Chapter 36: Gunpowder and Oil

When Ma Yun arrived in Jingzhou, as soon as he sat in his seat, he couldn't wait to send someone to invite the Taoist of Qingyouzi...... Plant melons and get melons, plant beans and get beans, and invest a large amount of money in it for two years, and I don't know what progress has been made in the research of firearms in this Dachu, so I took advantage of the fact that I was in Jingzhou today to personally investigate the field. 78 Free eBook Downloads .//

It didn't take much effort, the Qingyouzi Daoist was brought, and after seeing the ceremony, Ma Yun gave him a seat, and when the Qingyouzi Daoist sat down, Ma Yun asked with a smile; "Dao Chief, I've worked hard for you for the past two years, this ...... Is there any progress in the research of this gunpowder? ”

Qingyouzi Dao Chang saluted with one palm: "King, since the poor Dao took over this errand, he carefully recalled the recipe of the master's alchemy back then, combined with the principle of firecracker explosion, and now there has been preliminary progress, if the king has time, he can take a field trip." ”

Ma Yun was overjoyed, nodded again and again, and said: "As long as it is a matter of gunpowder, the widow will have plenty of time." By the way, what kind of investigation method is this field trip? "In this era, the understanding of gunpowder, people are in the situation of the ignorant and fearless, the danger factor is still very great, but don't steal chickens and rice, and let yourself taste the power of gunpowder developed by yourself.

The young wanderer said: "King, this gunpowder is still dangerous, Poor Dao asked the king to watch at the observation pavilion in the west corner of the experimental field of the firearms supervisor, and Poor Dao and others put gunpowder in the field. ”

Ma Yun was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly said: "How can it be done?" Isn't it dangerous for the Dao Elders to do this? ”

The Qingyouzi Daoist smiled slightly: "It's okay, the king doesn't know, we have cast it many times, and we already have enough experience, so it won't get in the way." ”——

Ma Yun, Zhao Pu, Li Xiang and others sat in a sedan chair, and after a short time, they came to the firearms supervision test site in the western suburbs of Jingzhou City. This experimental field covers an area of twenty or thirty acres in size, and this observation pavilion is located in the west corner of the field, is a two-story wooden building, standing on the second floor, raising your eyes to look out, you can clearly see the scene of the entire experimental field. In the center of the site there is a small wooden house, three meters wide and three meters long, this wooden house has the door facing east, and the other three walls, there are no windows, only a small inconspicuous hole in the corner, I don't know what it is for. I don't know why the wooden house looks dark. The ground near the hut is flat, and there is a small sapling planted on the south side.

Between the saplings and the south wall of the wooden house stands this triangular iron tripod. The difference between this tripod and some common bronze tripods is that this tripod actually has a lid, and there are two bull ear handles on the top of the cover. Ma Yun was a little excited, it was not that the Taoist leader of the Qing Youzi was going to demonstrate, and the gunpowder exploded the iron ding. If you can blow up the iron tripod and blow up all the wooden houses and saplings next to it, will it be able to blow down the enemy's city wall or blow open the enemy's city gate? Although this iron tripod is a bit clumsy, if it really has such great power, it is undoubtedly a sharp weapon for siege.

Ma Yun knows that in this era, it is too difficult to develop something like a cannon, but if there is such a firearm like a ** bag, it is not bad.

Ma Yun said to Daoist Qingyouzi with great interest: "Daoist Qingyouzi, can you start?" ”

Qingyouzi Dao Chang saluted with one palm: "Please wait a moment, the king." There are two lumps of cotton here, please put them on your ears, and then the explosion will be loud. ”

Ma Yun smiled and waved his hand, and said, "The widow came just to listen to the explosion, what kind of ears are blocked." Dao Chief, please hurry up and get started. ”

Qing Youzi nodded, Shi Shiran, and went downstairs with confidence. Ma Yun glanced around with great energy, and waited excitedly for this epoch-making explosion. I have even thought of words of encouragement in my heart, and this bombing indicates that our country is already in the absolute leading position in the world in the study of firearms, and it has not only greatly enhanced the combat effectiveness of our army and greatly boosted the fighting morale of our army, but also played a tremendous role in promoting the early reunification of the motherland......

