"Your Majesty Xu Guangqi!"
"Your Majesty Sun Yuanhua!"
"Your Majesty Bi Maokang!"
"See Your Majesty!"
Seeing Chongzhen leading the cavalry into the valley, Xu Guangqi and others immediately stepped forward to salute, but the patrolling sergeants around them seemed to have not seen it and were patrolling by themselves.
This scene clearly shows the strict discipline of the sergeants.
"My dear friends, no courtesy!"
After Chongzhen finished speaking, he looked at everyone again: "Li Banghua and Cao Bianjiao will follow me in. You guys are waiting here. You are not allowed to enter unless you are summoned!"
After saying that, he walked towards the courtyard, and Xu Guangqi and others followed.
Entering the courtyard, Chongzhen said with a smile: "Xu Aiqing, I won't be polite to you anymore. I came here today to see how the gunpowder has been granulated.
You take me to see the production process first, and then prepare some gunpowder. I will see the power with my own eyes later. "
"Your Majesty, please come with your attendants!"
Xu Guangqi didn't talk nonsense, turned around and walked to one side, followed by Chongzhen and others.
After walking for a full quarter of an hour, everyone arrived at the second valley. The guards were even tighter, and groups of patrolling sergeants shuttled around the valley.
I walked into the nearest large room, where a famous craftsman was busy on the tall stoves.
Some light fires, some add water, and some get pots of minerals from the large baskets next to them. The water and minerals are all weighed.
"Your Majesty, this valley is where saltpeter is purified."
"The method of extracting saltpeter can be egg white, plant ash, radish, saponin, etc. This workshop uses the water decoction method of the Song and Yuan Dynasties."
"This method is spring water, river water, or pond water. If these two types of water are not available, sweet well water can be used.
It happens that there are several clear springs in Baiwang Mountain, which are enough for use.
Then add seven kilograms of water to a large pot, add one hundred kilograms of saltpeter, boil it for three times, and then add one kilogram of gray water..."
"Various methods have their own advantages. We are now trying to distinguish the gunpowder from the raw materials proposed by various methods to find the most suitable method."
…
Xu Guangqi pointed to various tools while explaining the saltpeter extraction process to Chongzhen.
In the following time, Xu Guangqi took Chongzhen and others to see various workshops for extracting salt, sulfur, and charcoal. Chongzhen was extremely satisfied with the whole process.
After another half an hour, everyone once again entered a heavily guarded valley.
"Your Majesty, this valley is the most critical place for making gunpowder."
"Dean Xu, routine inspection!"
As soon as everyone approached the gate of the valley, the sergeant guarding the gate immediately stepped forward and said in a deep voice.
Xu Guangqi then stretched out his arms and asked the sergeant to step forward and close up.
"Your Majesty, Commander Cao, there must be no fire or anything that can create fire in this valley.
Whether it is open flames, fire sticks, flints, iron tools, etc., they are absolutely not allowed to appear.
According to the rules jointly formulated by this hospital and Mr. Li, everyone who enters must stay away, even Mr. Li and I are no exception. "
After some inspection, everyone entered the workshop where the last step of gunpowder production was.
I saw an old or middle-aged man weighing the nitrate, sulfur, and carbon according to weight, then pouring them into a stone mortar or wooden trough, and turning them back and forth with a shovel.
After stirring for a while, several craftsmen confirmed and signed, and a portion of gunpowder was mixed.
Then it was sent to another workshop. After weighing and confirming again, the receiving craftsman added a liquid to the gunpowder and slowly stirred it.
"Your Majesty, this step is the most critical step in granulating gunpowder. Water, soju, egg white, saltpeter, etc. are added."
"So many ways?"
Chongzhen was a little surprised. He thought there were only two types: water and wine. After all, water was the most common.
As for soju, it was also available in Ming Dynasty. Although it was only 30 or 40 degrees, it was enough.
"Your Majesty, the Firearms Research Institute has tested more than thirty methods in total. These four are currently confirmed. Water and soju are the first ones we thought of.
As for the egg white, it was an unintentional move by a craftsman in the saltpeter extraction workshop. We tested it and it turned out to be feasible.
Nitrate is water made from extracted nitrate. Because nitrate is extremely yin in nature and accounts for the most in the gunpowder formula, we also tried it! "
“How is the craftsman who came up with the egg white method rewarded?”
"After discussion at the Firearms Research Institute, we were awarded five thousand taels of silver!"
"not enough!"
After hearing this, Chongzhen shook his head: "This kind of breakthrough technology needs to be rewarded with money, reputation, etc.
Before you reward these, you need to find out which ones they need most, and the rewards must be given at once.
I suggest that another saltpeter workshop be given the rank of ninth-grade assistant instructor and 50 acres of cultivated land. "
"Don't think it's too much. Think about it. The granulation of gunpowder increases the power of gunpowder and how many deaths of soldiers can be reduced on the battlefield.
What is most important to the Ming Dynasty is naturally human life. Every soldier who has fought on the battlefield for a long time is the treasure of the Ming Dynasty.
Putting aside these things, he can improve our chances of winning the war. Think about the people, money, destroyed houses, farmland, etc. who were massacred and plundered after the war was defeated.
Thinking about the occupied territory, do you still think this reward is high? "
"Don't think it's an unintentional move by the craftsmen, or think it's nothing. What's lacking these days is creativity.
It can be said that research is a process of trial and error. No research is right from the beginning. You always have to make progress through exploration. If you try a thousand times, you will make money if you succeed once! "
"Your Majesty has mercy!"
After hearing what Chongzhen said, Xu Guangqi and others all saluted to Chongzhen. The emperor valued craftsmen so much, and as researchers of technology, they were naturally happier.
The craftsmen who were busy on the side also knelt down in unison, their eyes full of excitement.
Especially when the emperor said that human life is the most precious, the emotion in his heart burst out.
"Everyone, get up and continue!"
After the craftsmen got up, they continued to be busy with what they were doing, while pouring the almost mixed wet gunpowder into a wooden box.
It's just that this wooden box is very strange. The bottom is a foot thick, and it is also full of small holes the size of mung beans. The bottom is blocked with a board.
After the craftsman poured the wet gunpowder in, he took a shovel and slowly pressed the gunpowder. Every dozens of breaths, the board below was opened.
Cut off the gunpowder squeezed out through the small hole, and you will get a granular wet gunpowder the size of a mung bean.
Seeing this scene, Chongzhen's heart suddenly trembled. This step was so perfect that it was the original version of the compactor and mechanical granulation cylinder of later generations.
There is a big difference in the weight of wet gunpowder of the same volume whether compacted or not. The power of the explosion must be greater after compaction.
Unexpectedly, the Firearms Research Institute's granularity has reached this level, although it is a bit primitive.
Seeing Chongzhen's changing expression, Xu Guangqi thought that the emperor was not satisfied with the current gunpowder particles.
He quickly said: "Your Majesty, the particles are still a bit big now. They will be separated again after entering the next workshop.
Then use a sieve to sift it, and the particles will be smaller and more uniform. "
