A pot of whale oil was made, but looking at the whale's corpse, it was still a hill. Even the best refiners in Hangzhou had never experienced such a thing. One bucket, two bucket, ten buckets, all the buckets that could be found were used, but they still had not been filled. In the end, there were really no buckets, so they pulled the vacant boats as buckets, and packed them one by one.

Nearly 100,000 kilograms of oil cooled naturally in the port and gradually solidified.

A pot of oil is nearly 100,000 kilograms. After heating and cooling, it is put into a basin and gradually begins to solidify.

People in this era rarely eat oil. Most people cannot afford meat, while ordinary fish have almost no oil. So much oil is naturally mouth-watering.

But when they secretly put the grease into their mouths, they found that the grease was not delicious and had a strange smell. They couldn't help but put a question mark in their hearts, can this thing be eaten? If they can't be eaten, what's the use of cooking it?

Gu Sizhi also tasted it, but his thoughts were different from those of ordinary people. Li Mu had been deified in his heart, and the Marquis would not be wrong. If the Marquis asked to refine oil, he would definitely be able to eat it. The oil he trained now cannot be eaten. It must be that something was wrong with him. How should I explain it to the Marquis?

With a nervous mood, Gu Sizhi came to Yuelai Inn and stammered and told the matter. Unexpectedly, Li Mu laughed.

"You think I asked you to refine oil to eat?"

Gu Sizhi said in a daze: "Isn't it?"

"It is used for lamp oil, and I always want to eat it in my head!" Li Mu said angrily. He couldn't explain to Gu Sizhi that before humans used oil, that is, before the mid-19th century, most Western sailing countries used whale oil to illuminate at night. At that time, whale oil was a scarce resource, and only wealthy families could afford it.

Later, humans developed oil, and whale oil came down from the altar and was replaced by kerosene.

After thinking about it, Li Mu said, "Have you heard of the eternal lights of Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum?"

Gu Sizhi was stunned. When he was young, he had read many unofficial history notes. Of course he had an impression. He nodded and said, "I heard a little."

"As rumored, the eternal lamp of Qin Shihuang's Mausoleum is whale oil. Whale oil is the best lamp oil, and it is not available. It is a first-class rare thing, right? I asked you to refine oil just to make lamp oil. If you give it to Your Majesty for 100,000 kilograms of lamp oil in the name of Yangzhou Port, will Your Majesty be very happy?"

Li Mu squeezed his eyes, Gu Sizhi understood and immediately agreed, "The Marquis is right. You can't enjoy such rare things without His Majesty. I will go to supervise the worker now. See who dares to keep them privately, and you will definitely punish them severely. Your Majesty..." Gu Sizhi vaguely said, "Let your Majesty use the eternal lamp of Qin Shihuang!"

"Fuck!" Li Mu didn't care about Gu Sizhi's age, so he picked up a fan and knocked him, saying, "You want to die, don't kill me! What's the majesty's mausoleum? Who told you that this lamp oil must be used in the mausoleum? You bastard, dare to curse Your Majesty, believe it or not, I cut your head with Shangfang's sword?"

Gu Sizhi knelt down in a hurry: "Mr. Marquis, this is not what the minister means, and there is absolutely no such thing!"

"I don't know you're afraid!" Li Mu snorted coldly and said, "I punish you to write your Majesty for a thousand times. I'll show you tomorrow. I want regular script. I dare to have a sloppy word and I'll kill you! Get out!"

Gu Sizhi agreed without any tricks and ran away. At the same time, a waiter passing by the doorstep slowed down for a moment, and then went to the next room to send refreshments as if nothing had happened.

When Gu Sizhi returned to Guyuan, he found paper and pen and meticulously began to write "Your Majesty will live forever". It was written, but what he said in front of Li Mu was not so sincere.

What must be only enjoyed by Your Majesty? Since whale oil is so good, can I keep some of it? There are only hundreds of 100,000 kilograms of whale oil, and the refining craftsmen can see it if they don’t steal some? How can they find out if you have 3,000 kilograms of whale oil?

I asked the housekeeper to send a bowl of whale oil and lit it with a fire twister. The light is indeed much brighter than the ordinary candlelight, and it is no less than the candle. A hundred thousand kilograms of lamp oil is equivalent to a hundred thousand kilograms of wax, and a rare bonus of "whale". If this is sold on the market, how much does it cost?

Gu Sizhi looked at it for a while, picked up his pen and continued writing, and said: The light is indeed quite bright.

