The rise of the prince

Chapter 691 Mercury fulminate

Outside the window, the sky was bright. After early autumn, the weather was getting colder and frosty in the morning. Li Xingzhou turned over and slowly opened his eyes. Gillian was leaning on his arm, sleeping soundly.

Li Xingzhou slowly withdrew his numb arm, the little girl was still sleeping soundly, she was too tired.

Gently opening the window, the morning breeze came oncoming, took a few breaths greedily, Li Xingzhou sat down slowly, he could finally relax with many things on his mind, so he could also do some things he likes.

Breathing the fresh air contentedly, after a while, in the small yard, the servants had already started to clean the fallen leaves, bent over and swept piles of brown and dark red fallen leaves in the corner, and then took them out of the courtyard with baskets made of bamboo.

Li Xingzhou watched them work quietly in the dark, feeling at ease.

The emperor allowed him to expand the new army, and everyone's rewards came down. Now at the beginning of September, wait for the middle of September, and when Di Zhi returns, all the rewards will come down together.

It can be said that there are many happy events. On the other hand, the Wangfu ship has dismantled the battle-style guns and put it back into business. In addition, several large ships have been launched successively. Now the number of Wangfu Dingnan class ships has increased to 18.

In addition, Zhao Si's new cannon has been tested in actual combat, proving that its firepower, accuracy, and range have increased exponentially. In late August, two second-generation steam engines were put into use. There was already enough energy to start producing this new cannon. Replace new army equipment.

Zhao Si, Wei Yubai, Shen Lin and others were impatient to submit this application, but Li Xingzhou temporarily rejected it because he was ready to complete it in one step.

His so-called one-step solution is to completely solve the problem of the primer of bullets and shells.

Although Zhao Si relied on the progress of the processing technology of the steam engine and changed the cannon into a rear-mounted, rifled cannon and cylindrical ammunition with his own design, the excitation method is still very old, and the rear-opening door is like a 1080ti The Pentium processor is installed on my computer. This limitation greatly affects the performance of the new artillery.

Therefore, the innovation of cannonball or bullet launching methods is still imminent, especially when the second-generation steam engine is available and the processing technology of Wangfu has improved to a higher level.

The sun has just risen, and in the small courtyard, Yueer is taking care of their flower beds, and Qiuer is writing and drawing on new drawings, probably improving her steam engine.

Li Xingzhou was lazily lying on the chair, and Shiyu was talking to him. He could vaguely hear voices outside. It was the workers in the front yard who were restoring the gate, wall and yard that were shattered by the war that day. It was refreshing when it was bombed. , but in just a short while, according to Fang's eight shells, it can be repaired as a big project.

"The saltpeter has been found. There is a saltpeter mine in Bozhou near Yingtianfu. The workers have visited it. The mine is very large and produces a lot. I have already paid for it to be bought. In addition, there are merchants in Suzhou, Mizhou and other places. , There are saltpeter deposits in the local area, but they have not been mined. People usually dig some and use them as medicinal stones, so do you want to buy them?" Shiyu asked while flipping through a booklet.

"Buy, this thing will only be in short supply in the future." Li Xingzhou said decisively: "After buying it, you can send people there to recruit local workers to mine it, then transport it back by water, and store it in the raw material warehouse in the back mountain."

Shiyu glanced at him, as if she didn't understand why he wanted so much saltpeter, but she nodded and wrote it down without asking.

Saltpeter is not only used to make black powder, but also the main material for making nitric acid. Nowadays, there is no modern industrial method, so we can only use the old method to make nitric acid.

Why nitric acid, because nitric acid is the real god of war!A weapon that changes the rules of war.

Mercury fulminate, which makes firearms go to a higher level, and nitroglycerin, which makes Thor roar, are inseparable from nitric acid. Under the current conditions, Li Xingzhou only sees one way to get nitric acid, and that is saltpeter.

"As for the caustic soda, Wang Fu has been buying it from businessmen in Xijing and Jiangzhou. Some people have reported several mines to us. Do you want to buy it?" Shiyu continued to ask.

Li Xingzhou shook his head: "That's not necessary, we do business together, and we will buy them when they open." Shiyu nodded, and then wrote it down.

Alkali is not a strategic resource like graphite ore and saltpeter, and it is widely distributed. Even if the merchant stops supplying it, it will not affect the overall situation.

"There is also a lime factory." Shiyu said: "The cement factory moved to the other side of the river. There is a large piece of limestone. It was after you took the lead in building a concrete building for the craftsmen in the mansion."

Li Xingzhou was taken aback, and then thought, yes, he is a big celebrity now, the so-called celebrity effect works from top to bottom, he might be able to take advantage of it, everyone instinctively resists new things like cement, but if he takes the lead in using it, slowly It can cause a trend.

Thinking of this, he stretched out his hand to draw Shiyu, sat on his lap, and discussed: "Why don't the gates be restored, let's rebuild them with cement, and there are two walls."

Shiyu thought for a while: "It's up to you, this is your palace."

"By the way, do you know someone who produces cinnabar?" Li Xingzhou asked.

Shiyu nodded, then curious: "You don't know, Tang family, the head of the three divisions of the court, the Department of the Household Department, the household department envoy Tang Zhou as an adult, his family's biggest business is the cinnabar business, and the Tang family controls it. It took more than ten generations for the largest cinnabar mine to become the largest family in the Jingdong area."

Li Xingzhou smiled, and hugged her slender waist tightly: "You even know this, you are really a caring little padded jacket."

Shiyu blushed, and quietly glanced at A-Jiao and Yue'er in the distance, and felt relieved when she saw that they were not looking this way.

"Then do they burn mercury?" Li Xingzhou asked.

"Burn?" Shiyu was surprised: "I heard that they are all steamed."

Li Xingzhou nodded. He actually didn't understand the specific process, but the so-called cinnabar is natural mercury sulfide, which has many functions. In ancient times, no matter the East or the West, there were many studies on it, because it can dissolve various metals. Iron, gold and silver can all be dissolved by it, so western alchemists also believed that everything in the world is composed of mercury.

The widow Qing, the richest woman in the Qin Dynasty, became the richest man by relying on the cinnabar business. When Qin Shihuang built his own mausoleum, he also "used mercury as the river and sea".

Mercury is obtained from the processing of mercury sulfide, that is, cinnabar.

The bright and beautiful color of cinnabar has been used as dyes and cosmetics for a long time.

Mercury produced from cinnabar can be used to plate gold and silver on bronze wares. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, there were a large number of beautiful cultural relics plated with gold and silver. Moreover, mercury can be used to "polish mirrors" to restore the brightness of copper mirrors.

After the Han Dynasty, alchemy, alchemy, and medicine were everywhere. Of course, Li Xingzhou did not ask for alchemy, and even if he did, he would not dare to eat it. Mercury is a heavy metal. They use cinnabar to make up.

(End of this chapter)