Dai Cang walked to the door of his son's study, and heard that his son and Wang Xinyu were chatting happily, but he was a little uncomfortable psychologically: his son is talented and intelligent, he can recite poetry at the age of five, and he can make good calligraphy and painting at the age of seven. It's a pity that he inherited his own characteristics and liked firearms and machinery. When he was six years old, he began to work as a carpenter, and at the age of eight, he went to the workshop to watch people build birds and cannons, and he could not come back all day. But fortunately, my son's poetry and painting are first-class, and his grades in private school are better than others, so it will definitely not be a problem to take the test in the future.

But just when Dai Cang was about to let his son study hard and gain fame, more than a dozen masked thieves attacked his home, and the family was kidnapped and put on the ship, and then they were sent here in a daze.

But fortunately, Zheng Jiajun did not embarrass his father and son, and arranged good accommodation for them. The family also had a house in the city, where their parents, wife, and other sons lived in Xiamen, while he and his son were placed in a separate dormitory in a weapons workshop.

Although it is said that this is the territory of the "Haikou", but after all, Dai Cang came out of the Ming army, and heard that the Ming army was still going to attack Dongfan Island, and Dai Cang was also willing to do things for the Ming army. What about just a son? He hoped that his son could get a meritorious name, but now it seems that there is no hope.

Thinking of this, Dai Cang walked into his son's study and knelt down to Wang Xinyu: "Lord Wang, the dog is young, I hope the adult can find a gentleman to teach the dog, and let the dog have the opportunity to take the test in the future!" ”

Wang Xinyu was stunned, and then he remembered that there is no way out for talents in science and engineering in this era, or he has to take a imperial examination to become an official, or he will be a craftsman who is looked down upon by others for the rest of his life! Because there is no imperial examination for science and engineering! This Dai Cang is eager to see his son Jackie Chan, and of course he hopes that his son will be famous. It seems that I will have to engage in the imperial examination of science and engineering in the future! Talents in science and engineering do not need to learn any of the Four Books and Five Classics, nor do they need to learn any Bagu Wen, as long as they learn Western science and technology. Thinking of this, Wang Xinyu said: "Please rest assured, Mr. Dai, this official will report to the king of Yanping and open a science and engineering examination!" With Dai Gongzi's talent, it will definitely be no problem to be admitted to the science and engineering examination! In addition, the official also wanted to invite a few Taixi teachers for him to let his son learn Western mathematics, physics and chemistry. ”

"Can you open the imperial examination of Taixi's books?" Dai Cang was stunned, "Isn't that against the ancestral system?" ”

Wang Xinyu did not answer directly, but asked rhetorically: "Mr. Dai, do you know why Taixi technology has been developing, they have made clocks, better ships, better guns, stronger armor than us, sharper weapons, but our technology does not advance but retreats?" ”

Dai Cang shook his head: "I really don't know about these lowly positions, but it should be related to the fact that they attach importance to the technical aspects of those craftsmen, right?" ”

"That's right!" Wang Xinyu nodded, "They don't call craftsman technology, they call science and engineering." The Taixi people have a university to study science and engineering, and we study craftsmen here, and they can be admitted to the university, and once they go to the university, it is equivalent to having our status! ”

"Can craftsmen still lift people? If you let those Jiangnan scholars know, I'm afraid they will scold Sven for sweeping the floor. Dai Cang smiled bitterly. However, Dai Cang himself liked machinery and firearms, and he would not oppose the opening of the imperial examination of science and engineering.

"Sooner or later, we will have to build a university like they did and nurture our talents! We must not only let those who study the Four Books and the Five Classics have a way out, but also let talents in other fields have a way out! In this way, our science and technology can develop and create more good things. Wang Xinyu said with a smile.

It's just that Dai Cang still hopes that his son can learn the Four Books and Five Classics, not to waste his studies, and he still hopes that his son can participate in the traditional imperial examination and gain fame.

Wang Xinyu had no choice but to agree, and asked Mr. Dai Zi for advice, and he would not let him waste the Four Books and Five Classics and the like.

After walking out of the courtyard where Dai Cang's father and son lived, Wang Xinyu went to the alchemy courtyard that had just been built.

The Alchemy Temple is located in Shigu Mountain, it is a newly built large courtyard, this is a building similar to the Taoist Temple, the gate is hung with a sign written "Shigu Taoist Temple", into the gate, in turn, the Dragon and Tiger Palace, the Jade Emperor Palace, the Sanqing Palace, there are buildings such as the Spirit Palace and the Wenchang Hall on both sides. After walking through the Sanqing Palace, there is a library pavilion at the back. Further back, located on the central axis is the Alchemy Temple, and on both sides are the residences and canteens of the Taoist priests.

