Empress: Your Majesty, please respect yourself, I don't want to be promoted

Under the expectant eyes of everyone, Lu Chen asked someone to bring a few things over and then placed them on the table in front of everyone.

Among these things, in addition to a piece of charcoal the size of a fingernail and an ordinary sink, there were several powders of different colors.

There are black, yellow, gray, etc.

Everyone quickly recognized that the yellow ones were sulfur powder, the gray ones were scale powder, and the light yellow ones were Xihuang.

There are two kinds of black powder. They both look like pebbles, but if you look closely, they are slightly different. The most obvious difference is the particle size. The pebble powder on the left near the lumpy pebbles is obviously finer than the one on the right.

Except for charcoal, other powders are either used to make elixirs, to form formations, or to be used as medicine, or they are waste materials that have not yet been found to have any value, and the amounts are very small, so they are not commonly used.

They were a little confused and didn't know why Lu Chen brought out these irrelevant things.

"Everyone, please take a look."

As Lu Chen said, he asked someone to take out the fire stick and use some combustion aids to ignite the coarser coal powder and sulfur powder.

It didn't take long for the two powders to start burning.

As everyone expected, both powders released a pungent smell when burning.

Although they are all pungent, the smell of coal powder is obviously stronger, and it seems to be mixed with many kinds of smells. Although the white smoke emitted by burning sulfur powder is also unpleasant, the smell is relatively single.

"Remember these smells."

Lu Chen explained it, and then asked someone to light another pile of charcoal powder.

As expected, after the pile of charcoal powder was ignited, it still released a thick smoke, accompanied by a pungent smell.

"Smell it carefully."

Everyone did as they were told.

After a moment, Su Ning's eyes suddenly lit up, and then she said with a surprised look on her face: "The smell of this pile of pebbles... seems to be lighter than that pile!"

After hearing this, everyone's expressions changed. After sniffing carefully, they immediately discovered that, as Su Ning said, the smell of the newly lit pile of coal was lighter than that of the previous pile.

After realizing this, Su Ning stared at Lu Chen fiercely, with a kind of fanaticism in her eyes.

The others were not much better. They all looked at Lu Chen with uncomfortable eyes. Their eyes were almost the same as those of pilgrims facing their faith.

"Master Lu, you succeeded?!"

Although Lu Chen only made the smell of burning coal lighter, there is no doubt that this is a breakthrough from zero to one. As long as he masters the method, this coal may not be turned into a good thing like charcoal.

As for this most critical step, they have been working hard at the Tiangong Division for so long and have made various attempts. They have tried burning, washing with water, adding materials, etc., but the results are without exception, with almost no effect.

No matter how hard they rack their brains, they just can't come up with something.

The truth is often like this. When you are not aware of it, you will find it difficult. And when you find the truth, you will even wonder why you couldn't find it in the first place.

From zero to one, the distance seems to be very close, but in fact it is like a chasm.

If Lu Chen could cross this natural chasm, it would have far-reaching significance for the entire carboniferous research, the Tiangong Division, and even Daxia as a whole.

Moreover, he was also a high-ranking official who advocated the rejuvenation of the country and was the most favored minister in the dynasty.

Even if he doesn't do anything and just stays there, he is of extraordinary significance to practitioners of the way of studying things. What's more, he himself has unique insights on the way of studying things and is not a layman who doesn't understand anything.

With ability and power, it is no exaggeration to say that if he can really achieve the goal of rejuvenating the country by studying things, he may become a generation of sages in the way of studying things.

A sage that no one can surpass!

Lu Chen smiled and shook his head.

"It's not that fast. I just have a little clue."

Hearing this, Su Ning hurriedly asked: "What's the clue?"

She was now extremely curious about how Lu Chen did it.

Everyone knows the properties of charcoal. According to her idea, if you want to make charcoal burn harmlessly, you must find a way to suppress the harmful smoke. After all, everything in the world is interdependent. Since those thick smoke exist, it stands to reason that there should be There are substances that can absorb it.

As long as this substance is added to the coal, there should be a chance to solve the problem of harmful smoke released when the coal is burned.

