Daming Yinghua

Chapter 426 The Russian Envoy (Part )

In the newly erected tall felt tent at the artillery test firing range, sunlight filtered in from the side of the dome, providing sufficient lighting.

There are several pieces of paper with the same content spread out on the table, titled "The Method of Creating Strong Water".

This is the handwriting copied by Song Yingxing from Xu Guangqi when he left Beijing.

No matter how historically the rulers of the Qing Dynasty ignored the power of science and technology, it is an objective fact that in the late Ming Empire, Xu Guangqi and others were able to keep pace with the Western world in many scientific discoveries and experiments because of their wise consciousness of opening their eyes to the world.

Among them, including mastering the technology of manufacturing inorganic acids.

"Strong water" is nitric acid.

Xu Guangqi, who did not reject Western learning, combined with the accumulated knowledge of Chinese predecessors, recorded the detailed steps for making nitric acid, an important inorganic acid.

And with the whale oil resold by the Dutch by sea from Batavia, nitroglycerin can be extracted, which is a raw material for making explosives in junior high school chemistry knowledge.

At this moment, Zheng Haizhu first asked several literate Songjiang girls to explain the material compatibility in "The Method of Making Strong Water" to the craftsmen who were illiterate but rich in practical experience.

She herself pointed to the whale oil in the barrel and warned Zhang Mingshi and Song Yingxing sternly: "Whale oil itself, like animal fat, can light a lamp, at most it will catch fire, and will not explode like our gunpowder powder. But if you follow The recipe recorded by Xu Hanlin is to extract strong water from saltpeter and green vitriol oil, and then refine it with whale oil to make nitrated oil. You must try it to see if it can explode without being ignited like gunpowder powder."

Although Zheng Haizhu is a giant in superficial theory and a dwarf in practical skills, she doesn't know how to make a grenade, but nitroglycerin is extremely unstable. Nobel had several accidents while making explosives, but she still remembers it.

Zhang Mingshi was surprised and said: "Is there such a thing?"

Zheng Haizhu thought for a while and gave him an example: "Why not? White phosphorus catches fire as soon as it dries in the sun. There is also a cannon that the children play, and there is no need to light the fuse. If you hit it harder, it will explode. "

Song Yingxing on the side actually listened to Zheng Haizhu's words.

The more I see, the more cautious I become, or in other words, the more I know how to be in awe.

As a top scientist of this era, Song Yingxing was full of interest in exploring the nitrate grenade that Mrs. Zheng said was more powerful than black powder in a porcelain bottle, but he also knew how to be wary.

Wan Mo's grenade was blown up before he could throw it out.

Song Yingxing then said: "Madam, don't worry, we must be careful. If we get the nitrated oil that madam mentioned, touchstone copper, iron and wood to see if it will corrode the container. Secondly, shake it and hit it to see if it will corrode. The primer also exploded."

Zheng Haizhu nodded: "If it is really so dangerous, sir, try to see if it can be smeared on cotton cloth, or absorbed into the sand, and then put into iron bullets. It will be safer."

"Okay, Song took note of it."

After Wang Zhu Youjian returned from learning horseback shooting with Zhang Fengyi, Zheng Haizhu asked Song Yingxing to listen to Zhu Youjian explain the "mystery" of the camel gun mount. Song Yingxing got along with Prince Zhu Youxiao for a while when he was in Prince Lu's Mansion. He had a good impression of Zhu Youxiao, who was good at carpentry. Now he saw a wooden frame that could be erected stably on a hump and rotated at a certain angle, and listened to the young prince Zhu Youjian talk about it. And talking about it is even more of a surprise.

How can being a Jinshi in high school be the most honorable thing for a scholar in the world? How can a craftsman be at the bottom of the 360 ​​lines?

The dignified prince and prince, born from dragon veins, are extremely precious, and they all like crafts so much.

Song Yingxing, a scholar who frequently complained about the dynasty's eight-part system for selecting talents, over the past few years, from Chongming to Yanzhou, from the capital to beyond the Great Wall, has continued to use his admired spirit of investigating and opening things to solve problems in farming and mining. , construction and other activities, until now entering the realm of guarding the country and strengthening the army to defend against enemies, Song Yingxing has long shaken off his depressed mood and feels that his destiny is better than many youthful works and brilliant heads. A rotten scholar who is poor in scriptures.

Zhu Youjian also wanted to see Song Yingxing and his team develop a "fish oil grenade", but his master Zheng was afraid that the young man's hands would get itchy, so he went to work on nitroglycerine himself, just in case he didn't notice it at any moment, and something big happened.

Zheng Haizhu then urged Zhu Youjian to return to Daning Chengguan on the grounds that "Long Live the Lord has said that he must arrive in the capital before the Winter Solstice Festival", and then learn riding and archery with the Ma family and his wife. The prince's honor guard was about to set off for Xifeng. The mouth is gone.

On this day, the two teams said goodbye to Man Gui and others at the military fort. Zhu Youjian and Zhang Fengyi's mother and daughter were escorted eastward by the Jinyi guards to Daning City. Zheng Haizhu took He Zhuo with him and was sent by the bodyguards and Man Gui. A dozen elite soldiers headed north to Chahar.

In the summer months, the Ming Dynasty sent a messenger to Chahar, asking Lindan Khan to send people to the Yuerhai (later Lake Baikal) area in Transkalkha Mongolia to look for traces of the Cossacks and send a message to the Russian Tsar. The Ming Dynasty wished to In an important town in northern Xinjiang and in the southern Xinjiang of Lindan Khan's royal city, there were two permanent towns for merchants from the Ming, Mongolian and Russian countries to trade. Taxes and silver were collected by Ming Dynasty and Lindan Khan respectively.

It was stated that if they wanted to discuss the matter in detail, Tsarist Russia should send nobles or important ministers to Chahar to contact Lin Dan Khan and the Ming Dynasty's royal envoys.

During this period, Russia had just ended its internal separatism and ushered in a unified dynasty - the Romanov dynasty.

However, it took dozens or even more than a hundred years for Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, the most famous figures of the Romanov dynasty, to ascend the throne of Tsar.

The current tsar is the first tsar of the dynasty: Mikhail.

But this boy, who was only sixteen years old when he came to power, looked very much like the historical Emperor Zhu Youxiao of Tianqi. He was just a puppet at the mercy of the nobles in the court.

However, the person who actually held power for Mikhail was not the civil servants or eunuchs in the story of the Eastern Empire, but Mikhail's biological father: the noble leader and "Patriarch" Filaret.

Philalet had an iron-fisted domestic and foreign policy, and was proud of gradually expanding the tsarist power beyond Moscow and subduing the Cossacks in the east.

Now, there is another piece of good news. The Eastern Empire, which they had contacted a few years ago, actually extended an olive branch and was willing to trade with each other. And the location of the first negotiation was on the territory of the Mongols who were friendly with the Moscow regime.

Naturally, Philalet paid special attention to it and selected Grand Duke Dolgoruky, who was already preparing to marry him, from all the Russian gentry to negotiate with him.

Finally, the grand duke's special equerry, Alexei, who held the title of duke, came east with the order.

To the south of Chahanhot, there is a river called "Sibogaole" in Mongolian. Because of the lush water and grass on both sides, Lin Danhan built a palace here and gradually developed a grassland town with a radius of ten miles.

The place where the Ming, Mongolian and Russian countries negotiated was placed here.