Tibet

Hu Jiuling led everyone into a large hall, which was the exhibition hall. There was a large table in the middle with two large ceramic jars placed on the table.

There is a copper plate next to the large pot, pretending to be pure saltpetre and gunpowder.

"Your Highness, this is pure saltpeter and gunpowder!"

Li Ye stepped forward to take a closer look. Pure saltpeter was white crystal. He tasted it and found it was cold and slightly bitter.

Li Ye looked at the gunpowder again. It was made from a mixture of nitrate powder, sulfur powder, and charcoal powder. Li Ye knew the ratio already: 75% nitrate, 15% charcoal, and 10% sulfur.

Li Ye looked at it for a long time and then said: "Let me see if you light it!"

The soldiers put the copper plate on the ground, and some soldiers took torches and lit them, ‘Boom! ’ The flames continued to shine, and then white smoke rose up, and it burned out quickly.

Li Ye knew at a glance that the gunpowder was gunpowder, but it did not burn brightly enough and was a bit dull. In fact, the burning speed was not enough. It was barely qualified as burning gunpowder, but not good as explosive gunpowder.

"Have you ever experimented with container explosions?"

Hu Jiuling's eyes darkened, and he sighed: "It's not enough yet. The wooden bottles, pottery bottles, and porcelain bottles have all failed. Now they can only be burned. We don't know which part has the problem. We have to try again and again to find out the reason."

Li Ye smiled and said: "It should be because the heating speed is too slow. Let me give you a suggestion. Stir it thoroughly, add water and make it into a cake. After it is completely dried, put it in a container and stir it into a cake. Use fine particles, even smaller than sesame seeds, and add some graphite balls to grind off the edges of the particles. Then you can test it again and it will be effective."

"Okay! Let's try again in this humble position."

After hesitating for a moment, Hu Jiuling said again: "Your Highness, there is another problem: there is too little saltpeter. Even if we make firearms, the quantity will not be too many."

Li Ye nodded, "I know, I will find a way to solve this problem, don't be anxious, develop it slowly, I won't give you a time limit!"

"Thank you for your tolerance, Your Highness!"

After leaving the Firearms Academy, Li Ye visited several other weapons manufacturing workshops. Now that the war had just begun, the Tang Dynasty had a huge reserve of weapons and armor, and weapons were easier to obtain in various places.

But in the middle and later stages, weapons were consumed in large quantities and armor began to be insufficient. Although Li Ye did not need armor for the time being, he was still spending financial and material resources to develop stronger weapons and armor to prepare for a rainy day.

"Do you have any clues about the coal I talked about last time?" Li Ye asked Yang Shaohua.

Yang Shaohua looked ashamed, "Beizhi sent people to search everywhere, but they couldn't find it. Beizhi will intensify its efforts and continue to search!"

Coal has been widely used in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Official smelting in the Sui and Tang Dynasties has always used coal. The Tang Dynasty even began to use coke with higher calorific value to create a large number of high-quality weapons.

Of course, there are official smelting stations in Shannan East Road, but the coal they use is shipped from Luoyang, and there is still some inventory. Of course, Li Ye has to think further, hoping to find coal locally.

But in Li Ye's memory, Jingxiang didn't produce much coal to begin with. There was a little bit in Nanyang, but the quality was not as good as the high-quality coal in Hedong.

Although the coal from Hedong cannot be transported now, there will be an opportunity soon.

Li Ye thought for a while and said: "Jingxiang is not a place where coal is produced. Stop looking for it. Instead, send people to various places to buy it. I think I can buy it."

"I understand the humble position!"

At this time, Yang Shaohua suddenly remembered something and said with a smile: "I am humble enough to show His Highness a small gadget. It may be very practical!"

He quickly asked Hu Jiuling to fetch the new gadgets made yesterday.

Not long after, Hu Jiuling took out a small white wooden tube, the size of a medicine bottle, which was very small in his hand. Li Ye asked curiously: "What is this?"

Hu Jiuling unscrewed the lid on the wooden tube, and a crescent-shaped opening appeared on it. He blew gently, and immediately, a flame came out.

"Ah! This is Huozhezi."

Of course Li Ye is familiar with the Huozhezi, but this Huozhezi is different from ordinary Huozhezi. One is compact, and the other is that it is easy to get angry.

But this is not new. Li Ye smiled and asked, "What other special advantages do you have?"

