Han’s Son is Not a Slave

Chapter 74: Gunpowder

After seeing the medicines Tie Yi and a few miners carefully took out of the pot, Zhou Shixiang saw at a glance that these medicines were black fire medicines mixed with sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal. Compared with the modern gunpowder used in bullets when he was a soldier in his previous life, the power of black gunpowder is not very large, and it is easy to smoke and has less lethality. However, these black gunpowder still made Zhou Shixiang excited because he knew the meaning of gunpowder. what.

After picking up a handful of medicines and sniffing them between his nose, Zhou Shixiang asked Tie Yi how many medicines he had in total, but the answer he got was not many, only more than ten cans, which together were less than 200 kilograms. A miner next to him interjected and said that there were still a lot of medicines in the mines in the past few years, but when the Ming army attacked Xinhui last year, people from Zhaoqing Prefecture took most of the medicines from the mines, saying that they were sent to the provincial capital for supply. Used by soldiers under the command of Prince Pingnan.

The soldiers and horses under the command of Shang Kexi, the king of Pingnan, are the Han army flags and have a large number of firearms. They are the same as Kong Youde, who burned himself to death in Guilin, and Geng Zhongming, the former king of Jingnan who committed suicide because of escape. The subordinates of Chief Soldier Mao Wenlong are all miners, and have also been in contact with the new army trained by Sun Yuanhua, the former governor of Denglai, Daming, with the technique of Baiyi (Portuguese) firearms, so he has a certain understanding and mastery of gunpowder. After the Manchu and Qing Dynasties entered the customs, the three subordinates of the Han army’s flag soldiers were basically all firearms, and they made great efforts for the Manchu and Qing Dynasties to pacify the south of the Yangtze River. In the sixth year of Shunzhi, although Dorgon decreed that the Han army was strictly prohibited from possessing firearms, it was only aimed at the green camp, and the Han army flags under Shang Kexi and others were not included. There are not many saltpeter mines in Guangdong, so when Li Dingguo attacked Guangdong for the second time, Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao successively sent people to search for the medicines stored in Guangdong provinces for the purpose of defending the city.

After listening to what the miner said, Zhou Shixiang secretly said that it was a pity, but unfortunately he was worried again. Although there were not many medicines, there were only two hundred kilograms, but if there were only medicines and no fire guns, what was the use of this medicine.

Is it possible to find a way to get some fire guns from the Ming army? Although this thing can’t be compared with the guns of later generations, it is better than nothing. I can’t say that I can improve it myself. If it is improved, it is a sharp weapon against the Qing army. Although weapons are not the key to victory or defeat, it is better to have weapons that are more advanced than the enemy.

While thinking about it, Zhou Shixiang opened a jar with a seal and reached out to touch it, but he felt a chill. He squeezed a handful of medicine and came out to see that the medicine was damp.

“Why did you get into the water?”

Tie Yi frowned and reached out and grabbed the handle, looking at the pills that were packed into granules, he felt distressed. Just as he was about to blame the people who kept the medicines, Zhou Shixiang’s eyes suddenly widened, he grabbed another handful of the medicines that were soaking wet, and stared at them with his hands in his hands. After a while, the corner of his mouth suddenly turned With a smile, he said something inexplicable: “I forgot about this.”

Which crop did you forget?

Everyone was confused, not knowing what Qianhu was talking about this week.

Zhou Shixiang smiled and said nothing, as long as the person took the damp pot of medicine outside, found a cloth and poured it evenly on the ground, and then showed it to him after the sun dried it.

Everyone didn’t know what to do with this order, but Zhou Shixiang was a thousand households and the head coach of a battalion. Naturally, no one dared to violate what he said, and some miners did what he said.

Taking advantage of this free time, Zhou Shixiang met those miners again under the leadership of Tie Yi, all of them were well-known men, but they had some symptoms of malnutrition. There are a few miners who have just eaten too much, and they will be burping one after another with a satisfied look on their faces.

He has been engaged in heavy physical work under the mine all the year round, and the foundation is all there.

