On the 29th of November, the first Clipper Sailboat's keels were all laid out. The masts were connected to the keels. The remaining work was to install the ship's planks and lay out the internal outfitting of the deck. Since there was no need to install cannons, the deck did not need special reinforcement. The laying speed could be quite fast. According to Wang Dahai's estimation, it could be launched in half a month. After a few more days of trials, it could be put into use.
Yang Sichen thought that since the imperial court had stipulated that iron cannons were not allowed, then the large Sky Penetrating Monkey should not be considered a weapon, right? The imperial court can't control us using our own ships to ship fireworks. This thing was no longer a secret. It was not a big deal to play around.
At this moment, the Fire Dragon Out of the Water had already appeared. According to the records in the Records of Wu Bei, it was to use five feet of bamboo to remove the joints and scrape them thin with an iron knife. A wooden dragon head and tail were installed at the front and back. The mouth of the dragon head was facing upwards, and several Divine Armaments rockets were placed in the dragon's belly. They were connected together and led out from a hole in the lower part of the dragon head. There were also two large rocket launchers under the dragon's body, one in front of the other, and the other in front of the dragon's body. Their medicine lines were also connected together. The main medicine line of the Shenji Fire in the dragon's belly was connected to the bottom of the two rocket launchers in front. The water battle could be ignited three or four feet away from the water, and it could fly two or three miles away from the water surface, just like a fire dragon coming out of the river. When the tube of medicine was almost finished, the fire arrow flew out of his stomach, burning the boat and the people. This meant that when the fire dragon came out of the water, the four large rocket launchers under the " dragon " would push the fire dragon forward. When the gunpowder in the barrel was burned out, several Shenji rockets flew out from the "dragon" to shoot at the enemy.
To put it bluntly, there was a barrel of gunpowder weighing half a catty below the dragon's head and on both sides of the dragon's tail. The four rocket fuzes were gathered together and connected to the fire dragon's belly. During the water battle, when facing the enemy ship, three to four feet above the water, the four gunpowder barrels installed on the dragon's body were ignited. This was the first-stage rocket. It could push the fire dragon to fly two to three miles. When the first-stage rocket finished burning, it would automatically ignite the rocket in the dragon's belly. This was the second-stage rocket. Several rockets were shot out from the dragon's mouth, reaching the target directly, causing the enemy ship to burn down...
It was too complicated. There was no need to fool people with a dragon head. The shooting range was not too far. One mile was enough. As for kerosene, there was no need. It was enough to send out an eight-pound grenade.
As for the Laval jet, although it was highly efficient, it was complicated to make and cost too much. It was a waste to use it on a disposable rocket, so Yang Sichen gave up on it. This type of lance was very common in rockets of later generations. It greatly improved the performance of high-speed rockets. However, the rocket that Yang Sichen made could only travel at a maximum speed of 100 meters per second. It was not a big deal to not need the Lavoisier lance.
Yang Sichen had also thought about making gunpowder pellets, but he gave up on it very quickly. The flash speed of gunpowder pellets was not higher than that of powder gunpowder. Sometimes, it might even be lower, especially powder gunpowder that was loosely packed. The flash speed was very high. However, the flash speed of powder gunpowder was uneven. The faster the flash, the better. Some parts of the powder gunpowder had a high flash speed and reacted first. The other parts could not burn completely, leaving a large amount of residue. Moreover, although the high-speed part released most of the explosive energy, there was no reaction around it, so it could be seen as a small-scale reaction in a low-pressure chamber (the surrounding gunpowder powder did not form a constraint), so the explosive power was weaker. Granular gunpowder, on the other hand, flashed at the same speed and reacted completely as a whole. They were also bound together by the container, so the explosive power was stronger. The powder gunpowder had extremely strong water absorption! (Activated carbon and saltpeter are both highly water-absorbing.) Gunpowder containing more than 2% water could not be used. Therefore, whether the powder gunpowder could detonate and how it would explode was entirely up to fate. The water absorption of the gunpowder was greatly reduced. There was also the problem of layering during transportation. This problem could be solved by mixing it again before using it, but it was still a problem.
Granulated gunpowder was good for maintaining the composition of the gunpowder during transportation, so it was relatively more powerful. However, the manufacturing process of high-quality gunpowder was quite complicated. It was not as simple as he imagined. First of all, the gunpowder powder had to be compressed into a high-density and uniform medicinal cake. Then, the medicinal cake was crushed to obtain particles, and the powder and too fine particles were sieved out. Then, it was polished and sieved again to obtain gunpowder particles of basically the same size. Yang Sichen couldn't do it in a short period of time.
He could directly use a straight barrel, and the propellants would be powder gunpowder.
However, Yang Sichen wasn't sure if all of this would work. He would only know what the outcome would be after he tried.