"Your Highness, it contains kerosene. The biggest advantage is that it can be ignited thirty times. If it is not extinguished, it can burn for half an hour, which is far more than the fire we use now. It takes a long time and is of little significance to ordinary people. But it is very practical for the army, whether it is kerosene or gunpowder, and it is also waterproof."

"Wait a minute!"

Li Ye suddenly discovered another mystery. The lid turned out to be threaded. He was surprised and happy. He didn't care about the fire seals. He brought a few more fire seals for the same purpose. The key was the thread!

"This is not the Tai Chi principle I told you last time. One positive and one negative, spiral upward, and the two items will fit together."

Li Ye just briefly talked about the principles of screws and nuts a few months ago and drew a sketch. He ignored it and even forgot about it. Unexpectedly, after a few months, Cao Si actually took it. Got it done.

"Yes, these are the screws that His Highness mentioned. An old craftsman from Chang'an spent a month figuring them out based on His Highness's sketches, but..."

"but what?"

Yang Shaohua smiled bitterly and said: "But making it is really time-consuming and laborious. It took a month and failed countless times. The key is that if it is slightly inaccurate, it will not be screwed on, and it will get stuck halfway. We are in a dilemma. We have all encountered it. In fact, we feel that mortise and tenon joints are more practical for making fasteners, and they can be varied."

Li Ye nodded, "I know that any new thing is very crude and impractical when it first appears, just like firearms. Its power is far inferior to bows and arrows, but as long as it continues to develop, sooner or later, steel will Replacing wood, firearms will also replace swords, guns, bows and arrows, so we should not reject new things, but study it in depth, use it, and make it better, more refined, and more convenient."

Li Ye pointed to the threads of the wooden cover and said: "Its biggest feature is its convenience. It does not require a professional carpenter to do the mortise and tenon joints. Just anyone can connect two items together. Although nails can also be done, it requires What about taking it off? You still have to pull out the nails, unlike it, it’s easy to screw it on and take it off.”

Yang Shaohua and Hu Jiuling both felt ashamed and said, "We understand. Your Highness is right. If you don't accept new things, you will only remain stuck in your ways."

"now it's right!"

Li Ye said earnestly: "Let this old master bring a few apprentices to specialize in this kind of screws and nuts. The key is to not only do it on wood, but also on ceramics and metals, such as the lids of wine bottles, and then use copper Make screws and nuts, and invent a machine to make them. Don't rush, take your time, one year is not enough for ten years, ten years is not enough for twenty or thirty years, just concentrate on the research, I will fully support it."

In fact, Li Ye also knew that screws and nuts were products of industrialization, and manual production was of little significance. Only through automated mass production could screws and nuts truly play a role in social life.

But he needs to establish a research system so that officials have a sense of research and are not afraid to invest. Even if nothing can be researched in the end, they will invest without hesitation.

In the end, the number of hand-made screws was too small, and it was found that there was no promotion significance, but maybe machine tools appeared because of this, and various new tools would also be produced.

Li Ye smiled and continued: "I am not against mortise and tenon at all. On the contrary, I also think it is very good. However, we must study it in depth and improve it to make it simple and convenient, and it can also be used in metal. widely used."

Everyone nodded, and Li Ye smiled again: "Of course, I'm just a suggestion. We don't have that much manpower and financial resources. Research must be used on the blade, how to make the sword sharper and stronger, how to shoot the crossbow farther, and how to use the trebuchet. Miniaturization, practicality, how to diversify kerosene, etc., these are the top priorities, like huozhezi, we can study them slowly in the future, do you understand what I mean?"

Li Ye implicitly criticized Yang Shaohua and Hu Jiuling for wasting resources. They had limited financial and manpower. They did not study the actual combat of kerosene, but studied using kerosene to make huozhezi.

At this time, a soldier rushed over and whispered a few words. Li Ye nodded, "That's it for today. I will come back in a few months. I hope you will remember my words and concentrate on studying the actual combat of kerosene. This is our advantage, and we must make full use of it and expand it. Of course, screws and nuts are special and can be studied specially."

Li Ye did not continue the visit. An unexpected situation interrupted his visit plan. He immediately left Kai Caosi and hurried back to the government office. He had just received important news that Yong Wang Li Lin's fleet failed to meet the Supreme Emperor in Bashu and had already begun. return.

There isn't much time left for him.