Tang Dynasty: After living together with Chang Le, Li and his companion were dumbfounded.

Chapter 17: The Cheapest Materials Create the Most Exquisite Items

evening.

When Li Lizhi returned, she took out a sweatshirt and put it on as usual.

Then I walked to the dividing line, sat down, and waited for the milk.

But Lu Chen didn't bring the milk today.

He brought a bowl of water.

And a small piece of sugarcane.

He bought the sugarcane specifically from the fruit shop that afternoon.

There aren't many places selling sugarcane in northern cities; I had to go to two different places before I found one.

"Not drinking milk today?" Li Lizhi glanced at him.

"Classes are today."

"Attend class?"

Lu Chen handed over the piece of sugarcane.

"You recognize this one, right?"

Li Lizhi took it and looked at it.

"Sugarcane. It's something from the south; you can occasionally see it in the palace."

"You people in the Tang Dynasty used sugarcane to make sugar, right?"

"Hmm. It turned out dark and bitter, not tasty at all." Li Lizhi wrinkled her nose.

Do you know why it's both bitter and astringent?

Li Lizhi thought for a moment and then shook her head.

"Because your craftsmanship is too crude."

Lu Chen laid out a piece of paper on his computer desk, picked up a pen, and began to draw.

"You all know that sugarcane juice contains sugar. But sugarcane juice contains more than just sugar. It also contains a lot of impurities—mud, fiber, bitter substances from the plant, and a whole bunch of other things."

"You just throw the sugarcane juice into the pot and boil it, and all these impurities boil along with it. The final sugar is naturally dark and bitter—that's not the taste of sugar, it's the taste of impurities."

Li Lizhi's brows relaxed a little.

She understood the explanation.

"How is white sugar made?"

"The key is just three steps."

Lu Chen drew three large circles on the paper and labeled them with numbers.

"The first step is to remove impurities."

"After the sugarcane is juiced, lime water is added to it."

"Lime water?" Li Lizhi was taken aback. "The kind of lime used to burn down the city walls?"

"Yes. Lime dissolves in water and is alkaline, which causes impurities in sugarcane juice to coagulate and sink to the bottom. The clear liquid on top will then be clean."

He wrote the four characters "lime water sedimentation" in the first circle.

Li Lizhi's eyes were fixed on the piece of paper.

"The second step is decolorization."

"Even after the sugar syrup has settled and dried, it is still yellow because it contains some tiny pigment particles."

"Use charcoal at this time."

"Slowly pour the sugar water into a layer of charcoal to filter it. The surface of the charcoal has countless tiny pores that can absorb the pigments. The filtered sugar water will then be clear."

The second circle – “charcoal filter”.

"The third step is crystallization."

Pour the clear sugar syrup into a pot and simmer over low heat to evaporate the water. Once the water has evaporated, what's left at the bottom of the pot is just white sugar.

The third circle – “evaporation crystallization”.

Lu Chen put down his pen.

"Three steps. Just these three steps."

"You have sugarcane. You have lime. You have charcoal. You also have pots and stoves."

"The only thing missing is these three steps of the process."

Li Lizhi stared at that piece of paper for a long time.

Lime water settles.

Charcoal filtration.

Evaporation and crystallization.

Three steps.

Everything used was made from the most common and cheapest materials in the Tang Dynasty.

They can be combined together.

They could create white sugar that would drive the entire city of Chang'an crazy.

Li Lizhi suddenly felt dizzy.

It's not that I'm feeling unwell.

It's like something in my brain was suddenly knocked open.

"you mean……"

She looked up at Lu Chen.

"Can we make our own sugar?"

"It's not 'can,' it's 'must.'" Lu Chen corrected her, "It's 'must.'"

"I can only transport a limited amount of sugar from here. But if you build workshops in the Tang Dynasty, you can produce as much sugar as there is sugarcane."

"There are so many sugarcane fields in the south, the raw materials are simply inexhaustible."

Li Lizhi's breathing became rapid.

She looked down and glanced at the paper again.

Lime water settles – lime, there are many lime kilns outside Chang'an city.

Charcoal filtration – Charcoal vendors are everywhere in winter, selling charcoal for heating.

Evaporation and crystallization—a pot and a pile of firewood, every household has them.

What about the cost?

almost none.

Sugarcane grows in the ground.

Lime, charcoal, and firewood—together they're not worth much.

The produced white sugar—

One tael can be exchanged for ten taels of silver.

Li Lizhi's hands began to tremble slightly.

"This...if Mother finds out..."

"If your mother finds out, she'll probably immediately order land to grow sugarcane in the south," Lu Chen chuckled.

Li Lizhi did not smile.

Her expression was very serious.

"Lu Chen, do you know what you're saying?"

"Um?"

"You are handing over a mountain of gold to the Tang Dynasty."

Her voice was very low.

"Mastering this technique is equivalent to mastering the most profitable business in the world. Not just one of them, but the most profitable."

"The five surnames and seven noble families monopolized the salt, iron, tea and horse trade, but they didn't have this."

"Whoever possesses this will have an additional path to contend with the Five Clans and Seven Noble Families."

Lu Chen looked at her.

This eighteen-year-old girl has a much sharper political sense than I do.

He was thinking about commercial profits.

She was thinking about the global landscape.

"So this piece of paper—"

Li Lizhi picked up the piece of paper with the three-step process written on it from the table.

Fold it carefully.

It's like folding an imperial edict.

"I want to hand it over to my mother myself."

"Only the Empress Dowager can know."

"As for Father..." she hesitated for a moment, "let's not talk about it for now."

Lu Chen raised an eyebrow.

"Didn't your father just acquire ten percent of the throne?"

"One-tenth of the business was selling sugar."

Li Lizhi tucked the paper into her sleeve.

"The sugar-making process is another matter. This is the foundation. The foundation cannot be easily revealed."

"Father is impatient; what if he blurts it out and the court officials find out..."

She didn't finish her sentence.

But Lu Chen understood.

If the sugar-making process were leaked, the Five Surnames and Seven Families could replicate it in no time.

Then the monopoly advantage will be gone.

We must firmly keep the technology in our own hands.

"You're right." Lu Chen nodded. "Tell your mother first. Have her arrange for a reliable person to find a secluded place in the south to try giving birth first."

"Once the trial production is successful, we can gradually expand the scale."

"Take it one step at a time."

Li Lizhi nodded emphatically.

Then she looked down at the piece of paper in her sleeve.

Suddenly he raised his head.

"Lu Chen".

"Um?"

"You just taught me this like that?"

Her tone was a little strange.

"You should know better than I how much this craftsmanship is worth."

"Aren't you afraid I'll take it and then deny it?"

Lu Chen was stunned for a moment.