97 Sangu Restauran (1/2)
_March 25, 9 AM_ , Shanhai ship's dock terminal.
Ouyang Shuo led his officers and ministers to send off Zhou Haichen and the others, this time the military had chosen Lieutenant Hu Yibiao to set up the new territory's garrison team. The ex-infantry squadron lieutenant's mission was to establish a proper and reliable defense system.
As for the nomadic tribes, the task was left to the cavalry unit that would be stationed there in the future. After all, only the Cavalry Unit could handle open-field warfare against the nomadic tribes.
After he came back from the dock, he took some time and visited the alchemy workshop. Ever since Alchemist Magnus had been here, Ouyang Shuo was busy with the grade 3 town advancement. He had yet to visit the alchemy workshop, which came from a different culture, a different nation, and brought a distinguished building architecture.
Magnus, the man from far to the west, was always assessed curiously by Shanhai's residents. He had golden hair, white skin, thick hair, and was a non-fluent Mandarin speaker. Sure enough, these features were able to create gossip. Of course, there were a knowledgeable few that knew of the alchemist's origin: A Farang, someone of European ancestry.
The alchemy workshop was intentionally situated in the Northeast Military District, right next to the weapon workshop, so to avoid disturbances from the residents. Rather than the traditional China Taoist priests, Shanhai Town had instead recruited an alchemist who originated from the far west. Hence, the alchemy workshop constructed was based on western architectural building blueprints. It was a small house made of stone with two levels and a basement.
The ground floor was the hall and warehouse, and the second floor was Magnus's bedroom and his study room. As for an alchemist's most important laboratory, it was located underground, under close watch and strict protection.
With Magnus leading the way, the two walked into the laboratory. There were five or six oil lamps on the basement walls, with another huge complex-looking oil lamp on the ceiling; their lights wiped out every single shadow in the basement.
The basement was designed with the appropriate ventilation system. Otherwise, once the lamps had combusted all the oxygen, one would suffocate from lack of air.
In the middle sat a big table used for experimentations with test tubes, distillation bottles, crucibles and other experiment tools on it. On the sides were a few shelves with lots of pots, cans, and bottles.
”Magnus, what field do you usually experiment in?” Ouyang Shuo asked curiously while touring the workshop.
”The alchemy workshop’s main focus is the distillation of liquids and refinement of minerals,” Magnus answered in arrogance, not expecting his lord to understand any of his words, and he even looked down on Ouyang Shuo pretending to inspect the experiment tools. _Do you even know what those are and their uses? Oriental hypocrites_. __ He whispered in his heart quietly.
But what he didn’t know was that Ouyang Shuo was a man from the modern world, and that the mysterious alchemy in his eyes was merely nothing but ordinary science and its applications.
”The distillation you are talking about, is it the one that uses the backflow of condensed vapor to obtain a purified liquid, the steam distillation?” Ouyang Shuo asked with a smile on his face while he randomly picked up a distillation bottle from the table.
Magnus' eyes widened, he exclaimed in excitement: ”Yes yes, it is. Oh, God. Your wisdom is truly amazing.” It was true that Farangs were all frank and honest people, once the alchemist knew that Ouyang Shuo wasn't a layman, he changed his attitude almost immediately, praising his lord.
”If that is the case, Magnus, if you have some time, you can visit the wine brewing workshop, and make some improvements to their distillation technique. If the amelioration is a success, I am sure the Finance Department will be more than willing to pay a reasonably large amount of remuneration, more than enough to support and fund your research.” Ouyang Shuo gave Magnus a bait he couldn’t decline.
The moment Magnus heard the words 'research funds', a sudden white bright light flashed in his eyes, and he shouted, ”No problem! Rest assured my lord, leave this matter to me!”
”As for the research regarding refinements of minerals, you can work with the Armory Division, as they have a large demand for fine irons. Other than that, Langshan Mining Field might need your services too, as it is no doubt your profession in finding better ways to refine minerals with higher purity, in this case, gold. In short, I hope the alchemy workshop would not stay by itself, but actively cooperate with territory affairs, achieving the best of both worlds.”
Magnus had long put down his arrogance and preconceptions, and he respectfully said, ”My lord, your wisdom is as deep as the ocean, Magnus will follow your words of wisdom.”
”Good,” before Ouyang Shuo left, he took out the wild boar fangs, long obtained and left untouched, and said with a smile, ”Is there any way you can make it into an accessory?”
Magnus took it and said prudently, ”I can try.”
”Good, I will be waiting for your good news.” As he finished his sentence, Ouyang Shuo turned and left.
He went straight to the market after leaving the alchemy workshop, gritted his teeth and spent 500 gold on purchasing an Advanced Shipyard Building blueprint. Ever since he had acquired the <Meng Chong Warship Manufacturing Manual>, he could not wait a second longer to turn the warships into reality.
But Meng Chong warships were intermediate warships, and they could only be manufactured by an advanced shipyard. That said, if he desired to establish a strong force of navy warships, he would have to use an additional 500 gold from the territory's limited capital funds, spending it for the shipyard's advancement.
When he got back to the manor, he saw Qing'er and Gu Sanniang gossiping at the side. Gu Sanniang looked a bit down, and Qing'er was comforting her. Ouyang Shuo asked out of curiosity, ”What are you two gossiping about? So mysterious.”