The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The Mountain needed to spend time on military matters, so he hoped that Jeyne would take care of many other things.

No matter how strong the military is, food is fundamental.

Milk is food, and very nutritious food at that.

The milk-borne illnesses that break out every year have nothing to do with the Stranger.

They are purely caused by unsterilized milk and the growth of bacteria.

Milk is susceptible to many bacterial infections, which are even stronger in hot weather.

Flies and milk pails can carry bacteria, but the main culprit is the milking process.

In a semi-pastoral, semi-agricultural society, there are many kinds of diseases, and many are fatal.

Minor illnesses in later civilizations are incurable major illnesses in primitive and backward times, such as wound infections. A small wound, once infected, can lead to death or the amputation of the infected limb.

For diseases caused by milk, scientific sterilization of the milk is all that is needed.

The best method is pasteurization.

Pasteurization requires a thermometer.

However, in this pastoral and agricultural civilization, thermometers are a very specialized item even among maesters and have not yet been popularized. The Mountain had seen the thermometers used by the maesters, but because they were not sealed, the temperature was not very accurate due to atmospheric pressure and fluctuated greatly.

The Mountain decided to make his own thermometer.

This world already had mercury, which maesters obtained by calcining ore and then using iron, which is insoluble in mercury, to replace it. This could be purchased from the Citadel through the maesters.

The Mountain decided to use mercury as a medium instead of water or alcohol. The thermometers used by the maesters in this world used water or alcohol as a medium. Furthermore, the temperature units and data were a self-contained system and did not use Celsius.

*

The Mountain and his party arrived in the kitchen.

Ice was stored in the basement of the kitchen.

In this magical world, food storage technology was highly developed.

This was due to the seasons.

A winter could last for three to ten years or even longer. During the cold winter, human food production almost completely stopped, relying on the food stored by every household during the spring, summer, and autumn seasons.

To store food for ten years or longer, storage technology was needed.

Among the maesters of the Oldtown Citadel, there were maesters who specialized in researching food storage technology and had developed a very advanced set of knowledge.

The most basic point of storage technology is low temperature.

The lower the temperature, the lower the possibility of food spoilage.

Ice blocks were stored in the Earl's basement.

This was also one of the essential gourmet methods for adding ice to drinks on hot days.

The Mountain asked the servants to bring ice, crush it, and add a small amount of water.

He chose the smallest and narrowest of several glass tubes.

He was just giving a demonstration here to show Jeyne the principle of thermometer making. After learning, Jeyne would order a batch of thermometers from the glass factory and buy some mercury from Maester Ysabel at the Citadel to use as the temperature-sensitive medium.

The Mountain added a small amount of water to the glass tube.

Then he put the glass tube into the ice water.

"We define the temperature of ice water as zero degrees," the Mountain told Jeyne.

Earl Gawen and Lady Sybelle were completely confused.

They felt that Maester Ysabel would understand if he saw it.

The Mountain hoped that after Jeyne understood the principle, she would tell Maester Ysabel and work with Ysabel to produce the first batch of mercury thermometers in Casterly Rock. Ysabel's professional knowledge would help Jeyne, and Jeyne's understanding of the Mountain's knowledge would also help Maester Ysabel.

The Mountain used a quill to apply paint to the glass tube, making a mark: "This represents zero degrees."

Objects have the principle of thermal expansion and contraction, and thermometers use this principle. Of course, factors such as atmospheric pressure inside the glass tube are also considered, so the Mountain needed the thermometer to be sealed, which would be done by Maester Ysabel and the glass manufacturer.

Pasteurization requires a temperature range of approximately 62 to 70 degrees, so a slight error in the accuracy of the thermometer is not a problem.

Defining the temperature of ice water as zero degrees is easy to understand.

Jeyne indicated that she understood.

"Heat this ice water until it boils," the Mountain said.

So the servants began to heat it, and the water in the glass tube placed in the water rose with the increase in temperature until the water boiled.

"We define the temperature of boiling water as 100 degrees," the Mountain said. He made a mark at the position where the water in the glass tube stopped.

"Ice water is zero degrees, and boiling water is one hundred degrees," the Mountain pointed to the two marks, "We start marking upwards from the fifty-degree position."

The Mountain signaled the servant to find a piece of string, measure a section of the line from zero degrees to one hundred degrees, and then fold the line in half: "Jeyne, the length of the folded line is the position from zero to fifty degrees."

Half the length of the line segment is the scale position of fifty degrees.

The Mountain marked the fifty-degree position.

"A thermometer is made according to this method."

Jeyne nodded: "Ser Gregor, it's very simple, then what!"

"As long as zero degrees and one hundred degrees are accurate, the other degrees will be accurate, so you can repeatedly experiment with zero degrees and one hundred degrees with Maester Ysabel when you have time."

"Okay!"

"Maester Ysabel has knowledge of water thermometers and alcohol thermometers, but I hope you and Maester Ysabel go to the glass factory to order a batch of mercury thermometers. The glass tubes need to be sealed. My suggestion is that before the glass tubes are sealed, the air inside the glass tubes should be removed by heating them to a temperature higher than 100 degrees Celsius."

