The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Chapter 98 Granulated Gunpowder and Customization

Ding Yi then went to the Artisan Bureau.

The Craftsmanship Bureau is divided into firearms and cold weapons, as well as armor and clothing.

Originally, there were only three departments, but this time Ding Yi came back and divided it into another one. For the clothing department, he began to consider whether to put it in the logistics department or the craftsman bureau, and finally put it in the craftsman bureau.

The clothing department is all women, and more than 100 women who are proficient in needlework and weaving are selected from the women in the whole camp.

They are mainly responsible for making clothes.

Most of the former Ming soldiers were naked. Xu Dabao’s soldiers were better. Xu Dabao won a big victory that day and took a lot of clothes from the Jin army.

Later, the Lushun soldiers and horses received, and the people from Dongjiang, were simply horrible.

This time Ding Yi came back from Dengzhou and bought a lot of cloth and cotton cloth. When Yuan Chonghuan paid his salary, he also sent a new batch of mandarin ducks and jackets.

But no accident, the Ming army will only have such a set of clothes in the future, and it will not be long before they will be worn into tatters.

So Ding Yi organized manpower and began to make new clothes for the whole battalion. Ding Yi's request was that all soldiers of the Ming army should wear two sets of summer clothes, autumn clothes, and winter clothes.

Then after everything is done, make it again, and put it in the military and civilian service center, so that ordinary people and soldiers can buy what they need.

For example, the families of soldiers will definitely want to buy it at that time, because their family has money to spend.

The styles of the clothes are all made according to the styles of the Ming army, and Ding Yi does not intend to introduce new ones, at least not now.

According to the estimates of Ding Yi and the Jiangzuo Bureau, more than 100 people can complete the equipping of the entire battalion of sergeants in about three to four months.

At that time, a small amount of clothes will be made every day and sold at the military and civilian service center, and the rest of them can help in the Craftsmanship Bureau. This is why Ding Yi put them in the Craftsmanship Bureau instead of the logistics department.

The Firearms Department of the Craftsmanship Bureau has a lot of work to do. Ding Yi bought a lot of saltpeter and sulfur this time, but he bought relatively little gunpowder. There are not many of these things in the market openly and honestly.

But his soldiers and horses will be mainly firearms in the future, so a lot of gunpowder must be needed.

He decided to burn wood for charcoal after he came back, and then prepare the gunpowder by himself. A large number of women are needed here to help with the work.

When Ding Yi arrived, someone from the Firearms Department was preparing gunpowder, and Li Zhongyi was also watching.

They used the best ratio of black powder introduced by Ding Yi, 74% nitrate, 11.5% sulfur, and 13.5% charcoal.

A hundred meters away, there are still people burning charcoal.

The method of burning charcoal is also very simple. Not only Ding Yi knows it, but also many Liao people and artisans know it, and everyone talks about it.

Then two methods were chosen, one is to dig a cave on the slope of the hill, and after the cave is filled with wood, it is lit and burned, and then covered, and holes are left on the top to allow the wood to undergo incomplete combustion, carbonization, and volatile matter in the kiln. escape.

The other is to let the craftsman make a large iron barrel, put the wood in the iron barrel, burn the fire under the iron barrel, leave smoke holes on all sides to ensure the air flow, burn on the fire for several hours, and then cover the smoke holes to make it go through incomplete combustion And carbonization, and finally cooling, after opening the iron drum, it is exquisite self-made charcoal.

The charcoal made from the former can be used for civilian heating, and the latter is very suitable for making gunpowder.

It is also suggested that it is better to dry or cool the wood for a day or two before making charcoal, and it is best to use hardwood charcoal, but there are more pines and cypresses in Lushun and less hardwoods.

Li Zhongyi took Ding Yi to watch their production process.

Every woman holds a mortar and a mortar, some grind nitrate, some grind sulfur, some grind charcoal, each grinds one kind, after grinding, they have to wash before grinding.

