1444, Byzantium Resurrects

Chapter 266 The Messenger of Light

Eastern Roman Empire, Thracian Prefecture, Adrianople.

The carriage traveled across the long bridge, and under the bridge was the sparkling Ergenei River.

The stone bridge is an astonishing 1,200 meters long and is one of the landmark buildings of Adrianople.

The stone bridge was organized and built by the former Ottoman Sultan Murad II and took seven years to complete. It was originally named Uzun Klup and was later renamed Adrian Bridge by Isaac.

Adrianople is located on the Ergene River, an important river in the Thrace region. The lower reaches are navigable all year round and flow into the sea at the Gallipoli Peninsula.

The upper reaches of the Ergene River are prone to flooding in spring and winter, which greatly hinders the exchange of goods and the passage of troops. The Ottoman Empire, which once had its capital in Adrianople, suffered greatly and had been trying to build a bridge here, but the old-fashioned wooden bridge was easily washed away by the river, not to mention the temporary floating bridge.

Later, the Ottoman Empire's national strength made great progress during the reign of Murad II. The construction of this stone bridge began in 1426. It consumed countless manpower and material resources and was finally completed in 1443.

It can be said that this magnificent stone bridge is a microcosm of the prosperity of the Ottoman Empire.

Today, the Adrian Bridge still stands over the broad river, the reliefs on the stone railings are still lifelike, and the bridge is still bustling with traffic.

The carriage drove over the Adrian Bridge and entered the suburbs of Adrian, which is the city's agricultural and pastoral base. It was autumn, and farmers began to sow winter wheat in the strips that were fallow last year, while breeders were busy preparing for the upcoming calving season.

The carriage passed through farmland and pastures and entered the second workshop area of ​​Adrianople.

Unlike Constantinople, the workshop area of ​​Adrianople is mainly divided into three areas: mining area, handicraft area and agricultural and pastoral area. The handicraft area is located in the city, the mining area is located at the foot of the mine, and the agricultural and pastoral area is located in the suburbs.

The agricultural and pastoral workshop area has a strong odor and high pollution. Handicraft workshops such as bacon workshops and leather workshops have a great impact on the lives of urban residents. As early as the Ottoman Empire, they believed that these things were not very clean and strictly prohibited their opening in the city.

Later, Isaac gathered the scattered workshops outside the city to form the agricultural and pastoral workshop area of ​​Adrianople.

This was originally a mosque of considerable size, with complete water channels, sewage and other facilities. There were also many high-yield farmlands around it that originally belonged to the Ulema, so it was a very nice place.

After Isaac occupied this place, he sold the surrounding fields to local Orthodox Christians at low prices. Later, many people moved here one after another, allowing them to make full use of these fields, both for grazing and farming.

The main building of the mosque was converted into a large-scale pig slaughterhouse and pork processing plant. The meat floss produced here was also favored by many soldiers.

Now, with the prosperity of the agricultural and animal husbandry market in the Eastern Roman Empire, Adrianople has become an important hub connecting Thrace and Bulgaria. More and more agricultural and animal husbandry workshops have gathered here, and the types of products are also very rich, including refined flour, refined salt, meat products, dairy products, various preserved fruits...

When people have money, they will naturally seek higher-end food to improve their lives. There is no need to introduce all kinds of dazzling policies to encourage consumption.

After passing a flour mill, Isaac arrived at his destination today - the first fertilizer factory in the Eastern Roman Empire.

This fertilizer factory was called the Richmel Fertilizer Factory. It was opened by Isaac's brother Richmel Palaiologos with his financial support and verbal encouragement, and received many preferential policies.

At present, this fertilizer factory mainly serves the upper-class market. The fertilizers it produces are effective, but the price is not low. They can only be used to increase the yield of precious plants, and the most basic grain crops can still only use farmyard manure.

The Li Ximei Fertilizer Factory has many commendable aspects in terms of manure selection and mixed fermentation. The most important thing is that they also add volcanic ash to some fermented manure to further increase the content of inorganic salts in the fertilizer.

Of course, what Li Ximei Fertilizer Factory produces is still not considered chemical fertilizer, and its effect on increasing crop yields is still limited.

Isaac jumped off the carriage and Li Ximei came towards him.

"Your Majesty, you are finally here. The smell here is terrible. Please bear with it for a while."

Li Ximeier was wearing gorgeous clothes. When he saw Isaac coming, he bowed quickly.

"It's okay. The battlefield smells worse. It's nothing to be unbearable."

Isaac helped him up and walked into the factory.

