Drive to the Tang Dynasty, where supplies are refreshed daily!

Only then did he come over to take a look. Besides the sweet potatoes, Xiao Ran also went to check on the potatoes. At this time, the potatoes had already grown a little bit, looking green and pleasing. The thought that these were grains made him even happier.

This morning, Xiao Ran visited every plot of land and also went to the glass workshop.

"Big Brother, how's the thing I asked you to do coming along?" Xiao Ran asked.

Yesterday, before Zhang Dalang left after lunch, Xiao Ran asked Zhang Dalang to make something for him.

This thing isn't difficult to make, but I don't know if Zhang Dalang managed to make it.

Sweating profusely from the heat of the stove, Zhang Dalang picked up a towel and wiped his sweat, then said, "It's done, I've put it here."

As he spoke, Zhang Dalang opened a box, and Xiao Ran peeked inside and saw that it was indeed what he wanted.

"You're pretty fast." Xiao Ran gave Zhang Dalang a thumbs up, then took his things and went home.

But now it's time to eat, and the little princess and the others have all returned.

"Little Nangjun~ Where did you go~" The little princess circled around Xiao Ran.

Xiao Ran took the little princess's hand and walked into the house.

"I went for a walk, is Sizi hungry?"

The little princess nodded quickly, "I'm hungry~"

Lunch today was no different from usual, except for an extra beggar's chicken.

The little ones shouldn't eat too much fried food, but beggar's chicken is fine.

The beggar's chicken was glistening with oil, and the little princess was eating a chicken leg, her face covered in oil.

After lunch, the children went to wash their hands and faces, while Xiao Ran went into the courtyard, had someone bring up several jars of wine, and then opened the box.

Just then, Sun Simiao, who had finished his meal and gone to digest, returned.

"What are you doing?" Sun Simiao asked.

Xiao Ran turned around and saw that it was Sun Simiao. He quickly said, "Grandpa, you've come at the right time. Come and help me."

Sun Simiao was completely bewildered. "What's wrong? Is there anything I can help you with?"

As he spoke, Sun Simiao walked over and then saw the box next to Xiao Ran.

Inside was a round glass bottle and a glass tube.

"What is this?" Sun Simiao asked.

Xiao Ran smiled and said, "This round, narrow-necked bottle is called a distillation flask, and this tube is called a condenser tube. It is used for distilling alcohol."

Sun Simiao looked at it for a long time but still couldn't figure out what was going on.

"I've only ever heard of alchemy, how do you make wine?"

Xiao Ran pointed to the distillation flask and condenser and said, "These are the things we use to refine the product, but this is a smaller, simplified version. I'm just trying it out first."

As he spoke, Xiao Ran simply began to explain to Sun Simiao: "Pour the liquor into a distillation flask, heat it with a fire underneath to turn the liquor into gas, and then let the gas pass through this condenser tube to turn it back into liquid. In this way, those cloudy impurities will remain in the bottle, and what flows out is the purest part of the liquor."

"If you refine it a few more times and remove some of the water, you will get a colorless and transparent liquid, which I call 'alcohol'."

Sun Simiao pondered for a moment, "Why does this 'alcohol' sound so familiar?"

Xiao Ran smiled and said, "Grandpa, please help me first, and I'll tell you later."

Since there was nothing else to do, and Sun Simiao was also curious about the alcohol, he nodded and began to work with it.

Xiao Ran said, "First, pour the liquor into the distillation flask, but be careful not to fill it too full. Leave about 30% empty space so that the liquor doesn't overflow when heated. Then, connect the thicker end of the glass condenser to the mouth of the distillation flask and wrap the joint tightly with burlap to prevent air leakage."

"The other end of the tube should be placed in cold water to keep it icy so that the alcohol vapor can condense into liquid as quickly as possible."

Sun Simiao got up and, as Xiao Ran had instructed, helped pour the liquor into the glass distillation flask. Xiao Ran, meanwhile, took a piece of linen and carefully wrapped it tightly and evenly around the joint between the distillation flask and the glass condenser tube, pressing it down from time to time to ensure there were no gaps.

After pouring the wine and connecting the condenser, Xiao Ran placed a small basin filled with cold water next to the porcelain bottle below the glass condenser, immersing the lower half of the tube in the water.

"Next, we need to start a fire." Xiao Ran squatted down by the small stove under the distillation flask and added a few pieces of charcoal.

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the liquor in the glass distillation flask began to heat up slightly, emitting fine steam that slowly emerged from the flask's opening and was guided downwards by the glass condenser.