But Lu Chen obviously didn't add anything extra, he just lit the finer coal, which seemed to be completely different from her idea.

Facing Su Ning's extremely curious eyes, Lu Chen did not answer her question immediately, but said calmly: "Miss Su, and everyone, please think carefully about the specific smell of these two types of coal burning. It’s different, or rather, there’s something missing about the smell.”

After hearing this, Su Ning did not ask directly, but slowly closed her eyes and thought carefully.

Others also followed the words and fell into deep thought.

After a while, Su Ning suddenly opened her eyes, but she did not look directly at Lu Chen. Instead, she lowered her head and stared at the sulfur powder in front of her that had been burnt until there was only a pile of thick liquid that was burnt black.

"It's the smell of burning sulfur powder!"

Everyone suddenly woke up.

"That's right."

Lu Chen chuckled lightly.

"Miss Su is really amazing. She noticed it so quickly."

After receiving Lu Chen's confirmation, everyone immediately understood that Lu Chen's purpose in preparing the sulfur powder was to verify that the smell that disappeared when the second pile of coal was burned was the smell emitted when the sulfur powder was burned.

Su Ning asked further: "In other words, the reason why the pebbles have a pungent smell is because of substances such as sulfur powder. Mr. Lu, you tried to remove the sulfur powder from the pebbles. Those harmful substances in this pile of pebbles People smoke less.”

"Um."

Lu Chen nodded.

An official from the Tiangong Department asked anxiously: "Sir, is this how you did it?"

Lu Chen didn't care about his disrespectful attitude towards Shangguan. He directly reached out and picked up a pile of light yellow powder on the table, a material called Xihuang, and poured it into the sink nearby. Then stir a few times.

It didn't take long for Xihuang to completely blend into the water, making the originally transparent water appear light yellow.

Then Lu Chen poured some sulfur powder into the Xihuang solution.

The next second, a strange phenomenon happened!

I saw that after the originally solid sulfur powder fell into the Xihuang solution, it obviously would not dissolve in the water, and now it began to gradually disappear. The last bit did not fall into the water tank, and just disappeared without a trace.

Seeing this scene, Su Ning's eyes suddenly widened.

"This...this is..."

Under the astonished gazes of everyone, Lu Chen poured some coal powder that had not been treated in any way other than breaking it into the sink.

The moment the black pebbles fell into the tidal solution, bubbles appeared on the surface, and then continued to sink to the bottom. It took a while before the bubbles completely disappeared.

Lu Chen then ordered people to take out the washed charcoal, dry it using a secret method, and distribute it to everyone.

Everyone couldn't wait to light the charcoal, and found that the pile of charcoal that had been cleaned with Xihuang solution was indeed the same as the pile of charcoal that didn't have a strong pungent smell. Although there was still a slight dizziness after inhalation, it was not strong and was obviously relieved. many.

Su Ning was obviously a smart woman, and she was the first to realize the principle of Lu Chen's sulfur removal method.

Snapped!

"Wonderful!"

She slammed the table, her face full of excitement.

"First determine whether there is sulfur powder in the coal, and then use the principle of all things to interact with each other to absorb the sulfur powder in the coal. Before washing the carbon, grind the coal into powder to increase the contact between the coal and the water as much as possible. surface to enhance the desulfurization effect. Next, as long as the carbon powder is filtered out, you can get sulfur-free carbolic!"

After saying this, an idea flashed in her mind, and then she directly drew inferences:

"Furthermore, since the sulfur powder in the coal can be removed, other substances that will release harmful smoke when burned can be removed one by one as long as the right method is found. Even further, this desulfurization process can be removed. As the Dharma expands, there are many things in the world that have both advantages and disadvantages, like pebbles, and we can definitely take the essence and discard the dross!"

As she spoke, her eyes became brighter and brighter, and the gaze she looked at Lu Chen revealed an indescribable sense of reverence.

"If through the way of investigating things, like the harmlessness of coal, we can delve into all kinds of new things that can benefit the world and accumulate countless merits, and if we do this, who would dare to say that the way of investigating things is just a miraculous skill, not a clever one? Avenue?"