Chapter Ninety-Six: Refining Saltpeter

Chu Cloud waved a hand. “Uncle, there is no need to worry. We did not run into any trouble. The reason we must stay here so many days is that the nitre is found mainly in the soil inside the cave, not on the rock walls. We have to extract it from the earth, and that is more troublesome than gathering it from the walls. It takes time, but the yield will certainly be higher.”

“So that’s how it is! No wonder you wanted us to stay in this cave so long.” Chen Peace laughed awkwardly. “It seems I really should not have asked so much.”

Chu Cloud smiled. “It is nothing. You do not understand these things, so of course you would be puzzled. If it were me, I would not be able to stop myself from asking either.”

He then helped Chen Peace bag the grain that the three large household teams would need for cooking later, packing it into three burlap sacks so it could be handed out easily when it was time to make the meal.

There truly was not much nitre on the rock walls. Although the cavern was enormous and the walls were broad, more than three hundred people worked together at once, and Chu Cloud had mainly directed everyone to gather the nitre they could reach by hand.

So in barely more than half an hour, the work was finished.

After counting the yield, Chu Cloud gave the reward to the large household team that had come in first, led by Chu Joyful Wealth.

Then everyone went to collect grain for cooking.

Toward the end of the meal, Chu Cloud called over Huang Big Ox and had him hold up a jar and shout for him: “We have finished gathering the nitre from the rock walls. But there is more nitre in the soil. Next, I will teach everyone how to extract the nitre from earth.”

“Everyone must watch carefully, especially the leaders of the large households, medium households, and small households. You must all learn clearly so you can properly guide everyone in refining the nitre.”

“After I finish teaching, everyone should practice diligently this afternoon. Starting tomorrow, whichever large household team refines the most nitre each day will receive a reward of three blade coins per household.”

When the crowd heard there would be a reward, each and every one of them immediately grew attentive and looked at Chu Cloud with full concentration, waiting for his explanation.

Chu Cloud went to the shadowed stream at the edge of the cave and filled more than half a bucket with water. Then he dug up a great deal of earth near the rock wall and put it into the bucket, stirring until the water turned murky. Next, he laid prepared coarse cloth over a wooden basin, poured the muddy water from the bucket into the basin, tossed away the dirt trapped in the cloth, and washed the cloth clean.

After that, he poured the water from the wooden basin back into the bucket and filtered it once more through the cloth into the basin.

He repeated this three or four times. When the water had become somewhat clear, he poured it into a pot, kindled the firewood, and burned it with a fierce flame so the water in the pot would dry out quickly.

Then they could see white crystals of nitre forming in the bronze cauldron.

Chu Cloud quickly called for people to carry the cauldron to the ground. After it had cooled, he collected the crystals inside.

When he was done, Chu Cloud again raised his voice through the jar and said, “What I just did was the process of extracting nitre from soil. It is very simple: mix earth with water to make it muddy, filter out the dirt with coarse cloth, then boil away the remaining water to obtain the nitre.”

“At least three filterings are needed. That way, the nitre you get will be purer and contain fewer impurities. But in order to improve efficiency, you can reduce the amount of water a little.”

“And to make things faster, remember to pile the filtered earth off to one side, so that when you refine the second batch, you do not waste the same effort and time only to get very little nitre in return.”

“Lastly, I want to say that the smell from refining nitre is somewhat pungent, so everyone should still use the white cloth I handed out before to cover your mouth and nose.”

Refining nitre from soil in the cavern did not stink nearly as much as the manure-boiling method, but the odor was still unpleasant, and Chu Cloud himself found it somewhat hard to endure.

After the three household leaders heard him out, they immediately led their respective teams in refining nitre.

The large, medium, and small household leaders did not take part personally. They mainly observed the entire refining process and then thought about how to divide the work and improve the procedure so that everyone could refine nitre as quickly as possible.

As a result, Chu Cloud was very satisfied. After an afternoon of practice, everyone cooperated with excellent coordination, and their speed increased greatly.

Chu Cloud could not help but think that his three household leaders were truly impressive, each and every one of them a talent.

Over the next six days, everyone was either cooking or refining nitre, and the firewood around the cavern had almost been stripped bare.

However, although everyone had been striving for first place and their speed was already very fast, after six days they had only refined a little more than half of the soil in the cavern.

And Chu Cloud had not even let them dig too deeply yet.

So he decided that after buying grain in South River Town, they would return to the cavern and continue refining nitre.

But Chu Cloud still had everyone leave the cavern, and he even washed the bronze cauldron used for refining nitre and took it with them, carrying everything to South River Town.

He did this because he did not want anyone to know his exact whereabouts. The Shaman Healer Sect might not have the time to keep an eye on him right now, but he could not afford to be careless.

Before setting out from the cavern, Chu Cloud also repeatedly warned everyone never to tell the people of South River Town that they had been refining nitre in the cave.

If anyone asked why they had taken so many days to reach South River Town, they were to say that they had run into a wolf pack and been trapped on the mountain until they had finally broken out today.

Chu Cloud also told the large household leader to have the medium and small household leaders keep watch over everyone and not let anyone speak carelessly. Anyone who leaked the matter would be severely punished.

The journey from the cavern to South River Town was only ten miles. With everyone hurrying along, they arrived in less than half an hour.

Yet the moment they passed through the city gate and entered the town, the people of South River Town immediately gathered around them.

At first, Chu Cloud was startled and quickly told the guard unit to remain alert.

But then he saw that the people of South River Town were all smiling with delight as they exclaimed:

“We heard that the people from Chu Family Town would pass through our South River Town, but they have not come these past few days. I thought they were not coming after all. I never expected them to arrive today.”

“That is wonderful. We can also learn from the people of Flat Plain Manor how to make soft leavened flatbread, fried dough sticks, soy milk, silken tofu curd, and tofu.”

“I heard from people who have been to Chu Family Town and Flat Plain Manor that these things are delicious. Just thinking that in the future we can make and eat them ourselves every day makes my heart feel so full…”

Only then did the people of Chu Family Town understand. The reason the people of South River Town had rushed to surround them at first sight was that they had been eagerly waiting for their arrival, hoping to learn how to make soft leavened flatbread, fried dough sticks, and tofu.

Chu Cloud smiled, silently admiring that the information Ye Zeland had gathered was indeed correct. The people of South River Town truly were looking forward to the arrival of the people from Chu Family Town.