I was the emperor in the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 91
Holding the outer wall of the stilted building, Li Tian leaned forward, squinted his eyes and looked into the gunpowder factory through the ventilation window.

There is no open fire in the place where the gunpowder is prepared, and the daily lighting of the gunpowder factory depends entirely on the skylight. It is just after noon at this moment, but it can be seen clearly.

In the gunpowder factory, the shirtless and muscular workers were busy. They skillfully ground bags of saltpeter charcoal into fine powder, then moistened them with tung oil and wax oil, and put them aside to dry. Dry.

On the other side, there are also dozens of workers grinding charcoal powder with rolling stones, repeating the wrapping process of tung oil and wax oil.

Li Tian was very surprised when he saw it. Although the gunpowder formula of one nitrate, two sulphur, and three charcoals was widely spread, he never expected that the Ming Dynasty would have the technology of secondary granulation after grinding.

The hardened gunpowder is much more powerful than the gunpowder that is simply purified by grinding. If some iron flakes are added, it is basically the same as the fragmentation grenade of later generations.

Withdrawing his gaze, he patted the dust on his hands, Li Tian turned to look at Liang Xu and said:
"This skill of wrapping with tung oil and wax oil has already existed?"

Liang Xu was taken aback when he heard the words, he didn't expect that the emperor knew a thing or two about the preparation of gunpowder, so he quickly put away the little cleverness in his heart:
"Returning to Your Majesty, the oil-wrapping technique was already very mature in the Song Dynasty. Although there were many improvements later, they were all minor details."

"En." Li Tian nodded, licked his lips and said:
"Has Wang Gongchang considered adding some iron flakes to the gunpowder in the past?"

Liang Xu has been guarding Wang Gong Factory for five or six years, and he is already familiar with the process of gunpowder preparation. It is not an exaggeration to say that he is half an expert in gunpowder.

Hearing Li Tian's words, his face immediately changed, and the image of iron sheets exploding all over the sky already appeared in his mind.

Although Yang Rong on the side was a civil servant, he could imagine the power of iron flakes added to the gunpowder, his eyes shrank suddenly, and a little sweat broke out in his palms.

"Your Majesty, this method is harmful to the peace of heaven, and I hope Your Majesty will think twice."

Li Tianheng laughed twice, ignored Yang Rong, looked at Liang Xu with a slightly shy expression, and said:
"Immediately find some experts to try, and tell me within two days whether this method can work or not."

"Your Majesty, adding iron flakes to the gunpowder is not a change in the formula. It is certainly possible, but...but it is not too harsh. This old slave is worried that it will damage Yin De."

Yang Rong, a civil official, said that he hurt Tian and Li Tian could understand it, but Liang Xu, an eunuch, also thought it was cruel, so Li Tian felt a little strange.

But Li Tian didn't care. Adding iron flakes to gunpowder is not an epoch-making invention. If he doesn't say it today, the military craftsmen of the Ministry of War will discover it sooner or later.

Moved to go downstairs, shook his head, Li Tian said noncommittally:
"Don't tell me these things, go tell the generals in the court, go tell the soldiers who died in the battle."

Yang Rong and Liang Xu's faces froze when they heard this, and they had nothing to say.

If the generals in the army know this method, they will only jump up happily, regardless of the nature and virtue.

After getting off the stilt building, Li Tian continued to walk towards Wang Gong's factory. There were still water tanks everywhere along the way, but the guards had already been tightened to another level.

Knowing that the gunpowder depot of Wang Gong Factory is not far ahead, Li Tian waved to Liang Xu and said:
"The Gunpowder Bureau of Wang Gong Factory is now under the management of the Ministry of Industry. I want to move the gunpowder bureau. Do you have any suggestions?"

Liang Xu has served Zhu Di for more than ten years, and he has long practiced the ability to figure out the emperor's heart. Knowing that the emperor is definitely not asking casually, he hurriedly put on a thoughtful gesture:

"Wang Gong's factory is related to the military, and it is indeed a bit of a violation to hang it under the Ministry of Industry. If I ask the old slave to say, it is better to directly assign Wang Gong's factory to the palace or the Ministry of War."

Seeing that Liang Xu's eyeballs never left his face after he finished speaking, Li Tian couldn't help snorting. He knew exactly what Liang Xu was up to, didn't he just want to return to the inner court.

After passing through another line of defense guarded by dozens of soldiers, Li Tian slowed down and said:

"You don't have to think about rowing to the palace. The military battle bureau in the palace is the same as the three martial arts guards of the pro-army. They are all yamen for making weapons and armor, and they can't beat gunpowder."

Both the military battle bureau and the three guards of martial arts were eliminated, no matter how stupid Liang Xu was, he understood where Wang Gongchang was going. Thinking of those reckless men in the army, he couldn't help smiling wryly:

"Your Majesty wants to move the Wang Gong Factory to the Ministry of War. The Military Weapons Battalion of the Ministry of War makes iron cylinders for firecrackers, which complements the Wang Gong Factory very well."

"Why? I see that you don't seem to be very willing to row to the Ministry of War."

"It's not that I don't want to." Liang Xu adjusted his expression to make himself look as normal as possible and said:

"It's just that the guys from the military camp are backed by the Ministry of War and always pointing fingers at Wang Gongchang. If they go to the Ministry of War in the future, Lao Nu, the stepmother's yamen, doesn't know how to be bullied."

Hey, feelings are such a trivial matter, Li Tian thought Liang Xu was going to say something unspeakable, he waved his hand and said indifferently:
"It's not like I put you under the military battalion. What are you afraid of? If I remember correctly, Wu Dayou, the chief general of the Shenji battalion, also served in the military department. You are in charge of the lifeblood of the Shenji battalion. I will have a good relationship with Wu Dayou."

Liang Xu smiled embarrassingly when he heard the words, he could be said to be a dumb man who couldn't tell if he was suffering from Coptis chinensis.Shenjiying is the treasure of the imperial court, but he wants to have a relationship with Wu Dayou, so Wu Dayou must have a good opinion of him.

While talking, Liang Xu didn't have time to say anything when he arrived at the gunpowder storehouse, so he hurriedly opened the gate of the powder storehouse and led Li Tian to walk in.

As soon as he entered the gunpowder warehouse, Li Tian shuddered unconsciously. The gunpowder warehouse is really cold, but it's better to be colder, at least there will be no accidents.

Nuo Da's gunpowder depot was pitch black, and Li Tian could only squint at the neatly stacked gunpowder boxes by the light from the door.

Opening a wooden box casually, he took out a ball of gunpowder wrapped in oiled paper, and Li Tian walked to the door and spread it out.

Picking up a handful of pungent black gunpowder and sniffing it, Li Tian sneezed several times in a row, rubbing the dry and hard gunpowder particles and said:

"The gunpowder is good. When was it made?"

Liang Xu bowed his waist and took the oil-paper bag in Li Tian's hand, and said respectfully:
"Your Majesty, here is the Twelve Treasury. The gunpowder here has been stored for about two years. It was produced by the Wang Gong Factory within six months when the late Emperor was in power."

Li Tian was quite satisfied with the storage of the gunpowder, nodded, sprinkled the gunpowder into the oiled paper, rubbed his hands and said:

"You did a good job. Go back and ask Jiang Bao to get 3000 taels of silver. It's my reward to Wang Gongchang."

Although Wang Gongchang is a confidential government office, there is not much oil and water. Reselling gunpowder is a huge profit, but Liang Xu dare not do it. Hearing the word "reward silver", he immediately bowed down excitedly:
"Old slave, thank you Your Majesty for the reward, long live my emperor, long live, long live, long live."

(End of this chapter)