Zhou Shixiang looked very happy. After saying a few words of encouragement to the miners, he announced in public that they would be members of the Taiping Battalion from now on, and they were immediately designated as the Taiping Camp Engineer Battalion. Yi was appointed, and the remaining general flags and small flags were appointed by Shibaihu.

Originally, Zhou Shixiang planned to break up these miners into formations in order to strengthen the strength of each team. However, after carefully considering the maximum use of these miners, he still dismissed his original intention, because it is a waste to use these engineers as other arms. Miners can use it to maximize their power.

“Thank you Qianhu-sama!”

Although he didn’t understand the meaning of the engineer battalion, but the brothers were able to unite together and he could be reused, Tie Yi was still happy, and under the guidance of Master Liao, he gave Zhou Shixiang a full military salute. The pose of the salute looks a little unfamiliar, but it is expected that after a long time, he will be able to fully adapt to this new identity.

Ge Zheng, who came with Zhou Shixiang, saw that Tie Yi, a new entrant, had become a trial household. He couldn’t help complaining in his heart. He had no problem with Zhao Sihai being a trial household, because he was his own brother, and he was in charge of everyone’s money. It’s hard to convince the public because his status is not high, but why did Tie Yi, who just joined the team, become a trial household and lead more than 300 people at once. Is this engineering barracks even tighter than the public treasury?

Zhou Shixiang saw Ge Zheng’s dissatisfaction in his eyes, and didn’t say much at the moment. When Tie Yi went to choose the general flag and the small flag, he told Ge Zheng what the engineer battalion was doing. When I heard that this engineer battalion will be dedicated to digging the ground to bury medicines in the future, and after accidentally dying, Ge Zheng immediately dispelled his dissatisfaction, and secretly said that he should not climb this dangerous errand. There are no diamonds. It is not unreasonable for Tie Yi to be the one who does not take porcelain work. Besides, with these people specializing in burying the medicine, the future and life of their brothers can be guaranteed a little more, and it is not a loss to give others a trial.

Once Ge Zheng’s thoughts are understood, the rest of the people will naturally understand, and Zhou Shixiang is relieved. After a while, Tie Yi came in with the seven general flags and more than 30 small flags of the engineer battalion to return to Zhou Shixiang, and Zhou Shixiang naturally encouraged him with good words.

The sun was shining brightly today, and it didn’t take long for the herbal medicine to dry out. Zhou Shi was in front of Tie Yi and a group of general flags and small flags. Now, although the flash speed is no better than that of powder, but after burning, there is no residue at all, which surprised everyone, especially Tie Yi. He has been learning the work of burying medicines since he went to mine with his master, but he never thought that the medicines could be so thoroughly burnt after drying them. UU reading www.uukanshu. com

Zhou Shixiang also asked someone to fetch a small sealed pot, rubbed the wire and buried the pot in the soil. When it exploded, there was a loud bang, and a hole several feet in size was blown out in the ground. Then I tried the gunpowder without water, and the hole was much smaller.

This experiment naturally made everyone even more curious, and they all looked at Zhou Shi like a god. But for Zhou Shixiang, it was nothing, because the principle of this experiment was actually very simple. When he was a soldier, he knew that powdered gunpowder had a very strong water absorption, and that gunpowder with more than 2% water content basically could not be used. Therefore, whether the powdered gunpowder can be detonated and what it will look like is completely up to fate and not under the control of manpower. On the contrary, the water absorption of granular gunpowder is greatly weakened, and the explosive power can be controlled by manpower to a certain extent, which is much stronger than that of powdered gunpowder.

Of course, this experiment is not very complete or complete. Zhou Shixiang is only showing these miners the simplest and most direct visual effects. Later, he will teach these miners how to compress gunpowder powder into high density and composition. Uniform drug cake, then crushed to obtain granules, sieved to remove powder and too fine particles, then polished, and then sieved to obtain granular gunpowder with basically the same size. This kind of powder gunpowder is the safest and most powerful black powder. This process is not difficult, the important thing is to be careful.

After staying in the engineer battalion for two days, after two days of teaching, a can of gunpowder in completely granular form was buried under Luoding’s broken city wall.

Of course, Zhou Shixiang didn’t expect a can of gunpowder to blow up the city wall.