Early the next morning, Guo Song came to Laojun Temple. The simple warehouse at the back had been built and a large amount of saltpeter and sulfur were placed. There was another building in front of the warehouse, which was the saltpeter purification workshop. Fifty soldiers and
The purification of saltpeter powder is actually relatively simple. It is to use the crystallization method. Dissolve the saltpeter powder with water at 70 or 80 degrees Celsius, then filter out the insoluble impurities. After cooling, the filtered crystals are relatively pure nitrate powder, and then repeat it many times.
times, you can get sufficiently pure nitrate powder.
The sulfonate method mainly identifies whether the crystals obtained are mirabilite or fire saltpeter. Glauber's salt mixed with sulfur will not burn when ignited, while fire saltpeter will burn violently. In fact, it is of little significance to Guo Song.
There are three processes in total. The first process is to crush the saltpeter and grind it into powder with a small stone mill. The second process is to dissolve and purify it. The third process is to sample and test the saltpeter method.
The head of this workshop is a school captain named Ren Ning. He also followed Guo Song to Anxi. He is a little older, nearly forty years old, and is not suitable for the battlefield. He is mainly responsible for logistics. Guo Song needs
A completely trustworthy general was needed to take charge of this matter, and Ren Ning was chosen.
Ren Ning is a careful thinker and conscientious in his work. He is indeed the most suitable candidate.
He took Guo Song to visit the finished workshop, and then led Guo Song to the small warehouse at the back.
"This is filled with purified fire saltpeter powder. According to the envoy's order, fire sources are absolutely not allowed to appear here."
Ren Ning took out the key and opened the big iron lock, opened the door, and Guo Song saw rows of wooden shelves, with clay pots filled with white saltpeter powder placed on the wooden shelves.
Guo Song opened a lid and reached out to grab a handful of saltpeter powder. The saltpeter powder, like fine salt, leaked out from between his fingers.
"How many are there in total?" Guo Song asked.
"Currently, there are 500 kilograms in total, fifty jars, each jar contains ten kilograms."
"What about sulfur powder? We asked you to grind it into powder before."
"Yes! In another warehouse, that one does not need to be purified. In another small warehouse, we ground more than three thousand kilograms of charcoal powder. We used the best charcoal and ground it into powder, which was also seven or eight hundred kilograms.
Put it with the sulfur."
Guo Song nodded, turned around and said to several soldiers: "Take a can of each of nitrate powder, sulfur powder and carbon powder and send it to my big tent, and find me a more accurate scale."
The soldiers began to pick up the goods, and Guo Song said to Ren Ning: "I will give you another process. Pack the prepared nitrate powder, carbon powder and sulfur powder into paper bags or put them in containers.
Okay, a pack of 100 liang of nitrate powder, and a pack of 5 liang of carbon powder and sulfur powder. The weighing must be very accurate."
"I'll definitely do what I do when I'm humble!"
...........
Returning to the main tent, Guo Song and several soldiers began to weigh. He had seen the making of firecrackers and remembered clearly that the formula of gunpowder was 75% nitrate powder, 10% sulfur powder, and 150% charcoal.
, add a little sucrose. The function of sucrose is a gas generating agent, which can make the explosion more violent. Currently, sucrose can be bought in Bashu, but it is more expensive. You can also buy it in Chang'an.
Guo Song quickly prepared the first pack of black powder in history in units of two. Of course, Sun Simiao had already prepared it. The nitrate powder and sulfur powder he used were one to one. They burned very strongly, but they did not explode.
But this kind of flour-like gunpowder is not what Guo Song wants. It must be made into mung bean-sized particles so that it can be fully burned.
Generally, it is mixed with water into a paste and then dried in the sun, but there is another way, which is not to use water, but to use egg white to mix and coagulate. Of course, it is a bit luxurious. There is also castor oil. Add castor oil to make nitroglycerin, which is a clay dynamite and explodes.
The force is even stronger. Castor seems to have been introduced from Tianzhu during the Tang Dynasty, but it seems that it has not been seen in the market yet. Guo Song has asked Zhang Lei to look for this kind of castor.
After Guo Song mixed it with egg whites, the gunpowder had already stuck into a ball, and it needed to be dried in the sun before being coarsely ground.
He left this matter to his own soldiers. He had to rush back to the official office of Jiedu Prefecture. Urgent news came from Longyou...
The news came via pigeon letter from a Sogdian who was doing business in Longyou. Twenty thousand Tibetan troops had entered the Hehuang Valley, and a large number of people fled. There were only two thousand Shanzhou defenders, and there were two thousand soldiers and people fleeing all over the city.
Together, we are evacuating towards Lanzhou.
