Zhu Yunwen put a lot of effort into making weapons.
He felt that although learning martial arts could give him some self-defense capabilities, it was ultimately not as practical as some weapons.
Moreover, in Zhu Yunwen's view, it would probably not be possible to achieve the same level of martial arts skill as Zhao Qingzhu, which was 80-90% the same.
The price to pay is also very high.
Besides, I might not even have that kind of talent, so having a certain foundation in martial arts is enough, and then I can make a powerful pistol.
Even if he were to encounter a master like Zhao Qingzhu who wanted to kill him, he would be able to handle it with ease.
Although Zhu Yunwen felt that making mercuric fulminate primers for bullets would be very troublesome.
But it's still much easier than slowly cultivating oneself into a martial arts master.
As mentioned before, the production of mercuric fulminate requires metallic mercury, alcohol, and nitric acid.
Zhu Yunwen could get mercury and alcohol for himself, but nitric acid was not so easy to obtain.
After all, the people in this world don't even know what nitric acid is.
Even though some sorcerers and Taoists might accidentally create elixirs by randomly adding minerals or other substances during alchemy.
But they didn't recognize them, and they didn't actually give them a name.
Therefore, Zhu Yunwen had no choice but to ask someone to find or make such a thing for him.
Fortunately, Zhu Yunwen knew how to make it, since he had acquired some knowledge in this area because he was quite interested in it during some chemistry classes.
Now that he has listed all the theories, he is preparing to put them into practice.
He immediately disassembled the revolver parts he had drawn on the blueprints.
He drew out several parts and gave them to Zhang Shan, the Minister of Revenue, instructing him to find the best steel forging workers to forge the parts he had drawn on the drawings with great precision.
Moreover, after forging, it must be sent to Zhu Yunwen immediately.
The purpose of this was to see if it met Zhu Yunwen's requirements. If there was anything wrong, Zhu Yunwen could correct it in time and have the craftsmen reforge it.
The purpose of shuffling those parts and having Zhang Shan hand them over to different craftsmen for forging was also to prevent the technology for manufacturing pistols from being leaked and used by those with ulterior motives to produce them.
Although having a pistol but being unable to make bullets is not a big deal, there are always some things that need to be guarded against.
Then Zhu Yunwen instructed Zhang Shan to find him mercury, saltpeter, glass bottles or some porcelain bottles, and a small stove with bellows.
In short, after Zhu Yunwen stated all his requirements, Zhang Shan quickly went to carry them out.
It only took Zhang Shan about a day to bring some finished parts for making revolvers to Zhu Yunwen. Zhu Yunwen was quite satisfied with the steel parts, especially the simpler, less important ones.
However, he was not so satisfied with the barrel of the revolver, because he discovered that the barrel was made of a single piece of steel rolled up and then fused together at high temperatures.
Although it is sturdy, it is a bit rough inside.
So Zhu Yunwen said to Zhang Shan:
"I require this steel pipe to be exquisitely crafted, with no tiny cracks or flaws at the joints, and it cannot be so rough; it must be perfectly symmetrical."
Subsequently, Zhu Yunwen drew a rifling pattern on the paper, demanding that such uniform, consistent lines be made inside the steel pipe, with no slight difference in depth.
In fact, producing such high-precision rifling at that time was extremely difficult.
Fortunately, Zhu Yunwen did not intend to mass-produce it; he only wanted to make a revolver.
Despite the high standards, he believed that there must be skilled craftsmen who could produce it according to his requirements.
After all, some of the things made by ancient craftsmen were absolutely exquisite, symmetrical and delicate.
Moreover, Zhu Yunwen spared no expense to have Zhang Shan find someone to make it, believing that with such a large sum of money, there would surely be someone with outstanding abilities who could produce the bullets he wanted according to his specifications.
After Zhang Shan left, Zhu Yunwen continued to wait for news, and finally, two days later, Zhang Shan returned.
This time he also brought mercury and saltpeter, as well as the stove, bellows, glass bottle and small porcelain bottle that Zhu Yunwen wanted.
After handing these things over to Zhu Yuntong, Zhu Yuntong instructed Zhang Shan to light the fire in the stove.
He had already used distilled spirits in the imperial kitchen to produce enough alcohol for his needs.
Now that saltpeter and mercury are available, Zhu Yunwen will prepare to produce mercuric fulminate.
After the fire in the stove was lit, Zhu Yunwen asked Zhang Shan to operate the bellows to further increase the temperature inside the stove.
This furnace was designed according to Zhu Yunwen's requirements, using alchemical furnaces typically used by alchemists. These furnaces are well-suited for airtightness, ensuring optimal protection during the chemical reaction when saltpeter is being forged.
This is why some alchemists and Taoist priests, while refining all sorts of strange elixirs, are able to accidentally create various special chemical products resulting from chemical reactions.
After Zhang Shan raised the temperature in the furnace, Zhu Yunwen put saltpeter into the furnace. As the temperature rose, the saltpeter gradually began to undergo a chemical reaction, rapidly producing a large amount of carbon dioxide.
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