Before six o'clock in the evening, the last rays of sunlight shining in the western sky were completely obscured by black clouds, and the whole land was shrouded in thick clouds.

The howling wind whipped up the dust on the ground and whipped against the leaves that swayed in the wind. The dead wind lamps hanging in front of the guardhouse swayed in the gale, and the flickering lights seemed to go out in the next second.

Finally, when the first drop of rain hits the flying dust, the second, third, and endless rain pours down. The light that could barely illuminate a place has now completely turned into a dying light, which can only indicate the existence of a lamp here.

Under the rain curtain that flooded everything, the guards in rubber raincoats stood straight, standing in the wind and rain like street lamps set up in the mud, letting the rain hit their faces, and did not show a trace of strange expression.

A flash of lightning streaked across the sky, and a light faintly appeared in the distance of the road. Soon, there were more and more lights, gradually illuminating the road in the wind and rain.

More than twenty cavalrymen held oil lamps in their left hands and firmly held the reins in their right hands, keeping a neat pace in the heavy rain. In the midst of them, a richly decorated carriage was moving silently, and a warm light peeked through the carriage window, and the two could be faintly seen talking in the carriage.

Seeing the carriage approaching, the people who had been standing under the guardhouse to take shelter from the rain immediately came out with umbrellas and waited outside the factory gate.

The guards turned up the lights to the maximum. When the carriage came to a stop, the knights who were guarding the carriage dismounted and stood with their backs to the door, faintly forming a semicircle.

Yang Dan struggled to stretch his neck. Passing the knights and guards in military uniform, he saw the carriage door open by a knight, and out of it came a tall man in a cloak.

The man looked up at the rain, put his left hand on the brim of his hat, stepped into the muddy rain, and strode towards him.

"Director Yang." The man was a few meters away, and a neutral voice reached Yang Dan's ears through the noisy sound of rain.

Yang Dan hurriedly stepped forward and shook hands with the man: "Hello old man, I am Yang Dan, the director of Factory No. 14." ”

The man smiled, raised his head and looked at Yang Dan, it was Zhu Mingxia. "It's hard work, you still have to wait for me in such a heavy rain, it's really not mine."

Without waiting for Yang Dan to resign, Zhu Mingxia stretched out his hand back and introduced Yang Dan: "This is the inventor of cotton wool and ammonium nitrate, Lieutenant Colonel Li Ruchu of the Army. ”

I stepped forward and shook hands with Yang Dan: "Fortunately, Comrade Factory Director has worked hard." ”

"What a hero." Yang Dan nodded at me and smiled, and then said to Zhu Mingxia: "Your Majesty, why don't you go in first, it's raining too much outside." ”

Zhu Mingxia nodded and said, "Okay." He and Yang Dan and the others walked to the factory, and I followed behind, rubbing the umbrella of his chief guard.

The chief of the guard under Zhu Mingxia's crown is a German... Or strictly speaking, the Duchy of Saxony from the German Confederation.

"My previous name was Hersman." The big captain of the guard said to me before—he was half a head taller than me," and later followed Zhu Mianxia and changed his Chinese name, and he was called Hirschman. As for the previous name, I don't want to mention it. ”

Hersmann was a Junker nobleman in Europe, with a title of baron or something (he didn't mention it to me, but I learned about it in my usual conversations). It's just that the German Confederation was in chaos at that time, and the princely states of the big farts grabbed a lot of them, and the identity of this broken aristocracy was in the Australian Song Dynasty, at most, so that ordinary citizens would not look down on him.

At this time, this big man weighing more than 90 kilograms was holding a large umbrella, holding a half-sword in his left hand, his eyes were focused on Zhu Mingxia in front of him, carefully looking at the surrounding environment.

"This is a secret factory, and ordinary people are not allowed to enter."

A factory worker who was with us said to us. Since the rain was so loud, he tried to shout at the top of his throat.

Hersmann looked at me a little confused, and I had to try to spit out the few German words I had, trying to get the meaning out through spiritual resonance.

Seeing this, the staff member had to give up the introduction and followed us to the hall in front of the factory, which kept the drenching rain out.

Zhu Mingxia in front of me beckoned to me, and I said to Hersman and walked to Zhu Mingxia's side.

"This is a factory for the production of munitions." Zhu Mingxia took off his coat and pointed to the map of the factory on the wall of the hall and said, "The factories outside have not yet been built, and after they are built, some machines will be relocated from Guangdong to build the largest military industrial center in the Chinese Governor-General's District in Taipei." ”

At that time, in the entire Chinese Governorate, only Keelung had some industrial capacity to produce and repair rifles, and other light and heavy weapons had to be transported from the South China Sea Governorate.

I looked at the map and noticed that there were many places in this factory area marked with the words "nitric acid" and "sulfuric acid". It looks like a factory for the production of three acids and two alkalis.

"This factory has an extra level of secrecy, which is different from the factories outside that make guns and cannons."

Zhu Mingxia pointed to a map: "This place is the factory next to the reception hall, and it is scheduled to produce the cotton you invented." It will be a huge integrated production base. It is here that the cotton will complete quantitative experiments and assemble them into paper shell fixed ammunition and, in the future, metal fixed ammunition. ”

"This is where ammonium nitrate explosives are produced and made. The Ministry of National Defense will send technical personnel to study the technical problems of flowering shells at the Datunshan Artillery Test Site. ”

Speaking of this, he looked back at me and smiled: "I said that your invention will completely change the war. Blossom bombs were the starting point for them to change all that. ”

"As for this, this is the factory that produces the Candle Dragon rocket (Note 1)."

"After learning of your invention, I tried to replace the candle dragon's warhead with ammonium nitrate explosives. Oh, good fellow, the power has changed in essence all at once. The previous candle dragon could only be used to set fire, which is like replacing the warhead, which can blow up a concrete house with a 'bang'. ”

Zhu Mingxia clasped his hands together, then opened them and made an "explosion" gesture.

"Alright, please come in and have a look."

Yang Dan, who had gone to the office to coordinate the visit, came out and said to us.

The hall in the cotton factory is very close. We walked down the aisle to the factory entrance, where the experimenter, dressed in white, took us to change clothes.

All combustibles, including matches, lighters, and flints, are to be surrendered. You also have to change your clothes, put on special flame-retardant clothing, put on anti-static boots, and wear rubber gloves.

After nearly ten minutes of tidying up, we officially stepped into the factory with a white coat.

The ground was brushed with a layer of pale green paint, which Yang Dan said was to prevent static electricity and flame retardant. Fire hydrants and fire extinguishers are ten meters away, and the staff who come and go are wearing white clothes and masks, and they dare not relax their vigilance at any time.

"It's all very experienced workers here." Yang Dan said as he walked with us, "I used to work in the black powder factory, and I was transferred here. ”

I followed his instructions and saw more than a dozen workers introducing nitric acid into a pool.

The colorless nitric acid flows out of the large glass bottles and is diverted down the pool to smaller barrels, where it is carried away by the workers of the next stage, ready to soak the cotton and other fibers of an experimental nature.

"How much cotton can such a factory produce in a day when it is fully completed?" Zhu Mingxia asked Yang Dan.

"Now it is possible to make more than four thousand rounds of paper shells. When the machine ordered from Australia arrives, the daily output can reach 30,000 after replacing the semi-manual work. If it is a time of war, 100,000 rounds can be delivered in three shifts. ”

30,000 rounds per day, that is, one base of ammunition can be produced for two and a half battalions of riflemen in one day; If it is 100,000 rounds, it can arm two and a half infantry regiments in a day.

Well, that's totally enough.

The ghost blows the lamp