The gunpowder factory had already been built, but the black powder had not yet begun mass production.

First, because Zhao Mancai had to test the power of Qin Chuan's formula of black powder, whether it was easy to preserve, and so on.

The second is that there are not enough craftsmen, and only Zhao Mancai can make gunpowder, and now Zhao Mancai is busy teaching apprentices and scolding people in the factory.

The third is because of the shortage of saltpeter.

Lou Fu does not produce nitrate, Taiyuan, Jingle, Lanxian and other places have it, but the output is very small, in addition to being used for nitrate to make fur, it is used to treat diseases and save people.

There is one of the largest government-run nitrate farms in Shanxi Province, but it is far away in Jiezhou, nearly thousands of miles away from Lou Fu, and that place has just been captured by the Liukou, whether there is nitrate or not is still the same thing.

It is not easy to get a large amount of saltpeter, Qin Chuan had to order not to defecate anywhere, and when there was to pull, he quickly ran back and pulled it in the latrine, and he had to concentrate in a few specified areas, first spread the soil on the ground, set up a wooden plank on it, and men and women either stood or squatted on it to pull.

Of course, men and women are separated.

The manure of the livestock yard should also be collected and used to make nitrate.

However, it takes time to make nitrate from manure, and it also needs a suitable climate, and it is almost impossible to produce a large amount of saltpeter in a short period of time.

Moreover, the amount of excrement and urine is limited, and there is not much nitrate produced at that point.

What's more, manure was originally used for manure, and if it was all used to make nitrate, it would have a greater or lesser impact on agricultural development.

When Qin Chuan inspected the gunpowder factory in the first two days, he was still worried about this matter.

Unexpectedly, he wanted to take Wen Suxin up the mountain to cook rice, but he accidentally discovered the nitrate.

What Qin Chuan didn't know was that in fact, most of the saltpeter in this era came from the cave, and the Sichuan government-run nitrate, which was larger than the Jiezhou Salt Lake, was boiled in the cave.

In most climate-friendly areas, there is more or less nitrate in the caves, most of which is formed by bat droppings, and most of them are dissolved by rainwater and underground seepage to dissolve the nitrate in the soil, which flows into the cave and accumulates into a layer of nitrate over the years.

Zhao Mancai was originally the head craftsman of Wang Gong's factory, although he knew how to make nitrate, but the nitrate he used was collected by the Ordnance Bureau in the capital's latrines, house corners and other places, and he didn't know how to make nitrate from caves.

Now, Qin Chuan knew that it was enough to have nitrate in the cave, and he would send people around to find the cave, so he could naturally find more nitrate.

With an abundant and stable source of nitrate, he didn't have to go through a lot of trouble to buy it.

The manure can also continue to be used to fertilize the fields.

It seems that the bat droppings in the cave are also good fertilizer, and they can also be used as medicinal herbs.

It's a treasure.

Qin Chuan was in a good mood, and after turning over the horse, he hugged Wen Suxin, took a sip on her face, and then rode the horse down the mountain happily.

Wen Suqiao's face flushed, and she buried her head in his chest and remained motionless.

……

In the afternoon, Zhao Mancai led a group of apprentices to this cave on the ridge of Montenegro under the escort of Emperor Guan's army, and explored it all the way.

Sure enough, in addition to the thick bat feces at the entrance of the cave, there is also nitrate in the cave, but the amount is not very large, and it is estimated that a large amount of nitrate cannot be formed because of the climate.

But with the nitrate at the entrance of the cave, this cave should be able to boil more than 1,000 catties of saltpeter.

Qin Chuan decided to boil nitrate here, and the water source was brought from the stream not far away, and the water pool was dug to store the water.

At the same time, he also sent the Guandi army to the area of Guandi Mountain to find a cave with a large amount of nitrate, and boiled nitrate on the spot at any time, made saltpeter and then transported back to Loufu.

The other two raw materials of black powder are not difficult, charcoal is not used, sulfur is not difficult, people in this era have already understood the technology of wrapping pyrite in pulverized coal, putting it into a furnace for calcination, and then collecting yellow gas to obtain sulfur.

A few years later, a man named Song Yingxing began to write a book, Banana Gong Kaiwu, which recorded the method of pyrite firing sulfur.

……

Qin Chuan sent Wen Suxin back to the backyard, and after taking a sip on Jia Rao's pretty face, he ran to study with Zhao Mancai.

The next morning, just as he wanted to continue to boil the nitrate, he suddenly received a report from a spy: Du Yingtang had come and brought a huge grain transportation team.

Qin Chuan smiled and hurriedly asked Emperor Guan's army and villagers to prepare to receive food.

At the same time, the nitrate heads, Ahsan, and Turush, were pulled out by mule carts.

took out a battle report that had been written a long time ago, which was studied by Qin Chuan, Wang Jizong, and Song Zhiting, and then written by the latter.

The content of the battle report is a total of two battles, the first is Qin Chuan led one hundred and twelve subordinates, and five hundred Lou Fu Township Yong pursued a group of bandits in the township, and when they chased to the side wall, they suddenly got a report that a group of captives and Tartars were coming in the direction of the side pass, intending to Kou Luo Daming border wall.

