Lord of the Desert

Chapter 472 Mercury Fulminate

The prank was over in October and there was no follow-up.

Hong Fan continued his leisurely yet busy life in Shenjing. Besides practicing martial arts, writing papers and drawing blueprints, he would return to Xijing for two days every half a month to check on the development of various businesses.

From steel, horse-drawn carriages to munitions, business was booming. The only difference was that the financial work of Tiannan Bank was no longer handled by Shen Tiexin, but by Shen Guoying's cousin.

It is said that Miss Shen is practicing martial arts in seclusion.

Although the Shen family tried hard to hide it, the rumor that the most beautiful woman in Liangzhou visited Chaori Mansion in the rain was still circulating among the people. Hong Fan, who was not involved in the rumor, knew about it as soon as he returned to Xijing.

Many people in the Hong family were excited about this, and even Hong Li tried to promote marriage between the two clans indirectly.

But Hong Fan had no feelings for Shen Tiexin.

In a blink of an eye, it is already halfway through December.

A letter from Mei Chengxue was sent to Shenjing through the Feilian channel exclusively used by the Artisan and the Grand Supervisor of Weapons.

[Hong Xiaoyou, the large-scale preparation of mercury fulminate has been successfully completed...]

Throughout the second half of the 31st year of Zhenghe, this was the most exciting news Hong Fan had ever received. He was so excited that he received the letter at noon and set out for Hezhou alone in the afternoon.

It was the afternoon of December 17, and there were still three days until the Great Cold. Even though Kuaiye Mountain stretched across the north and south, water in Yaoyang City would still freeze into ice.

The severe cold could not kill Hong Fan's enthusiasm.

"This reaction is not complicated. It can be summed up in one sentence - mix high-purity mercury with 70% concentrated nitric acid in a ratio of 4:1, heat it to 50 degrees and slowly add anhydrous ethanol, then keep the temperature below 70 degrees throughout the process."

In the laboratory, Mei Chengxue stood with his hands behind his back, boasting.

On the blackboard opposite is written the chemical formula for the main nitration reaction of mercury with nitric acid and ethanol.

【Hg+4HNO3+2C2H5OH
→

Hg(CNO)2+4H2O+3NO2↑Hg+4HNO3+2C2H5OH
→

Hg(CNO)2+4H2O+3NO2↑】

"The amount of ethanol that needs to be added is 120% of the mercury. The total reaction takes about five hours. Finally, it is suddenly cooled to 5 degrees, and white needle-shaped mercury fulminate crystals will precipitate."

Mei Chengxue pointed to the enameled reactor lined with glass glaze, which was also equipped with a water bath jacket and mechanical stirrer on the side.

"Filter it with a lead lining, then wash it three times with ethanol, and dry it naturally in the shade for thirty-six hours before it's the finished product. The yield is about 40 to 50 percent."

"A 40% yield rate is incredible. It's much better than I expected."

Hong Fan was amazed.

“There were three major setbacks in running this process.”

Mei Chengxue saw that he was becoming more and more proud and became more interested in talking.

"The first is that the reaction temperature was not properly controlled in the early days, which led to a decrease in yield and even an explosion. In the end, it was discovered that mercurous nitrate and acetaldehyde would be produced when the reaction temperature exceeded 75 degrees."

Hong Fan noticed that there was a glass thermometer embedded in the reactor.

"The second is to avoid static electricity. You see, we now have cork floors all over, and the operators use copper tools. In the beginning, we didn't pay much attention to this aspect, and the result was..."

Mei Chengxue made a "bang" gesture with her hands.

"The last obstacle was not solved until a month ago. As you said, mercury fulminate is extremely mechanically sensitive. It will explode with the slightest friction or collision. It is really difficult to transport and store. Last month, Master Zhang in our department discovered that adding 1-2% paraffin wax or graphite powder can dull the friction sensitivity by five times without affecting the firing and detonation."

As he spoke, he glanced at Hong Fan secretly.

Everyone in the Weaponry Supervisor respected the talent of this Dragon Commander Star Lord.

But a person who clearly does not understand the principles and processes can accurately "predict" which raw materials will be used to prepare the target substance with specified physical and chemical properties. This mystery cannot be explained by talent and is even more awe-inspiring.

"It looks like it's been a rough ride."

Hong Fan touched the puncture hole in the wooden table.

In many corners of the laboratory, he could still see splash marks left by the explosion.

"In order to come up with this process, this laboratory was bombed 37 times. Fortunately, my department is experienced, and the practical specialists all started as high-level horizontal training martial artists. For high-risk projects, we hire people who are at the peak of their powers, who cannot be easily killed by bombing."