“There’s movement!” Sun Simiao’s eyes lit up as he pointed to the glass tube.

Inside the transparent glass tube, which was originally empty, a layer of white mist gradually rose. The mist flowed slowly along the tube, and when it encountered the part immersed in cold water, it quickly condensed into tiny water droplets. The water droplets gathered more and more, slowly sliding down the tube wall and dripping into the porcelain bottle below.

The water droplets were transparent, much clearer than ordinary rice wine. When they dripped into the porcelain bottle, they made a soft "drip, drip, drip" sound, which was crisp and pleasant.

A rich aroma of alcohol wafted out, several times more mellow than the rice wine in the jar before, and the smell alone made one feel slightly tipsy.

Sun Simiao leaned closer, took a gentle sniff, and said, "What a rich and mellow aroma of wine."

Xiao Ran said, "This is only the first distillation, and the purity is not enough. After this batch is finished, we will pour the distilled liquor into the pot and distill it again, which is called redistillation. The distilled liquor produced that way will have an alcohol content of thirty or forty degrees, which will make it more potent."

He paused, then pointed to the dripping liquor, "But once we further purify the distilled spirit and remove the excess water, the resulting alcohol is what I want."

Sun Simiao stroked his beard and asked, "What exactly is this alcohol? I feel like you've mentioned it before."

Xiao Ran smiled and said, "I did mention it, but it was just a brief mention. Alcohol is a good thing. It has a strong bactericidal and disinfecting effect. If you dilute the alcohol to a certain degree and use it to clean the soldiers' wounds, you can completely kill the bacteria in the wounds and prevent infection."

"Even wounds that have already started to fester can be controlled by cleaning with diluted alcohol, and when combined with herbal medicine, the cure rate can be greatly improved."

Then, Xiao Ran said, "Nowadays, most soldiers die in battle because of inadequate follow-up treatment. Alcohol can make things worse. Besides, you've been studying surgery recently, right? All the instruments used in surgery need to be sterilized, and high-temperature sterilization alone is not enough."

"Alcohol is much better at disinfecting and sterilizing than high-temperature disinfection."

As for Xiao Ran, he didn't need to explain, and Sun Simiao naturally understood. He immediately said, "This is a good thing!"

Xiao Ran smiled and said, "If it weren't something good, I wouldn't have gone to so much trouble to make it."

Sun Simiao laughed, "That's true, you never do anything in vain."

Xiao Ran grinned and said, "After diluting this alcohol, it can also be used to process medicinal herbs, making it much better than the previous wine."

Sun Simiao certainly has the right to speak on this matter. Some medicinal materials do indeed need to be processed with alcohol. Higher alcohol content naturally enhances the efficacy of medicinal materials more than lower alcohol content.

As the two talked, the charcoal fire continued to burn slowly, water droplets continued to drip from the glass tube, and the distilled liquor in the porcelain bottle had accumulated to about half full.

Sun Simiao stood up, walked to the porcelain bottle, carefully picked it up, examined it against the sunlight, and gently swirled it. The wine flowed within, without the slightest cloudiness, and its aroma grew even stronger. He couldn't resist pouring a tiny bit onto his fingertip and taking a small sip.

A spicy and mellow aroma of alcohol exploded in my mouth, sliding down my throat and warming my chest. Compared to the ordinary rice wine of the Tang Dynasty, this distilled spirit had a much higher alcohol content, but it lacked the cloying sweetness of rice wine, instead possessing a refreshing coolness.

Sun Simiao's eyes lit up. "Good wine! It's spicy on the palate, mellow on the aftertaste, and has a strong kick!" "This is only the first distillation, with an alcohol content of about 20 degrees."

Xiao Ran said with a smile, "After we re-distill it, the alcohol content will reach thirty or forty degrees, and it will taste even better then. Moreover, because of its high purity, this distilled spirit is not easy to spoil, and it will still be fragrant and mellow even after three or five years."

Sun Simiao nodded. "Not bad, not bad."

Xiao Ran said, "Let's finish distilling this jar of wine first, collect the initial distillate, and then proceed with the second distillation."

The courtyard returned to silence, with only the soft sound of water droplets falling onto the porcelain vase.

Two hours later, the distillation process was finally complete.

Originally, there were three jars of rice wine, but in the end, only a small half-jar of distilled liquor was produced.

Xiao Ran turned off the fire, letting the residual heat in the distillation flask dissipate slowly. Then, he carefully removed the glass condenser, poured the distilled liquor from the porcelain bottle into a clean earthenware jar, and sealed it tightly.

"Next, we will begin the redistillation."

