After seeing these firearms, Zhao Jun said as he walked, "What's the gunpowder ratio of this fireball?"
Zeng Gongliang said, "There are 14 liang of sulfur, 7 liang of yellow dregs, 40 liang of saltpeter, 14 liang of rosin, as well as some arsenic yellow, calcined powder, yellow ochre, dry lacquer, bamboo shavings, hemp shavings, yellow wax, tung oil, thick oil, and clear oil."
"It's too mixed, affecting its power."
Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "What I want is pure gunpowder. In the future, when producing gunpowder, one pound of it must contain 12 ounces of saltpeter, 1.6 ounces of sulfur, and 2.4 ounces of charcoal. Do you understand?"
This ratio is the optimal ratio for black gunpowder in later generations, which is 75% saltpeter, 10% sulfur, and 15% charcoal.
Hearing his words, Zeng Gongliang thought for a moment, called a craftsman over and gave him an order.
The craftsman then went into the shed and carefully took out the corresponding amounts of saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal using a scale, and then mixed them together, turning them into a ball of black ash.
"Chi Si!"
The craftsman came over holding the ball of black ash.
Zeng Gongliang asked Zhao Jun, "Master, is this pure gunpowder?"
"Um."
Zhao Jun looked over, thought for a moment and said, "Get some more egg whites."
"yes."
Zeng Gongliang asked someone to get some eggs.
After a while, someone brought a bowl with egg white in it.
Zhao Jun instructed, "Pour the egg whites in and mix them together, then knead them into granules."
Granular?
The craftsman didn't understand, but he knew what mixing meant, so he simply put the gunpowder into the bowl and stirred it.
A moment later, a large amount of granular black powder appeared.
"Dean, it's done."
Zeng Gongliang said as he looked at the gunpowder granules in the bowl.
"Use it to make a fireball and test its power. Remember not to put any messy things in it, just some iron pieces."
"good."
Zeng Gongliang responded.
The processes in the workshop are all ready-made. The craftsmen directly used the method of thunder and fireball to make a small pottery jar with a fuse on it.
"Wujing Zongyao" recorded this thing. It was used to be placed on a catapult, ignited, thrown into the city and then exploded. The power mainly came from the fragments of the pottery jar outside that broke and injured people.
Soon the thunder fireball was made. There was a training ground in front. Zhao Jun asked someone to put a few scarecrows in the middle of the clay pot, and then asked someone to light the clay pot and leave quickly.
The craftsman conducting the experiment did so.
At this moment, on the parade ground, the afternoon winter wind was blowing and the sky was gloomy. Zhao Jun, Zeng Gongliang and others were standing in the distance, and the other officials accompanying them were also watching the excitement.
A craftsman placed a clay pot on a distant training ground, surrounded by several scarecrows, with the fuse pulled very long - this was Zhao Jun's special order.
After putting everything in place, he lit the fuse with a tinderbox and immediately ran away.
Fortunately, the fuse was long, and the craftsman ran a hundred meters away.
He turned around and looked over.
Almost at the moment he turned around, the thunder fireball exploded!
"Bang!"
Following an explosion sound that was several times louder than the sound caused by ordinary thunder and fireballs, countless dust and ashes were blown up on the spot in an instant.
Even though the craftsman was a hundred meters away, he could feel a gust of wind mixed with dust blowing towards him.
"What's going on? Did the earth dragon turn over?"
"From the sound, it seems to be from the training ground."
"What happened? Go and have a look."
Many craftsmen in the workshop at the rear were startled by the loud noise and dropped their work to run over to watch.
At this time, the straw men around the parade ground had been blown to pieces.
The ceramic fragments were even embedded half an inch into the ground!
Zeng Gongliang and others opened their mouths wide and watched all this in disbelief.
Only Zhao Jun showed a satisfied smile.
I believe that the granular grenades made of pure gunpowder will definitely give Xixia and Liao a big surprise.
The last chapter was indeed a bit watery, but this chapter can't be watery again for the important plot advancement. I just came back from the hospital and was not in good condition. I won't be watery in the future.
(End of this chapter)
2015
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