Lord of the Desert

Chapter 537 Three-Three Cannon

"You're only twenty-three and already invincible at the Innate Realm, why..."

Zhuang Liren found it all puzzling.

The Hong family, Jin Haicheng, the Liangzhou Machinery Workshop, Hong Fan himself... In his view, everything related to the young man in front of him was getting better, so why was there such an anxiety and urgency?

“Liren, although we practice martial arts, we are not true martial artists.”

Seeing his distress, Bu Tianze comforted him instead.

"Martial artists never hesitate to pay a price when climbing to higher realms, regardless of whether the water is clear or muddy."

The sound of cicadas echoed like waves.

Zhuang Liren sighed softly and finally gave up trying to persuade him.

"How will you manage your logistics and supplies after you go to northern Xinjiang?"

He asked a crucial question.

"Although I am nominally under the command of the town garrison of Fengsui, I am actually a guest army with independent military decision-making power, so all my food and pay are paid by the imperial court."

Hong Fan could sense the other party's intentions, so he answered with exceptional respect.

"With military power and logistics completely independent, isn't that tantamount to cutting off a piece from the Zhenbei Guard? I've always heard that the northern frontier is arrogant and domineering; how can they tolerate this?"

Zhuang Liren's strange path.

“Liren, you have been staying in Liangzhou for many years and do not know the situation north of Kuaiye Mountain.”

Bu Tianze was the one who answered.

"No one in the world has ever been to the Northern Frontier. They've only heard that the Zhenbei Guard is practically a single country, with the powerful clans of the Left, Central, and Right Guards issuing orders like mountain kings and local emperors, living carefree lives. Heh, that's not the case at all. The Zhenbei Guard is said to be separated from the Great Hua, but it can't compare to the Hejian and Langya kingdoms—you can imagine, the enemy is strong, but how can it be compared to Yi Zhen and Hou Zhi Qiu?"

"Since twenty years ago, the Giant Spirits have become increasingly unruly in their southern hunt, and in the last two years they have become even more unbridled. I have heard that in the thirteen cities north of the mountain with a population of four million, one in twenty people is now armored. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the whole nation is a soldier. How difficult life is for them."

"Then why do people say that imperial decrees lose their effect after passing Kuaiye Mountain?"

Zhuang Liren was surprised.

"It's less like it doesn't work and more like it's completely useless."

Hong Fan replied.

Since deciding to head north in May, he has done a lot of targeted research.

"The Zhenbei Guard is said to be unruly, but when the headmaster personally went north to establish the Martial Arts Academy, the two Celestials, the seventeen Yuan Magnetics, and nearly a hundred Innates all obediently bowed their heads. The northern part of Hezhou has always been a place of exile for criminals from all over the country. Four years ago, when the entire Feng family moved north to Tietai City, they didn't utter a single word of objection. It's just that the northern lands are barren and the border troubles are constant, so the court is happy to let the Zhenbei Guard fend for itself and ignore this mess."

"So, His Majesty intends to change the situation in the three prefectures of the Northern Frontier?"

Zhuang Liren seemed to be deep in thought.

"Times have changed, perhaps."

Hong Fan offered a slight smile, neither confirming nor denying.

But both Bu Tianze and Zhuang Liren could see that he looked somewhat forced.

"Let's not talk about that. The reason I invited you two here is because Kaiming Bank has recently made some new breakthroughs."

Hong Fan roused himself and reached out to lead the way.

The second phase of Kaiminghang's factory covers a large area. The production of products such as granular black powder, mercury fulminate propellant, high explosives, and paper-cased fixed ammunition is quite dangerous. However, the laboratory in front of us is particularly far away from other places and has obvious fireproof and explosion-proof isolation.

“Bu Sheng, Zhuang Gong, this is the workshop where strong cotton medicine is produced.”

Qian Hong exchanged a glance with the safety officer at the workshop entrance, then led everyone inside. "Strong cotton medicine?"

Bu Tianze had never heard of this term before.

"It's nitrocellulose (nitrocellulose) that has undergone stabilization treatment."