"Your Majesty, I will take you to see the latest research results. If this new fertilizer is successful, the old ones will be of no value."

Li Ximeier took Isaac into a small wooden house where three workers were boiling turbid liquid in a pot.

There are also many blood-stained animal skeletons displayed in the corners of the wooden house, all of which are large livestock such as pigs, cows and sheep.

Li Ximeier walked to the wooden table and picked up a glass bottle filled with fine gray-white powder.

"Your Majesty, this is the bone powder we extracted according to your instructions. They are boiling it now, and some wood ash will be added later."

"After cooking, let it sit overnight, remove the fat on the surface, and then you can take it out and crush it for use."

Isaac ignored the dark, bloody and depressing environment in the cabin, took the bone meal and began to observe.

Bone meal, as the name suggests, is a powdered solid ground from animal skeletons. It is mostly off-white and is a fairly good phosphate fertilizer.

Plants need a variety of inorganic salts to grow, among which the more important ones are inorganic salts containing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, which play a very important role in the growth and development of plants.

Among the three major inorganic salts, phosphorus mainly promotes the development of seedlings, the opening of flowers, and the ripening of fruits and seeds, and can make crops bloom and bear fruit earlier, so it is extremely valuable.

In addition to farmyard manure, nitrogen can be supplemented through methods such as rhizobia, and potassium can be supplemented through wood ash, but phosphorus is not abundant in nature, and humans have not found a good way to utilize it reasonably.

Of course, demand also brings motivation. When people began to study modern chemistry, the first fertilizer produced was phosphate fertilizer.

However, between the era of farmyard manure and the era of chemical fertilizers, there was a relatively short era - the bone meal era.

There is no free elemental phosphorus in nature. The first phosphorus was extracted from urine. From then on, people began to realize that animals contain a lot of phosphorus, especially in the skeleton and brain.

From the late 18th century to the mid-19th century, Europeans widely used processed bone meal as fertilizer. Livestock bones soon became insufficient, so they turned to the bodies of fallen soldiers.

Later, many people discovered the limitations of bone meal - the effect of bone meal varies greatly in different soils.

Then, many chemists began to study and eventually discovered the secret, solved the problem, and invented mankind’s first fertilizer - superphosphate.

"How are the results of the experiments on these bone powders?"

Isaac shook the glass bottle and looked at Li Ximeier.

"Very good, Your Majesty. The yield-increasing effect is extremely obvious, and the price is much cheaper than our previous products. It can be used for crops such as wheat and grapes."

Li Ximeier said excitedly.

“Will the yield increase effect be the same everywhere?”

Isaac asked suspiciously.

"That's not the case. Some places are very good, some are average, and some have no effect at all."

Li Ximeier shrugged.

"The lettuce fields next to us didn't have much effect. I guess it's because this was once a Saracen monastery and God didn't want to bless this land."

"But the experiment with a few buckwheat fields near Constantinople was very successful, which must be due to God's blessing."

"God will look after every land where Christians live. That's not the problem."

Isaac was amused.

In fact, this phenomenon has nothing to do with God. It is just a simple and clear scientific phenomenon.

In nature, phosphorus mostly exists in the form of phosphates, including in animal bones. These inorganic salts are generally insoluble in water and cannot hydrolyze into much phosphate ions in the soil, so they cannot be absorbed by plants.

People have long had the tradition of using animal bones to fertilize fields, but the effect was very poor. After being processed into bone meal, the surface area increased and the effect improved, but it still failed to solve the fundamental problem. In some soils, the effect of bone meal was not significant.

Simply put, bone meal is suitable for acidic soil, which can maximize the dissociation of phosphate in bone meal into phosphate groups, so that it can be absorbed by plants.

Different crops have different requirements for soil acidity and alkalinity. Buckwheat is suitable for acidic soil, while lettuce is suitable for alkaline soil.

As for wheat, which is widely used as staple food, it is suitable for growing in neutral soil and can be grown in both slightly acidic and slightly alkaline soils. This leads to great differences in the effect of bone meal in different wheat fields.

Of course, this problem is not unsolvable.

"Li Ximeier, don't be too happy yet. I think this phenomenon is worth exploring. You can do more experiments."

Isaac groaned.

"Then there's manure. You can try mixing different types of fermented manure with bone meal to see how it works."

Bone meal requires acid, so provide the acid. Many manures become acidic after fermentation, especially chicken manure, which is very suitable for use with bone meal.

"I also have shares in this fertilizer factory. I will ask the Royal Estate to be the first to use bone meal as fertilizer, so as to encourage others."