The lobby was filled with civil servants and military officers. It was very quiet. After listening to the report, Guo Song punched the table hard. What he was most worried about happened. Zhu Si did not send more troops to the Hehuang Valley at all. Hehuang soldiers and horses envoys
After Dai Lan was killed by his generals Zhang Tingzhi and Duan Cheng, the two led an army of 20,000 to the capital. The Hehuang Valley was completely empty. Of course, Tubo would not let go of such a good opportunity. As for the Tang-Tibet alliance, everything was a success.
Got a joke.
Countless pairs of eyes looked at Guo Song, and Guo Song said slowly: "When I came back yesterday, Liang Wu told me that Tubo sent more troops to Dadou Bugu, adding four to five thousand people. It is probably because they are afraid that we will come from Dadou Bago.
Fight out, but no matter what, we can't sit idly by, we still have to retake the southern section of Dadou Bago and attack the Tibetan army from behind."
There are currently 32,000 people in Hexi. In addition to the 20,000 Ganzhou Army, there are also 6,000 Shazhou Militia Army, 6,000 troops brought back by Guo Song from Longyou and Dazhenguan, and 4,000 logistics troops.
, mainly responsible for farming.
At this time, Chang Shi Pan Liao said: "While the envoy was away, several Qiang tribes expressed their willingness to send troops to join the Tang army in the event of a crisis in Hexi. They can probably send five thousand cavalry."
Guo Song nodded, "We will discuss the Qiang troops in detail later. Now I want to know the situation of money, food and other armaments?"
Cui Wenjing had fled back to Chang'an, pledged her allegiance to Zhu Si, was appointed Minister of Rites, and was doing well. Pan Liao returned to his official position, and is now the Chief of the Hexi Jiedu Prefecture and the Chief of the Ganzhou Dudu Prefecture.
Pan Liao said quickly: "The food situation is not bad. There are 200,000 shi of grain in stock and 400,000 dans of hay. After this year's wheat harvest, the grain stock can reach 500,000 shi, 1.2 million sheep, and 300,000 dan of money."
Twenty thousand guan. The money brought back by the envoy this time has not yet been counted and put into the warehouse. Among other supplies, there are 20,000 sets of unused armor, 5,000 pairs of bows and arrows, 5,000 sets of crossbows, 150,000 swords, and 30 spears.
Thousands of weapons, 30,000 shields, 2,000 barrels of kerosene, 10,000 large tents, 80,000 war horses, 5,000 camels, and the 20,000 mules and donkeys brought back this time have not yet been disposed of, mainly these supplies."
An employee standing next to him stood up and added: "I would like to add to my humble duty, there are 160,000 jins of pig iron, 80,000 jins of copper, 450 siege ladders, 20 cloud ladders, 40 trebuchets, and large battering rams.
Two."
There was actually saltpeter and sulfur, but they missed it.
Guo Song took a few steps with his hands behind his back and said to Zhonglang General An Rengui: "There is a Longyou Ordnance Manufacturing Factory under the Ordnance Supervision over there in Lanzhou. There are more than 600 skilled craftsmen. You can bring two thousand cavalry and three
Thousands of mules and donkeys went over and brought these craftsmen and their families to Zhangye."
An Rengui bowed and said: "I humbly obey my orders!"
Zhang Qiu'an, who recorded the incident and joined the army, reminded: "Take another two thousand camels. There is a lot of soldiers and supplies there. Transport them back together!"
One sentence reminded Guo Song, and he thought for a while and said: "The people over Longyou are fleeing in large numbers, mainly to Guanzhong, and some will flee to Hexi. The number will not be small. We must be prepared to receive them, Pan Chang
Shi, please come up with a plan over there!"
"I humbly obey orders!"
The situation in Longyou was critical, and the entire military and political affairs began to move.
Guo Song rushed back to the military camp and began to make arrangements for the attack on Da Dou Bugu.
He ordered Zhonglang General Li Bing to lead 5,000 men to send additional troops to Dadou Bugu. Kang Bao's Modao Military Camp and Zhonglang General Yang Miao's Heavy Crossbow Battalion also rushed to Dadou Bugu.
Currently, there are three thousand troops stationed in Dadou Bago, led by Zhonglang General Luo Daxiao.
Guo Song also ordered Liang Wu to lead five thousand troops to Liangzhou to garrison. In the past, Liangzhou had no military threat, but it is hard to say now. Once the Tibetans occupy Lanzhou, they are likely to go north to attack Liangzhou.
Guo Song wrote another letter and sent it to Shuofang Jiedu Mansion and handed it to Cui Kuan, the Jiedushi envoy. He was very worried that the party members would be ready to attack Longyou because of the Tibetan army. What Cui Kuan wanted to guard against was not the Tibetans.
, but a party member.
While deploying troops and generals, he did not forget the importance of intelligence. In fact, when he returned from Guanzhong, he sent the scout commander Zhang Yun and a hundred of his men to Longyou to gather intelligence.
At noon the next day, the soldiers found him and the gunpowder pellets he wanted had been completed.