Steel Dynasty - Chapter 138

[Chapter 138 Craftsman Spirit]

“Hey, I am willing to do anything for the people of the fiefdom.”

Facing the strange looks in Aster and Pothos, Xiao Ming returned the favor.

Aster and Luluo stopped laughing at this time, but looked at Xiao Ming with reverence. In their eyes, Xiao Ming was now comparable to the wise kings.

In ancient times, which young girl in her boudoir didn’t like elegant scholars and handsome wise kings? This can be seen from the gaudy novels from ancient times.

He smiled proudly. In his predecessor, Xiao Ming only knew how a bully would force his bow, so how could he understand female psychology? Being strong is not sweet, but riding a boat with the current is the real pleasure.

Leaving behind a tired figure, Xiao Ming went back to rest. Now was not the time to lie drunk on the beauty’s lap.

Noon the next day.

A loud noise of “Boom!” came from the cannon, disturbing the tranquility of Prince Qi’s palace. After the loud noise, the guards in the palace rushed to the place where the noise occurred.

When they arrived at the side hall, they discovered that King Qi was safe and sound, but everyone except King Qi looked pale and seemed to be frightened.

In the middle of the side hall, a glass bottle was blown to pieces, and the glass fragments fell to the ground. There was still smoke rising from the remaining glass fragments.

“Your Highness, is this the power of gunpowder?” Lu Tong said to Xiao Ming.

Xiao Ming nodded, “Exactly.”

Lu Tong sighed and said, “If it were a barrel of gunpowder, wouldn’t it be able to blow up the entire palace?”

After saying this, Lu Tong saw Xiao Ming and others approaching He cast a malicious look. Only then did he realize that he had said the wrong thing. He said: “Look at my bad words. Your Highness, you know that I will say the wrong thing. It will not blow up the palace, but blow up the Cultural and Museum College.” Fly, no, no, blow me up…” During

this period of getting along, Xiao Ming also understood Lu Tong’s problems. He would say whatever he caught. He said: “Be careful yourself. When the time comes, you will blow yourself up. “I can’t save you. By the way, you have seen the power of this gunpowder. Next, you still need to master the method of granulating this gunpowder.”

Lu Tong naturally didn’t know anything about this term. Just like last night, Xiao Ming was ready to do it himself. Demonstrate it to Lu Tong again.

In fact, the main purpose of granulating gunpowder is to add a binder to it, which is the cold mixing method. This process is actually not that complicated.

To put it simply, put the mixed gunpowder into a wooden mortar, then add alcohol, and mix the three powders into a wet mud state.

At the same time, stir continuously with a wooden pestle. Do not allow gravel and sand to enter during this process, otherwise it will easily cause knocking and burning of gunpowder during the stirring process.

Now Xiao Ming is demonstrating this to Lu Tong. Traditional black powder is very powerful, but there is one thing. During the storage and transportation of gunpowder, different components in the gunpowder will stratify.

This is just like liquids of different densities stratifying. As a result, the effectiveness of gunpowder will be greatly reduced, affecting the use of firearms.

Granulating gunpowder is not a high-tech problem, but the ancients did not realize this problem when they first used gunpowder.

Now that Xiao Ming understands this, he can naturally solve this problem as long as it is technically feasible.

Lu Tong stared at Xiao Ming’s operations for a moment throughout the process, for fear of missing something. Failure to do so would be fatal.

“Remember, sand and gravel must not be allowed to enter, and iron and copper cannot be used for grinding.” Xiao Ming reminded again.

The entire process of grinding gunpowder uses wooden tools to prevent sparks from metal collisions.

After mixing the gunpowder, after waiting for a while for the mixture to dry up, Xiao Ming added water and pounded it again to make the mixture fully and evenly mixed.

Then Xiao Ming took out the gunpowder and dried it in the sun.

Because it was already spring, the sun was relatively abundant and the amount was not large, so the gunpowder dried quickly.

At this time, quality inspection will be carried out.

At this time, Xiao Ming took some dried gunpowder particles and put them on the paper and lit them.

The gunpowder burned very quickly, but the paper in Xiao Ming’s hand was intact. He nodded and said to Lu Tong: “Did you see it? This effect shows that the gunpowder is successful.”

Lu Tong nodded, Then Xiao Ming put the gunpowder in his palm again and lit it again.

Lu Tong said at this time: “Your Highness, let me do this, so as not to hurt Your Highness’s body.”

“Okay, let you feel it.” Xiao Ming quickly lit the gunpowder before Lu Tong could react.

The particles of gunpowder quickly burned in Lu Tong’s palm.

At this time, Lu Tong said in surprise: “Your Highness, I don’t feel hot at all.”

“Heat means that the production of this gunpowder has failed. Okay, I have taught you everything I need to teach you. After you go back, the production of this gunpowder will Put it on the agenda, and remember, if there are black stars and white spots left on the paper, or there is a burning sensation in the palm of your hand, the gunpowder particles are unqualified and need to be reworked and crushed until they are qualified. Finally, the gunpowder particles must be inspected. For screening, first break the prepared gunpowder into particles one by one, and use a radish sieve of varying thicknesses to select the gunpowder particles suitable for the cannon. As for the non-granular gunpowder, it is used as a primer for the fire gate, and the remaining fine powder is used as a primer. Remove all the powder,” Xiao Ming said.

Lu Tong nodded. This particle of gunpowder was technically not difficult, and it was not difficult for him to understand it. He bowed, turned around, and was about to leave the palace.

At this time, Xiao Ming said: “Lu Tong, this gunpowder matter is important. You must not be careless. If something goes wrong, I will chop off your head.”

Hearing this, Lu Tong felt a cold feeling in his back. These days, Xiao Ming and he could be said to be as close as a master and a disciple, but when it came to issues related to Qingzhou’s safety, Xiao Ming was unkind.

He turned around and said, “If something goes wrong, Lu Tong will come and see you.”

Xiao Ming nodded. Technology is one thing, and the spirit of the craftsman is another. No matter how superb the technology is, in the face of irresponsible craftsmen, what it produces can only be garbage.

In the modern Ming Dynasty, it was not that the manufacturing of firearms was not advanced, but that there were problems in many aspects of the production process.

Officials deducted silver, and craftsmen were lazy and slippery. These were the reasons why the firearms produced could not be used on the battlefield. As a result, many Ming soldiers had fire blunderbuss that could not be fired at all, and the artillery exploded at a glance.

Therefore, in Qingzhou’s industry, Xiao Ming has always focused on cultivating the spirit of craftsmanship and eliminating all shoddy manufacturing. In this regard, he does not show any favors.

Because he didn’t want to destroy the steel foundation he had worked so hard to build, and the barbarians and those in the Chongqing Kingdom who were waiting to see his jokes would not give him a second chance.

Just as Lu Tong went out, a soldier suddenly ran in and said loudly: “Your Highness, something happened. Colonel Lu and Colonel Luo got into a fight.”

(End of Chapter)