I saw that Qing Youzi Dao Chang had arrived in front of the ding, commanded a few craftsmen, erected a ladder, lifted the top cover, and then inserted one end of a rope-like object into it, but the other end was sent to the wooden house from a small hole in the corner. Ma Yun was well-informed, and explained to Zhao Pu, Li Xiang and others beside him: "Look, that line should be the medicine bowl, and it will ignite the gunpowder inside, if the gunpowder is huge, it will undoubtedly add another siege weapon to our Chu army." ”

Zhao Pu, Li Xiang and others also nodded frequently.

An exciting moment is coming.

Ma Yun acted as a tour guide and introduced the development prospects and history of gunpowder to Zhao Pu and others. When he looked up again, Daoist Qingyouzi and the others didn't know where to hide, and vaguely saw that the medicine was burning, and then heard a muffled sound of "bang", and their ears were buzzing, and Zhao Pu and the others who were standing in the observation pavilion heard this loud noise, and they all trembled a little. Ma Yun was extremely excited, raised his eyes and looked straight away, only to see the place where the iron tripod was, black smoke billowing out, completely shrouded in black smoke, and he couldn't see the power of this **?

At this moment, there was a "boom", and less than 100 meters in front of the observation pavilion, an iron pot-like thing fell from the sky, and after falling to the ground, it turned around twice. Everyone looked closely, and it turned out to be the top cover. Ma Yun was even more excited in his heart, this top cover was blown up so high, the power of this gunpowder seems to be not small.

The smoke gradually dissipated, Ma Yun was a little dumbfounded, but saw that the wooden house was still a wooden house, but it looked a little darker, the sapling was still a sapling, but it was gray, and the ground was similar to the situation just now.

Ma Yun rubbed his eyes and looked carefully, he finally confirmed that what he saw in front of him was an ironclad fact. Just like dry thunder and no rain, the sound just now was quite loud, but the effect was not visible, except for blowing up a canopy.

Jack Ma was a little disappointed.

The Qingyouzi Daoist came out of the wooden house, commanded the person to carry the iron tripod to the bottom of the observation pavilion, and said, "King, please see, this iron tripod has been blown up with cracks. ”

Ma Yun looked at it a little listlessly, and there were indeed a few cracks faintly appearing on the iron ding. Li Xiang on the side said with great interest: "King, let's go down and have a look." ”

Ma Yun nodded, and after a few people went down, Li Xiang leaned over to take a look, and praised him: "King, you are really a hero, you really had the foresight to develop gunpowder two years ago." Although this gunpowder cannot be used in military applications at the moment, its power is amazing. You see, this finger-thick iron tripod can be exploded. If...... By the way, Daoist Qingyouzi, why don't you take out this gunpowder separately and detonate it, but put it in the iron tripod? ”

The Qingyouzi Daoist said: "Master Li doesn't know, this detonation alone has no effect, just like wood burning, the thorn is finished, and sometimes it won't even explode." It must be placed in a container. ”

Ma Yun was stunned for a moment and asked, "Then why don't you put it in a container with thinner walls?" Ma Yun took it for granted that the principle of this explosion was that the gas expanded sharply in a confined space, and then exploded.

"King, you said, we have tried, but put it in a thin-walled container, it can indeed blow up the container, but its ability to destroy the surroundings, we think it is not stronger than putting it in the iron tripod, you see in the iron tripod, this finger thick iron sheet has been blown out of cracks."

Ma Yun knew in his heart what was going on, the purity of this gunpowder was not enough, so its power depended on the amount of gunpowder on the one hand, and the pressure-bearing capacity of the sealed space at the beginning on the other. In the iron tripod, due to the thickness of the iron tripod wall, so the pressure bearing capacity is strong, so that the energy gathered in the sealed space is large, and the thin-walled one is replaced with a thin-walled one, as soon as the gunpowder explodes, the thin wall is blown away, so that the ability quickly dissipates into the air, and there is no lethality. But the problem is, no one will make the city gate into a tripod shape for you to blow up.

Ma Yun said: "Daoist Qingyouzi, what materials do you use for gunpowder?" ”

"Originally, we experimented with saltpeter, sulfur and wood, but there was no big reaction, and recently we found that saltpeter, sulfur and aristolochia were mixed together, and the explosion was more powerful. ”

Isn't this ** one sulfur, two nitrate and three charcoal? Ma Yun asked strangely: "Daoist Qingyouzi, what is this aristolochia?" ”

Qingyouzi said: "It is a perennial winding herb. ”

Ma Yun said with a little regret: "Why don't you try it without charcoal?" ”

"King, we have tried charcoal, we use the best smokeless charcoal, but the effect is not as good as this aristolochia?"

