My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 787 Nitric Acid

In Zhan Shi's mansion, Zhu Zhanhe was sitting behind the desk, handling today's government affairs.

He felt more and more like Zhu Gaochi back then. The two fathers, Zhu Di and Zhu Gaoxu, were completely hands-off shopkeepers. They left all domestic government affairs to the prince and were only responsible for fighting foreign wars.

For example, after Zhu Gaoxu stayed in Xijing for a period of time, he ran to Kabul again. The Timur Empire was frightened and thought that the Han Dynasty was going to use troops again. It sent several envoys to communicate with the Han Dynasty in the hope that both sides could maintain the current peaceful situation.

Even Ulugh Bo wrote a letter to Zhu Zhanhe himself, asking what the big man's intention was.

For this reason, Zhu Zhanhe had no choice but to explain to Ulugh Beg as much as possible, hoping that the other party would not misunderstand, at least now the big man had no plans to use troops against Timur.

I had just finished handling the government affairs at hand, when suddenly I saw a chamberlain rushing over to report: "Your Highness, the two people from the Qi Ren Court have been asked to see you!"

"Call them in!"

Zhu Zhanhe replied without raising his head.

The Academy of Strange People was a group of strange people recruited from all over the world under his personal decree, led by the Firearms Bureau. In fact, most of these people were chemists of this era, mainly Taoist priests who made alchemy and alchemists who made gold. Let them develop new gunpowder.

After a while, they saw two people walking quickly into the main hall. On the left was the Wuweizi.

On the right is a tall-nosed, blue-eyed man named Ahe. He is an Egyptian and a famous local alchemist. Zhu Zhanhe recruited strange people before, and Ahe also stood out from many alchemists and became the head of the Alchemy Department. Lift.

"Wuweizi, Ahe, pay your respects to His Highness the Crown Prince!"

After the two came in, they immediately saluted Zhu Zhanhe. Among them, Ahe's Chinese was quite standard, even more standard than Wuweizi, who was originally from Guangdong.

"No need to be polite, how is the progress of gunpowder development?"

Zhu Zhanhe finally put down the memorial in his hand, looked up at the two of them and asked.

The Qiren Courtyard is nominally under the Ministry of Industry, but in fact it is under the direct jurisdiction of Zhu Zhanhe. After all, many things in the Qiren Courtyard require Zhu Zhanhe's personal guidance. These are two small promotions that can directly enter the palace to pay homage to Zhu Zhanhe. s reason.

In fact, Zhu Zhanhe had great hopes for Qi Ren Yuan, not only to develop new gunpowder, but also to build Qi Ren Yuan into a specialized chemistry school to promote the development of chemistry in this era.

"Your Highness, last time we followed your instructions and used nitric acid as raw material and mixed it with glycerin to make a powerful liquid. However, it is too unstable and will explode when it is slightly touched. For this reason, we have Several alchemists were injured, and one of them had a leg blown off!"

Ah He was excited at first, and then said a little sadly at the end.

Zhu Zhanhe reminded them in advance that they must take precautions, but even so, people continued to be injured. He had only a few people under his command. If this continued, he might not have anyone available for him in a short time. .

"Don't worry about the manpower issue. I have recruited a group of alchemists from Dashi. Once they arrive in Dahan, you won't have to worry about the shortage of manpower."

Zhu Zhanhe said again with a slight smile.

Nitroglycerine is indeed a very good explosive, but it is too unstable, especially when it is manufactured, and it is easy to explode. Nobel solved this problem and became a millionaire. The funds for the dynamite prize in later generations were also Earned from nitroglycerin.

"Is there someone else coming? That's great, thank you Your Highness!" Ahe said in great surprise when he heard this. After saying this, he even looked at Wuweizi next to him proudly.

As early chemists, alchemists were very popular in Egypt, West Asia and Europe, and they had mastered the technology of making nitric acid. Coupled with the glycerin that was a by-product of Zhu Zhanhe's soap making, the emergence of nitroglycerin also It's a matter of course.

Now we only need to solve the problem that it is too dangerous to produce nitroglycerin, we can produce nitroglycerin on a large scale, and then add diatomaceous earth to it to form a stable explosive.

"Your Highness, this is so unfair. You have been giving guidance to the people in the Alchemy Department, so their development is so smooth. On the other hand, although we have more people, we don't have His Highness's guidance!"

Wuweizi next to him shouted Qu Dao for himself.

"Haha, I want to help you, but your alchemy schools are all different and your methods are ever-changing. I know too little about alchemy, so I can't help you even if I want to!"

When Zhu Zhanhe heard Wu Weizi's words, he couldn't help but said helplessly.

Chemistry in later generations was mainly derived from alchemy, so it was very easy for Zhu Zhanhe to guide people like Ah He. However, alchemy was too mysterious and few people in later generations understood it, so Zhu Zhanhe was also powerless.

"Your Highness, we have recently recruited a few new people. One of them is a Taoist priest named Duzhu. He blew up the alchemy furnace as soon as he arrived at Yiren Yard. I am asking him to find a way to save the exploded thing. Maybe it is a new one. of gunpowder!”

Wu Weizi did not dare to say anything more, but once again expressed his gratitude to Zhu Zhanhe. After all, the Alchemy Department next door already had a clear development route, and of course their Alchemy Department could not lag behind others.

"Oh? This is good news!"

Zhu Zhanhe also showed a surprised expression when he heard this, and then thought about it before turning to Ahe and said: "Ahe, it is indeed unfair to the alchemy department if I just give you some advice. Let's do this. You can teach me how to make nitric acid." Alchemy Department!”

Nitric acid is the key to many explosives in later generations, such as nitroglycerin, nitrocellulose, etc. Even black gunpowder contains saltpeter. Alchemists have mastered the production of nitric acid very early. It is said that it was invented by the Egyptians and was later spread to West Asia. and Europe.

"This... I obey your orders!"

Ah He hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded.

Although the production of nitric acid is a secret among alchemists, Zhu Zhanhe gave them a lot of advice during this period, which made the development of new gunpowder go very smoothly. He also learned a lot from it, so the production of nitric acid was also difficult. Nothing at all.

"That's great, thank you, His Royal Highness!"

Wuweizi was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately saluted Zhu Zhanhe again.

He knows the importance of nitric acid better than anyone else. In fact, there are people in their alchemy department who can refine nitric acid, but there may be problems with the method, resulting in the purity of the nitric acid being produced being very low and the cost being very high, making it unaffordable for ordinary people.

In contrast, alchemists have mastered mature nitric acid production methods, which are enough for them to produce nitric acid in large quantities. With nitric acid, they can do more experiments and maybe make breakthrough progress.

(End of this chapter)