"Village Chief, you are finally back."
"I made what you asked me to make."
The person who came was Tian Laoba. Ever since the first time he carried wood to Liu Feng's door, Tian Laoba has always been a person Liu Feng trusted very much.
Since he took over the horse farm, he has been dedicated to it. So from the beginning, he asked Tian Laoba to collect horse manure.
Because horse manure has an important use, it can precipitate saltpeter crystals.
With the recent increase in the number of horses, horse manure has also increased, and saltpeter can be produced stably.
"Really? Really?"
"Take me to see it quickly?"
When Liu Feng heard that the first batch of saltpeter had been produced, his eyes suddenly lit up.
If I had enough saltpeter to make gunpowder, I could start fighting against that dog emperor.
Following Tian Lao Ba all the way to the shed near the horse farm, I saw at a glance that a pool of smelly sewage had gathered in the shed where the horse manure was piled up.
There were workers boiling the sewage nearby, and there were several large vats of cooled extracted juice nearby, which was condensing and crystallizing.
This place smells very bad, but these workers have been doing this for a long time. Plus, they all cover their mouths and noses with towels, so they don't feel anything.
Liu Feng covered his nose for a while before slowly getting used to it.
After collecting horse manure, the first thing that needs to be done is fermentation.
Fermentation also has unique steps. The first step is to pile them up, with a layer of wood ash, a layer of horse manure, and finally a layer of old wall soil.
The most lacking material is actually horse manure. There is no way to control how a horse pulls it out.
On the contrary, wood ash is the least scarce. The wood ash produced by several workshops every day cannot be used up, and there is no need to take it from the stoves in the village.
As for the soil of the old walls, there is even more of it. There are many dilapidated houses in the village, and any wall can be used for a long time.
These methods were taught to Tian Lao Ba by Liu Feng. In his previous life, when he was a child in the countryside, he had seen white powder extracted from the corners of walls being added to charcoal powder and ignited to burn.
The raw materials used are mainly horse manure and wood ash, as well as a small amount of old wall soil.
After the first step of fermentation, mix the raw materials, turn them over and water them every day, let it ferment naturally for two months, and after the fermentation is completed, it can be transferred to the pool.
After a few days of fermentation, you can boil the juice.
Several months have passed since the first batch of horse manure was collected. Because it is winter, the fermentation speed is relatively slow.
This is all the result of Tian Lao Ba and his men lighting a fire by the pool to speed up the fermentation. If we wait for natural fermentation, it would not be possible to ferment at all in the middle of winter because the temperature is not high enough.
The first batch of saltpeter must have been produced in April or May.
"Village chief, look, these are all made according to your method."
“We made a bag like this.”
Tian Laoba carried out a small sack with a happy look on his face. It contained at least 70 or 80 kilograms of yellow crystals.
This is the crude crystal. After getting it, it will be Liu Feng's job to continue purifying it.
In fact, the most difficult step is purification.
"Village chief, what are you going to do with this thing?"
Liu Feng smiled faintly.
"This is a great seasoning. Add some to your meals next time."
Upon hearing this, Tian Laoba's face suddenly turned dark.
What? Something made from horse manure is actually being mixed into food as a seasoning?
Village chief, you can’t joke around. If you say that, I won’t dare eat anymore.”
Seeing that Tian Laoba was so scared that he was about to vomit, Liu Feng laughed.
"Just kidding, I have a great use for this thing."
Liu Feng did not say it clearly.
It is unlikely that saltpeter production from horse manure will be kept secret. The process is complicated and requires a lot of manpower, and every step must be visible.
By then, even if someone guessed what the saltpeter was used for, without my final purification technology, it would be impossible to make usable gunpowder.
After all, the purity of saltpeter directly affects the power of gunpowder.
This can be considered as the second-hand insurance left by Liu Feng.
"Okay, keep going."
"Try to get me ten bags after spring!"
Liu Feng's face was also full of joy.
Including the saltpeter that Wu Santong brought back from the south last time, Liu Feng should now have about five bags of gunpowder.
This quantity is enough to support Liu Feng's development of gunpowder and muskets.
That’s not all.
With a stable supply of gunpowder, Liu Feng no longer needs to hide his crossbow-making technology.
Next, you can notify Zhuzi to manufacture a large number of crossbows and arrows to equip the Tiger Roar Army.
If I expand my army next time, it will have a size of 3,000 people.
At that time, bows and crossbows will be equipped to Liu Lang's 300 wolf cavalry, and 500 light cavalry, 700 shield bearers, and 1,000 pure archers.
When the time comes and the archers are equipped with heavy crossbows, these thousand people will be real killing weapons.
Other archers will be powerless to resist them.
Liu Feng, with a happy face, returned home carrying crude saltpeter crystals, and just happened to meet Mu Wanqing who had returned from helping out at the Wang family compound.
"Husband, why are you so happy today?"
"Of course it's a big happy event. Do you still remember the thing I taught you to use before?"
Mu Wanqing blinked her beautiful big eyes.
"Um, a crossbow?"
Liu Feng nodded heavily.
After making the foot-operated crossbow, Liu Feng also made a small hand crossbow for Mu Wanqing to use. Although the power of the hand crossbow was not as great as the foot-operated crossbow, even armored soldiers could not withstand an arrow from it within thirty or forty steps, which was comparable to an ordinary bow and arrow.
This range is just right for a girl like Mu Wanqing.
They have little arm strength and no systematic training.
However, Mu Wanqing has never used this thing, and now that Wu Xiangyue is here, she has even less use for it.
Just be a good mistress of the house and record all expenses in detail.
"Could it be that my husband has developed a more powerful crossbow?"
After Mu Wanqing tried the crossbow, she became curious as to why Liu Feng had this thing but still equipped the hunting team with less powerful hunting bows.
Liu Feng told him that if this thing was ordinary equipment, the technology might be learned by the enemy, which would easily cause big trouble.
So Mu Wanqing placed her small crossbow very secretly, for fear that the secret would be leaked.
"That's about right."
"Now my husband has the idea of making new weapons, so he plans to equip the entire army with crossbows."
"I used to do it, but after Zhuzi came, he did it alone in secret. Starting tomorrow, I'll have Zhuzi lead the workers to produce it on a large scale and equip the Tiger Roar Army."
"Even if the Liao people invade again, we won't be afraid!"
“So amazing!”
"As expected of my husband!"
"My husband is really amazing."
Mu Wanqing's eyes suddenly became sparkling.
She had already seen the power of the crossbow. Moreover, Liu Feng was her husband, and she trusted him unconditionally at all times.
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