Chapter 18: Master in Folk (Seeking Collection)

  Apart from these few big shots, Zhang Lei's Xianjing cigarettes didn't sell much because the price was really not affordable for ordinary people. In a small place like Xujiayuan, there were only a handful of rich people, and even Bai Yang and Tong Zhangzhu were just a few in number.

  However, compared to the poor sales of Xianjing cigarettes, Yunwu's sales were beyond Zhang Lei's expectations. This cheap and popular cigarette was not worried about selling, and in just half a day, more than 100 packs were sold, almost emptying all of Zhang Lei's inventory.

  Zhang Lei suddenly realized that relying solely on himself, even if he didn't sleep or rest for a day and worked to the point of exhaustion, it would be impossible to supply so much tobacco. He hastily gathered Zhang Chen and Zhang Baosheng to discuss countermeasures.

  "Brother, you are really clever for a moment and confused for a lifetime. Think about it, when we just started roasting tobacco, didn't you call many people to help with the tobacco leaves? Then we can also find people to help us roll cigarettes." Zhang Lei's plan was immediately exposed by Zhang Chen.

  Zhang Lei suddenly realized, patted his forehead and said: "Right! How could I not have thought of that? This matter will be handed over to you to do. Roll all the tobacco in our house into Yunwu cigarettes." Zhang Lei took out a 500-tael silver note without hesitation and handed it to Zhang Chen, saying: "This is for distribution to laborers. How to allocate it, you go and coordinate, I trust you."

  "All the production has been changed to Yunwu smoke, what about Xianjing smoke? The selling price of Xianjing can be much higher than Yunwu." Zhang Chen took over the silver ticket and suddenly thought that if all were made into Yunwu smoke, there would be no raw materials for producing Xianjing smoke. "Alas, it's really worth buying all the tobacco from the villagers, so we can make a lot of cigarettes."

  Zhang Lei laughed and patted his shoulder, saying: "I've told you before, a real man should look far ahead. You shouldn't be mired in such petty gains. Our goal should be to become rich enough to rival the country."

  "Okay, brother, I'll listen to you." Zhang Chen remembered his brother's words in his heart and tightly grasped the silver ticket, saying: "I will complete the task that my brother has entrusted me with perfectly."

  Zhang Lei was thinking about the match, and his interest in tobacco was no longer great. He said: "I believe you, go do it, remember, when doing anything, there should be no thought of being content with what one has. Making money is forever unfinishable, and so is being an official, there will always be a higher level to reach. So, work hard, keep your confidence, perseverance, and ambition."

  "The most one can achieve as an official is becoming the prime minister...” Zhang Chen said halfway and realized that this topic couldn't be continued, so he quickly shut up.

  Zhang Lei smiled and said: "You don't understand this yet, but you will know later."

  After a night's rest, Zhang Lei left all the shop matters to Zhang Chen to handle. The production of Zhang Baosheng's cigarette boxes was also stopped by Zhang Lei after making 100 of them. As a result, Zhang Baosheng learned the skill of rolling cigarettes from Zhang Chen and joined the ranks of cigarette makers.

  The next morning, Zhang Chen took out dozens of recruitment notices written by Zhang Lei overnight and went out. It was written that they were recruiting people with clever hands to teach the technique of rolling cigarettes, and one cigarette could be rewarded with one cent after passing the test, only ten people were recruited.

  "Not bad." Zhang Lei nodded in approval after listening to Zhang Chen's plan.

  After perfecting the recruitment plan, Zhang Lei clearly handed over all the work in the store and devoted himself to preparing safety matches.

  The next day after the recruitment notice was posted, all ten people had been found and learned the skills of rolling paper and cutting tobacco.

  "You must all pass my inspection with your good cigarettes before you can settle the wages. If one cigarette does not meet the standards I mentioned earlier, not only will you not earn a single cent, but you will also be fined five cents." Zhang Chenru said this when distributing tobacco, paper, and cotton to those villagers.

  Zhang Lei was unaware of these things because he had set out early in the morning to buy white phosphorus and sulfur needed for match production.

  Nowadays, matches are not safe enough and can be ignited by anything, which is because white phosphorus is highly flammable. It wasn't until hundreds of years later that safety matches were developed using a combination of potassium chlorate and red phosphorus, allowing for large-scale promotion, which was Zhang Lei's goal.

  It sounds very simple, but Zhang Lei encountered the most troublesome thing - he couldn't find potassium chlorate. Nowadays, people simply don't know what potassium chlorate is.

  Frustrated for two days, Zhang Lei really couldn't figure out how to deal with potassium chlorate. With his 34% chemistry score, even if he now had the raw materials to synthesize potassium chlorate, Zhang Lei didn't have the skills.

  "Brother, what's wrong with you?" After being depressed for a whole morning, Zhang Chen noticed something unusual about Zhang Lei and asked.

  Zhang Lei told Zhang Chen about the questions he had thought of, but for things like what oxidizer and so on, Zhang Chen was completely bewildered, could only shrug his shoulders, made a helpless expression, and said: "I really don't know this."