"You can keep records during the promotion and sales process to see where bone meal is suitable and where it is not suitable, and you cannot deceive farmers."

Isaac looked at Li Ximeier.

“If farmers buy this bone meal and it doesn’t work, they’ll scold me and I’ll scold you.”

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will definitely send someone to investigate and keep records."

Li Ximeier quickly promised.

"If this thing can be promoted, it will definitely be a very large industry. Your wealth and glory for the rest of your life will depend on it. If the effect is excellent, it is not impossible for you to be awarded the title of a veteran."

Isaac smiled.

When Li Ximeier heard this, his eyes lit up and he nodded repeatedly.

Bone meal has significant limitations, but it is still a very good fertilizer. After all, most of the soil in the world is acidic, and alkaline soil is not common.

Of Isaac's two large territories, the Balkans are mainly neutral and weakly acidic, especially Bulgaria, which is expected to reap a lot of benefits from the use of bone meal.

As for North Africa, it is completely alkaline soil and must be used with chicken manure.

"By the way, Li Ximeier, I remember that the Institute of Chemistry and the Institute of Agriculture of the Royal Academy of Sciences are right next to here. What are their recent developments?"

Isaac looked at Li Ximeier.

"Chemistry? You mean the alchemists?"

Li Ximeier curled his lips.

"Your Majesty, I advise you not to indulge in alchemy. This is completely contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ. Turning stone into gold... there is no such thing as getting something for nothing."

"Don't think like that, Li Ximeier, what they do is very valuable."

Isaac shook his head.

“Since the world was created by God, the process of discovering the world is the process of discovering God, which does not contradict the teachings of Jesus Christ.”

"Well, if you insist on going..."

Li Ximeier nodded doubtfully.

"The stench they create is no less than that of the fertilizer factory, and they have also been pushed over here, right behind us..."

"Your Majesty, you'd better be mentally prepared. Those alchemists have been boiling urine recently, boiling buckets of it, and even went to the Adrianople Snipers to buy urine..."

Isaac nodded, smiled and walked away without saying anything.

Following Li Ximeier's instructions, Isaac came to the back of the fertilizer factory and saw two buildings next to each other.

These two buildings originally belonged to the mosque, but were later given to the Royal Academy of Sciences by Isaac. They were specially renovated and the emblem of the Royal Academy of Sciences was carved on the front.

There was no one here, and even from a distance, Isaac could already smell an indescribable odor.

After thinking about it, Isaac took the lead and walked into the Agricultural Research Institute.

Unlike other branches of the Royal Academy of Sciences, all members of the Agricultural Research Institute work in the Ministry of Agriculture, but it is managed in accordance with the methods of the Royal Academy of Sciences and can trade their research results with the government or businessmen to attract investment.

Isaac and his guards walked into the institute. In the empty yard, there was only an apprentice watering the flowers and plants.

"Your Majesty, you are here!"

The apprentice was at a loss.

"It's okay, I'll just come and check it out, where are the others?"

"Some have returned to the headquarters in Constantinople, some have gone to Bulgaria to investigate the black soil, and the rest are in the fields..."

"Okay, I'll go right away."

Isaac smiled and nodded to the apprentice, and under his guidance, they came to the farmland of the Agricultural Research Institute.

The academicians and apprentices gathered around a small field, pointing at the crops in the field. Seeing Isaac coming, everyone was a little surprised and immediately bowed to him.

"Excuse me, what are you guys talking about?"

Isaac asked with a grin.

"It is your tobacco, sire."

A bald academician said.

"Oh? Finally some seedlings have grown?"

Isaac looked at the bald academician.

"Jorgensen, tell me about your results."

The bald academician named Jorgensen nodded, squatted down and pointed at the tobacco.

"Your Majesty, it is incredible that the crops you brought back from afar are very suitable for cultivation here."

"I used some bone meal produced by that fellow Li Ximeier, and found that the effect was very good. The tobacco grew very vigorously."

Jorgensen picked a leaf of tobacco and put it in his mouth to chew.

"This leaf does have some stimulating effect. After being dried and burned, it produces a lot of smoke."

"Don't chew it directly, it's bad for your health."

Isaac glanced at Jorgensen's bald head and then looked at the tobacco field that was almost ripe.

Tobacco, a crop native to South America, is extremely useful and brings high economic benefits.

Long before European explorers arrived in the Americas, Native Americans began to grow tobacco and gave it a high status, calling it a "holy medicine" that could cure all diseases.

