracted from the bark of the Eucommia ulmoides tree.

This made Master Zhao ecstatic. He had always thought that the rubber industry of the Ming Dynasty would not get off the ground until its tentacles reached Southeast Asia.

But they forgot that the Ming Dynasty had a substitute - that was Eucommia gum!

As the name suggests, this glue is produced from Eucommia ulmoides, a precious medicinal herb that is specifically used to treat kidney deficiency and testicular pain.

However, the leaves and bark of Eucommia ulmoides contain a large amount of Eucommia gum, which has the same chemical composition as natural rubber.

However, the molecular structures of Eucommia gum and rubber are different, which results in natural Eucommia gum not having the elasticity of rubber, but being more like a piece of hard plastic.

As a fan of Approaching Science, Mr. Zhao still remembers clearly how to process Eucommia ulmoides gum, which is vulcanization.

Depending on the degree of vulcanization, natural eucommia gum can be either elastic rubber or hard plastic. This property of being soft or hard is called "rubber-plastic duality".

The simplest vulcanization method is to put eucommia gum and sulfur together and bake them on the stove!

Of course, Mr. Zhao didn't know the specific ratio, baking temperature, or what seasonings were needed.

I can only leave it to my nephew who loves research to figure it out.

Only three months had passed since Zhao Hao had handed over the project to Zhao Shizhen, and he was already wearing the first pair of rubber running shoes in the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, it was my eldest nephew who later became obsessed with making guns and could not extricate himself, otherwise it would have come out even faster.

~~

Mr. Zhao hopes that this pair of historic running shoes can be as effective as the Liberation Shoes from the 1970s and 1980s.

Who would have thought that after he put them on and stepped on the ground, he found that it was extremely elastic and soft, far exceeding his expectations.

Maybe he had forgotten how it felt to wear sneakers. Anyway, Zhao Hao felt that his feet were suddenly wrapped, the soles of his feet were protected, and his knees were cushioned. He would be sorry to wear these shoes if he didn't run for a while.

When he ran out of the camp headquarters accompanied by Gao Wu, wearing shorts and a T-shirt tailored by Qiaoqiao, he heard clanging and creaking sounds behind him and smelled a pungent odor.

Following the smell, I turned around and saw Master Xu struggling to push a manure cart, staggering out of the barracks at the back.

There was a string of iron hooks hanging next to the car, and most of the hooks were hung with collected urine buckets and chamber pots.

At present, there are more than two thousand people on the island, including the prisoners and Wu Ji's reinforcements. The camp is almost full. The original houses are not enough, so several tents have been set up.

Jin Ke, who is responsible for the order of the entire camp, strictly prohibits urinating and defecating anywhere. People must go to the toilet in the outhouse during the day and use the toilet at night. Violators will be whipped.

This was not Zhao Hao's request. Young Master Zhao always let Jin Ke handle things on his own.

This is the rule that Jin Ke brought from the Qi Family Army.

Qi Jiguang discovered that as long as soldiers did not drink raw water and maintained good personal hygiene, the number of casualties due to illness in the army could be greatly reduced, so corresponding requirements naturally appeared in his military regulations.

After Tong Zigong whipped dozens of prisoners and militiamen who violated the rules, no one dared to urinate or defecate anywhere anymore, and even other aspects of discipline improved a lot.

Zhao Hao covered his nose and was about to run away.

Suddenly, I heard Xu Kun's hoarse cry behind me.

"Mr. Zhao, I am willing to give you 10,000 taels of silver, will you let me go?!"

Zhao Hao turned around and ran away backwards while saying:

"I'll give you 20,000 taels of silver. Can you continue to trade for a year?"

Tong Zigong, who was about to kill Xu Kun, raised his hand and said, "Sir, give me 20,000 taels, and I will trade for ten years."

"Haha, I'll think about it." Zhao Hao rolled his eyes secretly. How could this guy be so unable to read the atmosphere?

"Mr. Zhao, please tell me the truth. What do you need to do to let me go?" Xu Kun said sadly, "I can't live like this for even one more day."

"It all depends on your performance. If you perform well, you can go home for the New Year. If you don't perform well, you will be a night incense burner on Xishan Island for the rest of your life..."

When Master Zhao ran to the camp gate, he suddenly stopped and laughed loudly, "By the way, if you want to go back immediately, it's not impossible."

"Ah, sir, please tell me quickly!" Xu Kun was so excited when he heard it. Although he had only been using the toilet for a few days, he felt that he was already dead in a sense.

He is willing to exchange all his wealth for freedom and a chance to be reborn.

"Let your brother take your place."

Master Zhao left a very angry remark and turned around before disappearing without a trace.

"I, I knew you were a bad guy..." Xu Kun's angry curses came to an abrupt end, and a scream of "Ah" echoed throughout the barracks.

~~

After Zhao Hao ran out of the military camp, he went north to Yuanshan and ran along a black road towards the Jinduo River.

This road existed originally, and it was probably built by the original islanders.

On the second day after arriving on the island, Master Zhao organized a large search team of 100 people, preparing to go into the mountains to look for the bandits... Well, actually, to look for coal.

If there is no coal but only limestone, it is wishful thinking to burn cement because the temperature cannot be reached.

Although he knew that the coal mines here must be visible on the surface, Xishan Island was so big that Mr. Zhao was prepared to not find any coal for a month.

But who would have thought that once we passed Yuanshan, we would see this dark road.

Mr. Zhao found this road very familiar. He grabbed a handful of black stones and saw that they were indeed coal gangue...

Then he and the search team followed this gangue road to the Jinduo River. After crossing the river by boat, there was another gangue road on the other side.

A few miles further north along that road, we saw the vast expanse of black coal fields at the foot of the mountain...

The search is over.

~~

Zhao Hao originally thought that the islanders already had a history of using coal.

But later, when I asked Mr. Liu, I learned that although the people in Xishan knew that the coal could be burned, they had never used it.

Because it is the lush vegetation of the south of the Yangtze River, with endless firewood and charcoal, who would want to use choking and dirty coal?

Cooking doesn't require such high temperatures...

People dig up coal fields in order to use the gangue to pave roads, but the real coal is all discarded.

It seems that there is no hope for the coal lotus root business in Jiangnan, which makes Mr. Zhao a little depressed.

Fortunately, industrial coal for burning cement, bricks and even iron smelting has finally been found, which makes Zhao Hao feel comforted.

ps. Fifth update, thanks to the new leader '*(T_T)*'.