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It was raining in the sky, a rare heavy rain in ten years, as if it was pouring water directly from the sky, and the water fell on the ground and roof, knocking the whole world into thunder. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Vesley, who had been busy all day, put away the test notes, stood up, and prepared to leave. Guo Yupeng hurriedly went over to open the door for him, as a student of Wenshan Yishu, he and his classmates have been studying chemistry with Wesley for the past month. In the future, they will also work as assistants to Wesley, who is not only a professor of chemistry at Bunyama Yoshitoki, but also an engineer at many factories such as the Hanyang Arsenal.

"Guo, you did a good job in today's experiment."

Veseley took a step, paused hesitantly, and then complimented. After a moment's hesitation, his eyes moved, and he spoke:

"Guo ......"

The professor's praise made Guo Yupeng anxiously happy, and listened to the professor again.

"That way, I have a job for you."

"Work?"

"Yes, well, there's an address here, and there's a need for a chemistry test assistant, so go over and help!"

It's actually the Governor's Mansion!

In this small room, Guo Yupeng could hardly believe that he would actually work here, even if it was only temporary. What surprised him even more was that he would be here to cooperate with the work of the Grand Governor.

"School and Principal ......"

Because the Metropolitan Governor is the principal of Wenshan Yishu, Guo Yupeng naturally calls him the principal, not the Metropolitan Governor, but his voice is a little nervous.

"You're righteous?"

Looking at the young man who was only sixteen or seventeen years old and looked nervous, Zhu Yifeng smiled.

"From today onwards, you are my assistant, don't be so nervous, you are more familiar with chemical tests than I do, this test we are doing now is very simple, see that barrel?"

Pointing to a hundred-pound wooden barrel in the corner, Zhu Yifeng continued.

"It's filled with yellow dye, which is picric acid or called **********, of course, PA, and when the dye factory is built, we will also produce it."

Except for Zhu Yifeng himself, no one knows why he built a "dye factory", the purpose of building a "dye factory" is to produce picric acid, but it is not only to dye clothes, but more importantly, to obtain explosives, as early as 1771, P. Wolf in England has used concentrated nitric acid, concentrated sulfuric acid and phenol to synthesize picric acid. It is a yellow crystal, which has been used as a yellow dye for almost a hundred years, until almost thirty years later, when it was accidentally discovered by the French that it was actually a fierce explosive. Among the high explosives known in this era, the power of picric acid is second only to ********, with good stability and simple preparation method, and it is the first kind of explosive to be used in the military.

"This experiment that we're going to do today is to mix it with melted paraffin, well, you make a note of this, mix 5% paraffin with 95% picric acid, this is the first recipe, and another recipe is with 10% paraffin with 90% picric acid......"

Although the stability of picric acid is very good, it still seems a little sensitive, in this regard, Zhu Yifeng, who is standing on the shoulders of giants, naturally has his solution, in many articles describing Japan's first application of picric acid to war, Shimose gunpowder will always be mentioned, in fact, Shimose gunpowder is not complicated, that is, picric acid is mixed with paraffin to passivate, and the passivated picric acid is only burned in the case of bullet penetration. Instead of applying a layer of paraffin wax to the body of the projectile, as one might think.

Han Du's instructions made Guo Yupeng hurriedly pick up the test form, take the lead and write down the two ratios mentioned by Han Du, although he didn't know what kind of test this was conducting, but he knew that Han Du must have his intentions. Then Guo Yupeng began to experiment according to these two formulas, although he was still a little nervous, but after starting the experiment, he forgot his inner tension and devoted himself to the experiment, which was not complicated, but mixed the two with a water bath.

However, in the laboratory, it is not just a test, in order to complete the preparation of picric acid, he also needs to apply a layer of lacquer to the inside of the iron shell. This job seems simple, but the requirements of most of the governors are very high, and there must be no exposure in every iron shell, and all must be smeared with a layer of raw lacquer.

Walking into the courtyard, Zhu Yifeng saw that he was so busy, and walked over and said:

"Do you want me to help?"

"Headmaster, I'll do it alone!"

Maybe it's because they've been together for a long time, and now Guo Yupeng is no longer nervous at the beginning, and when he rubbed the lacquer into the iron shell, he asked curiously.

"Governor, why are you putting raw paint in here? If I'm not mistaken, this is the casing of a grenade. ”

In Yishu, Guo Yupeng also threw similar training bullets more than once, which is a unique weapon of the righteous army. Paraffin wax mixed with picric acid, lacquer, why is that?

