scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 107 Miyoshi Gunpowder

Wu Sangui took the Eight Banners Fushou Ointment seeds offered by Fatty Lu with both hands, and went back to Kunming happily. The running dogs of the Pingxi Palace and jackals, tigers and leopards also happily followed back to share the spoils, but Liu Xuanchu knew very well that the seeds were only so small. There are so many people there, and when they return to Kunming, there will be a lot of noise in the Pingxi Palace, so they don't bother to go to the water, and use the excuse that the construction of the Nule Peak military camp needs people from the Pingxi Palace to preside over the construction, so they volunteered to Wu Sangui to ask for help. The errand asked to stay in Qujing temporarily.

Although Fatty Lu proposed the construction of the Nule Peak barracks, since Fatty Lu also has an identity as the eyeliner sent by Xiao Mazi to monitor Wu Sangui, it is really inconvenient for Fatty Lu to publicly appear on the construction of the barracks, so considering this point, Wu Sangui is very happy. He readily agreed to Liu Xuanchu's request.To Liu Xuanchu's surprise, Wang Shirong also proposed to stay in Qujing for a while to help Liu Xuanchu supervise the construction of the Nule Peak Camp. Wu Sangui immediately agreed upon hearing this—Fatty Lu is Liu Xuanchu's favorite student, and the master and apprentice teamed up to create anger Although the Lefeng camp would not join forces to engage in private fraud and embezzle public funds, but Wang Shirong, who had always been at odds with the master and apprentice, volunteered to watch here, so Wu Sangui was of course more at ease.

"Mr. Liangchen, what about it?" After sending Wu Sangui's team away, Liu Xuanchu took the opportunity and asked Wang Shirong with a wry smile: "Who am I, Liu Maoya, don't you know? Don't you think I will join hands with my disciples?" , Embezzling the king’s camp construction money? It seems that the money for building the Nule Peak camp was directly paid from my student Lu Yifeng, right?"

"Is Mr. Maoya too narrow-minded? Am I, Wang Shirong, that kind of person?" The crow laughed at the black pig, and Wang Shirong snorted coldly, pouted at Wu Sangui's team that had gone far away, and said with a sneer, "Same as Mr. Maoya, I also want to stay in Qujing to avoid trouble, otherwise, go back to Qujing to divide the seeds, say a wrong sentence casually, give less to one person and give more to another person, and immediately offend them, and I am too lazy to argue with them. It's better to hide in Qujing and wait for the limelight to pass before going back."

"Mr. Liangchen is really clever. Anyway, when we return to Kunming this time, the prince's place is full of excitement. We don't want to join in the excitement, and it's better not to watch the excitement." Liu Xuanchu laughed, and then he realized that Wang Shirong and himself thought of going together. .

"But Maoya, don't be too happy too soon." Wang Shirong said coldly: "By the way, Mr. Maoya, please inform Gao Tu that although the Nule Peak camp was built with money from him, it will still be built from him in the future. He deducted from the 5 taels of silver he borrowed from the prince, but in the final analysis it is still the prince's silver, so if he uses the money, or if he does nothing, wastes money and wastes money to set up the Nule Peak Camp, he still gets nothing in the end, and the gain outweighs the loss. Then I still want to invite the prince and ask him for an explanation!"

After finishing speaking, Wang Shirong turned his head and left, leaving Liu Xuanchu shaking his head and smiling wryly, completely helpless with Wang Shirong's bear temper.

Wang Shirong's mind is indeed a little small, but his ability to handle affairs is not limited. With the help of him and Liu Xuanchu, when he started to build the Nule Peak camp, Fatty Lu was obviously much more relaxed, except for recruiting civilian husbands and borrowing slaves from An Shixian In addition to supplementing manpower, Fatty Lu can wholeheartedly guide the workers to build the blast furnace, plan and arrange various construction sites, and hoard all kinds of useful materials. There is no need to worry about the rest, and the progress of the project has also been greatly accelerated.By the end of October, the Nule Peak camp had begun to take shape, and the temporary construction site near Sanchakou Fort was completely relocated. The workers and construction sites were all moved to Nule Peak, and the safety factor and confidentiality factor were greatly improved.

