The day after the Sleeping Island witch was relocated, Roland called Barov, the head of the city hall, to the office.
"I need you to post a recruitment announcement," he pushed the drafted content in front of the other party. "A week of part-time workers, about ten people, preferably women."
Barov picked up the paper and read it carefully, "Your Highness, may I ask what starch... is?"
"You know wheat flour, right?"
The general manager hesitated, "Do you mean coarse flour or refined flour? After the wheat grains are ground, they can be baked into bread, or baked into wheat cakes, and all you eat are refined flour that has been further sieved for bran, the latter The output is only 60% of the former, and the baked bread is softer, but the price is very high, only the nobles can afford it.”
The most satisfying thing for Roland, the former assistant to the finance minister, is that he has a full understanding of all kinds of underlying commodities. Due to backward agriculture and lack of food, the same food is eaten in completely different ways in different classes. For example, the most common wheat, the commoner's way of eating is to cook porridge directly from the shelled wheat grains, which can maximize the use of food, but some residual wheat husks and gravel will also be boiled into the pot together, which often tastes bad. Bang bang bang teeth.
The little aristocrats are more particular, they will order people to sieve the wheat grains to remove the sand and gravel, grind them into coarse powder, bake them into bread and pancakes and enjoy them.
Further up is the wealthy aristocratic class. For these people, food is no longer a tool to simply fill their stomachs, but a means of pursuing delicious enjoyment. The kitchen will further sieve the wheat flour to remove the bran, resulting in a fine white powder, and the baked bread is beige, which not only tastes fine but also tastes much sweeter.
"Starch is refined and processed on the basis of refined wheat flour," Roland said, "When you recruit people, I will send someone to tell them the specific method."
"Continue, continue processing?" Barov couldn't help widening his eyes, "How much wheat does it take?"
"I don't need too much, three or four hundred kilograms..." Roland paused, then changed his tune, "It's enough for a basket as big as my desk."
He nodded in response, and asked, "Why do you ask to be as female as possible?"
"Because they are more attentive. Also, I hope to see more women going to work, rather than sitting idle at home," Roland suddenly thought of something, "The current universal education in frontier towns seems to be faster in girls' classes. Bar?"
"Although the main person in charge of the Ministry of Education is Ms. Shuju, this is indeed the case. Apart from taking care of children and housework, they can't do much, so they spend most of their time reading and literacy."
"In this case, I request that after the next round of assessments, the city hall you are in charge of must recruit a group of female apprentices and gradually expand the proportion of female positions," Roland ordered.
"His Royal Highness, this... there is no precedent," Barov frowned. "If it is only about carefulness, my apprentice is no worse than any other woman."
"If there is no precedent, create a precedent," Roland said bluntly. "This is also the easiest and fastest way to grow the workforce without expanding the total population. If all women can take on the task of building a small town, I will You can double the number of people available. All you have to do is guide people to change their minds. As long as the pay is attractive, I think they will come forward one by one.”
After Barov resigned, Nightingale smiled in the prince's ear, "What are you planning to cook?"
"Starch? No, it's not for eating," Roland took a sip of tea, "although you can get the same good ingredients during processing."
Soak the refined wheat flour into the water, then knead and scrub until the water is completely white, and then continue with another basin of water. The sticky mass left at the end is gluten, which can be deep-fried or stir-fried for a pliable, bouncy texture. Spreading honey or sprinkling with spices is a great delicacy.
But Roland's focus wasn't on food.
After the milky white water is sieved and left to stand, the precipitate is starch, which is also the main material for making explosives.
Under the conditions that nitro*glycerin has not yet been tested, and tnt is impossible to talk about, nitrostarch has become the easiest high explosive to manufacture, and the manufacturing process is exactly the same as that of nitrocellulose. Its finished product has low sensitivity and cannot be ignited by an open flame. It needs to be detonated with a detonator tube. Its power is higher than that of tnt. It was widely used as a substitute for the former during the two world wars.
With high-purity starch, those alchemy apprentices who have thoroughly mastered the nitrocellulose production process must be able to quickly produce a batch of nitrocellulose.
After lunch, Roland was about to go back to his room to take a nap when there was a knock on the door outside the office.
Usually, the person who comes to him at this time is Anna in all likelihood. His heart thumped twice. Could it be that he fell asleep because he was too tired last time, so he decided to pick it at noon this time
"come in."
The door was pushed open with a creak, and Roland was stunned. It turned out to be Evelyn standing outside.
Uh... This is a little different from what he thought, he coughed twice and smiled kindly, "Is there something wrong?"
She walked to the table and bowed her head, looking nervous, "Your Highness, I want to ask you a question."
Is it the cliché again why you are so kind to witches? However, in the spirit of treating comrades as warm as the spring breeze, he smiled and said, "What questions, you can ask."
"You... why did you choose me to come to Border Town?"
Roland was stunned for a moment. Could it be that she disliked alcohol
"My abilities are neither as good as Sylvie's, nor as practical as Lotus and Honey," she whispered, "If it's just wine tasting, the salary of one gold dragon per month is enough to hire a professional winemaker from the capital. teacher."
"What do you think of those wines...?"
"I thought it was too hot at first, but it's acceptable to drink it slowly. As for the mixed wines mixed with ice cubes, fruit juice and sugar water, the taste is richer. But this is just my personal opinion," Evelyn replied cautiously, "The tavern at home only sells cheap wine and ale. The tendency of the nobles... I don't know."
It turned out that he was not suspecting that there was a problem with the wine, and the prince was quietly relieved. He got up and opened the bookcase, took out a can of ale from the top layer and placed it in front of Evelyn, "Then can you convert this can of ale into the white wine I brewed?"
"I think... it should be fine." She stretched out her hands and held the jar, and soon the dim wine in it changed. As the bubbles rose, the ale became clearer and clearer, and finally it was as translucent as boiled water, but Roland had already smelled the strong aroma of the wine. He couldn't wait to dip a finger into it and put it in his mouth, the bitterness and the searing heat came at the same time, which is the taste of high alcohol.
Roland couldn't help laughing, "That's why I chose you."
Looking at the confused Evelyn, he clapped his hands and said, "I plan to open an alcohol factory... No, it's a brewery, would you like to be my chief brewer?" (., Your support is that My biggest motivation.)
...