On this day, after getting off the court, Ran Min changed into a regular suit and secretly went to the crypt where he was hiding in the shadows in the past.

In this crypt, there are only thirty or fifty people, but everyone is wearing the clothes of ordinary people, and no matter how bad it is, they are wearing Taoist robes, fairy wind and bones.

Taoist?

Why did Ran Min find these people to come to this crypt?

"Mr. Ge Hong, how is the gunpowder refined?"

That's right, Ran Min came to these Taoist priests and alchemists to refine gunpowder.

Gunpowder was invented by the Chinese. The study of gunpowder began in ancient alchemy.

Huaxia was the first country to invent gunpowder, and in the Sui Dynasty, the three-element system of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal gunpowder was born. Black gunpowder officially appeared in the late Tang Dynasty (late 9th century).

Gunpowder was invented by ancient alchemists, from the Warring States period to the early Han Dynasty, the emperors and nobles indulged in the fantasy of immortality, and drove some monks and Taoists to refine the "elixir", and gradually invented the formula of gunpowder in the refining process.

There is a story in "Taiping Guangji", which tells that in the early years of the Sui Dynasty, a man named Du Chunzi went to visit an old alchemist.

Stayed there that night.

In the middle of the night, Du Chunzi woke up from a dream and saw "purple smoke penetrating the house" in the alchemy furnace, and the house immediately burned. This may be the alchemist's negligence in dispensing flammable drugs and causing the fire.

There is also an alchemy book called "The Essentials of the True Yuan Wonderful Path" that also talks about the use of sulfur, saltpeter, realgar and honey to make alchemy and catch fire, and the fire burned people's faces and hands, and even went straight to the roof, burning the house.

The book admonishes alchemists to prevent such accidents from happening. This shows that the alchemists of the Tang Dynasty had mastered a very important experience, that is, sulfur, nitrate, and carbon can constitute an extremely flammable medicine, which is called "fire medicine", that is, gunpowder. New Bayi m.x81zw

Since the invention of gunpowder came from the process of making pills and dispensing medicines, after the invention of gunpowder, it was used as medicine. In the "Compendium of Materia Medica", it is mentioned that gunpowder can cure sores and ringworms, kill insects, and dispel dampness and plague.

Gunpowder could not solve the problem of immortality, and it was easy to catch fire, so the alchemists were not interested in him. The formula of gunpowder was transferred from alchemists to military experts, and it became black gunpowder, one of the four great inventions of ancient China.

"What do you mean by that?"

"In the course of our research, we added two taels of sulfur, two taels of nitrate, and three and a half cents of aristolochia. The right is the end, mix well. Dig a pit and put the medicine in the tank and the ground. Put the cooked fire together, the marble is large, put it inside, and the smoke gradually rises. This shows that sulfur, saltstone and charcoal do have a burning effect, but they do not have the effect of blasting, as you said. ”

Hearing this, Ran Min bowed his head slightly and said, "Well, you can develop combustible gunpowder in such a short period of time, and the widow is already very pleased." You can try to refine it with other substances. As few people know, gunpowder made from a mixture of potassium nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal powder is called black powder or brown powder. ”

"The mixture is extremely flammable and burns quite violently. An explosion occurs if the gunpowder burns in a closed container. When gunpowder is burned, it can produce large amounts of gas (nitrogen, carbon dioxide) and heat. The volume of gunpowder, which was originally a small solid one, suddenly expands and soars to several thousand times, at which point the container explodes. ”

"This is the explosive performance of gunpowder!"

Hearing these words, Ge Hong and Tao Yong couldn't help but glance at each other, and they both showed thoughtful expressions.

"Why is the king so knowledgeable?" Ge Hong couldn't help but be curious.

Ran Min said: "It's not that the widow is knowledgeable, but fate!" One day, the widow's soul traveled outside the world, and a fairy family taught this method, the widow saw with his own eyes, this thing has the ability to open mountains and break stones, and used as a weapon, gunpowder attacked, the sound was like thunder, the heat reached more than half an acre, people and cowhides were broken and there was no trace, and the iron was penetrated! Ranked, it is conceivable that with such a divine object, wouldn't it be just around the corner for the few to dominate the world? ”

"King Shengming!" Everyone bowed down.

Originally, Ge Hong and Tao Yong didn't understand why Ran Min asked them to develop gunpowder here. Now it seems that this is indeed excusable!

