A sweet and sour fish, half of which was eaten by Xiao Bian, he finally couldn't eat it anymore.

Thinking back, Xiao Zhuan hasn't eaten for several meals since he fell ill yesterday.

After finishing the meal, Li Mengxi took out the medicine again.

A small bowl, with a little bit of white powder left in the small bowl.

Li Mengxi was looking at it with a small bowl in hand, wondering how to mass-produce this magical powder.

A little hand stretched out, and Xiao Bian reached out and pinched a little white powder from the bowl. He asked curiously, "Brother, is this noodles?"

"Um, it's not noodles."

Then, Li Mengxi told his brother how to make the medicinal powder that looked like flour.

He peeled off the skin of the willow tree, boiled it in water, filtered it several times, then used activated carbon to remove impurities, and then boiled it dry, and the white medicinal powder came out.

Xiao Zhuan listened carefully to Li Mengxi's words.

Li Mengxi didn't pay attention. Xiao Bian dipped his finger into a little powder and put it in his mouth to eat it like eating candy.

Li Mengxi opened his mouth, but he didn't have time to stop it. He smiled and looked at his frowning brother, "Does it taste good? What does it taste like?"

Xiao Bian stuck out his tongue and said, "It tastes terrible."

How delicious can medicine be?

Being attracted by Xiao Zhuan, Li Mengxi was also curious about what the white powder in the willow tree would taste like.

Unable to help being curious, Li Mengxi also dipped his finger into a little powder, put it into his mouth and tasted it. When he tasted it, it turned out to be the taste of the medicine he imagined, bitter.

After that, Li Mengxi found a small bamboo tube, carefully scraped the medicinal powder out of the bowl and put it in it.

The younger brother watched Li Mengxi busy from the side.

After the medicine powder was filled, Li Mengxi said to his younger brother, "Let's go, Xiao Zhuan, let's break some willow branches and make some medicine."

Xiao Bian opened his eyes wide and asked doubtfully, "Brother, why do you need willow branches?"

"Because there is medicine in the willow tree." Li Mengxi replied.

"Oh." Xiao Zhuan said, seeming to understand. After thinking about it, he asked again, "Brother, is there such a medicine in the tree?"

When his younger brother asked this, Li Mengxi was stunned for a moment. He suddenly realized, hey? Is this thing in the willow tree unique to willow trees? Or does it exist in the bark of any tree?

Realizing that he had overlooked an important issue, inspiration suddenly came to him. Li Mengxi quickly took out a pen and paper and jotted down, "Does the extract from willow bark exist in other tree species?"

This sentence alone will bring about a larger testing scope.

Li Mengxi looked up at his younger brother, who had an innocent look on his little face.

Li Mengxi smiled. He felt that it was so true that science requires a spirit of questioning. Children who like to ask strange questions naturally have unparalleled questions and unparalleled curiosity.

My brother is right to ask. Since medicinal powder can be extracted from willow bark, does it mean that this kind of medicine only exists in willow trees, or does this kind of medicinal powder exist in the bark of many trees?

This question is extremely valuable. The value is that once the truth is clarified, the source of materials can be expanded dozens of times.

Li Mengxi didn't know much about the growth environment of willow trees, but he could infer that willow trees are soft and light and cannot be used to make things. Therefore, no one would bother to plant willow trees. Since no one would plant them,

There cannot be many willow trees in the countryside.

Walking outside the door, Li Mengxi bowed his hands to the soldiers guarding the door and said, "I have the second generation to send an order for me to send out two hundred cavalry and disperse to various places to search for tree bark.

No matter what kind of bark, whether it is willow, mulberry or poplar, when you take the branches back, remember not to mix them."

After the order was given, the soldiers clasped their fists in salute and hurried away.

On this day, Guan Yu led Liu Bei and Jian Yong to watch blacksmithing. To be more precise, he showed Liu Bei and Jian Yong the art of steelmaking.

Guan Yu was holding a long steel-clad sword and explaining it to Liu Bei and Liu Bei. Suddenly, he heard the sound of the messengers running and shouting behind him.

"You guys, get on your horses and follow me! What are you doing? The military advisor asked me to find branches."

Guan Yu, Liu Bei and Jian Yong heard the sound and looked over, and saw that the messengers were summoning the cavalry to patrol the city, apparently to be busy with military affairs.

Seeing this scene, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Jian Yong and the others looked at each other and smiled. Liu Bei said with a smile, "A few days ago, Xi'er asked someone to break a willow tree and said that he could make a miracle medicine. As expected, the miracle medicine came out soon. This time, Xi'er found it again.

When a person breaks a branch, he doesn’t know what will come out of it.”

Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Jian Yong and his party have already figured out the matter of willow tree extract. Liu Bei and the other two went to the military medical camp to inquire. From the military doctor, Liu Bei learned about the efficacy of the medicine. For wind-cold symptoms, take half a spoonful of the powder.

In half a day, 60% of the recovery was achieved.

The efficacy of the medicine is really amazing.

Tian Bu learned from Liu Bei that the military advisor had sent people to look for branches again. At this time, they not only looked for willow trees, but also all branches. Tian Bu was also very curious. He wondered what new medicine the military advisor was going to get.

