Li Zhu and Li Jiangtou and others stood on both sides, more than a dozen pairs of eyes stared at Li Jie in the field, only to see a wooden trough placed in front of Li Jie, this thing was specially used to stir gunpowder, and there was a bucket of freshly prepared gunpowder next to it, and the people around were waiting for Li Jie to teach them how to solve the problem of the decline in the power of gunpowder.

I saw Li Jie pour all the barrels of gunpowder into the wooden trough, and then opened his mouth and ordered: "Bring a bucket of water!" ”

"What do you want water, this gunpowder can't be used when it comes to water." Li Zhu next to him immediately asked puzzled, gunpowder is most afraid of water, let alone water, even if the weather is a little damp, gunpowder will be damp and cannot be used, so the first taboo in firearms is fire, and the second taboo is water.

"Father don't worry, what the boy is going to show today is a new way of preparing gunpowder, and I'll explain why it's done later." Li Jie said with a smile, he knew that Li Zhu would ask this, he found a problem when he visited just now, when the craftsman in the firearms made gunpowder, it was directly stirred with dry materials, this method was too primitive, and the shortcomings were even greater.

Seeing Li Jie's insistence, Li Zhu had no choice but to order someone to carry water, and after a while, a craftsman brought a bucket of water over, and Li Jie poured it into the wooden trough when he lifted it, and the surrounding craftsmen were shocked and wanted to stop it, but it was too late.

The gunpowder was ground very finely, like flour, and after the water was poured in, Li Jie immediately picked up the wooden pestle next to him and stirred it, adding water several times during the process, and only then did he stop when the gunpowder finally turned into a dough.

Then Li Jie found another iron sieve, the mesh was the size of a grain of rice, he put the gunpowder dough in the sieve and squeezed it vigorously, and the long grains of gunpowder fell on a wooden board below.

"Well, this is called granular gunpowder, and after it is dried, no matter how long it is stored, the power of the gunpowder will not decrease!" Li Jie pointed to the granular gunpowder that had fallen to the ground below.

"It's that simple?" Li Zhu next to him couldn't believe it, and Li Gongtou and the others all had stunned expressions, and even wondered if this Li Gongzi was joking?

"Gunpowder is nothing more than sulfur, saltpeter and charcoal, but these three are light and heavy, for example, charcoal is lighter, and the newly prepared gunpowder is nothing, but after being stored for a long time, the charcoal will float on the upper layer, and the sulfur and sand will fall on the lower layer, so that the proportion of gunpowder in the upper and lower layers will not be right, and the power will naturally decrease." Li Jie explained with a smile.

The craftsmen present have been playing with gunpowder for half their lives, and they didn't know the reason why the power of gunpowder has become smaller, but now after Li Jie's explanation, some people immediately reacted, especially the head of Li Craftsman, who patted his head and said in ecstasy: "I see!" I see! How we didn't think of it before! ”

In fact, it is not surprising that the craftsmen did not think that although the reason for the decline in the power of gunpowder is simple, it involves the specific gravity of the substance, and the material of gunpowder is extremely finely ground, even if there is a phenomenon of delamination, it cannot be seen by the naked eye, and the large-scale use of gunpowder is still short, so it is normal for craftsmen not to find this problem.

"In addition, you prepare gunpowder by dry method, this method has great disadvantages, one is uneven stirring, and the other is easy to explode, just now I demonstrated the method of wet gunpowder, this method is safer, the mixing of ingredients is more sufficient, the most important thing is that you can make granular gunpowder." Li Jie introduced again at this time.

Wet gunpowder is definitely a big step forward in the history of gunpowder preparation, especially when it comes to safety, even if the firearm has been fully prepared for other safety matters, but gunpowder may still explode due to extrusion when it is dry mixed.

"Thank you for solving our doubts, please accept the little old man!" When Li Jiangtou heard the benefits of wet gunpowder, he cried with joy, and immediately solemnly saluted Li Jie.

As an old craftsman, Li Craftsman knows the danger of gunpowder too well, and even his two brothers, as well as a son also died in the gunpowder explosion accident, although the safety of wet gunpowder has not been verified, but gunpowder will be affected by moisture, not to mention that after adding water, I am afraid that they will not explode if they hit it with a sledgehammer.

"Craftsman Li, are you sure this method is effective?" Li Zhu asked in disbelief at this time, a problem that had plagued the Ordnance Bureau for so long was solved by his son in a few words, which made him feel like a dream.

"Effective, definitely limited, Childe's methods are simple and straightforward, like a layer of window paper, but it's a pity that we people are too stupid to even think about it before!" Li Craftsman patted his chest and assured that with his decades of experience in dealing with gunpowder, he firmly believed that Li Jie's method would definitely be effective, not only to improve the quality of gunpowder, but also to greatly improve the safety of making gunpowder.

"In fact, in my opinion, the power of gunpowder has not yet reached its maximum, and I have a way to increase its power again!" At this time, Li Jie suddenly spoke again.

"What?" Li Zhu couldn't wait to pluck out his ears when he heard this, he wondered if he had heard it wrong, and even doubted that the one in front of him was still his son?

"Li Gongzi, you're not joking, after years of exploration, the ratio of gunpowder has reached the best, even if it is changed a little, the power of gunpowder will decrease, how can it be possible to increase the power of gunpowder?" Craftsman Li couldn't believe Li Jie's words at this time, if it wasn't for Li Jie helping them solve a big problem just now, I'm afraid he would have driven people directly.

"The gunpowder recipe is fine, but the ingredients you use are too poor!" Li Jie smiled slightly, he didn't visit in vain just now, but saw that there were many problems in the preparation of gunpowder, and now they were simply solved.

"It can't be! The gunpowder we prepare is for Beijing camp, and the materials used are of course the best, such as sulfur is the best product produced in the Wa country, saltpeter is also transported from the northwest, and even the charcoal is also used in the best willow charcoal. When Li Jie heard Li Jie say that the raw materials they used were too poor, he immediately blushed and argued loudly.

"No matter how good the raw materials are, there are impurities, you don't know how to purify, just after a simple screening to start the preparation, this kind of gunpowder in my opinion, is only suitable for making fireworks!" Li Jie said unceremoniously.

"Mention ...... Purification? Li Jiangtou and others also looked at each other when they heard this, and they didn't know what this unfamiliar term meant, in fact, they didn't blame them, after all, the basic disciplines of this era were too poor, and they were at most according to the experience left by their ancestors, plus their own summary to improve the gunpowder process, but it was difficult to make a major breakthrough.