"The church is like popping up out of nowhere."
Until he returned to the office, Roland still echoed this sentence in his heart.
He closed his eyes and carefully searched the memory of the fourth prince, but still could not find more relevant content. His understanding of the church is similar to that of ordinary nobles - when he was in the palace, the fourth prince didn't put much effort into learning knowledge, and mysticism was almost blank. But if what Tilly said was true, then the church's propaganda strategy would be too strange.
Take the religious legends of the original world as an example, the origin of the gods in the world was fundamentally paediatric at the beginning, and the world was created by the gods. For example, creation in seven days, reincarnation of karma, etc... A set of legends that fully describes the power of God is standard in every religion.
The churches of this world are quite... immature in comparison.
However, Roland didn't have any more clues to continue his research. He shook his head and decided to put these thoughts behind him.
Maybe after exploring the ancient ruins of the hidden forest, everything will have an answer.
He went to the window and looked at the huge coating that lay flat on the ground in the garden—its emerald green appearance stood out in the white snow.
Now that Soraya is gluing larger airbags, the new hot air balloon will be larger and can carry more people. This is considering that if there is no way to rescue the trapped woman when exploring the ruins, she will simply ask Anna to chop up the entire "ice coffin" and bring her back to Border Town along with a part of the transparent spar.
The departure time is set in two days.
The personnel have made arrangements, and there are Tilly, Sylvie, Savi, Ashes and Andrea on the Sleeping Island witch. The Witch League will send Anna, Wendy, Nightingale, Nana, Lightning, and Maisie. This time the lineup is unprecedentedly powerful, with the highest level of attack, defense and battlefield perception. As long as the God's Stone of Retaliation is not used, it is difficult for the devil to get close to them.
"His Royal Highness, the chief alchemist, Lord Kemo Strell, wants to see you," said the guard outside the door.
"Let him in."
Kaimo didn't come alone this time. He also brought his colleague Chamis, "Your Highness, the large-scale production method of nitric acid you requested has already been figured out."
"Really?" Roland was slightly startled, and then a burst of joy came to his heart. This is probably the best news I've heard in recent days. He stood up excitedly and poured a cup of tea for the two chemists himself, "Quickly tell me, how did you make it?"
"It's Chamis' credit," he smiled, stroking his beard, "let him explain to you."
"Your Highness," the young Chames looked a little restrained. He bowed before saying, "Your alchemy workshop... No, the chemical laboratory produces nitric acid by dry distillation of saltpeter to obtain dilute nitric acid. Then use concentrated sulfuric acid to purify. I tried to combine the two and directly heated the saltpeter in concentrated sulfuric acid. The result was a successful nitric acid solution, and the purity was very high, and even the nitric acid solution recorded in "Elementary Chemistry" could be observed. smoking phenomenon."
"Co-heating? But the two are not the same thing," Roland said strangely. "The temperature of dry distillation is much higher than that of co-heating, and the gas from dry distillation should be nitrogen oxides. Dilute nitric acid is formed when it is introduced into water. Concentrated sulfuric acid. Purification is nothing more than using its high boiling point and strong water absorption to reduce the water content in nitric acid, and does not involve a chemical reaction."
"I don't quite understand why, but Mr. Strell then did a few experiments and thought my discovery was a coincidence."
"A coincidence?" Roland looked at the chief alchemist.
"Indeed," Kaimo affirmed, "the two are not equivalent, but they have the same effect. I deduced it according to the chemical formula, and guessed that this should be a certain component in the saltpeter reacting with sulfuric acid to form Nitric acid, which evaporates on heating. Reverse the formula, it looks like some kind of… um, nitrate.”
Roland suddenly remembered that it was mentioned in the chemistry textbook that before the invention of synthetic ammonia, people used sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate to react with concentrated sulfuric acid to produce nitric acid, which is also the oldest industrial method. Because the main components of saltpeter are two nitrates, which are convenient and easy to obtain, and the extraction is relatively easy, as long as the temperature is well controlled, and the evaporated nitric acid can be continuously collected.
Of course, because this method consumes a large amount of sulfuric acid and is very easy to corrode equipment, it was quickly eliminated by more advanced technology.
However, these two points are not too big a problem for Roland. There is no supporting chemical fertilizer and pesticide industry established in the territory. The sulfuric acid produced is only used to purify nitric acid. As for the strong corrosiveness of nitric acid vapor, it can be handed over to Soraya's coating resolved.
"Good job," Roland patted Chalmers on the shoulder with joy, "This method can actually be trial-produced by you."
"You don't know, he has already shown extraordinary luck when he was in the alchemy workshop of Chishui City," Kaimer Strell raised his eyebrows, "Before learning chemistry, alchemy itself was an exploration that required luck. , and this kid was able to figure out the double acid method in his early twenties, becoming the youngest alchemist in the workshop, and making a bunch of apprentices in their thirties and forties turn red with envy. Probably just an apprentice."
"Anyway, this is good news for the town," Roland praised. "You try to make a batch of equipment production first, and I will let the witches cooperate with you. If feasible, expand the production scale."
"As you wish."
"By the way, I have another task to give you," then he put away his joy and said in a solemn tone, "Now that there is a reliable source of nitric acid, I need you to try out something very dangerous. Item—Nitroglycerin."
"How dangerous?" Kemo asked.
"The raw material used in it is very simple, that is, concentrated nitric acid reacts with glycerin, supplemented by concentrated sulfuric acid for catalysis, but during the reaction process, the temperature must be strictly controlled and ventilation must be maintained. Since a lot of heat is generated during nitrification, you can place the container in Experiment in ice water. Remember, it can explode from hot and cold, vibration, impact, friction." Roland doesn't know whether these amateur knowledge is reliable, but the ingredients are undoubtedly correct, even if there is danger , must also try. "Just use a small amount of acid during the test, so that even if an accident happens, Miss Nana can save you."
"This..." Chamis opened his mouth, and before he had time to answer, Kaimo agreed, "I see, how does its power compare to snow powder?"
"It's a long way off."
"It seems to be an interesting experiment." Chief Alchemist laughed.
Nine out of ten chemists are potential fans of explosion art, which is true... Roland thought to himself.
Nitroglycerin is extremely unstable, and Nobel's safety is to add diatomaceous earth to it to passivate the ester, which improves safety but reduces the explosive power. Naturally, Roland would not choose this classical method. He planned to add nitrocellulose or nitrostarch to the nitroglycerin, both of which can have a stabilizing effect and further enhance the explosive effect. The former is an excellent smokeless propellant, while the latter is a powerful force. As can be seen from their names, large amounts of nitric acid are the key to the evolution from black powder to chemical powder.
And he now has the key.
.
...