Wu Zhi has a grand plan in mind, he wants to increase the variety of goods on the basis of the champion series of wines, such as making soap and soap, making skin care products, making perfumes, etc., and when the funds are abundant, he will also experiment with manufacturing building materials such as cement, plan to start blast furnaces to make steel, engage in transportation, and develop some new weapons such as guns. At the same time, make some more bamboo grenades to pop out in case you need them!

Wu Zhi's business territory should be multi-industry at the same time, champion series of wine, daily necessities, high-end perfume and skin care products, building materials, special steel, logistics, and even munitions, are all businesses in his territory, and he hopes to establish his own powerful business empire to escort his plan to change his life.

He doesn't want to produce soap and skin care products himself, so he can pull some people to join him, such as Pan Weijun and so on. But he doesn't want to fake the perfume, he has to make it himself, because the production of perfume requires a large amount of high-purity alcohol, and high-purity alcohol is the most powerful secret money-making weapon in his hands at present, and he must keep this secret and not leak it! Therefore, the production of perfume can only be operated by him. Moreover, the sales of perfumes are all high-end people, the price is high, and the audience is relatively small, so the production of perfume will not be very large.

Wu Zhi has designed and customized a batch of small and delicate perfume bottles with Wu Gang, and after continuous experimentation, he has made some rose perfumes, musk perfumes, clove perfumes, magnolia perfumes and jasmine perfumes, but the intensity of the fragrance has not yet met his requirements, and it needs to be constantly improved. Osmanthus perfume is Wu Zhi's favorite, but because the season is not enough, the osmanthus has not yet bloomed, and without osmanthus as a raw material, he was not able to make it, and he can only wait until the golden autumn osmanthus is in full bloom to make it, which is a bit of a pity. He can entrust some trading houses to buy these raw materials for making perfumes, and the raw materials are not a problem.

As for arms, all Wu Zhi can have at the moment is bamboo grenades. New weapons such as bamboo grenades are the most powerful guarantee for him to gain a foothold in this coming troubled era, and he will rely on these new weapons to turn the situation around and restore peace to the world. If he wants to establish his heart for heaven and earth, establish his life for the people, continue his studies for the saints, and open peace for all generations, he can only use some unconventional means.

But now he can't blatantly engage in arms and weapons, the division is unknown, and it can't be done secretly, if it is discovered by the imperial court, it will be a matter of criminal accomplice who will lose his head!

Although he could not make new weapons yet, he could first make a large number of new gunpowder needed to make bamboo grenades, and prepare for a rainy day in case of need. Now that he has a lot of money in his hands, he can completely start the preliminary work of planning and implementing the arms program, that is, he must first extract high-purity potassium nitrate from saltpeter in large quantities, which is an important raw material for his new gunpowder, and must be hoarded in large quantities and be prepared.

As soon as he said it, Wu Zhi found the carpentry masons who had built a brewery and distillery for him last time, and asked them to build two large sheds in the small garden, one shed was ready to be used to stack saltpeter, and one shed was prepared to build four large stoves, each of which placed a large iron pot, prepared to make twenty filter racks, fixed a large filter cloth, and also prepared a low cool platform and more than 20 round wooden long stirring rods, and then purchased more than 20 large ceramic tanks, ready to be used for refining saltpeter to make potassium nitrate.

These people worked together to build the shed that Wu Zhi wanted in less than five days, and got everything Wu Zhi wanted, such as the large stove, filter rack, cooling platform, and stirring rod.

Wu Zhi was very satisfied, and after completing the work, he paid everyone twice the salary, which made them overjoyed.

Everything is ready, only the east wind is owed, and the source of saltpeter is a bit of a headache.

Qingyang counties in Hebei Province are rich in saltpeter, but unfortunately it is too far away, and the water cannot quench the thirst of the near. It is best to find saltpeter near Kaifeng Province, close to it and easy to transport.

After many inquiries, Wu Zhi finally learned that Zhengzhou Nitrate Beach is rich in saltpeter, which is more than 130 miles away from Bianliang, Tokyo, and is located in the territory of Zhengzhou Zhizhi Guancheng County, Jingdong Road, which is more than 130 miles away from Bianliang, Tokyo. So, Wu Zhi assigned Qian Mancang to take the Caoyun Company's own big ship to Zhengzhou Nitrate Beach to buy 50,000 catties of saltpeter, and emphasized that the purchase must be real nitting, that is, the kind of saltpeter that can be violently burned without melting in the fire. The unit price of fire and ammunition was 20 yuan per catty, and he gave Qian Mancang 1,200 yuan as the purchase capital and the round-trip expenses of the crew.

Sulfur was produced in the iron-making workshops around Bianliang City, because at that time, almost all of the northern Song Dynasty used pyrite to smelt iron, and sulfur was a by-product, and it was available everywhere in Weishi County. Charcoal can also be bought anywhere and at any time in the hands of charcoal burners in Weishi County. Grass ash can also be purchased from farmers in Weishi County, and then burned into ashes.

Wu Zhi instructed Dahu and Erhu to buy 3,000 catties of sulfur from the iron-smelting workshops around Bianliang City, 3,000 catties of charcoal from the charcoal burners in Weishi County, and then buy a large amount of wheat straw from farmers at low prices in Weishi County, hire people to burn the wheat straw into ashes, and then bag it and transport it home. A pound of sulfur costs ten cents; Charcoal is slightly more expensive, costing 20 yuan per catty; More than 50,000 catties of wheat straw burned more than 5,000 catties of plant ash, and it cost more than 10,000 yuan. At the same time, according to Wu Zhi's requirements, the two bought 1,500 catties of fir wood chips, more than 800 catties of alum, and more than 500 sacks at a low price. These materials cost only about 160 yuan.

