Chapter 29: Picking up the Alkali
Wu Jiong rarely heard Jian Mo's excited voice. When he heard it, he thought something had happened and quickly changed back to his beast form and ran over.
The giant wolf ran up the mountain, and Jian Mo ran down the mountain. The two just happened to meet.
Jian Mo couldn't stop the car and collided directly with the giant wolf. In the end, he hugged the giant wolf's front legs and barely stood firm.
The giant wolf looked down at him.
Jian Mo didn't bother to analyze the giant wolf's expression. He tilted his head and said, "Do you know about alkali? It seems that alkali can be collected from the salt lake in winter!"
The giant wolf shook its head, and its thick ears swayed: "Tell me about it."
Jian Mo was attracted by the ears, and quickly forced himself to come back to his senses: "When we make soap, we soak wood ash in water, and there is alkali in the soaked water."
Giant wolf: "I remember, you told us."
Jian Mo: "Yes ! However, the alkali content in wood ash is relatively low and not very pure, so it is particularly troublesome to soak. The alkali in the salt lake is different. It is more pure, and if it is made into soap, the cleaning effect will be better. "
Jian Mo was a little excited and spoke quickly: "Alkali is very useful. The most important thing is that it can only be collected in winter. If you miss this season, it will be more difficult to collect it. "
Jian Mo finally remembered some useful knowledge and hoped to use it.
He raised his head and looked at Wu Jiong hopefully.
The giant wolf thought for a moment and said, "Then let's go. We just happen to be out of salt, so let's pick some salt back."
Jian Mo: "Do you want to go to the salt lake to pick salt?"
In winter, not only can we pick alkali, but there must be salt in the salt lake as well, so we
can pick some up. The giant wolf shook his head and said, "We usually go to the salt mountain to pick it, because the salt there tastes better."
When Jian Mo heard him say this, he suddenly thought of the alkali in the salt lake.
If there is alkali in the salt lake, the salt and alkali will be mixed together, and the alkali tastes bitter, so the salt picked up from there will probably taste bitter.
People in this world may not understand the various chemical principles, but they have rich experience.
Jian Mo sighed in his heart and reminded himself again not to underestimate others.
Jian Mo thought of the various alkali compounds and felt a little excited.
Wu Jiong didn't know much about this and just treated it as an ordinary collection. After greeting Jian Mo, he went to discuss it with other people.
Jian Mo stayed where he was, watching the giant wolf slowly disappear, and his excitement subsided a little.
He knew about alkali, but he was not very familiar with its applications. He still had to figure out how to use it specifically.
It was estimated to be a more difficult project.
It has been a long time since everyone went out to collect together, so this time everyone was particularly gathered.
The orcs and sub-beastmen did not divide into groups, and all moved together.
The orcs changed back into their beast form and lay down, and the sub-beastmen climbed onto their backs.
All the giant beasts were lined up in a row, which was very conspicuous in the snow.
Qing Kuang turned back to count the number of people, and then checked everyone's situation. After making sure that everything was OK, he reached out and patted the giant wolf on the back: "Di Ya, let's go!"
A low roar came out of the throat of the white giant wolf: "Ah——"
Then, he carried Qing Kuang and ran out.
Di Ya carried Qing Kuang on his back and walked in the front, while Wu Jiong carried Jian Mo
on his back and walked in the back. The giant wolf transformed by Wu Jiong was the largest of all the giant beasts. Jian Mo sat on his back and looked down from a high place. He could clearly see the situation of all the beastmen and sub-beastmen in front.
Then he found that whether it was a feline beastman or a canine beastman, when they ran, they ran along the paw prints in front.
Not only that, their hind paws also stepped accurately on the paw prints of the front paws.
After they ran through, there were only two lines of prints on the white and clean snowfield.
If an inexperienced person came to see, he would never guess that a group of orcs carrying sub-orcs had run here.
During the break, Jian Mo leaned on the giant wolf and asked this question in a low voice: "Why are everyone walking along their own footprints?"