Wang Xinyu walked into the alchemy room, and more than 20 alchemists invited by Chen Jinnan from all over the country had been waiting inside for a long time.

These alchemists were originally regarded as liars by many people, but after being invited here, Wang Xinyu not only built them a Taoist temple to live in, but also gave them good conditions, as well as a reward system, if they can research new products, they can also get silver rewards, and even become officials! These alchemists were naturally very happy.

In the large courtyard, there are some small Taoist priests cleaning, and some small Taoist priests are watering and chopping wood. Most of these little Taoist priests were brought by alchemists, and when they arrived here, they were equivalent to servants of the Taoist temple.

Wang Xinyu's own alchemy room is on the second floor of a building. In fact, the building was built against the mountain. Walking up the stone steps and going up to the second floor, you can see that these are all buildings with stone walls and stone floors, only the roof is made of wooden beams, and there is a room on the second floor that is Wang Xinyu's own laboratory, which contains the glass experimental equipment he bought from abroad.

More than 20 alchemists followed Wang Xinyu into the laboratory and gathered around Wang Xinyu.

Wang Xinyu pointed to a row of clay pots on the floor and asked, "These jars are all sealed, right?" ”

"General Huiwang, these jars are sealed!" An alchemist replied.

Wang Xinyu nodded: "This is to ferment to make an oil called glycerin." I'm going to Nanyang in a few days, so don't touch those jars during this time. ”

"Please rest assured, General!" The Taoist priests saluted one after another.

Then Wang Xinyu began to operate, making a new thing.

Wang Xinyu first weighed the purified sulfur and earth nitrate with a scale, and then mixed the sulfur and earth nitrate according to a certain proportion, put it in a glass container, and then lit an alcohol lamp to heat the mixture. After a while, the mixture produces a vapor that passes through a glass conduit and enters a spherical glass container for the reaction. At the same time, on the other side, an alcohol lamp is lit to heat the water, and the water vapor rises and enters the glass conduit, producing distilled water, which is then mixed with the steam produced by the heating of sulfur and earth nitrate, and becomes a liquid.

"Everyone, be careful! This liquid is very corrosive, and it must not come into contact with the skin, and it should not be filled with iron and wood! Only in glassware! Wang Xinyu reminded everyone.

The Taoist priests were already surprised that Wang Xinyu was able to get so much transparent glass, and they were even more amazed when they saw that after a transparent glass vessel was opened, there was that kind of viscous liquid with a pungent smell in it.

Wang Xinyu said to the Taoist priests again: "In fact, there is another way to make sulfuric acid, which is to heat bile alum, but the cost of that thing is too high and it is not easy to obtain." ”

Then, Wang Xinyu put the saltpeter in a sealed container, sealed it with a cork, connected it to a glass conduit, heated the container with an alcohol lamp, and refreshed the saltpeter. The obtained steam is then mixed with distilled water from another conduit to obtain nitric acid.

After making sulfuric acid and nitric acid, these two acids are mixed together, a piece of cotton is soaked in it, then scooped up and dried, then carefully ground into powder, and then solidified into particles with wood pulp, and then dried, so that smokeless gunpowder that is more powerful than black medicine is obtained!

However, the production of smokeless gunpowder by laboratory methods is too low, so low that it cannot be supplied in large quantities, and the price is very expensive, and it is impossible to equip the army in large quantities.

Wang Xinyu could only consider putting smokeless gunpowder on the weapons and equipment used by his special forces. Anyway, there are not many special forces, and what is made by the laboratory method can still meet the requirements.

It's just that sulfuric acid is too precious, and it is necessary to make smokeless gunpowder, and to make a new type of explosives used to break through the castles of the Dutch and Spaniards, and let more than 30 Taoist priests rush to work together, and it is estimated that they can barely make a batch of explosives used to blow up the castles of the Dutch when Zheng Chenggong attacks Dongfan Island.

Among them, there is a jar of glycerin, which Wang Xinyu began to ferment before he left Xiamen for Nanyang, and the jar of glycerin has already been brewed. Wang Xinyu opened the seal and took out a small amount of glycerin.

Glycerin is made by fermentation of sucrose, which was already expensive at that time, so the cost of glycerin was quite high, and it was simply impossible to produce it in large quantities.

