Chapter Twenty-Four: A New Kind of Shocking Thunder

Shi Bin, who returned to the camp and was lying on the bed, looked at the single knife in his hand and was distracted. What should be made? What impressed him the most was not the old-fashioned artillery that was thousands of pounds at every turn, but the throwing weapons used by various countries during World War II. So his first order was to make a sample of this weapon.

As soon as he thought of the scene where his soldiers threw this new type of earth-shattering thunder into the Yuanren Array, Shi Bin couldn't help but laugh. Just as Shi Bin was dreaming of defeating the Yuan army like a whirlwind and clouds, the problem arose.

According to Shi Bin's description, the earth-shattering thunder created could explode, but from a distance, the whole process was a piece of wood being blown into two pieces plus a puff of green smoke, which looked more like a cannon battle, and there was no broken iron flying into the air, so it was not lethal at all.

Shi Bin was like being poured a bucket of cold water in winter, and immediately bounced up from the bed and rushed to the armory to see the situation.

Looking at the few pieces that exploded in the experimental field, Shi Bin couldn't cry or laugh. The broken iron inside also spread out less than two steps, how can such a thing hurt people? The TV series is too misleading, I originally thought that it would be good to stuff some rough gunpowder into the wooden handle and add some broken iron, but it seems that this is not the case at all.

He immediately remembered the most impressive explosives bag in his previous life. But he can only sigh, who called him just a liberal arts student, who told him that he basically slept when he was in high school chemistry? Now I know the taste of "I hate less when the book is used", except for knowing the exact proportion of old-fashioned gunpowder, I don't know anything else. He still knows something, which calms his frustration a little.

So he wrote clearly the ratio of potassium nitrate, sulfur and charcoal in gunpowder: 75/10/15.

What makes him even happier is that because he likes to watch military programs, he has memorized where to obtain and how to purify these raw materials. At least he could extract relatively pure gunpowder, which could be regarded as a kind of progress, and he had to comfort himself like this.

Remember that the main raw materials of extracted potassium nitrate are nitrate soil and plant ash. Nitrate clay exists in toilets, pigs, cattle pens, and old walls in the courtyard, and it is good to burn it on red charcoal. Grass ash is much easier to obtain, and it is good to burn the plant directly to ashes.

The specific extraction of potassium nitrate is not very troublesome, and it is directly according to the procedure.

First, mix the nitrate and plant ash in a container at a ratio of 8:1, heat the water and stir it constantly to dissolve it until there are no mixed impurities; Then filter out solid impurities such as sediment to obtain nitrate water; The third step is to put it in a container to heat and evaporate the liquid (boiling nitrate), and it is constantly stirred to make it evaporate evenly; When most of the liquid is evaporated, the liquid is dropped on the paper with a small spoon, if it can be quickly crystallized, it means that the potassium nitrate has been successfully refined, and only the final suction filtration is required.

The production of charcoal is not troublesome, just build an earthen kiln and operate in it. The trees are cut into sections, ignited in the charcoal kiln, burned to a certain extent, the air of the charcoal kiln is closed, the waste heat continues to heat the wood for dry distillation, the water and wood tar are boiled out, and the wood is carbonized into charcoal. This is similar to the past when families used to burn firewood.

Sulfur purification is simpler, the raw sulfur is heated to its melting, the impurities are filtered and then continue to be heated, and the impurities can be gasified and evaporated by constant stirring, and after the sulfur is continuously heated and boiled, only the sulfur gas needs to be collected for cooling.

Time was pressed for time and Shi Bin had to put this knowledge to use as soon as possible, so he mobilized all his men to extract potassium nitrate, sulfur and charcoal as best they could.

Almost everyone can do these elementary jobs, and Shi Bin doesn't have to worry about it.

What puzzled him a little was what kind of sky-shaking thunder to build, whether it was a spherical type or a wooden-handled type sky-shaking thunderbolt? The spherical type gives him the impression that the American army pulls off the pull ring and throws it out in a chic manner, while the wooden handle gives him the impression that the Eighth Route Army uses it to fight the Japanese army in the TV series.

It seems that the wooden-handled Sky-Shaking Thunder is synonymous with backwardness, but he still decided to make a few samples of both the spherical and wood-handled Sky-shaking Thunderbolts, and then make a final conclusion after a few more experiments.

At first, there was no sense of which of the two types of sky-shaking thunder was superior or inferior, but after a long time of experimentation, it was found that the wood-handled type was better than the spherical type sky-shaking thunder.

This was discovered during an experiment with a Seismic Thunderbolt filled with broken iron. A new-style spherical earth-shaking thunder that was thrown out actually rolled down from the small mountain bag and did not explode until it was less than ten meters away from Shi Bin. Fortunately, the broken iron was not strong enough and the power was small, so Shi Bin was not injured. With such a thrilling experience, Shi Bin immediately ruled out the spherical earth-shaking thunder with such a huge design flaw.

Then I tried the wooden handle type Earthquake Thunder, the effect is good, you can maximize the use of arm strength, throw the Earthquake Thunder to the farthest distance, especially will not slide around, so as to ensure the safety of your own personnel to the greatest extent.

With these experiments, Shi Bin secretly sighed that everything really can't just look at the appearance, and can only draw conclusions after practice.

Another question is whether the filling inside of this earth-shattering thunder is made of broken iron or thin iron sheets? So he ordered his craftsmen to make three models of wood-handled earth-shaking thunderbolts filled with crushed iron and thin iron sheets.

