Chapter 112: Greek Fire

On Crescent Island, as Ye Tao's work gradually unfolded, .

After working by Ye Tao's side for so long, Lu Dan has become an indispensable and important figure in Ye's series of businesses. He was very aware of the progress of the things that Ye Tao had laid out, and knew what kind of work was being carried out in the two workshops of Tiecheng, Danyang New District, Bell Tower, Yizhan Tower, Tissot Watch Company, Danyang and Yicheng, how much manpower and material resources were occupied, and how it was progressing. When Ye Tao needs to find someone to be in charge of the production or to take charge of a project, he can always choose the right person from the complicated manpower system of Yip's Workshop to appear in the unimportant work at hand and be able to shoulder the responsibility. Although he still doesn't understand all kinds of technical issues, this does not prevent him from becoming an excellent manager.

On Crescent Island, before Ye Tao's order, he had already integrated those apprentices, apprentices and temporarily transferred technicians, transferred tools and equipment from the workshop headquarters in Yicheng, transported materials, and transferred some manpower, and established another branch of Ye's Workshop on Crescent Island. This branch brings together all the veterans of the Yicheng branch of Yip's Workshop, and although production on Crescent Island may be a little more costly, it is more conducive to the secrecy of ordnance technology. The shipyard on Crescent Island, with the strong support of Yip's Workshop, has seen its work efficiency skyrocket.

Liu Qing is in charge of the other side of affairs. Ye Tao's plan for Crescent Island was arranged by him, and Liu Qing would naturally go to discuss the issue of fund allocation and manpower mobilization with the deacons of the Seven Seas Trading Company, and would not let these chores hinder Ye Tao's thinking. At the same time, he is also responsible for summarizing the requirements of various members of Seven Seas Trading Company, from the improvement of the production process of some products, the construction and design of stores, the planning and design of gardens, and the development of new products, to small things such as the need to repair furniture in the homes of some members, he will directly discuss with Lu Dan those things that do not need to bother Ye Tao. Those problems that can be solved by the existing technical reserves of Yip's workshop. If it is already in the stage of promotion and application, it will work out a solution with Lu Dan, and some applications that have been temporarily shelved due to various problems will be reported to Ye Tao to ask for instructions on whether it is decrypted.

Liu Qing, who was not familiar with Ye's workshop, was repeatedly attacked by Lu Dan in the first few days of these work sites, and only then did he know how strong the technical reserves of Ye's workshop were—at least, Ye's workshop had never been running at full capacity. Yip's Workshop, which maintains the parallel study and production. If desired, it is possible to triple the production capacity of various items in a short period of time.

However, the efficient work of these two people could not make Ye Tao's temper much better. Ye Tao, who was not going to stay on Crescent Island, was troubled by various affairs and couldn't get out.

Nothing is more important than the training of ballista gunners. After seeing the power of the ballista, the two Cangshui ships made a round trip to Yicheng, bringing an order for 200 ballistas, and 400 sergeants who had previously operated the Divine Arm Bow and Catapult to learn to use the ballista. The accuracy of the ballista ground made both Min Yue and Peng Detian extremely excited, and they were even very interested in the peculiar nature of Martian shells. Now at the beginning of the year, Min Yue is too busy, but still says that he will come to Crescent Island in ten days to see the ballistas and Mars shells.

This kind of training is not simply to teach everyone how to throw stone bullets or fire oil bombs and spark bombs, in this training, Ye Tao systematically taught the Seven Seas Trading Company escort team, Yicheng sailors and sergeants, and the sergeants of the Yicheng City Guard how to use a series of ranging and observation instruments developed by Ye's workshop. How to solve the shooting element...... This, in turn, involves basic mathematics and physics, which are very lacking in all. However, it is not without gain. Throughout the training, there were so many precisely calibrated ballistas and so many people that could be demolished. Ye Tao took the lead in compiling a quick reference manual for the firing data of the two types of ballistas. Although all the Dongping sergeants, including Ou Zhen, knew that this manual was an absolute military secret, they had no control over its dissemination.

Another extremely important thing, something that Assad occasionally mentions, reminded him of another weapon of fire and attack in naval warfare that occupies an important place in history: Greek fire. In addition to ordering the first batch of ten ballistas on behalf of the Samir family, Assad was also very interested in the Mars bombs that Nanami Trading Company could supply to the outside world. You must know that in the previous battle against Ice Shark Island, a total of less than 300 pieces were consumed. And Assad said half-sincerely, half-praised, that the power of the Mars bomb could be comparable to that of the legendary Greek fire. once again activated Ye Tao's imagination.

