That's right, what Li Mu wants to do is exactly gunpowder.
As one of the four great inventions of ancient China, gunpowder's status and importance need not be overstated. But few people know the exact time of gunpowder's birth. Historical data records that there was no invention similar to 'gunpowder' until the late Tang Dynasty.
Things were produced in alchemy, but the actual use of gunpowder in actual combat was a matter of the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, Li Mu's 'invention' of gunpowder is absolutely unprecedented.
The formula of gunpowder was no longer a secret when Li Mu was in school. There was a formula for it in the chemistry class of junior high school. There were three main ingredients, charcoal, saltpeter and sulfur. The ratio was fifteen parts saltpeter, three parts charcoal and two parts.
Parts of sulfur can be used to obtain the most powerful black powder. However, this ratio is gradually obtained through experiments over thousands of years. The black powder formulas in history are not uniform. There are ratios of 621 and 42.
The ratio of one to one is related to the purity of the material and the climate.
These three materials for making black powder are not difficult to obtain. Not to mention charcoal, where there is wood, there can be charcoal. The other two materials, saltpeter and sulfur, are also found in nature, but they are just a little more troublesome.
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The use of saltpeter in China is very early. It was used as medicine as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The initial collection of saltpeter was very troublesome. Saltpeter in nature exists in nitrogen-containing organic matter in the soil. After being decomposed by bacteria, it is oxidized into
It is formed by combining nitric acid with potassium in the soil. In the cool autumn season, it will precipitate in the shape of salt flowers and cover the ground and wall bases. People call it ground frost. Especially in pig pens, stables, and toilets.
There are especially many corners.
People who know how to do this will sweep up the nitrate-containing soil, put it in a bucket, and soak it in water. After filtering, the filtrate will be boiled or dried in the sun to obtain saltpeter crystals. The earliest method of preparing saltpeter is
It was created by doctors for the purpose of making medicine. Later, when alchemy emerged, it was mostly used to make elixirs.
After the rise of alchemy, alchemists attached great importance to saltpeter and continued to explore its properties. They said that it was "born of the breath of sea brine. It is the most divine thing in heaven and earth... It can turn seventy-two stones into water, softening metals.
After refining the eight stones, even if it is a great elixir, it will not be abandoned."
In the "Thirty-six Water Methods", an early Chinese alchemy book published in the Eastern Han Dynasty, saltpeter is the protagonist. Because of its property of "burning it with fire, purple and green smoke will rise", saltpeter was considered by the alchemists to be a thing of immortals, so it was treasured.
, after the Northern and Southern Dynasties, all alchemists used saltpeter in the furnace to make elixirs, and the consumption was even greater. The saltpeter collected by the people was not enough for use, so they had to think of other ways.
Nothing could stop the alchemists' enthusiasm for alchemy, and they finally found an almost inexhaustible source of saltpeter in nature. This source was the salt lake. Around the salt lake, a large amount of saltpeter would precipitate, which acts as a form of real heat accumulation.
It is a good medicine for abdominal fullness and pain, dry and constipated stools, and intestinal carbuncle swelling and pain. It is also a very popular commodity on the Silk Road. Many of the caravans traveling to and from Camel Valley sell medicinal materials, so it is not difficult to get it.
As for sulfur, it is even simpler. Sulfur stones are mainly produced near volcanic craters, or in places that were once volcanoes. Li Mu has observed the area around Camel Valley. It was an active volcano tens of millions of years ago, otherwise it would be impossible to explain the surrounding volcanoes.
There must be a sulfur stone mine on the abrupt ridge. Once you find the location of the mine, you won't be able to use it just by digging it.
Charcoal is easier to handle. Every night, a bonfire is lit in Camel Valley. It is not only prepared for the caravans, but it is also a ritual of Zoroastrianism. You only need to burn charcoal while lighting the bonfire. It is not a big deal.
Difficult matter.
In order to prevent the black powder formula from being leaked, Li Mu specially made a huge list. He wrote all kinds of messy things in it. It is impossible to know the gunpowder formula just by looking at this list.
As expected of the Jin family, the most knowledgeable among the four surnames of the Yin tribe, what Li Mu needed was quickly prepared. Li Mu drove everyone away, locked himself in the room, and prepared food to replenish his physical strength at any time.
I bought a gunpowder formula in the system, as well as an intermediate machine skill formula [Landmine].
In most people's minds, landmines are a product of modern times. But otherwise, there were actually landmines as early as the Ming Dynasty, but they were not that powerful and not that safe. They would be used when it was cloudy or rainy.
When the tide returns, landmines are useless. When landmines were first invented, all you had to do to deal with landmines was sprinkling water, which had no big effect on the battlefield.
But under the current circumstances, it couldn't be more appropriate.
Li Mu planned to make hundreds of landmines and bury them on the road that the Turkic army must pass through when they advance eastward, so that when the Turkic army passes by, they can be blown up. At the same time, gunpowder was buried on the top of the mountain to collapse the mountain and seal it.
Pass, forcing these Western Turks to take a long way around, achieving the purpose of buying time for the Tang Dynasty.
Jin's clan members happen to be helpers and can help him plant explosives.
After half a day's work, Li Mu had already prepared more than twenty mines, which he carefully placed in boxes. In another half day, there would be fifty. These fifty would be buried in the pass during the night, and they would stay there for half the night.
It can be buried.
dong dong,
There was a knock on the door. Li Mu stopped, came to the door, and asked sideways: "Who?"
"It's me."
Li Mu opened the door and saw Jin Chen bringing a pot of tea. Li Mu took a look and said with a smile: "I didn't expect to drink Chang'an tea here. I thought what you were drinking here was tea soup."
"Tea from Chang'an has long been popular in the Western Regions. Before I went to Chang'an, merchants had already brought it here, but it was expensive. A truck of tea cost one tael gold."
"So I sold it cheaper in Chang'an." Seeing Jin Chen put down the tea, Li Mu reached out to block it and said, "Don't put it down, I won't drink it."
Jin Chen looked at Li Mu, his eyes filled with tears: "You still don't believe me."
"I'm sorry, I can't believe you. I'll gain wisdom after every experience, and I can't help but improve my memory." Li Mu said coldly: "I'm still here now. One is for the sake of integrity. I will do what I said, and I promise you.
I don’t want to owe anyone any favors. Furthermore, for the sake of the Tang Dynasty, the Western Turks invaded. As a military prince of the Tang Dynasty, I must do something and nothing else. I hope you don’t misunderstand me and don’t look at me like this again.
Did you find the bird I asked you to find?"
"I didn't find any pigeons. I found a falcon in a cage outside."
The harrier is what the people call the 'bird eagle'. Compared with the eagle, it is not eye-catching, but compared with the bird, it can be regarded as a predator. It is distributed in a very wide range and can be found everywhere in the north.