Tan Xiaoda and Zhao Xi hurriedly asked how to obtain a stable source of saltpeter, and Liu Yan smiled and said: "Isn't the supply of saltpeter limited? Why bother? Let me tell you, saltpeter is actually everywhere, such as in horse stables and earthen warehouses. There is a lot of saltpeter in it, even in the toilet."
Now it was Tan Xiaoda and Zhao Hao's turn to be dumbfounded. Saltpeter, which is rare in quantity and difficult to mine, is so common. Then why can't they see it on weekdays? Is there really saltpeter in stables, earthen warehouses and latrines?
Seeing that the two of them didn't believe it, Liu Yan waved his hand and said, "Let's go, I'll take you to see it."
Tan Xiaoda and Zhao Hao followed Liu Yan. It took the three of them an hour to explore almost all the toilets, stables, pig and cattle stalls, and courtyard corners inside and outside Dapanbao. It didn't take long for the three of them to become disgraced. , everyone who came and went in the castle looked at him sideways.
After Liu Yan, Tan Xiaoda, and Zhao Xi looked around, Liu Yan called on two Dunjun soldiers to accompany them, and also brought brooms, dustpans, bamboo baskets and other items.
Then everyone went in and out of the stables and cattle pens. Liu Yan directed two Dunjun soldiers to take brooms and dustpans and sweep them away when they saw white awn-like objects. They collected them all and put them in bamboo baskets.
The white awn-like objects swept out were all salty soil. The two Dunjun soldiers swept away more than ten kilograms in a short time.
Liu Yanhuan sometimes stood in the shade of the toilet in deep contemplation, endured the unpleasant smell and carefully observed the soil on the surface, and then nodded and said: "It is indeed good salty soil!"
Then Liu Yan frowned and hurriedly came out, calling two Dunjun soldiers to get hoes and dig away the large piece of soil. Then everyone went to several toilets and dug out a lot of soil in the same way.
At the same time, Liu Yan took some charcoal and burned it red for some soil that he was not sure was nitrate. Then he put the uncertain soil on it. When he saw some sparks exploded, he confirmed it and called Dunjun to join him. Pretend to leave.
Liu Yan led everyone around and quickly dug out a large amount of nitrate soil, which may weigh dozens of kilograms. Tan Xiaoda, Zhao Xi and others followed Liu Yan while digging the soil, while listening to Liu Yan After the explanation, I realized that these soils are all saltpeter, which is the material that can be used to refine saltpeter.
At this time, Tan Xiaoda, Zhao Hao and others looked at the bamboo baskets in disbelief. It was difficult for everyone to imagine that these toilets, cattle pens, etc. would be associated with gunpowder.
Liu Yan had read some information before that collecting certain human and animal urine and feces could make saltpetre. Liu Yan knew exactly how to make it, but he just hadn't had the chance to do it on the spot yet.
Several people brought the salt soil back to the general flag hall and gathered all the salt soil together. At this time, Zhao Min asked eagerly: "Captain Jia, is this okay?"
Liu Yan said: "Of course it's not enough. The salty soil needs to be treated slightly."
Then Liu Yan arranged for people to take some plant ash, crush the saltpetre and wood ash respectively, and sieve them into fine powder, filtering out all impurities.
Then Liu Yan directed two Dunjun soldiers to mix the filtered nitrate soil and plant ash at a ratio of eight to one, put them into a large pot, and began to rinse them with hot water of about 75 degrees. Of course, there is no thermometer at this time, but based on the smoke of the hot water, you can roughly judge the temperature.
After continuous stirring for about a moment, suction filtration is performed. Place the residue in the large pot again, add an appropriate amount of hot water and stir for about a moment, continue suction filtration, and mix the filtrate obtained twice together. This is salt water.
Next, pour the saltwater into a large flat pot and heat it to evaporate. This step is called boiling the saltwater. Stir constantly while heating to prevent sticking to the bottom and splashing. Stop heating when two-thirds of the saltwater has evaporated. At this time, the saltwater will become more viscous. A small amount of solid crystals should have precipitated in the pan, and the color will gradually fade from reddish brown until it becomes White, pure saltpeter crystals are produced.
Liu Yan was directing the two Dunjun troops to conduct field operations while explaining to Tan Xiaoda and Zhao Xun. At this time, Tan Xiaoda and Zhao Xun had their mouths wide open. They did not expect that saltpeter could be made without saltpeter mines. It was something the two of them couldn't imagine and didn't dare to imagine before.
"After that, you only need to add sulfur, charcoal and other substances to these saltpeters, crush and mix them in proportion, and grind them in a stone mill. Black gunpowder powder is born. This can be made by any craftsman in Dapanbao, and you two are even more experts. ,I will not say much."
At this time, the two Dunjun troops also completed the production under the command of Liu Yan. Several dozen kilograms of saltpeter soil finally produced less than four kilograms of saltpeter crystals. This is already very good. The output has exceeded Liu Yan's expectations. If The obtained saltpeter can have this output, so the saltpeter demand for gunpowder can be completely solved by oneself. At least under the current demand, it can be produced and sold by oneself.
Tan Xiaoda and Zhao Xi looked at the results in front of them and were overjoyed. The problem of gunpowder raw materials was finally solved, and they could be self-sufficient in the future and not be controlled by others.
To use later words to describe it, Zhao Hao is a technical geek who is very obsessed with the production of gunpowder and firearms. At this time, Zhao Hao looked intoxicated and said to Liu Yan: "The method of Jia Chang is really amazing. It can be produced in such a month." A hundred pounds of saltpeter is not impossible."
Liu Yan said with a smile: "Now we only lack saltpeter when making gunpowder. We can also buy a lot of sulfur. After all, sulfur is also a common medicinal material. We can buy it for many reasons. Don't worry about it for the time being. Now the problem of saltpeter has been solved. , there will no longer be a bottleneck in the production of gunpowder.”
