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Qin Mu inspected all the way and when he returned to Ji'an Prefecture, the people who were originally sent to Macau finally came back. This time, the Governor of Macau, Shi Luobao, was still arrogant and still disdained the envoys sent by Qin Mu.
As early as the 32nd year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, the Portuguese obtained the right of residence in Macau from the Ming court. In the 11th year of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, the Portuguese residing in Macau established the Macau Council to conduct self-government of the Portuguese community. However, they had to pay 500 taels of silver to the Ming government as land rent every year.
In the 44th year of the Wanli reign, Portugal appointed the first Governor of Macau, Carlo Gao. It has been nearly 30 years now, and Macau has had six governors.
These governors were different from missionaries like Johann Adam Schall von Bell. They came to Macau not to preach, but to be in charge of defense to ensure the interests of the Portuguese in Macau. Therefore, they disdained to give up advanced firearms technology for missionary rights.
Now Qin Mu is in urgent need of recuperation and training of the army. It is not appropriate to start a war for Macau, so he has to send more people there and prepare to spend money to buy technology. Now Xu Yingjie is making money in Jiangnan very smoothly. Huang Lianshan is secretly robbing the wealthy officials and gentry, which has caused a great shock to Jiangnan. The number of people depositing money in Huitong Bank has increased exponentially. As long as the Portuguese are willing to sell technology, it doesn't matter if they spend more money. After dealing with the Qing Dynasty, it won't be too late to deal with the Portuguese.
Qin Mu thought for a moment and said to Yan Gaofei, "Send a message to Huang Lianshan and ask him to send people out to sea to Jilong to contact the Dutch and see if he can buy some gun manufacturing technology from the Dutch."
"Yes, sir."
Qin Mu vigorously rectified the administration of officials along the way, and investigated and punished many illegal officials wherever he went. Naturally, everyone knew about his itinerary. When he returned to Ganzhou by boat, Sima An, Tian Yimu, Xiang Liancheng, Cui Feng and others led the army to welcome him. At the same time, tens of thousands of Ganzhou people spontaneously welcomed him ten miles outside the city.
Qin Mu walked out of the bow and waved to the crowds on both sides of the river. The crowds on both sides of the Gan River were huge. When they saw Qin Mu coming out, they cheered loudly, with gongs and drums and firecrackers. Some people even ignored the cold and rushed into the river to dance and call out to Lord Qin, which made Niu Wanshan and others who were guarding him very nervous.
Dong Xiaowan took out a cloak and put it on Qin Mu. She was surprised to see the warm welcome given to Qin Mu by the people of Ganzhou. What she didn't know was that countless people in Ganzhou were still suffering from the war and struggling on the verge of death half a year ago. It was the series of policies implemented by Qin Mu that enabled them to overcome the difficulties.
Especially the implementation of the land reform policy has enabled countless poor people to have their own land. In the eyes of the people, land is more important than life. This alone is enough to make Qin Mu and his family very happy.
In addition, Jing Tian Yi Mu's unremitting efforts have promoted Qin Mu's personal worship. With various miracles, most people in southern Jiangxi believe that Qin Mu is a real dragon born. He is the Purple Star who came to save the people.
Qin Mu led an expedition with only 2,000 soldiers and defeated Zhang Xianzhong's army of 400,000 to 500,000, and also defeated Zuo Liangyu's army of 200,000. These almost mythical achievements further confirmed the rumors that he was a real dragon, and the people's respect for him was pushed up again and again, reaching an unprecedented level.
Just like Dong Xiaowan, Xu Yongshun who followed her was also surprised. Seeing all this, the young master couldn't help but think quickly, and the look he gave Qin Mu became more complicated.
When the ship docked, Sima An and others stood on the dock. They were also very excited. Just after a few pleasantries, Qin Mu got a piece of unexpected news, so he hurried into the city and rushed to a large workshop in the south of the city.
When he was in Huichang, Qin Mu asked Xu Yingjie to find many skilled craftsmen. Later, the Firearms Bureau was established in Changsha and some of them were transferred there. Considering the inconvenience of material supply in Huichang, the remaining craftsmen were also moved to Ganzhou City.
As soon as Qin Mu arrived, Zou Yan, who was in charge of the workshop, immediately took him to a tall device. As soon as he approached, Qin Mu smelled the pungent smell of sulfuric acid and couldn't help but feel overjoyed.
Zou Yan introduced: "Governor, I have extracted the sulfuric acid you mentioned by dry distilling the gallstones according to the method of extracting the essence from the gallstones recorded in Volume 9 of Huangdi Jiuding Shendan Jingjue written by Gu Gangzi. This concentrated sulfuric acid is indeed highly corrosive as you said. Sir, I will take some to test for you."