  Zhang Lei waved his hand, somewhat annoyed, and said: "Alright, alright, maybe I'm just overthinking. I had a dream last night, and in the dream, someone told me something like this, but I don't know what it means either. So I asked you, since you've read more books than me."

  "Originally, brother was worried about this. As the saying goes, 'day has its thoughts and night has its ideas', I suppose it's because brother thinks too much in his daily life, so he would have such strange dreams. Brother, if you really can't think of anything, then don't think about it, just go with the flow." Zhang Chen comforted.

  "Alright, alright, I'll just go out for a walk."

  He walked along the village road and took a good look at the whole village, then strolled towards the mountain outside the village. Although the grass and trees on the mountain were withered and yellow, climbing high and looking far away also had a unique flavor.

  Breathing in the fresh air at the mountain top, Zhang Lei suddenly felt his mood lift greatly. He cleared his throat and was just about to sing a song when he was startled by an explosion and swallowed back the music that was about to come out of his mouth. Looking towards the source of the explosion, he only saw a puff of white smoke mixed with a strong smell of sulfur.

  "My god, explosive experiment?" Zhang Lei exclaimed and rushed over there immediately.

  Arrived at the place and took a look around, it was desolate and uninhabited, except for a small wooden house that had already been reduced to ruins.

  "Where's anyone?" Zhang Lei circled around the house, but didn't see a single person.

  Smelling the sulfur smell, Zhang Lei suddenly remembered that this sulfur was a treasure of ancient alchemists. His spirit lifted: "Could it be that a Taoist priest was refining elixirs and mistakenly released something, causing this huge explosion? In that case..." Ancient alchemists' treasures were indeed numerous...

  He rolled up his sleeves and started moving things, and it wasn't until more than an hour later that he had cleared away the pile of rubble. Now he could finally see the situation inside the house clearly.

  The entire ground was pitch black, a broken half-human-high large cauldron scattered disorderly within a range of more than one square meter.

  Not far from the large tripod, there was a dilapidated small cabinet that had become a pile of broken wooden boards. In the corner of the wall, there was a bed with a mosquito net that had been torn to shreds and the bed board had several holes smashed through it. Through these holes, Zhang Lei saw several dark brown jars.

  Suddenly, Zhang Lei was attracted by a bloodstain on the ground, and there were also several pieces of minced meat on the wall in the distance. It wasn't until then that Zhang Lei suddenly realized that a Taoist priest had been refining elixirs, but due to an error, a violent explosion occurred, killing himself.

  The place where people died was not very auspicious after all. Zhang Lei was about to turn around and leave, but thinking of the jar under the bed, he stopped in his tracks again.

  They say all alchemists are rich beyond their wildest dreams, but surely this jar isn't filled with money?

  Zhang Lei thought to himself, muttering: "Amitabha, good, good, although I don't know your name, you're already dead, leaving this money behind with no place to use it is a waste. So I'll help you use it well. Don't worry, I won't use it for free either. Tomorrow, I'll invite a virtuous and enlightened monk to hold a Buddhist ritual for your soul..."

  In the blink of an eye, Zhang Lei had already moved the three large jars to the empty space outside. The three jars were all sealed very well, but the opening part was very clean, apparently a result of frequent opening and use.

  What's inside? It's so heavy, is it gold or silver? Even if it's copper coins, a jar this size would be worth quite a bit of money.

  Zhang Lei rubbed his fists and palms, eager to open the seal.

  The first jar was opened, and a pungent smell came out. Without looking, it was clear that this was sulfur. This answer left Zhang Lei greatly disappointed.

  "It turned out to be a jar for storing raw materials."

  Although the result is very unsatisfactory, since they have been taken out, the remaining two should also be opened and looked at.

  The second jar contained a black powder, and Zhang Lei smelled it, discovering that it was already mixed gunpowder, lighter in color than black gunpowder, with finer grains, clearly having undergone special processing.

  On top of this gunpowder, there is a letter that describes how to make it.

  "What a great thing... this is safer than the gunpowder currently on the market and burns more fully..." Zhang Lei carefully read the instructions above, which detailed the production method of this new type of gunpowder, making him overjoyed.

  Open the third jar, which was filled with white powder, a bit like slaked lime. Zhang Lei reached out to touch it, but it didn't have the same greasiness as slaked lime. He picked up the letter on top, which again explained how to make this thing, but didn't say what its name was.

  Zhang Lei picked up a bit and put it under his nose to smell, slightly fragrant, seemingly very familiar, but couldn't quite recall what it was. He dipped his phone in a bit, touched it lightly with his tongue, the taste was salty and cool, a flash of inspiration in his mind, recalling some scenes from the lab last life, he burst out laughing.

  "Haha, potassium chlorate! It's actually potassium chlorate! I've finally found it after searching everywhere. This thing can be made so easily, a mastermind is among the people haha...…!" Zhang Lei burst into laughter, this was exactly the potassium chlorate he had been racking his brains to think of, the oxidizer for making safe matches.

  He carefully put away the two prescriptions, bowed deeply and said: "Master, although I don't know who you are, I still want to thank you. After my affairs are settled, I will come back here and build a tomb for you, and set up a monument."

  After worshiping, he sprinkled gunpowder and potassium chlorate around, and a fire burned them clean.