The last three kingdoms

Chapter 98 Pandora's Box
After the purification of raw materials is completed, the next steps are crushing, mixing, pressing, drying and other processes.There are two forms of gunpowder, one is in powder form and the other is in granular form. The gunpowder used to make ignition signals and the like is in powder form, and the gunpowder with high explosive power is all in granular form.Due to the gaps between the particles of granular gunpowder, it can deflagrate rapidly after ignition, releasing a large amount of chemical energy.The smaller, more uniform and denser the particles, the greater the explosive power of the gunpowder.

This is the case in theory, but in practice, Liu Yin found it very difficult. After all, there is no experience to follow in this area. Fortunately, Liu Yin had read Qi Jiguang's "Jixiao Xinshu" in the Ming Dynasty before, and the gunpowder granulation contained in it was very difficult. The method is still fresh in my memory.That is to mix the nitrosulfuric charcoal in proportion and grind it repeatedly many times to make it into a fine powder.Add an appropriate amount of water or shochu for a second pounding to make a mud.After being dried in the shade, crushed and sieved, the finished granular gunpowder can be obtained. The sieve hole sizes are different, and the obtained gunpowder is also used for different firearms.

A large stone mill is used for crushing, pulled by horses or mules. The purified sulfur, saltpeter, and paulownia charcoal are ground into powders with stone mills. After screening and processing, the three powdery raw materials are sent to the mixing room.

In the mixing room, the three raw materials are strictly mixed together in proportion, and the powdered gunpowder used as fuse and fuze is directly sent to the drying room for drying.The gunpowder for granulation processing is mixed with a certain amount of alcohol to make a paste, and after drying in the shade, it is sent to the stone mill again.The stone mill for secondary processing is different from the stone mill for primary crushing. The stone mill for primary crushing is smooth and flat, while the secondary stone mill has thread-like grooves engraved on the mill. Through rolling, denser particles can be obtained.Finally, through screening, the finished granules with the same size are selected, and the unqualified granules will be sent back to the stone mill for further processing.

High-purity alcohol has less water content, not to mention that alcohol itself is also a kind of flammable substance. Liu Yin chose high-purity alcohol instead of mixing with water, which can greatly reduce the water content of gunpowder.

However, it is not easy to obtain alcohol. The rice wine that people in the Han Dynasty drank was fermented wine, which was relatively turbid and low in alcohol content. It would not be a problem for a good drinker to drink a stone at a time.If you want to obtain high-purity alcohol, you must use distillation to make wine. Liu Yin improved the wine-making method to produce clear and transparent distilled wine, and carried out secondary purification to reach more than [-] degrees. Such alcohol It is barely qualified.

One time, Zhang Le came to the brewery by accident, smelling the intoxicating aroma of the wine, and couldn't help but take a scoop to taste it. Although the wine he drank had not been purified twice, it was still the puree close to [-] degrees. Zhang Le I just treated it as ordinary white wine, ate it refreshingly, drank it to the point of drunkenness, and stayed drunk for a whole day before waking up.

Afterwards, Zhang Le was secretly surprised, and said to Liu Yin: "Brother, what kind of wine did you make? It has such a strong stamina. I don't get drunk after a thousand glasses of wine on weekdays. I just drank a spoonful of your wine and became unconscious. .”

Liu Yin couldn't help but wry smile, this is high-alcohol liquor, can it be very different from the current low-alcohol rice wine?

But Zhang Le didn't want to finish it. He even claimed that Liu Yin brewed the best wine in the world. If he produced it in large quantities, he would really get rich.

Regarding this, Liu Yin was noncommittal. If it caught up with the peaceful and prosperous times, it would be a good way to get rich, but at the beginning of the troubled times, life is almost lost, and if you go to brew wine, isn't it enough to eat?The most urgent task now is to fiddle with the gunpowder, so that he can have a better chance of winning in the Yinping blockade.

The final process is drying, which is also the most critical step in the production of gunpowder. Moisture is the fatal problem of gunpowder, and wet gunpowder is almost impossible to ignite.The drying room is very narrow and long, with hollow sandwich walls on both sides, ten fire channels on the left and right, and vents on the top, and six large round holes dug on the left and right walls. Liu Yin designed a hand crank for it. fan.After the fire is fired, the temperature in the drying room can be raised to over [-] degrees. With the effect of the hand-operated fan, the granular gunpowder sent to the drying room can quickly reach the required dryness.

At the end of the drying room is the packaging room. The dried granular gunpowder is put into a special wooden barrel. The inner wall of the wooden barrel is covered with oil paper, and the bottom is placed with quicklime, so that it can effectively prevent moisture.

Even if the production of gunpowder is placed in later generations, it is still a high-risk industry. A little carelessness can cause devastating accidents. When Liu Yin founded the gunpowder workshop, he put safety production at the top of the list and formulated safety production guidelines. Ten regulations, and all craftsmen are required to fully comply with the production regulations.

In each production room, in addition to the craftsmen, Liu Yin also appointed several management personnel, who were servants of the Anping Palace, to inspect the production rooms, and if any operations that did not comply with the regulations were found, they would be severely punished immediately.

In terms of safe production, Liu Yin will never be merciless, and the consequences of any numbness will be immeasurable, because he knows very well that gunpowder production is by no means a joke, and a few whips on the craftsmen will not kill him However, once an accident occurs, not only the craftsman who committed the accident, but even the craftsmen and supervisors in the entire operation room will be destroyed. For their safety, an iron-fisted policy is inevitable.

Fortunately, these craftsmen are of low status, and most of them are submissive. The strict management measures have not caused them discomfort, and they will not have any dissatisfaction. Under the threat, in order to prevent themselves from being punished, every craftsman dare not If you are lucky, do it strictly according to the operating procedures.

More than ten days later, the first batch of granular gunpowder was produced, and Liu Yin held a handful in his hand, feeling so excited.This is definitely epoch-making. From today, the history of human warfare will open a new chapter. The appearance of gunpowder is six centuries earlier than the original history. The pattern of human warfare will undergo earth-shaking changes from then on. , the era of cold weapons will gradually end, and hot weapons represented by gunpowder will enter the stage of history.

From the unconscious invention of gunpowder in previous history to Liu Yin's conscious application today, gunpowder will soon be known to the world and bring a strong shock to the world. This may be a Pandora's box, even Liu Yin It is impossible to predict how much human society will change due to this, whether it will bring blessings or disasters to mankind, but standing at a historical juncture, Liu Yin has no choice.

(End of this chapter)