Xiao Ran said, "The method of redistillation is similar to that of primary distillation, except that the liquor from the primary distillation is poured into a pot and refined again. The liquor produced this time will have a higher alcohol content and be purer. After redistillation, we will pour the liquor back into the pot to remove excess water and obtain the alcohol."

Although Sun Simiao was old, he was in very good health and was still full of energy.

Hearing Xiao Ran's words, he nodded and said, "Alright, I understand."

Just then, a chattering sound came from the courtyard gate.

"Little Nangjun~ Little Nangjun~" The little princess ran over, followed by a group of little ones.

"Little Nang-kun~ What are you doing, duck~"

Xiao Ran smiled and patted the little princess's head. "I'm busy. Are you done playing?"

After lunch, the little princesses all ran out to play and are only now returning.

The little princess nodded, "Mmm-hmm~ Little Panda~ What's this~"

The little princess pointed to the still and asked.

Xiao Ran said, "This is a useful thing."

As he spoke, Xiao Ran glanced at the sky, then at Sun Simiao, and said, "I didn't expect time to pass so quickly. It's almost dinnertime. No wonder Si Zi and the others were willing to come back."

Sun Simiao smiled and said, "Eating early or late is fine, but the alcohol is the most important thing."

Xiao Ran shook his head, "It's alright, old man. As long as the fire keeps burning, we can go about our business as usual and just come over to check on things from time to time."

Upon hearing this, Sun Simiao nodded.

Just then, Li Lizhi and the others returned from outside.

Now that the weather is nice outside, Li Lizhi and the others don't stay cooped up at home all the time; they go out for a stroll every now and then.

"Young master, what are you doing? Why do you smell of alcohol?" Li Li asked.

Xiao Ran pointed to the distiller and, facing Li Lizhi, explained in more detail.

"We're making alcohol."

As he spoke, Xiao Ran also explained the effects of alcohol to Li Lizhi.

Li Lizhi stared wide-eyed in shock.

Born into royalty, she wasn't some clueless young girl; she naturally knew what alcohol meant.

"That's wonderful! I'll send a message to Grandpa right away!"

As Li Lizhi spoke, she was about to walk into the house to write a letter and have Li Wu send it back, but Xiao Ran quickly stopped her.

"Fifth Sister, no rush. The alcohol hasn't been made yet. We can give it to Uncle after it's made. Otherwise, with all this back and forth, even the carrier pigeons aren't as busy as Fifth Uncle."

This last sentence made everyone present burst into laughter.

Xiao Ran coughed twice and said, "Alright, let's continue distilling. I wonder how much alcohol we'll have left in the end."

However, no matter how much is left, it still needs to be done. If it succeeds this time, next time Zhang Dalang can be asked to make a larger still, like one that is as tall as a person. Although we will still have to wait, we can add enough alcohol at once, so we won't have to keep an eye on it all the time.

The distilled spirit was poured back into the distillation flask to continue distilling, while Xiao Ran and the others went inside to eat.

Li Lizhi was still a little worried.

"Young master, is it alright to leave this wine out like this?"

Xiao Ran nodded. "Don't worry, I've already instructed the servants to keep an eye on things. As long as the fire is controlled, they'll let us know if anything goes wrong."

Upon hearing this, Li Lizhi finally felt relieved, and she believed what Xiao Ran had said.

At the dinner table, Xiao Ran mentioned the sweet potato field and the potato field.

"I went to check on them today, and they are growing very well and none of them are sick. All we need to do now is continue to add fertilizer."

The little princess, on the other hand, thought of tomatoes.

"Little Nang-kun~ is a red duck~"

Xiao Ran smiled and pinched the little princess's nose.

"I've seen the tomatoes grown by our Sizi family, and they're growing very well. I think we'll be able to eat tomatoes grown by our Sizi family in a few months."

The little princess instantly burst into a sweet laugh.

The glass workshop's techniques are now quite advanced. As for the cement, Li Shimin mentioned it a couple of days ago; there are no major technical difficulties, and they are currently recruiting to expand production.

Xiao Ran's pigs will start producing pigs soon, so he should be able to enjoy a feast of his own pigs during the Chinese New Year this year.

Thinking about the alcohol he had consumed that day, Xiao Ran's thoughts began to wander.

There are many modern things, and countless useful ones. Xiao Ran plans to gradually bring all of these things to the Tang Dynasty.

"Little Nangjun~" The little princess tilted her head and looked at Xiao Ran, who seemed to be lost in thought.

Xiao Ran looked down at the little princess and realized that she seemed to have grown taller than last year.

[The End!] (End of Chapter)