Steel Dynasty - Chapter 590

[Chapter 590 The failed guncotton]

PS: Sorry, dealing with the aftermath of resignation has delayed the update. Today, with the intervention of the Labor Bureau, the wages were settled, and Snail was completely liberated. Next, Snail will make continuous updates to compensate everyone.

The candlelight in the bedroom was flickering, and the night outside was pitch black.

Xiao Ming pondered for a while and said: “I have already made a calculation in my mind, but now that someone in the women’s college has mentioned it, you should guide it appropriately and never let some remarks that disregard the overall situation be openly spread among the students.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Fei Yue’er said softly.

Xiao Ming nodded. Disturbing the internal affairs of the country has always been a specialty of the West. He did not want the Great Yu State to fall into civil strife before it was revitalized. Once he built the Great Yu State into a strong and wealthy country, it would not be too late to try to reform the political system.

And even if this trend of thought is spreading among students, most people still don’t understand it. If political reform occurs at this time, the vested interests will still be these students and businessmen, and the people will not take advantage. In this case, he Why be impatient? After all, for him, the basis of his rule is the people.

The two chatted for a while and then went to bed in their clothes. Xiao Ming went to the government office the next day. Li Kaiyuan had delivered the sweet potatoes yesterday, but neither Pang Yukun nor Fiji saw them because it was too late.

When he arrived now, Pang Yukun and Fiji were eating roasted sweet potatoes, and the smell of roasted sweet potatoes filled the room.

“Your Highness, these sweet potatoes taste really good.” Pang Yukun’s mouth was filled with sweet potatoes, and Fiji couldn’t stop eating them.

Xiao Ming said with a smile: “You guys have eaten these sweet potatoes too. Next is the cultivation of sweet potato seedlings. You can go to Kui Wu for this matter. He has been studying at Bowen College for such a long time. He knows how to cultivate sweet potato seedlings.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Pang Yukun stuffed the last bit of sweet potato into his stomach.

After a pause, Xiao Ming continued: “By the way, it’s the autumn harvest soon. You have to ask the state governments to organize militia to strengthen patrols in the fields to prevent the enemy from taking the opportunity to burn the food.”

Pang Yukun’s expression changed. Seriously, what happened three years ago seems still vivid in my mind. At that time, the wealthy family burned the wheat fields to destroy the Cangzhou War, and Xiao Ming was almost killed at that time.

Now that there is a direct confrontation between Qi and Wei, similar things may not happen again. It is for this reason that Xiao Ming reminds them.

Pang Yukun nodded, “I will send someone to notify the state governments later. Now that every village has a militia, it should be better this time.”

Fiji has always had mixed feelings about the militia in the village, because in his opinion It was too late for the government to collect weapons from the people, so Qingzhou organized the people’s own armed forces.

However, after slowly getting to know him, he gradually understood that the reason for this was based on the people’s support for Xiao Ming and their recognition of the feudal country.

The three of them were talking about sweet potatoes and the autumn harvest, when an explosion came from the direction of Bowen College.

Pang Yukun said: “There hasn’t been a laboratory explosion in Bowen College for a long time. What went wrong this time?”

Xiao Ming was also a little confused. Lu Tong didn’t seem to have done any dangerous experiments during this time. But since there was another commotion, he had to go, so he said: “You handle government affairs, and I will go and take a look.”

After that, he took Zhao Long and Zhao Hu to Bowen College. As soon as he entered the college gate, he saw chemistry Smoke billows from the direction of the laboratory.

He took a few quick steps and hurried over immediately.

“What’s going on?”

Lu Tong was also outside the laboratory, and Xiao Ming asked directly.

Seeing Xiao Ming coming over, Lu Tong looked miserable and said, “Your Highness, a student touched a bottle of sulfuric acid and nitric acid. In a panic, the boy took off his clothes to wipe them, and then used a fire to dry the clothes. , I didn’t expect the clothes to burn to ashes instantly and ignite an explosion in the laboratory.”

Xiao Ming looked strange, and asked: “Don’t he know that the clothes soaked in the mixture of sulfuric acid and nitric acid have become smokeless gunpowder. “?”

Lu Tong said: “This kid is just a new student, and he is just working in the laboratory. He doesn’t know what smokeless gunpowder is.”

When talking about smokeless gunpowder, something suddenly sounded, and he said: “Your Highness, the laboratory is developing smokeless gunpowder these days, but this smokeless gunpowder is very unstable. This problem has never been overcome, so I did not report to Your Highness.”

“This is nothing. How is the student?” Xiao Ming said.

Lu Tong felt relieved and said: “I was burned, but it’s not a big problem.”

Xiao Ming nodded. In fact, the principle of smokeless gunpowder is very simple. It is to soak cotton in a mixture of concentrated sulfuric acid and concentrated nitric acid. Take it out for ten minutes and dry it in the shade.

However, the guncotton produced in this way, that is, smokeless gunpowder, is very unstable. It needs to be processed by adding camphor, graphite, alcohol-ether mixed solvent and rolled into shape. Otherwise, the gunpowder will easily explode before being launched.

The problem Lu Tong is facing now is the problem of alcohol-ether mixed solvent. If this problem is solved, smokeless gunpowder will be an upgraded version of black powder and become the propellant of guns, and this will affect the range of bullets and shells. get improved.

Originally, Xiao Ming had been indifferent to the development of collodion, but now he had to ask about it. As he had guessed, the problem Lu Tong faced was indeed the stability of collodion.

Xiao Ming currently has no choice but to let the laboratory try to synthesize it. After all, this kind of collodion is not only beyond the technology of Great Chongqing for many years, but even more than a hundred years ahead of the current West, it is not that easy. Made it.

But Lu Tong now dares to develop collodion, which shows that he still has confidence in smokeless gunpowder. After all, as long as ethylene glycol and propylene glycol are synthesized, there is basically no problem with alcohol ether solvents.

Of course, Xiao Ming will also think of a solution for Lu Tong on this issue. After all, no matter how hard Lu Tong and the others learn, they will never have as many ideas as he has in his mind. However, Lu Tong is still a little impatient in this matter. The technological level exceeds that of the West for hundreds of years, and it is not so easy to achieve it in one step.

“Don’t rush for quick success in this matter. Even if you synthesize ethylene glycol and propylene glycol, you cannot mass-produce collodion with the current output of sulfuric acid and nitric acid. Therefore, your most important task now is to achieve industrial production that can synthesize chemicals. Three It’s time for industrial mass production of acids and bases, otherwise the chemical industry will remain at a sluggish level,” Xiao Ming said seriously.

Lu Tong was a little ashamed when he heard this. He admitted that he had been a little too ambitious during this period. This was all because the steam engine in the School of Physics stimulated him.

“Your Highness, I know I was wrong.” Lu Tong looked embarrassed.

Xiao Ming smiled and said: “To do knowledge and production, you have to be down-to-earth. You have to go step by step.”

(End of Chapter)