Your Majesty has a long life, and it is also a regular script. It takes two or three hours to finish writing. Gu Sizhi no longer remembers when he wrote so many words last time. Maybe it was the year when he participated in the imperial examination in the former Sui Dynasty. I remember it very long, but I am still very satisfied with my own words. Although my decades of skills are not as good as everyone else, I can really be called entering the house.

The rooster crowed in the middle of the night, and finally finished writing the last word. His neck and waist were already sore. Gu Sizhi called a maid to massage and knead him, and asked someone to pack all the paper and put it in the box. He would have to send it to Li Mu for inspection tomorrow morning.

Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of the lamp oil in his eyes, was stunned, and couldn't help but lean over to look, and said in surprise: "This whale oil has been lit for so long, and it has almost no loss?"

He asked the maid who was serving beside him and said, "When the master was writing, did anyone change the lamp oil?"

"I have been serving here and have never seen anyone change the lamp oil."

"That's really amazing!" Gu Sizhi was amazed. He had to re-evaluate the value of whale oil. Originally, he thought that 100,000 kilograms of whale oil was equivalent to 100,000 kilograms of whale oil, but now it seems that this is not 100,000 kilograms of wax. If it is this level of loss, 300,000 kilograms are worth it!

No wonder Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum uses this object as an eternal lamp. If 300,000 kilograms of whale oil are used as an eternal lamp, wouldn’t it be perfect? ​​At least it can be lit for 1,800 years!

After careful observation, Gu Sizhi discovered that this whale oil is not only durable, but also smokeless, without the black ash produced by the candle burning, which is like crushing the candle in all directions without blind spots.

"This is a treasure." Gu Sizhi hurriedly called the housekeeper and asked him to send more people to the dock to stare. Now this whale oil is not something ordinary people can use. It must be strictly supervised, otherwise he will not be able to bear it when he is held accountable.

Of course, it is still OK to keep a thousand or eight hundred kilograms in your own house.

"A whale can make so much oil. If so, catch more, how much can it produce every year?"

He had just considered it. When the butler brought it over, the cup was full, about half a pound. Now he weighed it, it only burned less than one tael. One tael of oil could burn for three hours, which was enough for ordinary people to spend three or four days. You know, ordinary people don’t light the lights almost at night.

A hundred thousand kilograms of oil can be converted into candles, and it can produce at least one million pieces. It is just a whale. Even if a candle is only sold for fifty cents, the market price is cut at halfway, and the profit generated by a whale is amazing.

Gu Sizhi couldn't help but settle the accounts in his heart. If he could have a ten thousand stone ship, he would have made a profit and no loss.

Of course, he was just thinking about it. The patent of Wanshi Ship is in the Xiao family. Li Mu is in charge of how to use it. It is not his turn.

He is almost seventy years old, and he will not see the Gu family having a ship of ten thousand stones in his lifetime.

...

Famous chef in Yangzhou, Liu Sanwei.

He named this name because he had a father who believed in Taoism. His father was also a chef. It is rumored that when Emperor Yang of Sui went to Jiangnan, his father served him, but no one had seen him before, so it became a legend.

Dad Liu firmly believed that cooks and fire are inseparable. So, between heaven and earth, what kind of fire is the most powerful? Of course, it is Sanwei True Fire, so he named his son Liu Sanwei.

But Liu Sanwei himself doesn't like this name. He is a chef, how can he only have three flavors? In contrast, he prefers his other nickname Liu Sanshao because he focuses on excellence in cooking. He does not have many dishes in each dish. He can serve it from the pot and at most three fried spoons.

He was originally the chef of Haihelou, the best restaurant in Yangzhou, but Li Mu came to Hangzhou and in order to serve Li Mu well, he specially transferred all the chefs over, and Liu Sanshao was among them.

Yesterday, Yuelai Inn also brought a piece of whale meat. All the chefs were eager to try it out. Everyone knew that this was a good opportunity to become famous. Whoever could cook whale meat would be a hit.

But whale meat is too fishy. Ordinary cooking methods cannot remove the fishy smell from the meat. After fiddling for an afternoon, most chefs gave up. This is destined to be cheap meat for ordinary people. Masters and nobles will not eat such fishy meat.

They are all famous chefs in Yangzhou, and they serve high-ranking officials and nobles. There is no need to waste time on the food of ordinary people.

Only Liu Sanshao, he had not given up. He found that although the whale meat was cooked, it tasted similar to beef after it was cooked.