Greek fire is a liquid incendiary used by the Byzantine Empire that can be burned on water, mainly used in naval warfare, "Greek fire" or "Roman fire" is just the name of this terrorist weapon by the Arabs, and the Byzantines themselves call it "wildfire", "fire of the sea", "mobile fire", "liquid fire", "artificial fire" and "fire of defense" and so on. According to the literature, Greek fire contributed to the military victories of the Byzantine Empire on many occasions, and some scholars and historians believe that it was one of the reasons why the Byzantine Empire lasted for thousands of years. And according to the Crusaders who were wounded by Greek fire: "Whenever the enemy attacks us with Greek fire. All that can be done is to get down on your knees and pray for salvation from heaven. That quote is enough to illustrate the power of Greek fire.

For the recipe and method of making Greek fire. Little is known in later generations, due to the strict secrecy of the Byzantine royal family. The development and production of Greek fire in Byzantium took place in the depths of the imperial palace, and the Gallinikos family, who were under royal orders and firmly controlled, controlled the entire operating system. Modern chemists and historians have speculated about the composition of Greek fire: naphtha, saltpeter, sulphur, crude oil, quicklime, sulphur, phosphorus, and saltpeter.

The ingredients of Greek fire, on the other hand, were heated in a large cauldron and ejected from a siphon on a ship, and it could also be contained in pottery and thrown by hand like a modern grenade. The principle is to put different components of Greek fire in a clay pot, and when the pot is broken, the ingredients inside are mixed together, just like the effect of a general jet Greek fire.

In Ye Tao's view, if the composition of Greek fire speculated by modern scientists is more reliable, then in fact, the current technical conditions are completely capable of effectively producing and applying this terrifying weapon. Ye Tao has done some research on oil bombs, and his speculation is that oil bombs are made by mixing oil with some other combustible materials through a primitive fractionation process. The reason why the Gao family has been able to preserve the uniqueness of the fire oil bomb is of course because the oil fractionation process is indeed a happy technology in this era, and on the other hand, it is also because they control some oil wells that are relatively easy to exploit. As long as there is oil in this era, as long as there is still the possibility of exploitation, since others can do it, Ye Tao feels that there is no reason why he can't do it.

Greek fire was used like a modern flamethrower, and the core of the firing mechanism was the pump. A low-pressure steam boiler could have been used, but until rubber was found and the tightness problem was solved, the pressure provided by this thing was too limited. On the contrary, it uses mechanical principles and large cowhide airbags, which are relatively more reliable and safer. Although the range is likely to be less than 100 meters, that is, about 300 feet, whether it is used for naval warfare or city defense, this range is almost sufficient.

Ye Tao wrote to Tan Weixin and asked Tan Weixin to mobilize the members of the Kyushu trading company with huge power on the ground to look for oil, and it was easy to talk to Tan Weixin about these topics, and he didn't even have to explain what oil was and what its characteristics were. As an excellent economic analyst, Tan Weixin must know very well about the source of power and war in this modern society. As for Nanami Trading Company, let's forget about it on this issue. Even if the seamen unite and have energy, they can't make Ye Tao create such a cruel thing as an oil drilling platform.

Ye Tao's time every day is not enough. The progress of each work requires detailed drawings to guide the work, and when Sophie is not around and there is no one who can turn his sketches into drawings that meet the specifications, he spends most of his day drawing drawings. This situation naturally made him very angry while he was tired. And his irritation must be manifested in his mood and attitude that he cannot notice anytime and anywhere.

Lu Dan understands that once Ye Tao enters this state of workaholic, if he doesn't arrange anything in place, he will inevitably be scolded. Ye Tao would not take into account his identity as the young master of the Lu family at such a time. But Liu Qing had never had such an experience, but he suddenly realized that Ye Tao would never make a request when he was emotionally normal, but it faintly showed that Ye Tao was used to working in an extremely strong team. A report on the progress of the project, estimates of the project budget, consumption, transshipment and storage of materials, the progress of the partial relocation from Yip's Workshop in Yicheng, and even the compilation and grading of the various requests made by the members of Seven Seas Trading Company for the first time...... The vast majority of work reports require detailed figures. Even Liu Qing, who has been working in a business that has paid great attention to digital management, has never met anyone who cares so much about specific numbers. And his management of so many things must be negligent. In desperation, after Liu Qing consulted Qi Zhentao, he transferred more than a dozen middle-level guys from within Nanami Trading Company who could write and calculate, and had some experience in handling business and dealing with people, to form an organization similar to the secretariat.