"What are we betting on?" Ren Baqian asked with a vexed look on his face. He tried his best to look anxious because of the progress.
"Looking at your expression, I know that you already have a plan in mind and want to deceive me." Tong Zhengye didn't buy it at all. He carefully observed Ren Baqian's expression and immediately snorted disdainfully.
Ren Baqian looked at Tong Zhengye with a headache. Who said that the aboriginals were honest boys?
This old man only looked honest and straightforward.
"Do you want me to scout out the enemy for you?" Tong Zhengye laughed.
"If Sir Tong has nothing better to do," Ren Baqian replied noncommittally.
"Haha, I'm just saying. I have confidence in Sir Ren. If I go, they will look down on Sir Ren. "Tong Zhenye laughed it off.
This time, Ren Baqian was really itching. Was this old man here to tease him today?
Ren Baqian was even more convinced when he saw Tong Zhengye walk out with his hands clasped behind his back, humming a mountain tune as he walked.
Ren Baqian pondered for a long time but couldn't figure out how he had provoked Tong Zhengye recently. Since he couldn't think of anything, he decided not to think about it. Ren Baqian strolled back to the house, took out a few bundles of different thicknesses, and threw them to the blacksmiths.
The blacksmiths were extremely surprised after trying the spring steel wire that Ren Baqian took out. Even though they hadn't come into contact with modern alloys, they could tell that the steel wire that Ren Baqian gave them was completely different from anything they had seen before.
After wrapping the steel wire around the arm a few times and loosening it, the steel wire actually bounced perfectly straight and wasn't out of shape like ordinary steel.
Not to mention the fact that there was no irregularity in these steel wires at all. They were of the same thickness from the beginning to the end, but there were no signs of hammering. This made the blacksmiths feel as if these steel wires were made by nature and not by human hands.
Not long after, the sound of hammering could be heard in the courtyard.
However, a new problem quickly emerged. This steel wire would become brittle or have other problems after being heated and hammered.
Although they might find a solution if given some time, time was what they lacked the most at the moment.
"It's okay, I'm just letting you try it out." Ren Baqian waved his hand and smiled in response to the blacksmiths' doubts.
He had already known about this before. This was a special kind of carbon spring steel wire, which was very difficult to process in this era. After secondary processing, it was easy to change the free gas and carbon content in the steel wire, and at the same time, change the performance of the steel wire in all aspects.
What he had brought was just a cover-up.
After hearing his words, the blacksmiths excitedly carried the coils of steel wire back to do various experiments, and soon discovered new uses for these steel wires — for example, weaving them into whips, and a single whip could take away half a life …
In this regard, he could only say that he had really underestimated the extent of the aboriginals' obsession with weapons.
No matter what it was in their hands, they would quickly discover that it could be used to attack others.
Even if it was just a steel wire, it could still be used to whip people.
Out of the three items in the bet, one of them was dyeing, which went very smoothly.
Dayao simply didn't have the technology to make textiles. Similarly, they didn't have the technology to dye cloth. Therefore, they could only find a few quick-witted craftsmen from the Ministry of Works.
The dyes were all kinds of direct dyes that Ren Baqian brought back. Not only were there all kinds of colors — red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and purple — but each color was also divided into three types.
For example, yellow was light yellow, lemon yellow, and golden yellow. Red was bright red, bright red, peach red …
If it weren't for the limited amount of things he could bring back, he would have brought back 30 colors of each item. When the time came, he could make 210 colors, and he was sure that the Zhang family would start to doubt their own existence.
As for the cloth, it was cotton cloth brought back from Earth. Each piece was seven feet wide and ten feet long.
Finally, there was the color fixing agent.
The color of the dye that Ren Baqian brought was bright, and the only drawback was that it would easily fade after contact with water. In fact, this was the case with most dyes. Although Ren Baqian didn't know what methods the other party used to reduce the fading, he assumed that it was some old-fashioned method. Even if it reduced the fading, it would only be to a certain extent.
The color fixing agent was completely different. The epoxy group in the color fixing agent and certain groups in the fiber dye molecules formed a covalent bond to achieve the effect of stabilizing the dye.
First, the cotton cloth was directly soaked in the dye, dyed, and dried. Depending on the situation, it was decided whether to dye it again. Then, it was soaked in the color fixing agent liquid at a certain temperature for 15 minutes before drying. What these craftsmen needed to do was very simple, and they were all done in three days.
In fact, this time, Ren Baqian was actually busy with brewing wine, which Zhang Junzheng didn't care about the least. What he had been doing in the courtyard was distillation.
Ren Baqian had long wanted to brew wine. One had to know that it was unknown whether it was due to the special environment in this world or that this world was filled with some kind of substance that was different from Earth. Not only did the meat taste delicious, but it also contained energy that could replenish the body. The taste of fruits and grains were also extremely fragrant and sweet. If he used the same method to brew wine, it would be much better than the wine on Earth.
If it wasn't for the fact that the brewing technology in this world was still a little backward, the empress wouldn't have to carry sorghum liquor every day.
After using three days, Ren Baqian finally created a pot type distilling boiler.
At this time, the fragrance of the wine in the courtyard next door had already started to dissipate. It seemed that their wine had already been brewed. Instead, the sound of forging iron rang out continuously every day.
On the fourth day, the courtyard where Ren Baqian and the others were at began to emit a strong fragrance of wine. The fragrance was so strong that it made people salivate just by smelling it from outside.
The first to discover it was Zhang Heqi and the others in the courtyard next door. Soon after, Zhang Junzheng, who had received an urgent report, ran out drowsily.
Upon smelling the fragrance of the wine, Zhang Junzheng's expression changed. "What a strong fragrance!"
One could tell the progress of Ren Baqian's brewing just by looking at his nose. This was the first time that the fragrance of wine had come out of Ren Baqian's courtyard, and it was actually so strong. It was almost as strong as the Zhang family's wine, which had been processed three times.
Although it wasn't as strong as the Zhang family's wine, Zhang Junzheng was already a little worried.
After standing in the courtyard for a while, Zhang Junzheng glanced at the people around him and said in a deep voice, "Go do your own things. This wine is slightly inferior to our Zhang family's wine. Even if we lose this round, it won't affect the overall situation. All you have to do is do your own things. "
After hearing Zhang Junzheng's words, the people who were attracted by the fragrance of the wine dispersed.
As for the taste of the wine, Zhang Junzheng wasn't surprised. The wine that Zhang Junzheng used for the competition was definitely the best in order to impress the empress.
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