In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the method of making fire nitrate used in China was the method of squeezing nitrate and scraping nitrate. ▲≥8▲≥8▲≥read ▲≥book,√≧o

Although, since alchemists in the Han Dynasty invented the method of refining fire and nitrate, the method of collecting fire and nitrate has not changed substantially until the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The soil near the accumulation of feces and other substances often contains a large amount of organic matter. After these organic matters are then treated by nitrifying bacteria, nitric acid will be generated. Nitric acid will further act with arsenic, calcium, and magnesium in the soil to form potassium nitrate and its calcium and magnesium nitrate. This is the nitr soil. The various nitr soils contain different amounts of potassium nitrate, generally a few percent. In the precipitated fluffy and white mold, the potassium nitrate content is relatively high, sometimes up to 75%.

Naturally, this needs to be collected and purified before it can be used.

But Liu Yu doesn't need to worry about this.

It only takes the method in the later Ming Dynasty divine book "The Creation of Things in Heaven" and after a series of adoption, boiling, and purifying, white fire sulphur can be produced as a raw material of black huoyao, which means that the content of potassium nitrate exceeds 75%.

Of course, improving the process and further improving purity and yield can increase power.

The problem is that such output is actually less than the consumption of black weapons.

Although the population of Qingzhou has increased to more than one million, it still cannot meet the quantitative needs of real black huoyao preparation.

Now in the Wei and Jin dynasties, although there were already people who collected salt, they were basically the artists who used this to refine elixirs. Not only were these people small in number, but their respective levels of collecting fire salt were uneven.

Of course, there is another most important issue, that is, in the Western Jin Dynasty, China's agriculture had begun to enter the initial stage of intensive cultivation, and various simple composting methods had begun to be applied, so feces had become a "tasty" property.

Therefore, in order to quickly solve this problem, Liu Yu simply learned the practice of the later kings of England. First, he established a Jiji official with formal authority, and secondly, he announced that all the feces were taken into public ownership.

Liu Yu ordered that a formal Jiji Officer was established in the military palaces of nine counties. According to the characteristics of the Western Jin Dynasty, the official name was directly called Jiji Duwei, and his rank was the same as the deputy of the military palace. His soldiers also specialized in Jiji.

At the same time, the human and animal manure in Qingzhou is managed by Jijima from all counties and counties. Only when Jijima from counties collects fire and nitrate, can these manure be allowed to be placed in the farmland.

As soon as this order was issued, although piles of manure were taken to the public for management, and there was no real real benefit to be damaged, in the eyes of some sensitive powerful men, they felt that this was the excuse of the Qingzhou army starting to erode their power to supervise the sect leader. However, the heads of people who were still hung high on the Linzi walls made these dissatisfied powerful men dare not speak more easily.

At the same time, with the unified management of manure in various counties and counties, not only did Qingzhou's ignition stock increase greatly before winter came, but also because centralized management prevented the spread of pollution sources, the sanitation situation of Qingzhou's cities and villages has been greatly improved.

In this autumn, a seasonal infectious disease broke out in the surrounding Yanzhou and Xuzhou, but Qingzhou escaped the disaster, leaving Qingzhou’s precious population without losses. ∝8∝8∝Read∝,◆o+

Collecting fire and preparing black huo yao is one of the things that Liu Yu is most concerned about. Not only did he achieve the established goals, but he could even say that he exceeded the goal. This fully shows that there is no large technical threshold for the preparation of black huo yao. Although compared with the mature methods of collecting salt in the Ming and Qing dynasties in later generations, the skills of these qi gathering commanders under Liu Yu were relatively unfamiliar with the preparation cost and were relatively high, but they were all within the acceptable range of Liu Yu.

However, the progress of another thing seriously hit Liu Yu's attempt to achieve the weaponization of huoyao.

To convert the chemical energy of black yao into a destructive weapon, there must be a weapon that can stably output black yao energy, that is, metal cannons or fire.

After all, even if the black huo yao rockets are equipped with a rotating tail wing, they usually refer to whatever they want. The real power of this "Brown Sports Rocket" is really limited, and it is more about intimidating enemies who have never seen before.