Six days later, the big ship of Caoyun Company, led by Qian Mancang, brought back 50,000 catties of saltpeter. Wu Zhi took out a sample and threw it into the fire, and instead of turning the saltpeter into water, the fire burned more violently, and Wu Zhi knew that it was really fire nitrate. So, Wu Zhi instructed the employees and servants of the Caoyun Company to carry bags of saltpeter off the ship and load them into ox carts or horse-drawn carts, and pull them one by one to the big shed in the small garden and pile them up. Five hundred bags of saltpeter were pulled home for a long time, and the grand scene of a car passing through the street made pedestrians on both sides of the street stop and watch, and there was a lot of discussion.

In order to make it easier for the car to enter, Wu Zhi demolished the back door of his house and paved the road to the greenhouse!

Everyone was amazed by Wu Zhi's operation, and looking at the mountains of bags in the greenhouse, they were even more puzzled and full of curiosity.

Wu Zhi instructed Wu Xiu to find fifty short-term laborers, and asked them to pound and grind the five hundred bags of saltpeter separately, sieve them separately, and then put them in bags and put them on a mark; Then they were asked to divide the ashes into 500 equal parts, grind them finely and sieve them to remove impurities, and then put them in bags and mark them in turn. They also helped to mash the sulphur and charcoal into powder, which was bagged for later use.

After completing these chores, Wu Zhi paid the fifty day workers double their wages, because Wu Zhi required them to complete the work in one day, and the workload was still quite large, except for a little delay during lunch and dinner, they were all rushing to work non-stop until it was dark. Everyone was very happy to get double the salary, and they were still complaining about being squeezed by Wu Zhi, but they disappeared all of a sudden, and they were ecstatic, and they all said that if there was still this kind of work in the future, they would try to find them to do it, and they would do it better for him.

After the short-term workers left with their wages and a smile on their faces, Wu Zhi finally breathed a sigh of relief, these chores were more heavy, and he would not arrange for his family to do them.

The reason why it is divided into five hundred equal parts, Wu Zhi feels that it is still feasible to refine a hundred catties of saltpeter per person each time, twice a day, ten people can purify two thousand catties a day. He can be divided into ten large open ceramic cylinders, each cylinder is no problem to make a hundred catties, and it is not so laborious to stir, Xiao'e and Liu Yue can complete it. Afraid of leaking secrets, he is ready to use his family to help complete the refining process, and he can't pretend to be outsiders.

Wu Zhi did it himself, commanding everyone to purify potassium nitrate according to his experience and experience in purifying potassium nitrate in his hometown in Enzhou, and taught them to purify it hand in hand.

Wu Zhi and the others were very happy and full of a sense of accomplishment when they saw a large amount of potassium nitrate that seemed to be as bright as refined salt. Everyone asked curiously what this was, and in the face of their inquiry, Wu Zhi only said that it was the new fire nitrate, and they all believed it!

After mobilizing everyone to grind the prepared potassium nitrate into powder, Wu Zhi also fried nitrate. In order to be safe when frying nitrate, Wu Zhi only left the big tiger and the second tiger to help, and carefully fried almost four pots on low heat before the refined more than 100 catties of potassium nitrate were fried.

After frying nitrate, Wu Zhi according to the previous potassium nitrate 74.5 percent, sulfur 12 percent, charcoal and fir powder 13.5 percent of the best composition ratio, calculate the dosage on paper, weigh a small handful with a scale, mix into a small portion, after the ignition test, found that its deflagration effect is good, and the previous is almost the same, so according to the best composition ratio respectively weighing and sampling, all the fried potassium nitrate powder and weighed good sulfur powder, charcoal powder fully stirred and mixed, add an appropriate amount of low-alcohol wine and mix wellAfter drying, put it into a dry and clean jar, seal the mouth of the altar, move it into the empty utility room for storage, and lock it, Wu Zhi told no one to approach and touch them without authorization.

After this experience, the progress of refining and purifying potassium nitrate was accelerated, and it took more than 20 days for everyone to refine and purify all the saltpeter into pure potassium nitrate and grind all into powder. Wu Zhi led the big tiger and the second tiger to fry them all, and then mixed them with sulfur powder and charcoal powder one by one according to the best ratio to make gunpowder, added low-alcohol liquor and mixed well, wet milled and sieved to make granular gunpowder, and then put it into the jar after drying, and preserved one by one.

More than 11,000 catties of granular new gunpowder was born in Wu Zhi's hands. He sealed them all and stored them in the utility room, and did some necessary fire and moisture prevention measures, locked them, and put a seal on the door, and wrote the four big words "strictly prohibit fireworks" on the door, and the key Wu Zhi kept it with him. At the same time, Wu Zhi solemnly warned everyone in the family not to use fire in and around the utility room, and to pay attention to safety!

That's a huge powder magazine! If it is not properly managed, it can be devastating if there is a safety incident. Therefore, Wu Zhi had to be cautious and meticulously do a good job of safety precautions.

As for how to make the new bomb, after a slow study, it is estimated that there is still a lot of room for improvement in the bamboo grenade, not only the material of the bomb body needs to be improved, but also the gunpowder lead also needs to be improved. Now that alcohol is 95 degrees instead of water, making gunpowder leads much easier and easier.

Taking precautions, Wu Zhi still hired someone, spent some money to quietly prepare hundreds of sun-dried bamboo tubes for him, and after drying, he filled hundreds of bamboo grenades, and then found a remote and uninhabited place, and after passing the inspection, he strictly stored them for later use. At the same time, he also prepared and sealed other materials such as leads, waste paper, and maw glue.

After preparing these things, Wu Zhi felt a lot more down-to-earth and full of confidence.