The last three kingdoms

Chapter 482

Just when there was a gleam of light outside the window, there was a deep shout: "Young master——"

Liu Yin usually sleeps very lightly, and any disturbance can wake him up. When the shouts outside the window sounded, Liu Yin woke up immediately, and he could hear that it was A Jian's voice.Generally speaking, unless there is something urgent, Jian will not bother him during this time.

Liu Yin glanced at Wei Xuewu. She was sleeping soundly. Liu Yin carefully pulled out his arm and covered her with a thin quilt. After getting dressed, he opened the door. A Jian was already waiting outside the door. Liu Yin Yin said in a deep voice, "What's the hurry?"

A Jian's face was serious, and he reported to Liu Yin: "Young master, something happened at the gunpowder workshop."

Liu Yin was startled when he heard about Gunpowder Workshop.After arriving in Longxi last year, the gunpowder workshop was placed in Tianshui. After capturing Chang'an, Liu Yin decided to move the gunpowder workshop to Baling for the convenience of management.

It is really difficult to prevent others from copying and imitating low-tech inventions such as Takahashi's saddle and double-sided stirrups. After all, those things are placed there, and people may imitate them at a glance. May not be found and imitated by opponents.

But gunpowder is different. If you don’t know the formula and production process, even if you get the real gunpowder, it’s useless. Since the city wall of Chang’an was blown down with gunpowder, it is no longer a secret that the Shu army has gunpowder weapons. Yes, it was far more than a shock. Liu Yin believed that what Sima Zhao wanted to do now was the formula and production process of gunpowder. Once the gunpowder weapon was mastered by Wei, the advantage of the Shu army would disappear.

Therefore, Liu Yin has always attached great importance to the safety and security of the gunpowder workshop. Whether it is on the way to march or to set up a workshop in Tianshui, the guards are extremely strict, and will not leave any chance for Wei Guo's spies. But it never occurred to him that something happened just after the gunpowder workshop moved to Baling.

"What happened?" Liu Yin asked in a deep voice.

A Jian reported: "Last night, my subordinates suddenly received a report from Ding Hu, the guard in charge of the gunpowder workshop, saying that a craftsman was lost in the gunpowder workshop. The subordinates rushed to the workshop immediately to find out the missing craftsman." His name is Xu Hong, the number of the workshop is No. 36, and he is in charge of the batching process. Xu Hong is an old craftsman. He has joined the Gunpowder Workshop since its establishment. His family is now in Nanzhong, and he may defect. It's not big, but it doesn't rule out the possibility of being lured by Wei Guoxie's bewitching and profiting, or being held hostage. The subordinates immediately led people to search and arrest, and mobilized the troops stationed in Baling to block off the road leading to the outside world. All the way. Fortunately, they did not escape too far, and the subordinates led people to intercept them at Qilipu in the south of the city. There were three secret agents of Wei Guo who assisted Xu Hong in fleeing. Two of them were killed on the spot and one was captured alive. It has been silenced by them."

There are no more than three ways for Wei Guo spies to obtain gunpowder technology. The first is to steal gunpowder formulas and process drawings.It is the most direct and effective method. Once Wei Guo masters the formula and production process of gunpowder, he can imitate gunpowder of the same quality in a very short period of time.However, the formula and technical drawings of gunpowder are the most top-secret things, that is, except for Liu Yin and some senior managers of gunpowder workshops who can read them, ordinary people cannot have access to this core secret.This also determines that it is extremely difficult for Wei Guo's spies to start.

The second is to obtain gunpowder in kind.After the gunpowder is produced, it needs to be equipped in the army, so the difficulty of prevention is greatly increased. Compared with stealing the blueprints, Wei Guo's spies can start from the production, transportation and equipment. The chances are undoubtedly great.However, Liu Yin is not too worried about Wei Guo's acquisition of real gunpowder. Due to the current technological level, even if gunpowder is really put in front of the eyes of Wei Guoren, they may not be able to imitate gunpowder according to the gourd. Only strict formula ratios are required. It is only through the technical process that powerful gunpowder can be produced. The production of gunpowder is far from being as simple as one sulfur, two nitrates and three charcoals. What's more, the people of Wei state have no ability to distinguish the compatibility of several raw materials in gunpowder.

Then the last way to obtain gunpowder technology is to kidnap the craftsmen who produce gunpowder.Since gunpowder is an assembly line production operation, the craftsmen of each process can only master the technology of this process. In order to prevent leakage of secrets, the various processes are not connected to each other. The gunpowder workshop internally stipulates that any craftsman can only be limited to the scope of this process It is strictly forbidden to peep and secretly learn other techniques. Once discovered, depending on the seriousness of the circumstances, they will be severely punished, ranging from flogging to death.Under the strict management inside the workshop, each craftsman can only master one process proficiently, but knows nothing about the other processes. In the hands of spies, it is not possible to leak the entire process, unless Wei Guo spies can capture the craftsmen on each production line.

And this is almost impossible. The gunpowder workshop has stricter control over the craftsmen, even stricter than the prisoners in the prison. All craftsmen can enjoy better living conditions than prisoners and can get high salary. Salary is completely deprived of freedom, except for the craftsmen between the same processes, they cannot contact anyone.

The escape of craftsmen this time was entirely an accident. Since the entire gunpowder workshop had just been relocated, there were inevitably some omissions in management, so that it was infiltrated by Wei Guo spies.Fortunately, Ah Jian made up for it in time. Although it eventually led to the death of the fugitive craftsman, it was already a lucky thing that he did not fall into the hands of the State of Wei.

Although it is impossible for a single craftsman to leak the gunpowder formula and the complete set of craftsmanship, if this craftsman falls into the hands of the Wei State, it will definitely allow the Wei State to master part of the core technology. There are countless skilled craftsmen in the Wei State, although there may not be another one. A genius like Ma Jun has great strength in numbers, so it is not surprising that he draws inferences from one instance and finally produces gunpowder.

This incident undoubtedly puts a severe test on the defense system of the Gunpowder Workshop, and it is inevitable that one hundred secrets will be neglected, but often this omission is fatal. How to better improve the security of the Gunpowder Workshop is an urgent task. Solve the problem without delay.

"Go, go and see this captured spy." Liu Yin said.

(End of this chapter)