The rapid progress of the project is of course related to the cement newly developed by Fatty Lu. The temporary construction site near Sanchakou Fort started working day and night, crushing and calcining the limestone and clay that can be found everywhere in Qujing, and then adding gypsum to grind it finely to produce high-quality cement. Youwumei's original cement was transported to the Nule Peak camp on the bank of the Niulan River [-] miles away, where it was cast into concrete cement slabs or used to bond green bricks to build the first batch of man-made cement houses in the world. The world's first man-made concrete field was produced.

Of course, because the first batch of concrete houses in the world were built by Fatty Lu, this has also become the point that later generations of mites attack Fatty Lu crazily—destroying the environment is the chief culprit for the flooding of unaesthetic concrete forests!At the same time, when producing concrete cement slabs, in view of the high price and scarcity of steel bars, Fatty Lu cut corners and replaced steel bars with bamboo poles to mass produce cement slabs with bamboo poles, which were still quite strong in the cold weapon era. He became the patriarch who cut corners and cut materials in the construction industry of later generations, and was worshiped by countless real estate developers, vying to follow suit.

During this period, Fatty Lu's brother-in-law Shang Zhixin actually came to Qujing to visit his sister and brother-in-law once. After repeatedly persuading Fatty Lu to be transferred to Guangdong to no avail, he heard that all the seeds of the Eight Banners Fushou Ointment had fallen into Wu Sangui's hands. Xin only stayed for two days before he rushed to Kunming to find trouble for Wu Sangui.At the same time, the rich and powerful officials who came from other provinces to beg for seeds also let go of poor Fatty Lu, and ran to Wu Sangui to intercede like a swarm of bees. Fatty Lu, who was so prominent and harassed, finally relaxed, and swore he would never do it again. Indiscriminate use of hype means to avoid endless troubles, and prevent Xiao Mazi from coveting his "beauty" and forcing himself out of Yunnan.

Of course, it’s not troublesome or busy work. In late October, Fatty Lu’s uncle Qin Xiangchuan finally returned to Qujing from Guangzhou with more than 20 taels of silver, completely solving the financial problem of Fatty Lu. At the same time, Fang Shiyu brought Fatty Lu Twenty Southern Shaolin masters were recruited, and the name of one of them is very familiar to everyone-Hong Xiguan!Overjoyed, Fatty Lu hurriedly hosted a banquet for Hong Xiguan and his party, undressed them, pushed them to eat, and tried their best to win over people's hearts. Hong Xiguan and others also gave a lot of face and promised to keep all of them, or to join Fatty Lu's yamen servant team , or in the name of protecting businessmen, joined Uncle Lu's team of protecting businessmen of Daheng Company.

So far, Fatty Lu's small team has basically taken shape, with an extremely luxurious lineup. His master is the world's number one genius doctor Zhu Fangdan. The important thugs are the brothers of the Liu family of the Three Tigers of Guangdong, the less capable but undoubted Xiao Erlang, and the two sons of Fatty Lu's uncle, Qin Yong and Qin Mo, the first cousins ​​of Fatty Lu, who are also absolutely reliable. At the same time, it is also a promising accomplice.

At the same time, Fatty Lu asked his uncle to recruit more than 200 children from the Lu family and the Qin family from Dali, his hometown, to form a business protection team and hand them over to Li Tianzhi for strict training according to the law of the army. There are more than 200 yamen servants, a total of more than [-] people, who have become Fatty Lu's powerful accomplices and small team. Although the number is small, everyone is armed to the teeth. The capital to make a fortune with high hopes.

November 23, the seventh year of Mite Qingkang Mazi, this is a day destined to be recorded in history, and it is also a day when crimes sprout and become notorious.In the morning, Fatty Lu invited his teachers Liu Xuanchu and Wang Shirong to the camp of Nule Peak, and then went up to a flat grassland on the hillside of the heavily guarded Nule Peak. The two craftsmen have been waiting for a long time, and beside them, there is a half-person-high water tank made of cement, which is filled with cold water, and there is a shoddy and inferior glass tank in the water.

