Papermaking, compass, gunpowder, printing, the four great inventions of ancient China.

In modern times, Xu Wen once heard a saying that the Chinese were peaceful by nature, invented gunpowder and mainly used in firecrackers, fireworks and other entertainment activities, foreigners took gunpowder to make guns and cannons, and started wars.

In fact, a closer look will reveal that this is not the case.

China's well-documented gunpowder first appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period, when it was mainly used for civil and civil purposes.

The first book to record the recipe for gunpowder appeared in the eighth and ninth centuries, that is, during the Tang Dynasty, and as early as the end of the Tang Dynasty, gunpowder was already used in the military.

During the reign of Tang Zhaozong, there were already "flying fires", that is, artillery and rockets, which were of course completely different from modern times, but they could already be used to kill and injure humans.

The Song Dynasty continued to war, and the Northern Song Dynasty had a gunpowder workshop, which further developed explosive weapons such as thunderbolts and earth-shaking thunderbolts on the basis of the original.

It can be said that the nature of human beings is universal, and fighting and war themselves are instincts that have accompanied human history.

Therefore, as soon as he heard these two words from Yan Ji's mouth, Xu Wen immediately realized that the Inner Pavilion must have been researching gunpowder, and the purpose of the research can also be imagined.

"Yes, using the explosiveness of gunpowder to blow the mountain apart. Xu Wen turned his head and pointed to the mountain wall, speaking a little more decisively.

Since the Inner Pavilion is already researching, there is nothing to hide. Gunpowder can not only be used in the military, but also can be widely used in the civilian sector, which is also the direction that Xu Wen wants to guide.

"No, the explosives are too unstable, the force is too small to blow up the rocks, too big is easy to cause danger, and it is even more difficult to transport and use, there are too many problems. Yan Ji obviously also had some knowledge of gunpowder, and first raised questions.

What he said was a big problem.

A high-quality gunpowder must meet four requirements: first, it must be stable and regular, and it can control the power and time of the explosion. Second, it has sufficient strength to be able to play a sufficient function after ignition. Three, stability. Able to be stored for a long time. Fourth, don't be too sensitive, be able to withstand a certain amount of friction and impact, so that it can be transported safely.

The ancient Chinese invention was black fire/medicine, which specifically refers to a mixture of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal mixed in a certain proportion.

Most of the things that Yan Ji studied in the Inner Pavilion were also of this kind.

Black fire/medicine is a mixture, the properties are very unstable, violent impact, sparks can ignite it, the intensity of the explosion is also very different, it is difficult to transport, and it is even more difficult to apply to fixed-point blasting such as mining.

What Yan Ji mentioned is indeed a problem in its reality.

However, what Xu Wen was referring to was not black powder, but yellow powder, which is often referred to as "explosives".

Although yellow powder and black powder are both called gunpowder, they are not essentially the same substance.

Black powder is a mixture of three different chemicals, while yellow powder is a single chemical, trinitro/toluene.

There is no relationship between yellow powder and black powder, the former was first synthesized by an Englishman, after which it was first used as a yellow dye, and later it was discovered that its explosiveness began to be widely used in the military.

Later, Nobel developed a safe production method for nitrification/glycerin, using diatomaceous earth to absorb nitration/glycerin to invent Dana explosives, which made a major breakthrough in the formal industrial mass production of yellow explosives.

Yellow powder is stable in nature, friction, shipment and even open flame can not detonate it, strong safety, easy to use, so by the end of the nineteenth century, black fire/powder has basically been eliminated, with the further development of yellow powder, smokeless gunpowder, double-base gunpowder, detonatory/tube, T/NT, etc., there are guns and rockets in the modern sense.

Therefore, although gunpowder has already appeared, when it comes to opening the mountain, the fifth or sixth mention is still the method of water and fire, at this time, Yan Ji keenly felt something from Xu Wen's words, and came over to discuss it with him.

And Xu Wen, it was this that hesitated at first.

From black fire/powder to yellow powder, it can be said that it is a huge technological breakthrough that will change the whole world.

Is change good?

Xu Wen has always been suspicious, so he is careful and careful every step he takes in the class world, lest he leave an uncontrollable impact.

But at that moment just now, he suddenly realized that some things would always happen, and one of them might not be as he thought.

Even if explosives appeared, now is not the time for industrialization, and the impact may not expand so quickly.

There are evil people, but there is no evil law, and on a certain level, this sentence is not wrong.

Machine guns and cannons are gunpowder, and opening mountains and taking stones is not also gunpowder?

As Wu Liu just said, quarrying is a very hard and dangerous job. This is true for mining granite in Tianyun Mountain, and the same is true for mining other stone species in other places.

The sooner you let the detonator/tube explosives appear, the sooner you can get convenience, and you can die fewer people with less labor.

In the era of black fire / medicine, the Europeans had already relied on the invention of the Chinese to destroy the knights and conquer the world, and when yellow powder was officially applied to weapons, the colonial expansion of the West was completed.

Even if yellow powder is more convenient and easier to use than black powder, as long as the person is still the same person, the weapon is the same.

So why hide it and not take advantage of the advanced nature on the other side?

"There is another kind of gunpowder ......," Xu Wen thought about it, and looked up to explain, "It is different from the one we are used to, my master mentioned it to me." ”

Lian Tianqing is in a special state now, and it couldn't be more convenient to throw the pot to him. Anyway, even if he knew, he wouldn't jump out of the platform to dismantle Xu Qian.

Xu Wen roughly explained the nature of yellow powder and its superiority compared to black fire/medicine, Yan Ji's eyes immediately lit up, and he couldn't wait to ask, "How to make the method?"

After asking, he immediately felt that it was inappropriate, and then asked, "Can you make it by hand?"

"I know the recipe, but it takes time to produce it. Xu asked.

"Okay!" Yan Ji was very excited and shouted, "If you need people and things, try to tell me as much as possible, the Inner Pavilion will respond to your needs!"

After speaking, he was still unsatisfied, and said, "If this matter can be done, I will remember you a great achievement!"

If there is really a new way to open up mountains and take stones, of course, the fifth or sixth will not oppose it. After all, to build a city, it must be much more convenient to be able to use local materials.

Five or six took them around and roughly figured out the distribution and trend of granite in the area of Tianyun Mountain.

He is indeed capable, there are no traces of it in many places, but he can make judgments with great certainty.

If Xu Wen questioned the people here, he could immediately find ways to prove his judgment.

It's really remarkable to do this without the help of any exploration equipment. But if you ask him how he knows this, sometimes he can tell the truth, and more often than not, he can only be intuitive.

Xu Wen is almost used to it, but he still feels a little pity.

"If you can summarize these things and write a book, maybe you will be able to go down in history." He said to Five Six.

Five or six didn't speak, thoughtful.

Tianyun Mountain has a vast range, and you can't see it all in one day. In the afternoon, they arrived at the back mountain and saw the huge mechanism left by Mo Ze.

Except for Xu Wen, they all saw it for the first time, and at the same time they were shocked, and almost all of them invariably quickened their pace and walked up to it.

At this time, Xu Wen suddenly remembered something.

Not long ago, Yue Yunluo said that the fuse that caused the falling out with Lian Tianqing was that Lian Tianqing destroyed this mechanism that had just been repaired.

But the last time I came, it was clearly usable?