The indigenous people use tobacco in a variety of ways, such as smelling it directly, lighting it and smelling it again, chewing it in their mouths, crushing it and applying it to wounds, and lighting it to use the smoke to repel insects...

Tobacco is a good thing. It can be made into a series of daily consumables including cigarettes, shredded tobacco, chewing tobacco, snuff, etc., and the market is extremely large.

Of course, tobacco leaves contain many harmful ingredients, and long-term smoking will damage the body. All countries in later generations know this, but no major country has banned smoking because the economic benefits it brings are too high, so high that people cannot give it up.

Furthermore, even if it is banned, it can only be banned by law, and it is impossible to ban it completely.

For Isaac, the tobacco industry is of course a big industry that must be strongly supported in order to develop it into another pillar industry of the Eastern Roman Empire as soon as possible.

Tobacco has a wide range of cultivation. It prefers light but not shade, is heat-resistant but not cold-resistant, and can be grown in both tropical and subtropical regions.

Moreover, tobacco is suitable for growing in acidic soil. Where tobacco can be grown, bone meal can naturally be used to increase yield.

In the original time and space, whether it was Greece, Bulgaria, North Macedonia or Türkiye, they were all major tobacco producers and exporters, with large planting areas and high yields.

In the entire Mediterranean world, no country could rival the Eastern Roman Empire in terms of tobacco cultivation.

Tobacco grown in different lands has different tastes. Tobacco grown in Central and South America is not necessarily better than that grown in Greece and Türkiye. Different brands can be created for smokers to choose from.

"Keep working hard. Since it's suitable for planting, try to plant more next year. I will gradually promote it throughout the empire."

Isaac said.

"I plan to set up the Royal Tobacco Company in the future to produce various types of tobacco. If you do a good job, there will be a huge increase in funding in the next few years."

"Okay, Your Majesty, we promise to complete your mission."

Jorgensen was delighted.

"We also have other crops that we brought back from the west. We can't abandon them. We must figure out a planting plan as soon as possible."

Isaac patted Jorgensen on the shoulder and left the Agricultural Research Institute.

The tobacco industry is very broad and covers all aspects, including the cultivation and processing of tobacco, the manufacture of pipes, hookahs and cigarette papers, etc.

For a long time, the tobacco industry in the Eastern Roman Empire was probably dominated by cigars, shredded tobacco and chewing tobacco. Without cigarette-rolling machines, it was impossible to mass-produce the cigarettes that became popular in later generations.

Of course, cigarette paper is not difficult to manufacture, and cigarette factories can still be set up, but the consumption of manpower is quite high, there is no price advantage, and it is impossible to occupy a large market.

In fact, for the tobacco industry, the most important thing is not the cigarette-making machine, but matches. Only when people have convenient and fast ignition tools can tobacco consumption increase dramatically and the market will become larger.

As for lighters, the earliest lighters appeared in the 16th century, but they were expensive, bulky, prone to explosion, and not of much value.

Thinking of the matches, Isaac couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Matches are not so easy to make. It is a very advanced chemical product involving a variety of chemical substances, most of which are still completely unknown.

Shaking his head vigorously, Isaac came to the gate of the Institute of Chemistry.

In this era, "chemistry" and "alchemy" were basically synonymous. Early chemists were basically alchemists who conducted research and experiments with the desire to turn stones into gold and find the "philosopher's stone."

They are indeed so stupid that they regard the idea of ​​"turning stone into gold", which goes against the laws of nature, as the truth.

They were indeed advanced. Regardless of life and death, they immersed themselves in the laboratory one after another, working with a large number of completely unknown chemicals without any protective measures, and opened the door to modern chemistry for Europe and the whole world.

Isaac was walking towards the door despite the stench, when suddenly a cloud of smoke came out from the laboratory, mixed with flames. Isaac was so scared that he stepped back quickly.

This is no joke. Alchemy is one of the professions with the highest mortality rate in the whole of Europe. Isaac cannot lose his life here.

The fire lasted only briefly, and the smoke gradually dissipated. Several figures ran out, lay on the ground, and coughed continuously.

The leader was wearing a headscarf and kneeling on the ground, coughing, laughing and crying.

"Abu? What happened?"

Isaac's guards stepped forward and helped the alchemist from Arabia up.

"Your Majesty, I...I seem to have succeeded."

Abu wiped his mouth, his face full of joy and regret.

"What a pity! I didn't control the heat well. The glass bottle exploded and the extract inside burned directly in the air. It's really magical..."

"We used to use charcoal, but now we use coke. It took me a while to get used to it."