In front of Liu Xuanchu and Wang Shirong, Fatty Lu asked the craftsmen to take out several glass bottles with scales, and introduced them one by one: "Master, Mr. Wang, let me introduce to you, this glass bottle contains transparent The liquid is called sulfuric acid, and it is made of green vitriol, which is common in Yunnan copper mines, and it is the water that is recorded in the "Huangdi Jiuding Shendan Jingjue", and it weighs about one and a half catties."

"This yellow liquid is called nitric acid. It is dissolved and evaporated with sulfuric acid and saltpeter. I don't know if we made this thing in China before. I learned how to make it from Western classics. It weighs half a catty. .”

"This bottle of transparent potion is very similar to sulfuric acid, but it is oily, called glycerin. It is also extracted from animal oil and seaweed ash (natural baking soda) by my research on Western culture. Its waste is the best saponins. It can be used for bathing and washing clothes, and I can show you later. Oh, by the way, the weight of glycerin is the same as that of nitric acid, which is half a catty.

"The white ash in this small bottle is seaweed ash. Its alkali purity is very high, much higher than that of ordinary plant ash. This thing is used in a large amount, and it can even be used without it. This time I only used half a tael at most."

"Then what is this?" Liu Xuanchu asked again, pointing to the gray soil in a small glass jar next to the sink.

"This is called diatomaceous earth, and we have a lot of it in Yunnan." Fatty Lu introduced: "After mining it, impurities must be removed, and then crushed and calcined to remove moisture. The weight is 14 taels, which is the total weight of nitric acid, sulfuric acid, and glycerin. one-third of the

"What's the use of doing these things?" Wang Shirong asked suspiciously.

"Of course it's a new type of gunpowder." Fatty Lu said with a smile, "I'm going to use these few things to make a new gunpowder that is dozens or hundreds of times more powerful than ordinary gunpowder!"

"Gunpowder whose power is tens or hundreds of times that of ordinary gunpowder?" Wang Shirong was taken aback, and hurriedly asked, "Really or fake, are you kidding?"

"Are you kidding? Mr. Wang will know soon." Fatty Lu smiled and pouted at Xiao Erlang. A row of thick wooden shields, Wang Shirong and Liu Xuanchu were invited to watch behind the shields, and Fatty Lu personally led the craftsmen to operate them carefully.

In fact, as long as you know the principle and the method of safe production, the old Nuo brand gunpowder is still very simple. First pour the nitric acid into a small glass jar immersed in cold water at the bottom of your waist, add a small amount of natural baking soda to neutralize it, and then slowly pour it into For sulfuric acid, stir it evenly with a glass rod, then add glycerin more slowly, and stir for about 10 minutes. After it stabilizes, it will become the famous and extremely dangerous nitroglycerin.In the end, Fatty Lu, who was greedy for life and afraid of death, used a straw to absorb a very small amount of nitroglycerin as the primer, and then added diatomaceous earth into the nitroglycerin. After the diatomaceous earth completely absorbed the nitroglycerin, he became even more famous and incomparable. Safe old Noble dynamite.

Put the old Nuo brand gunpowder into two small wooden boxes, holding one small wooden box, Fatty Lu couldn't even close his mouth with a smile, while Wang Shirong and Liu Xuanchu took the other small wooden box and looked left and right, really don't understand what this thing is The power is strong there.Under their strong request, Fatty Lu took out a catty of Lao Nuo brand gunpowder and stuffed it into a thin iron can, then put the iron can between two big stones, hung a stone on the top of the iron can, tied the stone Pull out the rope for half a mile and fix it, then make a depression in the thin iron tank under the stone, pour in the liquid nitroglycerin used to detonate, and finally run away and hide in a safe place.