In terms of technology and power, it is much easier to make artillery first than to make fire.

Therefore, considering the insufficient level and quantity of various craftsmen in the Western Jin Dynasty, Liu Yu had to suspend the production of many new objects such as trial-made glass and carved plates.

Almost all the craftsmen under his command were concentrated in Linzi to prepare artillery.

Liu Yu knew that China had almost full of scientific points in bronze ware since the ancient Shang Dynasty, so he felt that using bronze to prepare three-pound bronze cannons in later generations should be easy to capture.

Finally, Liu Yu directed his craftsmen to create a bronze cannon that actually fired three-pound shells.

With a loud "boom", a black iron ball the size of a baby's fist roared out, piercing through the three-layer wooden board at a distance of 100 steps, and then smashed it hard into the soil.

As soon as the cold wind in early winter came out, the strong smell of gunpowder drifted into Liu Yu's nose.

At this time, the generals and craftsmen gathered around Liu Yu were all excited and cheering. The power of this bronze cannon was so powerful that it was exactly the same as what Liu Yu described to them before.

The generals around Liu Yu all thought that with this kind of copper cannon that burns elixirs, there will be no more armored war formations that cannot be broken from now on. No matter you are a double-layer iron armored soldier, even if the King of Western Chu who can wear three layers of iron armor, they are like paper in front of the iron balls triggered by this magical elixir.

After the craftsmen were proudly happy that the bronze cannons they made had succeeded, most of them began to feel uneasy.

Although these craftsmen have never experienced the battle formation, they all know that as soon as such a magic weapon that can invade the power of thunder comes out, there will be no more fearful brave generals and warriors in the Qingzhou Army.

When the King of Chu was forged by the divine weapons, in order not to make a comparable weapon in the world, he killed the sword-casting general Mo Ye without hesitation.

At this time, these craftsmen began to be more and more afraid that they would cause themselves to be killed because of the creation of these magical weapons.

Whether they were happy or worried, the generals and craftsmen of the Qingzhou Army believed that the bronze cannon that "swallowed the elixir" was a magic weapon.

However, as the person who presided over the production of this three-pound bronze cannon throughout the whole process, Liu Yu did not think that the test firing of this three-pound cannon was the beginning of the success of the artillery era in the future. Instead, he encountered insurmountable obstacles.

This obstacle that Liu Yu thought was insurmountable. Fundamentally speaking, the production cost of this three-pound bronze cannon is so fuckingly high!

Originally, according to the standard of three-pound bronze cannons that were popular among the Thai countries in the 18th century, the diameter of a three-pound bronze was about eight centimeters, the range was 350 meters, which was more than 200 steps away, and the weight was about 260 kilograms.

However, in the Western Jin Dynasty, Liu Yu was now in, even though the bronze casting process was already perfect, it refers more to the modeling process. As for the internal copper alloy ratio and purity, there is still a gap with the modern era more than a thousand years later.

Therefore, in order to make up for this gap, Liu Yu had to let his craftsmen strengthen the structural strength by thickened wall tubes to make up for the gap in strength with the 18th century three-pound cannon.

In this way, the weight of the three-pound cannon in front of Liu Yu far exceeded the weight of the modern three-pound cannon in the 17th century. It was roughly estimated to double, reaching more than 400 kilograms, and even exceeding the six-pound Napoleon bronze cannon.

In this way, this three-pound cannon weighs more than 400 kilograms. If it is converted into the Wuzhu coins popular in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it would be 400,000 coins.

If more fuel is consumed, copper content is higher than Wuzhu coins and other factors, the cost of this three-pound cannon will rise to 500,000 yuan.

Moreover, because of the inevitable failure rate of casting technology, more manpower and material resources are wasted, the cost of this three-pound cannon will be greatly increased.

Also, due to the lack of craftsmen, in order to cast cannons, other craftsmen in the porcelain and paper industry were dispatched, which also caused cost losses due to damage to production. After all, Liu Yu was almost shocked. The cost of such a three-pound bronze cannon was really enough to reach one million yuan.