Mei Chengxue laughed.

Hong Fan could hear the pride behind the other party's words.

The Hezhou Prefecture Department of the Institute of Instrumentation is the strongest in chemistry in the whole country, and this project also has unlimited financial support from him, but the fact that a breakthrough could be made in such a short period of time is enough to prove Mei Chengxue's personal talent and the accumulation of his team.

"I have known for a long time that, looking at the whole of Kyushu, only you, Mr. Mei, can accomplish this."

Hong Fan's praise came from the bottom of his heart and it just touched Mei Chengxue's heart.

"You're over-praised. Even though it took us only a year and a half to complete the entire process, in fact, each and every step is very complicated."

He twirled his beard modestly.

“Just now I only talked about the new path we have taken in the past year and a half. In fact, it also integrates many of our cutting-edge technologies.

Just talking about the preparation of raw materials:

Mercury with a purity greater than 99.9% involves preparation technology and purification process of removing oxidation film by nitric acid washing;
70% concentration nitric acid involves the preparation of nitric acid and the dehydration and purification of concentrated sulfuric acid, while concentrated sulfuric acid requires the lead chamber method for preparing sulfuric acid;
Dehydrated ethanol with a water content of less than 0.5% is the simplest, but this purity is almost impossible to achieve by distillation alone, and quicklime distillation must be used...

Besides, I don’t even bother to talk about the minor issues like ventilation and removal of nitrogen dioxide exhaust and mercury vapor; anyway, if you ask the Liangzhou Prefecture to come, hey, that old guy Zhuang Liren can only play with glass lenses, and he won’t be able to figure it out even if he works for 30 years! ”

In the end, his true intentions were revealed.

Even though Hong Fan and Zhuang Liren were close friends, they did not dare to refute at this time.

"If I follow my plan and set up a larger factory, I can spend a year to familiarize myself with the process and train the workers, and then it won't be a problem to produce several hundred kilograms a month."

Mei Chengxue guaranteed it.

A few hundred kilograms of mercury fulminate may sound like a small amount, but it is actually a very large amount, enough to make primers for hundreds of thousands of bullets.

After walking through the entire laboratory, the two chatted about some business matters, such as the price of introducing a complete production line including raw material preparation - after all, Kaiminghang is in Xijing, and mercury fulminate is not convenient to transport, so it must be manufactured in Xijing.

That night, Hong Fan, Bu Tianze, Mei Chengxue and other senior officials of Hezhou Instrument Factory got drunk.

The next day he visited the Yin family, inspected the trial operation of Jing Huanxing, and then returned to Xijing overnight.

December 19th.

The sky of Xijing was covered with white snow and was submerged in the heavy snow.

Hong Fan walked in the newly built factory of Kaiminghang, past the busy night shift craftsmen under the bright lights.

"We work two shifts a day, and the lowest-level workers work twelve hours a shift. Because our wages are 20% higher than other companies, and we give out more gifts during festivals, we are always crowded when we recruit workers."

Qian Hong introduced in a low voice, trying not to disturb the smooth flow of the production line. "The workload will be particularly heavy these days, because the annual holiday will start in five days, and work will not resume until the Lantern Festival after the New Year."

Hong Fan nodded silently.

Compared to the standards of the previous life, the working environment of this factory is not good.

The air was filled with the astringent smell of gold and iron shavings, and the indoor temperature was far from comfortable, not to mention the long working hours.

But he didn't interfere.

People may not have a long-term vision, but they know their own situation when it comes to their own interests. The competitiveness during recruitment is the best evaluation of the job quality of Kaiming Bank under Qian Hong's management. It is not the turn of a hands-off boss who does not participate in daily operations to make irresponsible remarks.

On the factory roof, the soft sound of falling snow never stopped.

Hong Fan thought back to the winter two years ago, when Kaiminghang could only produce twenty flintlock rifles a month, while he himself was still recreating the Bessemer converter over and over again in Longqiu Town.

Today, the number of employees in the business has quadrupled, internships at Jincimen have long been fully launched, and productivity has more than increased tenfold.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to meet the booming demand for muskets in the Liangzhou border area.

The two of them took a walk and then walked back to the office in the administrative building in the snow.

Seven of the highest-ranking musket craftsmen in the enlightened industry were already waiting here.

"I came back this time with very important news."

Hong Fan looked around at everyone.

"The Hezhou State Department has successfully mass-produced mercuric fulminate. I told you before that this is a very sensitive firing powder, enough to completely change the way firearms are used."

"I understand that we have accumulated a lot of ideas in the past two years and have done preliminary research on the form of future firearms."