Wu Jiong also lowered his voice: "The snow is too heavy, and we can't see the situation below. It's easy to sprain or get hurt if we run randomly in the wilderness."
When Wu Jiong used the beast form, his voice was relatively low. Maybe the sound becomes different after passing through the mouth.
Jian Mo looked at the serious look of the giant wolf and always felt that it was particularly itchy.
He had never seen a giant wolf on Earth, but he had seen many big dogs. Each of the dogs was more naughty than the other, and their style was totally different from that of the giant wolf.
Thinking of this, Jian Mo's hands were itchy.
He tried to hold back, but he couldn't help it, and grabbed the giant wolf's front paws and moved them back and forth: "So that's how it is."
Wu Jiong nodded the wolf's head.
Wu Jiong was fine, but many orcs in the tribe were panting.
They were panting, with their mouths wide open and their tongues sticking out, which looked quite cute.
But unlike Wu Jiong, Jian Mo turned to look at Wu Jiong and felt that the other orcs all had some animal sense, but Wu Jiong was particularly cool and handsome.
Jian Mo's sight was too obvious, he himself didn't realize it, but many people around him noticed it.
Wu Jiong turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"
Jian Mo realized belatedly that this seemed impolite, and said embarrassedly, "I'll just take a look."
After resting for a while, everyone continued to set off.
They ran on the snowfield again. Some animals noticed the movement and hid from a distance. Even the birds circling in the air did not dare to get too close.
Jian Mo watched the distant mountains get closer and closer, and the nearby forest was left behind, with a slightly surprised expression on his face.
It is said that if you look at the mountain, you will die. This does not apply to the beastmen. The beastmen ran too fast. They traveled thousands of miles a day, and crossing mountains and ridges was nothing to them.
After watching for a while, the snow stung Jian Mo's eyes.
He lay down, hugged the giant wolf's neck, and leaned his whole body on the giant wolf, closing his eyes to rest.
He was a little worried about getting snow blindness as he continued to look.
There were no mirrors here, so Jian Mo didn't notice that his pupils were actually shrinking when he looked at the snowy plains, but not as obviously as those of the beastmen and sub-beastmen here.
He also did not notice that his ears could actually move very slightly when he occasionally listened to distant movements.
Changes have come, but no one has noticed its existence.
Today's main purpose is to collect salt.
People drove to the salt mountain first with ease, and after digging away the snow on the surface, they could see the reddish-brown rock salt underneath.
The particles of rock salt are much smaller than stones, and they are a bit sticky when rubbed, making them very easy to identify.
Experienced people directly picked up the surface rock salt and put it into a basket padded with cloth.
Jian Mo looked at the salt in the entire mountain and understood why people didn't go to the salt lake to get salt. Not only
is it convenient to get salt on the mountain, but the salt also tastes good and has no strange smell.
Although they have more impurities, the salt impurities in the salt lake may not be less.
The mountain where salt is extracted is not far from the salt lake, and should be considered the edge of their tribe.
Jian Mo was curious: "Is our tribe the only one that comes to this mountain to extract salt? Or do other tribes come here too?"
Wu Jiong: "Come on, this mountain is considered an unowned territory."
Jian Mo was shocked: "Unowned?! Such a good salt mountain is actually unowned?"
Ban Ming and several other beastmen were loading salt from time to time. When they heard them talking, they leaned over and said, "It wasn't unowned at the beginning."
When Jian Mo heard this , immediately knew there was a story, and asked: "Then what?"
Ban Ming: "It is between our tribe, Dianxin tribe and Mengshui tribe. There is no specific dividing line on the mountain. Everyone came here to collect salt, and they thought that other tribes collected their own salt, so they had several fierce fights."
Jian Mo: "Did our tribe win?"
Ban Ming shook his head: "No, we tied with the Mengshui tribe . , the Dianxin tribe lost the battle, but they were unwilling to accept it and kept wanting to fight more. As the fighting went on, more and more people were injured and they could not go out to hunt and gather. "
Jian Mo listened attentively: "What happened next?"
