Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry.

Chapter 12 Preparatory Conditions for Factory Construction

"Brother Ren, I have found the people for you. They are all famous scholars in the area. They will report to our clothing factory tomorrow. Now tell me how we can make this propellant." Li Yunlong said excitedly while still outside the door.

"Well, our Old Li still has some status in the headquarters. I have found four gentlemen who can read."

"Hey, Lao Li, come in and talk." Ren Zhong welcomed Li Yunlong in. "You are quite fast. But in addition to the scholar, you also need to find a bricklayer and potter with better skills. We need to build a small earthen kiln and fire special large vats to build a sulfuric acid and nitric acid production line."

Ren Zhong began to talk to Li Yunlong enthusiastically about the basic process of propellant production. It was relatively not complicated. Even without Ren Zhong's participation, relying on the local chemists in the base, they would be able to figure out this primitive production process after spending about a year, and achieve large-scale mass production, which would become the main source of ammunition for the base.

Ren Zhong copied what our ancestors had developed with great difficulty in just a few hours.

The most important and difficult part is the large-scale production of qualified concentrated sulfuric acid and concentrated nitric acid. With these two things, high-quality cotton is dried, soaked in concentrated sulfuric acid, dried again and soaked in concentrated nitric acid. The cotton will undergo esterification reaction, and after certain treatment, compounds such as nitrocellulose can be obtained. This is commonly known as nitrocellulose, modern smokeless gunpowder.

If it were in Ren Zhong's original time and space, the production of concentrated sulfuric acid and concentrated nitric acid would be a very mature conventional chemical process. The sulfur used to make acid mainly came from recycled sulfur from industries such as crude oil, natural gas, and raw coal, and was a by-product of petrochemicals.

However, modern oil refining technology and equipment are obviously impossible to realize in the world of Bright Sword, so the process method that Ren Zhong found is still the method of using the natural sulfur mines of this era to produce sulfuric acid in the original time and space.

This set of equipment for making sulfuric acid by traditional methods is surprisingly simple. It is mainly derived from the large ceramic vats used by ordinary people to store grain or water! However, it was not easy to figure it out. It took three generations to complete the truly practical manufacturing process data found by Ren Zhong. This method also has a resounding name called the cylinder tower method for preparing sulfuric acid.

Ren Zhong brought a thick stack of information, which described in detail the entire traditional production process of concentrated sulfuric acid and concentrated nitric acid, and also provided simple illustrations for easy understanding.

But after Ren Zhong talked to Li Yunlong for a long time, he found that Li Yunlong was looking at him blankly and didn't understand anything at all.

"Brother Ren, although I, Old Li, don't understand what you are saying, I think it is very impressive. You are worthy of being a gentleman who returned from overseas. You know a lot of things." Li Yunlong was not embarrassed at all, and not understanding these things did not prevent him from doing things. He just said with his eyes narrowed.

"Brother Ren, please stop giving me all these bottles and jars and whatnot. Apart from fighting wars, there are many things that Old Li can't understand.

Just tell me what you want Lao Li to do, how many people you need, and what kind of people you need. Just write a note and I will ask someone. I will find the person for you even if I have to go all over the headquarters."

"Okay, I was careless. I was out of my mind telling you, Old Li, these things." Ren Zhong knew that he was out of his mind talking about science with Li Yunlong.

This is totally like throwing a pearl into a dark place, like winking at a blind man. It's all in vain.

It is simply a fantasy to expect the semi-illiterate Li Yunlong to understand this matter.

I'm afraid that in the base, there are very few people who can understand my introduction and read the information I brought.

"First of all, we need to build an earthen kiln, and we have to produce the main production equipment ourselves. To put it simply, we need a batch of bottles and jars, and some large water vats for boiling water." Ren Zhong directly wrote down what he needed for Li Yunlong with a pen.

"Second, we need to buy some sulfur ore and saltpeter. Don't worry about the money. I'll give you 500 dollars. You can buy as much as you want. We need to start collecting these raw materials from now on." "Third, we need a group of kiln workers and potters to make pottery. I can't make those bottles and jars. I must find an experienced master. Otherwise, he won't be able to make qualified pottery according to my drawings, and our factory will be delayed."

After assigning all these tasks to Li Yunlong and treating him like a laborer, Ren Zhong felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction. However, he felt inexplicably heartbroken as he gave half of the money he earned to Li Yunlong in one go.

If he could live to be seventy or eighty years old in this dimension, Ren Zhong could brag to his descendants that he was once a famous figure who commanded Li Yunlong.

But forget about it. It was a long time ago and I don’t know if I can live that long.

As for the matters of this factory, Ren Zhong had to set it up from scratch by himself and lead his people. Even young people with education would not be able to learn unless they followed him and then studied and absorbed the knowledge seriously.

This is easier said than done. Ren Zhong is not sure how long it will take him to get this done.

Li Yunlong was sent to find bricklayers and potters to purchase raw materials.

Ren Zhong himself was not idle either.

After quickly eating two baked potatoes, he wrapped himself up and went out to look for the construction site of the earthen kiln and the factory.

Ren Zhong did not forget that this was still the most difficult time of the War of Resistance. The Japanese, who had an absolute advantage, had been looking for a base. Japanese reconnaissance planes might fly over the sky from time to time, so it was impossible for Ren Zhong to build his chemical plant in an open area.

If the target is discovered and is bombed by the Japanese, not only the chemical plant but also the headquarters will be affected.

So now the headquarters and most of the base factories are actually built inside cliff caves, and they cannot be seen from the sky at all after being hidden.

Ren Zhong walked out of the clothing factory and wandered around the mountains for a long time. He found a sloping stone wall more than ten meters high. The area seemed to be over a hundred square meters, which was enough to build an earthen kiln. The stone wall with a 45-degree slope could not only shelter from wind and rain, but was also very concealed, making it impossible for the Japanese reconnaissance planes to see what was underneath from the air.

The place where the headquarters has moved to now has only a small mountain village and the rest of the place is full of mountains and cliff caves. An arsenal in the base is placed in a group of cliff caves, but Ren Zhong has not yet gained the trust of the base. He can come to the clothing factory, but it is impossible for him to get in touch with the arsenal at this stage.

Next to this semi-open cliff cave, there are several more closed small cliff caves ranging from dozens to more than a hundred square meters. Although the space is not large, it is barely enough to be used as a small chemical factory planned by Ren Zhong to produce sulfuric acid, nitric acid and nitrocellulose in the future.

This scale of daily production of dozens of kilograms of sulfuric acid and nitric acid is enough to support the production of propellant in a large bullet reloading factory.

I beg you to read, collect and recommend it!
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(End of this chapter)