America 1881: They Call Me Legend

Chapter 341 Explosion on the Delaware River

"I heard that you worked at the Roswell Ordnance Factory?" the manager pinched his nose and asked.

"Yes, sir."

"What exactly did you do?"

"Manufacturing of smokeless powder and explosives, sir."

During the questions and answers, the manager had a preliminary understanding of the situation of the Italian in front of him.

This person was indeed engaged in the production of smokeless gunpowder, but he was responsible for one of the preliminary steps.

You said that he understands the entire process of this step, but he has been vague on many key points, such as what stabilizer to use and what the ratio is.

But if you say he doesn't understand, he can explain the general logic and principles and speak eloquently.

The manager wondered if this person was hiding his secrets and selling them at a high price, deliberately hiding many details.

The manager was very cautious about whether to hire this person.

He came to Ramon's laboratory and reported the specific situation to Ramon.

Ramon was thoughtful after listening to the manager's explanation, especially after talking about some of the principles that the man said.

"I think he hid some things on purpose. Do we want it?"

Before the manager could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Ramon.

"I understand!" He turned around and walked towards the laboratory, leaving the manager alone outside the door. "I don't need that person to tell me everything. I will be able to produce smokeless gunpowder in no time!"

"What about the Italian?" the manager looked at Ramon's back and asked.

"Didn't he work with explosives? Let him go to the explosives workshop first and do what he did before."

After saying these words, the door of the laboratory was closed.

Italian Barco Pino was temporarily assigned to the nitroglycerin production workshop.

At that time, the main production process of nitroglycerin was to mix nitric acid and double the mass of sulfuric acid each time.

After cooling, add glycerin drop by drop, pour the reaction completed liquid into the water tank, and then separate the white oily nitroglycerin from the water surface. The temperature of the solution must be maintained at 20~30°C.

The job assigned to the Italians was to monitor the final cooling process.

Barco Pino possesses one of the characteristics of Italians, that is, he is good at sociability.

Soon, he integrated into the original group of workers in the workshop.

And his business has been very skillful from the beginning.

After a while, the workshop leader became more and more at ease with the Italian and even let him start working the night shift alone.

On this day, Barco Pino was working the night shift in the workshop as usual.

It's already early morning.

Today is a good day.

Ramon Dupont, the eldest son of this generation of the DuPont family, is said to have made breakthrough progress in smokeless gunpowder.

Many technical personnel from DuPont's parent company came over from Delaware.

They lived nearby in the factory area.

This morning Ramon Dupont will show them the results of his smokeless gunpowder.

Except for Barco Pino, there was no one in the workshop.

He walked around the workshop and casually glanced at the readings of the thermometers in each water tank.

The temperature is maintained perfectly.

After looking at the dozens of water tanks in the front, and looking at the dozens of water tanks left behind, Bacco Pino felt a little irritable for no reason.

His legs hurt a little.

Pino glanced again at the thermometer hanging on the pillar in the workshop.

The temperature in the workshop is not a big problem either.

There shouldn't be much of a problem later.

The Italian moved a stool and sat down at the door of the workshop, looking at the stars.

The starry sky over the Delaware River is really beautiful.

Yesterday the manager found him and told him that if the boss decided to mass-produce the smokeless gunpowder after successfully developing it, he could go to the new workshop.

The treatment there is a little higher than here.

The days seem to be getting better and better.

A smile appeared on Barco Pino's lips as he recalled the scene when the manager interviewed him.

The manager asked a lot of questions about smokeless powder.

Fortunately, I am smart and I was able to figure out many details.

Now it seems that this incident did not affect his joining DuPont.

It’s not that he doesn’t want to answer those questions, it’s that he really doesn’t know!

Italians have always had little understanding of these matters.

As for theoretical things, you just need to know a rough idea. It's really unnecessary and too tiring to understand it so clearly.

Now that I have moved to a new smokeless gunpowder workshop, my salary will increase; with the salary increase, I will soon be able to save a sum of money, then marry a beautiful Sicilian girl and have a bunch of children.

Looking at the stars in the sky, Pino's eyes gradually became blurred.

He fell asleep.

However, in the workshop behind him, there was a thermometer in a tank that read well above the safety line.

