The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 33 Cement and Mercury Fulminate

After the brief discussion chaired by Ming Emperor Zhu Zhonglin ended, Ming Crown Prince Zhu Jiancan followed his younger brother, Prince of Wu Zhu Jianxuan, to his laboratory.

"The Ming Dynasty Wu King Laboratory", Zhu Jianxuan himself had an official title, and the laboratory also had a more formal name.

The prince wanted to know about Zhu Jianxuan’s new inventions since last year, and discussed with Zhu Jianxuan on the spot how to organize the trade fair, wanting to know what his brother thought.

The two brothers came to the door of the laboratory in a carriage. The prince followed his brother out of the carriage and walked to the door of the laboratory, and found that the floor of the laboratory had changed.

Looking inside from the front door, the middle of the ground, which was originally the aisle, is no longer covered with the original floor tiles, but has been replaced with a light grey stone.
But what surprised the prince was that the stone was too flat and too large.

It is almost two meters wide and four meters long.

And there are many pieces, neatly pasted on the ground, completely replacing the original paved road in the yard.

The prince had seen roads paved with stone slabs before, but he had never seen roads paved with such large and flat stones.

Zhu Jianxuan had already seen his elder brother's surprise, so he didn't wait for him to ask and explained to him directly:
"The ground is not stone, but a new invention of this year - hydraulic cement.

“I was originally going to call it cement, but everyone thought it wasn’t vivid enough, so after some discussion we changed it to hydraulic cement.

"Because the product looks like wood ash, but when mixed with water, it quickly solidifies and hardens, and after drying, it is as solid as stone."

Zhu Jianxuan took the prince directly into the laboratory's warehouse and showed him the "Silicate cement" made in the laboratory.

The prince was stunned after hearing the explanation, staring at the box of "ashes" with wide eyes:
"Brother Xuan...what did you say? All we need to do is add water and mud to these ashes and let them dry to turn them into a whole stone?"

Zhu Jianxuan smiled and nodded:

“Yes, now the road in the laboratory yard is paved with this hydraulic cement, which can be regarded as a practical verification.

"As long as you pile it up on the ground and scrape it flat, it will become smooth and flat after drying in the shade."

The prince immediately began to think:

"Can it be used to build city walls and houses? We can use plywood to clamp the shapes, and use a machine to mix and pour them into the mold?"

Zhu Jianxuan glanced at his elder brother. He didn't expect that his elder brother's thoughts diverged so quickly:
"Yes, you can do that, but you can't just use this hydraulic cement to build a house.

“We will first build a framework with steel bars, mix it with water cement and gravel, and then pour it into the space where the plywood is fixed.

“This will give a higher overall strength, which we now call the ‘reinforced concrete’ process.

“You can cast bridges and all sorts of things that used to be made of stone.

“You can directly cast the beams and columns of a house, and you can cast a whole roof.

"When we build houses in the future, we won't need to use wooden beams, and we can also reduce the number of supporting columns on a large scale.

"As long as we prepare enough materials, we can build a huge hall very quickly."

The prince still found it a little unbelievable:

"Really... can we really do this? Is this really okay?"

Zhu Jianxuan smiled and said:
"We have built a small house in this way, but it is not too large because it is for experimental testing.

“But its solidity is comparable to that of stone, or even stronger than a pure stone house.

“Because there is no overall steel frame inside the stone either.

"In fact, it is only with the new steelmaking process that our steel production can be increased, and we can use this process on a large scale."

Zhu Jianxuan took his elder brother to the other corner of the laboratory yard, where there was a small gray house.

It looks like it is built with gray stones, but there are no gaps in it, as if it is a single huge stone.

Zhu Jianxuan reached out and patted the wall and said:
"It's much stronger than brick and lime, it's like we melted the stones and cast a house out of them.

“A steel frame is also added inside, just like human tendons and bones, to improve the tensile and shear resistance.”

