Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 64: Canal Transport Incident
Chongzhen hadn't finished his meal yet, but Prince Xiang had finished first and wiped his mouth, "My son, eat first. I'll go to the county magistrate.

"Huh? Why is father going there so early?" Chongzhen paused and couldn't help asking.

King Xiang smiled and said, "Some things have to be handed over. Although we have the face of the palace, we still have to hand them over, right?"

What Zhu Yiming was talking about were three pieces of information: "personal confession", "mutual agreement" and "affirmation".

The "personal confession" is equivalent to today's candidate information form, which contains all the information of three generations of grandparents and grandchildren, including name, age, place of origin, physique, appearance, etc.

"Mutual bonding" means finding five candidates taking the exam together and having them write a letter of commitment together, promising that if one of them cheats in the exam, all five will be held responsible.

The "guarantee" is a "guarantee" provided by the scholar of the county to prove that the candidate has a clean background. In fact, it is to prove that his ancestors were not actors, prostitutes, etc.

Zhu Yiming looked up at the sky and said, "Don't worry. There is a property up ahead that belongs to our family. It's not far from the examination hall. Father will be back soon. You should prepare well for the next five examinations."

There are five examinations, namely eight-legged essay, trial poetry, classics and commentary, regulated verse, and policy essay.

Chongzhen thought for a moment, "After this one, the next one will be the prefectural examination, which will be presided over by the prefect..."

Just as he finished speaking, he saw Zhu Yiming's face was a little strange, "Father, what's wrong?"

"It's okay. Father will be back soon." Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming left quickly with red eyes.

Looking at the back of Prince Xiang, Chongzhen was a little dazed. It was the maid Hongtao who said, "Last time, Luqi told me that the prince hoped that you would pass the imperial examination, but was afraid that you would not pass the imperial examination, so he said that it would be enough for you to pass the imperial examination."

Luqi was a maidservant beside Prince Xiang, and had a good relationship with Hongtao.

"Why is he afraid of my passing the high school? Juren, doesn't he want me to go further?"

"The Juren exam is a provincial exam, and it is still within the territory of the Xiangwang Mansion. If the Crown Prince wants to make further progress, he will have to leave the Xiangwang Mansion, and the Prince cannot leave the Xiangwang Mansion without a reason."

Chongzhen's hand holding the chopsticks paused for a moment. He immediately understood why Prince Xiang was so strange just now. Prince Xiang was afraid that his son would stay away and he couldn't be with him.

……

Zhu Changgan spent an hour in the Dibao Office in the morning.

The original official bulletin had no title, no fixed format, and no issue number. It included the emperor's daily life, words and deeds, imperial edicts, imperial decrees, laws, etc.

The emperor's daily life, words and deeds were deleted, leaving only imperial edicts, written decrees, laws, and the appointment, lifetime, dethronement, rewards and punishments of officials. The memorials from ministers and local governments were deleted, retaining occasional social news and anecdotes.

The biggest change is the addition of a title, a fixed format, and an issue number. The court bulletin was changed to the Ming Times, and the biggest change is its timeliness.

One copy per week. In case of occasional emergencies, they will be typeset and reprinted immediately.

All printing was switched to movable type, and the original hand-copying staff of the court bulletins were sent back to their original departments, and woodblock printmakers and printers were recruited instead.

In addition, Zhu Changgan went to the Military Equipment Department.

The improvement of the flintlock rifle was also something he had always been thinking about. If he wanted to solve the rotten sores of the Ming Dynasty, he must have a good knife. In Zhu Changgan's eyes, this sharp knife was cannons and bullets.

Zhu Changgan looked at the gunpowder being made by the craftsmen outside, his brows twisted into the shape of a "川" character, "Can't gunpowder be made by just mixing the materials like this?"

Everyone knows that gunpowder is a mixture of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulfur and charcoal. The soul of gunpowder is saltpeter, which is equivalent to "solid oxygen" and helps combustion; sulfur is a common flammable material; and charcoal makes combustion more gentle.

But knowing this does not mean that you can unleash its maximum power.

During the First Opium War, the British Army captured the Humen Fort and seized tens of thousands of kilograms of black gunpowder from the Qing Army. However, they believed that the powder was of inferior quality and could not be used, so they dumped it all into the sea.