On February 20th, it was the peak of spring, the vegetation was flourishing, and all kinds of trees had revived and branched out.

The cavalry from all over Julu City searched for trees everywhere. No matter what kind of tree they found, the cavalry dismounted, mounted their swords, climbed up the tree, and hooked down the branches.

An hour later, the cavalry returned to the city one after another.

The cavalrymen brought back a large number of branches. Bundles of branches were piled up in the main hall and in the yard. When the yard could not fit anymore, they were placed outside the door.

Xiao Bian saw a lot of branches in the yard. He happily ran out and smoked one, holding it in his hand and playing with it. After a while, he saw another one that was better. He abandoned the one in his hand and ran over to smoke it again.

One.

After a while, Xiao Brick had been replaced by four or five branches.

Turning his head, Xiao Bian found that his brother didn't have a branch in his hand. He ran over and put a straight branch into Li Mengxi's hand.

Li Mengxi looked at the branch in his hand and glanced at his brother, "What are you doing?"

The branches are piled up all over the yard. We have enough materials and we can start testing.

Before starting, Li Mengxi thought for a while and went to the carpenter camp, called a group of carpenters, and asked them to check the branches to see if there was any confusion.

The carpenters came over to check and found that there was more than just confusion, every bundle of branches was in a mess.

He had clearly told them not to mix things up, but in the end, it was still a mess. Li Mengxi got angry and rushed out of the gate. After scolding the orderly soldier, he didn't scold him enough and said, "Go, kill all the cavalrymen who are working."

Call over!"

The embarrassed messenger was scolded and could only summon the cavalry.

When the cavalry arrived, Li Mengxi continued to reprimand the cavalry for ignoring military orders, neglecting their duties, and giving them various reprimands.

It was rare for Li Mengxi to get angry. This anger made the cavalry as silent as a cicada.

Finally, Li Mengxi's anger subsided, and he waved his hands irritably, "Let's all go. If there is another time, I will never be lenient!"

This mistake was a double problem between the messenger and the cavalry. The messenger still remembered the order at the beginning and made it clear that the branches of various trees should be placed alone and not mixed.

As a result, the order was too long. After giving it several times, the ordering soldier got tired of it, so he simplified the order on his own initiative. After simplifying it, he went out to find branches at random, broke off the branches and came back.

The orders are like this, so the cavalry will naturally make mistakes.

However, at the beginning, some cavalry received complete orders. However, these cavalry received complete orders, but because they did not know what the branches were for, they lacked some solemnity and self-righteously thought that the branches were all the same.

Confused.

This was a small accident, and within the small accident, there was a major flaw hidden.

The disadvantage is that the soldiers who deliver the orders are not professional enough, and the soldiers who deliver the orders may not even know what the order is. They must pass it on as it is, without adding or changing a single word.

Since the rebel army came out of Zhuozhou, everything has been built from scratch. There are no professional scouts, no professional ordnance craftsmen, and no full-time messengers.

After scolding everyone, he returned to the city lord's palace. Li Mengxi realized the problem. He wrote down a note. He felt that when he had time, he had to select a group of full-time messengers and train them. In addition to the personnel, he also had to change the method of delivering orders. Oral orders,

There are bound to be errors, but written orders are more reliable.

After a period of time, the carpenters carefully distinguished and finally arranged the various branches according to type.

Dozens of large bundles of branches were placed in front of Li Mengxi. These branches came from pine trees, cypress trees, tung trees, poplar trees, laurel trees, and many other trees.

According to the method of drug extraction, the bark of each tree is divided into multiple parts, which are boiled and extracted in various solutions such as acid, alkali, alcohol, and oil, and then tested.

Each type of tree needs to be extracted several times, which is quite a large task.

Li Mengxi stared at the branches piled up all over the house, frowned and pondered for a long time. Finally, based on his experience in extracting willow trees, he felt that since the medicinal powder in willow trees was extracted with lime water and clear water, there was no need to use other methods.

, only use lime water and clean water to extract.

Assuming that the medicine that can cure diseases in willow trees exists in other trees, then since it is the same kind of medicine, it should be extracted using the same method.

After thinking about it, Li Mengxi didn't even want to use lime water. He planned to boil it directly with clean water.

When I saw him outside the door, he ordered me to go to the women's and children's camp and ask fifty women to come over with simple baskets.

The ordering soldier had just been reprimanded and received the order again. The ordering soldier was cautious and did not dare to change it at will. He went to the women's and children's camp, and the ordering soldier conveyed the order completely.

After a while, the women came with scissors and baskets.

Li Mengxi stood up with a smile to greet them. He pointed to the branches all over the house and said with a smile, "Aunts, please peel off these branches and cut them into pieces. By the way, different trees must not be mixed."

The women each found bundles of bark and began to get busy.

The women were curious and asked if they had just cut some branches a few days ago and wanted to cut them again today. What was the use?

"Well, I want to make medicine." Li Mengxi answered casually.

While the women were busy, Li Mengxi was thinking about another question, about willow branches.
To be continued...