Blue Star On December 1, 1864, Shi Dakai went to Laojunshan Military Factory (the largest gunpowder production site in China) to investigate and gain insights into the current research progress of smokeless gunpowder.
Laojunshan Military Factory is a majestic and mysterious building. Its appearance is shrouded in thick black smoke and a strong smell of gunpowder, giving people a chilling feeling.
The outer walls of this gunpowder factory were made of solid masonry and were covered with dust. The huge chimney towered into the sky, and the black smoke from inside formed a cloud that completely obscured the sky.
Walking into the gunpowder factory, the internal environment is even more impressive. The air here is filled with the smell of gunpowder, and the high iron racks are filled with various gunpowder barrels, with eye-catching red markings painted on the barrels.
Workers, wearing heavy protective clothing and safety helmets, shuttled between workshops, presenting a busy and dangerous scene.
Workers busily and orderly operate various mechanical equipment to mix, process and package gunpowder. At the same time, they must remain vigilant at all times to avoid being injured by gunpowder powder or machinery. It is also necessary to bear tremendous psychological pressure at all times, because the safety of the gunpowder factory is of vital importance, and any negligence may lead to catastrophic consequences.
However, despite the harsh environment, the workers still stick to their posts, quietly exerting their efforts and committing to producing high-quality gunpowder.
Elderly expert Xu Lang, an old man with gray beard and weathered face, wearing heavy goggles, was operating a huge mixing device with many craftsmen.
The complexity of gunpowder manufacturing requires precision in craftsmanship and accurate control of proportions.
Shi Dakai walked to Xu Lang and said with concern: "Expert Xu, the proportion of gunpowder ingredients is very important. Every mixing must be accurate. Thank you for creating so much high-quality gunpowder for China."
Xu Lang has been studying gunpowder for a long time and is very familiar with the production of gunpowder. He answered respectfully: "Yes, President Shi, I will carefully adjust the mixing speed and stirring time to ensure that the quality of each batch of gunpowder is stable."
At the same time, young workers are concentrating on gunpowder quality inspection. They wear white protective clothing and carefully observe each batch of gunpowder samples to ensure their purity and quality.
At the other end of the gunpowder manufacturing area, many craftsmen are concentrating on preparing to fill the gunpowder. They carefully pour the pre-measured gunpowder powder into the shell and close the seal of the ammunition.
The gunpowder produced in the mid-19th century was basically black powder, which was mainly a mixture of sulfur, carbon, and potassium nitrate. This kind of gunpowder burned slowly and produced a lot of smoke.
And now the gunpowder produced by the Laojunshan Military Factory is also black powder. This has also led to the fact that although China has advanced guns, its power has not been fully demonstrated.
There are two keys to improving gunpowder, one is the level of chemical industry, and the other is the yield of cotton.
Many people may not know that cotton is an important military material because cotton is needed to produce advanced gunpowder.
Obviously, China's agriculture can now be said to be one of the best in the world. In the past few years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, with the advent of chemical fertilizers and advanced crops, the output of various crops has soared.
Electricity, heat engines, and chemical industries are all blooming in China, which also gives China the prerequisite for producing advanced gunpowder.
Xu Lang led Shi Dakai to the laboratory of the military factory, where a group of experts were studying smokeless gunpowder.
The smokeless gunpowder mentioned here refers to nitrocellulose. This formula was given here by Shi Dakai 3 months ago. Now we need to study the optimal ratio.
Nitrocellulose is mainly produced by the esterification reaction of refined cotton with concentrated nitric acid and concentrated sulfuric acid. It is an early form of smokeless gunpowder. It is about three times more powerful than black gunpowder and is easier to preserve.
Experts here come from different fields, including chemists, physicists, engineers and mathematicians, and they come together for a common goal.
"Experts, President Shi is here to discuss with us today."
"The stability problem of this smokeless gunpowder component has been bothering us. We need to find a more stable method to prepare it." A chemist said.
"I think we can try to use new synthesis methods, which can reduce impurities and improve stability." One physicist said.
"But this method requires more experimental data, and we need more experimental data to verify its feasibility." An engineer added.
“We can use mathematical models to predict its performance, “so we can understand its performance characteristics more accurately and optimize it better.” "said one mathematician.
"President Shi, what do you think we should do next?" asked an expert.
"I think we should conduct preliminary experiments first, collect data, and then use mathematical models for analysis, so that we can better understand the performance characteristics of this smokeless gunpowder."
Everyone agreed with the suggestion, so they began conducting experiments, collecting data, and analyzing it using mathematical models.
Blue Star In March 1865, China finally solved the stability problem of smokeless gunpowder and began large-scale production.
With smokeless gunpowder, the power of sharp weapons such as Mauser, Maxim and Chinese field guns produced by China will be greatly improved.