"The Secret of the Yellow Emperor's Nine Cauldrons Magic Pill?" Qin Mu asked curiously.
"Yes, sir. Gu Gangzi was a Taoist during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. He annotated the Huangdi Jiuding Shendan Jing Jue, and in Volume 9, there is a method of refining stone gall to extract its essence."
Qin Mu was greatly surprised. Chinese Taoists were truly amazing. Not only did they refine gunpowder, but according to Zou Yan, they also knew how to refine concentrated sulfuric acid as early as the Tang Dynasty
"Can concentrated sulfuric acid be extracted in large quantities using this method?" Qin Mu asked expectantly.
"Your Excellency, the technology is not a problem. As long as there is enough raw material and the scale of refining is expanded, it is feasible to extract concentrated sulfuric acid in large quantities."
"Good, good, good." Qin Mu couldn't help but say good three times. You know, sulfuric acid is called the mother of the chemical industry. Many things cannot be separated from it. For example, sulfuric acid is an indispensable raw material in the composition of nitroglycerin.
Qin Mu was a soldier in his previous life after all, so he knew very well how nitroglycerin was made. Drop half a part of glycerin into a mixture of one part of nitric acid and two parts of concentrated sulfuric acid to make nitroglycerin, a strong liquid explosive.
The three raw materials of nitroglycerin are glycerol, sulfuric acid and nitric acid. Glycerin is the easiest to extract. Using strong alkali to hydrolyze animal fat will produce sodium fatty acid (which can be used to make soap), and the by-product is glycerin. There is no technical problem.
Now all we’re short of is nitric acid. Sulfuric acid has been extracted, so is nitric acid far behind
As long as these three things are gathered together, the raw materials for yellow explosives are basically complete. Then, through the "warm method" invented by Nobel, nitroglycerin can be turned into safe and reliable yellow explosives.
This is also the reason why Qin Mu dropped all his affairs and rushed over to see what was going on after hearing that concentrated sulfuric acid had been refined. Once yellow explosives can be mass-produced... ... ... Ahaha, then the prospects are infinitely bright.
In fact, whether it is black powder or yellow gunpowder, it is not difficult to make as long as there are raw materials. The key lies in knowing the method.
In this era, who knew that using strong salt water to hydrolyze animal fat could make soap and also extract glycerin
Who knew that mixing glycerin with sulfuric acid and nitric acid could make powerful dynamite
Some things are very simple once you know how to do them. If you don’t know how to do them, you don’t even have the basic concept, and there is no point in talking about anything. The invention of many things is entirely due to coincidence.
Qin Mu's advantage lies in knowing this concept. As long as he lets craftsmen like Zou Yan conduct research in this direction, he can avoid many detours and will get the desired results sooner or later.
Zou Yan took some concentrated sulfuric acid and carefully dripped it on a piece of silk cloth. The silk cloth was quickly corroded. Seeing this effect, Qin Mu nodded repeatedly and said, "Not bad, not bad, but this thing is very dangerous. You must be very careful when operating it. All finished products must be guarded by someone and cannot be left at will. At the same time, all production methods must be strictly confidential. Anyone who leaks it must be punished by death."
Zou Yan quickly replied: "Don't worry, Governor. I will follow your orders."
Qin Mu turned to Sima An and said, "Mr. Sima, all the craftsmen who participated in this work will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver. Master Zou has made the greatest contribution, so his reward will be doubled."
"Yes, sir." Sima An quickly ordered someone to withdraw the silver.
Not only did Zou Yan receive a huge reward, but Qin Mu also changed his name to "Master Zou". This was a big deal. The status of craftsmen in this era was extremely low. Qin Mu was a third-rank governor, not just a governor, but he actually called him "Master", which made him flattered. He apologized repeatedly in fear and trepidation.
"Master Zou, you don't have to be like this. No matter who you are, as long as you have made outstanding contributions, you deserve the corresponding respect. Now sulfuric acid has been refined, but this is far from enough. You must continue to work hard and refine the nitric acid I mentioned as soon as possible. And you must also study fulminate of mercury as soon as possible. These are all very dangerous things. You must strictly follow the booklet I gave you last time. Don't be careless, otherwise you will inevitably hurt your life."
"Yes, yes, Governor, rest assured, I will be careful."
Under Zou Yan's guidance, Qin Mu carefully looked at other studies, discussed with them, and summarized the experience. It took him most of the day before he left the workshop.
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ps: Please vote for recommendation, please vote for recommendation. (To be continued..)
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