Ramon Dupont worked all night in the laboratory.

He was in an excited mood.

Smokeless gunpowder was finally successfully developed.

He couldn't wait to show it to the engineers of the parent company, showing them how big the gap was between smokeless powder and black powder.

Today is the day Ramon Dupont became famous.

All doubts about him will disappear.

The future! It’s smokeless gunpowder and yellow explosives!

It was a pity that his uncle Henry Dupont could not come.

Ramon Dupont stretched and walked out of his laboratory.

The sky has begun to turn white, and the rising sun is about to rise from the Delaware River and illuminate the earth.

But Ramon Dupont's eyes were fixed on the factory not far away.

His heart suddenly tightened.

There seemed to be a firelight there.

A worst-case scenario emerged from his mind.

There is more than a ton of nitroglycerin stored near that factory!

However, the next moment, the picture in Ramon Dupont's mind became reality.

That morning, residents living on the upper reaches of the Delaware River in New Jersey were awakened by an unprecedented loud noise.

Fishermen who got up early to fish on the river saw a mushroom cloud rising from where the "Repano" explosive factory was located.

The entire explosives factory was leveled to the ground by the explosion caused by the detonation of one ton of nitroglycerin.

There were no survivors within the factory area.

Including a napping Barco Pino.

Including DuPont technical personnel who came to visit the smokeless gunpowder display and several members of the DuPont family.

Of course, it also includes the ambitious next generation heir to the DuPont family - Ramon Dupont.

Henry Dupont, who was recuperating in his own manor due to illness, did not wait for the news of the thugs he sent out. Instead, he waited for the news of the explosion of the "Repano" explosive factory.

This veteran who had been tough all his life fell off his horse.

The white-haired man gave the black-haired man a gift. Henry Dupont was not only saddened by the death of his nephew, but also saddened by the future of the Dupont family.

"Check! Check it for me!"

Henry Dupont shouted excitedly to his subordinates on the hospital bed, causing him to cough violently several times.

He suspected someone was behind it!

Because he has treated his competitors this way before.

The most likely possibility is that Chinese businessman from Roswell!

But the investigation results soon came out. The cause of the explosion was that the staff forgot to cool the nitroglycerin the day before, and the staff on duty that night did not discover this.

The facts were confirmed and the evidence was conclusive.

A month later, in Henry Dupont's villa.

"Boss, the products of Roswell Ordnance Factory are rapidly occupying the market in the west, and their products are even appearing in gun stores in some eastern states!"

"Boss, according to our information, many members of the Gunpowder Association are in private contact with the ordnance factory in Roswell, trying to introduce smokeless gunpowder technology."

"Boss, there is news from the federal government, hoping that we can provide professional opinions on the new smokeless powder bullets on the market."

Bad news came one after another from the heads of DuPont's various segments.

They gathered around Henry Dupont's hospital bed, all staring at the current head of the Dupont family, eager to get an instruction from his mouth to turn the tide.

Henry Dupont sat on his hospital bed and looked out the window.

His servant stuffed a gorgeous cushion behind his back so that the old man could sit more comfortably.

This veteran who graduated from the West Point Military Academy has been in charge of the family for more than 40 years, and the family business has grown and prospered in his hands.

He has experienced countless strong winds and waves in his life, so this time, he still has a way.

"Everyone, please don't worry, I'm not dead yet, the DuPont family is still the DuPont family." The old man said slowly.

"Atkinson, in the name of the association, contact all upstream raw material suppliers in the United States and tell them that starting from today, a raw material embargo will be imposed on the ordnance factory in Roswell."

Henry glanced at the managers in front of his bed, his eyes stoic and cruel.

"Although I don't know the specific ingredients of that smokeless gunpowder, I know that without saltpeter, you can't make explosives!"

He looked around at the crowd, and his voice was filled with decisive majesty:

"From now on, I don't want a drop of nitric acid or a saltpeter mine to appear on the land of Roswell!"

"I'm tired." After saying these words, the old man waved gently to everyone in the room. "Lester Bernard stays, and the others can go out first."

After everyone left the room, Henry called the man named Bernard to his side:

"Go and ask the Pinkerton Detective Agency to find out where the people we sent to New Mexico have gone."

(End of chapter)