"???" When Sun Chuanting heard this, a series of question marks popped up in his mind, what is that?
Emperor Chongzhen didn't even need to look at his expression to know that he definitely didn't understand.
So, he continued to say in that indifferent tone: "Let me just say this. In the past, molten steel could not be produced directly because the temperature was not enough; and the quality of steel is related to the impurities in it. As long as we can control the impurities in it,
Impurities, whatever you want to have and what you don’t want, then you can get steel with various hardnesses! Do you understand what I said?"
This is easier to understand, Sun Chuanting thought, so that’s it!
"How is it? Is there a lot of knowledge in this craftsmanship?" Emperor Chongzhen looked at Sun Chuanting's face and asked in the same indifferent tone, "Is this craftsmanship beneficial to the country and the people? I am busy with this, but I am not doing my job properly.
?”
"..." Upon hearing this, Sun Chuanting was speechless for a while, knowing that the emperor was retaliating for what he had said before.
However, he was not stubborn, and replied with sincerity: "It's just a humble minister who is shallow! This kind of craftsmanship, not to mention other things, just in military affairs, the chances of winning by the imperial army will be greatly increased in the future!"
If it is an army commanded by ordinary people, no matter how good the armor is and how sharp the weapons are, it will only increase the chance of winning. But Sun Chuanting himself does not think so, at least he thinks that if he comes to command such an army, there is a high probability that
Will definitely win!
Seeing that he was convinced, Emperor Chongzhen was very happy and said: "I tell you, the flintlock gun made of this kind of steel will have a longer range and the manufacturing time will be shorter."
Having said this, he became interested and said to Sun Chuanting: "Let's go, I will take you to see the saltpeter fields. In the future, with the saltpeter fields, the price of gunpowder will also be greatly reduced. I have decided that in the future,
The imperial army will mainly use firearms."
Sun Chuanting, who had been in charge of the army for many years, certainly knew the advantages of firearms. Hearing that the cost of gunpowder as a consumable could be greatly reduced, he couldn't help but feel even more happy and hurriedly followed Emperor Chongzhen.
It was still within the Bingzhan Bureau, but in a relatively remote corner. Before I even got here, I could smell the stench.
However, Emperor Chongzhen was in high spirits and did not mind the smell at all, because this was a place where he could save money, so why did it smell bad?
Sun Chuanting couldn't help being surprised when he saw the emperor acting like this.
The majestic Emperor Ming was actually of such low stature. The sacrifice was too great!
With this thought in his mind, he naturally did not dare to show that he disliked the smell here. Instead, he was curious about what kind of method the emperor had come up with to greatly reduce the cost of gunpowder. If it was just a pile of dung, this method seemed to work.
Not so good?
Using the dung method to obtain fire salt has been known for a long time, and Sun Chuanting certainly knew it too. However, after the previous example of smelting steel, he did not dare to look down upon it.
I saw a shed with only a roof in front of me, and the smell came from underneath the shed. There seemed to be carpenters working around, and they seemed to be making windmills. Is this going to blow the wind?
Out of curiosity, I got closer and saw it more clearly.
I saw many people busy under the shed.
Emperor Chongzhen found a place to stand upwind, and then spoke with a smile: "I tell you, there is great knowledge in this saltpeter field! I must have known this before, but didn't know why? So, naturally
There is no way to get more fire salt, I can tell you one or two!"
With that said, he introduced Sun Chuanting without waiting for his reply.
His mood at this moment was as if he were returning home in fine clothes, and he had completely forgotten the embarrassing situation he was in when he first asked Liu Weichao for advice, not understanding this or that.
"The process of producing fire nitrate from feces is actually the work of nitrifying bacteria, which decompose the feces to produce nitric acid, which then reacts with arsenic, calcium, and magnesium in the soil to produce potassium nitrate and calcium and magnesium nitrates."
"Do you understand bacteria? I think you don't understand. This is a very tiny organism. The glass factory is already building a microscope. When it is built later, I can sell it... I will give you a microscope, and you will
You can now see what bacteria look like! But I can tell you that there are many kinds of bacteria, and they are all different!"
"Then again, the principle of generating fire and saltpeter is probably this principle. It is divided into two stages. The first stage is...forget it, I told you that you don't understand it, so I won't go into it!"
"In this process, there are some factors that have a great influence. I only need to let people adjust these factors to get the maximum output of fire salt, such as temperature, oxygen, humidity, etc."
"..."
"On such a piece of land, I have calculated that one acre of land can produce about 7,000 kilograms of high-quality saltpeter, which is estimated to be half of the fire saltpeter. How about reducing the cost of gunpowder?"
During Emperor Chongzhen's eloquent explanation, he still didn't understand some of the content, so much so that he forgot about it when he was showing off, so he skipped it because he was sure that Sun Chuanting couldn't understand it anyway.
After a lot of discussion, Emperor Chongzhen conveyed the conclusion Liu Weichao told him to Sun Chuanting.
Sun Chuanting was naturally dumbfounded. Those words that he did not understand made it even more obvious that Emperor Chongzhen's knowledge was very profound. More importantly, these are all useful knowledge, knowledge that can obtain a large amount of fire salt and reduce the cost of gunpowder!
When leading an army in a war, no amount of gunpowder is too much. If the price can be lowered, Sun Chuanting knows how much it will help the military.
Looking at everything in front of him with his mouth open, Sun Chuanting finally came back to his senses after a long time. He had to sigh with emotion: "Your Majesty's knowledge is beyond the reach of humble ministers. I admire you so much!"
Hearing this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but be very happy!
Fang Zhenghua and others had praised him like this. However, Emperor Chongzhen felt that it was just so-so, because the words from Fang Zhenghua and others were basically compliments.
But this Sun Chuanting is not very stubborn. If he can say such a thing, his weight is definitely higher than that of Fang Zhenghua and others, and second only to Liu Weichao.
I have to say that Emperor Chongzhen was in a very good mood at this time!
"Let's go, I'll take you to see the glass factory. That's where the money comes from to ease the financial pressure on the court." Emperor Chongzhen said enthusiastically, "Of course, there are also good things that can be used for military purposes. I
Let me open your eyes!"
Sun Chuanting was dumbfounded and happy in his heart, and quickly followed.
About half a day passed before Sun Chuanting finished visiting the things Emperor Chongzhen had messed with these days and followed Emperor Chongzhen to the Wenhua Hall.
After Emperor Chongzhen sat down, he looked at Sun Chuanting below, his expression finally turned serious, and he was ready to get down to business!