Become a feudal king from today

"Well……"

In the meeting hall, the officials were stunned. ReadМ

Although they have full confidence in the royal soldiers, the crisis they are facing now is not small.

Just as Liu Fu said, the Lucheng League should be treated with caution.

But they didn't expect that King Yan didn't care at all and looked like he was going to kill everyone.

Yang Feng felt something was wrong, so he reminded: "Your Highness has been in charge of Yanzhou. Although he has won many battles and has never been defeated, the situation today is worse than ever. Your Highness must not be careless, so as not to hold a grudge for the rest of his life."

"Hahaha..." Seeing that Yang Feng and others looked nervous, Zhao Xu couldn't help laughing.

Before he received the news from the Prospecting Department, the Lucheng Alliance did give him a headache.

But now, the threat of this alliance has plummeted for him.

The discovery of diatomite minerals will provide Yanzhou with all the conditions for producing yellow gunpowder.

Next, Yanzhou's various types of firearms will be greatly improved in power.

In this way, his army is fully capable of dealing with this crisis.

"Don't worry, I have my own plans and never fight an unprepared battle." Zhao Xu said.

Liu Fu, Yang Feng and other ministers stopped talking, out of trust in King Yan.

They believed that King Yan would not act recklessly in this matter.

Only one minister who fled from Jinling to Yancheng was frightened and said to himself: "Why is no force willing to form an alliance with us?"

"Because we are breaking an old order and building a new world." Zhao Xu said firmly.

After a pause, he continued: "Our most reliable ally is always ourselves."

The ministers were shocked when they heard this, and looked at Zhao Xu with burning eyes.

Zhao Xu then waved everyone away and ordered Feng'er to bring Chen Ce to the meeting hall.

After a while, Chen Ce walked in carrying a bag.

He bowed to Zhao Xu and said, "Chen Ce, the head of the Prospecting Department, is here to see His Highness."

Zhao Xu looked at Chen Ce and was startled.

Unlike other well-dressed ministers, Chen Ce's hair was messy, his clothes had many holes, and his big toe was exposed from his shoes.

Apparently just returned from overseas.

However, he looked full of energy, and there seemed to be a light shining in his eyes.

Seeing that Zhao Xu didn't speak, Chen Ce opened the bag in his hand and said, "Your Highness, if what I'm looking for is correct, this should be diatomaceous earth."

Zhao Xu finally came to his senses and took a look into the bag.

Then, he stepped forward and grabbed the dark yellow flour-like soil inside the bag.

After careful inspection, diatomite is obviously much lighter than ordinary soil. This is the difference between diatomite and ordinary soil.

Diatomaceous earth can even float if placed above water.

So he weighed it and sprinkled the diatomaceous earth into the tea in the cup. The diatomaceous earth did not sink.

"Yes, it is real diatomaceous earth." Zhao Xu smiled, "Chen Ce, you have made a great contribution for the first time. This diatomaceous earth came at the right time."

Chen Ce showed a shy smile and said: "I have been worried, for fear of delaying His Highness's important events, so I feel at ease."

Zhao Xu nodded, "Looking for minerals is hard work, but its importance is no less important than government affairs and the military. It is related to the development of Yanzhou's industry, so I will let you continue to endure hardships."

"This little bit of hardship is nothing. If it weren't for Your Highness, why would I be here today? I'm afraid I would have suffered even more." Chen Ce's shy expression had a hint of determination.

They came from the dark period when Yanzhou was ruled by wealthy families, so they cherish today even more.

Thinking of something else, he escaped from his arms and presented a booklet to Zhao Xu, "Your Highness, these are other discovered mineral deposits."

Diatomaceous earth is the mineral that King Yan is looking for.

So during this period of time, their ore prospecting department almost broke their legs, and finally found the diatomite mine in the mountain col to the west of Dai County.

But in addition, their prospecting department is also looking for other mineral deposits at the same time.

This booklet contains the locations of the mineral deposits discovered by the Prospecting Department.

Zhao Xu took it and turned it over carefully.

This records the newly discovered mineral deposits of iron ore, copper ore, lead ore, tin ore, lime ore, kaolin ore, etc.

On the last page of the book, he also saw tungsten ore.

"Great." Zhao Xu said.

As the steam engine was put into use, Wang Ying often reported a problem to him during this period, that is, the consumption of lathe tools has greatly accelerated.

Ordinary high-carbon steel used as cutting tools is gradually unable to withstand the high-speed wear caused by steam engines.

Furthermore, once the converter steelmaking production line is put into use, the quality of Yanzhou's steel will be even higher.

Processing this type of steel requires harder tools.

So, it’s time to smelt tungsten steel and make tungsten steel knives.

Obtaining diatomaceous earth and tungsten ore at the same time, Zhao Xu felt refreshed.

Diatomaceous earth will allow Yanzhou to say goodbye to the era of black powder, while tungsten steel will allow Yanzhou to say goodbye to the era of high-carbon steel knives.

One of them promoted the development of firearms, the other will promote the development of industry, both are very important.

Feeling refreshed, he said to Chen Ce: "Go to the government office and receive five thousand taels of silver as a reward for your mining company."

"Thank you, Your Highness!" Chen Ce was overjoyed.

After praising Chen Ce a few more times, Zhao Xu ordered Xu Lie to send the diatomaceous earth to the Science and Technology School, and asked Qu Sheng and the others to make yellow gunpowder and establish a yellow gunpowder workshop as soon as possible.

But just after Xu Lie left, he realized a problem.

Yellow gunpowder is very powerful.

But the next question is whether the firearms currently equipped by the royal army can withstand yellow gunpowder.

According to the knowledge in his mind, in the history of firearms development, flintlock muskets were equipped with black powder.

When yellow gunpowder appeared, the barrel immediately became steel.

So, he was glad that he decided to use steel to make barrels and cannons from the beginning.

Otherwise, I am afraid that all the rifled guns currently equipped by the royal army will be scrapped.

But even so, there is a question of how much yellow powder the currently equipped rifles and artillery can withstand.

Specific experiments are needed to verify.

So, he sent another order to Qu Sheng, asking him to speed up the production of a batch of yellow gunpowder.

After all, this process is not difficult, you only need to use diatomaceous earth to absorb nitroglycerin.

In less than five days, Qu Sheng prepared a hundred kilograms of yellow gunpowder.

Zhao Xu immediately took the yellow gunpowder to the school grounds of the Bingzhan Division.

Change the black powder of the rifled gun to yellow powder and test the gun.

He stayed at the school grounds all afternoon, and in the evening, he roughly got the results.

"Your Highness, this yellow gunpowder is really powerful. Three guns exploded. The remaining nine guns also had deformed gun barrels. Only the four guns with reduced gunpowder quantity were normal." Wang Ying said, "And these four guns will have an effective range. It has been raised to 350 meters.”

In the afternoon, he had been accompanying Zhao Xu to participate in the gun test.

Zhao Xu rubbed his face. He was both satisfied and dissatisfied with the result.

The rifled gun he built was modeled after the contemporary Migne rifle.

If the barrel is strong enough, the maximum range can reach 900 meters, and the effective range can reach 500 meters.

However, due to the problem of the barrel, the power is obviously reduced.

However, the rifled gun currently equipped by the royal army can reach its potential to 350 meters, which seems to be good.

So he said: "That's it, I'll change the gunpowder for the royal army, but the guns won't be changed."

He decided to wait until the converter produced the first batch of steel before gradually replacing the army's muskets.

When he thought of something, he said to Wang Ying: "Try the artillery and mortars as well. When the results come out, let me know. There is also a firearm that needs you to recast."