Qian Hong replied immediately, quite excited.

"Very good, then you can take a look at my ideas and combine them with your own."

Hong Fan took out several drawings he had prepared in advance and spread them on the long table.

"it is good!"

The craftsmen returned and walked to the table to study it carefully.

Soon, the excitement on the faces of several master chefs such as Sun Pingbo and Deng Pohai quickly cooled down.

"You have any ideas..."

Hong Fan said tentatively, but was immediately interrupted.

“I’m out of ideas now.”

Qian Hong sighed.

The blueprint shows the exact structure of three weapons and one bullet.

One is a breech-loading steel rifle with a rifled barrel. It is activated by a firing pin and can be loaded in a prone position. Because there is no need for a primer to ignite the propellant, the airtightness is greatly improved. Although it has not been tested, it is foreseeable that the accuracy, range and rate of fire will increase dramatically.

The second is a revolver with a five-round cylinder that fires five rounds in a row.

The third is a heavy double-barreled smoothbore shotgun with a medium-length barrel, heavy charge, and double-shot, which is suitable for close-range combat by warriors.

The three types of firearms use new paper shell fixed ammunition of different calibers, integrating conical concave bullets, black powder, fulminate mercury primer and copper flash cap.

"It will take time to build a mercury fulminate production line. I estimate that it will take at least the middle of next year for initial mass production to begin. However, Hezhou has already produced more than 100 kilograms of mercury fulminate, which will be delivered soon, enough to meet the small amount of bullets consumed in the early stage."

Hong Fan explained.

"We have now recruited many Golden Magnetic Sect warriors. We can start with the agile production of bullets and firearms, and adjust and optimize them bit by bit."

Rao Lixuan and Zeng Hao each nodded.

Although the two have only reached the Guantong realm, because they arrived early and are proficient in the craft, their words carry more weight within Kaimingxing than some of the later high-level Guantong or even Hunran realm cultivators.

Things turned out just as Hong Fan had expected.

As once insignificant passers-by in the Jinci Sect, they achieved success in their careers and money at Kaimingxing that far exceeded their expectations. As a result, they gradually deviated from their positions and often put the interests of the business before those of the sect.

After explaining the four new designs, all the craftsmen were fascinated, but Hong Fan still felt unsatisfied.

Although these guns have skipped the stages of muzzle loading and separate primer loading, they are still far from advanced in the eyes of time travelers.

With Hong Fan's knowledge, it is not difficult to reproduce the structural drawings of bolt-action rifles or semi-automatic rifles. The key lies in a series of issues beyond the drawings.

First of all, the materials.

The manufacture of recoil springs requires a silicon-manganese alloy with a fatigue strength greater than 1,500 MPa, far exceeding the current carbon steel of 600 MPa, but the silicon-manganese steelmaking method has not yet been introduced in Kyushu; in addition, continuous shooting will accumulate excessive heat, which also requires high-temperature performance of the steel.

The second is processing capacity.

The gap between the piston and the air chamber of a gas-operated bolt should be controlled at 0.05-0.1mm, while the machining tolerance of the current thread lathe is only 0.3mm. Such a large gap will inevitably lead to gas leakage and the bolt cannot be driven.

Again, gunpowder.

The combustion residue rate of smokeless gunpowder is less than one thousandth. In comparison, black powder has more combustion residue, which will clog the bolt after firing a dozen rounds, and will corrode the barrel if used for a long time.

The above are just the main ones.

Bolt-action rifles require all-metal fixed ammunition, mass production of cartridge cases requires a hundred-ton stamping machine and copper-zinc alloy strips, and the recoil structure requires lubricating oil, but Dahua currently only has animal and plant oils, which will carbonize and jam the bolt under high temperatures...

Thinking of this, Hong Fan felt powerless.

After setting up the stall, the things he could change through his personal efforts became increasingly limited.

Fortunately, new changes are also taking place - last year, seven new firearms shops and two steam engine manufacturing workshops were opened in Liangzhou, and wealthy families have increased their investment in the mining and transportation industries.

Whenever Hong Fan heard Zhongguan and Qian Hong mention the new "competitor" in their letters, he would feel happy.

The times are too big and individuals are too small.

If we want to move faster, we must work together and let the group that controls the resources reap the benefits.

At midnight, Hong Fan took an enlightened step.

Behind him, the glass windows of the firearms laboratory were emitting a warm, bright yellow glow, and soft snowflakes were swirling inside.

[If I had the opportunity to rule a state, the first thing I would do would be to implement patent laws.]

Hong Fan thought so, raised his wings and flew into the air towards Chaori Palace.

(End of this chapter)