Later, Commander Fa Ke finally understood that in fact, Jia Pingzhang Jia Yidao did not care about what would happen to this arquebus battalion, but about his interpersonal relationships in the forbidden army. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

To be honest, Jia Pingzhang's reputation in the army is not very good.

When Ezhou City was victorious, several generals dared to sarcastically say something about him, thinking that his way of fighting was to steal the opportunity, which also made him hold a grudge, and when he returned to Lin'an City, he told Song Lizong, and dealt with a few other crimes, of course, from this point on, no one dared to provoke him on the surface, but he also knew that he was afraid that he would not help in the army.

Fa Ke commanded the envoy to think, himself or one of his pawns?

However, he doesn't care about that anymore, because he cares about his arquebus.

His arquebus was noticeably much larger than that of the Great Merchants of Yindian.

He knew why, because his black fire \\ medicine was not as good as theirs...... The talented blacksmith had taught himself how to make it, and he had taught the craftsmen of the Gunpowder Bureau, but he was still not as good as theirs.

He had already transferred the blacksmith and even the carpenter who had helped them to build the arquebus, to his armory, so that he could continue to build it.

His former superior, someone, dared not speak out against him for this kind of behavior, and at that time, the commander of Fa Ke didn't care, since he was appointed as the commander of the Imperial Arquebus Battalion, he was afraid that he would have to leave the Ministry of Works for the rest of his life.

Previously, they were built according to the size of the big merchants, but when they tested the gun, they found that the power of the gun was insufficient!

A blacksmith thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, "Now the strength of gunpowder is insufficient, and it is necessary to put more ...... Put too much, and the tube is too thin again.

It's better to make the tube thicker and put more! ”

The envoy was still a little worried, and said, "Is there a risk of blowing up the chamber?" ”

The blacksmith smiled and said, "These are fine irons, better than good iron, and you can know with a flick of your fingers that they are all carefully crafted......"

As he spoke, he flicked the barrel with his thick fingers, and there was a loud sound.

"You can also put two layers of iron pipes on the charge......"

Commander Fa Ke was happy when he heard it, okay, this is reassuring.

Therefore, their arquebuses are much heavier than those of the big merchants, and they need brackets more.

The important question is to increase the medicinal power of **.

The craftsmen of the Gunpowder Bureau have tried to make nitrate according to his method, and the result is that sometimes it is easy to use, sometimes it is not good, and it is better to use the old method.

The commander of Fa Ke said: "The black fire/medicine of the thunderbolt cannon, it is better to use their method to make it, you can try to make it slowly, don't be in a hurry......"

The craftsmen of the Gunpowder Bureau had to take their time.

Thunderbolt cannon, also known as gunpowder fire, the artillery developed in the late Northern Song Dynasty is hugely powerful, and the sound is like a thunderbolt, so it is called.

In the 31st year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty, that is, in 1161, the Great Song Dynasty Navy had already equipped the Thunderbolt cannons on the ships of the naval division.

But this one is ejected with mechanical force, wrapped in paper, filled with lime, with a loud sound, and then lime is used to charm the eyes of the opponent......

When King Wanyan Liang of Jin Hailing tore up the "Shaoxing Peace Conference" and attacked the Song Dynasty, Yu Yunwen counterattacked the Jin army crossing the river at Quarry Rock,...... Falling from the sky,...... Its sound is like thunder, the paper cracks and the lime scatters into smoke, and the eyes of the people and horses are squinted, and the characters do not see each other. …… Defeat them".

In his spare time, the Fa Ke commander almost turned over Zeng Gongliang's "General Essentials of the Martial Arts", memorized the three methods of making black fire/medicine on it, and did not find a method like those people said.

Presumably they are different from the Great Song Dynasty.

When he was still struggling in the study, his little lady came in happily and said, "Official, Jia Pingzhang has sent someone to bring fresh vegetables and vegetables......

Commander Fa Ke sighed secretly, he owed Jia Pingzhang too much, and he would have to repay it well in the future.

This house in Qinghefang is by no means an unbearable house, just the courtyard with two entrances makes the lady happy.

There are three main rooms and six side rooms, of which the firewood room alone is larger than where I originally lived!

When my wife first came in, she looked at each room three times!

Now they have also hired two maids, all of whom were given by Jia Pingzhang......

His lady said happily: "A certain family also sent someone to send some daily utensils, saving a lot of money!" ”

Commander Fa Ke smiled bitterly in his heart, if the people of his family knew, he didn't know what would happen, where would he be regarded as a flying emperor now?

Fa Zheng commanded the envoy and said: "I haven't had contact with my mother's family for a long time, don't lose them, so-and-so is busy with official business now......"

"Official, do you have to be busy when you go home?"

"yes, I haven't been able to find a good way to increase the power of gunpowder."

"What is medicinal power?"

"Hehe, the lady is interested...... It is to put ** on the white paper and ignite it, **after it is burned, and the white paper must not be burned......"

His lady frowned and thought for a long time, and she didn't know what it looked like, and said: "The concubine sees that the officials are busy themselves, so it is better to reward the talented people in the world to solve the ......"

Fa Ke commanded the music, right, why bother to work hard with the craftsmen? I don't believe that no one in this world can solve this matter, if it really can't work, he can still go to Liuqiu Island to find those big businessmen!

At this time, his heart settled down, and he gently hugged the little lady and held hands for a while.

The two giggled.

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While Fa Ke was trying to find a way to increase the medicinal power of black fire/medicine, Wang Defa was also busy extracting potassium carbonate from plant ash in the Badao estuary area of Liuqiu Island.