Tan Xiaoda and Zhao Hao inevitably praised Liu Yan again, and then Liu Yan said: "Actually, I have another way to make a large amount of saltpeter and saltpeter crystals. It just requires a lot of manpower and materials."
Tan Xiaoda and Zhao Yu asked one after another, and Liu Yan took them to a remote place in the fort. There were not many military households and there were no buildings around it. It was an open space that had not yet been used. There were many people around it. Trees, this is also a shady place.
When the three of them came here, Liu Yan ordered Zhao Hao to select twenty women and old and weak men to serve as Zhao Hao's daily subordinates.
Less than half an hour later, Zhao Zhen gathered his twenty subordinates and summoned them all here.
Liu Yan immediately assigned tasks to everyone, asking them to go to various toilets and livestock pens in the fort to collect as much human and animal feces as possible, then mix it with sand particles, furnace ashes, etc., and pile it up here. Several tall dung piles.
Liu Yan also said to Zhao Yan: "From today on, urine must be filled here at regular times and at fixed points every day. As for how to collect urine, it is your business."
Soon this stinking saltpeter gathering place attracted many onlookers. Everyone pointed at the smelly dung piles and talked in low voices. Liu Yan explained this place to everyone. The importance of this made everyone in the fort support Zhao Xin's work. Anyone passing by on weekdays could come and urinate into several dung piles.
Under Liu Yan's instructions and the efforts of Zhao Hao and others, after just a few days, a lot of white natural saltpeter appeared on the surface of these dung piles.
After hearing the news, Liu Yan immediately brought Tan Xiaoda and Zhao Hao over. After observing it for a while, the three of them put smiles on their faces, regardless of the unpleasant smell.
After making an estimate, Zhao Min said excitedly: "Chief Jia is really a genius. There is actually a way to collect natural saltpeter in the world! My subordinates estimate that at this saltpeter collection place, we can easily get two hundred to three hundred dollars a month." One hundred kilograms of pure saltpeter crystals are much easier to prepare than the saltpeter mud dug from latrines, stables and other places."
Liu Yan also nodded. The yield of saltpeter crystals obtained through this method exceeded his expectations. It was indeed much better than collecting it everywhere.
Two hundred kilograms of pure saltpeter crystals can be made into at least three hundred kilograms of black gunpowder a month. With this much gunpowder, Liu Yan can carry out a series of plans in a short time. For example, when he expands his army in the near future, he will not have to worry about birds. You have to worry about the gunman's ammunition; in addition, if you want to mine in the future, you can also use a sufficient amount of gunpowder to mine, and wait.
In fact, this method of collecting saltpeter was also borrowed by Liu Yan. Liu Yan once read a relevant historical material, which recorded in the annals of Gaoqing County, Linzi, Shandong: In 1944, there was a man in Gaoyuan, Gaoqing County. More than a thousand people boil saltpeter using local methods, with an annual output of 150 tons of fire saltpeter. This fire saltpeter is enough to prepare 200 tons of black powder!
Thousands of people produce two hundred tons of black powder, which is four hundred thousand kilograms!
With this native method, Liu Yan can be sure that he will not worry about the raw materials for making gunpowder during his military career in the Ming Dynasty. It just requires a lot of human and animal excrement.
In the past, human and animal urine and excrement in Dapanbao were used to fertilize the fields. Now they have an additional function, which is to collect saltpeter and use it for killing on the battlefield and protecting the country.
Now that I see these feces and urine, they are really valuable strategic materials.
Liu Yan couldn't help laughing when he thought of this, but he laughed because Liu Yan still issued an order specifically for this. From now on, military households in Dapanbao are not allowed to defecate in the open. They must go to designated latrines. In addition to keeping everyone clean and tidy for the sake of temporary convenience, this is also a major matter related to the development of Dapanbao's military strength, and cannot be careless.
A few days later, it turned out to be another sunny day.
This morning, Zhao Hao ordered his twenty men and women to pick up urine and feces, and went to irrigate his precious saltpeter collection place.
Yesterday, nearly a hundred kilograms of saltpeter soil had been collected from this area, and all of it was transported to the Firearms Supervisory Office to make saltpeter crystals. The quantity was also considerable. Because of the high yield, in order to collect new nitrate soil, the irrigation and urine irrigation must not be relaxed. Zhao Xing was also very concerned about this and personally brought people over to "take care of" several dung piles almost every day.
This place is not far from the defensive wall of Dapanbao New Castle. It is under a slope. It does not get sunlight and is shady at best. It is best for collecting saltpeter.
After being filled with urine at fixed times every day, the stench of this place where saltpeter is collected can be said to spread far and wide. Sometimes a strong wind blows, and the stench even floats far to the work site where everyone is building the fort wall, causing many people to curse. Has.
Many people couldn't stand entering that place, but Zhao Min's expression remained unchanged. It seemed that he could find endless fun in this stinking place. Maybe this was the state of being addicted to gunpowder technology.
When Zhao Hao directed a group of men and women to pass the construction site, many people greeted him from a distance: "Chief Zhao, are you going to see your precious land again?"
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone burst into laughter, as if they had found fun in the boring and hard work.
During these times, Zhao Xun's reputation could be said to be well-known in the fort, and many people burst into laughter when they talked about it. Many people also rumored that in order to accumulate saltpeter, Zhao Min always carried a broom and dustpan with him. He wandered around the toilets and stables all day long when he saw a white object. It will sweep away instinctively.
After hearing everyone's teasing, Zhao Yan was not angry and said with a smile: "Yes, that is a treasure land, a treasure land that can give birth to babies!"
Everyone laughed even more.