Therefore, Yang Sichen ran to the shipyard and told Wang Dahai about his idea. Wang Dahai's eyes lit up when he heard that. He immediately cleared a kitchen for Yang Sichen. Yang Sichen immediately got busy…
Gunpowder had appeared in the notes of Chinese alchemists since the eighth century. It was not difficult to get it now, but the best formula for making gunpowder with saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal would only appear in China and Europe at the same time in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. It was not easy to get it in Song Jiang at this time. Since then, it had killed many people and conquered more than half of the world with the footsteps of European colonists.
The bamboo that was an inch thick was cut off from the bamboo joint and split into a foot-and-a-half long section, blocking one end. In the middle, Yang Sichen poured the gunpowder that he had concocted according to the complete combustion formula and connected it to the fuse. With a little, whoosh...
It did fly, but the precision…was really hard to compliment. Yang Sichen looked at the tail smoke and discovered a problem. The gunpowder was not evenly mixed, and the speed of combustion was not fixed. He could tell by looking at the thick and thin tail smoke. Normal gunpowder was relatively light during transportation. Due to bumps, vibrations, and other factors, the carbon powder would float up. It caused the composition of the gunpowder to be uneven.
Yang Sichen and Zi Juan had been busy at the shipyard for half a day, but they still couldn't come up with a solution. They didn't have enough manpower. Zi Juan was a little girl with a pair of three-inch-long golden lotuses under her feet. Although this girl was skilled in martial arts, she couldn't do heavy work. It was obviously unrealistic to expect her to help carry a bamboo that was ten feet long. The workers at the shipyard were unfamiliar with Yang Sichen, so they didn't cooperate well with him. They would only make things worse if they came to help. Yang Sichen decided to work on his own, with Zi Juan helping out at the side. He looked like a married woman. At this moment, Yang Sichen started to miss the glory.
Just as Yang Sichen was busy kicking the back of his head, Rongguang returned. The moment he saw Yang Sichen, Rong Guang knelt down and kowtowed. He raised his head and said with red eyes,"Young Master, Rongguang is back.”
Yang Sichen was thinking about how to mix the various components of the gunpowder evenly, so he didn't pay much attention to it. He just waved his hand and told him to rest for half a day and bring more saltpeter and sulfur back tomorrow. On the other hand, Zi Juan looked at Rongguang's expression and pursed his lips in disdain.
During lunch, Yang Sichen stared at the fermented glutinous rice on the table for a long time before finally instructing Zi Juan,""After eating, bring this glutinous rice to the courtyard. Pour the soup into the gunpowder and mix it into mud. Don't make it too watery. Go find a pancake maker. Don't forget the vegetable oil! Let's make some gunpowder cakes."
"Young Master, will this work?" Zi Juan asked in surprise.”
Yang Sichen rolled his eyes and said,""We have to try. You make the mud, I'll make the pancakes! I don't want you to be disfigured."
"I don't want to sleep with a monster with a crooked mouth and slanted eyes every day!" Zi Juan replied immediately.”
……
Just like that, the two of them chatted as they ate.
Yang Sichen's mood was finally better after the incident with Zi Juan. After resting for half an hour, Yang Sichen went to the kitchen. Zi Juan had already mixed the gunpowder into mud and was heating up the fire. Yang Sichen looked at the gunpowder mixture that he had mixed and felt that it wasn't well mixed, so he added some more soup and stirred it again.
After the purple handkerchief was done applying oil on the mirror, Yang Sichen asked the purple handkerchief to go further away. He stood in front of the stove and carefully scooped a spoonful of gunpowder mud and poured it on the mirror. He spread it flat and carefully observed the color change. After half a cup of tea's worth of time, Yang Sichen saw that he was almost done. He quickly picked up the mirror and poured the gunpowder onto the plate. He then wiped the sweat off his forehead and heaved a sigh of relief.
Zi Juan watched from the side, his heart pounding. It was only when Yang Sichen wiped his sweat that he heaved a sigh of relief. He hurriedly took the plate and asked Yang Sichen,""Young Master, what should we do next?"
Yang Sichen instructed," Use a clean spoon to re-press the gunpowder into powder and put it into a bamboo tube. Then, connect it to the fuse and continue testing." Stand further away, don't fall!”
Zi Juan nodded and turned to leave.
Not long after, a loud bang came from outside. Yang Sichen hurriedly ran out to take a look. Zi Juan was standing at the side with a long face. He said to Yang Sichen,"Young Master, the bamboo tube exploded."
Yang Sichen quickly grabbed Zi Juan's hand and asked,""Are you alright?"
Zi Juan shook his head and said," I'm fine. When the bamboo tube exploded, I was already thirty feet away."”
Yang Sichen pulled the purple handkerchief and looked at it again and again. Only when he saw that there was nothing wrong with her did he relax.
After returning to the house, Yang Sichen stared blankly at the gunpowder mixture in the basin and thought," He probably added too much saltpeter, so he added two more portions of charcoal powder into the basin, added more soup, and dried a little more. Let the purple silk take it and experiment again.
This time, it didn't explode again, but it didn't fly far. It fell to the ground about twenty feet away. He looked at the black smoke. It was obvious that the charcoal had not completely burned because of the lack of oxygen.
