Chapter 4 Soaps and Detergents

  What appeared in front of Huang Yueying and Zhuge Liang were two palm-sized objects. The slightly larger one was rectangular, slightly rough, light yellowish-brown in color, with simple patterns engraved on it; the other oval-shaped one was pale pink in color, with delicate patterns engraved on it, which was a plum blossom.

  Huang Yueying took over the small object and felt a smooth texture in her hand, and also smelled a faint elegant fragrance. She curiously asked: "Xiao Jun, what is this?"

  Zhuge Jun ordered Ah Xiu to bring a basin of water and demonstrated its use to the two. After trying it out, they immediately liked the smooth and refreshing feeling it brought, and their faces felt especially cool after washing.

  Ling'er stretched her small face in front of Huang Yueying and asked: "Sister, smell quickly, is it fragrant or not?"

  Huang Yueying brought her nose close to Ling'er's face, took a sniff and smiled: "Fragrant! Our Ling'er doesn't need this, her little face is also fragrant."

  Zhuge Jian took another piece of white cloth stained with oil and dirt, put it in water, applied something else on top, and then rubbed it with his hands. Before long, a lot of fine white foam appeared, and after rinsing with clean water, the white cloth was spotless again.

  "This is called 'fat' soap, used for washing clothes; this is called fragrant soap, used for washing face and bathing."

  In the Han Dynasty, poor people used only water; rich people used some plant 'flowers' or 'flower' powder to wash their faces and bathe, with a naturally poor cleaning effect.

  The production process of soap is very simple, it's just cooking oils and lye together to break down into fatty acids and glycerol, the former being processed into shape is soap. The production of scented soap is not complicated either, grinding and pressing fragrances and white soap into the desired shape is scented soap.

  The raw materials are also very extensive. Animal oils, pigs, cows, and sheep are all acceptable. Caustic soda, also known as sodium hydroxide (NaOH), is mainly made from quicklime. It was widely used in the Han Dynasty.

  Zhuge's father was a chemical industrialist, so he went to a chemical university. It wasn't hard for him to 'play' with simple techniques of making soap and scented soap.

  Huang Yueying was born intelligent, studying astronomy and geography, as well as the principles of mechanics and calculation. In modern terms, she was a science enthusiast. She had to "figure out" new things. So, Zhuge's army explained the production principle and the principle of 'soap' cleaning in detail.

  Zhuge Jun's changes over the past few days have been too great, Huang Yueying is increasingly unable to 'figure out' this younger uncle, and asks him where he learned it from. He says that these were also taught by that Taoist priest. She feels that what he said was not true, but he won't say any more, so Huang Yueying doesn't ask further.

  It turned out that after Zhuge Jun knew the situation at home, he saw Huang Yueying's difficult appearance and thought that farming could not solve the current situation. Only business can solve the problem.

  The status of merchants in the Han Dynasty was very low, but it refers to the low political status. For more and faster chapters, please go to. And it is only reflected in the upper class of society. Ordinary people still envy the rich life of businessmen. The powerful and big families also operate some businesses, and relying solely on the court's salary is not enough to satisfy the needs of a luxurious life.

  Especially now, the warlords are fighting, relying on the army, and the army needs to be fed, so the status of merchants has been greatly improved. There were many merchants in Liu Bei's group, such as Zhang Fei, and Liu Bei's first batch of troops was raised with Zhang Fei's family property. The Mi Zhu family is a standard merchant, and their financial support for Liu Bei is enormous, which is also the main reason why Liu Bei married Mi Zhu. In 214 AD, when Liu Bei entered Yizhou, Mi Zhu was appointed as General Annan, with a higher status than Zhuge Liang.

  He thought of many products for future generations. After analyzing the existing conditions, he felt that soap and 'fat' soap were more suitable, so he first made this product.

  Zhuge Jian and Huang Yueying discuss the sales problem of soap and scented soap.

  Huang Yueying's uncle was a merchant, so she was no stranger to business and knew the huge benefits that soap could bring. After getting married, with her husband as the mainstay, the first thing she thought of was Zhuge Liang. If she handed over the formula to the Liu Bei group for production, it would give the Liu Bei group a huge financial boost, thereby increasing Zhuge Liang's weight.

  Zhuge Jian is well-versed in history, and with Zhuge Liang's talent, it was inevitable that he would stand out in the Liu Bei group. There was no need to add flowers to brocade. Moreover, Liu Bei currently has no stable base, being chased around by others, and has no productive capacity.

  After convincing Huang Yueying, Zhuge Jun decided to produce it himself and sell 'it' to Huang Yueying's uncle.

  Huang Yueying was a capable woman who immediately set off for her parents' home to discuss sales with her uncle. He was setting up a production workshop at his house.

  After sending off his sister-in-law, Zhuge Jun said to his younger sister Zhuge Ling: "Ling'er, Third Brother has an important matter that he wants to 'entrust' to you. Are you willing?"

  The little girl listened to him say this and hastily said she was willing, her big eyes shining as she waited for what came next.

  He said seriously: "You're good at drawing, design some beautiful patterns for our soap. For more and faster chapters, please go to."

  Ling'er happily agreed and immediately ran back to her own room.

  Zhuge returned to his own room and began to carefully plan the construction of the factory, considering not only production capacity and scale but also pollution control. Moreover, for future expansion of production and manufacturing other products, an industrial base needed to be established, and security and defense issues had to be addressed. Since arriving in this era, he had to make at least some plans for the future.

  He stayed at home all day.

  Huang Yueying returned to her mother's home and stayed overnight. The next day, she came to Xiangyang City to find her uncle Huang Chengzong.

  Huang Chengzong is a shrewd businessman who runs a comprehensive business in Xiangyang City, mainly dealing with grain, silk, porcelain and other popular goods. He secretly operates salt and iron, which are prohibited materials. He has a keen eye for opportunity and uses his family's influence to maintain close relationships with many officials in Jingzhou. He has branches in all nine counties of Jingzhou.

  For Huang Yueying, this beautiful and intelligent niece, he still liked her. For her marrying Zhuge Liang, he did not agree with it. He also thought that Zhuge Liang was too ambitious and not practical. Even though Zhuge Liang had become Liu Bei's military advisor now, he didn't think much of it because at present Liu Bei's power was not much greater than a county magistrate. He only occupied Xinye, which was still temporarily borrowed from Liu Biao.

  Now he looked at Huang Yueying wearing clothes that were clean but had faded after repeated washing, and felt a pang of heartache for her.

  These years, he has helped Huang Yueying a lot. Seeing her arrival, he thought she had something to ask for his help again, so he said: "Yueying, what's going on at your home that needs me to do something?"

  Huang Yueying took out soap and 'fatty' soap for him to see.

  He held it in his hand and curiously asked: "What is this thing, what is it used for?"

  Huang Yueying asked him to have someone bring over some clean water and handed him a dirty rag, demonstrating its use. This immediately caught his attention. He inquired about the production cost and production scale.

  Huang Yueying followed Zhuge Jun's 'cue' and made an explanation to him. When it came to production costs, Huang Yueying deliberately increased the price by five times according to Zhuge Jun's instructions. Huang Chengzong still thought it was very cheap and sensed a huge business opportunity in it.

  When he heard that he was going to be in charge of distribution, he was overjoyed. He said he would go see Zhuge Jun after dinner.

  That afternoon, Zhuge Jun heard that Huang Yueying was back and went out to welcome her. He saw that apart from his uncle Huang Chengzong, there was another person with her. Seeing this person, Zhuge Jun's eyes lit up involuntarily.

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