Life was much more comfortable, and in order to thank Shi Bin for his kindness, it didn't take long for several experienced blacksmiths to create samples of these two types of wooden handles of the Earthquake Thunder. Although it is not yet a rope ignition, it is not very troublesome to light the fuse with a fire breaker.

Broken iron is easy to blow up, and the principle is a bit like a shotgun, although the thin iron sheet is also similar to a shotgun, but it produces much less fragments when it bursts.

The three models of Shattered Iron Thunder have a higher attack density, but the effective attack radius changes inversely with the weight of the Shattered Iron. The attack density of the thin iron sheet is much smaller, but the effective kill radius changes inversely with the weight of the thin iron sheet.

Because of this, the power of the Heaven-Shaking Thunder with a thin iron wooden handle is even greater. Although there are many broken irons, the force is insufficient, and the kinetic energy emitted by the combustion of gunpowder cannot be maximized, and there is no effective lethality within a radius of three steps. However, you can't make a wood-handled earth-shaking thunder with too heavy iron sheets, which will be counterproductive.

Therefore, it was finally decided to manufacture a cast iron projectile, with a mass of 15 taels for the whole bomb, 8 taels for the mass of the cast iron projectile, a diameter of 1.5 inches, a length of 7 inches for the whole bomb, and a 2-tael main charge

Within two days, a new situation had emerged. It rained for five or six days, and a lot of thin iron sheets, gunpowder, and hollow wooden handles were made, but the wooden handles made of these objects could not be used, and they could not be ignited in the field on rainy days.

At this time, Shi Bin was very happy that he liked to play with firecrackers and loved the military, and remembered the ignition design of the wooden-handled sky-shaking thunder. Specifically, there is an iron rod with a rough surface at the friction fire fuse, and the iron rod is connected to a pull rope. The rope hangs out through the hollow wooden handle outside, and when it is used, the rope is directly pulled, the iron rod is driven, and the fuse is ignited under the friction of the iron rod, and then it is to throw the earth-shattering thunder. As for deciding how long to burn before exploding the thunder, just control the length of the fuse.

On the way back to the camp, Shi Bin didn't want to fail again, so he kept thinking about whether there were any defects in this kind of earth-shaking thunder. But half a month passed, and the firearms craftsmen were all knowledgeable and intelligent, and just when he was fluttering, a bloodshed accident happened.

It turned out that an inexperienced firearms apprentice accidentally knocked this kind of earth-shaking thunder off the wooden table, he was afraid that the sky-shaking thunder would hit the ground and explode, but in a hurry, he did not pull the wooden handle but pulled the rope. Fortunately, the apprentice reacted quickly and turned to run, but there were still a few completed samples of the Heaven-Shaking Thunder on the table that still injured him.

This reminded Shi Bin of the wooden cover that the Eighth Route Army unscrewed before throwing this kind of earth-shattering thunder, it seems that this is a special safety device. So he asked the craftsmen of the armory workshop to put a lid on this wood-handled sky-shaking thunder. In this way, there is no fear of accidental injury.

With these results, Shi Bin is very happy, but the work efficiency is too low. An apprentice learns to make a wood-handled Earthquake Thunder for at least a month, and only makes two or three a day after leaving the school.

Moreover, once the craftsmen under his command surrendered to the enemy or were captured by the enemy and were forced to explain the production method of the wood-handled earth-shaking thunder, it would be a huge loss and threat to Shi Bin.

After thinking carefully about how to speed up work efficiency and carry out technical secrecy, it is best to use an assembly-line way of working.

The production of this wood-handled thunderbolt is divided into eight processes: potassium nitrate extraction, charcoal extraction, sulfur purification, gunpowder configuration, fuse manufacturing, rough iron manufacturing, hollow wooden handle manufacturing, and wooden cover manufacturing.

If the enemy wants to create a Skyquake Thunder with the same power as himself, he must gather these eight skilled workers, otherwise he will never be able to create a new type of Skyquake Thunder that can compete with him.

On the fifth day after the first production line was built, Wang San happily rushed into Shi Bin's bedroom and said, "Big brother, you are powerful enough, haha, none of us will be afraid of a hundred households of the Yuan Army at that time." ”

"Really? I was a little surprised. It seems that the power of this new type of sky-shaking thunder is not that great. Shi Bin wondered.

"It's true that the power threatens two or three cavalry, but it's because of our low cost and high production speed. You know? In the past five days, the twenty of us have built 2,000 earth-shattering thunders, and the supply of raw materials is insufficient. Wang San said excitedly.

"How much? Two thousand? That is to say, 20 earth-shaking thunders a day per person? Shi Bin also lost control of his emotions after hearing this, and laughed loudly. With such a high production efficiency, as long as the logistics keep up, there is absolutely no fear of any situation.

However, he immediately calmed down and admonished: "Brother, remember that this is our top secret. These workers are not allowed to leave the armory. It's okay to add a monthly amount of money to them, but you must not let people know about their existence. As for those craftsmen, I will find a way to get them to follow us with an iron heart. ”

It was already a headache to fight against the Yuan soldiers in the plains, plateaus and grasslands in the north with an unobstructed view and no geographical advantage. Now there are not only long-range killing tiger squat cannons but also close-range earth-shaking thunder, if you add all kinds of mines, tripping horses, and trapping pits, then the Yuanren cavalry will not pose much threat to themselves.

Finally, you must also get a matching ammunition bag to make it easy to carry. Bringing a dozen or so new Heaven-Shaking Thunders with you will increase your combat power exponentially.