Hong Fan explained.

"This project was led by Qian Hong."

"How do you do it?"

Bu Tianze looked at Qian Hong, his curiosity piqued.

Nitrocellulose was discovered in Hezhou in the 30th year of the Zhenghe era by Mei Chengxue following Hong Fan's ideas. Its energy density is three times that of gunpowder, and it produces very little residue when it explodes. However, the instability of its own structure and its extreme sensitivity to friction and impact make guncotton impossible to store and transport, and it will lose its properties if left for too long.

Having worked with Mei for a long time, Bu Tianze was well aware of the dangers of kerosene.

“I call it the ‘boiling and washing method,’ which is nothing special.”

Qian Hong led the group to a huge bronze container.

"After the nitrocellulose is taken out of the acid solution, it is first rinsed with a lot of cold water to remove the free acid. Then it is transferred to a heating kettle and boiled repeatedly with clean water, cooled and the water is changed until the washing solution is no longer acidic. In this way, the unstable impurities such as residual sulfate esters are hydrolyzed under high temperature and running water, and the guncotton can be safely pressed into strong cotton medicine."

"With this achievement, Qian Jianzao's resume has become even more illustrious."

Zhuang Liren praised.

Both he and Bu Tianze are experts in research and development, and they know how much effort it takes to figure out these seemingly simple processes.

Having received praise from the Grand Supervisor of Liangzhou in front of the Sage of Arts, Qian Hong's dark face turned bright red, and even his mustache stood up.

"Bu Sheng and Zhuang Gong, the strong cotton medicine that has been thoroughly boiled, washed, and neutralized can maintain its properties for more than a year. Under proper storage conditions, the main danger comes from the heat buildup caused by the self-decomposition of nitrocellulose, but as long as there is a fire-element martial artist watching over and sensing it, the risk is controllable."

He gestured to a martial artist patrolling the drying workshop next door—this man was a member of the Hong family. Although his Flame Flow Technique had only reached the Inner Vision Realm and was not very powerful, it was enough to sense the temperature distribution within a radius of several meters around him and deal with the accumulated heat at any time.

"Hong Fan, is this the smokeless propellant you wanted?"

Bu Tianze stroked a fluffy, cotton-like sample of the strong cotton medicine and asked.

"No, not yet."

Hong Fan shook his head.

"The suitable burning speed for gun propellants is below 1,000 meters per second; the burning speed of strong cotton powder exceeds 6,000 meters per second, and the detonation velocity is too fast, which can easily turn from combustion to detonation and cause the barrel to explode. It can only be used as a high explosive for mining or destroying fortifications."

He took the small sample from Bu Tianze's hand, rubbed it between his fingertips, and instantly a three-inch-high golden flame rose up, which burned up and disappeared in an instant.

"The power of nitrocellulose is related to its nitrogen content, and the structure of strong cotton medicine also needs to be optimized - whether it is fluffy cotton or compacted block, its internal structure is not stable and uniform enough. I think the direction of exploration lies in gelation, but a suitable solvent has not yet been found."

Upon hearing this, Zhuang Liren immediately had that same feeling of "knowing the answer but finding the process".

For many years, Hong Fan's foresight has never been wrong, leading to many different interpretations within the Qizuojian (a bureau of state affairs), such as innate wisdom, astonishing intuition, and being entrusted by the ancestral dragon.

Initially, the sorcerers and chief supervisors in the prison dismissed such sycophantic remarks, but since the First Emperor had not responded to the Dragon Summoning Festival ceremony for twenty years, his sudden appearance in front of Hong Fan inevitably led to speculation.

Thinking of this, Zhuang Liren's worries about Hong Fan's safety going north inadvertently lessened.

After inspecting the cotton-based pharmaceutical production line, the group headed to the artillery firing range.

Under the scorching sun, a long-barreled, all-steel field gun was positioned with its spade in place. The gun body was draped with large red silk flowers, and propellant and shells were prepared in advance beside it.

This is the real highlight of the day.

(End of this chapter)