Rise From the Humble

"Where is Master Ou from? How many people are there in his family? Although our Zhejiang Army does not allow family members to enter the camp, Master Ou can place his family in the nearby town. For Master Ou, the camp will allocate thirty taels of silver. The settlement allowance for apprentices will be fifteen taels of silver."

"This is a mountainous area. You can add a brazier inside the tent, which can be used to boil water and rice, or to keep warm. However, you must leave an air vent for ventilation to avoid coal poisoning."

Zhu Ping'an was in Ou Zhige's tent, chatting with Ou Zhige about home affairs with a gentle look on his face, and asked about his welfare.

"Cao Min is from Yangzhou. There are five people in his family. I will send a message to my family in a few days. Thank you for your concern."

Ou Zhige was very moved, but he was obviously not good at talking and was a little reserved. He only answered dryly.

"I heard from my wife that Master Ou has been devoted to the study of firearms and has made great achievements. It is the most important firearm in our Zhejiang Army. Master Ou will definitely be able to display his talents in our Zhejiang Army. No matter how many hours a day, as long as Master Ou wants to If you study firearms, then just study firearms.”

Zhu Pingan said that giving Ou Zhige full autonomy in firearms research is the most basic treatment for scientists.

At the mention of firearms, Ou Zhige raised his head, his eyes began to shine, and his whole person suddenly became radiant from being restrained and restrained, and he began to talk endlessly, completely different from the person who was not good at talking just now.

"Sir, I think firearms are God-given weapons, more than ten times and a hundred times more powerful than swords, bows and crossbows. For example, the firearms handed down from the Song Dynasty to the present can shake the sky and thunder. When gunpowder explodes, the sound is as loud as thunder. It can be heard ten miles away and half an acre in radius. Both human and cowhide are broken, and armor and iron are transparent - firearms are not reused nowadays just because they are not satisfactory and have many shortcomings. For example, in order to achieve sufficient lethality, Zhentian Lei needs to be loaded with at least three kilograms of gunpowder. , but also add iron nails, porcelain pieces, etc., plus the outer iron sheet. A thunderbolt weighs at least ten kilograms. It is too heavy, so it needs a trebuchet to throw it, or it can only be used to defend the city. In addition, calculations must be made. The distance at which the fuse of the match rope can burn and ignite the thunderbolt is very limited in its use. I just want to research and improve the firearm so that it can be as satisfactory as expected, convenient to use, easy to use, and can play a role in combat far beyond the loss of swords and crossbows. force……"

As soon as Ou Zhige talked about firearms, he started talking endlessly, and his whole person seemed to be glowing.

Zhu Ping'an listened patiently and asked curiously, "How did Master Ou study and improve firearms? It's like thunder."

It seems that Ou Zhige is a person who studies firearms obsessively. With such a crazy level of research, he should be able to make some achievements in the field of firearms. Why is he so unknown?

Therefore, Zhu Pingan was very curious about his research direction.

If the direction is wrong and the opposite is true, then no matter how serious and intoxicated he is, it will be useless.

"Sir, in order to solve the problem of Chen Tian Lei being heavy and inconvenient to use, I have improved the gunpowder ratio, iron nails, porcelain tiles and other loading materials. I have successfully reduced the weight of Chen Tian Lei by half without losing any power. If used The throwing distance of a machine or trebuchet can be doubled." Ou Zhige said with a proud face.

"How can Master Ou improve the gunpowder ratio?" Zhu Pingan asked again. This is the most critical issue for firearms.

"The grass-roots people studied the gunpowder formulas recorded in books such as "Fire Dragon Artifact Formation" and "Gunpowder Record". There are more than ninety kinds of gunpowder formulas recorded in them. They tested their power one by one and found that five of them are the most powerful. , carefully studied five gunpowder formulas and conducted many tests, and finally determined the gunpowder formula as the ratio of nitrate, sulfur, and charcoal to 80% to 10%. In order to increase the burning speed of gunpowder, I also learned from the ancients to increase the fuel for combustion. After hundreds of After conducting experiments, it was determined that adding clear oil was the best. In order to increase the lethality of Zhentian Lei, the grassroots also added aconite poisonous smoke..."

Master Ou replied in detail.

Then, he said with a grateful and confident face, "Thanks to Madam's great kindness, I gave the "Fire Dragon Scripture" to Cao Min. I believe that if Cao Min is given some time, Cao Min can improve Zhentian Lei again."

After hearing Ou Zhige's words, Zhu Ping'an felt both admiration and sigh in his heart. He admired that his gunpowder ratio was close to that of black gunpowder. He sighed that his research direction was still biased, and he missed it by a thousand miles. No wonder he failed to gain fame.

The gunpowder formula studied by Master Ou is 8:1:1 for saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. In fact, it is quite close to the ratio of 7.5:1:1.5 for black powder, saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. For the Ming Dynasty, which does not pay attention to science and does not pay attention to theory, For the feudal era studied, it is already very good, but there are still some deviations from the powerful black gunpowder. Especially after adding combustion-supporting clear oil and lethal poisonous smoke, the gunpowder ratio becomes complicated and impure. , it is far away from the development of black gunpowder, and its power is naturally reduced.

In fact, as long as the gunpowder ratio is adjusted to the black powder ratio, the flammability is completely sufficient.

There is absolutely no need to add clear oil. Adding it will add impurities to the gunpowder and affect the performance of the gunpowder.

As for adding poisonous smoke to gunpowder, the direction is even more biased. We must know that the explosive performance of gunpowder is the most essential advantage of gunpowder, and it is also the greatest lethality of gunpowder. How can poisonous smoke compare with the explosive performance? Moreover, how powerful can poisonous smoke be in ancient times? In the open wilderness, air mobility And strong.

Gunpowder is gunpowder. If you want to use poisonous smoke to kill people, you should turn to the development of poisonous gas bombs.

If you are greedy for everything and want to have everything, then everything will not work.

"Master Ou Jiang, after I became a Jinshi in the capital, I was favored by the Holy Spirit and took up the post of editor and editor of the Hanlin Academy. I managed the Hanlin Academy library. The Hanlin Academy library has three floors and contains a huge collection of classics, including all kinds of classics. There are all kinds of rare and unique books, including a large number of books about firearms. I am very interested in military affairs and thought that future wars must be the era of firearms, so I read a lot about military affairs and firearms while I was on duty in the library. of classics.”

Zhu Ping'an found the most appropriate source for his knowledge on firearms that was ahead of his time.

The royal collection is definitely authoritative, definitely leading, and there is no doubt about it, and they have no way to go to the Hanlin Academy Library to verify it.

Upon hearing that Zhu Pingan had read a large number of books on firearms in the Royal Library of the Hanlin Academy, Ou Zhige's breathing quickened, and he looked at Zhu Pingan as if he were looking at a peerless treasure.

The fact that he was able to sell himself to Li Shu for a copy of the "Fire Dragon Scripture" shows how obsessed he is with the study of firearms.

If we talk about the richness and value of the collection of books, the entire Ming Dynasty cannot compare with the royal collection. The Hanlin Academy Library is the best among the royal libraries. The firearms classics in it are thousands of times more valuable than the Fire Dragon Sutra.

One can imagine how excited Ou Zhige is now.

If all his ancestors and future descendants could be sold in exchange for an opportunity to enter the Hanlin Academy's library to read firearms classics, Ou Zhige would sell them all without blinking an eye.