Ran Min coaxed and deceived them even after a while, coercing and luring them to gather here, just to mash out such a thing as gunpowder, and once the power of gunpowder is really as great as Ran Min said, it is conceivable that this kind of gunpowder can only become the exclusive weapon of Wei State, and cannot be known to outsiders!

The so-called secret weapon is because of the secret can play a huge role at a critical moment!

Since Ge Hong and the others arrived here, they have almost lived a dark life, as if they were under house arrest, and their personal freedom has been restricted. Of course, the reason why they didn't run away was because they couldn't run away, because within a radius of a hundred miles, there were Ran Min's people everywhere, and there were soldiers and prisoners nearby who were guarding them!

However, the treatment given by Ran Min is indeed good, each of them can receive 100 yuan of money every month, which can ensure that their wives and children have no worries about food and clothing.

It's not that no one among them has ever thought about running away, but the price is too great, not only to take their own lives, but also to bury their whole family!

Ge Hong and Tao Yong, the two top alchemists in the world, were placed here, and the impact can be imagined.

Tao Yong didn't say it, he and Ran Min were old acquaintances and knew the roots, but this Ge Hong was really unusual.

Ge Hong was a Taoist scholar of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, a famous alchemist, and a medical scientist.

Ge Hong's name is Zhichuan, self-named Baopuzi, Han nationality, Jurong County, Danyang County, Jin Dynasty (now Jurong County, Jiangsu). The grandnephew of Ge Xuan, a scholar of the Three Kingdoms, is known as the little fairy Weng.

He was once named the Marquis of Guannei, and later lived in seclusion in Luofu Mountain for alchemy.

Ge Hong was a famous doctor of this era and a mediator of preventive medicine. He is the author of "Behind the Elbow", which was the first to record the symptoms and diagnosis and treatment of some infectious diseases such as smallpox and scrub typhus. "Tianxing Spotted Sores" is the earliest record of smallpox in the world.

He also has a lot of experience in alchemy, and the Danshu "Bao Puzi Inner Chapter" specifically describes the knowledge of chemistry in many aspects such as refining gold and silver pills, and also introduces many material properties and material changes.

For example, "Dansha is burned into mercury, and the accumulation is changed and returned to Dansha", which means that red mercury sulfide (Dansha) is heated to decompose mercury, and mercury can be added to sulfur to produce black mercury sulfide, which then becomes red mercury sulfide. The reversibility of chemical reactions is described.

Therefore, with Ge Hong's help, I believe that it is not difficult to refine a certain proportion of gunpowder!

So how did Ge Hong come to Wei?

In the second year of Xianhe (327), Ge Hong heard that Dansha was produced in Jiaozhi, and asked to be appointed as the commander of Goukou (now Beiliu County, Guangxi). With the emperor's permission, he traveled south to take up his post, passing through Guangzhou, where he met with Deng Yue. Deng told Ge: Luofu Mountain under its jurisdiction is known as the Immortal Cave Mansion, and it is said that the Qin Dynasty was born in this mountain to eat nine sections of calamus, and the feather ascended to heaven. Deng Yue expressed his willingness to provide him with raw materials for alchemy here, and Ge decided to suspend his trip to the post and lived in seclusion in Luofu Mountain from then on.

In the meantime, Deng Yue planned to appoint Ge Hong as the Taishou of Dongguan, but Ge could not resign. He built a southern nunnery in front of Zhumyeongdong, practiced alchemy, and wrote books and lectures.

Because of the scholars and the public, the east and west and north three nunnery were added (East Nunnery Nine Heavenly Temple, West Nunnery Huanglong Temple, North Nunnery Crispy Mash Temple).

Ge Hong traveled south to Guangzhou, which was left by Deng Yue, the assassin, and stopped at Luofu Mountain for alchemy. In the mountain accumulation year, you travel and recuperate, and you never stop.

And Ran Min sent people south to tie up Ge Hong's wife and children to Yecheng. Ge Hong had to give in, but when he learned of Ran Min's great ambitions, Ge Hong decided to help him!

Ran Min said again: "Everyone, the refining of gunpowder has not yet been successful, and you still need to work hard!" The refining of gunpowder is very important to our Great Wei State, and it is very important to the people of Li under the world! The widow promises that as long as the gunpowder comes out, you and others will be the heroes of our Great Wei Kingdom, and you can seal your wife and son, and enjoy endless glory and wealth! ”

"Thank you, King!"

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Chapter 0353: Gunpowder