The main components of plant ash are potassium carbonate and calcium oxide, phosphorus pentoxide.

Among them, potassium carbonate is soluble, and this potassium salt in plant ash can be extracted through steps such as dissolution, filtration, evaporation, cooling and crystallization.

The potassium salt content of seaside plants is higher than that of inland plants, so it is difficult to say that Wang Defa dares to conclude that the potassium salt content of plant ash here is more than 8 percent, and it is difficult to say that it reaches 11 percent.

Therefore, when he started, he could only use experimental methods to try to make it, and of course, there was also the intention of teaching the craftsmen of the Great Song Dynasty.

Of course, the craftsmen of the Great Song Dynasty actually used this extraction method, but they knew it but did not know why.

Wang Defa began to run on both sides, and the first Dutch windmill was still under construction.

The refining tool is simple, a large iron pot that can hold 100 kilograms of plant ash.

Wang Defa asked people to fill it with plant ashes, add water to an iron pot, and when the water is submerged in half an inch of plant ashes, then use dried reeds as fuel to heat it.

At the same time, let the two craftsmen stir thoroughly, and when it reaches about 60 degrees Celsius, strain it with a burlap while it is hot to remove most of the impurities.

Then the obtained solution, while stirring, heat to boiling, and then filter it with multiple layers of cotton cloth while it is hot, and reheat it!

When a small amount of liquid remains, the heating is stopped, and at this time, as the temperature decreases, potassium carbonate begins to precipitate, but the color is yellowish.

You can also extract it again, no hurry.

He made people weigh it, and it was ten kilograms, and in addition to the wear, it was just over ten percent.

He thought to himself, next time I will use seaweed, let people salvage it and dry it as fuel.

In fact, this is the time to make soap.

It's just that the potassium content is relatively high, and the soap made by saponification is softer.

But this batch can't be used first, and I want Mr. to produce nitrate.

Wang Defa said to the two Great Song Dynasty craftsmen at that time: "Have you learned? ”

The two arched their hands and said, "The little one has learned...... When the grass and wood ash water was hot, it just started to filter when it couldn't reach in......"

Wang Defa also wanted to give them a thermometer, but when he saw that they would use such a method to solve it, he simply didn't give it, just about it.

Then he called two Great Song Dynasty craftsmen to carry out an important step with him: the construction of a seed mushroom field for nitrate.

This is actually the nitrate field method used in Russia back then, and a considerable part of the ** used by the Russian naval artillery at that time was nitrate produced by the nitrate field method.

Due to the perennial low temperatures, there are almost no natural nitrate veins in this country, and they are produced from nitrate fields except for imports from Chile.

At that time, they did not have much to do with the British Empire, which controlled Chilean saltpeter, especially in the Far East, and there were many contradictions on international issues, so they had to solve it themselves.

To put it bluntly, it is very simple, it is to use the fermentation and decomposition of nitrite bacteria.

Wang Defa built a nitrate pond in advance, the bottom layer was made of bricks and lime to prevent infiltration, and of course the surrounding area was also built with bricks and lime to form a pool ten meters long, five meters wide, and thirty centimeters deep.

It can't be too deep, as a lot of oxygen is needed to participate in the activity.

The inside of the pond should be paved with a mixture of bulky clay and fine sand, and some weakly alkaline plant ash should be mixed appropriately, because nitrifying bacteria cannot survive in an acidic environment

After mixing, you need to prick more holes.

Wang Defa erected a large bamboo shed on top of the pond, spread reeds, and set up bamboo curtains on the four sides of the bamboo shed.

This is to ensure that this shed cannot transmit light, and the sunlight coming in from any angle will kill nitrification, and that thing is afraid of purple lines.

The temperature here should be guaranteed to be around twenty-five degrees, this Wang Defa also has a way, he has a thermometer, the temperature is high, he opens the curtain of the back sun, and the temperature is low at night, he adds more curtains.

At the same time, in order to ensure air flow, ensure sufficient oxygen supply, facilitate the reproduction of nitrifying bacteria, and also inhibit the survival and reproduction of anaerobic bacteria, he arranged for manpower to use manpower bellows to blow air inside.

Since at the beginning, only artificial blowers can be used...... This tiring work has become the job of punishing the wrongdoer.

On this nitrate field, Wang Defa added water manually.

He opened up bamboos of different diameters, then drilled holes, added water regularly, and used drip irrigation to supply water to ensure that the soil was moist.

As for the raw materials to be filled, there are more or less fish and human and animal manure and urine here.

At this time, you can also regularly sprinkle some plant ash on the bulky soil and mix it well, so that you can get it directly after scraping the nitrate.

After everything was done, Wang Defa began to wait for the nitrate to be scraped, it is estimated that it will take seven to ten days, and then see how the effect is, and then start to build vigorously......

But now we can't wait idlely, Wang Defa asked the craftsmen to find ready-made nitrate.

The craftsmen of the Great Song Dynasty will live like this.

Nitrate soil is generally found in toilets, pig and cattle pen houses, old walls in courtyards, cliff edges, caves, and ground that is not easily washed by rainwater.

Now that they have burned to the foot of the mountain due to their deforestation, they go directly to the mountain to find a cave or the edge of the cliff...... The nitrate soil is moist, not easy to dry, and turns slightly purple-red after being exposed to the sun.

A good nitrate will spark when placed on red-hot charcoal.

Sure enough, they found yellow nitrate in an inconspicuous cave.

At this time, Wang Defa appreciated the Great Song version of the nitrate making method.