Wu Zhi has a grand plan in mind. He wants to add product categories based on the Zhuangyuan series of wines, such as making soaps, skin care products, perfumes, etc. When the funds are strong, he will also experiment with manufacturing building materials such as cement.
I plan to build a blast furnace to make steel, engage in transportation, and develop new weapons such as guns. At the same time, I will make more bamboo hand grenades to prepare for emergencies!
The business landscape in Wu Zhi's mind should be a multi-industry business. The No. 1 wine series, daily necessities, high-end perfume and skin care products, building materials, special steel, logistics, and even arms are all businesses within his territory. He hopes to establish his own
A powerful business empire protected his plan to change his life.
He doesn't want to produce soaps and skin care products himself, so he can recruit some people to join him, such as Pan Weijun. But for perfumes, he doesn't want to rely on others. He wants to make them himself, because making perfumes requires a large amount of high-purity alcohol.
High-purity alcohol is currently the most powerful secret money-making weapon in his hand. He must keep this secret and not leak it! Therefore, the production of perfume can only be done by him personally. And the perfume is sold to high-end people.
The price is high and the audience is relatively small, so the production of perfume will not be large.
Wu Zhi has designed and customized a batch of small and exquisite perfume bottles with Wu Gang. After constant experiments, he has produced some rose perfume, musk perfume, lilac perfume, magnolia perfume and jasmine perfume, but the fragrance
The richness has not yet reached his requirements, and it needs to be constantly improved. Osmanthus perfume is Wu Zhi's favorite, but because the season is out, the osmanthus has not yet bloomed, and there is no osmanthus as a raw material, so he was not able to make it.
It's a pity that he can wait until the sweet-scented osmanthus blooms in the golden autumn before he can make it. He can entrust some firms to purchase the raw materials for making perfume for him, and the raw materials are not a problem.
As for arms, all Wu Zhi currently has are bamboo grenades. Bamboo grenades and other new weapons are the most powerful guarantee for him to stand in the coming troubled times. He will rely on these new weapons to reverse the situation and turn things around.
, to restore peace to the world. If he wants to establish his mind for heaven and earth, establish his destiny for the people, inherit his unique knowledge for the past saints, and create peace for all generations, he can only use some unconventional means.
But now he can't blatantly engage in arms manufacturing. He has no name, and he can't do it secretly. If the court discovers it, it will be a matter of being an accomplice!
Although new weapons are not yet available, he can manufacture the new gunpowder needed to make bamboo grenades in large quantities and prepare for rainy days in case of need. Now that he has a lot of funds in his hands, he can start planning and implementing the arms plan.
The preliminary work is to extract high-purity potassium nitrate from saltpeter in large quantities. This is an important raw material for making new gunpowder. He must stock up in large quantities to be prepared.
As soon as he said it, Wu Zhi called on the carpenters and masons who had built his brewery and distillation house last time, and asked them to build two large sheds in the small garden, one shed for stacking saltpeter, and one shed for brickwork.
Build four large stoves, place a large iron pot on each stove, prepare twenty filter racks, fasten large filter cloths, and prepare a low cooling platform and twenty rounded rods.
A long wooden stirring rod was purchased, and more than twenty large ceramic jars were purchased to prepare saltpeter for the production of potassium nitrate.
These people worked together and built the shed that Wu Zhi wanted in less than five days, including the large stove, filter rack, cooling platform, mixing rod and other facilities that Wu Zhi wanted.
Wu Zhi was very satisfied. After the completion, he paid everyone twice the wages, which made them overjoyed.
Everything is ready, all we need is the east wind, so the source of saltpeter is a bit of a headache.
Counties in Qingyang, Hebei, are rich in saltpeter, but it is a pity that it is too far away, and water from afar cannot quench our thirst. It is best to find saltpeter near Kaifeng Prefecture, which is close and easy to transport.