So, Yang Sichen used a carving knife to carve a one-minute wide and two-and-a-half-minute gap on the end of the bamboo tube. He also thinned the first half inch of the gap so that air could enter the bamboo tube through the gap, allowing the charcoal to burn better.
After a quarter of an hour, Zi Juan packed the dried gunpowder, inserted the fuse, and lit it again.
This time, the effect was pretty good. It flew 240 feet, but it was too loud. However, there was no mute requirement now, so it didn't matter if it was loud or not. Yang Sichen was already very satisfied with this.
After that, Yang Sichen took the bamboo tube to Wang Dahai and asked him to arrange for some processing according to the bamboo tube. He said that he would use it tomorrow and that he would pay five wens for each bamboo tube processed. The money would be credited to Yang Sichen's account.
The next day, Rongguang brought everything over. Yang Sichen started to work on the gunpowder formula again. The requirements for rocket propellants were different from that of the explosive ammunition. The propellants needed to burn stably and be controllable to a certain extent. In this way, the ratio of nitre had to be reduced and the ratio of sulfur and carbon had to be increased.
However, Yang Sichen did not know exactly how to match them. Thus, he could only try it himself.
The complete reaction ratio of black gunpowder was 50:8:9, but they had already tried this plan yesterday. As for the optimal formula of 15:2:3, it would only explode even more violently than this.
Yesterday, he added two portions of carbon on top of the 50:8:9 ratio. The effect was not bad. Today, he continued to add. He made ten rockets with each formula. After the launch, the range was the average. Anyway, the workers had processed 100 bamboo tubes last night...
Yang Sichen looked at the saltpeter brought by Rongguang and couldn't help but frown. There were too many impurities, so he had to purify them first.
He soaked the saltpeter in a suitable amount of water, then used a small hammer to mix the large pieces of saltpeter into small pieces and stirred them constantly. Then, he poured it into a pot and heated it until it boiled. Finally, he poured out the hot water and cooled it down. Then, crystals would be formed. This was the crystallization of potassium nitrates.
Yang Sichen and the other two worked for two hours before they finally managed to get half a kilogram of the crystals. They added a suitable amount of charcoal powder and sulfur, then added water to make a paste. Finally, they dried it. When they finally made the first formula of the propelling drug, it was almost lunchtime. The three of them quickly packed the propelling drug and prepared to test it.
……
Yang Sichen and the other two were busy all the way until dinner before they finally decided on the optimal formula." 10:3:5。The rocket with this ratio flew out 290 feet.
…………
On the morning of the second day of the twelfth lunar month, a six-foot-long, four-inch-thick rocket was manufactured. Yang Sichen added four six-inch-long and five-inch-wide fins to the tail of the rocket, and added a weight to the head of the rocket (without a warhead). Looking at the assembled rocket, Yang Sichen finally heaved a sigh of relief. This thing had finally been created. In the future, he would be able to create a large-caliber cannon that could fire a trigger bomb. Humph humph... What wooden battleship cruiser? At least before the appearance of the ironclads, the Yang family fleet was invincible!!
In the afternoon, Rongguang carried it to the river and placed it on a slope. He lit the fuse with the purple silk and ran away quickly. When Zi Juan was more than 15 meters away, there was a loud bang. The rocket shot up into the sky with a 30-meter-long tail flame and flew to the other side of the river. After about 15 minutes, the rocket used up its propellants and fell into the paddy field on the other side of the river under the effect of gravity.
An hour later, Wang Dahai came to see Yang Sichen with the final results.
According to Wang Dahai's calculations, the rocket flew 1,850 feet, exceeding the expected 1,650 feet. Yang Sichen was quite satisfied with this result. Although the accuracy was a little lacking, it was not a problem for him to hit a ship that was more than a hundred feet long. Now, all he needed to do was to install the warhead and fire it on an uninhabited island a few more times to get a firing meter.
That afternoon, Yang Sichen gave Wang Dahai a blueprint of the warhead. This bullet was one foot and six inches long, five inches in diameter, and weighed fifteen pounds. It was a spherical cylinder. There was a two-inch-long barbed spear at the front, which could be stabbed into the hull by the kinetic energy provided by the rocket, so that the bullet would not be bounced into the water as soon as it hit the hull. The middle section was a foot-long hollow cylinder with three catties of gunpowder inside. There were four small wings that were two and a half inches wide and three inches long on the outside of the tail end. There was a three-inch-deep depression on the inside that could be buckled together with the front end of the rocket. The fuse passed through the mud seal at the front of the bamboo tube and was connected to the gunpowder in the bamboo tube. Once the gunpowder in the bamboo tube was burned out, the fuse would automatically ignite.
Wang Dahai thought about it for a while and agreed to forge thirty within five days.
Before they left, Yang Sichen pulled Wang Dahai and said,""Uncle Wang, the fewer people who know about this, the better. If anyone asks me what I'm doing at the shipyard, tell them that I wanted to make fireworks and blow up my house at home, so my grandfather drove me here.”
Wang Dahai nodded and left.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]