Chapter 757 Deployment Tasks
Chapter 757 Deployment Tasks
That morning, Xiao Xia inspected the Firearms and Gunpowder Department of the Military Arsenal. This was his first inspection of the Military Arsenal since he ascended the throne. He came to the Firearms and Gunpowder Department today for a special mission.
Xiao Xia came to the Firearms and Gunpowder Bureau and ordered the director Zhang Wei to summon all the firearms craftsmen. Currently, there were thirteen craftsmen in the Firearms and Gunpowder Bureau, including those who were good at refining sulfuric acid, making nitrocellulose, making nitroglycerin, etc. They were all national treasure-level craftsmen, and each of them had a monthly salary of one hundred strings of cash.
"Who is responsible for nitroglycerin?" Xiao Xia asked.
Two master craftsmen in their thirties stepped forward and bowed, "Your Majesty, we will be in charge!"
Xiao Xia nodded and said, "Nitroglycerin is in liquid form and can easily explode during transportation. Have you thought of any way to reduce the risk?"
"Your Majesty, we visited the making of honeycomb briquettes last year and were inspired. We are considering mixing it with kaolin or something else to make it granular so that it will not explode easily."
Xiao Xia said happily: "The idea is right, but it doesn't have to be soil. You can use the bamboo charcoal in gunpowder. Bamboo charcoal has a strong ability to absorb water, and it can certainly absorb nitroglycerin."
The two were delighted and said, "We will try it out as soon as possible."
Xiao Xia said to everyone, "I came here today to give you a mission. We may have to fight the Turkic army next year or the year after. Ordinary iron fire mines are not very convenient. To deal with cavalry, the last resort I am considering is to combine fire mines with crossbows, called arrow mines."
Xiao Xia hung up a diagram and pointed at it with a wooden pole. He said, "Make the iron fire bomb the size of an egg, then fix it to the front end of the arrow shaft, shoot it out, and explode in the cavalry group. Use the shrapnel and the poisonous spikes inside to kill the enemy and the horses. This is much more powerful than an arrow. One bomb explodes, and a hundred poisonous spikes and shrapnel kill within two feet. The poisonous spikes enter the body and become poisonous within a hundred steps, making the enemy lose its combat effectiveness. Do you understand?"
Everyone nodded silently. Xiao Xia hung up another blueprint and said with a smile, "It's still an egg-sized iron mine, but this time it has a wooden handle. Soldiers carry it with them and throw it out when fighting nomadic cavalry. I think everyone can understand this!"
Everyone laughed. This was just a change of name, from long-distance archery to short-distance hand throwing. Of course they understood.
Xiao Xia finally said: "The third task is to develop a sophisticated ignition device. I have an idea. When a crossbow hits a flint, sparks will be generated. The sparks will ignite the cloth mixed with gunpowder. If it cannot be developed for the time being, then we can improve the tinderbox and make it smaller and easier to carry. It can be suitable for long-term marches. For example, our army went to the grassland and walked for a month. How to ignite the tinderbox? Everyone, think about it carefully!"
Xiao Xia left the Firearms and Gunpowder Bureau and came to the Military Equipment Inspectorate's New Test Institute. The New Test Institute was not a place for testing weapons, but a subsidiary department of the Military Equipment Inspectorate. If there were any good ideas, they could be tested here. If the test was feasible, it would be transferred to the Military Equipment Inspectorate. There were some very imaginative things here, such as various siege or defense weapons and so on.
Xiao Xia came here for a reason. The 5,000 kilograms of kerosene that had just been shipped in was being tested here.
The official who presided over the kerosene experiment was Wang Jing. He finally chose to surrender and was willing to work for the Sui Dynasty. His official position is still going through the procedures in the Ministry of Personnel and has not been officially appointed.
However, Wang Jing did not care about the official position. He devoted himself to the military experiments on kerosene.
"Your humble servant Wang Jing pays respect to Your Majesty!"
The emperor actually came in person to ask about kerosene. Wang Jing was so excited that he knelt down and paid homage.
Xiao Xia quickly helped him up and said with a smile, "General Shi of the Internal Guards highly praised Envoy Wang in his report. I also want to meet Envoy Wang. Have all the family members come to Luoyang?"
"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. I'm already here. My wife and two sons just arrived in Luoyang the day before yesterday."
"So have you found a place to live?" Xiao Xia asked again with concern.
"Yes! Yes!" Wang Jing nodded quickly. "Housing has been settled. I will be temporarily settled with the treatment of a sixth-rank official. I will be given a small house of three mu and a monthly salary of forty strings of cash. I will be given one month's salary in advance, as well as rice and other benefits."
Generally speaking, the salaries of court officials in the Sui and Tang dynasties consisted of five parts: monthly salary, rice allowance, official land, welfare subsidies, and year-end bonuses. Officials' incomes were relatively generous, and the same was true in the Song Dynasty.
However, Xiao Xia did not include the official land in the salaries he gave to officials, so there was a lack of income. Therefore, his salaries were high and there was no rent in the subsidies. He directly solved the housing problem and the officials had official residences.
The salary of an ordinary clerk without a rank was similar to that of the owner of a Luoyang tavern, about ten strings of cash per month. He also had a dormitory, and those who had married had a small courtyard.
Xiao Xia followed Wang Jing to the experimental yard, where they saw a large pool filled with kerosene in the middle of the yard. Craftsmen were busy building a shed to prevent rain.
"Your Majesty, this is the sedimentation tank. It is the most important step in converting petroleum into kerosene. After ten days of sedimentation, the clear part on top will be drained out."
"How many steps are there in total?" Xiao Xia asked.
"There are three steps in total. Sedimentation is the first step. Your Majesty, please come over here and take a look!"
Wang Jing brought Xiao Xia to the second yard, which was filled with large cloth bags hanging on racks. These were actually bags used to filter salt, and could also be used to filter oil.
"This is the second step, filtering. The kerosene extracted from the sediment is sent here for filtering to remove the impurities. The kerosene obtained after filtering can be used for military purposes."
"Then why the third step?"
"The third step is to improve it, to make the kerosene burn faster and with more firepower. There is no fixed procedure for the third step. We use various methods to test it, such as distillation to see what we get after distillation. The second is mixing it, mixing it with turpentine to see the effect, or mixing it with gunpowder, and mixing it with cotton. I know that cotton burns very quickly. Will it burn faster after mixing it with kerosene?"
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "Be careful. Things like feathers and cotton cannot be exposed to the sun after being dipped in kerosene. They will burn on their own and explode!"
"What is a fire explosion?"
"The explosion happens in an instant, and the whole room is on fire. There is no burning process, and you don't have time to run away. You will become a fire man. It is very dangerous."
Wang Jing nodded gently, "Thank you for your reminder, Your Majesty. I will be extremely careful and make sure nothing goes wrong."
"You can do it later after distillation. Once you are familiar with kerosene, try it slowly. Don't rush to do it, so as to avoid accidents!"
"I'll remember this!"
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "Once the test is successful, I will set up a kerosene bureau and you will be the director. Then I will focus on developing kerosene weapons. I need to see firearms appear as soon as possible. The fastest thing should be a kerosene thin-skinned pottery jar that can be launched by a catapult."
"Wei Chen obeys the order!"
(End of this chapter)