After they are all ground into powder, they are prepared in proportion and then put together for grinding.

At this time, you should be more careful when grinding. There should be no fireworks within 50 meters nearby, keep away from the heat source, the speed should not be too fast, and the movements should be gentle. It will take about 15 minutes to grind.

The gunpowder of the Ming Dynasty is ready here.

But Ding Yi's life is not over.

Because he wants to get granules of gunpowder.

Granular gunpowder appeared in Europe in the fourteenth century, which was a revolution in gunpowder technology and an important turning point in the history of firearms.

Before that, including the current Ming Dynasty, powdered gunpowder was used as propellant, which had many disadvantages, such as inconvenient transportation, uneven burning rate, and easy to be affected by moisture.

In particular, the powdered gunpowder is squeezed into the gun barrel, and it is easy to squeeze together when it is stressed, so that when it is ignited, it cannot burn completely due to lack of oxygen, which reduces the power of the gunpowder.

Later, some gunmen didn't pack it tightly, but they couldn't exert the power of gunpowder if they loaded it too loosely.

Therefore, a powerful gunner will load the gunpowder neither tight nor loose, which requires high operation and takes time.

Granular gunpowder overcomes all the disadvantages above. They are easy to transport, not easy to be affected by moisture, have a uniform burning rate, and there are gaps no matter how tight they are packed, which is convenient for oxygen to burn, and maximizes the power of gunpowder.

Most importantly, under the same power, the consumption of granular gunpowder is less than half of that of powdered gunpowder, which further reduces the cost of using firearms.

So Ding Yi continued to add 8% water after grinding, and continued to mix gunpowder, adding a small amount and many times until the gunpowder showed the texture of thick clay. At this time, he could use a sieve to sift it into countless small particles, and Let dry on a clean paper.

The powder pellets are formed.

Seeing Ding Yi coming, Li Zhongyi introduced him excitedly.

"Granular gunpowder made by the method Mr. Ding said, I tried a few shots a few days ago."

"The Lumi gun used to use 15 grams of gunpowder, 0.8 steps to break through iron armor, and [-] steps to break through cotton armor."

"Now you can break through iron armor within 80 steps." "We have tested it in many ways."

"Using granular gunpowder, 18 grams, can break iron armor at 120 steps, and has greater lethality at [-] steps, which can break below cotton armor."

If it is replaced by meters, it can break cotton armor at about 100 meters.

Li Zhongyi and the others tested it for a few days. At present, 18 grams of gunpowder has the longest killing distance and the best killing effect. If it is at most, it may burst the chamber. This is also the ultimate manifestation of power.

Li Zhongyi was convinced, he felt that Ding Yi was omnipotent and could do anything.

And for bird guns, the best effect and killing distance are 12 grams of gunpowder.

But Ding Yi plans to eliminate the bird guns in the whole army in the future and use Lumi guns, so he doesn't consider the range and power of the bird guns.

He went to the shooting range and watched a few Lumi gunners shooting targets. As Li Zhongyi said, they were powerful and far away.

But the speed is still a bit slow.

Ding Yi called Li Zhongyi: "Back then, the gunners of Qi's army each carried 53 bamboo tubes containing gunpowder, and the other bag contained 53 lead."

Li Zhongyi immediately nodded: "We also plan to do this. Last time, the lord mentioned it to me in Xu Dabao. At that time, I didn't have time to do it. I'm thinking about it now."

"Let's improve it." Ding Yi said, "There is a way to pack gunpowder in paper tubes."

"Now that you have determined the weight, 18 grams of gunpowder will be the ration from now on."

"Wrap all the gunpowder and projectiles in a long paper tube."

"When loading, open the paper tube with your mouth, first pour some gunpowder into the fire door, and then stuff the rest of the gunpowder and the projectile into the gun mouth. Wouldn't it be easier and faster?"

(End of this chapter)