Beef is a rare thing. The Tang Dynasty law stipulates that cows cannot be slaughtered and can only be eaten if they die of old age. Not to mention ordinary people, even families like Gu Sizhi, they have to arrange a reason to eat beef. They can’t eat it several times a year.

After all, not everyone's surname is Cheng, and not anyone's cows are so unlucky. They can even die if they have a ditch of one foot.

If the whale meat can be cooked well, more than 100,000 kilograms of whale meat can be eaten as beef, how much more than the value will it be?

It's just to get rid of the fishy smell. Can't such a thing be done?

After testing for half a night, I still couldn't do it. Steaming and cooking was not possible. When I threw in expensive imported spices, I couldn't completely remove the fishy smell. Now, I can only stir-fry it."

If possible, Liu Sanshao doesn't want to stir-fry because it costs oil to stir-fry. Cooking oil is very expensive. But now I have tried other methods, and I can't do it anymore, so I can only try it.

The expensive oil was poured into the pot. Liu Sanshao put his hands on the pot and felt the oil temperature was almost done. He brought pepper, sauce, green onion, ginger and other items into it, fry it for a while, then took it out to get the flavor. Put the thinly sliced ​​whale meat into the pot and stir-fry it. After it was cooked, add a small handful of celery. After it was served, put two drops of aged vinegar and a spoonful of rice wine while it was hot, and the aroma instantly spreads."

"Success or failure is here!"

Liu Sanshao picked up the chopsticks, calmed down, picked up a piece of meat, and put it in his mouth. After only chewing it for a few times, he smiled.

The meat slices are tender and twisted at the mouth, which is the chewyness of beef, but there is no meat firewood from the old beef, and they melt in the mouth! It’s done!

"Liu Sanshao, you are indeed a genius!"

...

Although whale meat is not very delicious, it was sold out in just two days because it is rare.

All the money sold was distributed to the sailors and their families who participated in the sale these days, and each of them had more than a dozen chunks of money!

Even the children who joined the fun to help run errands got three stagnant. With the real benefits, the sailors all smiled happily, became more energetic, and worked harder.

On the other hand, Liu Sanshao, who had prepared whale dishes overnight, finally gathered a whale meat feast and presented it to Li Mu to taste it.

Li Mu was so generous that he had almost eaten the good things that the Tang Dynasty could eat. Moreover, with a good uncle like Cheng Yaojin, he never lacked beef at home. After the whale meat smelled like fishy smell, it tasted like beef, but it was still a little different from pure beef.

Li Mu was used to eating beef and whale meat, but he didn't find anything particularly good. But for Liu Sanshao's sake, he still said some encouragement and paid for his patent for the recipe and announced it, so that all the people who bought whale meat would also taste the taste of this fake beef.

After eating whale meat, Li Mu closed the door and wrote a memorial and letter. With the skeleton of the giant whale, he ordered people to transport it to Chang'an quickly.

...

With the bad guy and Dongchang, Li Shimin always knew what happened to Li Mu on the first time. Not long after the report was reported here, Li Mu's memorial and letter arrived. Li Shimin opened the memorial first and read it carefully.

"...If the country is prosperous and strong, you must not ignore the ocean. Wealth is taken from the sea, and danger also comes from the sea. If the Tang Dynasty wants to be strong, it must control the ocean. Once the king of other countries seizes the West, the crisis will be on the shore, and the territory of the Tang Dynasty is under the siege of the enemy... After the fleet is built, it can be used to contact business and subdue foreign lands, so that it dare not covet it."

After reading the memorial, Li Shimin took out the letter again. It was a private matter here, and Liu Sanshao's recipe was also included.

"There are countless fish in the ocean, and they can't be eaten and taken out. If fishing is carried out, the emperor can alleviate the dilemma of no food in the court, and can also make the people satisfy their desires and kill two birds with one stone. I was lucky enough to get a whale, which was inconvenient to transport. I specially picked the essence and presented it to Your Majesty. There is a recipe for Yangzhou famous chefs, and the imperial chefs will use it carefully. In addition, whale oil will be shipped to Chang'an one after another. Whale oil is the best lamp oil that I have discovered so far. Compared with ordinary candles, it is more durable, brighter and smoke-free. It is about 100,000 kilograms, which can be used by Your Majesty for a while. If it is not enough, I will definitely be able to capture one more and offer it to Your Majesty..."
Chapter completed!