After many inquiries, Wu Zhi finally learned that Zhengzhou's saltpeter is rich in saltpeter. It is located on Jingdong Road, more than 130 miles away from Bianliang, Tokyo, within the county governed by the Zhengzhou Administrative Office. It has convenient transportation and is accessible by land and water.
, it could be back and forth within three days. So Wu Zhi assigned Qian Mancang to take the water transport company's own ship and went to Zhengzhou Nittan to purchase 50,000 kilograms of saltpeter, and emphasized that the purchase must be real fire saltpeter, that is, that kind of saltpeter.
Saltpeter, which does not melt but burns violently when put into the fire. The unit price of saltpeter is 20 cents per catty. He gave Qian Man Wan 1,200 guan as purchase capital and round-trip travel expenses for the crew.
Sulfur was produced in the iron-making workshops around Bianliang City, because at that time in the northern part of the Song Dynasty, almost all iron was smelted with pyrite. Sulfur was a by-product. The quantity was large and the price was affordable. It could also be bought everywhere in Weishi County. Charcoal was available in Weishi County.
Charcoal burners in Weishi County can also buy it anywhere at any time. Plant ash can also be purchased from farmers in Weishi County, and then burned into ashes.
Wu Zhi ordered Dahu and Erhu to buy three thousand kilograms of sulfur from the iron smelting workshops around Bianliang City, three thousand kilograms of charcoal from the charcoal burners in Weishi County, and then buy it from farmers in Weishi County.
Buy wheat straw in large quantities at a low price, hire someone to burn the wheat straw into ashes, and then pack it into bags and transport it home. A pound of sulfur costs ten cents; charcoal is slightly more expensive, costing twenty cents a pound; and more than fifty thousand kilograms of wheat straw are burned.
It cost more than 10,000 kilograms to buy more than 5,000 kilograms of plant ash. At the same time, the two bought 1,500 kilograms of fir sawdust powder, more than 800 kilograms of alum, and more than 500 sacks at low prices according to Wu Zhi's request.
These materials only cost nearly 160 yuan.
Six days later, the water transport company's ship, led by Qian Mancang, brought back 50,000 kilograms of saltpeter. Wu Zhi took out a small sample and threw it into the fire. The saltpeter did not turn into water but made the fire burn more violently. Wu Zhi knew this.
It was really fire and saltpeter. So Wu Zhi directed the employees of the water transportation company and the government officials to move the bags of saltpeter off the ship and put them into oxcarts or horse-drawn carriages, and then pulled them one by one to the big shed in the small garden.
500 bags of saltpeter were piled up, and it took a long time to haul them home. The grand scene of carts passing through the street made pedestrians on both sides of the street stop to watch and talk.
In order to make it easier for the car to enter, Wu Zhi removed the back door of his house and paved a road directly to the greenhouse!
Everyone was surprised by Wu Zhi's operation. Looking at the mountains of bags piled up in the greenhouse, they were even more puzzled and full of curiosity.
Wu Zhi ordered Wu Xiu to find fifty day laborers, and asked them to pound five hundred bags of saltpeter, grind them into fine pieces, sift them separately, then repackage them and place them with labels; then asked them to also divide the plant ash into
Five hundred equal parts were ground and sieved to remove impurities. They were also bagged and placed separately, and marked in sequence. They also helped to crush the sulfur and charcoal into powder and bagged them for later use.
After completing these chores, Wu Zhi paid the fifty short-term workers double the wages because Wu Zhi asked them to finish the work within one day. The workload was still quite heavy. Except for a little delay during lunch, they were working non-stop.
They rushed to work and it was not completed until dark. Everyone was very happy to get double the wages. They were still complaining about being squeezed by Wu Zhi, but they disappeared all of a sudden. They were ecstatic and expressed their gratitude to each other in the future.
If there is still such a job, try to find them to do it, and they will do it better for him.
After all the part-time workers took their wages and left with smiles, Wu Zhi finally breathed a sigh of relief. These chores were quite heavy and he would not arrange for his family to do them.
