The price of picric acid was unbelievably expensive, which made Li Hui frown, "Picric acid can't be used as explosives directly, and it still has to go through some steps, and the price at that time will only be more expensive than now, can the Beiyang sailors afford it?" ”

At this time, Li Hui realized that he had made a low-level mistake, only taking into account the advantages of high explosives in terms of explosive power compared with black powder, but ignoring the cost factor, picric acid explosives are very powerful, but the price is dozens of times more expensive than black powder is too exaggerated, not to mention that the Beiyang Naval Division is now limited in funds, even if the funds were relatively sufficient, it is also unaffordable.

"This is really 'a good woman is difficult to cook without rice', what should I do?" , Li Hui was disappointed to give up his plan to buy picric acid, and the plan was hit hard at the beginning, which hit him hard

"Do you want me to find a way to make money, and then privately subsidize the Beiyang Naval Division?" , Li Hui immediately shook his head and denied it after he came up with such an idea, "The navy is a gold-swallowing beast, even if it is enough to make me a millionaire, it can't withstand the consumption of the navy, not to mention that even if I really have so much money, the Qing court and Li Hongzhang will not allow the Beiyang Navy Division to accept private sponsorship without authorization." If the Beiyang Naval Division can raise its own funds, then how can they control this force? ”

"No matter how difficult the conditions are, can they overcome the base areas behind enemy lines during the Anti-Japanese War? They were able to work hard to solve the problem and finally solve the need for explosives in the troops, why can't I? Li Hui just cheered himself up and said casually, but it unexpectedly gave him inspiration, "Yes, soil explosives, the soil explosives of the Eighth Route Army, if you put it now, it is a big killer!" ”

Historically, the arsenal of the Eighth Route Army had produced several kinds of "earth explosives" with a power between high explosives and black powder before it had the ability to produce its own high explosives, and these "earth explosives" had the advantages of easy production and low cost, and the power was at least much stronger than the black powder that was still widely used by even the Western powers. The effect is even more than that of the picric acid explosives that were only used in small quantities by the Japanese army in the Battle of Dadonggou in history

However, after all, there is a difference of more than 40 years, and the raw materials that were cheap and easier to obtain during the Anti-Japanese War may not be the same now, so many of the "soil explosives" formulas in Li Hui's memory cannot be used now, but fortunately, not all of them are like this

"90% KClO3 plus 10% mineral oil (such as petroleum jelly) or vegetable oil can reach 60% of TNT, and because of the advantage of greater density, the actual difference is smaller; If you add another 5% aluminum powder to it, the power can reach 67% of TNT, and the density can be further increased. Li Hui recalled these data, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curled slightly, although he still doesn't know the current price of KClO3, but in his mind, this thing can be obtained by electrolysis saturated salt, no matter how expensive it is, right?

However, the result was once again beyond Li Hui's expectations, and the domestic price of KClO3 was only slightly cheaper than potassium nitrate, which is still completely dependent on natural minerals. This is because the current electricity price is much higher than that of later generations, but the main reason should be that it cannot be produced domestically, so people are asking for prices. Not to mention KClO3, now China can't even produce refined salt that has been purified by removing impurities.

After figuring out the reason, Li Hui couldn't help but feel helpless, at this time, China was not inferior in one or two aspects, but backward in all aspects, and he had a lot of knowledge that was ahead of the times, but most of it was limited by insufficient objective conditions and it was difficult to apply it to practice

However, even if the price of KClO3 exceeds expectations, it is not as exaggerated as picric acid, and because the production process of KClO3 petroleum jelly explosives is far less complicated than that of military black powder, the final cost is still cheaper than military black powder, and considering the advantage of explosive power, it is still very practical. Therefore, Li Hui finally paid for some samples, but unfortunately there was no seller of aluminum powder in Tianjin, so the experiment of soil explosives could only be completed halfway for the time being

But even if it is only half, it is enough to make the Tianjin Machinery Bureau look at Li Hui again, after the KClO3 Vaseline explosives test explosion successfully caused a sensation in the overall situation, Li Hui then carried out the live ammunition test firing was not like before only a few people chatted and watched, and even the general office Pan Junde immediately rushed over after hearing the news.

Seeing that Li Hui was about to step forward to fire the cannon in person, Pan Junde, the general office who arrived in a hurry, hurriedly shouted to stop him, "Wait, don't fire the cannon yet!" ”

Only then did Li Hui find out that the general office had also come to the scene, and immediately left the 75mm Krupp camp gun used for the test, and returned to the edge of the test site to greet Pan Junde.

"Li Hui, you are a rare talent, how can you take the risk of testing the cannon yourself? In case of an accident, it will be a loss for the imperial court! Pan Junde waved his hand to signal Li Hui to excuse himself, while a veteran behind him walked to the camp cannon without waiting for an order.

Although Li Hui was very confident in this test gun, he would not go against the kindness of his boss, so he nodded right away.

With Pan Junde's order, the veteran pulled the cannon rope fiercely. Suddenly, there were two loud noises that were almost inseparable, and Pan Junde's face changed instantly, but when the smoke screen cleared, he saw that the cannon and the veteran were safe and sound, and his pale face was suddenly covered with joy, and the veteran who fired the cannon also pounced on the cannon body and knelt on the ground, shouting "Fourth" and "Lin'er" with a crying voice

Later, Li Hui learned that in the past ten years, in order to use cotton gunpowder as a cannonball charge, the Tianjin Machinery Bureau not only spent countless silver taels, but also paid the price of dozens of lives, and the veteran's younger brother and son died in the test cannon, no wonder he is so excited now. Li Hui also realized that even if the Tianjin Machinery Bureau was corrupt and inefficient in his eyes, the employees of the military industry were always more dedicated than other industries because of their great danger

After all, Pan Junde has been mixed in the officialdom for decades, and the city government is quite deep, so he quickly calmed down from his excitement, he looked at Li Hui with an appreciative look and said with a smile, "It seems that it is not an accident that smokeless drugs were developed before, if you can be born ten years early, it would be great!" ”