Wu Jiong took over the conversation: "Later, everyone agreed at the hunting meeting that the three tribes would each give up a small piece of land, and leave this mountain and the nearby salt lake as unowned territory, and each tribe could Come here to collect salt."
Ban Ming: "Yes, yes, that's because we gave up our land. When we mediated with the Zhengchi tribe and the Mengshui tribe later, we asked them to give up the disputed land, so they didn't have any objections.
Jian Mo remembered: "It's the unowned land where we collected noodles, right?"
Ban Ming clicked his tongue: "You guessed it!"
The ground was full of salt, and it was very fast to collect.
They finished collecting the salt while chatting.
Qing Kuang came over: "Let's go to the salt lake now?"
Jian Mo nodded: "Let's see if we can get alkali."
Everyone had no objection. Anyway, the salt lake was nearby, and it wouldn't take much time to make a trip along the way.
They packed up their things and set off again, and soon arrived at the edge of the salt lake.
The salt lake is called a lake, but it looks a bit like a muddy pond. The water is very shallow, probably not even as deep as a person's thigh, and there is gravel underneath.
Jian Mo reached his hand into the water and felt around.
The water was okay. Apart from being cold, it wasn't very irritating. But when he took his hand out of the water, it felt sticky and itchy, not very comfortable.
Jian Mo shook his hand in the wind and licked the back of his hand.
A salty smell spread, just the ordinary smell of salt, and there didn't seem to be any other strange smell.
Everyone looked at him, waiting for his command.
He felt around under the water again, and finally touched out small yellow-brown crystals.
Jian Mo: "This should be alkali."
Ban Ming and his group of young beastmen also bent down to touch and also touched out small yellow-brown crystals. They raised them and asked: "How do you know it is alkali and not something else?"
Jian Mo was really stumped by the question. His current knowledge system could not support him to do an experiment to verify it.
Jian Mo: "Taste it?"
Ban Ming, a carefree guy, heard him say that and threw it directly into his mouth: "Taste——Ah, bah, bah, bah!!!"
Jian Mo: "... Just lick it, you don't have to eat it whole."
The others laughed.
Ban Ming cast a resentful look at him: "It's bitter, why didn't you tell me earlier?"
Jian Mo Wugui: "I didn't expect you to be so quick, the bitter thing must be alkali."
After thinking for a while, he said: "Even if the things that settle out of the salt lake in winter are not pure alkali, they should also have alkali components. Let's pick them up first and take them back to make soap. If it succeeds, it means that the alkali content is not small."
Soap is a good thing. After being reminded, everyone became much more active.
Everyone reached in and touched it, and soon they picked up a lot of alkali.
The weather was really too cold. Although the salt lake was not frozen, the water temperature was very low, much lower than the normal water temperature. After a while, even the beastmen and sub-beastmen could not stand the cold. They quickly wrapped themselves in animal skin robes or changed back into animal form and headed for the tribe.
The salt water was sticky and greasy, and it was still uncomfortable even after wiping it dry.
As soon as everyone returned to the tribe, they took soap and said they were going to take a shower.
Jian Mo saw that it was frozen outside, but they still had to take a cold shower. His scalp tingled and he said, "Don't you guys want to heat some water to take a shower?"
Qing Kuo: "We're used to it. Find a place sheltered from the wind, rub yourself in the water, and you'll be done in a while. Then go out in the sun and you'll soon be warm."
Jian Mo still felt cold: "It won't take much time to heat water."
Qing Kuo: "But it'll cost firewood."
Jian Mo was stunned. He had never worried about firewood before, because Wu Jiong was the one who chopped it, and the place where firewood was stored on the side of the house was never empty.
Qing Kuang smiled and said, "Besides, washing with hot water is too slow and not pleasant enough. It's better to endure the cold and wash in the water."