The reason why it was divided into five hundred equal parts was that Wu Zhi felt that it was feasible for each person to refine a hundred kilograms of saltpeter at a time. Twice a day, ten people could purify two thousand kilograms of saltpeter a day. He could divide it into ten large openings.
It will be carried out in ceramic jars. It is no problem to get a hundred pounds per jar, and the mixing will not be so laborious. Xiao'e and Liu Yue can complete it. Afraid of leaking secrets, he plans to use family members to help complete the refining process, and cannot use outsiders to complete the process.
Wu Zhi did it himself and directed everyone to teach them step by step how to purify potassium nitrate according to his experience and experience in purifying potassium nitrate in his hometown in Enzhou. After a lot of effort, with the full cooperation of everyone, pure potassium nitrate was finally purified.
Potassium nitrate crystals come.
When Wu Zhi and everyone saw a large amount of refined potassium nitrate that looked as bright as refined salt, they were very happy and full of a sense of accomplishment. Everyone curiously asked what it was. Faced with their inquiries, Wu Zhi only said this
It's the new fire saltpeter, and they all believe it!
After mobilizing everyone to grind the potassium nitrate into powder, Wu Zhi also fried the potassium nitrate. For safety reasons, Wu Zhi only left Dahu and Erhu to help him. He raised the fire and carefully fried the potassium nitrate for almost four pots.
More than 100 kilograms of potassium nitrate obtained by refining are finished frying.
After frying the nitrate, Wu Zhi calculated on paper the optimal combination ratio of 74.5% potassium nitrate, 12% sulfur, and 13.5% charcoal plus fir powder.
For the dosage, use a scale to weigh out a small amount and mix it into a small portion. After the ignition test, it was found that the deflagration effect was good, similar to what was done before, so we weighed and took samples according to the optimal mixing ratio.
Stir all the fried potassium nitrate powder, weighed sulfur powder, and charcoal powder thoroughly, add an appropriate amount of low-alcohol alcohol, mix well, wet-grind through a fine-hole bamboo sieve, and sieve into granules, and wait to dry in the shade.
Then, put them into a dry and clean jar, seal the mouth of the jar, move them to the vacated utility room for storage, and lock them. Wu Zhi warned no one to approach or touch them without authorization.
After this experience, the progress of refining potassium nitrate was accelerated. It took more than twenty days to refine all the saltpeter into pure potassium nitrate and grind it into powder. Wu Zhi led the team
Hu and Erhu fry them all, then mix them one by one with sulfur powder and charcoal powder in the best proportions to make gunpowder, add low-alcohol alcohol and mix well, wet grind and sieve to make granular gunpowder, dry in the shade before loading
Put them into the altar, seal them one by one and preserve them.
More than 11,000 kilograms of new granular gunpowder were born in Wu Zhi's hands. He sealed and stored them all in the utility room, took some necessary fire and moisture-proof measures, locked them, and posted them on the door.
Put a seal on the door and write "No Fireworks" on the door. Wu Zhi keeps the key with him. At the same time, Wu Zhi solemnly warns everyone in the family not to use fire in and around the utility room and be careful.
Safety!
This is equivalent to a large gunpowder magazine! If it is not managed properly and a safety accident occurs, it will have devastating consequences. Therefore, Wu Zhi had to treat it with caution and take safety precautions meticulously.
As for how to make new bombs, we will wait until we study them slowly. It is estimated that there is still a lot of room for improvement in bamboo hand grenades. Not only the projectile materials need to be improved, but the gunpowder fuses also need to be improved. Now there is 95-degree alcohol instead of water.
Gunpowder fuse is much simpler and easier.
To prepare for a rainy day, Wu Zhi hired someone and spent some money to secretly prepare hundreds of dried bamboo tubes for him. After drying, he loaded hundreds of bamboo hand grenades and then found a remote and uninhabited place.
After passing the inspection, he strictly stored it for future use. At the same time, he also prepared the leads, waste paper, swim bladder glue and other other materials one by one and sealed them.
After preparing these things, Wu Zhi felt much more at ease and confident.