"Headmaster, are you going to put it in an iron shell, it will explode?"

"That's right, not only will it explode, but its power is more than ten times that of ordinary black fire and medicine!"

In fact, it is more than ten times, the speed of detonation is one of the most important factors to measure the power of the instantaneous explosion, and if you compare it simply, the explosion power of picric acid is 15 or 6 times that of black powder. This means that fifteen or six tons of black fire and medicine are equivalent to one ton of picric acid, and there must be an instant ignition explosion to detonate all black powder! This is obviously impossible!

"Is it really dynamite?"

Looking at the principal in surprise, Guo Yupeng's wide eyes were full of disbelief, this, isn't this a dye?

"It's a dye, but it's also an explosive, but no one has noticed it in the past, but it's very acidic, and it tends to corrode metals and produce metal salts, which are mostly very sensitive, which makes it less stable. Therefore, this layer of lacquer prevents the direct reaction of picric acid with metal, so the manufactured shells and grenades can be stored for a long time, so that although the charge of the shell is reduced, it is more safe and reliable. ”

The reason why Japan was able to use picric acid explosives first was precisely because of the layer of paint on the body of the bomb, and it was precisely because of this layer of isolation and paraffin passivation that they were able to safely use picric acid, and then made great contributions to their defeat of the Beiyang Naval Division and the Russian Navy.

What kind of change will a high explosive, which is more than ten times more powerful than ordinary black powder, bring to the war? Decades later, it was with the shells filled with Shimose gunpowder that the Japanese Navy defeated the Beiyang Navy and the Russian Navy on the sea, and it was the grenades filled with Shimose gunpowder that blew up the Russian Army in the Russo-Japanese War, thus marking the decline of shrapnel.

And in this era, what kind of advantages will shells filled with picric acid bring to the rebels? Thinking of this, the corners of Zhu Yifeng's lips were outlined in a non-existent arc, and he silently thought in his heart that he asked for a rear-loading gun.

"I don't know when, they'll make it!"

breech cannon, picric acid explosives, at this time, Zhu Yifeng can be said to be full of expectations for these two weapons, because he knows very well what he will face soon.

"Wen Han is almost time to come!"

Although the visit of Guo Songtao and his entourage of the Foreign Affairs Department has caused a sensation in Britain and other European countries, to a certain extent, it is not really an official contact, and a very important reason why he sent an invitation to Wen Han through Li Ziyuan, and even showed extreme restraint on the issue of banning smoking, is to prevent Britain from turning to support the Manchus.

However, this does not mean compromise, just like the current ban on smoking in Guangdong, the reason why we turn a blind eye to the opium ships of various countries in the Lingdingyang area that infringe on "China's territorial waters" is because the strength of the navy cannot be compared with Britain and the United States and other countries, that is, the strength of the entire fleet, I am afraid that it cannot catch up with the one Perry fleet of the United States, let alone the Far East Fleet of the British Navy.

Before the strength is inferior, although any reckless action is not self-defeating, it is very likely to lead to Britain and the United States and other Western countries becoming Manchus, and this is undoubtedly necessary to avoid it by all means. If history has taught Zhu Yifeng anything, it is probably that through diplomatic operations, the forces that may help the enemy will be transformed into the forces that can help themselves, instead of blindly being tough or even arrogant when the strength is weak, which will lead to the alliance of hostile forces, and then be unfavorable to himself.

But this is not the same as compromise, just like on the opium issue, temporary concessions are not the same as turning a blind eye, not equal to doing nothing, Zhu Yifeng has been waiting for the meeting with Wen Han, the meeting with the British minister is not only to win British support for himself, but more importantly, to establish direct diplomatic relations from it, so as to block the possibility of the Manchus to obtain British support! At the same time, the opium problem must be addressed.

"When Wenhan arrives, then these problems can be resolved through negotiations......

Zhu Yifeng, who is well aware of the power of Britain in this era, is not arrogant enough to think that negotiation can solve the problem, and he is also not arrogant enough to think that the rebels can challenge Britain, but no matter what he does, he needs to be prepared with both hands, and while preparing for negotiation, he must make another preparation, that is, plan for the worst, and defend his interests with his fists.

"The so-called public law of all nations is only the affairs of small nations. Between the great powers, there is only strength! ”

Thinking of this, a sneer flashed on Zhu Yifeng's face, and he looked at Guo Yupeng and said.

"Once you've done this experiment, you'll start another experiment and record the materials you need to test it, the ...... of the smoke." )