"I remember!" Jeyne said, "What about after the thermometer is made?"

"We can use the thermometer to control a certain temperature to heat the milk, kill the bacteria in the milk, and then use scientific treatment methods to make the diseased milk drinkable. It can also be made into cheese and various milk products and sold to the people of Casterly Rock. Of course, it is also a good nutritional supplement for soldiers after training."

Jeyne looked at her parents, Earl Gawen and Lady Sybelle looked at each other, they felt like they were listening to a priest's prayer in the sanctuary, completely incomprehensible.

"Make the thermometer first. After it's made, I'll teach you how to heat the unclean milk at high temperatures and then rapidly cool it. Then, you can use your Lysene cat to experiment and see if it can drink the sterilized milk."

"What did you say?" Jeyne's voice was involuntarily loud.

"Of course, you can use wild dogs, domestic dogs, or other animals," The Mountain smiled slightly.

"What about sour milk?"

"You can try it, but before the experiment, you need to filter the milk several times."

The hygiene of milk in this world is worrying. When milking, the hands of the servants and the 'mouth' of the milk itself are not clean. This also needs to be corrected.

Under the inexplicable gazes of the Earl and Countess, the Mountain calmly dropped things, as long as Jeyne understood it. It didn't matter if Jeyne didn't understand, as long as she remembered the method. As long as the thermometer is made, try it with ice water and boiling water to know the error in accuracy, and then sterilize the milk according to the pasteurization method. When the soldiers eat and drink it, they will be safe and sound, and naturally, they will be convinced.

In this world, people often get sick from drinking milk, but it is not as severe and common as in July and August, and there is even an epidemic caused by milk bacterial growth every few years.

There are many types of pasteurization procedures, and the Mountain only chooses one: heat the milk to 62~65 degrees, no more than 70 degrees at the highest, and keep it for 30 minutes. Using this method, various pathogenic bacteria in the milk can be killed. What remains after sterilization are only some thermophilic bacteria, heat-resistant bacteria, and spores, but most of these bacteria are lactic acid bacteria. Lactic acid bacteria are not only harmless to humans but also beneficial to health.

Within a certain temperature range, the higher the temperature, the faster the bacteria reproduce, but if the temperature is too high, exceeding 37 degrees, the bacteria will begin to die. Pasteurization uses the characteristic that pathogens are not heat-resistant and uses appropriate temperature and controlled holding time to kill them all. However, it retains beneficial bacteria or bacterial spores.

This sterilization method is from the civilization before the Mountain's transmigration—Louis Pasteur—a French microbiologist, chemist, and the founder of modern microbiology. Just like Newton pioneered classical mechanics, Pasteur pioneered the field of microbiology. He was a scientific giant. And the Mountain, very embarrassed, borrowed the shoulders of this scientific giant to stand on.

That night, Earl Gawen and Lady Sybelle talked about the Mountain's past and present and the various rumors about him in the bedroom. Unconsciously, a fish-belly white appeared in the east, and in the great drill field, new training slogans and military whistles sounded together. Unconsciously, it was dawn.

The Earl and Countess were sleepless all night.

Soon, the door was knocked, and Maester Ysabel's voice rang out: "Lord Earl."

"Come in!" Earl Gawen sat up halfway from the bed, revealing the dense chest hair on his chest. Lady Sybelle also sat up halfway, covering her chest with a blanket, revealing a section of her snow-white arm.

The couple did not shy away from Maester Ysabel entering the bedroom. Their lifestyle was so rough and powerful.

"Earl, a letter from Clegane's Land."

Earl Gawen took the letter, and the wax seal on the letter was the Clegane family crest.

He weighed the letter in his hand and said, "In the future, letters from Clegane will be sent directly to Ser Gregor. Just let me know afterward, you don't need to go through me anymore."

"Yes, Earl!" Maester Ysabel bowed and left.

Soon, on the great drill field, the Mountain received a letter from Clegane Keep. The letter was written by Maester Harry. The letter said that the Notebook had secretly captured Littlefinger outside King's Landing, had already returned, and had entered the territory of the Westerlands. He would be escorted back to Clegane Keep early the day after tomorrow.

Littlefinger was captured and brought to the Westerlands.

It seemed that Notebook had completed this mission well. He had planned to lure Littlefinger out of the city for capture in advance, and according to the letter, he had done it.

Littlefinger was a big deal, related to the future fate of the Westerlands and the Mountain's own fate. This guy had to be used well. Littlefinger's fatal weakness was naturally his wholehearted desire to get rid of the shame of being a sheep-shit Earl and become a true great nobleman.

Only by making good use of Littlefinger and secretly using the witch to drive Tywin, the Mountain's opportunity to change his fate could become greater and greater.

The Mountain immediately decided that the training here would be handed over to Polliver Clegane and Rolph Spicer; the secret coinage of Castamere would be handed over to Old Boaz and his granddaughter, as well as Foul Mouth and Reynard; the thermometer and milk experiments would be handed over to Jeyne and Maester Ysabel. He himself had to rush back to Clegane Keep. He had to meet Lord Petyr Baelish, also known for his clever tricks.

Thanks to Chau534 for the small reward, thank you, handshake!