Dad, this seems to be the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 174 The Use of Gunpowder (Repayment)

In the study, Sun Yue and Sun Chunming looked at Xue Juzheng's letter, cooked tea and retreated, and started a serious conversation.

The content of the letter is very simple. Basically, Xue Juzheng has settled the matter in Langzhou, especially at Shimen, where the preliminary mine survey has been completed. As long as Sun Chunming needs it, he can approve the entire mine at any time, but Correspondingly, he wants to set up an industry in Langzhou to drive the economic development of Langzhou, and the mines he excavates must also pay taxes to the court.

This was originally the request made by Sun Yue, who wanted to use this mine to improve the living standards of the people of Langzhou and make up for his guilt.

When he told Xue Juzheng about this matter, he didn't discuss it with Sun Chunming at all. Although he mentioned it to Sun Chunming after returning to Beijing, Sun Chunming didn't take it seriously at first, mainly because he didn't have a clear concept of Shimen Realgar , in fact, if Sun Yue hadn't been there in person, she wouldn't have this concept.

But after reading Xue Juzheng's letter, he was really a little surprised. The high-density sulfur mining area alone has more than 200 mu, which is too big.

"Isn't this scale a bit big? With our family's current financial resources, it's still a bit beyond our reach to take over such a large mining area. I understand that you want to do something for the people of Langzhou, but is this a step?" A little big?"

"Why, afraid of losing money? Isn't that a mine for nothing? Aren't you going to study gunpowder?"

"Do you think this is the 21st century? What is the use of realgar? You have also fought with the army. Your new army fought for four months. Tell me how many catties of gunpowder you used? Besides, since the place is How much do you think I will spend to prevent pollution in the five hardest-hit areas of the [-]th century? Not to mention anything else, the gloves and masks that are replaced every day for miners are not a small sum of money. It’s the cancer village that doesn’t match your original intention. In addition, the transportation and water transportation in Langzhou is not well developed, so it’s not very convenient to get out and about. What’s my plan for this business? Besides, I originally planned to build some of our family’s properties in Yangzhou , Such a large-scale vote in Langzhou, do you know how much you have to delay me?"

Sun Yue frowned and said: "To put it bluntly, it's just that we use less gunpowder. Dad, I'm not talking about you. It's been so long. Why haven't you made any progress in improving the gunpowder? If you could improve the gunpowder so that it can be used." Now, isn't everything going to be solved easily?"

Sun Chunming smiled bitterly and said, "Do you really think that I haven't researched anything in the past two years? Well, in fact, my gunpowder has been improved a long time ago. Although it is not up to the level of explosives, it is basically not worse than that of the Ming Dynasty. But what is the use of gunpowder alone? The role of this thing in war is actually not that great. How heroic the Song Dynasty army is today, do we need this thing? It is useless if there is too little equipment. If there is too much equipment, the entire army How will the army react? Will they accept this thing? Even if they accept it, will using gunpowder be better than not using gunpowder? There was it, and even the thunderbolt cannon and thunderbolt were available in the late Northern Song Dynasty. What happened? When the Jin army came, the 80 forbidden troops were like paper. To be honest, I feel that at least now, this thing is right It's really not that useful for the military."

"Besides, we can do this gunpowder, and others can do it. If I really hand over the stuff and install it on a large scale, will the Song Dynasty benefit the most? Haha, most of the saltpeter in our country is in the Southern Tang Dynasty. In terms of population and economy, Compared with the Southern Tang Dynasty, the Song Dynasty had no advantage, and was even a little worse. The difference between the new gunpowder and the old gunpowder was that the proportion of sulfur in the gunpowder doubled. If we could get the finished product , Do you think Nantang will not be able to research it? Tell me, what use is the gunpowder I made?"

Sun Yue was also shocked, because in his impression, most of the time-travel novels he read seemed to be invincible as long as he got out the gunpowder, so he didn't think so deeply at all.

"In other words, gunpowder is of no use to the Song Dynasty? Then the realgar mine in Langzhou is also useless? No, if gunpowder is really useless, then why are you spending so much effort studying it?"

Sun Chunming said with a smile: "So what I'm researching is explosives. If I can research explosives, it will be very useful. If it's pure black powder, unless I research the rifled flintlock, it will be of little use to the Song army." It’s really not that big, even the disadvantages outweigh the benefits, but the realgar mine can’t be said to be completely useless, at least it’s good for making firecrackers, look how expensive the firecrackers are on the market now, how many people can afford them The most expensive thing to make firecrackers is sulfur. I plan to open a larger firecracker and fireworks factory in Shimen. After Song unifies the south, this thing can play a role in fighting Khitan."

"Uh... well, so what?"

"So, I plan to move the research on explosives to the firecracker factory. Anyway, I don't study science and engineering. I can't help the project at this stage. If I want to make a detonator, the only way is to Try it, a blind cat can still run into a dead mouse, try it 100 times, 80 times, [-] million times, I don't believe I can't make a detonator, isn't the Nobel also invented by Xia Jiba back then? , but I have to tell you one thing clearly. This experiment was done with human life. The reason why Nobel was not killed in the bombing was that God gave him the best. The reason why I want to move the laboratory is also because of Kaifeng. There are too many restrictions on making this thing, so when the time comes, these experimental work will be handed over to the villagers in Langzhou, and people will definitely die, and I estimate that [-] deaths may not be enough. I have to tell you this Clearly, you are so maddened, don't blame me then.

Sun Yue frowned, thought for a while, and said, "Okay, you didn't see it, so you don't know how poor Langzhou is. No, you should have mentioned Kaifeng City. It's not a good place anywhere. They say life is priceless." But this person, if he is poor to a certain extent, his life is worthless, but when you hire someone, you tell them about the dangers, and the salary is higher."

"This is definitely no problem, but what you said to Xue Juzheng before is too far behind. This business is not as simple as you two think, and in business, no matter how much you want to compensate the people of Langzhou You can’t do business that loses money, right, the climate in that place is good, if you plant sugar cane, and open a sugar factory and a rum distillery, it should be good, but these things have to be discussed with Xue Juzheng.”

"Well, I see. Maybe I'm taking it for granted. I don't know much about business. You decide."

"Then the question now is, who is going to discuss with Xue Juzheng? I am an official of the imperial court. I am busy and can't leave. After Cao Nier is born, I will let Lao Cao go. After all, Mr. Lu Meng is not around. Let him go on a business trip at this time. He is not at ease, I will write a letter to Xue Juzheng to explain later, and let him wait for two more days."

"No, none of you are free. I can go. I know that place well. Show me the plan and teach me. Am I not as good as Uncle Cao?"

"You? How can you go? Brother Murong's coffin will return to Beijing in two days. You must not take this time to meet your future wife and cultivate a relationship?"

"...When you say that, I want to leave even more quickly."

(End of this chapter)