During the current Western Jin Dynasty, what is the concept of one million yuan?

One million yuan can buy the most fertile grain field. If you can buy 500 acres of ordinary cooked land, you can directly enter the ranks of "poor families" from extremely poor refugees.

If you buy a house in a relatively stable place like Linzi, you can buy two of the best luxury houses. If you buy a house like Luzuo civilian, you can buy a hundred, basically you can buy a few poor streets and then all of them will be demolished to make real estate.

If used to buy food, although the price of food has risen due to natural disasters, one million yuan can still buy at least one thousand stones of corn, which is enough to support a family of ten for two years.

If one million yuan is used for iron qiang used by ordinary soldiers, you can buy a thousand iron qiang, which is enough to equip most of the battalions.

"Hahaha, General, with such powerful weapons, I'm afraid there will be no rivals in the world, and Guan and Zhang Zhiyong will be useless."

At this time, Li Feng and other confidant generals gathered next to Liu Yu with joy on their faces.

Before, in order to speed up the casting of bronze cannons and even reduce the craftsmen who made weapons and armor, Li Feng and others did not say it, but they all had some objections in their hearts. They all felt that it was really difficult to understand that Liu Yu had put such great energy and cost in making a large copper tube.

But today, after seeing the power of this big copper tube, Li Feng and the others changed their attitudes instantly.

"Yes, General, let's build ten. By that time, the world is so big that there will be no rivals."

"Look at your ambition, ten are enough. If you ask me, you will create at least one hundred more. At that time, we will fight all the way to Luoyang, and everyone will also see what kind of immortal life the emperors and princes live."

These generals, as they had already been inspired by the bronze cannon, even several of them said words to enter Luoyang to see the world. This scared the craftsmen who had long been worried about the entire bird's bow and almost lost their souls.

"Not to mention a hundred, even ten can't afford it. Such a bronze cannon costs nearly one million yuan at all."

Liu Yu couldn't help but pour a basin of cold water on his subordinates, so he had to calm them down first.

"One million!?"

"How much is that?!"

After hearing this, Li Feng and several generals took a breath.

Although the generals of the Qingzhou Army were all exploiting classes, no one of them could afford one million yuan after the equivalent wealth of silk and land.

Of course, this does not mean that one million yuan is an out of reach. However, minting a weapon with a cost of one million yuan is really beyond the imagination of Li Feng and others.

"This does not include other costs, such as the transportation requires the production of cannon trucks, the horses that need to pull the trucks, and the huo yao used, oh, it is the kind of elixir that gets angry. If these are included, I don't know how much to add."

Liu Yu couldn't help but continue.

"God, I have one million yuan to train 500 elite infantry troops." Li Feng couldn't help but smack his tongue.

"Yes, this is just one. If there are ten, wouldn't it be, it's more, anyway, right?"

Zhao Kun turned his fingers, but failed to calculate the ten million.

The Yamen Army Cavalry Supervisor Wu Xin was thoughtful. Although he was shocked by the cost of one million yuan, he always felt that such an unparalleled weapon was far from being able to use the same money to exchange for the corresponding number of soldiers, and then it could be compared.

"If such magical weapons are properly used, they will definitely be more useful than the Five Hundred Infantry Army."

Wu Xin's tone was very firm.

"Wu Bocheng, what he said is very much." Liu Yu couldn't help but exclaim when he heard Wu Xin's words. There is always a kind of person in this world who has a keen insight that is beyond ordinary people. Even if he only sees something new for the first time, he can quickly foresee future changes.

"This weapon will be called a cannon in the future. Now casting with copper is of course expensive. When it can smelve appropriate steel, use steel to build cannons. At that time, the cost of this cannon will be reduced."

Liu Yu said, while rekindled his fighting spirit and hope for the steelmaking that had failed repeatedly.

However, Liu Yu's words attracted collective doubts from Li Feng, Wu Xin and others.

"Use steel? It seems that steel is not much cheaper than copper."

Only then did Liu Yu realize again, well, this era is still the eve of the explosion of technology, and many standards in later generations are not applicable at this time.11
Chapter completed!