In the early morning, the street was full of hurried crowds, Li Jie accompanied Li Zhu to the Ordnance Bureau, but Li Zhu asked uncomfortably as he walked: "Jie'er, are you sure you can solve the problem of the power of gunpowder becoming smaller?" ”

"Father, don't worry, such a simple problem can be solved by me when I go." Li Jie smiled calmly.

He is no stranger to gunpowder, in his previous life when he was a child for the New Year, the finished fireworks and firecrackers are more expensive, fortunately the shop sells bulk gunpowder, spend a few dollars to weigh a few catties of gunpowder, and then use the newspaper to make firecrackers, but unfortunately later the control is strict, gunpowder is not allowed to sell, and there is no way to make firecrackers by yourself.

Looking at his son's confident expression, Li Zhu sighed secretly, he was still skeptical of Li Jie's words, after all, there are so many craftsmen in the Ordnance Bureau, and some craftsmen have played with gunpowder all their lives, and even they can't solve the problem, how can Li Jie have a way?

The Ordnance Bureau is located outside the Qingliang Gate in the inner city, immediately followed by the Qinhuai River, and the upstream is the famous Mochou Lake. In fact, the Ordnance Bureau was not here before, but was located in the inner city, but there was a firearms bureau in the Ordnance Bureau, and there was an explosion that affected the surrounding houses, so it was later moved to Waiguo City, and outsiders were strictly forbidden to approach the surroundings.

Li Zhu introduced the situation of the Ordnance Bureau to Li Jie while walking, and the Ordnance Bureau is divided into armor, bows, arrows, strings, and miscellaneous weapons according to the types of weapons.

However, although the Ming Dynasty attaches more importance to gunpowder, it is only relative to before, for the entire Ming army, the main combat method is still based on cold weapons, and firearms are only used as a supplement to cold weapons, so the status of firearms in the army is still relatively low.

It is precisely because of this that the status of firearms in the Ordnance Bureau is not high, even if there is a problem in the past, no one pays attention to it, at most the top reprimands two sentences, but this time the top is holding on to it, obviously someone is playing ghosts.

Thinking of the above, Li Zhu also sighed secretly, originally with his background, although he was only Li Shanchang's concubine, he could still have a higher position, but he had no ambition and liked to build weapons, so he had been staying in the Ordnance Bureau, but now it seems that his position as an envoy of this bureau may be difficult to protect.

The Ordnance Bureau arrived, and Li Jie also came here for the first time, only to see that the Ordnance Bureau was more like a large military camp, and there was a thousand households stationed outside to defend it, mainly to prohibit outsiders from approaching and protect the safety of the Ordnance Bureau, after all, this is a place to build weapons, if there is a problem here, the entire Beijing camp army will face a situation where there are no weapons available.

Li Jie followed Li Zhu into the gate, but even if Li Zhu took him, he had to go through a strict check, and finally Li Zhu needed to vouch for him before he could enter the Ordnance Bureau.

Compared with the large military camp outside, the inside of the Ordnance Bureau is like a large workshop, according to the different weapons created, divided into different works, and the work is subdivided into many processes, and the craftsmen inside perform their duties, and there are thousands of craftsmen alone.

Li Zhu took Li Jie straight to the firearms, which is also divided into an area, one is the preparation of gunpowder, the other is the creation of firearms, and finally the integration of gunpowder and firearms, after all, here is not only the production of muskets and artillery, but also thunderbolts, fire thunderbolts and other firearms similar to grenades.

With the arrival of Li Zhu, eight craftsmen immediately came to salute, but several of them were a little listless, and even had dark circles under their eyes, as if they were not sleeping enough.

"How's it going, has the problem of the decline in the power of gunpowder been solved?" Li Zhu immediately asked, let him solve it, he can only hand over the matter to these craftsmen, after all, they are all experts in playing with gunpowder, and they know gunpowder better than anyone else, if they can't solve it, then I'm afraid others can't do it.

When several craftsmen heard Li Zhu's question, they all looked embarrassed, and finally looked at an old craftsman with gray hair in the middle, this craftsman looked about fifty or sixty years old, with dark skin, wrinkled face, bloodshot eyes, and a strong smell of sulfur on his body.

The old craftsman saw that everyone was looking at him, which made him only stubbornly step forward and say: "Qi Qi envoy, after his subordinates got the instructions of the bureau envoy yesterday, they didn't dare to slack off for a moment, and took the craftsmen in the work to think hard all night, but ...... But I still can't think of a solution. ”

Li Zhu also showed a disappointed look when he heard this, before he came, he had the luxury of hoping that these craftsmen could come up with a solution, but now it seems that he can only pin the last bit of hope on his son.

"Father, can I see how they make gunpowder?" Li Jie was not in a hurry to solve the problem, but wanted to visit and see the process of making gunpowder in this era.

Gunpowder is actually dangerous, but Li Zhu thought that Li Jie was here to solve the problem of gunpowder, of course, he wanted to let him know about the production of gunpowder, so he could only nod and said: "Okay, Li Jiangtou, you lead the way, let's go see the preparation of gunpowder!" ”

Li Craftsman is the gray-haired old craftsman, he originally wondered why Li Zhu brought a teenager here, but now he learned that this teenager turned out to be Li Zhu's son, but it made them even more strange, after all, Li Zhu acted fairly, but he had never brought his family to the bureau.

But strange to strange, Li Craftsman still agreed, and then took Li Jie and his son to the area where gunpowder was prepared, the preparation of gunpowder was simple and simple, nothing more than sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter, just mix it in a certain proportion.

The Ming Dynasty has figured out the best proportion of gunpowder in this era, and also understands the characteristics of gunpowder very well, such as in terms of safety, it is strictly forbidden to have open flames here, and it is also forbidden to use any iron tools, after all, there have been several explosions in firearms before, and each time there are heavy casualties.

However, in addition to safety, Li Jie found a lot of problems, and even shook his head while visiting, although the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty already knew a lot about gunpowder, but their way of preparing gunpowder was still very backward, and even in Li Jie's eyes, it can be called primitive, no wonder there will be problems in subsequent use.

"Father, it's okay, you can ask someone to fetch some gunpowder, and I'll teach them how to solve the problem of the drop in the power of gunpowder!" After Li Jie visited, he immediately congratulated Li Jie.