Qin Chuan led his subordinates to the countryside to bravely go out of the border wall to capture the enemy, met a thousand enemies in the Qingshui River, fought for half a day, and beheaded two hundred, coinciding with the Datong Supervisor Liu Wenzhong led the Datong standard battalion five hundred to patrol nearby, and immediately led the troops to rush to the aid when the two sides were deadlocked, and the enemy was attacked with lightning speed, and the enemy was broken by a blow, and the battle was cut three hundred, and the captives robbed the corpse and fled in a hurry, and chased out of a hundred miles, and returned triumphantly.

The content of this part of the battle report was set by Qin Chuan and Liu Wenzhong when he was in Shuozhou, and the content of the two sides was the same, and they were submitted to the Beijing division together.

The second battle, is Qin Chuan led the troops to triumph, to the snake belly ditch area encountered a thousand enemies who rushed to hear the news, and fell into a bitter battle, fortunately Shanxi Du commanded Du Yingtang to lead the troops to help, broke the enemy in the snake belly ditch, and Qin Chuan attacked on both sides, cut two hundred, captured alive the slave thief is the white flag Melle Ezhen Ilgen Jueluo A Mountain, inlaid with the yellow flag Lae Zhen Ilgen Jueluo Tulush, the thief broke away, pursued a hundred miles, and then both returned triumphantly.

This part of the battle report was discussed by Qin Chuan and Du Yingtang.

……

At noon, the mighty grain convoy arrived.

Du Yingtang led more than 100 subordinates to the forefront.

Qin Chuan led people to greet him, and smiled from afar: "Your Excellency Qin Chuan, I have seen Lord Du's commander." ”

Du Yingtang smiled and waved his hand: "No courtesy, no courtesy." ”

Pointing and pointing to the grain team behind him, he said with a smile: "These grains are donated by the enlightened gentry of Jingle and Lanxian to labor the army, Qin Baihu outside the fortress that battle suffered heavy casualties, the soldiers worked hard, and the families of the dead and injured were lonely. ”

Du Yingtang's voice was very loud, as if he was afraid that others would not hear it, especially aggravating the words "enlightened gentleman" and "condolences to the labor army".

Qin Chuan also laughed, clasped his fists and saluted him and the coachmen who were transporting grain behind him, and said, "Qin Chuan has thanked Lord Du for Lou's troubled family members and soldiers, and thanked you for your cautious masters. ”

Du Yingtang also laughed, and shouted "no courtesy, no courtesy".

There were chief stewards sent by various families in the grain transportation team, and these Rao's faces were not good-looking, but when they heard that the thief surnamed Qin sang and sang with the commander of the capital, his face became more and more ugly.

But they had to give a fake bow in return and laugh dryly.

In this warm but awkward atmosphere, the grain convoy entered Lou Fu, and the chief stewards wanted to unload the grain and drive the mule cart back.

But hundreds of Guan Emperor's troops unceremoniously drove them and all the coachmen out and prevented them from unloading the carts, and then Wang Jizong instructed the villagers to inspect the grain, took over the grain carts, and drove the mule carts straight into Mengjiazhuang.

The one surnamed Qin is a gluttonous with a bloody mouth open, insatiable,

This Mengjiazhuang is like a pixiu with a mouth and no anus, only in and out.

The mules, horses, and grain carts went inside, and they didn't even think about getting them back.

The chief stewards beat their chests and were about to vomit blood, but the one surnamed Qin didn't seem to see it, and only cared about talking and laughing with the commanders.

Lord Du and his 1,000 soldiers also acted as if they hadn't seen it, and only cared about interrogating the prisoners and counting their heads.

After counting all the heads, Lord Du said to those chief stewards, "Please thank you to all the masters on behalf of Du", and then said goodbye to Qin Chuan, and then took his 1,000 subordinates and drove two mule carts loaded with heads and prisoners to Taiyuan direction.

Qin Chuan watched him go away, and then smiled at the group of chief stewards: "Everyone, please thank you to all the masters on behalf of Qin." ”

After that, Qin Chuan pulled the collar of his mink coat and swaggered into Mengjiazhuang.

The chief stewards looked at each other, turned around one after another, and cursed in a low voice as they hung their heads and headed north.

The thing entered the mouth of the dog thief surnamed Qin, and it was difficult to take it out again, so I had to go back and tell the truth to my respective masters, and then wait to be whipped.

……

Looking at the mountains of grain, Qin Chuan was in a very good mood, humming a song and arranging for the villagers to clean up the two caves in the backyard of Mengjiazhuang, and then move the grain into it for storage.

After the arrangements were made, I just wanted to go to Wen Suxin for a kiss, but I suddenly got a report: a group of people came from the east, claiming to be the steward and guard of the Taiyuan Ninghua Palace, and they wanted to see the chief steward.

Qin Chuan was amused when he heard it.

He had long heard that King Ninghua had taken a fancy to Wen Suxin and wanted to welcome his future wife into the palace as a side concubine.

Now, the people from Ninghua Mansion came over specially to ask for someone from him.

Wanting to ask for someone from the hands of the chief steward of Qin who has a mouth and no anus is simply wishful thinking.