After that, Qing Kuang said considerately, "You are different from us. You should wash at home, otherwise you will get sick from the cold." Qing
Kuang, the impetuous beastman, exchanged a few words and left, leaving Jian Mo in a daze.
Jian Mo not only often took a bath in the small shed surrounded by animal skins, he also asked Wu Jiong to take a bath at home with him, and Wu Jiong never said anything.
Before Jian Mo finished his daze, Wu Jiong had already boiled water and called him to take a bath in the house.
He didn't have time to organize his thoughts for a moment, and hurried upstairs to get clean clothes and went to the back of the house to take a bath.
The salt water was too sticky and stuck to his body, which was sticky and itchy.
Jian Mo took a bath towel and rubbed himself thoroughly.
After everyone took a bath, they sat in the open space together to bask in the sun, drying their hair and warming themselves up earlier.
The young beastmen and sub-beastmen couldn't wait, so they brought out the beast oil and asked Jian Mo: "Brother Jian Mo, can we make soap now? How do we make soap with alkali?"
Jian Mo walked over and said: "It's the same as making ash water soap. First, dissolve the alkali with water, heat it up, and pour it into the heated beast oil."
Everyone immediately picked up stones and built a simple fire pit on the spot, and took tools to prepare to heat oil and water.
Jian Mo personally took charge and said: "Don't put so much alkali, otherwise it will explode when the alkali water is poured into the beast oil. Put a little first, and let's try it."
The young people gathered around him and listened to his instructions.
After the water and oil were heated, Jian Mo put on beast leather gloves and slowly poured the alkali water into the grease.
As soon as the alkaline water came into contact with the grease, it immediately emulsified and did not explode.
Jian Mo hurriedly stirred.
Ban Ming took the jar from him: "I'm strong, I'll do it."
Jian Mo was not polite either: "You do it, I'll watch."
There was also animal oil on the side, Jian Mo heated it up, poured in the alkaline water, and asked the young people to stir aside.
Although the soap is not ready yet, everyone can see that the quality of alkaline water soap is better than that of gray water soap.
Qing Kuang took some soap liquid and rubbed his hands. After washing them, he said excitedly: "This alkaline water soap is better than gray water soap."
Jian Mo observed his hands and nodded: "The cleaning power is stronger."
Jian Mo always said strange things, everyone was used to it, and could roughly understand what he meant.
Qing Kuang: "Make more, the last batch is almost used up."
Jian Mo had no objection.
The beastman Dejiang asked: "Besides making soap, is there any other use for alkali?" Dejiang
competed with Wu Jiong for the position of chief, and now he has a lot of prestige in the tribe.
Hearing his question, Jian Mo thought about it seriously and replied: "You can try firing pottery. The glaze on the pottery will have different effects when prepared with different minerals. If it is prepared with alkali, it should be possible to fire a more special glaze."
Qing Kuang nodded in agreement: "This is good. Although it is frozen outside, it should not be difficult to dig some soil and fire pottery. Glazed pottery is so popular recently. Even if we don't use it, it would be nice to exchange some things with other tribes."
Jian Mo thought it was feasible. He recently exchanged cloth to make several sets of underwear for him and Wu Jiong. Now they have initially realized the freedom to change and wash, and their quality of life is higher than before.
In addition to cloth, the stems, spices, etc. they exchanged are also very good.
If they make another batch of pottery, in addition to using it for themselves, they should be able to exchange for a lot of good things. If
they exchange more things, this winter will be easier.
Jian Mo: "Then let's go dig some mud and bring it back, and I'll see how to mix the glaze. We can try a few more glazes, some old glazes, some new glazes, so that we won't be working in vain."
Qing Kuo: "That's a good idea."
Ban Ming was stirring vigorously beside him, and said: "Brother Jian Mo, you always say that you are not the high priest. If you are not the high priest, how can you know so many things?"
Jian Mo: "I learned it. Everyone in our place has to learn a lot of things."
Qing Kuo sighed: "You must be very good there."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