Ma Yun hesitated for a moment, and said inspiringly: "Every time you do an experiment, you adjust the ratio between the comparisons, have you ever thought about refining these materials?" For example, sesame seeds, when we grind them, they turn into oil, and they taste much more fragrant than sesame seeds. For example, pollen, we only smell a fragrant smell, but after being collected by bees, doesn't it become honey? This aristolochia is a herb, and this wood can also be classified as a herb? Is there some connection between the two? Besides, you said, you use smokeless charcoal, have you tried black charcoal? ”

Ma Yun said: "Also, today the widow saw the black smoke billowing when the gunpowder exploded, and it only subsided after a while, and the widow wondered, can we take advantage of this thick black smoke?" ”

Qing Youzi blinked, a little unsure of what Ma Yun meant, Ma Yun said: "For example, we add some chili powder and other things to this gunpowder, after the gunpowder explodes, the chili powder will be scattered in the wind and everywhere, so shouldn't the eyes of the spicy enemy not be able to open their eyes?" Isn't that also a good recipe? If you can add chili peppers, you can also try to add some other things, the explosive power of gunpowder, we can't improve it for a while, then we will consider it from the smoke side of gunpowder, and the widow thinks this is still very interesting. The more Ma Yun said, the happier he became, and then looked at Qingyouzi, but there was not much change on his face, Ma Yun hurriedly said: "The widow is by no means a person who is easy to kill, on the contrary, the widow can be said to be compassionate and compassionate, but now the world is in chaos, if the widow wants to save the people, he must first solve the separatist forces in various places, and only by eliminating these people can the world be stable." The Taoist has a heavy responsibility on his shoulders, and the widow wants to mention the people of the world, and thank the Taoist and all the craftsmen of the Ordnance Supervisor. As he spoke, he bowed to Qingyouzi.

Qing Youzi hurriedly turned sideways to avoid it, showing that he didn't care about the salute. He was originally a down-and-out Taoist priest in Maoshan, wandering around the rivers and lakes, and it all depends on Ma Yun's appreciation today.

Ma Yun continued: "Has the Taoist ever thought about improving the raw materials of gunpowder, such as soaking in grease and so on? Multiple trials may be more effective. Of course, it's good to be where we are today. Ma Yun finally encouraged. Although Ma Yun is a little deflated, how can this technology be transformed into a killing weapon?

Zhao Pu on the side suddenly said: "King, last month, I heard that in a village, 50 miles south of Nanyang City, there was a family where a family was farming, and suddenly dug a black spring from the ground, which was extremely flammable. Is it possible to find some and do a material test for the Qingyouzi Daoist? ”

Black Springs? Burn? Ma Yun reflected, he said: "You are talking about oil? That...... That's good stuff. Hurriedly sent an order to Ding Sijin to send troops to surround the village, and asked Shi Wende to give the people two taels of silver, buy the land, and transport the oil in barrels to the Taoist of Qingyouzi. Daoist Qingyouzi, you have to continue to study this gunpowder, and see if you can purify the aristolochia for him, or put some flammable oil on it. This oil, you can see if you can discuss it with the craftsmen of the Ordnance Supervisor, and think of a way to better throw the burning oil onto the other party's city wall. It is also necessary to see how to make the oil safe and stable transportation. ”

Ma Yun said in his heart, even if the development of gunpowder is slow, with poisonous smoke and oil, wouldn't it be much easier for Lao Tzu to attack the city. Oil was transported on a large scale, first with poison gas bombs, and then completely set fire to the city...... Thinking about it, Ma Yun shook his head, it was too cruel...... I like it, though.

Seeing that the Qingyouzi Taoist promised one by one, Ma Yun met with the craftsmen who followed the Qingyouzi Taoist to learn the craft, Ma Yun encouraged and rewarded them with a warm face, so that they could study hard with the Qingyouzi Taoist with peace of mind, hoping to develop powerful gunpowder one day earlier to better serve the reunification of the motherland