After running all the way back to the Soldiers and Horses Department, Li Yun was drinking tea in the lobby. Seeing Fang Chen being so angry, he thought something had happened and hurriedly asked: "Master Fang, what happened?"
"It's okay! Get me some paper and pen!"
As Fang Chen spoke, his mind began to recall a video he had seen on a certain website, which contained an ancient method of making soap.
Fang Chen was very interested in this at the time and had experimented with it, so he remembered it very clearly.
The three ingredients for making soap are not hard to find: soda ash, quicklime and grease.
You can find them on Soda Street, and the merchants who sell steamed buns will know where to buy them just by asking them. As for quicklime, which was already the main building material in the Great Yan Dynasty, it is also not a rare item, not to mention grease.
Li Yun on the side looked at Fang Chen with his eyes closed and didn't know what he was thinking, and he didn't dare to disturb him.
After thinking about how to make soap in his mind, Fang Chen took up a pen and wrote down the three requested ingredients and gave them to Li Yun.
"You can buy me ten kilograms of each of these three things."
Li Yun took it and couldn't help but be curious: "Master Fang, what do you want these things for?"
"Don't worry about it. It's a good thing anyway. Also, set up a big pot for me in the yard. I want to use it."
Fang Chen said, already starting to feel impatient.
He always felt something was wrong when he was waiting for Queen Lu Caihuang to take a bath in the palace.
Looking back now, I realize why I felt that way in the first place.
The people in the palace really only used water to wash their bodies. There was no shower gel, shampoo or anything else.
Even Queen Lu Caihuang used foaming water made from soap locust to wash her hair.
If you make soap yourself, the profit margins will be huge.
Firstly, it is useful for washing clothes, and secondly, for taking a shower.
You can also add some essence during the production process to make soap. This thing is available in the palace and Lu Caihuang has used it. Just ask when the time comes.
In a short time, Li Yun brought back what Fang Chen wanted.
Ten kilograms of alkaline noodles, ten kilograms of soybean oil, and ten kilograms of quicklime. In order to ensure that he didn't buy the wrong things, he had to do it himself.
Fang Chen asked: "How much did it cost to buy these things?"
Li Yun responded: "It's not expensive. It's five hundred and fifty cents in total. The main reason is that soybean oil is expensive at forty cents per catty. This lime is cheap and can be bought for three cents per catty, and alkali noodles are twelve cents per catty."
Soybean oil cost 40 cents. Fang Chen raised his eyebrows slightly, but soon he was relieved. This is the imperial capital after all, so it is normal for things to be a bit expensive.
"Bring water."
Fang Chen called out.
Li Yun didn't think there was anything wrong, so he went to fetch water with a wooden bucket.
Then he squatted aside curiously and watched Fang Chen tinkering with the weighing.
The nearby officers of the Military and Horse Department were setting up iron pots and looked over from time to time, wondering what Mr. Fang wanted to cook.
Pour the weighed lime into the wooden barrel, and with a "sizzling" sound, the water in the barrel immediately begins to boil, as if it were boiling.
This is the reaction between lime and water, heating the water in the barrel.
Li Yun, a commander of the Military and Horse Division, had never seen such a scene before. He was startled and took a few steps back. He asked in surprise: "Master Fang, why is this water so sudden?"
Fang Chen rolled his eyes and didn't bother to explain: "You can ask someone from the Ministry of Industry to find out this matter. Have you ever seen anyone else build a house?"
Li Yun blushed. After all, he is also a fifth-grade commander. If you ask him something else, he can still answer one, two, or three.
I really don’t understand anything about building materials.
The quicklime turned into slaked lime, and Fang Chen poured the weighed alkali into the barrel without any delay.
The reaction became even more violent now, and a large plume of white smoke was seen coming out of the wooden barrel. Li Yun and the others were amazed to see it.
The addition of alkaline noodles evaporated a lot of the water in the barrel. Fang Chen added cold water to cool down and stirred evenly until the liquid in the barrel became turbid and the bottom could not be seen.
After letting the barrel stand, Fang Chen squatted aside and waited patiently for the calcium carbonate to settle at the bottom of the barrel, while the solution above gradually became transparent.
This is the caustic soda that Fang Chen wants.
Use a spoon to beat out the caustic soda and filter it with gauze three times before Fang Chen is somewhat confident.
Pour half of the caustic soda into the iron pot and let the official start to light a fire to heat the caustic soda.
I took a spoon and added soybean oil to the pot, stirring constantly to allow the saponification reaction of the soybean oil and caustic soda to occur.
The liquid in the pot gradually became turbid and viscous, and Fang Chen checked from time to time to see if there was any grease left in the viscous substance.
If there is, continue to add caustic soda.
Repeat this operation, the whole process is not impatient and very patient.
Soon there was a pile of yellow sticky objects in the pot, which looked a little disgusting.
These objects contain the soap that Fang Chen needs.
But at this time, the soap is still mixed with other things and needs to be separated.
Li Yun and others saw Fang Chen adding alkaline noodles and water to the big pot, and they thought he was cooking.
Slowly after half an hour of operation, a thick layer of translucent objects appeared in the solution in the pot.
Fang Chen was excited: "It's done! Go and find me a wooden box!"
Li Yun didn't dare to make any mistakes, so he quickly ran into the lobby and rummaged through the cabinets, found a few wooden boxes and handed them to Fang Chen.
The latter picked up the wooden box and shovel and began to salvage the soap from the iron pot. The soap was still in a semi-solidified state.
It needs to be left to dry in the shade until it completely solidifies.
After fishing out all the soap, Fang Chen asked the official to take a fan and start fanning the soap in the cool box.
After half a day, the soap completely solidified. Fang Chen poured the soap out and filled a basin of water to test it.
Just a simple rub, and a big circle of foam appeared in the basin.
Seeing this, Li Yun finally reacted and asked Fang Chen: "Master Fang, is this thing used to clean the body and wash clothes like soap locust?"
Fang Chen laughed: "That's right! This is called soap, and it can be used to wash clothes and take a bath."
Li Yun admired in his heart that what Fang Chen used had nothing to do with saponin, but after making it, the effect was the same as saponin.
And looking at the foam in the basin, it seems to be more effective than soap locust.
After all, saponin is a plant. Although it can be recycled, you have to wait for it to grow before you can use it.
And for some reasons, the Great Yan Dynasty did not plant saponins on a large scale, which resulted in saponins becoming a necessity for wealthy families.
Only those with money can afford it.
Just now, Hong Xiu's laundry cost 20 yuan for a piece of soap locust.
How can ordinary people afford such expensive things?
But soap is different. A piece of soap can be used for a long time, unlike saponin which cannot be used after the second time!
Fang Chen can be sure that this soap will definitely attract the attention of countless people once it comes out!