It is said to be recuperating, but in fact it is still very busy under the rule of the Pili Army. Taking advantage of this break without war, farmers were busy with field management and building ditches and weirs. The industrial and mining industries were constantly building new factories and mines in an effort to expand production capacity. The trade teams led mules and horses to carry goods to distant places. Soldiers They are stepping up military training. After the Pengshan plague was completely extinguished, Li Shuang ordered people to clean and disinfect Pengshan City several times. Currently, Lu Wen'an has brought technical personnel to the site, preparing to transform Pengshan City into a hexagonal bastion, and build supporting facilities such as watchtowers, water fortresses, and shipyards to make it the most important fortress for the navy. The laborers responsible for the construction are prisoners of war between Pengshan and Meizhou. After completing the construction of Pengshan Fortress, they will go to the mines of Qiongzhou to continue their labor service.
At present, everything is in ruins, and the top brass of the Pili Army are extremely busy, and Ouyang Xuan is also extremely busy. His work schedule is still full, including government research, military training, technology research and development, and school teaching every day. During this time, he devoted his main energy to the research and development of technology, especially the research and development of new gunpowder. For this reason, he frequently traveled to research institutes and arsenals.
As a chemistry major, Ouyang Xuan knew that there were too many explosives available to humans. In theory, any explosive that could be ignited and react violently, releasing a large amount of energy, could be used as an explosive. Black powder became the earliest explosive used because of its simple formula, abundant raw materials, and low price. However, black powder also has weaknesses such as low power and high smoke. These weaknesses were also exposed in the battles of the Thunderbolt Army. It has become a top priority to develop new types of gunpowder and maintain the technological advantage over the Mongolian army.
In Ouyang Xuan's memory, the new gunpowder options include nitroglycerin, picric acid, nitrocellulose, trimethyltrifluoride, black gold, etc. Each of these gunpowders has its own advantages and disadvantages. It is not difficult for Ouyang Xuan to develop these new types of gunpowder. After all, he just needs to use the things of his predecessors. The difficulty is how to produce it on a large scale at low cost. After all, although the current Pili Army has a certain chemical engineering foundation, it is still very challenging to explore a process that is both simple and easy to implement and suitable for the current industrial base due to the limitations of raw materials, manufacturing equipment and personnel quality, which requires repeated testing and optimization. .
The first to be rejected was nitroglycerin. It is made from sulfuric acid and glycerin. The technology is very simple, but its production process is demanding because it is quite unstable and sometimes explodes when shaken. Of course, using water pipes and flowing water to dissipate heat during the production process, and then using diatomaceous earth to absorb it will make production and storage safer. Its explosive power is very powerful, and it is very suitable for digging roads, blasting mountains, and digging mines. It’s just that there is no petroleum at present. To make glycerin, you can only use animal or vegetable fats. These two things are too expensive at the moment, and only the rich and powerful can enjoy them.
Next to be eliminated was Hei Jin. This kind of explosive is very powerful. After adding beeswax, paraffin or other passivating agents, it becomes very safe. Its production is not limited by the conditions of mineral raw materials. There are many ways to prepare it, but it needs to be on a large scale. Basic chemical engineering capabilities. Obviously, although this thing is good, it cannot be manufactured with the current technical level of the Pili Army.
Industrial production is available, but raw materials are lacking in nitrocellulose gunpowder, or "smokeless gunpowder". This gunpowder is very suitable for use as a base for gun launches, and its production is also simple. First, use cotton and nitrocellulose mixed with nitrate and acid. white. The nitrocellulose is then dissolved in a mixed solvent of ether and ethanol, and then a stabilizer is added to form a hard rubber strip, which is then cut into particles and dried. Its shortcomings are troublesome to store and maintain. It will explode if it dries out, but will not explode if it gets wet. In fact, Ouyang Xuan led people to produce this kind of gunpowder on a small scale in the early stage. However, not long after cotton and its planting technology were introduced to the Han Dynasty, the quantity of cotton and cotton cloth was very small and the price was expensive, so it could only be produced in small quantities.
After repeated comparisons, Ouyang Xuan decided to focus his research and development on two new types of gunpowder. The first one is yellow explosive, also known as "kumaric acid". Its composition is "XXX", which is composed of concentrated sulfuric acid, nitric acid and phenol. synthesis. Phenol can be extracted from coal tar and can be easily prepared on a large scale. Coal is the most produced mineral in the Pili Army. Extracting coal tar as a raw material is not a problem at all. The biggest disadvantage of picronic acid is its safety and applicability. It may explode when exposed to high temperature, friction, or impact. Moreover, it can react with iron and is not suitable for long-term storage. However, these shortcomings can be solved. In addition to enhancing safety awareness and handling with care, you can choose appropriate packaging and storage equipment. As for the problem of storage, whether it is for mining or military use, the supply of explosives exceeds demand, and they will be used soon after they are produced.
The second type is the famous explosive TNT, whose scientific name is trichlorotoluene. It is not the most powerful, but in terms of controllability and ease of use, TNT ranks first. Like yellow explosives, its production is also simple, that is, it is synthesized from concentrated sulfuric acid, nitric acid and toluene. Toluene can also be extracted from coal tar and can be easily prepared on a large scale. What's more important is that although TNT is not as powerful as kuwei acid, it is safe. Whether it is stepped on, burned, fried, or stewed, as long as it is detonated with a detonator, it will not explode and is easy to store.
Ouyang Xuan clearly knows that even if the production methods and processes are developed, it will take a long time to form large-scale production capacity. But he still puts pressure on himself and strives to carry out small batch production in one year and achieve large-scale production in two years. By then, he believed that the production technology of guns would reach a higher level, and the source of cotton would be found, and he could even start growing cotton to solve the problem of raw materials for smokeless gunpowder.
The longer Ouyang Xuan comes to this world, the more he understands that there is no gap in IQ between ancient people and modern people. What they lack is just thousands of years of accumulated knowledge and experience. He believes that he only needs to point out the direction and path of research, do a good job in the top-level design of the scientific research system, and guide the Pili Army to create an atmosphere of advocating science and education. With the intelligence of researchers and craftsmen, he will surely promote the continuous progress of science and technology. In fact, some ancient people were extremely smart and had extremely advanced and broad vision, but they were not taken seriously by the times. The Northern Song Dynasty scientist Shen Kuo was one of them. He devoted his life to scientific research and had profound attainments and outstanding achievements in many disciplines. His representative work "Mengxi Bi Tan" is rich in content and embodies the scientific achievements of the previous generation. Ouyang Xuan was amazed when he saw this book, and immediately asked Lu Dezhi to print it and list it as a textbook for county and state schools.
In recent times, apart from research institutes and factories, the place where Ouyang Xuan spends the most time is teaching in state schools. In the area under the jurisdiction of the Pili Army, in addition to Chongqing Prefecture, there is also a state school in Qiongzhou, so Ouyang Xuan has to go to Qiongzhou to give lectures every once in a while. Fortunately, he has learned to ride a horse and can get there in half a day. After just one trip, even though he was young and strong, he was very tired, but Ouyang Xuan still couldn't be happy with each other. In his opinion, these students from the state schools will become officials, teachers, and scientific researchers in the future. They will be the backbone of the Pili Army, the seeds that will unlock the wisdom of society and the people and develop science and technology, and will be the most critical group to ultimately defeat the Mongols.