Wang Xinyu mixed a little glycerin with concentrated nitric acid, catalyzed with concentrated sulfuric acid, esterified in a sealed environment, the obtained liquid was precipitated by fractionation, and the remaining liquid was added to the wood pulp liquid to mix, and then taken to dry, a new explosive can be obtained.

However, it took several days to dry, and Wang Xinyu said to the Taoist priests: "After the precipitation of sulfuric acid just now, the liquid left behind is very dangerous, even if it collides violently, it will cause an explosion!" You have to be very careful with this kind of thing! Now that I've mixed it with wood pulp, it's safe. ”

Then, Wang Xinyu began to make Lei Gong again. He mixed mercury and nitric acid in a beaker and reacted to make nitric acid. However, it cannot be used immediately, and it needs to be reacted with alcohol to produce LEI mercury.

Alcohol is obtained by distilling liquor several times, and because it is getting late, there is only time for two distillations.

After completing all this, Wang Xinyu first carefully inspected the laboratory to make sure that all the utensils had been washed and the fire had been extinguished, and then led the Taoist priests out of his laboratory, locked the door, and came back the next day.

For three consecutive days, Wang Xinyu took the alchemists to soak in the laboratory every day, in addition to distilling liquor, he taught the alchemists how to make sulfuric acid and nitric acid in the laboratory, but the specific recipe for making explosives and lei mercury, he kept it secret. Because under the current conditions, it is simply impossible to produce explosives in large quantities, and it is better for one less person to know about this dangerous thing than one more person to know about it. It was only after industrialization that it was possible to produce explosives in large quantities.

Three days later, the mixture of dried glycerin and wood pulp had been dried, and the pure alcohol was ready, and then Wang Xinyu mixed the alcohol with nitric acid to produce LEI mercury.

Lei Gong was poured on a piece of cardboard, with a little primer inside, and then a twist, and then wrapped up, and the first lei tube was made.

For the sake of secrecy, the test site for the new explosives was on a small island outside Xiamen Island, which was called Huojiao Island.

On the day the test began, Wang Yanping, Zheng Xingying, Zheng Tai, Chen Jinnan, Chen Python, Hong Xiguan, Liu Guoxuan, Cai Zheng and others all took a boat and arrived on Huojiao Island, waiting to watch the test.

Seeing Wang Xinyu put the explosives in a cloth bag, Zheng Xingying asked suspiciously: "Nephew, this gunpowder is not sealed, can it explode if it is placed in a cloth bag like this?" ”

"Please rest assured, uncle, it's definitely okay!" Wang Xinyu replied.

Zheng Chenggong saw that the amount of gunpowder put by Wang Xinyu was very small, only about three taels, and he felt very puzzled: "How powerful is such a little gunpowder?" ”

"Go back to the prince, you'll know in a while!" Wang Xinyu replied.

Although there are only three taels of explosives, the detonation speed of Dana explosives is 7,700 meters per second, and the power is more than 100 times that of black explosives! Three taels of Dana explosives, at least equivalent to thirty catties of black huo medicine, can this not be powerful?

"Stay away, everybody!" Wang Xinyu shouted loudly.

Zheng Chenggong frowned slightly, and thought to himself: Why is this person so afraid? It's only three taels of gunpowder, is it going to be so far away? Is it really that powerful?

"Everybody, get down!" Wang Xinyu asked everyone to lie down.

Then Wang Xinyu lit the fuse with a fire rope, and quickly ran back to the back of a reef by the sea, and lay down with everyone.

The fuse was quickly shortened and soon ignited into the explosives bag.

The flaring flame was shortened to the thunder and ignited the primer, which then triggered an explosion of the mercury. An earth-shattering bang was heard, and a flash of fire rose above the explosive pack, and the dirt on the ground was lifted into the air, and then it rained down.

"Oh my God!" Hong Xiguan rushed to the explosion site, only to see a pit two feet in diameter and half a foot deep exploding on the ground, and he immediately gasped.

Everyone was stunned by the power of the explosive explosion, and when they reacted, everyone applauded.

Zheng Chenggong asked, "Can Xinyu use this new gunpowder to make flowering bombs?" If you can do it, it will be much easier to attack the castle of the red-haired ghost! ”

Wang Xinyu replied: "Back to the prince, this kind of gunpowder can't be put in the flowering cannonball, the ignition is too complicated!" But we can build a big trebuchet and smash this gunpowder under the red-haired ghost's castle! ”