The prince reached out his hand and stroked the wall of the small house, muttering with a shocked and solemn expression:
"This kind of construction tool is of great use to both the country and the people. It should be mass-produced quickly. It will have no problem selling it to the court or the people."

Zhu Jianxuan smiled and said:
"I am not good at business, so I still need my father and brother to help me open up sales channels."

"Don't worry, brother Xuan, leave it to me..."

The prince naturally agreed, then looked at the house in front of him and said with a little doubt: "Brother Xuan, is this small house simply used to verify the reinforced concrete process? Why do we need to add a heavy iron door?"

Zhu Jianxuan said with a smile:

“This small house is also a laboratory, and inside it is another important research result, which we call fulminate of mercury.

"Because it would explode if hit or bumped, it's a little dangerous, so after this cabin was built, we moved it here to conduct experiments."

The prince was surprised again:
"Explosion? A new type of gunpowder? Can it explode simply by knocking and colliding? Then there would be no need for flint in muskets!"

Zhu Jianxuan thought for a moment and said:
“Fulminate mercury cannot be considered gunpowder because it is too dangerous and the cost of refining it is relatively high.

"Craftsmen believed that the correct use was to replace flint as a fire-starting device.

“The ignition module is made of fulminate of mercury, which we call a flash cap.

“The percussion cap is installed on the modified musket, and the trigger is used to directly drive the hammer to strike the percussion cap, which detonates the gunpowder in the chamber.

"This is more responsive than a flintlock, and will basically not be affected by the weather."

After hearing this, the prince nodded repeatedly, and then suddenly thought of something:
"This spring, strange muffled thunder was occasionally heard in the Imperial City. Was it to verify these fulminate of mercury caps?

"Father already knew about it at the time, so he deliberately asked that no one come to investigate?"

Zhu Jianxuan smiled helplessly and said:
“Not only did it explode during verification, but it also exploded when we were trying to make it.

"So we had reinforced concrete, and when we were doing verification, we built one for the fulminate of mercury experiment."

The prince looked around worriedly after hearing this:

"There was an explosion during production. Was anyone injured? Have you provided compensation?"

Zhu Jianxuan explained:

“Some people were indeed injured, but they were all minor injuries and recovered after a few days of rest.

“I knew this thing might explode, so I prepared protective gear for the craftsmen in advance.

“It’s made of the same hard rubber as carriage tires, reinforced with wire buckles.

“I also filled it with cotton pads for cushioning, and bought European plate-mail gloves to protect my hands.

“In addition, the duration and frequency of experiments are strictly controlled, and everyone must take a break immediately after completing an experiment.

“Try to minimize mistakes caused by lack of energy.

"The final result was fortunately that no craftsman was left disabled."

The prince could not help but sigh:
"Brother Xuan is really kind-hearted..."

Zhu Jianxuan did not express his modesty when he received praise from various geniuses, because he was still just a seven-year-old child.

Of course, I would not be proud of it. I just smiled calmly and indifferently.

Then he took his eldest brother to the warehouse again and showed him the protective clothing he had asked the craftsmen to make.

The front protection is very comprehensive, protecting the body, arms and hands.

There is also a protective mask on the head, leaving only a small observation slit for the eyes, and it is also supplemented with protective reinforced glass and anti-collapse wire mesh.

The craftsmen have to sit in front of the table to do experiments. The armor is mainly used to prevent the shock waves of frontal explosions.

The lower body and back are relatively safe, so there is only a layer of leather armor to prevent shatters.

The prince subconsciously wanted to ask if this kind of armor could be used by soldiers.

However, before Zhu Jianxuan could explain, he had already realized that this thing was different in nature from armor.

This clothing is mainly used to protect against blast waves, while the soldier's armor needs to protect against bows and bullets.

As bullets become more powerful, armor is becoming less and less useful.

In the end, the prince did not raise this issue.

(End of this chapter)