Abu murmured.

"Your Majesty, please don't disbelieve me. I swear that the yellow-white substance can emit a faint green light in the dark. I am one step closer to turning stone into gold!"

Abu recovered his breath and laughed out loud.

"Your Majesty, the method you gave is effective. Urine is yellow, and gold is also yellow. Urine can certainly be used to make gold. Why didn't I think of it before..."

"Perhaps, that yellow-white substance can be turned into gold after a few more processes. This is simply a great discovery."

"Just think about it, Your Majesty, you are about to become the world's first emperor who can turn stone into gold!"

As he said this, he took out a bottle of wine and drank it all in one gulp.

"OK, thank you."

Isaac smiled helplessly.

The method he gave was not advanced technology, and the yellow-white solid he obtained by distilling a large amount of stale urine was certainly not an alchemical substance, but an extremely important chemical raw material - white phosphorus.

Historically, alchemists from Germany used this method to produce white phosphorus, a substance that does not exist in nature, which shocked the academic community throughout Europe.

"Your Majesty, although my work was destroyed, I have memorized the process. First, place the urine in the sun to let it rot, then boil it over high heat to remove the rotten oil on the surface. After it cools down, it can enter the final distillation..."

Abu took another sip of wine, his face full of joy for success and longing for the future.

"This fluorescent thing is really amazing, like a messenger of light..."

Abu's eyes lit up.

"Then call it phosphorus."

Isaac smiled and nodded.

In Greek, phosphorus means messenger of light.

"We'll talk about the phosphorus issue later. Come back to me when you have the finished product. Remember, keep it in cold water and don't make the same mistake today again."

Isaac warned.

"I understand, Your Majesty."

Abu nodded.

"By the way, I came here mainly to ask about the research on sulfuric acid. Have you produced sulfuric acid using the method of that Arab chemist?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, with the coal coking method you brought back from the East, the flame temperature has been greatly increased. I successfully calcinated a gas from the yellow sulfur ore. Then I passed this gas into water and shook it vigorously as you said, and I got sulfuric acid."

"I poured it on the leaves. After a while, the leaves turned black. It turned out to be sulfuric acid."

Abu laughed again.

"Look, I even poured some on my hands, and they're still black!"

Abu held out his hand proudly.

"I also found something red in the calcined slag, and the exploration team said it was hematite."

"I'm going to name this yellow ore pyrite. What do you think?"

"Very good, very nice."

Isaac praised him repeatedly.

"I will give you a kind of ore later. You can try to mix sulfuric acid with this ore and see what you can produce."

What Isaac wanted to make was of course phosphate fertilizer, which was the earliest chemical fertilizer, superphosphate.

Phosphate ore is not common in the world, but there is a lot of it in Isaac's territory, in Greece, and even more between Carthage and Algiers.

Moreover, calcining phosphate ore is also the main method of producing white phosphorus by modern chemistry. Charcoal cannot provide such a high temperature, but coke can barely reach it.

"Get up, Abu, and continue your research. Perhaps you can become the first person in the Imperial Senate to become a senator through alchemy."

Isaac helped Abu up.

"Or perhaps, your name will be passed down through the generations to come and be revered by thousands of people."

"Of course, this is like turning stone into gold... hehe..."

Isaac said nothing, looking at the Institute of Chemistry after the smoke cleared.

Extraction of white phosphorus from urine, calcination of phosphate rock to obtain white phosphorus, transformation of white phosphorus to red phosphorus, simple preparation of sulfuric acid, preparation of red phosphorus matches, production and use of phosphate fertilizers...

Isaac had some knowledge of these chemical methods, but only of the principles and not the details.

In addition, due to the limitations of the times, the equipment was very poor, and it was impossible to control the content, and it was impossible to achieve perfection like in later generations.

The early sulfuric acid content was very low, the early phosphate fertilizer had great side effects, and the early white phosphorus matches were highly toxic and could easily cause death. These difficulties required a lot of time to overcome.

There is still a long way to go before we can actually put these things into practice.

However, the prosperity of alchemy will also lead more people to delve into the mysteries of chemistry, the insufficient coke temperature will lead more people to look for better coal coking methods, and the poor equipment will lead more people to invent better equipment.

On the road of science, one problem will lead to more problems. They can never be solved completely, but progress is always being made.

Perhaps, Isaac would never live to see the day when chemistry flourished in the Eastern Roman Empire, nor would he be able to see these things that were temporarily on paper become inventions that truly benefited all people.

However, if you plant a seed, it will eventually sprout.

(End of this chapter)