The gunpowder used in the Ming Dynasty is also of this type, with a very high charcoal ratio. Its advantage is stability; its disadvantage is that it burns slowly and has low energy, so that some projectiles fall off just a few meters after leaving the barrel.

Zhu Changgan was anxious and angry. One thing he remembered was the chemical equation: the mass ratio of potassium nitrate 74.64%, sulfur 11.85%, and charcoal 13.51% is the basis for the most complete combustion of gunpowder.

But there was no way to explain this, so I could only say it in another way: "Song Sizheng, try mixing 75 parts of saltpeter, 10 parts of sulfur, and 15 parts of charcoal together to see how powerful it is."

In the Ming Dynasty, Song Yingxing's natural method was to improve the formula through a lot of practice. Zhu Changgan wiped some of the gunpowder that had already hardened and angrily scolded: "This won't work. There are too many impurities. Just crush the raw materials and mix them together. Before it is transported, the saltpeter powder sinks and hardens due to moisture. When it arrives on the battlefield, won't it harm the soldiers?"

"If the sulfur is impure, it has to be evaporated and recrystallized. If the saltpeter is impure, it also has to be dissolved and processed to extract pure crystals." Zhu Changgan thought of an idea.

"Grain of wheat" gunpowder.

This type of gunpowder is not only safe, but also helps the saltpeter solution penetrate into the porous structure of charcoal.

"Song Sizheng, we can't all focus on improving the musket. We also need to allocate some people to improve the gunpowder so that the power of the firearm can be maximized."

Then, Zhu Changgan discussed with them how to make wheat grain gunpowder turn purple.

When everyone heard this, they all fell into deep thought. The concept was new, but the good thing about them was that they were willing to try.

Soon, they added water to the mixed powder to make dough, then ground it into grain-sized pieces and sieved them to select the particles of the right size.

After loading a few rounds of paper shell ammunition, he came to the training ground.

Song Yingxing rolled up his sleeves and tried firing the gun himself. As he pulled the trigger, "Bang~"

After a puff of dust, the clerk in charge of reporting the target ran over and checked. "60 steps to the target!"

Song Yingxing's eyes suddenly shrank. Originally, at a distance of 60 steps, the bullet could only embed into it, but now it penetrated directly, which meant that the power was much greater than before.

He ran over, holding the bullet hole, and muttered to himself, "Why can it be improved so much just by making it into pellets?"

"This... is just like twigs are easier to burn than sawdust." Zhu Changgan gave an analogy, saying that particulate matter is often more than twice as efficient as powder in burning.

Song Yingxing's eyes suddenly brightened, "Your Majesty is wise, Your Majesty is the expert in this area... I will purify the saltpeter and sulfur and then conduct a test launch."

"I hope you can make stronger gunpowder as soon as possible." Zhu Changgan encouraged.

Compared with Europe, China's soil contains natural saltpeter, especially in some caves in Sichuan and Gansu, there are natural saltpeter caves. You only need to take soil, soak it in water, filter and boil it to get crystal clear saltpeter.

Even in the central and eastern regions, ancient people used wood ash solution to convert sodium nitrate in saline-alkali soil into potassium nitrate.

Instead of having to stare at the toilet every day like in Europe, fighting over a little saltpeter and getting bloody.

After returning from the Armory, before he even entered the Palace of Heavenly Purity, he heard the eunuch running over, "Your Majesty, the commander of the Imperial Guard, Li Ruolian wants to see you."

Zhu Changgan waved his hand and asked him to come in.
"What's the matter?"

Zhu Changgan's face was calm as he continued to think about the affairs of the civil service group.

"Your Majesty, the ship carrying grain encountered a flood...it sank!"

"How much did it sink?"

"Your Majesty, according to the spies' report, everything has sunk!" Li Ruolian almost lowered his head to the ground.

Zhu Changgan looked at the other person suddenly, his eyes like lightning, "All sunk?"

Almost 80 percent of the grain in the capital came from the canal. It can be said that every time something went wrong with the canal, it meant a surge in grain prices in the capital.

It also means that the people are suffering.

Li Ruo Lian clenched his fingers, "Your Majesty, there is one more thing. I think it may not be a coincidence that many grain stores in the capital have raised their grain prices at the same time today."

Zhu Changgan's eyes gleamed with a cold sword, "In other words, they knew about the trouble with the canal transport earlier than you, the commander of the Jinyiwei?"

……

(End of this chapter)