"Everyone, please keep your eyes wide open, don't blink, let's witness the moment of a miracle together!" With a coquettish shout, Fatty Lu cut the rope himself with a knife, and the stone hanging from one end of the rope fell to the ground with precision. Hitting on top of nitroglycerin...  

"Boom!" There was an earth-shattering loud noise, and the entire Nule Peak seemed to be shaking from its roots, and gravel and mud were flying all over the sky. Although Fatty Lu and the others were hiding half a mile away, they were also shaken by the shock, standing still. Unsteady, and his whole body was drenched with gravel and mud all over his head and face.

"Ouch!" It was also retribution. Later, the first explosion of gunpowder, which brutally killed countless soldiers of the Qing Dynasty and was hailed as the Sanhao brand, caused a fist-sized stone to fly half a mile away, hitting Lu Xun impartially. On the fat man's forehead, Fatty Lu screamed like a pig being killed, and a big bump quickly swelled up on his forehead.

Liu Xuanchu and Wang Shirong were not in the mood to care about the pitiful appearance of Fatty Lu. As soon as the gunpowder smoke cleared, they rushed to the scene of the explosion with a few craftsmen. What stunned them was that the two 100 yuan used to test the power The bluestone weighing several jins was blown to pieces on the spot, and the broken stone flew out for half a mile with the explosion point as the center, scattered all over the place, and the tin cans used to hold the new-style gunpowder did not even leave slag. At one point, only some iron powder and iron filings were deeply sunk in the blast pit more than a foot deep, and they were almost impossible to find.

"Oh my God! How powerful are Westerners' gunpowder?! It's dozens or hundreds of times more powerful than our gunpowder!" Wang Shirong was the first to shout palely.

"Mr. Wang, I was the first to research this kind of gunpowder, and there is no one in Western countries." Fatty Lu protested shamelessly.

"Three good things!" Liu Xuanchu suddenly hugged Fatty Lu and shouted frantically: "We have hope! We have hope! With this thing, the prince has hope, and we also have hope!"

"It's just that it's too troublesome to light the fire. It can be used to blow up the enemy's city wall, but I'm afraid it won't work on the field battlefield." Wang Shirong said regretfully.At the end, Wang Shirong suddenly remembered something again, and hurriedly asked, "Lord Lu, is this thing expensive to make? How many times is it more expensive than gunpowder?"

"The current cost is of course expensive, but after mass production, it will definitely be cheaper, and it should not exceed twice the price of ordinary gunpowder." Fatty Lu replied seriously: "As for the problem of detonation, neither my mentor nor Mr. Wang need to worry about it. Start researching the detonator specially used for detonation, and then it can be used not only on the battlefield, but also on explosive shells, so... we all hate those people so much and have a good drink!"

Wang Shirong was tongue-tied, and after a long time, Wang Shirong turned his face away and said, "Lord Lu, you are indeed a priceless treasure bestowed by God to our Pingxi Palace!"

"Sanhao, the detonator, the detonator you are talking about!" Liu Xuanchu excitedly shook Fatty Lu in his arms, and yelled, "Get it done! Get it out for me! I want to take it back to Kunming and let the prince see it with his own eyes. How powerful is the three good gunpowder! Let the prince make it, let the prince make a lot of it!"

"Teacher, don't worry, Kunming City can't be built in a day, these things have to be done slowly." Fatty Lu said: "First of all, I will of course make a detonator, let the prince see the power of the new gunpowder, and strengthen his will." Confidence. Then I've got to figure out how to mass-produce this gunpowder. And then I've got to work on artillery and propellants, and then...."

"And then what?" Liu Xuanchu asked impatiently.

"After that, of course there are mortars and gas bombs." Fatty Lu replied with a smile: "With detonators, new gunpowder and propellant, I hope to create a weapon that can be carried by a person, but the power is far away. The mortar on top of the Hongyi cannon! Another gas bomb, I am sure to produce at least two kinds of gas bombs, which can kill the enemy invisible! With these things, who else in the world can be the opponent of our Pingxi Palace?! "

(End of this chapter)